How the Caravels set forth from the river, and of the voyage which they
made.
All these secrets and marvels did the genius of our prince bring before
the eyes of the people of our kingdom, for although all the matters here
spoken of concerning the marvels of the Nile[N154] could not be
witnessed by his own eyes, for that were impossible, it was a great
matter that his ships arrived there, where 'tis not recorded that any
other ship of these parts had ever come. And this may truthfully be
affirmed according to the matters which at the beginning of this book I
have related concerning the passage of Cape Bojador, and also from the
astonishment which the natives of that land showed when they saw the
first ships, for they went to them imagining they were fish, or some
other natural product of the sea.[N155] But now returning to our
history, after that deed was thus concluded, it was the wish of all the
three captains to endeavour to make an honourable booty, adventuring
their bodies in whatsoever peril might be necessary; but it appeareth
that the wind veered sharply round to south, wherefore it was convenient
to set sail at once. And as they were cruising up and down in order to
see what the weather purposed to do, the wind turned to the north, and
with this they made their way towards Cape Verde, where Dinis Diaz had
been the other year. And they went on as far as was possible for all the
caravels to join them, except that of Rodrigueannes de Travaços, which
lost its company and made thereafter that voyage which will be related.
And the five caravels being directly over against the Cape, saw an
island, where they landed to see if it were peopled; they found that it
was deserted, only they discovered there a great multitude of she goats.
And of these they took some to refresh themselves withal; and they
reported that these were in no way different from the goats of our
country, except that their ears were larger. From the same island also
they took water and went on further, until they found another island, in
the which they saw fresh skins of goats and other things, from which
they understood that other caravels had gone on in front of them; and in
further proof of this they found the Arms of the Infant carved upon the
trees, and also the letters which composed his motto. "Of a surety I
doubt," saith our author, "if since the great power of Alexander and of
Cæsar, there hath been any prince in the world that ever had the marks
of his conquest set up so far from his own land."
And by those signs, which those men of the caravels found there on the
trees, they understood that some others had already gone on in front,
and so they decided to turn back to their ships; and, as they afterwards
discovered, it was the caravel of John Gonçalves Zarco, captain of the
isle of Madeira, that had preceded them.
And because there were so many of those blacks[BI] on land that by no
means could they disembark either by day or night, Gomez Pirez sought to
show that he desired to go among them on peaceful terms, and so placed
upon the shore a cake and a mirror and a sheet of paper on which he drew
a cross. And the natives when they came there and found those things,
broke up the cake and threw it far away, and with their assegais they
cast at the mirror, till they had broken it in many pieces, and the
paper they tore, showing that they cared not for any of these things.
[Footnote BI: Guineas.]
"Since it is so," said Gomez Pirez to his crossbowmen, "shoot at them
with your bows that they may at least understand that we are people who
can do them hurt, whenever they will not agree to a friendly
understanding." But the blacks seeing the others' intention, began to
pay them back, launching at them also their arrows and assegais, some of
which our men brought home to this kingdom. And the arrows are so made
that they have no feathers, nor a notch for the string to enter, but
they are all smooth and short, and made of rushes or reeds, and their
iron points are long and some are made of wood fixed in the shafts,
which are like the iron spindles with which the women of this country
spin. And they use also other little harpoons of iron, the which darts
are all equally poisoned with plants. And their assegais are each made
with seven or eight harpoon-like prongs, and the plant they use is very
venomous.
And in that island in which the arms of the Infant[N156] were carved
they found trees of great size, and of strange forms, and among these
was one which was not less than 108 palms in circuit at the foot. And
this tree[N157] doth not grow very high, but is about as lofty as the
walnut-tree, and from its middle bark they make very good thread for
cordage, and it burneth like flax. The fruit is like a gourd, and its
seeds are like filberts, and this fruit they eat green, and the seeds
they dry. And of these there is a great abundance, and I believe they
use them for their maintenance after the green faileth them. And some
there were who said they saw there birds which appeared to them to be
parrots.
So all the captains there agreed to make sail, with the intention of
entering into the River of Nile, but no one was able to light upon it
save Lawrence Diaz, that squire of the Infant's. And he, because he was
alone, did not dare enter into the river, but he went with the little
boat to the place where they took the blacks on the outward voyage;
howbeit he turned back without doing anything worthy of mention. And
since he did not fall in with the convoy again he came straight to
Lagos. And in this wise Gomez Pirez lost the company of the other
caravels; and following his course towards Portugal, after taking in
water at the isle of Arguim, he came to the Rio do Ouro,[N158] and
sailed as far up as the port where he had been the preceding year with
Antam Gonçalvez and Diego Affonso, and there presently the Moors came,
and in taking security of them he learnt there were no merchants there.
But they sold him a black for the price of five doubloons, which he paid
them by certain things he gave them in their stead. Also they brought
him water on their camels, and gave him meat and made him a sufficiency
of good reception; and above all they showed such confidence that
without any hesitancy so many entered into the caravel, that he was not
very well pleased, and would not consent that any more should enter; but
at last, without causing them[BJ] any injury, he had them put on land,
making an agreement with them that next year, in the month of July, he
would return there, when he would find blacks in abundance, and gold,
and merchandise by which he might gain much profit. Moreover, Gomez
Pirez brought back from that voyage a great many skins of sea-calves,
with the which he loaded his ship and so returned to the kingdom.[N159]
[Footnote BJ: The blacks.]