A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Ii Part 22

"I am fully sensible of the high honour done me on this occasion by your sovereign. I have always endeavoured to deserve his friends.h.i.+p, by dealing strictly with his subjects, and by constantly exerting myself to procure immediate ladings for their s.h.i.+ps. 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 a.s.suredly, persons of such rank, under the guidance of a commander who claims his descent from the G.o.d who created the day and the night, would never be able to endure the hards.h.i.+ps of our climate, and could not procure in this country those luxuries they have been accustomed to in their own. Those pa.s.sions 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. .h.i.therto, allowing your s.h.i.+ps 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 Camaranca, 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 G.o.ds, 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 a.s.sume 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 ma.s.s was appointed to be celebrated annually, in honour of Don Henry, Duke of Viseo, of ill.u.s.trious 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 pa.s.sage by sea to India, of which his hopes were now sanguine, the king of Portugal, who had now added to his t.i.tles 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 sh.o.r.es 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 s.h.i.+p. 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 lat.i.tude would extend the discovery of Diego between the lat.i.tude of the Congo river and this high lat.i.tude, 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 princ.i.p.al n.o.blemen, named _Cacuta_ or _Zazut_, to accompany Diego Cam, as his amba.s.sador to King John; anxiously requesting the king of Portugal to allow this n.o.bleman 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 Cacuta; 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 amba.s.sador 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 amba.s.sador 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.

a.s.suming Cape Lopo Goncalves, 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 _Ogane_ was a corruption of _Jan_ or _Janhoi_, the t.i.tle 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 s.p.a.ce. 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 amba.s.sador, to Edward IV.

of England, to explain the t.i.tle 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 s.h.i.+p- builders.

A Portuguese pilot, who had often made the voyage to Guinea, had the temerity to a.s.sert, that any kind of s.h.i.+p 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 pa.s.sage 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 2440'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 pa.s.sed 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 lat.i.tude 2637'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 lat.i.tude, 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 sh.o.r.e 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 a.s.sortments 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 a.s.sured 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 overpa.s.sed 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 accomplis.h.i.+ng 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. 3327'

N. long. 2820'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 pa.s.sage 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 ill.u.s.trious Don Henry first began to direct and incite his countrymen to the prosecution of discoveries along the western sh.o.r.es 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 pa.s.sage 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 Esperanca_, 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 circ.u.mstances 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 circ.u.mstances 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 Aba.s.sines, 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 rest.i.tution 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, a.s.sisted by Doctor Rodrigo, and a Jewish physician named Moses; which map a.s.serted the practicability of pa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sage 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 s.h.i.+p 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 a.s.suring his master that the s.h.i.+ps 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 Ba.s.sora 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 pa.s.sage to India around the southern extremity of Africa, which he a.s.serted 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 emba.s.sy 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.suez, 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 pa.s.sages of this Chapter.

The t.i.tle of this original doc.u.ment, 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 t.i.tle 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, ent.i.tled 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 Wors.h.i.+pfull 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, n.o.ble 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 wors.h.i.+pfull 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 wors.h.i.+p, with great peril and daunger haue past these monstrous and bottomlesse sees, am therfore the more encouraged to desire & pray your wors.h.i.+ps 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 a.s.sured will neither be vnpleasant nor vnprofitable to the readers. Thus alwaies wis.h.i.+ng your good wors.h.i.+p such prosperous continuance and like fortunate successe as G.o.d 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 wors.h.i.+ps alwayes to commaund, _Nicholas Lichefild._