conqueror in all the things which are committed to you, and have no
fear of the forces of the numerous Moors, and mounted on a horse you
do not fear storms, and you go armed with faith; neither are you one
who is conquered by concealed things, and you go armed with the truth
of the Gospel, and so you sustain yourself on the edge of the banner
of the cross: and for ever thanks be to God for the said faith which
procured us our joy, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of the
coming to us which you have come, and have announced your good embassy
of your sovereign king Don Manuel; and with your present and peace,
which you accomplished with so much fatigue in the ships, and upon
the sea, with great winds and storms both by sea and land, coming to
kill the Moors and Pagans by such distant journeys; and your ships are
steered and directed wherever you wish, which is a miraculous thing:
and we are amazed at your having gone for two years, at sea and in war,
and with so much fatigue, without resting either day or night. That
which it is usual to do, is done by day, and by day merchandise is
bought and sold, and travelling is done; the night is for men to sleep
and rest themselves, as the Scripture says. The day is for men to do
their business from the morning till night. And the lion’s cub only
scratches the earth and seeks[271] and prays to God that it may find
food; and when the sun rises it returns to its den. And the customs of
men are like those of animals: the animals exist from the beginning of
the world, and you were not conquered by not sleeping at night, nor by
day with the sun, from love of the true faith, as St. Paul says. Who
will it be that will contradict these words. Sickness or suffering,
hunger or cruelty, knife or sword, fatigue or anything else, cannot
part us from the faith of Christ, in which we truly believe in death
and in life. The great lords and rich men, when they are sent with an
embassage of that which was good by day, it is a very deep thing; there
is not one who can separate us from Jesus Christ. The apostle moreover
says: Blessed is the man who is humble and endures good and evil, and
in conclusion deserves to take the crown of life, and God promised him
that which was his desire. There are some men who desire to attempt
and care for one thing, God chooses another. God does not select a man
for bad things. Now may God fulfil your desire, and give you safety,
and bring you to the King Don Manuel your sovereign; and those whom
you have conquered, carry them before you, with their spoils, that is
of the Pagans who are not in the faith of Jesus Christ. May this be
for good; and your men-at-arms may they be blessed, like you; because
they are martyrs for Jesus Christ, who die for his holy name of cold
and heat, with labours and fatigues; and you and they, may God conduct
you with health and peace to see the face of your sovereign King Don
Manuel. I heard, Sir, and I had heard what you had told us, how you
arrived at our country, and there was great joy as when one takes a
large booty; and when they told me that you had gone away, there was
great sadness. After that, when they told me that your ambassador was
coming, and of your good will up to this day, I am in great pleasure,
and blessed be the name of God the Father, one only God, and of our
Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world. And they came to me, and
I heard your reputation from afar; and now may God maintain you that
you have made friendship with me. May your goodness now be fulfilled
in that which I desire, and do you send me masters of working gold
and silver, of making swords, and weapons of iron and helmets, and
masons to make houses, and masters to make vineyards and gardens, and
all other masters that are necessary, and of the best arts that are
named, and to make lead to cover churches, and to make earthen tiles
in our country, so that we may not cover our houses with thatch: of
this we have great necessity, and we are very sad at not possessing
them. I have built a very large church which is named Trinity, in which
I have buried my father, whose soul may it be in God’s keeping; and
your ambassadors will tell you how good its walls are, and I wished
to cover it in great haste, because it is covered with thatch. I tell
you this for the love of God to send me the total of these masters,
which is ten of each art. On account of this your masters will neither
be diminished nor increased. As long as they like to remain they may
remain, and if they should wish to return I will pay them their work,
and I will let them go in peace. And now hear another word: I send you
there those Franks who were here, and who were going about as Moors in
the country of Cairo; I made Christians of them, and they will show the
road to Zeila and Aden, and Mekkah, and Masua, as they know it well.
On this account let your heart be glad, and I rejoice at that which
is in your desire, and I write to you for the sake of the embassage
which you sent, which says that you wish to build a church and a fort
in the island of Masua, and you ask me for leave to do it: I give you
permission to make a church and a castle in Masua and in Dalaqua, and
to put priests in the churches, and strong men to guard the castles,
from fear of the Moors, dirty sons of Mahomed. Do this quickly before
you go to India, and do not give yourselves leisure in this, nor go to
India until you have made a church and a castle. For all this we will
praise you, I and the King Don Manuel your sovereign, because God has
been pleased that we should love one another. And make a market where
they buy and sell merchandise, and do not allow Moors to buy and sell,
but Christians. And if you wish that Moors should buy and sell there,
let it be as you please and with your license. And after you have done
this in Masua, come to Zeila and make there a church and castle, as
I said before. This town of Zeila is a port of much provisions for
Aden and all parts of Arabia, and many other countries and kingdoms;
and those kingdoms and lands have no other favour except what comes
to them from Zeila. When this is done which I send you word to do,
you will have the kingdom of Aden in your hand, and all Arabia, and
many other countries and kingdoms, without war nor death of people,
because you will take all their provisions and they will be starved.
When you wish to make war upon the Moors, send and tell me, and what
you want or have need of; and I will send you horsemen and archers,
and I will be with you, and we will defeat the Moors and Pagans justly
for the faith, I and you. When you wish to go to India, leave Don
Rodrigo de Lima as captain of Masua, and let not your ambassadors
omit to go and come whenever there is anything suspicious there.
These who now are going are the first who came here; the ambassadors
of your embassage are great and good, and they love one another well
in spite of their faults; and do to them much good for the sake of
their goodness, especially to Don Rodrigo de Lima, who is very good,
excepting his faults, and that he does not speak much with his lips,
and he is remarkable for making himself good, better than all, and he
is a servant to be trusted; do good to him, and he is a servant of the
blessing. To Padre Francisco give twice as many thanks, because he is
a holy man, honest, and of good conscience for the love of God: I know
his disposition, and I gave him a cross and a staff of his lordship
into his hand: this is a sign of his lordship, and he is an abbot in
our country: and do you increase him and make him lord of Masua and
Zeila and all the isles of the Red Sea, and of the extremities of our
countries, because he is sufficient for, and deserving of such an
office. Also, with regard to Joam Escolar the clerk, I have complied
with his desire and wishes, because he is always at the king’s
service, do to him as may be best for him, because he is a man of very
good condition, and he laboured much in the writing of this, and in
things which had to be done. To the rest of the embassy do them good,
from the small to the great, according to what each is, and give them
their reward. Our Lord give you his peace for the service of virtue,
and do good to you and to all that are with you. Do good to them, and
may the Lord illuminate you and them with his grace. May God assist our
brothers, those who love one another well, and all those who persist
in it; God is with them, and may He be with you and succour you in all
cases; and may your feet be together on the road, and keep you from
the evil eye, and keep you from the waves of the sea, and your ships
from the storms, and you in life in all times without any sickness, and
keep you in all hours of the day and night, in winter and summer, _in
secula seculorum, amen_. I send you my blessing, but not by this
letter only, as I am accustomed so to send it; and I excuse myself in
this, and remember you, and that in all the houses of Christians and
churches which were built by our ancestors, the prayer which we make
says thus: “We will pray for that which we want of the Lord God and
Jesus Christ his Son for those who come in pilgrimage, our brothers,
and those also who have come this pilgrimage by sea or rivers or lakes
or difficult roads, wherever it may be. To Thee they belong; God bring
them and conduct them in safety with a smooth sea: the Lord sustain
them all.” So the deacons say, praying for the priests, and in another
part the priests say: “God be with you, because He is with all, and
we ask for that which He has for good, and we ask for those who are
brothers in dangers, and they are so now, and they come in pilgrimage a
straight road with those of the road which they desire, and that we may
soon find what we desire, may the Lord give it us.” The deacon says,
and all the people say: “Lord God have mercy upon us.” So says the
third priest: “May God bring them in safety on a smooth sea, and bring
them to their relations with pleasure and peace which they desire, and
may they see pleasure by His Son Jesus Christ. May He be with you, and
you with Him, and with the Holy Spirit, which is eternal glory, now and
for ever _in secula seculorum, amen_.”
“So, as I say, prayer is made in all the churches and hours of the
offices, with incense, not for you alone, but for all of us, that He
may be with us in pilgrimage, and that this pilgrimage should not come
to us, but over the sea inside our country as in yours; for the sake
of this do you make prayer in this office so that you may be saved,
and that you may be against bad men, and that bad imaginations may
not enter you. And while you live, in order to defeat the Moors and
Pagans, those who do not believe in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
I will send assistance to make war, and many men and provisions and
gold: not only to Masua, but to Zeila and Adel, and all the countries
of the infidels, defeating the sons of Mahomed, the heretics. With the
assistance of the Queen St. Mary our Lady I have defeated them, and we
will defeat them. You will come by sea, and we will go by land together
with consultation, with the strength of the most Holy Trinity.”
CAP. III.--_Of the voyage we made from Ormuz to India, as far as
Cochim._
We left Ormuz with the captain-major, Governor Lopo Vaz de Sampayo,
in his fleet, because Hector da Silveira had already sailed with his
galloons and fleet to wait for the Mekkah ships which had wintered
at Aden, as has been said; and coming out of the strait of Ormuz, we
already met the wild winter weather of India, which could be navigated
without a storm, and we went to the fortress of Chaul, which belongs to
the king our sovereign, a country which is very strong and flourishing,
of much wheat, which comes from Cambay, and much meat of the country,
namely, cows, rams, fowls, fish, an infinite quantity of shad fish, and
very good, and the rest remain in the canals, (where the ship sunk with
Don Lorenzo d’Almeida, a great knight, son of the Viceroy Don Francisco
d’Almeida), many Indian figs, large vegetable gardens and delicacies,
all made by the Portuguese. Many days did not pass but what Hector da
Silveira, who was waiting with his fleet for the Mekkah ships, came and
brought three ships as prizes, very large and rich, with much gold,
because as yet they did not bring merchandize, and they came for it
to India. All the Moors that they captured in them (and the fortress
was full of them), those that were young and able for the galleys, all
were taken for the king our sovereign for his galleys, and they were
taken at a price of ten cruzados each, for such is his regulation. And
the other old men or who were not able, they gave them also for ten
cruzados to whoever wanted them for ransom, or to make use of them.
Among these that were taken in the prizes came many Jews, among whom
was an old Jew who had done honour and given hospitality in his house
to some Portuguese who had been lost in the kingdom of Fartaque,[272]
they went about the country like desperate men, asking the way to
Ormuz, and God brought them to the house of this Jew. The Jew took them
in and gave them food and drink and stuffs to cover themselves with,
and some money for the road. The Lord was pleased that this benefaction
of his should not pass without a reward. One of the men to whom the Jew
did this good happened to be here, and to know him in a prison where he
was lying with others; and he was a man who was poor enough, a native
of Viseu: compassion and virtue worked in him, and remembering what
he had received from the Jew, he went to the captain-major and told
him that the Jew had done much good to him and to other Portuguese,
in the kingdom of Fartaque, and had given them their lives, and that
he was now a captive with the Moors that Hector da Silveira had taken
in the prizes, and that he was very old and not fit for the galleys,
and that he himself had no money with which to buy him, and that he
entreated his lordship to give this Jew to him on account of his pay
for ten cruzados, as they gave for the others. The captain-major sent
for the Jew and told him to look and see if he knew any men of those
who stood there. Looking at all of them, he pointed out the one who
had been in his house, and to whom and to others he had done good.
Then the captain-major granted this Jew to that poor man for the good
which he had done to him and to the Moors who went with him in that
voyage and storm, in which they had come to his house. This man took
the Jew by the hand, and went with him among the Portuguese relating
the benefit which he had received from him, as also other Portuguese
who were not present, and he collected fifty pardaos of alms for him.
All Christians, Moors, and Jews said publicly that no other good act
received thanks, and that there was no other recompense except for what
was done to the Portuguese; and so they would do good to them when
they fell in with them in their own countries. We sailed from here
and arrived at the city of Goa on Saturday, the 25th of November, the
vigil of St. Catherine; and because this city was taken from the Moors
and Gentiles on St. Catherine’s day, on the Sunday,[273] which was St.
Catherine’s day, they made a very great and solemn procession, with
all the plays and festivities which are customary in Portugal on the
day of Corpus Christi. Prester John’s ambassador and certain friars
who came with him from his country said that here they completed their
belief and knowledge that we were Christians since we made so solemn
a procession. We did not remain in this city more than three days.
Prester John’s ambassador left in this city of Goa four slaves, namely,
two to be taught to be painters, and two others to be trumpeters, and
the captain-major ordered maintenance to be given them and that they
should be taught. We sailed for Cananor and remained there six days;
the ambassador and the friars there also rejoiced at seeing the chapel
of Jacob, which Matheus had ordered to be built, and the honoured
bell which lies over his tomb. From the fortress and town of Cananor
we sailed by this sea on the way to Cochim: on reaching it we found
Antonio Galvam, son of Duarte Galvam, the ambassador who was going to
Prester John and who died in Camaran, whose remains I was bringing
with me. I sent word to his son how I was bringing them: he rejoiced
much and begged me not to bring them on shore, because he wished to
come for them with a procession; which he did with all the clergy and
friars of the city, and the confraternities with all their tapers. He
ordered an honourable memorial service to be performed in the monastery
of St. Anthony, with offerings of sacks of wheat and barrels of wine.
And because the seamen would hesitate about carrying dead bodies in the
ship,[274] they made a small recess on the Gospel side, close to the
high altar, so that it should seem that the box in which the remains
were was put in there, and when the people had gone they closed the
recess and the box remained outside. As Antonio Galvam was captain of
a ship which was going to Portugal, he had the box with his father’s
remains taken to his ship. All the time that we remained at Cochim was
spent in loading three ships and getting ready the people who were to
go. Each ship, when it had got its cargo of pepper and cloves, sailed
for Cananor, which is thirty leagues from Cochim, to take in ginger and
provisions of biscuit and fish, and also palm wine and gunpowder. All
the three ships assembled at Cananor in the beginning of January, and
one of the three ships sailed at once.
CAP. IV.--_Of the voyage we made from Cananor to Lisbon, and of
what happened to us by the way._
The ship which first reached Cananor of those which loaded in Cochim,
the captain of which was Tristan Vaz da Veiga, in which went the
ambassadors Don Rodrigo de Lima and Licacanate, ambassador of the
Prester, first took what was necessary in that fortress, namely,
ginger, biscuit, arrak, fish, and she sailed on the 4th of January of
1527 for Portugal. The ship of which Antonio Galvam was captain, and in
which I went on account of his friendship, arrived at port after the
first which had already sailed, so they at once equipped us, and we
sailed on the 18th of January for Portugal; and according to what they
told us, the ship which had remained in the port of Cananor, taking in
what it had to take sailed fifteen days after us, which was twenty-nine
days after the departure of the first ship, which went out of port
before us. Each ship made its course full speed as God might assist
them, without first talking of waiting for one another. On the morning
of the 2nd of April the look-out man of our ship, who slept in the top,
began to say, “There is a ship a-head of us a distance of two leagues”.
All those who still slept arose, and with those who were already up we
placed ourselves in the castles to look with much amazement what ship
it might be, because we were very far out in the middle of the sea.
When it was clear day they knew that she was Portuguese, and one from
India. Upon this the look-out man said he saw a ship astern of us.
The ship which went in front having knowledge of us, as we had of her,
began to wait until we approached and saluted her, and she us. Then the
ship which came astern was well in sight, and the two ships agreed to
wait for her, and towards night she reached us. There was much pleasure
among the crews of the three ships, asking one another how they had
fared, and asking the foremost ships if anything had happened to them,
or how they had not sailed faster. They said, or we said, that we had
sailed as much as we had been able, without anything happening to us
by the way; and all in good health, God be praised. Here we went in
convoy, and sailed together for three days. And because the ship named
_Sta. Maria do Espinheiro_, Captain Antonio Galvam, in which I
went, heeled over a great deal, and did not sail as fast as the others,
one day early in the morning one of the ships was a long way off, and
the other waited for us to speak us. When we reached her and saluted
her, she said that the other ship which had gone a-head, and she, asked
our pardon, but they could not wait for us, because they saw our ship
heel so much that it seemed to them that we could not go to Portugal.
We remained very disconsolate, and they went on their course. We made
our course for the island of St. Helena to take in water there. The
two ships which had left us fetched the said island, and we on Easter
Sunday, which was the 21st of April 1527 ran by the island in the night
which ended on Monday. And as at midnight, a little more or less, there
came a heavy shower, some said that then we ran by the island, because
the shower came from the land; others said that it was still a-head of
us. We remained some days in this doubt, until we saw signs that we
were beyond the island, and we ran very short of water; already we did
not boil anything from want of water. Here the Lord succoured us with
his mercy, giving us three days and three nights heavy rain, during
which much good water was taken. They took thirty pipes of water for
the ship, and for me they took three, and so also each one took what he
wanted in whatever he had got, and we remained with abundance of water.
From this time forward we made our usual meals. When we were near the
island of Terceira we sighted a ship, and we feared much, thinking that
she might be French. This ship fell off from the island to seaward, and
we got as close in shore as we could; and then they sighted from our
top a canoe[275] in which were men castaway, and they launched another
canoe from our ship, which they had brought from India, and some seamen
and shipboys went to it and took the canoe and nine persons that were
in it, namely, five white men and four slaves, who were half dead; for
the canoe had capsized with them because it is long and narrow and
all of one piece of timber. They placed all these men thrown one upon
another as they could not move, and had all been overflowed with water.
On reaching the ship they seemed more dead than alive. They at once
stripped them and put on them dry clothes, and some of them in beds,
others by the fire, and some spoke three hours after that, others four
hours, and others next day. Next day at dawn we made the port of the
island Terceira, where we found caravels which were waiting for ships,
and also alarmed at the ships which appeared at sea, thinking they were
French, as they ran by the island, and were thinking of going to them.
Upon this, the men whom we had picked up, and who were now somewhat in
their senses and wits, said that those were the Portuguese ships which
came from India and had separated from our company, and that they had
sent them in the canoe to buy some fowls at an island where they were
cheap, and the canoe had capsized with them, and they did not know what
had become of the ships. After we had been five days at anchor in the
port, the said two ships reached the port, and they told how they had
run by so much that they could not make the island, and if it had not
been on account of the king our sovereign, and fear of the French, they
would have made their course for Portugal. They gave great thanks to
God for saving their men and slaves, and also for our coming, swearing
that they had left us for lost on account of our ship heeling so much,
and they entreated us for the love of God to pardon them. They also
told us that on Saturday, vigil of Easter, they made the island of St.
Helena, and we told them that on the night of Easter Sunday, dawning
on Monday, we had run by it with a shower. They also said that it
rained there that night. We remained at Terceira eighteen days waiting
for a carvel which was at the mine, and ships from the islands of St.
Thomas and Cape Verde and from Brazil, for such was the regulation. The
carvels that we waited for had to go together with the fleet that it
might be secure from the French, and though this island is the mother
of wheat it was very dear: and this was caused by its raining every day
and not allowing of reaping, and still less carrying what was reaped.
As soon as we reached this island they at once sent a carvel with a
message and news of our arrival to the king our sovereign. When the
ships that we were waiting for had assembled, we made our course for
Lisbon, and one morning that we sighted Portugal and were not very far
from land, we were still three days without being able to fetch the
port, and with fear of running by it, and going to Gallicia. The Lord
was pleased that on the 24th of July, which was the vigil of St. James,
we entered the bar of Lisbon, and before we reached it, at Cascaes a
carvel came out with a message from the king, saying, that His Highness
ordered that those who came with the embassy of the Prester John were
not to land in Lisbon, because it was prevented by the pestilence. In
this carvel there came a servant of the king, who was to provide us
with boats at Santarem, and pay expenses as far as Coimbra where His
Highness was. This day we entered and anchored in front of the city of
Lisbon, which gave us much pleasure.
CAP. V.--_Of the journey we made from Lisbon to Coimbra, and how
we remained at Çarnache._