GEOGRAPHIC ADMINISTRATION BUILDINGS SIXTEENTH AND M STREETS NORTHWEST, WASHINGTON, D. C. ORGANIZED FOR "THE INCREASE AND DIFFUSION OF GEOGRAPHIC TO carry out the purposes for which it was founded thirty-nine years ago, the National Geographic Society publishes this Magazine. All receipts are invested in the Magazine itself or expended directly to promote geographic knowledge. ARTICLES and photographs are desired. For material which the Magazine can use, generous remuneration is made. Contributions should be accompanied by an addressed return envelope and postage. IMMEDIATELY after the terrific eruption of the world's largest crater, Mt. Katmai, in Alaska, a National Geographic Society expedition was sent to make observations of this remarkable phenomenon. Four expeditions have followed and the extraordinary scientific data resulting given to the world. In this vicinity an eighth wonder of the world was discovered and explored-"The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes," a vast area of steaming, spouting fissures. As a result of The Society's discoveries this area has been created a National Monument by proclamation of the President of the United States. AT an expense of over $50,000 The Society sent a notable series of expeditions into Peru to investigate the traces of the Inca race. Their KNOWLEDGE" discoveries form a large share of our knowledge of a civilization waning when Pizarro first set foot in Peru. THE Society also had the honor of subscribing a substantial sum to the expedition of Admiral Peary, who discovered the North Pole. NOT long ago The Society granted $25,000, and in addition $75,000 was given by individual members to the Government when the congressional appropriation for the purpose was insufficient, and the finest of the giant sequoia trees of California were thereby saved for the American people. THE Society is conducting extensive explorations and excavations in northwestern New Mexico, which was one of the most densely populated areas in North America before Columbus came. region where prehistoric peoples lived in vast communal dwellings and whose customs, ceremonies, and name have been engulfed in an oblivion. a TO further the important study of solar radiation in relation to long-range weather forecastings, The Society has appropriated $60,000 to enable the Smithsonian Institution to establish a station for four years on Mt. Brukkaros, in Southwest Africa. Copyright, 1927, by National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C., in the United States and Great Britain. All rights reserved. Entered at the Post Office at Washington, D. C., as Second-Class Mail Matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Sec. 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized July 1, 1918. THE COPYRIGHT. 1927, BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, WASHINGTON D. C.. IN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN THE PATHFINDER OF THE EAST Setting Sail to Find "Christians and Spices," Vasco da BY J. R. HILDEBRAND AUTHOR OF "THE GEOGRAPHY OF GAMES," "THE SOURCES OF WASHINGTON'S CHARM," "MAN'S PROGRESS IN C OLUMBUS had failed! True, he found land, but the land did not yield ginger or cloves, nutmegs or cinnamon. Natives with naked, coppery bodies painted in fantastic colors, who were overjoyed with glass beads, hawks' bells, and tinsel trinkets, did not promise a rich overseas market. "After all, King John was right," murmured the big business men of Lisbon, who had many anxious weeks after their monarch had let the persistent Christopher Columbus slip through his fingers and Spain had sponsored his voyage. "Now," they sagely surmised, "it is time to resume our explorations on the sane lines laid out by Prince Henry the Navigator." That great seer, with the garb of a monk and the soul of a sailor, dreaming among his charts and instruments in a bleak, lofty room at Sagres, where the salty winds blew from unknown seas through the paneless windows of intricate Moorish design, had dreamed aright. Overland travelers kept coming in with reports of the fabled Prester John, who had vast resources to help crush Islam, and other reports, not fabulous enough, it later was shown, of the wealth of the Indies. So the brisk young King Manoel did not wait for importunate explorers to besiege him with proposals. He planned a trade quest along the route that Bartholomew Diaz had blazed, and engaged a likely young man to command the expedition. Vasco da Gama was his name. The first Portuguese from Gama's fleet to set foot on the soil of India summed up his king's purpose and unwittingly formulated one of the greatest slogans in maritime history. "The devil take you! What has brought you here?" exclaimed an Arab. "Christians and spices," retorted the Portuguese. DAZZLED BY SPLENDORS OF a “savage” COURT And Vasco da Gama's reception at the court of the Zamorin of Calicut confirmed the wisdom, to his own generation, of his king. What a contrast to Columbus's meeting with the primitive, ingenuous American Indians! The Portuguese admiral and thirteen picked men marched into Calicut, elbowed VASCO DA GAMA'S FIRST VOYAGE FOLLOWED THE COURSE OF THE SOLID LINE OUT AND RETURNED OVER THAT OF THE BROKEN LINE their way through an ever-swelling throng of jostling, bearded men who wore earrings, and bejeweled women, and finally entered the beautiful gardens of a palace where fountains played among the trees. Proceeding through a maze of smaller courts and verandas, they entered an amphitheaterlike audience chamber which dazzled them with its rainbow textiles and scintillant gems. The Zamorin lounged on a green velvet divan surmounted by a canopy of brocaded gold. At the moment of their entry he was clasping in his left hand a 4-quart spittoon of solid gold. At his right stood a huge basin of gold, so large that a tall man could barely encircle it with his two arms. It contained betel nuts wrapped in leaves with a blend of lime and catechu. His Majesty's chief Brahman stood by the betel bowl, handing the Zamorin a fresh titbit each time he ejected his previous chew into the regal cuspidor. When anyone addressed the throne, the entire company deferentially clapped their hands to their mouths. The visiting Portuguese had learned the court salute, suggestive of the matutinal radio exercises of a later day. They thrust their hands high above their heads, fists BOYS AT PLAY IN THE ORPHANAGE OF THE CONVENTO DOS JERONYMOS, AT LISBON His hand on the helm to the last, Vasco da Gama, then an old man, died in line of duty at Cochin, India, on Christmas Eve, 1524. His tomb is in the Convento dos Jeronymos, at Lisbon. Photograph by Lazarus VASCO DA GAMA OPENED THE EAST FOR EUROPEAN TRADE This portrait is considered the most authentic likeness of the great sea captain. A descendant gave the original to the late King Carlos of Portugal, who in turn presented it to the Lisbon Geographical Society. closed, then-one can almost hear the THE ZAMORIN'S BEADS WERE DIAMONDS Silent servants brought water for the thirsty travelers, who had been informed that touching a drinking vessel with the lips was considered unclean. Their efforts to pour it into their mouths resulted either in partial strangulation or in wetting their clothes, and temporarily upset the dignity of their hosts. Pages passed bananas and melons. But every eye must have been focused on the Zamorin's rather meager person. He was a small, dark man, swathed in white cloth from his waist to his knees. The material was calico, but finer spun than the linen of Europe. On a hanging corner of this swaddling cloth were handsome gold rings with large ruby settings. On one arm, above the elbow, were three jewel-studded armlets. From the middle ring dangled a diamond as thick as a man's thumb. "And Columbus did business with glass beads and cheap baubles !" must have been the unspoken thought. But the eye traveled on. Around his neck hung a string of pearls as big as hazelnuts. It was a double string reaching down to his lap. Then came a shorter necklace, a gleaming gold chain suspending a coruscant cluster of pearls and rubies, and these encircled a monster emerald. This king had devised places to display his wealth that European monarchs had missed. His long hair was twisted into a cone and bedecked with precious. stones and pearls like a display rack in a jeweler's window. From his ears hung not one, but many, pendants of marvelous. beauty. Even the Zamorin's page was garbed in silk; his red shield had a border of jewels; its arm rings were of gold. There was no surprise among these "natives" at the coming of Europeans. The shoe was on the other foot. The luxury of the Zamorin's court, Gama soon learned, was no mere barbaric display; it was evidence of the flourishing trade of Calicut with merchants from Persia, Ara |