PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 177
could be exported thither, a traffic which would bring great profits to the inhabitants.
" The third reason was, because it was said that the power of the Moors in that part of Africa was much greater than was commonly supposed, and that there were no Christians among them or any other people. And since every judicious man is constrained by natural prudence to desire to know the power of his enemy, the Prince labored at sending to learn definitely how far the power of the infidels extended.
" The fourth reason was, that during the thirty-one years that he had warred against the Moors he had never found a Christian king nor lord outside of this land that for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ had been willing to help him in war. He wanted to know if there could be found in those regions any Christian friends in whom the love of Christ would be so strong that they would desire to help him against the enemies of Christ."
The fifth reason, briefly stated, was the salvation of souls through the spread of Christianity.
Azurara gives as a sixth reason, and an especially impor- tant one, that Prince Henry's horoscope signified that he should make great conquests and discover things hid from other men.i The detail with which these reasons are stated, the similarity between them and those stated in the Bull of Nicholas V., to be cited presently, and the fact that Azurara wrote as an official historian, all indicate that these reasons, except the sixth, ^ are to be taken as derived from Prince Henry himself. If so, they represent his attitude not far from 1446, or about the time Azurara was beginning his work.^
1 Azurara, Chronica de Guin^, 44-49 ; Beazley and Prestage's Trans., I, 27-30.
2 The sixth is a kind of afterthought or supplementary reason apparently suggested by Azurara himself. The title of the chapter is : " No qual se mostram cinquo razaoes porque o senhor Lffante foe movido de mandar buscar as terras de Guynea." Further, after stating the five reasons, Azurara proceeds : " Mais sobrestas cinque razaoes, tenho eu a VI, que parece que he raiz donde todallas outras procedera."
2 The fourth reason indicates the date, thirty-one years after the capture of Ceuta.
