[1] Ferdinand of Castile, after the death of Isabella, and the conclusion of the Neapolitan war, joined the Portuguese in the conquest of Morocco, on which they were then engaged, and settled the distribution of future conquests. The Spaniards were to have all eastward of Tetuan, the Portuguese all westward of Ceuta. Ferdinand himself led a great expedition of a hundred thousand men; and a second, equally powerful, sailed under Cardinal Ximenes. Millella, Penon de Velez, Oran, Tremcen, Fidelitz, Mostagan, Algiers, Bugia, Tunis, and finally Tripoli, were captured, or occupied on the flight of the inhabitants; so that the Kings of Spain were in possession of the whole coast of Africa, from Egypt to the Straits of Gibraltar; while the distracted Moorish State was vigorously attacked by the Portuguese on the other side, where they had obtained either permanent or temporary possession of Ceuta, Tangier, Arzilla, Larache, Salee, Azymore, Mogadore; and their conquests extended beyond the Ha Ha spur of the Atlas into Suz.
[2] “Extraordinary Occurrence in Africa.—A letter from Gerli (Gerba), regency of Tunis, recounts a strange scene of recent occurrence. There exists at Gerli a sort of pyramid, constructed of the heads of decapitated Christians, principally Maltese, Sicilians, and Spaniards, who fell or were taken prisoners at the battle of the 29th of July, 1560. At the request of Sir T. Reade, the British Consul, and the Vicar Apostolic of Terrara, the Bey sent orders to the Governor for the demolition of this lugubrious monument. Saturday, the 7th of August, was the day fixed for the ceremony. All the authorities were assembled. No sooner, however, had the masons commenced operations, than some Zouavian soldiers and other armed individuals rushed into the arena, and with yells of rage shouted that the time was come for substituting the skulls of the Christians present on the spot for those of which the pyramid was constructed. The Governor attempted in vain to appease these fanatics. He was so ill-treated as to be compelled to retire. It is hoped that Sir T. Reade will be called upon to obtain satisfaction for this outrage.”—Paris paper.
[3] “Africa, in its interior, is the least known quarter of the globe, and perhaps fortunately for its inhabitants will long remain so.”—Heeren, Carthag. c. iv.
Ἐπεί με χ’ ἁἱ κασιγνήτου τύχοι
Τείρουσ’ Ἄτλαντος, ὁς πρὸς ἑσπέρους τύπους
ἔστηκε, κίον’ ούρανοῦ τε καὶ χθονὸς
ὤμοιν ἐρείδων, ἄχθος οὺκ εὐάγκαλον.
Esch. Prom.
[5] The Straits were the pivot of Cicero’s cosmography. In the Tusculan Disputations, commemorating the wonders of nature, he speaks of “the globe of the Earth standing forth out of the Sea, fixed in the middle space of the universal World, habitable and cultivated in two distant regions; that which we inhabit being placed under the axis towards the seven stars; the other region, the Australian, unknown to us; the remainder uncultivated, stiffened with cold, or burnt up with heat.”
Ὑμεἴς δ’, ὥ μοῦσαι, σκολίας ἐνέποιτε κελεύθους
Ἀρξάμεναι στοιχηδὸν ἀφ’ ἑσπέρου Ὠκεανοῖο.
Ἔνθά τε καὶ στῆλαι περὶ τέρμασιν Ἡρακλῆος
Ἑστῦσιν, μέγα θαῦμα παρ’ ἐσχατόεντα Γἀδειρα,
Μακρὸν ὑπὸ πρηῶνα πολυσπέρεων Ἀτλάντων,
Ἡχί τε καὶ χάλκειος ἐς οὐρανὸν ἔδραμε κίων,
Ἡλίβατος, πυκινοῖσι καλυπτόμενος νεφέεσσι.
Dionysius Africanus.
[7] Philostratus, in the life of Apollonius, mentions that he himself had seen the ebb and flow, which he ascribes to the true cause. “All the phases of the moon during the increase, fulness and wane, are to be observed in the sea. Hence it comes to pass that the ocean follows the changes of the moon by increasing and decreasing with it.”
[8] By the rediscovery of the mariner’s compass, the voyage along the Western coast of Africa became practicable, and to this is owing the passage by the Cape to India, as well as the discovery of America. Without Columbus that discovery would have been made. The Portuguese, in their second expedition to India, fell on the Brazils just as the Chinese junk on its way to England was forced to America.