SECTION XI.

_The Voyage of Piedro de Cintra to Sierra Leona, and the Windward coast of

Guinea; written by Alvise da Cada Mosto._

The two voyages to the coast of Africa in which Cada Mosto was engaged,

and which have, been narrated in the foregoing Sections of this Chapter,

were followed by others; and, after the death of Don Henry, two armed

caravels were sent out upon discovery by orders from the king of Portugal,

under the command of Piedro de Cintra, one of the gentlemen of his

household, with injunctions to proceed farther along the coast of the

Negroes than had hitherto been effected, and to prosecute new discoveries.

In this expedition, Piedro de Cintra was accompanied by a young

Portuguese who had formerly been clerk to Cada Mosto in his two voyages;

and who, on the return of the expedition to Lagos, came to the house of

his former employer, who then continued to reside at Lagos, and gave him

an account of the discoveries which had been made in this new voyage, and

the names of all the places which had been touched at by Piedro de Cintra,

beginning from the Rio Grande, the extreme point of the former voyage[1].

De Cintra first went to the two large inhabited islands at the mouth of

the Rio Grande which I had discovered in my second voyage, where he

landed, and ordered his interpreters to make the usual inquiries at the

inhabitants; but they could not make themselves understood, nor could

they understand the language of the natives. Going therefore into the

interior, they found the habitations of the Negroes to consist of poor

thatched cabins, in some of which they found wooden idols, which were

worshipped by the Negroes. Being unable to procure any information in

this place, Cintra proceeded, in his voyage along the coast, and came to

the mouth of a large river between three and four miles wide, which he

called Besegue, from a lord of that name who dwelt near its mouth, and

which he reckoned to be about forty miles from the mouth of the Rio

Grande[2]. Proceeding about 140 miles from the river Besegue, along a

very hilly coast; clothed with high trees, and having a very beautiful

appearance, they came to a cape to which they gave the name of Verga[3].

Continuing along the coast, they fell in with another cape, which, in the

opinion of all the seamen, was the highest they had ever seen, having a

sharp conical height in the middle like a diamond, yet entirely covered

with beautiful green trees. After the name of the fortress of Sagres,

which was built by the deceased Don Henry on Cape St Vincent, the

Portuguese named this point Cape Sagres of Guinea. According to the

account of the Sailors, the inhabitants of this coast are idolaters,

worshipping wooden images in the shape of men, before which they make

offerings of victuals as often as they eat or drink. These people are

more of a tawny colour than black, having marks on their faces and bodies

made with hot irons. They go almost entirely naked, except that they wear

pieces of the bark of trees before them. They have no arms, as there is

no iron in their country. They live on rice, millet, beans, and kidney

beans, larger than ours; and have also beef and goats flesh, but not in

any great abundance. Near to Cape Sagres there are several very small

uninhabited islands.

The inhabitants of this river have large almadias, carrying from thirty

to forty men, who row standing, without having their oars fixed to any

thing, as formerly noticed. They have their ears pierced with many holes,

in which they wear a variety of gold rings. Both men and women have also

a hole through the cartilage of the nose, in which they wear a gold ring,

just like that of iron in the noses of our buffalos, which they take out

when eating. The ladies belonging to the kings and great men, by way of

extraordinary grandeur, have gold rings on other parts of their body,

which decorum prevents us from particularizing.

Passing Cape Sagres, they sailed about forty miles farther along the coast,

and came to the Rio de San Vincents, which is about four miles wide; and

about five miles farther they found another, which they called Rio Verde,

larger at the mouth than the former[5]. Both of these rivers were so named

by the sailors in the caravels. About twenty-four miles beyond the Rio

Verde, they came to another cape which they called _Cape Liedo_,

signifying the _cheerful_, because of the beautifully verdant country in

its neighbourhood[6]. From Cape Liedo there extends a large mountain for

about fifty miles along the coast, all of which is very high, and covered

with tall verdant trees. At the end of this mountain, and about eight

miles from the shore, there are three small islands, the largest of which

does not exceed ten or twelve miles in circumference. To these the sailors

gave the name of _Saluezze_[7]; and they named the mountain _Sierra Leona_,

or the Lion Mountain, on account of the continual roaring of thunder on

its summit, which is always enveloped in clouds.

Proceeding beyond Sierra Leona, the coast was quite low, and the shore

full of sand banks running out into the sea. About thirty miles from the

southern extremity of the mountain, they found a river near three miles

wide at the entrance, and because the water had a red colour, they called

it Rio Roxo[8]. And farther on they found a cape, likewise of a red colour,

which they named Cape Roxo[9]. And they gave the same name of Roxo to a

small uninhabited island, about ten miles off at sea, where the north

polar star seemed only the height of a man above the horizon. Beyond Cape

Roxo, the sea forms a gulf, about the middle of which there enters a river,

which the seamen called St Mary del Nievos, or of the snow, as having been

discovered on the day of that Saint. On the other side of the river there

is a cape, with an island close beside it[10]. This gulf is full of sand

banks, running ten or twelve miles along the coast, on which the sea

breaks with considerable violence, and has a strong current both in the

ebb and flow of the tide; and the little island just mentioned is named

_Scauni_, on account of these sand banks. Twenty-four miles distant from

this river is a large cape called St Ann, having been discovered on the

day of that saint; and the whole coast between is low, with very shallow

water. Twenty-four miles beyond this cape is the river of _Palms_, so

named from the abundance of these trees which were seen there. The mouth

of this river, though of sufficient width, is so full of shoals; and sand

banks as to render its entrance very dangerous. About seventy miles

farther on, there is another small river called _Rio de Fumi_, or Smoke

River; so named, because at the time of its discovery, they saw nothing

but smoke along this coast, made by the Negroes[11]. Beyond this river,

about twenty-four miles, there is a cape which runs a great way out into

the sea, on which stands a high mountain, on which account it was called

_Cabo del Monte_, or Cape Mount About sixty miles still farther on, to the

S. E. there is another and smaller cape, on which is a small mountain or

hill, which was named Cape _Cortese_, or _Misurado_. The first night after

their arrival at this place, the voyagers saw many fires among the trees,

made by the Negroes on seeing the ships, as they had never seen such

objects before.

About sixteen miles beyond Cape Misurado, there is a large forest of trees

close to the shore, to which they gave the name of St Mary's Grove. The

caravels came to anchor beyond this wood, and several almadias came off

from the shore towards them. There were two or three naked negroes in each,

having sharp pointed sticks in their hands, which our seamen supposed to

be darts; some of them had small knives, and they had only two targets and

three bows among them all. These Negroes, had their ears and noses pierced,

from which hung some strange ornaments resembling human teeth. The

interpreters spoke to them, but could not understand their language. Three

of these Negroes ventured on board one of the caravels, one of whom was

detained by the Portuguese, and the other two allowed to go away; for

Cintra had been ordered by the king, in case of discovering any country

where the interpreters did not understand the language, that he was to

bring away one of the natives either by force or fair means, that he might

be able to give an account of his country, either by some of the Negroes

in Portugal happening to understand his language, or after he had acquired

the Portuguese.

Piedro de Cintra, having determined to proceed no farther, returned back

to Portugal from Cape Misarado, to which he had traced the coast of Africa

from the Rio Grande. Upon his return, this negro who had been detained off

Cape Misurado, was examined by several Negroes, and at length was

understood by a Negress who belonged to an inhabitant of Lisbon; not

indeed by his own proper language, but by means of another which was known

to them both. Whatever intelligence may have been procured on this

occasion, was not made public, except that there were unicorns in his

country. After this Negro had been kept for some months in Lisbon, and had

been shewn many of the curiosities of Portugal, the king ordered him to be

supplied with clothes, and sent him back in a caravel to his own country.

But from that coast no other ship had arrived before my departure, which

was on the first of February 1463[12].

[1] For this exordium or introduction, we are indebted to the editor of

Astley's Collection of Voyages and Travels, said to have been a Mr

John Green. The infant Don Henry of Portugal died in 1463; so that

there must have been an interval of six or seven years between the

second voyage of Cada Mosto and this of Piedro de Cintra: Though de

Faria seems to put this voyage as having been executed before the

death of that excellent prince, yet Cada Mosto, who then actually

resided at Lagos, could not be mistaken is this important particular.--

Astl.

[2] In a note to the second voyage of Cada Mosto, it has been already

noticed that he seems to have given the name of Rio Grande to the

channel between the Bissagos islands, or shoals of the Rio Grande and

the Main. This river Besegue, may possibly be the strait or channel

which divides the island named particularly Bissagos, or more properly

Bissao, from that of Bassis or Bussi. Yet, this river Besegue may even

have been that now called Rio Grande, in which, about twenty-four

leagues above its mouth, there is an island called Bissaghe.--E.

[3] It is strange that the Rio de Nuno, close by this cape, the estuary

of which is not less than seven or eight miles wide, should be here

omitted; but the present voyage is very superficially narrated

throughout.--E.

[4] The text is here obviously defective, as no river is mentioned before;

but the allusion must be to the river Pongo, Pongue, or Pougue, at the

mouth of which Cape Sagres is situated; indeed that cape seems to be

formed by one of the islands off the mouth of the river.--E.

[5] There are a number of small rivers on the coast, between Cape Sagres

and Cape Tagrin, such as Tofali, Dania, Buria, Berrea, Tanna, Pogone,

Cagrance, dos Casas; but our modern charts have none named as in the

text on this part of the coast.--E.

[6] This is now called Cape Tagrin, and forms the northern point at the

entrance of the Sierra Leone river, otherwise called the Mitomba or

Tagrin river. The southern point is named Cape Sierra Leone; and in

some maps is likewise named Liedo very improperly. It is necessary to

distinguish carefully between the _Cape_ of Sierra Leone, and the

mountainous ridge of the same name, which appears to extend a

considerable way along the coast to the S. E. near fifty miles, to the

river Kates, or Sa. Ma. della Neue. But, from the baldness of the

narrative, there is great difficulty in tracing out this voyage.--E.

[7] These are now called Bananas islands, in lat. 8° N.--E.

[8] Perhaps the Camaranca.--E.

[9] Probably that now called Tassa Point, or Cabo de S. Anna.--E.

[10] This account seems again to refer to the river Camaranca and Tassa

Point; otherwise called Cape St Ann; yet this cape is brought in

immediately afterwards. Indeed this voyage is inextricably confused,

probably incorrect or corrupt.--E.

[11] The large island of Sherbro, with Sherbro Strand and Shoals, a very

prominent feature of this part of the African coast, is here entirely

overlooked; unless we suppose de Cintra to have gone on the outside of

that island, considering the sound as a river, and naming the N. W.

point of Sherbro island Cape St Ann.--E.

[12] We have already seen that Don Henry died in this year, which must,

therefore, be here an error of the press, either in the original

publication by Cada Mosto, or in some of the after editions.--E.

CHAPTER V.

CONTINUATION OF THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES ALONG THE COAST OF AFRICA,

FROM THE DEATH OF DON HENRY IN 1463, TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE CAPE OF GOOD

HOPE IN 1486[1].

SECTION I.

_Progress of Discovery from Cape Verga to Cape St Catherine; from the

Death of Don Henry to that of King Alphonzo V_.

After the decease of Don Henry, the illustrious father of maritime

discovery, the progress of the Portuguese along the coast of Africa

received a considerable check, as the military ardour of Alphonzo the

Fifth was principally directed to the support of his pretensions to the

throne of Castile, the circumstances of which are unconnected with the

plan of this work. King Alphonzo was not however entirely inattentive to

the trade for gold and slaves, which his illustrious uncle Don Henry had

commenced with that part of Africa which is now called Guinea. The origin

of this name of Guinea, or _Ghinney_, is unknown. It is not in use among

the natives, and seems to have been imposed by the Portuguese from the

appellation of _Ghenchoa_, given to a country on the south side of the

Senegal, us first mentioned by Leo and afterwards by Marmol. Ever since

the year 1453, as already mentioned, considerable importations of gold

had been made to Portugal from the coast of Africa; but little or no

progress had been made in extending the discoveries farther south, for

some time previous to the decease of Don Henry. In 1470, King Alphonzo

sailed with a considerable army, in a fleet of above 300 ships, and

carried the strong fort of _Arzila_ on the Atlantic coast of Africa, a

little way to the south of the Straits of Gibraltar. But of his military

exploits in Africa, from which he acquired the appellation of _Africanus_,

and assumed the additional title of _Lord of the coasts on both seas_,

our present purpose does not call for any recital. In 1479, the disputes

between the crowns of Portugal and Castile were compromised by a treaty

entered into by Alphonzo V. king of Portugal, and Ferdinand king of

Castile; by which the trade of Guinea, and the navigation of its coast,

with the proposed conquest of _Fez_, were guaranteed to Portugal, and the

Canary islands were annexed to the crown of Castile.

From the want of any accurate history of the progress of the Portuguese

discoveries, it is utterly impossible to determine the dates or

circumstances of many of the progressive discoveries along the western

coast of Africa, and of its islands. In 1469, Alphonzo farmed the Guinea

trade for five years to Fernando Gomez, for the yearly rent of 500 ducats,

or about 138 pounds; taking, him bound at the same time, to extend the

discoveries for 500 leagues to the southwards during the period of his

exclusive privilege. In 1471, according to Marmol, Juan de Santareu and

Pedro de Escobar, discovered the _Oro de la Mina_, or the _Gold coast_;

and advancing still farther, under the guidance of two experienced pilots,

Martin Fernandez and Alvaro Esteves, they discovered _Cabo Catalina_, or

Cape St Catherine, in lat. 1° 40' S. This promontory, which is thirty-one

leagues to the south of Cabo de Lope Gonzales, derived its name from the

day of the saint on which it was first seen, and forms the northern

boundary of the great kingdom of Congo. The discovery of this cape is

assigned by some writers to Sequiera, a knight belonging to the royal

household.

The celebrated Portuguese historian, Emanuel de Faria, in his _Asia

Portuguesa_, has recorded all the Portuguese voyages, from their first

attempts under Don Henry, to their developement of China and Japan, and

has even left an account of all the ships that sailed from Lisbon for

Africa and Asia, down to the year 1600; but was unable to ascertain the

dates of many important events. Neither he nor De Barros have been able

to remove the uncertainty respecting the first discovery of the island of

St Thomas on the coast of Africa, the south end of which touches the

equinoctial. During the remainder of the reign of Alphonzo, the line of

coast, from Cape Verga in lat. 10° N. to Cape St Catherine in 1° 40' S.

was much frequented by the Portuguese. Of this coast an ample account has

been given by Dapper and Barbot, chiefly following a tract published by

Gotard Artus of Dantzick, which is to be found in De Bry's Collection,

and that of David von Nyendael and others. This was the work of a Dutch

navigator, which was first translated in to German, and thence by Artus

into Latin. But our peculiar department is confined to actual voyages and

travels, and the progress of discovery; and it would both much exceed our

proper limits, and would be an entire deviation from our plan of

arrangement, to admit lengthened geographical and topographical

disquisitions; which, so far as they are at all admissible, must be

reserved for the more particular voyages and travels, after those of

general discovery have been discussed.

There are four principal islands in the Gulf of Guinea, or Bight of

Biafra, as it is usually called by English navigators, Ferdinand Poo,

Princes isle, St Thomas, and Annobon, the discovery of which have been

related as follows by Barbot, and his account seems the most probable[2].

Fernando Lopez discovered the first of these in 1471, in lat. 3° 40' N.

giving it the name of _Ilha formosa_, or the Beautiful Island, which was

afterwards changed to that of _Fernando Poo_, which it still retains. In

an account of the kingdom of Congo, in Churchill's Collection, viii. 527,

more properly named the Oxford Collection, or that of Osborne, v. 2. This

island, and a river on the coast of the continent of Africa, directly

east, now called Cameroon River, are said to have taken their names of

Fernando Poo from their first discoverer. Some writers assign the

discovery of these four islands, and that of St Matthew, to Fernando

Gomez, who formed the Guinea trade. Perhaps they were discovered under

his auspices, by the navigators whom he employed. This island is composed

of very high land, easily seen at a great distance, and the Portuguese

had formerly sugar plantations upon it. The _Ilha do Principe_, or

Princes Island, in lat. 1° 30' N. was either discovered by Fernando Lopez,

or by Santaren and Escobar, about the same period, and probably received

its name in honour of the illustrious prince, Don Henry. This island is

described as consisting of high table mountains, pyramidal at their bases,

and visible at the distance of twenty leagues; being about nine leagues

long by five leagues broad. It is said to abound in oranges, lemons,

bananas, cocoa-nuts, sugar-canes, rice, many species of sallad herbs, and

to be susceptible of producing the European grains. The mandioca, or root

of the cassada plant, is generally used for bread, of which the juice

while raw is said to be a virulent poison; while its meal, or rasped root,

after the malignant juice is carefully pressed out, is used for bread.

The inhabitants also, have sheep, hogs, goats, and an immense number of

poultry; but these have probably been introduced by the Portuguese.

The _Ilha de San Thome_, or island of St Thomas, which is said to have

received its name from the saint to whom the chapel of the great

monastery of _Thomar_ is dedicated, and to which all the African

discoveries are subjected in spirituals, has its southern extremity

almost directly under the equinoctial, and is a very high land of an oval

shape, about fifteen leagues in breadth, by twelve leagues long.

The most southerly of these islands, in lat. 1° 30' S. now called Annobon,

was originally named Ilha d'Anno Bueno, or Island of the Happy Year,

having been discovered by Pedro d'Escovar, on the first day of the year

1472. At a distance, this island has the appearance of a single high

mountain, and is almost always topt with mist. It extends about five

leagues from north to south, or rather from N. N. W. to S. S. E. and is

about four leagues broad, being environed by several rocks and shoals. It

has several fertile vallies, which produce maize, rice, millet, potatoes,

yams, bananas, pine-apples, citrons, oranges, lemons, figs, and tamarinds,

and a sort of small nuts called by the French _noix de medicine_, or

physic nuts[3]. It also furnishes oxen, hogs, and sheep, with abundance

of fish and poultry; and its cotton is accounted excellent.

Including the voyages of Cada Mosto and Pedro de Cintra, which have been

already detailed, as possibly within the period which elapsed between the

death of Don Henry in 1463, and King Alphonzo, which latter event took

place on the 28th August 1481, and the detached fragments of discovery

related in the present Section, we have been only able to trace a faint

outline of the uncertain progress of Portuguese discovery during that

period of eighteen years, extending, as already mentioned, to Cape St

Catherine and the island of Annobon. A considerable advance, therefore,

had been made since the lamented death of the illustrious Don Henry;

which comprehended the whole coast of Guinea, with its two gulfs, usually

named the _Bights_ of Benin and Biafra, with the adjacent islands, and

extending to the northern frontier of the kingdom of Congo[4]. If the

following assertion of de Barros could be relied on, we might conclude

that some nameless Portuguese navigators had crossed the line even before

the death of Don Henry; but the high probability is, that the naval

pupils of that illustrious prince continued to use his impress upon their

discoveries, long after his decease, and that the limits of discovery in

his time was confined to Cape Vergas. Some Castilians, sailing under the

command of Garcia de Loaysa, a knight of Malta, landed in 1525 on the

island of St Matthew, in two degrees of southern latitude[5]. They here

observed that it had been formerly visited by the Portuguese, as they

found an inscription on the bark of a tree, implying that they had been

there eighty-seven years before[6]. It also bore the usual motto of

that prince, _talent de bien faire_.

In the paucity of authentic information respecting these discoveries, it

seems proper to insert the following abstract of the journal of a

Portuguese pilot to the island of St Thomas, as inserted by Ramusio,

previous to the voyage of Vasco de Gama, but of uncertain date; although,

in the opinion of the ingenious author of the Progress of Maritime

Discover, this voyage seems to have been performed between the years 1520

and 1540. In this, state of uncertainty, it is therefore made a section

by itself, detached in some measure from the regular series of the

Portuguese discoveries.

[1] Astley, I. 15. Clarke, I. 290. Purchas, I. Harris, I. 664.

[2] Clarke, I. 295.

[3] These may possibly be the nuts of the Ricinus Palma Christi, from

which the castor oil is extracted.--E.

[4] Strictly speaking the northern limits of Loango, one of the divisions

of the extensive kingdom of Congo, is at the Sette river, ten leagues

S.S. E. from Cape St Catherine.--E.

[5] There is no island of that name in this position; so that the island

of St Matthew of de Barros must refer to Annobon.--E.

[6] These dates would throw back the discovery of this island, and the

passage of the line by the mariners of Don Henry, to the year 1438, at

a time when they had not reached the latitude of 25° N. which is quite

absurd.--E.

SECTION II.

Voyage of a Portuguese Pilot from Lisbon to the Island of St Thomas[1].

Before I left Venice, I was requested by letter from Signior Hieronimo

Fracastro of Verona, that, on my arrival at Conde, I would send, him an

account of my voyage to San Thome, to which island our ships often sail

for cargoes of sugar. The passage of the equinoctial line, under which

that island, is situated, appeared to that gentleman so extraordinary a

circumstance as to merit the attention of men of science; and you

likewise made me a similar request. I began, therefore, immediately after

my return, to draw up an account of my voyage, from those notes which we

pilots usual keep of all occurrences, and I compared it in my progress

with the journals of some friends who had formerly made the same voyage.

When I afterwards attentively perused my manuscript, it did not appear to

me worthy of being communicated to a gentleman of such scientific

character as Signor Hieronimo, whose talents I had duly appreciated, by

the perusal of his publications, which I received from you before my

departure from Venice. I therefore laid my manuscript aside, not wishing

that any one might peruse it; but as you have again urged the performance

of my promise, I now anxiously obey a request, which, as coming from you,

I must always consider a command. Apprehensive, likewise, of appearing

forgetful of your polite attentions, I prefer the danger of exposing my

ignorance, to the possibility of being charged with ingratitude or want

of attention. Being a sailor, and unused to composition, I pretend to

little more than copying the remarks of those who have sailed from our

continent to _Ethiopia_, without attempting to reduce my narrative into

lucid order, or to embellish it with fine writing. You will therefore

have the goodness to destroy this account, after its perusal, that the

errors I have committed, by compliance with your commands, may not draw

upon me the imputation of presumption.

The Portuguese ships which sail to the island of St Thomas from Lisbon,

for cargoes of sugar, usually put to sea in February, though some vessels

make this voyage at every period of the year. Their course is S.S.W.

until they reach the Canary Islands; after which they steer for the

island of Palmas, which is opposite to Cape Bojador on the coast of

Africa, and is about ninety leagues from the kingdom of Castile. This

island has plenty of provisions, and abounds in wine and sugar. The north-

west wind prevails most, and a great sea rages continually on its coast,

particularly in the month of December[2].

If the ships which are bound for the island of St Thomas find it

necessary to obtain a quantity of salt after having taken on board a

sufficient supply at the island of _Sal_, they steer for the coast of

Africa at the Rio del Oro; and, if they have calm weather and a smooth

sea; they catch as many fish in four hours, with hooks and lines, as may

suffice for all their wants during the remainder of the voyage. But, if

the weather is unfavourable for fishing at the Rio del Oro, they proceed

along the coast to Cape Branco; and thence along the coast to the island

of Arguin. The principal sorts of fish on this coast are _pagros_, called

_albani_ by the Venetians; likewise _corvi_ and _oneros_, which latter

are only a larger and darker-coloured species of _pagros_. As soon as

taken, the fish are opened and salted, and serve as an excellent supply

of provisions to navigators. All the coast of Africa, from Cape Bojador,

otherwise called _Cabo della Volta_, as far as Cape Branco and even to

Arguin, is low and sandy. At Arguin, which is inhabited by Moors and

Negroes, and which is situated on the confines between these two nations,

there is a capacious harbour, and a castle belonging to our king of

Portugal, in which some Portuguese always reside with the royal agent.

On leaving the island of Sal, our ships steer next for St Jago, another

of the Cape Verd islands. This island is situated in _fifteen degrees on

the equinoctial and thirty leagues towards the south_[3].It is seventeen

leagues long, and has a city on the coast, with a good harbour called

_Ribiera Grande_, or the Great River, now St Jago. From two high

mountains, one on each side, a large river of fresh water flows into the

harbour; and, from its source, full two leagues above the city, its banks

are lined on each side with gardens, having fine groves of oranges,

cedars, pomegranates, several sorts of figs, and the cocoa-nut palm,

which has been long planted on this island. It produces all kinds of

vegetables in great abundance and perfection; but they do not afford good

seeds, so that it is necessary to procure these every year from Europe.

The city is on the south coast of the island, and is well built of stone,

being inhabited by about 500 families of distinction, Portuguese and

Castilians. Its government is entrusted to a corregidor or governor,

appointed by the king of Portugal; and two judges are chosen annually,

one for the determination of naval and maritime causes, and the other for

regulating the police. This island is very mountainous, and is very

barren in many parts, which are entirely destitute of wood; but its

vallies are fertile and well cultivated. In June, when the sun enters

Cancer, the rains are so incessant that the Portuguese call that month

_La Luna de las Aquas_, or the Water Month. Their seed-time begins in

August, when they sow maize, called _miglio zaburo_. This is a white bean,

which is ready to be gathered in forty days, and is the chief food of

these islanders, and of all the inhabitants of the coast of Africa[4].

They also sow much rice and cotton; the latter of which comes to great

perfection, and is manufactured into striped cloths, which are exported

to the country of the Negroes, and bartered for black slaves.

To give a distinct view of the commercial transactions with the Negroes,

it is proper to inform you, that the western coast of Africa is divided

into several countries and provinces, as Guinea, _Melegote_[5], the

kingdom of Benin, and the kingdom of Manicongo. Over all this extent of

coast, there are many Negro kings or chiefs, whose subjects are

Mahometans and idolaters, and who are continually at war with each other.

These kings are much respected by their subjects, almost to adoration, as

they are believed to have originally descended from heaven. When the king

of Benin dies, his subjects assemble in an extensive plain, in the centre

of which a vast pit or sepulchre is dug, into which the body is lowered,

and all the friends and servants of the deceased are sacrificed and

thrown into the same grave, thus voluntarily throwing away their own

lives in honour of the dead. On this coast there grows a species of

_melegete_, extremely pungent like pepper, and resembling the Italian

grain called _sorgo_. It produces likewise a species of pepper of great

strength, not inferior to any of that which the Portuguese bring from

Calicut, under the name of _Pimienta del rabo_, or _Pepe dalla coda_, and

which African pepper resembles _cubbebs_, but so powerful that an ounce

will go farther than a pound of the common sort; but its exportation is

prohibited, lest it should injure the sale of that which is brought from

Calicut[6]. There is also established on this coast a manufacture of an

excellent kind of soap from palm-oil and ashes, which is carried on for

the king's account. All the trade of this coast, to the kingdom of

_Manicongo_ exclusively, is farmed out every four or five years to the

highest bidder. Great Negro caravans bring gold and slaves to the

stations on the coast. The slaves are either prisoners taken in war, or

children whom their parents have parted with in the hope of their being

carried to a more fertile country. For above ninety years after the first

discovery of this coast, the Portuguese merchants were accustomed to

enter the large rivers by which the country is everywhere intersected,

trading independently with the numerous tribes inhabiting their banks;

but now the whole of this commerce is in the hands of stationary licensed

factors, to whom it is farmed.

On quitting St Jago we steer southerly for the Rio Grande, which is on

the north of Ethiopia, beyond which we come to the high mountain of

Sierra Liona, the summit of which is continually enveloped in mist, out

of which thunder and lightning almost perpetually flashes, and is heard

at sea from the distance of forty or fifty miles. Though the sun is quite

vertical in passing over this mountain, and extremely hot, yet the thick

fog is never dissipated. In our voyage we never lose sight of land, yet

keep always at a considerable distance, carefully observing the

declination of the sun, and keeping a southerly course till we arrive in

_four degrees on the equinoctial_[7], when we suddenly change our course

to the south-east, keeping the Ethiopian coast always on our left hand in

our way to the island of St Thomas. On this coast, between the tropic and

the equinoctial, we never meet with any hard gales, as storms are very

rarely found within the tropics. On nearing the land, the soundings in

many parts of the coast do not exceed fifty _braccia_, but farther out

the depth rapidly increases, and the sea usually runs high at a distance

from the land. When we arrived at Rio del Oro, as mentioned before, we

observed four stars in the form of a cross, of an extraordinary size and

splendour, elevated thirty degrees above the antarctic pole, and forming

the constellation called _il Crusero_. While under the tropic of Cancer,

we saw this constellation very low; and, on directing our _balestra_[8]

to the lowermost of these stars, we found it to be directly south, and

concluded that it must be in the centre of the antarctic polar circle. We

observed the same constellation very high when we were at the island of

St Thomas; and remarked that the moon, after rain, produces a rainbow

similar to that occasioned by the sun during the day, except that the

colours were dim and ill-defined. On leaving the straits of Gibraltar, I

did not observe any sensible change on the ebb and flow of the sea; but

when we approached Rio Grande, which is eleven degrees to the north of

the equinoctial, we observed a considerable tide at the mouth of that

river, and the rise in some places was much the same as on the coast of

Portugal, whereas at the isle of St Thomas it was nearly the same as at

Venice.

The island of St Thomas was discovered above eighty[9] years ago, by some

captains in the royal navy of Portugal, and was altogether unknown to the

ancients. Its horizon or parallel passes at an equal distance between the

arctic and antarctic poles, and its days and nights are always equal. The

arctic polar star is there invisible, but the _guardiani_ are seen in

some measure to revolve, and the constellation which is known by the name

of _il crusero_, is seen in the heavens at a high altitude. To the

eastwards[10] of St Thomas, and at the distance of 120 miles, the small

island called _Il Principe_ is situated. This latter island is inhabited

and cultivated, the produce of its sugar canes belonging to the revenue

of the kings eldest son, from which circumstance the island derives its

name. To the S. S. W. or S. and by W. and in the latitude of almost 2° S.

is the uninhabited island of Annobon, on which numbers of crocodiles and

venomous serpents are found. Its rocky shores abound in fish, and are

much resorted to by the inhabitants of St Thomas on that account. When

first discovered, the island of St Thomas was an entire forest,

containing a variety of trees, which, though barren, were extremely

verdant. These trees were all remarkably tall and straight, their

branches all drawn close to the stems, and not spreading out as with us.

After clearing away a great part of the forest, the inhabitants built a

principal town called _Pouoasan_, which has an excellent harbour. The

principal dependence of the settlers in this island is upon their sugars,

which they exchange yearly with the merchants who trade thither, for

flour in barrels, wines, oil, cheese, leather, swords, glass beads,

drinking-cups, pater-nosters, and _buzios_, which are a small kind of

shells, called by the Italians _white porcelain_, and which pass in

Ethiopia as money. The Europeans who reside on this island depend much

for provisions on the ships, as they cannot subsist on the fare used by

the Negroes. The slaves employed in their sugar plantations are procured

from Guinea, Benin, and Congo; and some rich planters have from 150 to

300 Negroes. These work five days in every week for their masters, and

are allowed the Saturdays to themselves, when they cultivate various

articles of provision, as the _miglio zaburo_, a species of bean formerly

mentioned, a root called _igname_, and many species of culinary

vegetables, the seeds of which must be imported from Europe, as they do

not come to perfection in this climate.

[Illustration: Chart of North Western Africa]

The soil of St Thomas consists of a red and yellow marl, or clay, of

great fertility, which is kept soft and mellow by the heavy dews which

fall nightly, contributing greatly to vegetation, and preventing it from

being dried up by the great heats; and so great is the luxuriant

fertility of the soil, that trees immediately spring up on any spots left

uncultivated, and will grow as high in a few days as would require as

many months with us. These sprouts are cut down and burnt by the slaves,

and their ashes are used as manure for the sugarcanes. If planted in

January, the canes are ready to be cut in June, and those which are

planted in February become ripe in July; and in this manner they keep up

a succession throughout the whole year. In March and September, when the

sun is vertical, the great rains set in, accompanied with cloudy and

thick weather, which is of great service to the sugar plantations. This

island produces yearly above 150,000 arobas of sugar, each containing

thirty-one of our pounds, of which the king receives the tenth part,

which usually produces from 12,000 to 14,000 arobas, though many of the

planters do not pay this tythe fully. There are about sixty _ingenios_

driven by water, for bruising the canes and pressing out the juice, which

is boiled in vast chaldrons, after which it is poured into pans in the

shape of sugar-loaves, holding from fifteen to twenty pounds each, in

which it is purified by means of ashes. In some parts of the island,

where they have not streams of water, the canes are crushed by machines

worked by the Negroes, and in others by horses. The bruised canes are

given to the hogs, which hardly get any other food, yet fatten

wonderfully, and their flesh is so delicate and wholesome as to be

preferred to that of poultry. Many sugar refiners have been brought here

from Madeira, on purpose to endeavour to manufacture the sugars of St

Thomas more white and harder than its usual produce, but in vain. This is

alleged to proceed from the extreme richness of the soil injuring the

quality of the sugar; just as with us, wines produced in soils of too

great fertility are apt to have a peculiar flavour. Another cause of this

is supposed to proceed from the climate of the island being too hot and

too moist, except in the month of June, July, and August, at which season

a fresh dry wind blows from Ethiopia to this island; and they then make

their best sugars.

The planters are obliged, to ship off their sugars as soon as they can

procure shipping, because they would become liquid if attempted to be

kept for a length of time. At present, not above two-thirds of the island

are appropriated to the cultivation of sugar; but any person who comes to

this island for the purpose of settling, whether from Spain or Portugal,

or any other country, may procure from the royal intendant as much land

as he is able to cultivate, and at a moderate price. The esculent root

which is known in the Spanish islands by the name of _batata_, is here

named ingame by the Negroes, and is their principal food, either boiled

or roasted under the ashes. There are different kinds of this root

produced on the island, but that which is known by the name of _igname

cicorero_ is preferred by the merchant vessels, all of which purchase

considerable quantities as a sea-stock for their homeward voyage, and the

Negroes cultivate them largely for the express purpose of supplying the

ships[11]. This island is distinguished by a high mountain in the middle,

thickly covered by tall, straight, and verdant trees, and its summit is

continually enveloped in clouds, whence water is diffused in numerous

streams all over the island. A large shallow stream flows through the

city of Pouoasan, supplying it with abundance of excellent water, which

the inhabitants reckon of a medicinal quality, and allege that St Thomas

would not be habitable if it were not for this river and its other

numerous springs and rivulets. The native trees are chiefly barren, and

though some olives, peaches, and almonds, were planted by the early

settlers, which soon grew with great luxuriance, they never bore any

fruit, and this has been the case with all stone fruits that have been

tried. But the cocoa-nut palm, brought hither from Ethiopia, has thriven

satisfactorily. Repeated attempts have been made to cultivate wheat, but

always unsuccessfully, though tried at different seasons of the year; as

the ear would never fill, but always ran up to straw and chaff only.

In March and September, the sky is always overcast with clouds and mists,

and continual rains prevail, which season is considered by the

inhabitants as their winter. In May, June, July, and August, which they

call _Mesi di Vento_, or windy months, the prevalent winds are from the

south, southeast, and southwest; but the island is sheltered by the

continent from the north, northeast, and northwest winds; The summer

months are December, January, and February, when the heat is excessive,

and the atmosphere being continually loaded with vapour, occasions the

air to feel like the steam of boiling water. The shores of this island

abound in many kinds of fish, and, during the months of June and July,

the inhabitants catch a kind which they name _le chieppe_, which are

singularly delicate. In the seas between this island and the coast of

Africa, there are prodigious multitudes of whales, both of the large and

small kinds.--Should you, Sir, be unsatisfied with my ill-written and

confused information, I beg of you to consider that I am merely a seaman,

unpracticed in literary composition.

[1] Ramusio. Clarke I. 298. This voyage was communicated by the relator

to Count Raimond della Torre, a nobleman of Verona.--Clarke.

[2] A description of the islands of Cape Verd, and an account of the

supply of salt usually taken on board by the Portuguese ships at the

island of Sal, for the purpose of laying in a sea store of salt fish,

is here omitted.--Clarke.

[3] This geographical expression is utterly unintelligible, but may be a

strange mode of denoting its latitude, which is 15° N. but I know not

what to make of the thirty leagues towards the south, unless the

author meant that it was thirty leagues in extent from north to south,

and seventeen leagues from east to west.--E.

[4] The description in the text is not applicable to maize, and must refer

to some species of bean, or kidney-bean.--E.

[5] Called likewise Maleguette, and named also the Grain-Coast and the

Pepper-Coast. Manicongo is obviously the kingdom of Congo.--E.

[6] Some of this is smuggled and sold in England.--Clarke.

This Guinea pepper is probably that now known under the name of

Jamaica pepper; but the extremely pungent kind must be some of the

numerous species of capsicums, usually called Cayenne pepper.--E.

[7] This strange expression seems to imply 4° of north latitude.--E.

[8] Called likewise Balestriglia, being the Venetian name for the cross-

staff, or fore-staff, an astronomical instrument which has been

superseded by the quadrant and sextant.--E

[9] In an after part of this narrative, the pilot informs us, that his

first voyage to the island of San Thome was in 1520, and that he made

five voyages to that place. If, therefore, the date of his present

voyage were fixed to 1530, it would carry us back to 1450, or even

earlier, for the date of this discovery, near thirteen years before

the death of Don Henry.--Clarke.

In Mr Clarkes note on this passage, he erroneously calculates on the

above data that the discovery might have been in 1460, which is only

seventy years back from 1530. But the result of the data in the text

shews, that either the pilot was mistaken as to the real date of the

discovery, or that his narrative has been corrupted, so that no

reliance can be placed on his dates.--E.

[10] The direction of _Il Principe_, or Princes Island, from St Thomas,

is N. N. E. and the distance does not exceed seventy miles.--Clarke.

[11] These _batatas_ are probably a different species from our potatoes,

and may be what are called sweet potatoes in the West Indies; perhaps

the _igname cicorero_ is the West Indian _yam_. Four species of

_igname_ or _batata_, are mentioned in Barbot as originally from Benin,

Anwerre, Mani-Congo, and Saffrance. The first of these is remarkably

sweet, and the second keeps well. A variety of esculent roots might

prove of high utility to navigators, and are too much neglected. Among

these, the parsnip and Jerusalem artichoke deserve notice, as being

very nutritive, and proof against all weathers.--Clarke.

SECTION III.

_Continuation of Portuguese Discoveries, from Cape St Catherine to the

kingdom of Congo_.

We are still obliged to continue the account of the Portuguese

discoveries historically, from the want of any regular journals of their

early voyages along the African coast. In the original efforts of the

illustrious Don Henry, although the progress was extremely slow, we have

much to admire in the character of that prince, who possessed genius to

stretch beyond the trammels of custom and authority, boldly thinking for

himself, pointing out the way of extending the knowledge of our globe by

maritime discoveries, and persevering nobly in his renewed efforts, in

spite of the timid ignorance of his unexperienced pilots and mariners.

But it is not easy to explain the continuance of that slow progress,

which was even retarded during the years which elapsed between the demise

of that prince of mariners in 1463, and that of Alphonso in 1481; when

the increased experience of the Portuguese, in their frequent voyages to

the new discovered Atlantic islands and African coast, ought to have

inspired them with fresh vigour and extended views of discovery and

commerce. The military character of Alphonso may, however, explain this

in a great degree, as all his energies were directed towards the

extension of dominion in the Moorish kingdom of Fez; and the business of

discovery was devolved as a burdensome and unprofitable task on the

farmers of the trade to the coast of Africa, which appears to have become

extensive and lucrative, after the discovery of Guinea and its islands,

and the establishment of the sugar colonies in these islands. We learn,

likewise, from the preceding voyage of the Portuguese pilot to the island

of St Thomas, that the mariners still confined themselves almost entirely

to creeping along the coast, from cape to cape, and from island to island,

not daring to trust themselves to the trackless ocean, under the now sure

guidance of the heavenly luminaries; but which they then did not

sufficiently understand, nor did they possess sufficient instruments for

directing their course in the ocean. It would appear that they had then

no other method of computing the longitude but by means of the log, or

dead reckoning, which is liable to perpetual uncertainty from currents

and lee-way, and which a storm, even of short continuance, must have

thrown into total confusion. Their instruments and methods for

determining even the latitudes, appear to have then been imperfect and

little understood. In the sequel of this deduction, we shall find the

first Portuguese squadron which sailed for India, conducted across the

Indian ocean by a Moorish pilot.

On the accession of John II. to the throne of Portugal in 1481, the

discoveries along the coast of Africa were resumed with a new spirit.

While infante or hereditary prince, his principal revenue was derived

from the profits of the Guinea trade, and of the importation of gold from

the haven of Mina; and among the first measures of his reign, he turned

his attention to the improvement and extension of that valuable branch of

commerce. For this purpose, he gave orders to make all necessary

preparations for building a fortress and church at the port of Mina. All

the requisite materials, even to stones and tiles, were accordingly

shipped from Lisbon in a squadron of ten caravels and two transports,

with 500 soldiers and 200 labourers or workmen of various kinds. This

expedition was placed under the command of Don Diego d'Azumbuja, an

experienced officer, under whom were the following naval captains,

Gonçalez da Fonseca, Ruy d'Oliveira, Juan Rodrigues Gante, Juan Alfonso,

Diego Rodrigues Inglez, Bartholomew Diaz, Pedro d'Evora, and Gomez Aires.

This last was a gentleman belonging to the household of Pedro king of

Arragon, all the others being noblemen of the household of King John.

Pedro de Cintra and Fernam d'Alfonso commanded the transports, and a

small vessel attended the squadron as an advice-boat. This squadron

sailed on the 11th December 1481, and reached their destination on the

19th January 1482, at an African village named _Aldea_, where they found

Juan Bernardo, who had previously sailed for the coast in quest of gold.

Bernardo was immediately sent by Azumbuja, to inform Camarança, the Negro

chief of the district, with the arrival of the Portuguese armament, and

to desire a conference, with directions to endeavour to impress that

chief with a high sense of the rank and character of the Portuguese

officers, and of the irresistible power of the armament now upon his

coast. Early next morning, Azambuja landed with all his followers, who

were secretly armed, in case of meeting with any hostilities from the

natives; and moved forwards in great form to a large tree, not far from

the Negro village of Aldea, on a spot which had been chosen as a

convenient situation for the intended fortress. A flag, bearing the royal

arms of Portugal, was immediately displayed upon the tree, and an altar

was placed under the shade of its boughs, at which the whole company

united in assisting at the first mass that was celebrated in Guinea,

offering up their solemn prayers to God for the speedy conversion of the

idolatrous natives, and for the perpetual continuance and prosperity of

the church which was to be erected on this spot. The day on which this

impressive ceremony was performed being dedicated to St Sebastian, that

name was given to the valley on which the tree stood, under which they

were now assembled.

Soon after the completion of this religious ceremony, Camarança

approached with a numerous train. Azambuja, sumptuously dressed, and

ornamented by a rich golden collar, prepared to receive the Negro chief,

seated on an elevated chair, having all his retinue arranged before him,

so as to form an avenue. The Negroes were armed with spears, shields,

bows, and arrows, and wore a kind of helmets made of skins, thickly

studded with fish teeth, giving them a very martial appearance. The

subordinate chiefs were distinguished by chains of gold hanging from

their necks, and had various golden ornaments on their heads, and even on

their beards. After the exchange of presents, and other tokens of mutual

respect and confidence, Azambuja made a speech to Camarança, through the

mediation of an interpreter, in which he explained the purpose of his

embassy and expedition, and used every argument he could think of, to

conciliate the friendship of the Negro chief, to make him fully sensible

of the power of the king of Portugal, and to reconcile him to the

intended permanent establishment upon the toast. Camarança listened to

the harangue, and the explanation of it by the interpreter, in respectful

silence, keeping his eyes steadily fixed on the countenance of Azambuja.

After which, casting his eyes for some time on the ground, as if

profoundly meditating on what he had heard, he is said to have made the

following guarded and judicious answer:

"I am fully sensible of the high honour done me on this occasion by your

sovereign. I have always endeavoured to deserve his friendship, by

dealing strictly with his subjects, and by constantly exerting myself to

procure immediate ladings for their ships. Hitherto the Portuguese, who

have visited my country, were meanly dressed, and easily satisfied with

the commodities we had to give them; and so far from desiring to remain

in the country, were always anxious to complete their cargoes, and to

return whence they came. This day I observe a wonderful difference. A

great number of persons, richly dressed, are eager for permission to

build themselves houses, and to remain among us. But assuredly, persons

of such rank, under the guidance of a commander who claims his descent

from the God who created the day and the night, would never be able to

endure the hardships of our climate, and could not procure in this

country those luxuries they have been accustomed to in their own. Those

passions which are common to all men, will certainly produce disputes

between us; and it were much better that we should continue on the same

footing as hitherto, allowing your ships to come and go as they have

always done before; in which case, the desire of seeing each other

occasionally, and of mutual intercourse in trade, will preserve peace

between you and us. The sea and the land, which are always neighbours,

are continually at variance, contending for the mastery; the sea always

violently endeavouring to subdue the land, which, with equal obstinacy,

defends itself against the encroachments of the sea."

The prudential jealousy and distrust displayed on this occasion by

Camarança, astonished and perplexed the Portuguese commander; and it

required the exercise of much address on his part, to prevail upon the

Negro chief to allow the fulfilment of his orders, and to prevent the

necessity of having recourse to violent measures. When the workmen were

making preparations next day to lay the foundations of the intended

fortress on the coast, they observed a large rock, which lay very

commodious for serving them as a quarry, and accordingly proceeded to

work it for that purpose. This happened unfortunately to be venerated by

the Negroes as one of their Gods, and they immediately flew to arms in

opposition against the sacrilegious violation of the sanctified rock, and

many of the workmen were wounded, before the natives could be pacified by

numerous presents. At length, after the constant labour of twenty days,

the fort began to assume a formidable appearance, and received the name

of _Fortaleza de San Jorge da Mina_, or Fort St George at Mina. In a

church constructed within its walls, a solemn mass was appointed to be

celebrated annually, in honour of Don Henry, Duke of Viseo, of

illustrious memory. Azambuja continued governor of this place during two

years and seven months, and was honoured, on his return to Portugal, with

particular marks of royal favour. In 1486, King John bestowed on this new

establishment all the privileges end immunities of a city.

Impressed with the great advantages that might be derived to his kingdom,

through the prosecution of the maritime discoveries in Africa, and more

especially by opening a passage by sea to India, of which his hopes were

now sanguine, the king of Portugal, who had now added to his titles that

of _Lord of Guinea_, made application to the pope, as universal father

and lord of Christendom, for a perpetual grant of all the countries which

the Portuguese had already discovered, or should hereafter discover,

towards the east, with a strict prohibition against the interference of

any European State in that immense field of discovery, commerce, and

colonization. The pope conceded this enormous grant, probably without the

most distant idea of its extent and importance: not only prohibiting all

Christian powers from intruding within those prodigious, yet indefinite

bounds, which he had bestowed upon the crown of Portugal, but declaring,

that all discoveries that were or might be made in contravention, should

belong to Portugal. Hitherto, the Portuguese navigators, in the course of

their discoveries along the shores of Western Africa, had been in use to

erect _wooden_ crosses, as indications of their respective discoveries.

But the king now ordered that they should erect _stone crosses_, about

six feet high, inscribed with, the arms of Portugal, the name of the

reigning sovereign, that of the navigator, and the date of the discovery.

In the year 1484, Diego Cam or Cano proceeded beyond Cape St Catherine,

in lat. 1° 40' S. the last discovery of the reign of King Alphonso, and

reached the mouth of a considerable river, in lat. 5° 10' S. called

_Zayre_ by the natives, now called Congo river, or the Rio Padron. Diego

proceeded some distance up this river, till he met with some of the

natives, but was unable to procure any satisfactory intelligence from

them, as they were not understood by the Negro interpreters on board his

ship. By means of signs, however, he understood that the country was

under the dominion of a king who resided at a considerable distance from

the coast, in a town or city called Banza, since named San Salvador by

the Portuguese; on which he sent a party of his crew, conducted by the

natives, carrying a considerable present far the king, and meaning to

wait their return. Unavoidable circumstances, however, having protracted

the return of his people far beyond the appointed time, Diego resolved to

return into Portugal with an account of his discovery; and, having gained

the confidence of the natives, he prevailed on four of them to embark

with him, that they might be instructed in the Portuguese language, to

serve as interpreters for future intercourse with this newly discovered

region, and made the natives understand by means of signs, that, after

the expiration of fifteen moons, these persons should be returned in

safety.

These Africans were men of some consequence in their own country, and

were of such quick apprehensions, that they acquired a sufficient

knowledge of the Portuguese language during the voyage back to Lisbon, as

to be able to give a competent account of their own country, and of the

kingdoms or regions beyond it, to the southwards. The king of Portugal

was much gratified by this discovery, and treated the Africans brought

over by Diego with much munificence. Next year, Diego Cam returned to the

river of Congo, where he landed the four natives, who carried many

presents from King John to their own sovereign, and were directed to

express his anxious desire that he and his subjects would embrace the

Christian faith.

Having landed the Negroes, and received back his own men whom he had left

on his former voyage, Diego proceeded to discover the coast to the

southwards of the Congo river; leaving a respectful message for the king

of Congo, that he must postpone the honour of paying his respects to him

till his return from the south. The farther progress of Diego is very

indefinitely related by the Portuguese historians; who say, that after a

run of twenty leagues, he erected two stone crosses, as memorials of his

progress, one at a cape called St Augustine, in lat. 13° S. but the other

on Cape Padron, in 22° S. This last latitude would extend the discovery

of Diego between the latitude of the Congo river and this high latitude,

to 280 Portuguese leagues, instead of twenty. Besides, Cape Padron forms

the southern point at the mouth of the river of Congo, and is only in lat.

6° 15' S. The high probability is, that the first cross erected by Diego

Cam in this voyage, was at Cape Palmerinho, in lat. 9° 15' S. and the

other may have been at Rocca Boa, in lat. 13° 20' S. Clarke[1] is

disposed to extend the second cross to Cabo Negro, in lat. 16° S. Either

influenced by his provisions running short, or desirous of forming a

friendly, connection with the king of Congo, Diego measured back his way

to the Congo river, where he was received in a most satisfactory manner

by the sovereign of that country. The reports of his subjects who had

been in Portugal, and the liberal presents which they had brought to him

from King John, had made a deep impression on the mind of this African

monarch. He made many inquiries respecting the Christian religion, and

being highly gratified by its sublime and consolatory doctrines, perhaps

influenced by the reports his subjects had brought him of its magnificent

ceremonies, he appointed one of his principal noblemen, named _Caçuta_ or

_Zazut_, to accompany Diego Cam, as his ambassador to King John;

anxiously requesting the king of Portugal to allow this nobleman and his

attendants to be baptized, and that he would be pleased to send some

ministers of his holy religion to convert him and his subjects from their

idolatrous errors. Diego Cam arrived safely in Portugal with Caçuta; who

was soon afterwards baptized by the name of _John Silva_, the king and

queen of Portugal doing him the honour of attending on him as sponsors at

the holy font; and the splendid ceremonial was closed by the baptism of

his sable attendants.

Some time previous to this event, Alphonso de Aviero carried an

ambassador from the king of Benin to the king of Portugal, requesting

that some missionaries might be sent for the conversion of his subjects;

and, although the artful conduct of that African prince threw many

difficulties in the way of this mission, many of the Negroes of that

country were converted. From the ambassador of Benin, the king of

Portugal received information of a powerful monarch, named _Organe_,

whose territories lay at the distance of 250 leagues beyond the kingdom

of Benin, and who possessed a supremacy over all the adjacent states.

Assuming Cape Lopo Gonçalves, in lat. 1° S. as the southern boundary of

the kingdom of Benin, 250 Portuguese leagues would bring us to the

kingdom of Benguela, or that of Jaa Caconda, about lat. 14° or 15° S. Yet

some persons have strangely supposed that this king _Organe_ or _Ogané_

was a corruption of _Jan_ or _Janhoi_, the title given by the Christians

of the east to the king of Abyssinia. "But it is very difficult to

account for this knowledge of Abyssinia in the kingdom of Benin, not only

on account of the distance, but likewise because several of the most

savage nations in the world, the _Galla_ and _Shangalla_, occupy the

intervening space. The court of Abyssinia did indeed then reside in

_Shoa_, the south-east extremity of the kingdom; and, by its power and

influence, might have pushed its dominion through these barbarians to the

neighbourhood of Benin on the western ocean. But all this I must confess

to be a mere conjecture of mine, of which, in the country itself, I never

found the smallest confirmation[2]." To these observations of the

celebrated Abyssinian traveller, it may be added, that the distance from

Benin to Shoa exceeds six hundred Portuguese leagues.

While the king of Portugal continued to encourage his navigators to

proceed to the southwards in discovering the African coast, he became

anxious lest some unexpected rival might interpose to deprive him of the

expected fruits of these discoveries, which had occupied the unremitting

attentions of his predecessors and himself for so many years. Learning

that John Tintam and William Fabian, Englishmen, were preparing, at the

instigation of the Duke of Medina Sidonia, in 1481, to proceed on a

voyage to Guinea, he sent Ruy de Sousa as his ambassador, to Edward IV.

of England, to explain the title which he held from the pope as lord of

that country, and to induce him to forbid his subjects from navigating to

the coast of Africa, in which negotiation he was completely successful.

He likewise used every exertion to conceal the progress of his own

navigators on the western coast of Africa, and to magnify the dangers of

the voyage; representing that the coast was quite inhospitable,

surrounded by most tremendous rocks, and inhabited by savage cannibals,

and that no vessels could possibly live in those tempestuous seas, in

which every quarter of the moon produced a furious storm, except those of

a peculiar construction, which had been invented by the Portuguese ship-

builders.

A Portuguese pilot, who had often made the voyage to Guinea, had the

temerity to assert, that any kind of ship could make this redoubted

voyage, as safely as the royal caravels, and was sent for to court by the

king, who gave him a public reprimand for his ignorance and presumption.

Some months afterwards, the same pilot appeared again at court, and told

the king, "That being of an obstinate disposition, he had attempted the

voyage to Guinea in a different kind of vessel from those usually

employed, and found it to be impossible." The king could not repress a

smile at this solemn nonsense; yet honoured the politic pilot with a

private audience, and gave him money to encourage him to propagate the

deception. About this period, likewise, hearing that three Portuguese

seamen, who were conversant in the navigation of the coast of Africa, had

set out for Spain, intending to offer their services in that country,

John immediately ordered them to be pursued as traitors. Two of them were

killed, and the third was brought a prisoner to Evora, where he was broke

on the wheel. Hearing that the Portuguese seamen murmured at the severity

of this punishment, the king exclaimed, "Let every man abide by his own

element, I love not travelling seamen."

Encouraged by the successful progress of Diego Cam in 1484 and 1485, King

John became sanguine in his hopes of completing the discovery of a

maritime route to India, around the continent of Africa, and determined

upon using every exertion for this purpose. His first views were to

endeavour to procure some information respecting India, by means of a

journey overland; and with this object, _Antonio de Lisboa_, a Franciscan

friar, together with a nameless lay companion, were dispatched to make

the attempt of penetrating into India, through Palestine and Egypt. But,

being ignorant of the Arabic language, these men were unable to penetrate

beyond Jerusalem, whence they returned into Portugal. Though disappointed

in this attempt, by the ignorance or want of enterprise of his agents,

his resolution was not to be repressed by difficulties, and he resolved

upon employing fresh exertions both by sea and land, for the

accomplishment of his enterprise. He accordingly fitted out a small

squadron under Bartholomew Diaz, a knight of the royal household, to

attempt the passage by sea.

[1] Prog, of Mar. Disc. I. 329. note r.

[2] Bruce's Abyssinia, II. 105.

SECTION IV.

_Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, by Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486_[1].

For this important enterprise, Bartholomew Diaz was only supplied with

two small caravels of fifty ton each, accompanied by a still smaller

vessel, or tender, to carry provisions. Of these vessels, one was

commanded by Bartholomew Diaz, as commodore, the second caravel by _Juan

Infante_, another cavalier or gentleman of the court, and Pedro Diaz,

brother to the commander in chief of the expedition, had charge of the

tender. The preparations being completed, Bartholomew sailed in the end

of August 1486, steering directly to the southwards.

We have no relation of the particulars of this voyage, and only know that

the first spot on which Diaz placed a stone pillar, in token of discovery

and possession, was at _Sierra Parda_, in about 24°40'S. which is said to

have been 120 leagues farther to the south than any preceding navigator.

According to the Portuguese historians, Diaz sailed boldly from this

place to the southwards, in the open sea, and never saw the land again

until he was forty leagues to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, which he

had passed without being in sight of land. The learned geographer, Major

Rennel, informs us, that Sir Home Popham and Captain Thompson, while

exploring the western coast of Africa in 1786, found a marble cross, on

which the arms of Portugal were engraved, in latitude 26°37'S. near a bay

named Angra Pequena: But, as the Portuguese long continued to frequent

these coasts exclusively, and considered them all as belonging to their

dominions under the papal grant, this latter cross, on which the

inscription was not legible, may have been erected at a considerably

subsequent period. At all events, the track of Diaz was far beyond the

usual adventure of any former navigator, as he must have run a course of

from seven to ten degrees of latitude, and at least between two or three

degrees of longitude, in utterly unknown seas, without sight of land. The

first land seen by Diaz is said to have been forty leagues to the

eastward of the cape, where he came in sight of a bay on the coast, which

he called _Angra de los Vaqueros_, or bay of herdsmen, from observing a

number of cows grazing on the land. The distance of forty Portuguese

leagues, would lead us to what is now called Struys bay, immediately east

of Cabo das Agullias, which latter is in lat. 34° 50' S. and long. 20° 16'

E. from Greenwich. From this place Diaz continued his voyage eastwards,

to a small island or rock in the bay, which is now called Zwartkops or

Algoa, in long. 27° E. on which rocky islet he placed a stone cross or

pillar, as a memorial of his progress, and named it, on that account,

Santa Cruz, or _El Pennol de la Cruz_. In his progress to this place from

the Angra de los Vaqueros, he had set some Negroes on shore in different

places, who had been brought from Portugal for this purpose, and who were

well clothed, that they might be respected by the natives. These Negroes

were likewise provided with small assortments of toys for bartering with

the natives, and were especially charged to make inquiry as to the

situation and distance of the dominions of Prester John. Of the fate of

these Negroes we are nowhere informed, but may be well assured they would

receive no intelligence respecting the subject of their inquiry, from the

ignorant Hottentots and Caffres of Southern Africa.

It would appear that Diaz was still unconscious that he had reached and

overpassed the extreme southern point of Africa, although now nearly nine

degrees to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, and at least one degree

back towards the north of his most southern range; but he may have

supposed himself in a deep bite or bay of the coast, similar to the well-

known gulf of Guinea. Under this impression, that he had not accomplished

the grand object of his enterprize, he was anxious to continue his voyage

still farther towards the east: But, as the provisions on board his two

caravels were nearly exhausted, and the victualling tender under the

command of his brother was missing, the crews of the caravels became

exceedingly urgent to return, lest they might perish with famine. With

some difficulty he prevailed on the people to continue their course about

twenty-five leagues farther on, as he felt exceedingly mortified at the

idea of returning to his sovereign without accomplishing the discovery on

which he was sent. They accordingly reached the mouth of a river, which

was discovered by Juan Infante, and was called from him, _Rio del

Infante_, now known by the name of Great-Fish River, in about lat. 33°27'

N. long. 28°20'E. The coast still trended towards the eastwards, with a

slight inclination towards the north; so that, in an eastern course of

about thirteen degrees, they had neared the north about six degrees,

though still unsatisfied of having absolutely cleared the southern point

of Africa.

From this river, the extreme boundary of the present voyage, Diaz

commenced his return homewards, and discovered, with great joy and

astonishment, on their passage back, the long sought for and tremendous

promontory, which had been the grand object of the hopes and wishes of

Portuguese navigation during _seventy-four_ years, ever since the year

1412, when the illustrious Don Henry first began to direct and incite his

countrymen to the prosecution of discoveries along the western shores of

Africa. Either from the distance which the caravels had been from the land,

when they first altered their course to the eastwards, or from the cape

having been concealed in thick fogs, it had escaped notice in the

preceding part of the voyage. At this place Diaz erected a stone cross in

memory of his discovery; and, owing to heavy tempests, which he

experienced off the high table land of the Cape, he named it _Cabo dos

Tormentos_, or Cape of storms; but the satisfaction which King John

derived from this memorable discovery, on the return of Diaz to Portugal

in 1487, and the hope which it imparted of having opened a sure passage by

sea from Europe through the Atlantic into the Indian ocean, by which his

subjects would now reap the abundant harvest of all their long and arduous

labours, induced that sovereign to change this inauspicious appellation

for one of a more happy omen, and he accordingly ordered that it should in

future be called, _Cabo de boa Esperança_, or Cape of Good Hope, which it

has ever since retained.

Soon after the discovery of the _Cape_, by which shorter name it is now

generally preeminently distinguished, Diaz fell in with the victualler,

from which he had separated nine months before. Of nine persons who had

composed the crew of that vessel, six had been murdered by the natives of

the west coast of Africa, and Fernand Colazzo, one of the three survivors,

died of joy on again beholding his countrymen. Of the circumstances of the

voyage home we have no account; but it is not to be doubted that Diaz and

his companions would be honourably received by their sovereign, after a

voyage of such unprecedented length and unusual success.

[1] Clarke, I. 342.

SECTION V.

_Journey overland to India and Abyssinia, by Covilham and de Payva_[1].

Soon after the departure of Diaz, King John dispatched Pedro de Covilham

and Alphonso de Payva, both well versed in the Arabic language, with

orders to travel by land into the east, for the discovery of the country

of _Presbyter_, or _Prester John_, and to trace the steps of the lucrative

commerce then carried on with India by the Venetians for spices and drugs;

part of their instructions being to endeavour to ascertain the

practicability of navigating round the south extremity of Africa to the

famed marts of Indian commerce, and to make every possible inquiry into

the circumstances of that important navigation. Some writers have placed

this journey as prior in point of time to the voyage of Diaz, and have

even imagined that the navigator was directed or instructed by the report

which Covilham transmitted respecting India. Of the relation of this

voyage by Alvarez, which Purchas published in an abbreviated form, from a

translation out of the Italian in the collection of Ramusio, found among

the papers of Hakluyt, Purchas gives the following character: "I esteem it

true in those things which he saith he saw: In some others which he had by

relation of enlarging travellers, or boasting Abassines, he may perhaps

sometimes rather _mendacia dicere_, than _mentiri_." To _tell_ lies rather

than _make_ them.

Covilham, or Covillan, was born in a town of that name in Portugal, and

went, when a boy, into Castile, where he entered the service of Don

Alphonso, duke of Seville. On a war breaking out between Portugal and

Castile, he returned into his native country, where he got into the

household of King Alphonso, who made him a man-at-arms. After the death of

that king, he was one of the guard of King John, who employed him on a

mission into Spain, on account of his knowledge in the language. He was

afterwards employed in Barbary, where he remained some time, and acquired

the Arabic language, and was employed to negotiate a peace with the king

of Tremesen. He was a second time sent into Barbary on a mission to King

_Amoli-bela-gegi_, to procure restitution of the bones of the infant Don

Fernando, in which he was successful.

After his return, he was joined in commission, as before-mentioned, with

Alphonso de Payva, and these adventurous travellers left Lisbon in May

1487. Covilham was furnished with a very curious map for these times, by

the Prince Emanuel, afterwards king of Portugal, which had been copied and

composed, with great care and secrecy, by the licentiate Calzadilla,

afterwards bishop of Viseo, assisted by Doctor Rodrigo, and a Jewish

physician named Moses; which map asserted the practicability of passing by

sea to India round the southern extremity of Africa, on some obscure

information which had been collected by those who constructed it.

With a supply of 500 crowns in money, and a letter of credit, or bills of

exchange, Covilham and De Payva went first to Naples, where their bills of

exchange were paid by the son of _Cosmo de Medici_. From Naples they went

by sea to the island of Rhodes, and thence to Alexandria in Egypt, whence

they travelled as merchants to Grande Cairo, and proceeded with the

caravan to _Tor_[2] on the Red Sea, near the foot of Mount Sinai. They

here received some information respecting the trade which then subsisted

between Egypt and Calicut, and sailed from that place to Aden, a trading

city of Yemen, on the outside of the Straits of Babelmandeb. The

travellers here separated; Covilham embarking in one vessel for India,

while De Payva took his passage in another vessel bound for Suakem on the

Abyssinian coast of the Red Sea, having engaged to rejoin each other at

Cairo, after having carried the directions of their sovereign into effect.

The Moorish ship from Aden in which Covilham had embarked, landed him at

Cananor on the coast of Malabar, whence, after some stay, he went to

Calicut and Goa, being the first of the Portuguese nation who had

navigated the Indian ocean; having seen pepper and ginger, and heard of

cloves and cinnamon. From India he went by sea to Sofala on the eastern

coast of Africa, where he is said to have examined the gold mines, and

where he procured some information respecting the great island of

Madagascar, called by the Moors the _Island of the Moon_. With the

various and valuable information he had now acquired, relative to the

productions of India and their marts, and of the eastern coast of Africa,

he now determined to return to Egypt, that he might be able to

communicate his intelligence to Portugal. At Cairo he was met by

messengers from King John, informing him that Payva had been murdered,

and directing him to go to Ormuz and the coast of Persia, in order to

increase his stock of commercial knowledge. The two messengers from the

king of Portugal whom Covilham met with at Cairo, were both Jewish rabbis,

named Abraham of Beja and Joseph of Lamego. The latter returned into

Portugal with letters from Covilham, giving an account of his

observations, and assuring his master that the ships which sailed to the

coast of Guinea, might be certain of finding a termination of the African

Continent, by persisting in a southerly course; and advising, when they

should arrive in the _eastern ocean_, to inquire for Sofala and the

Island of the Moon.

Covilham and Rabbi Abraham went from Cairo, probably by sea, to Ormuz and

the coast of Persia, whence they returned in company to Aden. From that

place, Abraham returned by the way of Cairo to Portugal with the

additional information which had been collected in their voyage to the

Gulf of Persia; though some authors allege that Joseph was the companion

of this voyage, and that he returned from Bassora by way of the desert to

Aleppo, and thence to Portugal.

From Aden, Covilham crossed the straits of Babelmandeb to the south-

eastern coast of Abyssinia, where he found Alexander the king, or negus,

at the head of an army, levying tribute or contributions from his

rebellious subjects of the southern provinces of his dominions. Alexander

received Covilham with kindness, but more from motives of curiosity than

for any expectations of advantage that might result from any connection

or communication with the kingdom of Portugal. Covilham accompanied the

king to Shoa, where the seat of the Abyssinian government was then

established; and from a cruel policy, which subsists still in Abyssinia,

by which strangers are hardly ever permitted to quit the country,

Covilham never returned into Europe. Though thus doomed to perpetual

exile in a strange and barbarous land, Covilham was well used. He married,

and obtained ample possessions, enjoying the favour of several successive

kings of Abyssinia, and was preferred to some considerable offices in the

government. Frequent epistolary intercourse took place between him and

the king of Portugal, who spared no expence to keep open the interesting

correspondence. In his dispatches, Covilham described the several ports

which he had visited in India; explained the policy and disposition of

the several princes; and pointed out the situation and riches of the gold

mines of Sofala; exhorting the king to persist, unremittingly and

vigorously, in prosecuting the discovery of the passage to India around

the southern extremity of Africa, which he asserted to be attended with

little danger, and affirmed that the cape was well known in India. He is

said to have accompanied his letters and descriptions with a chart, in

which the cape and all the cities on the coast of Africa were exactly

represented, which he had received in India from a Moor. Covilham was

afterwards seen by, and intimately acquainted with Francesco Alvarez, his

historian, who was sent on an embassy into Abyssinia by Emmanuel king of

Portugal. Alvarez, who appears to have been a priest, calls Covilham his

spiritual son, and says that he had been thirty-three years in great

credit with _Prette Janni_, so he calls the king of Abyssinia, and all

the court, during all which time he had never confessed his sins, except

to GOD in secret, because the priests of that country were not in use to

keep secret what had been committed to them in confession. This would

protract the residence of Covilham in Abyssinia, at least to the year

1521, or 1522; but how long he may have lived there afterwards does not

appear.

[1] Clarke, i. 384. Purchas, II. 1091.

[2] El Tor is on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea, near the mouth of the

Bahr Assuez, or Gulf of Suez, in lat. 28° 10' N. long. 33° 36' E.--E.

CHAPTER VI.

HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF INDIA BY THE PORTUGUESE, BETWEEN

THE YEARS 1497 AND 1525: FROM THE ORIGINAL PORTUGUESE OF HERMAN LOPES DE

CASTANEDA.

INTRODUCTION.

Although, in strict conformity to chronological arrangement, the

discovery of America by COLUMBUS in 1492, ought to precede our account of

the discovery of the maritime route from Europe to India by the

Portuguese, which did not take place until the year 1498; it yet appears

more regular to follow out the series of Portuguese navigation and

discovery to its full completion, than to break down that original and

vast enterprise into fragments. We might indeed have stopt with the first

voyage of De Gama, which effected the discovery of India: But as the

contents of this Chapter consists of what may be considered an authentic

original record, and carries on the operations of the Portuguese in India

to the year 1525, it seemed preferable to retain this curious original

history entire. It is obvious that Castaneda must have used the original

journals of De Gama, and other early Portuguese commanders, or of some

persons engaged in the voyages and transactions; as he often forgets the

historical language, and uses the familiar diction of a person actually

engaged, as will appear in many passages of this Chapter.

The title of this original document, now first offered to the public in

modern English, is "_The first Booke of the Historie of the Discoverie

and Conquest of the East Indias by the Portingals, in the time of King

Don John, the second of that name. By Hernan Lopes de Castaneda;

translated into English by Nicholas Lichefield, and dedicated to Sir

Fraunces Drake. Imprinted at London by Thomas East, 1582_."

Though the transactions here recorded are limited in the title to the

reign of John II. they occupied the reigns of his immediate successor

Emmanuel, or Manuel, and of John III. Castanedas history was printed in

black letter at Coimbra, in eight volumes folio, in the years 1552, 1553,

and 1554, and is now exceedingly scarce. In 1553, a translation of the

first book was made into French by Nicolas de Grouchy, and published at

Paris in quarto. An Italian translation was published at Venice in two

volumes quarto, by Alfonso Uloa, in 1578[1]. That into English by

Lichefield, employed on the present occasion, is in small quarto and

black-letter. The voyage of De Gama is related by De Barros in his work,

entitled Da Asia, and has been described by Osorius, Ramusio, Maffei, and

de Faria. Purchas gives a brief account of it, I. ii. 26. The beautiful

poem of the Lusiad by Camoens, the Portuguese Homer, is dedicated to the

celebration of this important transaction, and is well known through an

elegant translation into English by Mickle. In the present chapter, the

curious and rare work of Castaneda, so far as his first book extends, is

given entire; and the only freedom employed in this version, besides

changing the English of 229 years ago into the modern and more

intelligible language, has Been to prune a quaint verbosity, mistaken by

Lichefield for rhetorical eloquence. The dedication of the early

translator to the celebrated Sir Francis Drake, is preserved in its

original dress, as a sufficient specimen of the language of England at

the close of the sixteenth century.

DEDICATION.

_To the right Worshipfull

Sir Fraunces Drake, Knight,

N, L, G, wisheth all prosperitie._

They haue an auncient custome in Persia (the which is also observed

throughout all Asia) that none will enterprise to visit the king,

noble man, or perticularly any other person of countenance, but he

carieth with him some thing to present him with all worthy of thanks,

the which is not onely done in token of great humilitie & obedience,

but also of a zealous loue & friendly affection to their superiours &

welwillers. So I (right worshipfull following this Persian president)

hauing taking vpon me this simple translation out of the Portingale

tongue, into our English language, am bold to present & dedicate the

same vnto you as a signification of my entire good will. The history

conteineth the discouerie and conquest of the East Indias, made by

sundry worthy captaines of the Portengales, in the time of King Don

Manuel, & of the King Don John, the second of that name, with the

description, not onely of the country, but also of every harbour

apperteining to every place whervnto they came, & of the great

resistance they found in the same, by reson wherof there was sundry

great battles many times fought, and likewise of the commodities &

riches that euery of these places doth yeeld. And for that I know your

worship, with great peril and daunger haue past these monstrous and

bottomlesse sees, am therfore the more encouraged to desire & pray

your worships patronage & defence therof, requesting you with all to

pardon those imperfections, which I acknowledge to be very many, & so

much the more, by reason of my long & many years continuance in

foreine countries. Howbeit, I hope to have truly observed the literal

sence & full effect of the history, as the author setteth it forth,

which if it may please you to peruse & accept in good part, I shall be

greatly emboldened to proceede & publish also the second & third booke,

which I am assured will neither be vnpleasant nor vnprofitable to the

readers. Thus alwaies wishing your good worship such prosperous

continuance and like fortunate successe as GOD hath hitherto sent you

in your dangerous trauaile & affayres, and as maye euery waye content

your owne heartes desire, doe euen so take my leaue. From London the

fifth of March. 1582.

Your worships alwayes to commaund,

_Nicholas Lichefild._

[1] Bibl. des Voyages, V. 2.

* * * * *

DEDICATION BY CASTANEDA.

_To

The most high and mighty Prince,

John III.

King of Portugal and Algarve,

&c._

It hath seemed to me, most high and mighty prince, our dread king and

sovereign, so important and weighty a matter to undertake a history of

the great and valiant actions which our Portuguese have performed in

the discovery and conquest of India, that I often thought to

relinquish the attempt. But as these noble deeds were principally

undertaken and performed for the glory of Almighty God, the conversion

of the barbarous nations to the Christian faith, and the great honour

of your highness; and as, by the power and mercy of the Omnipotent,

such fortunate success has been granted to these famous enterprises, I

have been encouraged to proceed. I therefore trust entirely to the aid

and comfort of the divine goodness in publishing this work, giving the

glory thereof to God alone, and its earthly praise to your excellent

highness, and the king Don Manuel your father, of famous and happy

memory.

Although these glorious deeds are well known and spread abroad over

the world, they yet cannot be sufficiently made manifest unless set

forth in writing, by means of which their memory may endure for ever,

and remain always as if present to the readers; as history hath

perpetuated the actions of the Greeks and Romans which are of such

high antiquity. Of other transactions, nothing inferior to theirs,

perhaps even far greater, which have been performed by other nations,

there is little or no memory, because these do not remain recorded by

history: Such are those of the Assyrians, Medes and Persians; of the

Africans against the Romans; of the Suevi against Julius Caesar; of

the Spaniards in recovering their country from the Moors; and

principally of these invincible and pious kings of Portugal, your

glorious ancestors, Don Alonso Henriques, Don Sancho his son, and Don

Alonso, who acquired the kingdoms of Portugal and Algarve by great and

wonderful deeds of arms. Of all which, there hardly remaineth any

memory, for want of having been duly recorded by writing. So likewise

of those actions which have been performed in India, only as it were

of yesterday, the exact memory of them is confined to four persons;

and if they were to die, all remembrance of these transactions must

have ended to their great dishonour. Considering these things, I

resolved to record these noble deeds which the subjects of your

highness have performed in the discovery and conquest of India, which

have never been surpassed in valour, or even equalled, in any age or

country. Leaving all mention of the conquests of Cyrus and other

barbarians, and even taking into the account the deeds of Alexander,

so famous over all the world, which are as nothing compared to what

has been performed since India became frequented by the Portuguese, no

more than a dead lion can be likened to one alive. The conquests of

Alexander were all by land, and achieved by himself in person, against

nations who were little trained or accustomed to feats of arms. But

the Portuguese conquest of India was performed by the captains of your

highness, after a voyage by sea of a year and eight months, going

almost around the globe, from the utmost limits of the west through

the vast and bottomless ocean, seeing only the heaven and the water; a

thing never before attempted by man, and hardly even imagined. After

surmounting hunger and thirst, and daily exposure to furious storms,

and a thousand dangers in the voyage; they had to encounter great and

cruel battles on their arrival in India; not against men armed only

with bows and spears, as in the time of Alexander, but with people of

stout and tried courage and experienced in war, having ordinance and

fire-workers more numerous even than the Portuguese, besides many

other excellent weapons. The power of these men, against whom the

subjects of your highness had to contend, was infinitely greater than

that of King Porus, against whom Alexander had to encounter; yet the

Portuguese, though few in number, uniformly had the victory, and never

retired from the war as was done by Alexander.

Leaving the actions of the Greeks, and considering what was performed

by the Romans with their innumerable armies and vast fleets, which

seemed to cover the face of the sea, and by means of which they

thought to have conquered the whole earth. Yet they never adventured

beyond the Red Sea; neither was the greatest of their famous victories

comparable to those battles which have been fought by our men in India;

in which, most invincible prince, the great prosperity of your father

and you is well known. As, without moving from your palace,

discoveries and conquests have been achieved by your captains, more

extensive than ever were discovered or conquered by any prince in

person. There never was any conquest, either by the Barbarians, Greeks,

or Romans, of any thing like equal difficulty with this of India;

neither any kings or captains of any of these nations equal in valour

and conduct to those of your father and yourself, as will manifestly

appear from the whole tenor of the following history.

The great actions which the subjects of your highness have worthily

accomplished, must be deemed to have been permitted and appointed by

the providence of God; that so those barbarians, with their vain idols,

and the false sectaries of Mahomet, might be brought into the catholic

faith, as at this time great numbers have been added to the Christian

religion. For, since these great exploits, your highness, as a most

godly and Christian prince, hath taken especial care, and hath given

command that the Christian doctrine of the _brotherhood of the company

of Jesus_ should be taught in India, which you ordered to be brought

from Rome, and have always supported at your expence. Thus likewise,

you have erected, and founded the noble and sumptuous university of

Coimbra, to augment the honour and reputation of your kingdom; where,

besides many divines and colleges of poor begging friars to expound

the evangelical law, there are temporal men also to instruct those of

your subjects that defend and enlarge the commonwealth by deeds of

arms, and those who adorn the same by means of learning.

All these heroic virtues of your highness being well known to me, have

encouraged me to publish this work and others, which have some taste

of learning, that they may remain a perpetual memorial of the noble

deeds of so many gentlemen and knights of Portugal, your subjects. In

this I have been much forwarded by having been in India, where I

sojourned with my father, who was sent into that country by your

highness as a judge. I spent all my youth in the pursuit of learning,

and in the study of ancient historians. Being in India, I set myself

with all diligence to learn and understand all that had been done in

regard to the discovery and conquest of that country by the Portuguese,

with the intention of making the same known and common to all men. By

my inquiries, and through the information derived from sundry

gentlemen and captains, both such as were actually present in the

various transactions, and employed in their execution, as by others

who were engaged in counselling and preparing the means of their being

performed, I have derived much authentic information; as, likewise, by

the perusal of many letters and memorials, which were written by men

of credit and reputation, all of which I have examined as evidences of

the authenticity of my work, both while in India and since my return

into Portugal. As the matters I meant to write of were many, so it

became necessary for me to acquire information from many sources; and

as those whom I examined were upon oath, it is lawful for me to bring

them forward as sure evidence. In these researches some of these men

had to be sought after in almost every part of Portugal; and being

separated in sundry places, my inquiries have occasioned great travel

of my person, and much expence; to which I have devoted the greater

part of my life, and have constituted the preparation for this work my

sole recreation. Since my residence in the university of Coimbra, in

the service of your highness, I have joined together all these

informations; which, together with the duties of my office, have

caused much toil both of body and mind. Having now accomplished the

composition of this book and others, I most humbly offer the same to

your highness; and, after many and most fortunate years of governing,

I pray God to take you from the transitory seignory of this earth, and

to receive you into the perpetual joys of Heaven.

_Hernan Lopes de Castaneda._

SECTION I.

_Previous steps taken by the King of Portugal, John II. preparatory to

the Discovery of India._

Don John, the second of that name, and thirteenth king of Portugal,

considering that all spices, drugs, precious stones, and other riches

which came from Venice, were brought out of the east, and being a prince

of great penetration, and high emprize, he was greatly desirous to

enlarge his kingdom, and to propagate the knowledge of the Christian

faith to distant regions. He resolved, therefore, to discover the way by

sea to the country whence such prodigious riches were brought, that his

subjects might thereby be enriched, and that his kingdom might acquire

those commodities which had hitherto been brought by way of Venice. He

was much encouraged to this enterprise, by learning that there were

Christians in India, governed by a powerful monarch called Presbyter John,

who was reported to be a Christian prince, and to whom he thought proper

to send ambassadors, that an intercourse of friendship might be

established between them and their subjects. He consulted, therefore,

with the cosmographers of the time, whom he directed to proceed according

to the example already given in sailing along the coast of Guinea, which

had been formerly discovered by command of the prince his uncle, Master

of the order of Christ. Accordingly, Bartholomew Diaz, one of the

officers of the royal storehouse at Lisbon, was sent upon this expedition,

who discovered that great and monstrous cape, now called of Good Hope,

which was unknown to our ancestors. Finding it both terrible and

dangerous, he yet passed 140 leagues beyond, to a river which he named

_Rio del Infante_, whence he returned into Portugal. In this voyage, Diaz

gave those names which they still retain, to the ports, harbours, and

rivers where he took in fresh water, and erected certain marks, with

crosses, and the royal arms of Portugal, the last of which was placed on

a rock named _El pennol de la Cruz_, fifteen leagues on this side of the

before mentioned river. Diaz returned from this voyage without having

procured any intelligence concerning India, as all the inhabitants of the

coast which he visited and discovered were ignorant black savages.

On the return of Diaz, king John resolved to attempt the discovery of

India by land; for which purpose he had formerly sent friar Antonio de

Lisboa by land, in company with a lay person; but as they were ignorant

of the Arabic language, they could not travel into those parts, and went

no farther than Jerusalem, whence they returned into Portugal, without

having acquired any knowledge of the object of their journey. Yet the

king continued to prosecute this discovery of India by land, for which he

employed two of his own servants, Pedro de Covillian and Alonso de Payva,

both versant in the Arabic language, who were instructed to search out

the dominions of Presbyter John, and the country whence the spices and

drugs were brought to Venice, and to inquire whether there were any

navigation from the southern extremity of Africa to India. To these men

he gave a chart, which was extracted from a map of the world, by

Calsadilla, bishop of Viseo, an eminent astronomer. He gave them likewise

a general letter of credit and safe conduct, requiring them to be

assisted and protected, and supplied with money, in whatever kingdoms or

countries they might travel; ordering them to receive 400 crowns from the

chest of the orchard of Almeryn, for their charges. Of this sum, they

took what they deemed necessary to bear their expences till their arrival

at Valentia in Arragon, placing the rest in the bank of Bartholomew of

Florence, to be repaid at Valentia.

Receiving their audience of leave from King John, in presence of Don

Manuel, duke of Viseo, afterwards king, they departed from Santaxen on

the 7th May 1487, and came to Naples on St Johns day of that year; whence

they were forwarded by the sons of Cosmo de Medici, and went to Rhodes,

and thence to Alexandria. From this place they travelled as merchants to

Cairo, whence they went in company with certain Moors of Fez and Tremesen

to Toro, a harbour on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. They here learned

many things respecting the Indies, and of the trade from the Red Sea to

Calicut; and, going from Toro to a place on the coast of Ethiopia, they

went to the port of Aden. The travellers here separated, Alonso de Payva

passing over to the emperor of Ethiopia, erroneously called Presbyter

John: For he, of whom Marco Polo speaks, under that title, as governing

all the Indies, and whose country joins with the great khan of Kathay,

was vanquished and slain in a battle by that sovereign; at which time his

kingdom was put an end to, and no one of that race or title has since

reigned. Yet Alonso de Payva actually believed that the emperor of

Ethiopia was Presbyter John, having learnt that he was a Christian king

over a Christian nation, as shall be more particularly declared hereafter.

At their separation they agreed to meet again at Cairo, when each had

executed his part of the royal orders.

Pedro de Covillian sailed from Aden for the Indies, in a ship belonging

to the Moors of Cananor, and went to Calicut and the island of Goa, where

he acquired complete information respecting the spices of India, the

commodities which come from other places, and the towns of the Indies;

the names of all which he inserted, but ill written, in his chart. From

India he went to Sofala, where he procured information respecting the

great island of St Lawrence, called the Island of the Moon by the Moors.

Observing that the natives of Sofala were black, like those of Guinea, he

concluded, that all the coast between was under subjection to the Negroes,

and consequently that navigation was practicable from Guinea to Sofala,

and thence to the Indies. Returning from Sofala, he went to Ormus, and

thence to Cairo, where he learnt that Alonso de Payva was dead, and meant

to have returned to Portugal. He chanced to meet at Cairo two Spanish

jews, Rabbi Abraham, a native of Viseo, and Joseph, born in Lamego; who,

after the departure of Covillian and Payva from Portugal, had told the

king that they had been in Cairo, where they had received much

information concerning Ormus, and of its trade with the Indies. From

these Jews Covillian received letters from the king, directed to him and

Payva, ordering them to return along with the Jews, if they had seen all

that he had given them in charge. If they had not executed all his

original instructions, they were now directed to send by the Jews an

exact account of all the knowledge they had acquired, and to use their

utmost efforts to visit Presbyter John, and to give all the information

in their power respecting Ormus, to Rabbi Abraham, who had sworn by his

law not to return to Portugal without visiting that place.

On receiving these letters, Covillian changed his intention of returning

into Portugal, and dispatched Joseph there with letters to the king,

giving an account of all that he had seen and learnt in India and Sofala,

and transmitted the chart on which he had inserted all the places he had

visited. In these letters he informed the king that the emperor of

Ethiopia was assuredly the same with Presbyter John; but my opinion is

that this is an error, as this sovereign has no such name in his own

dominions, as I shall more clearly shew hereafter. On the departure of

Joseph, Covillian and Rabbi Abraham went to Ormus, and thence back to the

Red Sea; whence Covillian sent Abraham into Portugal, with letters to the

king, containing all the information acquired in this part of the

expedition, and intimating his determination to go into the dominions of

Presbyter John. This he accordingly did, and came to the presence of the

then emperor of Ethiopia, named Alexander, to whom he delivered the

letters with which he had been entrusted by the king of Portugal for that

monarch. Alexander received him courteously, and seemed much pleased with

the letters of the king of Portugal, as being from so very distant a

Christian prince, yet did not seem to attach much credit or importance to

them. But he gave all honour, and many gifts to Covillian.