They reached the mouth of the Gambia, but found the natives hostile.

Here for the first time European navigators lost sight of the pole-star and saw the brilliant constellation of the Southern Cross.

The last discovery made during Prince Henry's life was that of the Cape Verde Islands, by one of his captains, Diogo Gomez, in 1460--the very year of his death.

As the successive discoveries were made, they were jotted down by the Prince's cartographers on portulanos, and just before his death the King of Portugal sent to a Venetian monk, Fra Mauro, details of all discoveries up to that time, to be recorded on a _mappa mundi_, a copy of which still exists (p.

77).
The impulse thus given by Prince Henry's patient investigation of the African coast continued long after his death.