On the 4th of August 1578 the great tragedy took place of the death of King Sebastião in battle with the Moors of Northern Africa, and the total destruction of the army which he commanded in person, the entire force of Portugal. At once the little kingdom lost the proud position she had occupied among the nations of Europe, and thereafter was regarded as of trifling importance. The country had been drained of men, and was completely exhausted. It must be remembered that she never was in as favourable a condition for conducting enterprises requiring large numbers of sailors and soldiers as the Netherlands were at a later date. She had no great reservoir of thews and muscles to draw from as Holland had in the German states. Spain was behind her, as the German states were behind the Netherlands, but Spain found employment for all her sons in Mexico and Peru. Portugal had to depend upon her own people. She was colonising Brazil and Madeira too, and occupying forts and factories on the western coast of Africa as well as on the shores of the eastern seas. Of the hosts of men—the very best of her blood—that went to India and Africa, few ever returned. They perished of fevers or other diseases, or they lost their lives in wars and shipwrecks, or they made homes for themselves far from their native land.