sacrifice of life and of treasure, and at greater peril to his own
person, than suffered by those who preceded him. Paulo da Gama,
his brother, died in the course of the voyage, as also one-half of
the people whom we sent out with this _armada_, they having passed
through many perils, not only because of the length of this voyage,
which exceeded two years, but also because of the desire to furnish
trustworthy information on these territories and all connected with
them.
“And bearing in mind the great services yielded to ourselves and our
kingdoms by this voyage and discovery; the great advantages accruing
thence, not only to our kingdoms but to all Christendom; the injury
done to the infidels [_i.e._, Mohammedans] who, up till now, have
enjoyed the advantages offered by India; and more especially the hope
that all the people of India will rally round Our Lord, seeing that
they may easily be led to a knowledge of His holy faith, some of them
already being instructed in it; desiring, moreover, to recompense him
for his services, as befits a prince when dealing with those who have
so greatly and so well served him, and to bestow upon him a grace and
favour; with full knowledge, and out of our royal and absolute power,
without his having solicited it, nor any other person on his behalf,
we grant him, freely and irrevocably, from this day in perpetuity, an
annuity of 300,000 reis, to be paid to him and his descendants.”
For the payment of this annuity the King assigns the new tithe on fish
imposed upon the towns of Sines and Villanova de Milfontes, supposed
to yield 60,000 reis annually, which tithe has been surrendered by
Martinho de Castelbranco, who held it from the Crown, and has been
compensated elsewhere. Any surplus receipts out of this tithe were to
be retained by Vasco da Gama, the King, on the other hand, not being
obliged to make up any deficiencies. Secondly, the King surrenders
130,000 reis annually out of the excise levied upon Sines, any
deficiency in that amount to be made up out of the excise of S. Thiago
de Cacem. Thirdly, the King assigns to him 40,000 reis, to be paid
out of the excise of S. Thiago. Lastly, the 70,000 reis still wanted
to make up the 300,000 reis shall be paid out of the receipts of the
timber octroi of the city of Lisbon.
In addition the King appoints him Admiral of India, conferring all
honours, franchises and revenues which that rank carries with it,
throughout the territories which shall be placed under the rule of the
King.
Moreover, he is granted the privilege of sending annually, by the royal
vessels, 200 cruzados to India, to be laid out in merchandise, upon
the importation of which no duties whatever shall be levied except
the 5 per cent. payable to the Order of Christ; this privilege to be
transmitted to his descendants.
The King, moreover, confers upon him, his brother Ayres da Gama, and
his sister, Tarayja (Theresa) da Gama, the hereditary title of Dom
(Dona).
Finally, the King desires that the heirs of Vasco da Gama shall always
bear the name of Gama, in memory of the said Vasco da Gama.
5.—_Lisbon, February 4, 1504._[485]
The King, having pointed out that as Divine justice recompenses, in the
other world, those who have firmly adhered to the Catholic faith and
practised good works, so should the Kings and Princes of this world
recompense those who have rendered them faithful service, directs
attention to the signal services rendered by Vasco da Gama during his
first voyage, when he discovered India. This discovery has resulted in
a great accession of wealth. What the Romans, and Emperors and Kings
have vainly attempted, has been accomplished by the said Admiral,
and the advantages coveted by all nations have been secured to his
kingdoms. These results have been attained at a great loss of life, for
more than half the men in this first expedition have succumbed, and
among them Paulo da Gama, the brother of the Admiral. On his return
honours and other rewards were conferred on the Admiral.
In the course of a second voyage[486] the services rendered by him
have been equally brilliant. The King of Kilwa has been reduced to
submission, and compelled to pay an annual tribute of 1,500 mitkals
in gold,[487] the first instalment of which has been received. This
king is very powerful, and the owner of the gold mines of Sofala, the
richest in that part of the world. In all other respects Vasco da Gama
has faithfully guarded the royal interests, both in making war upon the
Moors of Mecca, and in peaceable negotiations with the kings of those
countries. The fleet intrusted to him, owing to the wisdom and judgment
exercised, has returned richly laden. On these grounds he is entitled
to some recompense. Acting as becomes a King, and considering his
merits, he, D. Manuel, therefore grants him, and his male descendants
in the direct line, an annuity of 400,000 reis, to commence on the
first of January of this year, 1504, and to be secured on the salt tax
of the city of Lisbon.
6.—_Lisbon, February 20, 1504._[488]
The King instructs Fernão Lourenço, factor of the Guinea and India
trade, to pay henceforth the annuity of 1,000 cruzados to Vasco da
Gama; each caravel coming from the city of S. Jorge da Mina is to
contribute 32,500 reis, the payments out of twelve caravels thus making
up a total of 390,000 reis.
7.—_Thomar, March 21, 1507._[489]
In a letter dated Thomar, March 21, 1507, and signed by Antonio
Carneiro, the King’s chief secretary,[490] Vasco da Gama, the Admiral
of India, is informed that within thirty days after date he must
withdraw from the town of Sines, with his wife and the whole of his
household, and that neither himself, nor his wife, nor his household
can be permitted to return to that town, or its precincts, except by
permission of the Master [of the Order of São Thiago and Aviz], In case
any of them should enter the town without such permission, they will
render themselves liable to a fine of fifty cruzados, beyond which
they will incur the punishment deserved by those who refuse obedience
to the orders of their King and Lord. In a postcript the King orders,
moreover, that the same penalty shall be incurred if Vasco da Gama
continue the buildings he has commenced.
(This Royal Edict was presented on June 26, 1507, at the office of the
Master of the Order at S. Thiago de Cacem, by one João da Gama,[491]
and ordered to be placed in the Archives of the Order).
8.—_Tavira, November 18, 1508._[492]
The King authorises Luiz d’Arca to surrender his Alcaideriamór of
Villafranca de Xira[493] to the Admiral of India (Vasco da Gama).
9.—_Lisbon, November 19, 1511._[494]
The King orders the authorities (“judges”) of the Order of S. Thiago
to afford the receiver appointed by the Admiral every facility for
collecting the revenues assigned him in the towns of S. Thiago de
Cacem, Sines and Villanova de Milfontes.
10.—_Lisbon, June 1, 1513._[494]
The King informs all whom it may concern that in consideration of the
merits and very great services of Dom Vasco da Gama, it pleases him
to order that no freights be charged upon merchandise forwarded to
the Admiral from India, whether sent by royal or private ships, the
expenses, in the latter case, being charged to the India House. This
privilege is not to extend to certain spices reserved for the Crown.
11.—_Lisbon, August 22, 1515._[495]
The King authorises the Admiral to send with each fleet sailing to
India a person to attend to his business, this person to draw pay as a
man-at-arms.
12.—_Lisbon, August 29, 1515._[496]
1). Manuel, having quoted _in extenso_ the conditions of a pension of
400,000 reis granted on February 4, 1504, orders that one-half this
pension shall be paid in future out of the revenues of the town of
Niza,[497] and the other out of the salt-tax, as before.
13.—_Lisbon, August 17, 1518._[498]
The Admiral having reminded the King that the title of “Count” has been
promised him, but has not yet been conferred, asks permission to leave
the kingdom. The King, in a letter in which he addresses Vasco da Gama
as “Almirante amiguo”, replies: “We order you to remain in our kingdom
up to the end of December of the present year, and we hope by that time
you will have seen the error you are about to commit, and desire to
serve us as is seeming, and not take the extreme course proposed. But
if by that time you are still minded to go, we shall not hinder your
departure, with your wife, your sons, and all your moveable property.
Done at Lisbon by the Secretary [Antonio Carneiro], August 17, 1518....
The King.”
14.—_Evora, October 24, 1519._[499]
The King authorises Vasco da Gama to surrender his pension of 400,000
reis [see No. 5], to D. Jayme, Duke of Bragança, and the latter to give
in exchange the towns of Vidigueira and Villa de Frades.
15.—Villa Viçosa, November 4, 1519.[500]
D. Jayme, Duke of Bragança and Guimaraes, authorises his “ouvidor”
(bailiff), João Alves, to surrender the towns of Vidigueira and Villa
de Frades, with all their revenues, etc., to D. Vasco da Gama, on
condition of the latter ceding to him an hereditary pension of 400,000
reis, which he has from the King, and of paying, in addition, a sum of
4,000 cruzados in gold.
[This transaction was completed at Evora, where Vasco da Gama resided,
on November 7, the 4,000 cruzados being paid in Portugueses of 10
cruzados each. As the eldest sons of the contracting parties, D.
Theodesio of Bragança and D. Francisco da Gama, were still minors, it
was agreed that the King should be asked to “overlook this deficiency
of age”, so that they, too, should be bound by this agreement.[501]]
16.—_Evora, December 17, 1519._[502]
The King, having sanctioned the arrangement between the Duke of
Bragança and Vasco da Gama, and having dwelt once more upon the good
services rendered by the latter not only to the Crown, but also to the
inhabitants of the kingdom, and to all Christendom, grants to him and
his heirs, irrevocably and for all time, the towns of Vidigueira and
Villa de Frades, together with all privileges, including civil and
criminal jurisdiction and church patronage, which had been enjoyed by
the Dukes of Bragança, [These privileges, it should be understood,
exceeded those usually enjoyed by a mere Count.]
17.—_Evora, December 29, 1519._[503]
D. Manoel, after a glowing eulogy of the services rendered by his
Admiral of India, confers upon him the title of Count of Vidigueira,
together with all prerogatives, rights, graces, privileges, liberties
and franchises enjoyed by the Counts of the Kingdom by usage and
ancient custom.
18.—_Lisbon, March 30, 1522._[504]
D. João III confirms Vasco da Gama’s claim, as Admiral, to the
anchorage dues paid at Malacca, Goa and Ormuz, and authorises him to
appoint receivers.
19.—_Evora, February 5, 1524._[505]
The Admiral, being about to proceed to India for a third time, the
King, D. João III, is pleased to order that in case of his death his
son and heir shall forthwith assume the title of Count of Vidigueira,
and enter upon the enjoyment of all privileges, etc., to which this
rank entitles him.
[Illustration: Church and Monastery of Our Lady of the Relics at
Vidigueira.
(_From a woodcut in Teixeira de Aragão’s Paper._)]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] He was thus eighteen years of age when Queen Isabella, in 1478,
granted a safe-conduct to him and Fernão de Lemos, enabling them to
pass through Castile on their way to Tangier (Navarrete, iii, p. 477).
According to P. Antonio Carvalho da Costa’s unsupported statement,
Vasco da Gama was born in 1469.
[2] According to Castanheda, the appointment was at first offered
to Paulo da Gama, Vasco’s elder brother. He declined on account of
ill-health, but offered to accompany his brother as captain of one of
the vessels.
[3] Vasco da Gama, after his return from India, married Catarina de
Ataide. He proceeded a second time to India in 1502. When returning
from Cananor he shaped a direct course across the Indian Ocean to
Mozambique. After a long period of rest, King João III again sent him
to India in 1524, but he died at Cochin on December 25th of the same
year, at the age of sixty-five. His remains were taken to Portugal in
1538, and deposited at Vidigueira. Since 1880 they are supposed to have
found their last resting-place in the church of Belem.
For an interesting estimate of the character of the great navigator,
see Lord Stanley of Alderley’s _The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama_
(Hakluyt Society), 1869. See also the Appendices of this volume for
further information on the first voyage.
[4] Ruy Gonçalves da Camara in 1473, Fernão Telles in 1474.
[5] Toscanelli’s letter to Columbus was written long after that
addressed to Fernão Martinz, for the expression _ha dias_ (perhaps a
rendering of _pridem_ or _haud diu_) does not mean “a few days ago”,
but “long ago.” Columbus himself uses it in that sense when he writes
from Jamaica that the “Emperor of Catayo asked long ago (_ha dias_)
for men of learning to instruct him in the faith of Christ.” The
request for missionaries had been made to the Pope in 1339 (Navarrete,
_Colleccion_, 2nd ed., I, p. 457).
[6] Barros, _Dec. I_, l. 3, c. ii.
[7] It is quite possible that the draughtsman of the Cantino Chart
placed St. Helena Bay incorrectly, and not as determined by Vasco da
Gama. Canerio places this bay in lat. 32° 30´ S., which is only 10´ out
of its true position.
[8] See Wieser, _Die Karte des Bartolomeo Columbo_, Innsbruck, 1893.
Cuba is not shown on this chart, possibly because Bartolomeo would not
do violence to his conscience by representing it as a part of Asia
(as his brother believed it to be to the day of his death) after its
insularity had been recognised.
[9] _The Journal of Christopher Columbus_, by C. R. Markham (Hakluyt
Society), 1893.
[10] Thus Correa states correctly that the Cape was rounded in
November, that is, in the height of summer, but introduces accessory
details—perhaps taken from an account of some other voyage (Cabral’s,
for instance)—which could only have happened in mid-winter. (See p.
193).
[11] An excellent translation of Correa’s account of _The Three Voyages
of Vasco da Gama_, by Lord Stanley of Alderley, was published by the
Hakluyt Society in 1869. It is accompanied by foot-notes, directing
attention to those numerous instances in which Correa differs from
other writers.
[12] Most of the documents discovered on these occasions were made
known by Texeira de Aragão and Luciano Cordeiro, to whose published
works frequent reference will be made.
[13] _Roteiro_, prim, edição, p. xix.
[14] _Roteiro_, seg. edição, p. xii.
[15] Prof. Kopke (_Roteiro_, prim. ed., pp. ix-xiv) deals much more
fully with this subject. We have been content to give the substance of
his remarks.
[16] See livro I, c. xxvii, of the first edition (1551) of his
_Historia_. In the edition of 1554 this passage is suppressed, but
further particulars of the voyage are not given.
[17] For a conclusive proof of this see p. 2. After the _S. Raphael_
had been broken up, the author may have been transferred to Coelho’s
vessel, and have returned in her.
[18] This is the “secretary” (escrivão) of Vasco da Gama. Castanheda
(I, p. 54) mentions also the comptroller (veador) of the captain-major,
but we are inclined to think that this is a duplication of the same
person, namely, Diogo Dias, the clerk or purser of the _S. Gabriel_.
[19] See p. 54, note 2, for this anecdote.
[20] _Roteiro da Viagem que em descobrimento da India pelo Cabo da Boa
Esperança fez Dom Vasco da Gama em 1497._ Porto, 1838. 8vo, pp. xxviii,
184.
[21] _Roteiro da Viagem de Vasco da Gama em_ MCCCCXCVII. Segunda
edição. Lisboa (Imprensa Nacional), 1861. 8vo, pp. xliv, 182.
[22] Compare p. xvii, and numerous references to Correa throughout this
volume.
[23] Reproduced on p. 150.
[24] _Journal du Voyage de Vasco da Gama en_ MCCCCXCVII, _traduit du
Portugais par Arthur Morelet_, Lyon, 1864.
[25] Reproduced by us, p. 171.
[26] For a copy of this contemned portrait, see p. 109.
[27] These vessels, as appears in the course of the Journal, were
the _S. Gabriel_ (flag-ship), the _S. Raphael_ (Paulo da Gama), the
_Berrio_ (Nicolau Coelho), and a store-ship (Gonçalo Nunes). The author
served on board the _S. Raphael_. See Introduction.
[28] In the suburb of Restello, four miles below the Arsenal of
Lisbon, stood a chapel or _ermida_, which had been built by Henry the
Navigator for the use of mariners. In this chapel Vasco da Gama and his
companions spent the night previous to their departure in prayer. After
his victorious return, D. Manuel founded on its site the magnificent
monastery of Our Lady of Bethlehem or Belem.
[29] The forbidding line of low cliffs, extending for 35 miles from
Leven Head to Elbow Point, in lat. 24° N., was known to the Portuguese
of the time as _terra alta_ (see D. Pacheco Pereira, _Esmeraldo de Situ
Orbis_, p. 40). The Rio do Ouro or River of Gold is a basin, extending
about 20 miles inland and four miles wide at its mouth. No river flows
into it. The real “River of Gold” is the Senegal or the Upper Niger.
[30] Castanheda attributes the separation of the vessels to the fog and
a storm.
[31] At the southern extremity of Ilha do Sal, in lat. 16° 31´ N., is
the Porto de Santa Maria.
[32] S. Jorge da Mina, the famous fort built on the Gold Coast
in 1482, by Diogo d’Azambuja, one of whose captains had been the
very Bartholomew Dias who five years afterwards doubled the Cape,
and who now returned to the _Mine_, having been made its captain,
in recognition of his great services. (See L. Cordeira, _Diogo
d’Azambuja_, Lisbon, 1890, and Barros, edition of 1778, to. I, part 1,
p. 271.)
[33] Bombardas, originally catapults, subsequently any piece of
ordnance from which stone balls were thrown. In the north of Europe the
term was restricted to mortars. Gama, however, carried breech-loading
guns, with movable _cameras_ or chambers. (See Stanley’s _Vasco da
Gama_, p. 226, _note_ and _Introduction_.)
[34] São Thiago, the largest of the Cape Verde Islands. The Porto da
Praia, within which lies the Island of Santa Maria (14° 50´ N.), is no
doubt the bay referred to in the text.
[35] This date, August 18th, is obviously wrong. Deducting the delay of
two days, Vasco da Gama spent 95 days on his passage from São Thiago
to the Bay of St. Helena, the distance being about 1,170 leagues
(4,290 miles), his daily progress amounted to 12 leagues or 45 miles.
If the dates in the text were correct, he would have made 12½
leagues daily up to August 18th, and between that date and the 22nd
(allowing for the delay) at least 300 leagues (1,010 miles), which is
quite impossible. It is evident that the second date is wrong, and
instead of “the same month”, we ought perhaps to read “October”. In
that case the daily progress, up to October 22nd, would have averaged
10 leagues (34 miles). Thence, to St. Helena Bay, a distance of
370 leagues accomplished in 16 days, the daily progress would have
averaged nearly 23 leagues (78 miles). Of course these are merely rough
approximations, as the course taken by Vasco da Gama and the incidents
of this memorable passage are not known to us. We may mention that
modern sailing vessels going from S. Thiago by way of Sierra Leone and
Ascension to the Cape, a distance of 5,410 miles, occupy on an average
49½ days on the passage, making thus 110 miles daily (58 in crossing
from Sierra Leone to Ascension). A ship going direct (3,770 miles) has
performed the passage in 41 days, thus averaging 92 daily. (See Admiral
Fitzroy’s “Passage Tables” in the _Meteorological Papers_ published by
the Admiralty in 1858.)
[36] The MS. has _Garçõees_, a word not to be found in the dictionary,
but evidently an augmentative of _garça_, a heron. Pimental, in his
_Arte de Navegar_, mentions large birds with dark wings and white
bodies as being met with a hundred leagues to the west of the Cape of
Good Hope, which are known as _Gaivotões_.—KOPKE.
The Gaivota, or gull, however, in no respect resembles a heron.
[37] That is, towards Tristão da Cunha, Gama being at that time 400 miles
to the N.N.W. of these islands.
[38] Kopke supposes that we should read _phoca_ instead of _quoqua_,
but this is not very likely, as _lobo marinho_ is employed throughout
the _Rutter_ to describe the _phocæ_ or seals. Among the animals
which these early navigators must have met with, but which are not
mentioned, are porpoises (_peixe de porco_) and dolphins (_doiradas_ or
gilt-heads).
[39] _Lobo marinho_, sea-wolf, a term vaguely applied to all species of
seals, as also to the sea-elephant, has been translated throughout as
_seal_.
[40] _Golfão, i.e._, Zostera nana, which is met with along the coast of
South-Western Africa.
[41] A Portuguese fathom, or _braça_, is equal to 5.76 feet.
[42] This was considerably to the north of St. Helena Bay, which was
only reached three days later.
[43] A reference, no doubt, to Pero d’Alenquer, Vasco da Gama’s pilot,
who had been with B. Dias during his memorable voyage round the Cape,
as had probably others of this armada.
[44] Now called Berg River.—KOPKE.
[45] Castanheda and Goes state that Nicolau Coelho was sent to take
the soundings. It is, however, much more probable that this duty
was intrusted to Pero d’Alenquer, who had already doubled the Cape
with Bartholomew Dias, and had touched at several points in its
vicinity.—KOPKE.
I cannot see how his having been with Dias can have conferred any
very special qualification for taking soundings in a bay which Pero
d’Alenquer had never seen before. On subsequent occasions Coelho seems
to have been employed repeatedly upon this duty.
[46] _Baço_, a vague term, meaning also brown or blackish.
[47] Castanheda, in his first edition (1551), adopted this statement,
but subsequently suppressed it. D. Jeronymo Osorio, Bishop of Silves,
in _De rebus Emanuelsis_, has “pudenta ligneis vaginis includunt.—KOPKE.
The use of such a sheath is universal among the Bantu tribes of
Southern Africa, but seems now to be more honoured in the breach than
the observance among the Hottentots, here spoken of. John of Empoli,
who went to India with Afonso de Albuquerque (_Ramusio_, i), observed
such a sheath made of leather with the hair on, among the Hottentots of
the Bay of S. Blas. Leguat (Hakluyt Society’s edition, 1891, p. 288)
found it still in use in 1698.
[48] The shafts of their assegais are made of assegai- or lance-wood
(_Curtisea faginda_) and not of olive-wood, and even in John of
Empoli’s time had iron blades. Their spears for spearing fish, on the
other hand, are tipped with the straight horn of the gemsbuck.
[49] We learn from Barros that Vasco da Gama landed for the purpose of
observing the latitude. The captive was handed over to two ship’s boys,
one of whom was a negro, with orders to treat him well.
[50] _Çeitil_, a copper coin, worth about one-third of a farthing.
[51] We gather from Barros and Goes that Fernão Velloso was granted
the desired permission at the intercession of Paulo da Gama. When
Vasco da Gama returned to his vessel, Coelho and some of the crew were
left behind, collecting wood and lobsters. Paulo amused himself by
harpooning a whale, which nearly cost him dearly, for the whale dived,
and would have capsized the boat had not the water been shallow. In the
afternoon, when Coelho and his people were returning to the vessels,
Velloso was observed to run down a hill. Vasco da Gama, ever observant,
saw this from his ship, and at once ordered Coelho back, entering
himself a boat to join him. Some delay or misunderstanding occurred,
the “negroes” threw stones and discharged arrows, and several men were
wounded, including the captain-major and Gonçalo Alvarez. For further
particulars see Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, p. 46.
[52] The distance is 33 leagues.
[53] Castanheda says that the Cape was doubled on “Wednesday, November
20”, but Wednesday was the 22nd. Barros says “Tuesday, 20th”, but
Tuesday was the 21st. Compare Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, p. 48.
[54] The actual dimensions of False Bay are about 5 by 5 leagues.
The bay is called “Golfo dent^o. delle Serre” on the map of Henricus
Martellus Germanus, 1489, which illustrates the voyage of B. Dias (Add.
MS. 15760, Brit. Mus.).
[55] This is without the shadow of a doubt Mossel Bay (see plan on map
II). It is also most probably the Bahia de los Vaqueiros of B. Dias,
who certainly was here [see below]. Barros refers to it as being _now_
called S. Braz. Its original name had thus been abandoned in favour of
that bestowed by Vasco da Gama.