WILLEM ADRIAAN VAN DER STEL
AND OTHER HISTORICAL SKETCHES
WILLEM ADRIAAN VAN
DER STEL
AND
OTHER HISTORICAL SKETCHES
BY
GEORGE McCALL THEAL, LITT.D., LL.D.
CAPETOWN
THOMAS MASKEW MILLER, PUBLISHER
1913
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BECCLES
CONTENTS
SKETCH I.
PAGE
EXPLORATION BY THE PORTUGUESE OF THE WESTERN COAST OF
AFRICA AND DISCOVERY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE 3
SKETCH II.
I. FIRST VOYAGES OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH TO INDIA.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS 35
II. THE WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS TO THE UNION OF UTRECHT 62
III. CONTINUATION OF THE WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS UNTIL 1606 91
IV. THE WAR ON THE SEA BETWEEN SPAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS 116
V. THE TRUCE WITH SPAIN AND ENGLISH RIVALRY 149
SKETCH III.
I. GOVERNOR WILLEM ADRIAAN VAN DER STEL 171
II. ORDINARY EVENTS DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR
WILLEM ADRIAAN VAN DER STEL 187
III. FAITHLESS CONDUCT OF THE GOVERNOR 207
IV. PROCEEDINGS IN THE NETHERLANDS REGARDING GOVERNOR
WILLEM ADRIAAN VAN DER STEL 234
SKETCH IV.
I. CHRONICLES OF TWO LEADERS OF THE GREAT EMIGRATION,
LOUIS TRIEGARD AND PIETER UYS 253
II. PIETER LAVRAS UYS 275
SYNOPTICAL INDEX.
SKETCH I. 295
SKETCH II. 310
SKETCH III. 314
SKETCH IV. 321
I.
_Exploration by the Portuguese of the Western Coast of Africa and
Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, including a short Sketch of the
early History of Portugal._
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
SKETCH I.
EXPLORATION BY THE PORTUGUESE OF THE WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA AND
DISCOVERY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
The discovery of an ocean route from Europe to India, followed by the
establishment of the Portuguese as the preponderating power in the East,
is one of the greatest events in the history of the world. It is not too
much to say that every state of Central and Western Europe was affected
by it. The time was critical, for the Turks were then menacing
Christendom, and if they had secured a monopoly of the Indian trade
their wealth and strength would have been so augmented that it is
doubtful whether they might not have succeeded in entering Vienna in
1529. As yet the Moslem power was divided, for Egypt was still under the
independent Mameluke rulers, and the greater portion of the Indian
products that found their way to Europe was obtained by the Venetians at
Alexandria. To that city they were conveyed in boats down the Nile from
Cairo, after being carried by camels from the shore of the Red sea,
whither they were brought by ships from the coast of Malabar. From this
traffic Alexandria had thriven greatly, and from it too Venice,--whose
merchants distributed over Europe the silk and cotton fabrics, gems,
pepper, and spices of the East,--had become wealthy and powerful. That
portion of the Indian merchandise which was brought overland by caravans
from the Persian gulf to the Mediterranean coast was under the control
of the Turks, and a few years later, when in 1517 the sultan Selim
overthrew the Mamelukes and made Egypt a province of his dominions, the
whole would have been theirs if the Portuguese had not just in time
forestalled them.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
In the early years of the fifteenth century the Christian nations were
little acquainted with distant countries, America and Australia were
entirely unknown, Eastern Asia was very imperfectly laid down on the
maps, and the greater part of Africa had never been explored. This
continent might have terminated north of the equator, for anything that
the most learned men in Europe knew with certainty to the contrary. They
had only the map of Ptolemy and perhaps that of Edrisi as their guide,
and these were extremely vague as regards its southern part, and, as is
now known, were most incorrect.
The little kingdom of Portugal at the south-western extremity of Europe
was more favourably situated than any other Christian state for
prosecuting discovery along the western coast of Africa, though its
shipping was small in quantity compared with that of either Venice,
Genoa, the Hanseatic league, or the Netherland dominions of the dukes of
Burgundy. A glance at its history may not be uninteresting, and will
show how it came to embark in maritime exploration.[1]
In Portugal, as throughout Southern Europe, and as in South Africa,
great numbers of ancient stone implements are found of such rude
workmanship as to prove that the men who made and used them were savages
of a very low type, and there is further evidence that they were cave
dwellers. In South Africa the primitive race has continued to exist
until our own times, but in Portugal it disappeared ages ago, no one can
do more than conjecture how or when.
Later, but still in the far distant past, the whole of the Iberian
peninsula came to be inhabited by the race of men of whom the Basques
are the present representatives, but whether they succeeded immediately
to the palæolithic savages, or whether some other people came between
them, is as yet unknown. The Basques in Europe correspond to the early
Egyptians and the light coloured men of the North African coast, so that
in speaking of them we are speaking of a race that led the van of
civilisation at a very remote period in the history of the world.
[Sidenote: The Romans in Spain.]
Next to appear in the Iberian peninsula were the Celts, by whom the
earlier inhabitants of the south and centre were destroyed, though
probably some few were incorporated. Those living in the mountainous
region in the north, particularly in the western part of the Pyrenees
and along the adjoining coast of the bay of Biscay, however, managed to
hold their own, and their descendants are found in those localities at
the present day. The Phœnicians and Carthaginians followed long
afterwards, and occupied many stations in the southern section of the
peninsula, but never succeeded in establishing their authority in the
northern part of the country. The Greeks also are believed by some
historians to have formed trading stations at the mouths of the rivers
on the western coast as well as on the Mediterranean shore, and it has
even been supposed that Lisbon was founded by a Hellenic colony, though
that seems to be extremely doubtful.
In the Punic wars the Romans obtained assistance in Spain, by which name
the entire peninsula is meant, and in the year B.C. 206 the
Carthaginians were finally expelled from the country. But now the Romans
turned their arms against the Spaniards, and after a long struggle
succeeded in establishing their authority over the Celtic part of the
country, though insurrections were frequent, and it was only in the time
of Augustus that the Basque section was subdued and the whole peninsula
was reduced to perfect obedience.
During the next four centuries Spain became thoroughly Romanised, to
such an extent indeed that not only the arts, customs, laws, and
municipal institutions, but even the language of Rome came into general
use, and that language is the basis of the tongue of the Celtic portion
of the people at the present day. The Christian religion also, which had
become that of the ruling power, was firmly adopted. No conquerors ever
left their impression upon a whole people more thoroughly than the
Romans left theirs upon the inhabitants of the greater portion of the
Spanish peninsula.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
So matters went on until the early years of the fifth century of our
era, when the Western Empire was overrun by hordes of warlike intruders
pressing down from the north, and the Alani, the Vandals, and the Suevi
made their way over the Pyrenees, and took possession of Spain. They
were followed by the Visigoths, when the Vandals and most of the Alani
went on to Africa, the Suevi remaining in Galicia and part of Old
Castile, and the Gothic monarchy of Spain was established. These Goths
held the Romanised Celts in subjection, and lived among them as an
aristocracy, but soon adopted their language, when the two peoples
blended into one.
Three centuries passed away, and then another race of conquerors
appeared. The Arabs, under the influence of the religion of Mohamed, had
overrun Egypt and the whole northern coast of Africa to the Atlantic
ocean, converting everywhere the people to their faith. In the second
decade of the eighth century one of their armies passed from Africa by
way of Gibraltar into Spain, and speedily overran the whole peninsula
except the Basque territory in the north. For a long series of years
they were not harsh conquerors, and by their love of learning, their
splendid schools, and the beauty of their architecture unquestionably
did much to improve the subject people. The Christians were not
compelled to renounce their religion, and their persons and property
were protected by the law. For a time the country was subject to the
caliph of Damascus, and later to an independent caliph of Cordova, but
at length, in the first years of the eleventh century, the Mohamedan
government broke into fragments, and an era of misrule and fanaticism on
both sides commenced. The Gothic nobles from the first had chafed under
foreign supremacy, and within fifty years of the conquest the little
Christian state of the north had begun to expand. Now a struggle between
the Christians and the Mohamedans set in, a struggle which lasted for
centuries and which drenched the land with blood, which spread
desolation far and wide, but created a people inspired with boundless
energy and prepared to undertake the most formidable enterprises. The
Mohamedans were aided by fanatics from Africa, mostly of Berber blood,
and large numbers of crusaders, among whom were many Englishmen, came to
the assistance of the Christians.
[Sidenote: The Kingdom of Portugal.]
A number of little Christian states, sometimes united under one head, at
other times independent of each other, came into existence in the
northern part of the peninsula, and in A.D. 1095 a small section of the
present territory of Portugal, that had been recovered from the
Mohamedans by Alfonso, king of Leon and Castile, was formed into a
county for the benefit of a Burgundian noble named Henrique, who married
Theresa, a natural daughter of the king. The county was called Portugal,
from o Porto, the Port, at the mouth of the river Douro. With this event
the history of Portugal, as distinct from the other sections of the
Spanish peninsula, commences. The county certainly remained a fief of
Leon until the 25th of July 1139, on which day the memorable battle of
Ourique was fought. Affonso, who had succeeded his father Henrique as
count of Portugal, crossed the Tagus, marched far into the Moslem
domains, and defeated with great slaughter five emirs who had united
their forces against him. The old Portuguese historians assert that
after the victory Affonso was proclaimed king by his army, and that a
cortes which assembled at Lamego confirmed the title, but recent
criticism throws doubt upon these statements as being merely legendary.
The latest writers assert that it was in war with his suzerain that
Affonso acquired his independence, and that the cortes did not meet at
Lamego until 1211. At any rate, it is certain that the son of Henrique
styled himself king in 1140, and that in 1143 Pope Innocent the Second
confirmed the title.
After this the waves of war rolled backward and forward over the land,
but in 1147 Affonso got possession of the important city of Santarem,
which was never again lost. In the same year also, with the aid of a
strong body of English crusaders, he seized Lisbon, though it was not
made the national capital until the reign of João I. During the
remainder of his life and that of his son Sancho, who succeeded him, the
Tagus was the southern boundary of Portugal, and the province of
Alemtejo was a debatable land, sometimes overrun by one party, sometimes
by the other. In 1211 Sancho died, and was succeeded by his son Affonso
II, and he again in 1223 by his son Sancho II, during whose reigns a
steady though slow and frequently interrupted advance was made in the
conquest of Alemtejo. Sancho II was despoiled of his kingdom by his
brother Affonso III, and in 1248 died in exile. In 1250 the emirate of
the Algarves was overrun, and was held as a fief of Castile until 1263,
when it was ceded to Portugal in full sovereignty. The country then for
the first time after a struggle of one hundred and sixty-eight years
from the formation of the northern county, acquired its present
dimensions, which it has retained inviolate ever since. The title King
of Portugal and of the Algarves, assumed by Affonso III, was
subsequently borne by all the monarchs of the country.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
In 1279 Affonso III was succeeded by his son Diniz, who died in 1325,
and was followed on the throne by his son Affonso IV. He was succeeded
in 1357 by his son Pedro, who was followed in 1367 by his son Fernando,
the last monarch of the Burgundian dynasty, who died on the 22nd of
October 1383. Under the government of these kings the Portuguese had
become a fairly wealthy and prosperous commercial people, without losing
any of the martial spirit or fierce energy that they had acquired during
their long wars with the Mohamedans. Fernando died without male heirs,
and his daughter, being married to the king of Castile, was by a
fundamental law excluded from the crown. His widow, the infamous Dona
Leonor, asserted a claim to act as regent for her daughter, but owing to
her profligate habits and her remorseless cruelty she was detested by
the people, who were extremely averse to union or even association with
Castile, and she was expelled.
The leader of the popular party was Dom João, Grand Master of the Order
of Saint Benedict of Avis, a man of remarkable ability, who was an
illegitimate son of King Pedro by Theresa Lourenço. The Castilian
monarch invaded Portugal with a great army and laid siege to Lisbon, but
pestilence broke out in his camp, and he was driven back with heavy
loss. On the 6th of April 1385 the cortes, which had assembled at
Coimbra, the ancient capital, elected the Grand Master of the Order of
Avis king of Portugal. Still the sovereign of Castile might have
succeeded in conquering the country if John of Gaunt, son of Edward III
of England, had not come to its aid with five thousand men. The marriage
of King João with Philippa, eldest daughter of John of Gaunt, cemented
his alliance with England, with which country he had concluded a treaty
of close friendship. Thus the illustrious dynasty of Avis, under whose
leadership the little kingdom held such a proud position in Europe, came
to occupy the throne of Portugal.
[Sidenote: The Dynasty of Avis.]
During the long reign of João I the kingdom continued to prosper. The
policy pursued was to maintain a firm alliance with England, to carry on
commerce with that country, and to avoid connection of any kind with the
other states of the peninsula. Learning was encouraged by the king, and
Portuguese literature may be said to date from this period. If the
martial ardour of the people was relaxing by long peace, it was revived
in 1415 by the prosecution of war with the Moors on the North African
coast, when the strong position of Ceuta, opposite Gibraltar, was taken.
João I died in 1433, and was succeeded by his eldest legitimate son,
Duarte by name. Affonso, an illegitimate son by Ines Pires, who was
created count of Barcellos by his father, and duke of Bragança by his
nephew Affonso V, was the ancestor of the sovereigns of Portugal from
1640 to 1910.
Duarte was an excellent king, but his short reign was marked by a great
disaster. In 1437 an attack upon Tangier failed, and the fourth
legitimate son of João I, Dom Fernando, became a prisoner. As he could
only obtain his liberty by the restoration of Ceuta to the Moors, he
remained a captive, and died at Fez in 1443.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
King Duarte died in 1438, when his son and heir, Affonso V, was only six
years of age. Dom Pedro, duke of Coimbra, second son of João I and
Philippa of Lancaster, then became regent, but ten years later the young
king took the government into his own hands. He was a scholar and a
patron of literature, but was somewhat reckless and unstable in
character. He carried on war with the Moors of Northern Africa, and took
several towns from them, after which he turned his arms against Castile,
in hope of obtaining possession of that kingdom, but was utterly
defeated in 1476 in the battle of Toro, and in 1481 died, leaving the
throne of Portugal to his son João II.
The new king was twenty-six years of age when he succeeded his father.
Though inclined to be a despot, he was one of the wisest and ablest
princes that ever sat on the throne of Portugal. His great object was to
reduce the power of the nobles, who under the feudal system of
government were really masters of the country, and he therefore
instituted an inquiry into the nature of their tenures, which provoked
their resentment. First among them was the third duke of Bragança, who
was lord of many towns, and owned more than one-fourth of the whole
territory of the kingdom. He was arrested, and after a trial for
treasonable correspondence with a foreign state, was executed. This was
followed by the death of the duke of Viseu, who was stabbed by the
king’s own hand, of the bishop of Evora, who was thrown down a well, and
by the execution of about eighty of the most powerful noblemen in the
country. Their estates were confiscated, though in some instances
partially restored to their heirs, the vast authority they had possessed
was broken for ever, and João II became an absolute monarch, though a
benevolent and excellent one. He was a patron of learned men, a promoter
of commerce, a just administrator, and in every way open to him he
endeavoured to improve the condition of the people. He died at Alvor in
the Algarves on the 25th of October 1495, to the grief of his subjects,
who termed him the perfect king.
[Sidenote: Defective Knowledge of Europeans.]
It was during the reigns of the sovereigns of the dynasty of Avis that
the Portuguese led the way in those geographical discoveries which have
conferred such lustre upon the little kingdom. When João I ascended the
throne Europeans knew far less of the western coast of Africa than was
known by the Carthaginians five centuries before the Christian era, and
of the southern and eastern coasts they were absolutely ignorant. The
Arabs, Persians, and Indians were far more enlightened in this respect
than were the people of Europe. Whether there were other writings in
ancient times upon the shores of the Indian ocean than the _Voyage of
Nearchus_ and the _Periplus of the Erythrean Sea_ is very doubtful, for
if there were they would most likely have been in the great library of
Alexandria,[2] to which Ptolemy had access, and of South-Eastern Africa
he knew nothing at all. There is the most conclusive evidence that in
very ancient times some nations frequented the eastern shore of the
continent at least as far down as Cape Correntes,[3] but no accounts of
their discoveries were extant in the fifteenth century, nor are there
any to-day. The writings of even the Arabs and Persians after the time
of Mohamed appear to have been unknown in Western Europe when the
Portuguese commenced their explorations, so that to them, if the
imperfect information contained in the geography of Ptolemy be excepted,
all that was beyond Cape Nun from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean was a
vast blank which it might be hazardous in the extreme to attempt to
examine.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
The ships of the fifteenth century were ill-fitted also for long
voyages. Though capable of withstanding heavy seas, they were clumsily
rigged, and were without the mechanical appliances of the present day.
In proportion to their tonnage they needed so many men to work them that
a great deal of space was taken up with food and fresh water, and of
comfort on board there was none. They could make the passage from Lisbon
to London with fruit and wine without difficulty, but it was a very
different thing to sail along an unknown coast, with no harbour in front
where fresh provisions and water could be obtained. The compass, which
is believed to have been in use in an imperfect form in China as far
back as two thousand six hundred years before Christ, had recently
become known in Western Europe, and about the beginning of the
fourteenth century had been so greatly improved by Flavio Gioja, of
Amalphi, that navigation had benefited greatly by it. But the compass,
though enabling ships to steer safely between frequented ports, was not
of much assistance in the exploration of seas never visited before,
though it might be on the return passage. The instrument for determining
latitudes at sea was exceedingly crude and imperfect, and for
ascertaining longitudes no means whatever were known, so that it was
only by computing the direction and the distance run that a navigator
could form an opinion as to where he was. Add to this the current belief
of seamen that the sun’s heat in the south was so great that it caused
the water to boil and thick vapour to obscure the sky, which was always
as dark as night. There was a legend that the crew of a ship that had
made the venture had actually seen the region of eternal gloom, and had
got away from it only by a miracle. In the minds of common mariners the
ocean beyond Cape Nun was as wild and dreadful as that beyond Cape
Correntes was to the Arabs of the eastern coast. Thus it was a task not
only of discomfort, but of peril and dread, to proceed beyond the known
part of the coast.
[Sidenote: Prince Henry the Navigator.]
The discoveries of the Portuguese were largely the result of the genius
and ability of a prince of their royal house, Henrique by name, known in
European history as Henry the Navigator. He was the third son of João I
and Philippa of Lancaster, and was therefore a nephew of Henry IV of
England. Two objects engrossed the attention of the Infante Dom
Henrique: the conversion of the heathen to Christianity, and the
discovery of unknown lands, the last of which he believed would greatly
facilitate the former. As a gallant knight he took part in the
expedition against Ceuta in 1415, and there he learned that trade was
carried on with the country south of the Sahara by means of caravans of
camels, and that the coast of the Atlantic in that direction was often
visited. Then he thought that the same coast could more easily be
reached by sea, and he resolved to attempt to do it. In 1418 he took up
his residence at Sagres, close to Cape Saint Vincent, in the Algarves,
the south-western point of Portugal and the very best position in Europe
as a basis for exploration. He was then twenty-four years of age. At
Sagres he built an observatory, established a school of navigation, and
invited the most expert astronomers, mathematicians, and sea-captains
that he could hear of to visit him, that he might consult with them as
to the best means of prosecuting discovery. He was possessed of much
wealth, as he had been created duke of Viseu, to which title large
estates were attached, and he was also Master of the Order of Christ and
governor of the Algarves. His own revenues he spent entirely in the
promotion of his designs, and he was most liberally aided with means by
his father and his brothers.[4]
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
The first exploring expedition sent out is said to have been under the
command of Bartholomeu Perestrello, who discovered the island of Porto
Santo in 1418 or 1419, but the early accounts of this voyage do not
agree with each other, and nothing connected with it is certain.
In 1419 Perestrello was sent again, and with him were two other ships
commanded by João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vas, who had instructions
from Dom Henrique to establish a station on Porto Santo and plant a
garden for the use of future navigators. Perestrello returned to
Portugal from the island, but the other captains planted a plot of
ground, and in 1420 went on to Madeira, which received its name from
them on account of the trees with which it was covered. They then
returned to Porto Santo, and thence to Portugal. Unfortunately they had
put ashore a rabbit with young, and its progeny increased so rapidly
that the continued cultivation of the ground became impossible, so that
Porto Santo was not permanently colonised until several years later. The
accounts of this voyage are also vague and unreliable. In 1425 a
commencement was made in colonising Madeira, and among other useful
plants the vine and the sugar cane were introduced.[5]
[Sidenote: Progress of Discovery.]
In 1432 Gonçalo Velho Cabral, Commander of the Order of Christ,
discovered and named the island Santa Maria in the Azores.
It was most probably in 1434 that an expedition under Gil Eannes doubled
Cape Bojador, though some of the ancient writers assign the date 1428
for this achievement, others 1432, and others again 1433. This was a
great step in advance, for on finding the sea south of the dreaded
headland to be as easily navigated as that on the north, the old terror
of the common people was dispelled, and it was no longer difficult to
obtain men to work the ships. It is not easy therefore to account for
the various dates assigned for this achievement, but exact chronology
does not seem to have been regarded as of much importance when the
chronicles were prepared from oral testimony years after the events took
place. In 1435 the same captain Gil Eannes reached the mouth of the
river do Ouro, to which he gave this name.
In 1441 Nuno Tristão reached Cape Blanco. In 1443 he visited the bay of
Arguim, and returned to Portugal with a number of negro slaves, who were
gladly received as labourers. In 1444 or 1445 Cape Verde was discovered
and named by Diniz Dias.
From this time onward many small vessels left Portugal every year to
trade on the African coast for gold dust, ivory, and particularly for
slaves. All the features of the shore became thoroughly well known, and
were marked on charts as far south as the Rio Grande, but for fifteen
years, until after the death of Dom Henrique--13th of November
1460--discovery practically ceased. The lucrative slave trade occupied
the minds of the sea captains, and ships freighted with negroes taken
captive in raids, or purchased from conquering chiefs, frequently
entered the harbours of Portugal. The commerce in human flesh was
regarded as highly meritorious, because it brought heathens to a
knowledge of Christianity. But never has a mistake or a crime led to
more disastrous results, for to the introduction of negroes as labourers
on the great estates belonging to the nobles and religious orders in
Alemtejo and the Algarves the decline of the kingdom in power and
importance is mainly due. The effects were not visible for many years,
but no one can come in contact with the lower classes in Southern
Portugal to-day without being impressed with the fact that both the
Europeans and the Africans have been ruined by mixture of their blood.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
The exploring expeditions which Dom Henrique never ceased to encourage,
but which the greed of those who were in his service had turned into
slave-hunting voyages, were resumed after his death. In 1461, Pedro de
Cinta, who was sent out by Affonso V, reached the coast of the present
republic of Liberia, and in 1471 Fernando Po crossed the equator.
King João II was as resolute as his grand-uncle the Navigator in
endeavouring to discover an ocean road to India. He had not indeed any
idea of the great consequences that would follow, his object being
simply to divert the eastern trade from Venice to Lisbon, which would be
effected if an unbroken sea route could be found. In 1484 he sent out a
ship under Diogo Cam, which reached the mouth of the Congo, and in the
following year the same officer made a greater advance than any previous
explorer could boast of, for he pushed on southward as far as Cape
Cross, latitude 22°, on the coast of what is now German South-West
Africa, where the marble pillar which he set up to mark the extent of
his voyage remained standing more than four hundred years.
[Sidenote: Expedition under Bartholomeu Dias.]
The next expedition sent in the same direction solved the secret
concerning the meridional extent of the African continent. It was under
the chief command of an officer named Bartholomeu Dias, of whose
previous career unfortunately nothing can now be ascertained except that
he was a gentleman of the king’s household and receiver of customs at
Lisbon when the appointment was conferred upon him, and that he had at
some former time taken part in exploring the coast. The historian João
de Barros states that at the end of August 1486[6] he sailed from the
Tagus with two vessels of about fifty tons each, according to the
Portuguese measurement of the time, though they would probably be rated
much higher now. He had also a small storeship with him, for previous
expeditions had often been obliged to turn back from want of food.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
The officers who were to serve under him were carefully selected, and
were skilful in their professions. They were: Leitão (probably a
nickname) sailing master, and Pedro d’Alanquer pilot of the flag ship;
João Infante captain, João Grego sailing master, and Alvaro Martins
pilot of the São Pantaleão; and Pedro Dias, brother of the commodore,
captain, João Alves sailing master, and João de Santiago pilot of the
storeship. On board the squadron were four negresses--convicts--from the
coast of Guinea, who were to be set ashore at different places to make
discoveries and report to the next white men they should see. This was a
common practice at the time, the persons selected being criminals under
sentence of death, who were glad to escape immediate execution by
risking anything that might befall them in an unknown and barbarous
country. In this instance women were chosen, as it was considered likely
they would be protected by the natives. It was hoped that through their
means a powerful Christian prince called Prester John,[7] who was
believed to reside in the interior, might come to learn of the greatness
of the Portuguese monarchy and that efforts were being made to reach
him, so that he might send messengers to the coast to communicate with
the explorers. King João and his courtiers believed that if this
mythical Prester John could be found, he would point out the way to
India.
Dias, like all preceding explorers, kept close to the coast on his way
southward. Somewhere near the equator he left the storeship with nine
men to look after her, and then continued his course until he reached an
inlet or small harbour with a group of islets at its entrance, the one
now called Angra Pequena or Little Bay by the English, Luderitzbucht by
the Germans, in whose possession it is at present, but which he named
Angra dos Ilheos, the bay of the Islets. The latitude was believed to be
24° south, but in reality it was 26½°, so imperfect were the means then
known for determining it. There he cast anchor, and for the first time
Christian men trod the soil of Africa south of the tropic.
[Sidenote: Visit to Angra Pequena.]
A more desolate place than that on which the weary seamen landed could
hardly be, and no mention is made by the early Portuguese historians of
any sign of human life being observed as far as the explorers wandered.
Unfortunately the original journal or log-book of the expedition has
long since disappeared, so that much that would be intensely interesting
now can never be known. But this is certain, that refreshment there
could have been none, except fish, the flesh of sea-fowl that made their
nests on the islets, and possibly eggs if the breeding season was not
far advanced, though even that would be welcomed by men long accustomed
only to salted food. There was no fresh water, so it was no place in
which to tarry long. Before he left, Dias set up a marble cross some two
metres or so in height, on an eminence that he named Serra Parda, the
Grey Mountain, as a token that he had taken possession of the country
for his king. For more than three hundred years that cross stood there
above the dreary waste just as the brave Portuguese explorer erected
it.[8] The place where it stood so long is called Pedestal Point. Here
one of the negresses was left, almost certainly to perish, when the
expedition moved onward.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
From Angra Pequena Dias tried to keep the land in sight, but as it was
the season of the south-east winds, which were contrary, he could not
make rapid progress. At length by repeatedly tacking he reached an inlet
or bend in the coast to which he gave the name Angra das Voltas, the Bay
of the Turnings. There is a curve in the land in the position indicated,
29° south, but the latitudes given are not to be depended upon, and the
expedition may have been far from it and farther still from the point at
the mouth of the Orange river called by modern geographers Cape Voltas,
in remembrance of that event. At Angra das Voltas, wherever it was, Dias
remained five days, as the weather was unfavourable for sailing, and
before he left another of the negresses was set ashore.
[Sidenote: Visit to Mossel Bay.]
After making sail again heavy weather was encountered and a boisterous
sea, such as ships often experience in that part of the ocean, and which
is caused by the cold Antarctic current being slightly deflected by some
means from its usual course and striking the hot Mozambique current at a
right angle off the Cape of Good Hope. Very miserable Dias and his
companions must have been in their tiny vessels among the tremendous
billows, with the sails close reefed, and hardly a hope of escape from
being lost. But after thirteen days the weather moderated, and then they
steered eastward, expecting soon to see the coast again. For several
days they sailed in this direction, but as no land appeared Dias
concluded that he must either have passed the extremity of the continent
or be in some deep gulf like that of Guinea. The first surmise was
correct, for on turning to the north he reached the shore at an inlet
which he named Angra dos Vaqueiros, the Bay of the Herdsmen, on account
of the numerous droves of cattle which he saw grazing on its shores. It
was probably the same inlet that was named by the next expedition the
Watering Place of São Bras, and which since 1601 has been known as
Mossel Bay. The inhabitants gazed with astonishment upon the strange
apparition coming over the sea, and then fled inland with their cattle,
so that it was not found possible to have any intercourse with the wild
people. Thus no information concerning the inhabitants of the South
African coast, except that they had domestic cattle in their possession,
was obtained by this expedition.
How long Dias remained at Angra dos Vaqueiros is not known, but his
vessels, good sea-boats as they had proved to be, must have needed some
refitting, so he was probably there several days at least. He and his
officers were in high spirits, as unless they were in another deep bay
like the gulf of Guinea, they had solved the question of the extent
southward of the African continent. As far as their eyes could reach,
the shore stretched east and west, so, sailing again, they continued
along it until they came to an uninhabited islet in latitude 33¾° south.
This islet is in Algoa Bay as now termed--the Bahia da Lagoa of the
Portuguese after the middle of the sixteenth century,--and still bears
in the French form of St. Croix the name Ilheo da Santa Cruz, the islet
of the Holy Cross, which he gave it on account of the pillar bearing a
cross and the arms of Portugal which he erected upon it.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
Dias visited the mainland, where he observed two women gathering
shellfish, who were left unmolested, as the king had issued instructions
that no cause of offence should be given to the inhabitants of any
countries discovered. Here the last of the negresses was set ashore as
one had died on the passage. The coast was examined some distance to the
eastward, and to a prominent rock upon it the name Penedo das Fontes,
the Rock of the Fountains, was given by some of the people, because two
springs of water were found there.
Here the seamen protested against going farther. They complained that
their supply of food was running short, and the storeship was far
behind, so that there was danger of perishing from hunger. They thought
they had surely done sufficient in one voyage, for they were two
thousand six hundred kilometres beyond the terminus of the preceding
expedition, and no one had ever taken such tidings to Portugal as they
would carry back. Further, from the trending of the coast it was evident
there must be some great headland behind them, and therefore they were
of opinion it would be better to turn about and look for it. One can
hardly blame them for their protest, considering the fatigue and peril
they had gone through and the wretchedly uncomfortable life they must
have been leading.
[Sidenote: Extent of the Voyage.]
Dias, after hearing these statements, took the officers and some of the
principal seamen on shore, where he administered an oath to them, after
which he asked their opinion as to what was the best course to pursue
for the service of the king. They replied with one voice, to return
home, whereupon he caused them to sign a document to that effect. He
then begged of them to continue only two or three days’ sail farther,
and promised that if they should find nothing within that time to
encourage them to proceed on an easterly course, he would put about. The
crews consented, but in the time agreed upon they advanced only to the
mouth of a river to which the commander gave the name Infante, owing to
João Infante, captain of the _São Pantaleão_, being the first to leap
ashore. The river was probably the Fish, but may have been either the
Kowie or the Keiskama as known to us. Its mouth was stated to be
twenty-five leagues from the islet of the Cross, and to be in latitude
32⅔° S., which was very incorrect.
But now, notwithstanding this error, there should have been no doubt in
any mind that they had reached the end of the southern seaboard, which
in a distance of over nine hundred kilometres does not vary a hundred
and seventy kilometres in latitude. The coast before them trended away
to the north-east in a bold, clear line, free of the haze that almost
always hung over the western shore. And down it, only a short distance
from the land, flowed a swift ocean current many degrees warmer than the
water on either side, and revealing itself even to a careless eye by its
deeper blue. That current could only come from a heated sea in the
north, and so they might have known that the eastern side of Africa had
surely been reached.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
Whether the explorers observed these signs the Portuguese writers who
recorded their deeds, though in a manner so incomplete as to cause
nothing but regret to-day, do not inform us,[9] but from the river
Infante the expedition turned back. At Santa Cruz Dias landed again, and
bade farewell to the cross which he had set up there with as much sorrow
as if he was parting with a son banished for life. In returning, the
great headland was discovered, to which the commander gave the name Cabo
Tormentoso--the Stormy Cape--afterwards changed by the king to Cabo de
Boa Esperança--Cape of Good Hope--owing to the fair prospect which he
could now entertain of India being at last reached by this route. What
particular part of the peninsula Dias landed upon is unknown, but
somewhere on it he set up another of the marble pillars he had brought
from Portugal, to which he gave the name São Philippe. The country about
it he did not explore, as his provisions were so scanty that he was
anxious to get away. Keeping along the coast, after nine months’ absence
the storeship was rejoined, when only three men were found on board of
her, and of these, one, Fernão Colaça by name, died of joy upon seeing
his countrymen again. The other six had been murdered by negroes with
whom they were trading. Having replenished his scanty stock of
provisions, Dias set fire to the storeship, as she was in need of
refitting, and he had not men to work her; and then sailed to Prince’s
Island in the bight of Biafra, where he found some Portuguese in
distress. A gentleman of the king’s household, named Duarte Pacheco, had
been sent to explore the rivers on that part of the coast, but had lost
his vessel, and was then lying ill at the island with part of the crew
who had escaped from the wreck. Dias took them all on board, being very
glad not only to relieve his countrymen but to obtain more men to work
his ships, so many of those who sailed with him from Portugal having
died, and, pursuing his course in a north-westerly direction, touched at
a river where trade was carried on, and also at the fort of São Jorge da
Mina, an established Portuguese factory,[10] of which João Fogaça was
then commander. Here he took charge of the gold that had been collected,
after which he proceeded on his way to Lisbon, where he arrived in
December 1487, sixteen months and seventeen days from the time of his
setting out.
[Sidenote: Return of Dias to Portugal.]
No other dates than those mentioned are given by the early Portuguese
historians, thus the exact time of the discovery of the Cape of Good
Hope and the coast onward to the mouth of the Infante river is doubtful,
and it can only be stated as having occurred in the early months of
1487. The voyage surely was a memorable one, and nothing but regret can
be expressed that more of its details cannot be recovered. Of the three
pillars set up by Dias, two--those of the Holy Cross and São
Philippe--disappeared, no one has ever been able to ascertain when or
how; that of São Thiago at Angra Pequena remained where it was placed
until it was broken down by some unknown vandals about the commencement
of the nineteenth century.
Meantime the king sent two men named Affonso de Paiva, of Castelbranco,
and João Pires,[11] of Covilhão, in another direction to search for
Prester John. For this purpose they left Santarem on the 7th of May
1487, and being well provided with money, they proceeded first to
Naples, then to the island of Rhodes, and thence to Alexandria. They
were both conversant with the Arabic language, and had no difficulty in
passing for Moors. At Alexandria they were detained some time by
illness, but upon recovering they proceeded to Cairo, and thence in the
disguise of merchants to Tor, Suakin, and Aden. Here they separated,
Affonso de Paiva having resolved to visit Abyssinia to ascertain if the
monarch of that country was not the potentate they were in search of,
and João Pires taking passage in a vessel bound to Cananor on the
Malabar coast. They arranged, however, to meet again in Cairo at a time
fixed upon.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
João Pires reached Cananor in safety, and went down the coast as far as
Calicut, after which he proceeded upwards to Goa. Here he embarked in a
vessel bound to Sofala, and having visited that port, he returned to
Aden, and at the time appointed was back in Cairo, where he learned that
Affonso de Paiva had died not long before. At Cairo he found two
Portuguese Jews, Rabbi Habrão, of Beja, and Josepe, a shoemaker of
Lamego. Josepe had been in Bagdad, on the Euphrates, some years
previously, and had there heard of Ormuz, at the mouth of the Persian
gulf, and of its being the warehouse of the Indian trade and the point
of departure for caravans to Aleppo and Damascus. He had returned to
Portugal and informed the king of what he had learned, who thereupon
sent him and Habrão with letters of instruction to Affonso de Paiva and
João Pires, directing them if they had not already found Prester John,
to proceed to Ormuz and gather all the information they could there.
[Sidenote: Travels of João Pires.]
Upon receiving this order João Pires drew up an account of what he had
seen and learned in India and on the African coast, which he gave to
Josepe to convey to the king, and taking Habrão with him, he proceeded
to Aden and thence to Ormuz. From Ormuz Habrão set out with a caravan
for Aleppo on his way back to Portugal with a duplicate of the narrative
sent to the king by Josepe. None of the early Portuguese historians who
had access to the records of the country ever saw this narrative, so
that probably neither of the Jews lived to deliver his charge. Not a
single date is given in the early accounts of this journey, except that
of the departure from Santarem, which De Goes fixes as May 1486[12] and
Castanheda and De Barros as the 7th of May 1487. There is no trace of
any knowledge in Portugal of the commerce of Sofala before the return of
Vasco da Gama in 1499, but as such a journey as that described must in
the fifteenth century have occupied several years, it is just possible
that Josepe or Habrão reached Lisbon after that date.
João Pires went from Ormuz by way of Aden to Abyssinia, where he was
well received by the ruler of that country. Here, after all his
wanderings he found a home, for as he was not permitted to leave again,
he married and had children, living upon property given to him by the
government. In 1515 Dom Rodrigo de Lima arrived in Abyssinia as
ambassador of the king of Portugal, and found him still alive. With the
embassy was a priest, Francisco Alvares by name, who wrote an account of
the mission and of the statement made to him by João Pires, and also
gave such information on his return home as enabled the Portuguese
historians to place on record the above details. As far as actual result
in increase of geographical knowledge is concerned, this expedition of
Affonso de Paiva and João Pires therefore effected nothing.
[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]
In the laudable spirit of modern times, prompted by a desire to
rectify error, men do not hesitate to question the accuracy of even
the most renowned writers of old. But the great authority of De
Barros requires that very substantial proof should be supplied
before any date given by him is overturned, especially when that
date is given three different times, and is indirectly corroborated
by other contemporary historians. In an article entitled _The
Voyages of Diogo Cão and Bartholomeu Dias 1482-88_, by E. G.
Ravenstein, in the _Geographical Journal_, Vol. XVI, July to
December 1900, page 625, an attempt is made to substitute other
dates for the voyages of Diogo Cam and Bartholomeu Dias than those
given by João de Barros, but the arguments supplied do not seem to
me to be of much weight.
This is what Mr. Ravenstein says:
“We do not know whether Cão was given the command of one or of more
vessels, nor have the names of any of his officers been placed on
record.
“Cão was the first to carry padrões, or pillars of stone, on an
exploring voyage. Up to his time the Portuguese had been content to
erect perishable wooden crosses, or to carve inscriptions into
trees to mark the progress of their discoveries. King John
conceived the happy idea of introducing stone pillars surmounted by
a cross, and bearing, in addition to the royal arms, an inscription
recording in Portuguese, and sometimes also in Latin, the date, the
name of the king by whose order the voyage was made and the name of
the commander. The four padrões set up by Cão on his two voyages
have been discovered in situ, and the inscriptions upon two of them
(one for each voyage) are still legible, notwithstanding the lapse
of four centuries and have been deciphered.
“During the first voyage two padrões were set up--one at the Congo
mouth, the other on the Cabo do Lobo in latitude 13° 26 S., now
known as Cape St. Mary. The latter has been recovered intact. It
consists of a shaft 1.69 m. high and 0.73 m. in circumference,
surmounted by a cube of 0.47 m. in height and .33 in breadth. Shaft
and cube are cut out of a single block of liaz, a kind of limestone
or coarse marble common in the environs of Lisbon. The cross has
disappeared, with the exception of a stump, from which it is seen
that it also was of stone, and fixed by means of lead.