circumstances not known; and whilst Vasco da Gama accompanied his dying
brother to Terçeira, Coelho is said to have made straight for Lisbon,
where he arrived, after a voyage of seventy-six days, on July 10th. The
distance along the coast of Africa is only 1,900 miles, and that by way
of the Azores, the only route at all suitable for sailing vessels, is
2,920 miles. The passage ought certainly to have been accomplished in
forty days.[452] What did he do during the remaining thirty-six days?
We cannot suppose for one moment that an experienced sailor like Coelho
would have faced the head-winds of the coast for the sake of shortening
the distance to be run. Still, such things _have_ happened.
From the following statement of distances run it will be seen that
from July 8th, 1497, the day of Vasco da Gama’s departure from Lisbon
to the return of Coelho on July 10th, 1499, there elapsed 732 days,
or two years and two days. Of this time 316 days were expended before
Calecut was reached, 102 at Calecut and in its vicinity, and 314 on the
homeward passage.[453]
--------------------------------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
| |Old Por-| |Average
Dates and Places. | Days. | tuguse |Nautical| Daily
| |Leagues.| Miles. | Run,
| | (1) | | Miles.
--------------------------------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
Lisbon to S. Thiago, July 8 to 27, 1497 | 19 | 515 | 1740 | 90
S. Thiago to First Landfall, 30° S., Aug. 3 | 93 | 1533 | 5180 | 54
to Nov. 4 | | | |
To S. Helena Bay, Nov. 4 to 7 | 3 | 49 | 165 | 55
S. Helena Bay to Cape of Good Hope, | 6 | 34 | 115 | 19
Nov. 16 to 22 | | | |
Cape to Bay of S. Braz, Nov. 22 to 25 | 3 | 59 | 200 | 67
S. Braz to Rio do Cobre, Dec. 8 to Jan. | 34 | 259 | 875 | 26[454]
11, 1498 | | | |
Rio do Cobre to Rio dos Bons Signaes, | 8 | 1 | 480 | 60
Jan. 16 to 24 | | | |
Rio dos Bons Signaes to Moçambique, | 6 | 98 | 330 | 55
Feb 24 to March 2 | | | |
Moçambique to Mombaça, March 29 to | 9 | 204 | 690 | 77
April 7[455] | | | |
Mombaça to Melinde, April 12 to 14 | 2 | 18 | 60 | 30
Melinde to Mount Eli, April 24 to May 18 | 24 | 657 | 2220 | 93
Mount Eli to Capocate near Calecut, May | 2 | 16 | 53 | 26
18 to 20 +-------+--------+--------+-------
Total Outward Passage | 209 | 3584 | 12108 | 58
+-------+--------+--------+-------
| | | |
Calecut to Anjediva, Aug. 30 to Sept. 20, | 21 | 71 | 240 | 11
1498 | | | |
Anjediva to Melinde, Oct. 5 to Jan 7, 1499 | 94 | 710 | 2400 | 25
Melinde to Moçambique, Jan. 11 to Feb. 1 |21[456]| 219 | 740 | 35
Moçambique to S. Braz, Feb. 2 to March 3 | 30 | 500 | 1690 | 56
S. Braz to Cape, March 12 to 20 | 8 | 59 | 200 | 25
Cape to Rio Grande, March 20 to April 25 | 36 | 99 | 3360 | 93
Rio Grande to Lisbon (Coelho’s vessel), | 76 | 4 | 2920 | 25
April 25 to July 10, 1499 +-------+--------+--------+-------
Total Homeward Passage | 286 | 3417 | 11550 | 40
--------------------------------------------+-------+--------+--------+-------
APPENDIX G.
EARLY MAPS ILLUSTRATING VASCO DA GAMA’S FIRST VOYAGE.
It must ever be matter for regret that none of the sailing charts
prepared by Vasco da Gama’s pilots should have reached us. In
tracing the progress of his expedition with the aid of charts we are
consequently dependent upon compilations which, although contemporary,
embody also materials brought home by other navigators.
One great drawback of all the charts available for our purpose is their
small scale.[457] This compelled their compilers to make a selection
from the names which they found inserted upon the larger charts at
their disposal, and this selection may not always have been a judicious
one. The compilation of a map from discordant materials presents
difficulties even in the present day, and these difficulties were much
greater at a time when the compiler had not at his command trustworthy
observations for latitude which would have enabled him to check the
positions of intermediate places, and bring into agreement the records
brought home by successive explorers. As an instance, we may mention
that in the five maps which we shall bring more fully under notice, the
latitude assigned to the Cape of Good Hope varies between 29° and 34°
S., its true position being 34° 22´ S. As to longitudes, they had to
be determined by dead reckoning, and it need not therefore surprise us
if, on the maps referred to, the Cape is placed from 3° 50´ to 10° 20´
too far to the eastward. Nay, this near approach to the truth, in at
least one instance, compels our recognition of the skill of the men who
piloted the first ships around that long-sought _Cabo desejado_.
Another difficulty arises from the crabbed characters employed by
the map draughtsmen of the early part of the sixteenth century: a
difficulty all the more serious when these illegible characters had to
be reproduced by Italians having no knowledge of the language of the
documents they used, or the meaning of the uncouth names which they
were called upon to copy. It is one of the great merits of Mercator
to have caused these characters to be banished from the maps of his
countrymen; but a second Mercator is still wanted to do the same good
work for their printed books.
I now proceed to a consideration of the charts which illustrate more
especially Vasco da Gama’s first voyage.
The first of these charts is by Henricus Martellus Germanus. It is one
of many in a MS., _Insularium illustratum_, now in the British Museum
(Add. MS. 15760). It is a map of the world, very roughly drawn and
without a scale, and is dated 1489, that is almost immediately after
the return of Dias in the December of the preceding year. The author,
no doubt, was an Italian, and other maps by his skilful hand are
known to exist.[458] Unfortunately for our purpose, the coast beyond
the Cape is very incorrectly drawn, and there are but six names, viz.,
Golfo dentro delle serre (False Bay), Rio della vacche (Gouritz), Cavo
dalhado (talhado, Seal Point), Golfo de Pastori (St. Francis Bay),
Padrom de S. George (instead of Gregorio), and Ilha de fonte (instead
of infante).[459]
The first map illustrating, or rather attempting to illustrate, Vasco
da Gama’s voyage is that compiled by Juan de la Cosa, the famous pilot
of Columbus, in 1500. The author was fairly well informed of the
discoveries made by his own countrymen, but knew apparently but little
about those of the Portuguese. Thus, although Vicente Yanez Pinzon only
returned to Spain on September 30th, 1500, the coast explored by him
to the westward of the Rostro hermoso (the Cabo de Agostinho of the
Portuguese) is laid down properly; whilst Santa Cruz, discovered by
Cabral in April 1500, is incorrectly indicated,[460] although Gaspar de
Lemos, whom Cabral sent back with the news of his discovery, arrived in
Portugal three months before the Spanish navigator. As to two groups
of islands in the southern Atlantic, namely, “thebas, yslas tibras
etiopicas yn mare oceanum austral” (lat 1° 40´ S.), and “Y. tausens,
ylas tausens montises etiopicus oceanas” (lat. 15° S.), they seem to
be quite imaginary, and I only refer to them here because they kept
their place on later maps, and might be mistaken for the islands
discovered by João da Nova in 1501-2. Of the results of Vasco da Gama’s
expedition Juan de la Cosa must have been very ill-informed; among
the many uncouth and incomprehensible names inserted by him along the
Eastern coast of Africa there is not one which can be traced to Gama.
Not even such places as Sofala, Quiloa, Moçambique and Mombaça can be
identified, whilst Zanzibar and Madagascar lie far out in the Indian
Ocean.[461]
The coastline of the Indian Ocean is Ptolemaic; there is no hint at
the peninsular shape of India, the map being in that respect inferior
to that of the Catalan, more than a hundred years older, and the
only indication of Vasco da Gama’s visit to these seas is the name
“Calicut”, placed on the south coast of Caramania (Kerman), with a
legend to the east of it: “tierra descubierto por el rey dom Manuel rey
de Portugal.”[462]
Our next chart shows a great advance upon the preceding. It was
purchased at a sale in London, and is now the property of Dr. Hamy,
who published a description of it, with facsimiles, in his _Études
historiques et géographiques_, Paris, 1896. The author is not known.
His chart places on record the discoveries made by Vicente Yanez
Pinzon, Cabral, Sancho de Toar, and Cortereal, and by the expedition
which King Manuel sent to Brazil in 1501, and which returned at
the beginning of September, 1502.[463] This expedition, which was
accompanied by Vespucci, explored the American coast as far as the
Rio de Cananea, in lat. 25° 45´ S. The author knows nothing of the
discoveries of João da Nova, who returned to Lisbon on September 11th,
1502. We may therefore safely date his map “1502”, as is done by Dr.
Hamy.
One curious feature of this map is its double equator: that for the
western half of the map being the ‘new’ equator, to which the recent
discoveries of the Spaniards and Portuguese are to be referred, whilst
that for the east lies four degrees to the north of the former, and
is taken from Ptolemy. Indeed, the outline of the Indian Ocean is
Ptolemy’s, and so is the nomenclature, with a few exceptions to be
noticed presently. In the south-east, however, the author has broken
through Ptolemy’s encircling barrier, and has thus opened a way from
the _Indicum mare_ to an outer ocean where room has been found for
Seilam, Iava and far Quinsai. The eastern edge of his Oekumene lies
205° to the east of Lisbon (196° E. of Greenwich).[464] The only
original features within the Indian Ocean are a peninsular India,
which is made to project from Ptolemy’s old coastline to the west of
Taprobana, with a town, “Colochuti”, and the islands of Madagascar and
Tangibar lying far out at sea in lat. 20° S. The only other modern
name within this wide area is “Malacha”, which is placed in the Aurea
Chersonesus.
The nomenclature along the African coast is fairly full, and evidently
taken from original sources,[465] but the spelling is so corrupt, and
the letters are frequently so illegible, that I failed to make out many
of the names, although I had that portion of the map which specially
interested me enlarged from Dr. Hamy’s facsimile by photography. An
examination of the copy, which I give, will show that the drawing of
the coast-line leaves very much to be desired.
A very great advance upon the preceding is shown by a chart which
Alberto Cantino, the correspondent of Hercules d’Este, Duke of Ferrara,
caused to be specially designed for his patron, at Lisbon, and for
which he paid twelve golden ducats. There can be no doubt about the
date of this map. It was begun after Cortereal’s return, October 11th,
1501, and had been completed some time before November, 1502. The
MS. of this valuable chart is deposited in the Biblioteca Estense at
Modena. The American portion of it has been published by Mr. Harrisse
(_Les Cortereals_, Paris, 1888[466]), and the Indian Section by the
Vienna Geographical Society.[467] Through the kindness of Signor M. C.
Caputo, librarian of the Biblioteca Estense, who procured for me an
excellent photograph, I am enabled to publish Africa from the Gulf of
Guinea to Makhdesho. An examination of this reproduction will at once
establish the superiority of this chart over those already noticed, as
also over later charts. The outline of Africa is wonderfully correct,
considering the age of the chart, and the broad face presented by
that continent to the south is brought out most satisfactorily.
Unfortunately, several of the names along the south coast are rendered
illegible, even on the original, owing to the coloured Table Mountain,
and I have failed to decipher these satisfactorily, notwithstanding the
kind help afforded me by Signor Caputo. Along the east coast there is a
paucity of names. It should be observed that the padrões and Portuguese
flags have been located somewhat at haphazard.
Whilst the African coast is taken exclusively from recent Portuguese
sources, that of India and Further India is largely based upon native
information. This is proved by some of the legends. At Çatiguam we read
“esta em xi pulgados a o norte,” but these “pulgados” or inches are
clearly the “isbas” of the “Mohit,” a mode of expressing the latitude
which is peculiar to the Indian Ocean and has been explained by me on
p. 26, note 4.
[Illustration: Sidi Ali Ben Hosein’s MOHIT 1554.]
In order to enable the reader to judge of the extent to which the
compilers of early Portuguese maps were indebted to native sailing
directories and charts, and of the judgment exercised by them in
their use, I insert here a reduction of Dr. Tomaschek’s elaborate
reconstruction of a chart in accordance with the data contained in
Admiral Sidi Ali ben Hosein’s “Mohit,” or “Encyclopædia of the Sea,”
which, although only written in 1554, embodies the local knowledge
gained in the course of centuries, and is not indebted to Portuguese
charts for its superiority.[468]
The next chart to be considered is by Nicolas de Canerio, of Genoa.
Its date is undoubtedly the same as that of the Cantino Map, that is,
it was drawn before the results of João da Nova’s voyage had become
available. This is proved by finding “y. tebas, iste insulle chamada
secular” in the mid-Atlantic (9° S.), with a Portuguese flag, for these
islands are borrowed from Juan de la Cosa, and have nothing to do with
Conceiçao (Ascension) or St. Helena, discovered by João da Nova. It is
almost wholly based upon the materials previously utilised by Cantino’s
draughtsman, although more detailed in outline and with a more ample
nomenclature in some places. The shape of Africa, however, is far more
correctly given on Cantino’s chart than on Canerio’s,[469] and the
technical workmanship of the former is of a superior character. The
legends on both maps have evidently been taken from the same source:
those on Cantino’s map, as far as I have been able to examine it,
appearing to be more numerous and in some cases fuller.
The MS. of this important chart is at present in the Hydrographic
Office at Paris. Prof. L. Gallois, whose contributions to the history
of geography are highly appreciated by all interested in the subject,
has given an account of it in the _Bulletin_ of the Geographical
Society of Lyons.[470] This account is accompanied by a reproduction of
two sections of the map, viz., America and Africa. Prof. Gallois has
had the extreme kindness to supply me with a tracing of the Asiatic
portion of the map, and has thus enabled me to produce Map VII,
illustrating this volume. My reproduction contains all the names of
the original to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, whilst the legends
for which there was no room upon the Reduction are given at the end of
this Appendix.
On examining this chart it will at once be seen that the author—not the
Italian copyist, whose name alone appears upon it—drew very largely
upon native information. Still, he has not ventured to disassociate
himself altogether from Ptolemy. He has, however, made some use of
Marco Polo, though he puts the names taken from him—such as Murfulu,
Var and Coilu—in the wrong places. The island in the middle of the
Indian ocean—Y. rana—is not one of the Mascarenhas, as might be
supposed, but the Illa Iaua of the Catalan map, that is, Java. The
legend tells us that “In this island is much benjoim, and silk and
porcelain.” Still further south there are three islands, representing
the Mascarenhas, then known by Malabari names.
A few words remain to be said about the Portuguese maps published in
the Strassburg edition of Ptolemy, in 1513. The originals upon which
these maps are based were sent to Duke Renée II of Lorraine (died
1508), from Portugal. Uebelin and Essler, the editors of Ptolemy,
state that they were drawn by an “admiral” of King Ferdinand. But
Lelewel[471] points out that the king meant must be D. Manuel of
Portugal. They may have been forwarded together with the French
translation of Vespucci’s _Four Voyages_, 1504, and Vespucci may even
have had something to do with their compilation, even though not the
actual compiler. But however this may be, and whatever the date of
actual publication, there can be no doubt that they are identical in
all essentials with Canerio’s chart, and must be referred to the same
date, that is 1502.[472]
On placing side by side some of the above charts it almost looks as
if they were not merely based upon the same original authorities, but
had actually been slavishly copied one from the other, or from some
common prototype. On a closer examination, however, this opinion is not
sustainable, for the latitudes and longitudes assigned by the authors
to the leading points will be found to differ very considerably. The
following little table show this as regards the latitudes:—
-----------+----------+---------+----------+----------+----------+----------
—— | True Lat.| Cosa. | Hamy. | Cantino. | Canerio. |Strassburg
| | | | | | Ptolemy.
-----------+----------+---------+----------+----------+----------+----------
Congo | 6° 5´ S.|5° 30´ S.| 7° 50´ S.| 6° S. | 10° S. | 10° S.
Cape of | | | | | |
Good Hope|34° 22´ S.| 29° S. |30° 40´ S.|32° 45´ S.| 34° S. |33° 40´ S.
Malindi | 3° 20´ S.| — | 3° N. | 3° 25´ S.| 1° S. | 1° N.
Calecut |11° 50´ N.| 18° N. | 13° N. | 10° N. |13° 20´ N.|17° 30´ N.
Malacca | 2° 13´ N.| — | 2° 30´ N.| 14° S. |12° 30´ N.| 8° S.
-----------+----------+---------+----------+----------+----------+----------
The latitudes from Dr. Hamy’s chart are referred to the Western
Equator.
I now append the legends to be found in Canerio’s chart, together with
a translation. The spelling is that of the original. A few legends
from the Cantino chart, not to be found in Canerio’s, have been added.
The bold Roman Capitals are references to Map vii. The printer is not
responsible for the mistakes of the original copyist.
+A.+ Aqui he amina douro emque dia multra abondancia de la mais que
em outro.
(Here is the gold mine yielding greater abundance than any other.)
+B.+ Aqui ha laquar et panos finos de toda sortes et figuos pasados
et ubas et ensenso et almizquer et ambre et aljofar que tud bem de
demtro pello a sertam da careto [cidade].
(Here are to be found lac, fine cloth of all kinds, corn,
food-stuffs, grapes, incense, perfumes, ambergris and seed-pearls,
all of which come to this city from the interior.)
+C.+ Aqui he Caliqut he multo noble cidade descoberta pel el muy
escarrado prip. Rey dom Manoel Rey de Portugall aqui ay molto menxas
[benjoim] desua naturea [de fina natura] e pimenta et outras muitas
mercedarias que vem de multas partes, & canella gengiber cravo
emcenso sandalos et tode sortes de especiaria pedras de grande vallor
et perlas de grande vallor et aliofar.
(This is Caliqut, the most noble city discovered by the most
illustrious prince Dom Manuel, King of Portugal. There is here
much fine benzoin, pepper, and many other kinds of merchandise
coming from many parts, also cinnamon, ginger, cloves, incense,
sandal-wood and all kinds of spices; stones and pearls of great
value and seed-pearls.)
+D.+ Aqui ha panos muitos finos de reda et dalgodom et aros e azucar
et cera, e outras multas mercedarias.
(There are here very fine silk and cotton stuffs, and rice, sugar,
wax, and many other kinds of merchandise.)
+E.+ Aqui a sandalos e menxuim e ruibarbo e aiofa.
(Here are sandal-wood, benzoin, rhubarb and seed-pearls.)
+F.+ Em esta cidade ha todas as mercadarias que bem a Caliqut, cravo
e benjoym e lenhaloes e sandalos, estoraque, ruybarbo e marfim e
pedras preciosas de muyto valor e perlas ed almizquer e porçelanas
finas e outras muytas mercadarias. (From the Cantino Chart.)
(In this city are to be found all kinds of merchandise which go
to Caliqut: cloves, benzoin, aloes, sandal-wood, storax, rhubarb,
ivory, precious stones of much value, pearls, perfumes, fine
porcelain and many other kinds of merchandise.)
+G.+ Aqui ha chumbo almizquer e menzoy e sandalos.
(Here are lead [tin], perfumes, benzoin and sandal-wood.)
+H.+ Aqui ha almizquer e sandalos e menioim e estoraque e linolos et
chumbo.
(Here are perfumes, sandal-wood, benzoin, storax, aloes and lead
[tin]).
+I.+ Esta insulla chamada ataprobana he maior insulla que se en lo
mondo et mais richa de todos os cousas s. auro e praia e predas
preciosos et perlas et rubis muito grandes et finos et todas sortes
de speciaria et sedas et borcados et a gente son idolatres et multo
dispostas e tradam com os de fora et achan daqui multas mercedarias
per a fora, e trasem outras que [nam] ay em esta insulla.
(This island, called Taprobana, is the largest island in the world,
and is very rich in all things, such as gold, silver, pearls,
precious stones and rubies of large size and fine quality; all
kinds of spices, silks and brocades. The inhabitants are idolators
and well disposed, and take much merchandise abroad, bringing back
other kinds not to be found in their island.)
+K.+ Aqui naca a canella e muitos sortes de espeçiaria, ed aqui
pescam as perlas ed aljofar, sam as gentes de esta ylha idolatres e
tratam muito cravo com Caliqut.
(Here grows cinnamon and many kinds of spices, and there they fish
pearls and seed-pearls. The people of the island are idolators, and
take many cloves to Caliqut.)
+L.+ Em esta ylha ha gente do que comase huum as outras. (Cantino
Chart.)
(In this island there are people who eat one another.)
+M.+ Em estas tres ylhas nam ai nada sinam gente nuito pobre a nua
(Cantino Chart.)
(In these three islands the people are very poor and naked.)
The following list of place-names includes all names found upon the
maps referred to from the Cape of Good Hope to Malindi. Beyond that
place the principal names only are given.
In addition to the names to be found on the maps, we have introduced
those given in Duarte Pacheco Pereira’s _Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis_,
written in 1505.
LIST OF PLACE-NAMES.
The authorities are referred to by Arabic numerals thus:—
1. Henricus Martellus Germanus. 2. Juan de la Cosa. 3. Dr. Hamy’s
Chart. 4. Cantino Chart. 5. Canerio. 6. Strassburg Ptolemy. 7. Duarte
Pacheco.
Place-names having an asterisk prefixed to them are mentioned in the
_Roteiro_. The small letters in _Italics_ refer to the Notes.
The Dates, in the first column, are those of the Saints after whom
localities have been named.