EXPLORATION AND PARTITION OF AFRICA: PARK--LIVINGSTONE--STANLEY We have seen how the Portuguese had slowly coasted along the shore of Africa during the fifteeenth century in search of a way to the Indies.

By the end of the century mariners _portulanos_ gave a rude yet effective account of the littoral of Africa, both on the west and the eastern side.

Not alone did they explore the coast, but they settled upon it.

At Amina on the Guinea coast, at Loando near the Congo, and at Benguela on the western coast, they established stations whence to despatch the gold and ivory, and, above all, the slaves, which turned out to be the chief African products of use to Europeans.

On the east coast they settled at Sofala, a port of Mozambique; and in Zanzibar they possessed no less than three ports, those first visited by Vasco da Gama and afterwards celebrated by Milton in the sonorous line contained in the gorgeous geographical excursus in the Eleventh Book-- "Mombaza and Quiloa and Melind." -- _Paradise Lost_, xi.