Ga´ma

( Vasco da ), the hero of Camoëns’s Lusiad . Sagacious, intrepid, tender-hearted, pious, and patriotic. He was the first European navigator who doubled the Cape of Good Hope (1497). Gama, captain of the venturous band, Of bold emprise, and born for high command, Whose martial fires, with prudence close allied, Ensured the smiles of fortune on his side. Camoens, Lusiad , i. (1569). ⁂ Gama is also the hero of Meyer beer’s posthumous opera called L’Africaine (1865).