Abstract
WE are assembled this evening to commemorate one of the greatest events in the history of the world—the discovery of the ocean route to India by the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama completed the mighty enterprise on the day when the gháts of India were sighted from the deck of his ship just four hundred years ago to-morrow. The credit-of this discovery is due to the Portuguese people, to their constancy and heroic perseverance, even more than to the skill and ability of their leaders; and I think that many of the illustrious navigators of Portugal are equal in merit, and should be equal in renown. We contemplate the perseverance of this people nd the continuity of their work- during a century and a half of mighty effort, rather than a single stroke of genius. Yet it is right that Vasco da Gama, who forged the last link, should have the first place which Camoens has assigned to him, primus inter pares.
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Vasco Da Gama. Nature 58, 67–69 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/058067a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/058067a0
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