It was extremely interesting to be approaching this famous point. That
great maritime revelation, the opening of a new route to India in 1487,
the story of Bartholomew Diaz and Vasco da Gama, and of the first
navigators around that point, who used to bury their journals and set
up a stone pointing to them, that the homeward-bound vessels might, by
this primitive mail arrangement, get the latest news of them, made it
an object of deep interest. Here the astronomers come from different
countries, to observe the signs of the heavens; and certainly no
place can be conceived of more favorable for such purposes. The clear
atmosphere and the perfect horizon make it a place well fitted for
telescopes to try their power. The Indian Ocean opening here, spreads
before the observer the scene of some of the most interesting events
of history. Being about four thousand miles from north to south, and
of equal breadth, and receiving the Red Sea, holding the Persian Gulf
and the Bay of Bengal, distinguished by such islands as Madagascar,
Mauritius, Ceylon, and by such rivers as the Tigris, Euphrates, Indus,
Ganges, and by the great equatorial current which, after it leaves the
wide coast of China, crosses this ocean to the Mozambique Channel,
seeking the east coast of Africa, and making its way by the Cape of
Good Hope,--this Indian Ocean does not yield in historic or natural
interest to the two greater oceans. Its northern part, divided from
the southern by the Tropic of Capricorn, floats the commerce of Europe
and this country with China, India, and the Malay Islands. Arabia and
Persia, and the opposite India have used its waters for centuries in
their local commerce. Points of interest along its seacoast, gulfs,
and rivers are, Aden and Mocha in Arabia, Bassorah in Turkey, Bombay,
Madras, Calcutta in Hindostan, and Point de Galle in Ceylon. It seemed
more like the centre of the world on this ocean than elsewhere. Its
astronomical attractions and its sunsets give it a peculiar charm,
though after all that has been said of Indian Ocean sunsets, I am
constrained to say that in Princeton, Massachusetts, I have seen more
wonderful sunsets than I saw in the Indian Ocean.