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Title: A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama 1497-1499

Dubious author: Alvaro Velho

Translator: Ernest Georg Ravenstein

Dubious author: active 15th century-16th century João de Sá

Release date: July 29, 2014 [eBook #46440]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A JOURNAL OF
THE FIRST VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA 1497-1499 ***

Transcriber’s Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

Place and personal names which are spelled differently in the manuscript of the “Roteiro”
and by the author have been retained as displayed in the printed text.

WORKS ISSUED BY

A JOURNAL
OF
THE FIRST VOYAGE
OF
VASCO DA GAMA,
1497-1499.
FIRST SERIES. NO. XCIX-MDCCCXCVIII

(From a Photograph by Sr. Camancho.)
This Portrait, now in the Hall of Honours of the Lisbon
Geographical Society, was presented by the Conde de Vidigueira
to King D. Carlos.

A JOURNAL
OF
FIRST VOYAGE
OF
VASCO DA GAMA,
1497-1499.

by
E. G. RAVENSTEIN, F.R.G.S.,
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LISBON.

BURT FRANKLIN, PUBLISHER
NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Published by
BURT FRANKLIN
514 West 113th Street
New York 25, N. Y.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY
REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

COUNCIL
OF

THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.
Sir Clements Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S., Pres. R.G.S., President.
The Right Hon. The Lord Stanley of Alderley, Vice-President.
Rear-Admiral Sir William Wharton, K.C.B., Vice-President.
C. Raymond Beazley, Esq., M.A.
Colonel G. Earl Church.
Sir Martin Conway.
Albert Gray, Esq.
Alfred Harmsworth, Esq.
The Right Hon. Lord Hawkesbury.
Edward Heawood, Esq., M.A.
Admiral Sir Anthony H. Hoskins, G.C.B.
J. Scott Keltie, Esq.
Vice-Admiral Albert H. Markham.
E. Delmar Morgan, Esq.
Captain Nathan, R.E.
E. J. Payne, Esq.
Cuthbert E. Peek, Esq.
E. G. Ravenstein, Esq.
Howard Saunders, Esq.
Charles Welch, Esq., F.S.A.

William Foster, Esq., B.A., Honorary Secretary.

CONTENTS.
PAGE
Introduction xi
On the importance of Vasco da Gama’s voyage, p. xi; his Life, p. xiii; a parallel between
Vasco da Gama and Columbus, p. xv; authorities on Vasco da Gama’s voyage, p. xix; the
MS. of the Roteiro, p. xxii; its author, p. xxv; Portuguese editions, p. xxxii; French
translations, p. xxxiv; the present edition, p. xxxv.

A Journal of the Voyage of Vasco da Gama in 1497-99 1
The Voyage Out 1
Lisbon to the Cape Verde Islands, p. 1; across the Southern Atlantic, p. 3; the Bay of St.
Helena, p. 5; rounding the Cape, p. 8; the Bay of S. Braz, 9; S. Braz to Natal, p. 14;
Terra da Boa Gente and Rio do Cobre, p. 16; the Rio dos Bons Signaes, p. 19; to
Moçambique, p. 21; false start, and return to Moçambique, p. 28; Moçambique to
Mombaça, p. 31; Mombaça, p. 34; Mombaça to Malindi, p. 39; Malindi, p. 40; across
the Arabian Sea, p. 46
Calecut 48
Arrival, p. 48; a description of Calecut, p. 49; at anchor at Pandarani, p. 50; Gama goes to
Calecut, p. 51; a Christian church, p. 52; progress through the town, p. 55. The King’s
palace, p. 55; a royal audience, p. 56; a night’s lodging, p. 59; presents for the Zamorin,
p. 60; a second audience, p. 61. Return to Pandarani, p. 63; detention there, p. 64; the
Portuguese merchandise at Pandarani, p. 67; Diogo Dias carries a message to the King,
p. 70; the King sends for Diogo Dias, p. 74; off Calecut, p. 75; Calecut and its
commerce, p. 77
The Voyage home 79
Santa Maria Islets and Anjediva, p. 80; the voyage across the Arabian Sea, p. 87;
Magadoxo, p. 88; Malindi, p. 89; Malindi to S. Braz, p. 91; S. Braz to the Rio Grande, p.
92; conclusion, p. 93
The Kingdoms to the South of Calecut 95
About Elephants 102
Prices at Alexandria 103
A vocabulary of Malayalam 105

————

APPENDICES.
A.—Two Letters of King Manuel, 1499 111
Letter to the King and Queen of Castile, July 1499 113
Letter to the Cardinal Protector, August 28, 1499 114
B.—Girolamo Sernigi’s Letters, 1499 119

Introduction, p. 119; First letter to a gentleman at Florence, p. 123; Second letter, p.
137; a letter to his brother, p. 141
C.—Three Portuguese Accounts of Vasco da Gama’s First Voyage. 145
Jornal das Viagens dos Portuguezes ás Indias, 1608 145
Luiz de Figueiredo Falcão, 1612 147
Pedro Barretto de Rezende, 1646 149
D.—Vasco da Gama’s Ships and their Equipment 157
E.—Muster-roll of Vasco da Gama’s Fleet 173
F.—The Voyage 185
Lisbon to the Cape Verde Islands, p. 186; the Voyage across the Southern Atlantic, p.
186; doubling the Cape, p. 192; along the East Coast of Africa, p. 193; across the
Arabian Sea, p. 198; the voyage home, p. 199.
G.—Early Maps illustrating Vasco da Gama’s First Voyage 203
Henricus Martellus Germanus, p. 204; Juan de la Cosa, p. 205; Dr. Hamy’s Chart, p.
206; The Cantino Chart, p. 208; the chart of the “Mohit”, 209; Canerio, p. 210; list
of Place-Names, p. 214
H.—Honours and Rewards bestowed upon Vasco da Gama, 1499-1524 226

————

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Portraits.
PAGE
Vasco da Gama, from a portrait in the Honour Hall of the Lisbon Geographical Society Frontispiece
King Manuel 109
Vasco da Gama, from a contemporary medallion in the cloister of Belem xii
Vasco da Gama, from the Museu das Bellas Artes 116
Vasco da Gama, from the same, according to M. Morelet’s version 171
Vasco da Gama as Viceroy, according to Barretto de Rezende 143
Vasco da Gama, from the Palacio do Governo, Goa 151

Facsimiles.
Facsimile of the first paragraph of the MS. of the Roteiro xxii
Facsimiles of Vasco da Gama’s signatures, Frontispiece and 116
Facsimile of a Receipt given by Vasco da Gama 229

Ships.
The supposed Armada of Vasco da Gama 160
The S. Gabriel 155
The figure-head of the S. Raphael 91
A Caravel 158
Native craft in the Harbour of Mombaça; from a photograph by the late Capt. Foot,
35
R.N.

Other Illustrations.
Cão’s Padrão at Cape Cross 169
Vasco da Gama’s Pillar at Malindi, from a photograph by Sir John Kirk 90
Coat-of-Arms of Vasco da Gama 223
A tower at Mombaça; from a photograph by Sir John Kirk 39
View of Calecut; from an original sketch by H. Johnson 183
A Siwa-blower; from a photograph by Sir John Kirk 43
Krishna nursed by Devaki; from Moor’s “Pantheon” 53
The Old Church at Vidigueira 238

————

LIST OF MAPS.
PAGE
I. A Chart illustrating the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-99 xxxvii
II. The Cape to Natal At end of volume
III. Natal to Malinde " "
IV. The West Coast of India " "
V. South Africa, from an anonymous chart of the world, first published by Dr. " "
Hamy
VI. Africa, from the Cantino Chart " "
VII. Africa and India, from Canerio’s Chart " "
VIII. The Indian Ocean, according to the “Mohit” 209

ERRATA.

P. 3, note 3. The wrong date is not August 18, but August 22, which ought to be October 22. See also
p. 190, note 1.
P. 3, line 17. Instead of “lower mainsail”, read “mainsail”.
P. 4, note 2, to be read thus: “That is, towards Tristão da Cunha, Gama being at that time 400 miles to
the N.N.W. of these islands”.

P. 9, note 3. Instead of “Anto”, read “dento” (dentro).
P. 15, note 1. Instead of “Rio do Infante”, read “Rio de Infante”.
P. 16, line 10. Read “when setting a bonnet we discovered the mast was sprung ... and ... secured it
with lashings”.
P. 22, line 8. Instead of “when putting the ship about”, etc., read “in tacking towards the other ships,
which were astern, Coelho”, etc.
P. 23, note 4. Add “Aljofar, in Portuguese, means seed-pearls”.

P. 73, line 17. Instead of “August 23”, read “August 24”.
P. 79, line 14. Instead of “Biaquotte”, read “Biaquolle”.
P. 80, note 1. For the identification of the Ilhas de S. Maria, see p. 200.
P. 92, line 13. Add “and left at once”.
P. 148, line 20, and P. 175, line 60. The pilot was Pero Escolar, not Escovar. A Pero Escovar is
mentioned by Barros (t. I, part 1, p. 143) jointly with João de Santarem, as having made discoveries
on the Gold Coast in 1471. He was a “cavalier” of the King’s household. Another Pero Escovar went
as pilot to the Congo in 1490. This latter may possibly have been our man.
P. 161, line 24. Instead of “D’Alberti”, read “D’Albertis”.
P. 167, line 17. Instead of “Rodriguez”, read “Rodrigo”.
P. 167, line 29. Instead of “Diogo de Vilhegas”, read “Diogo Ortiz de Vilhegas”.

INTRODUCTION.
HE discovery of an ocean route to India, in 1497-98, marks
an epoch in the history of geographical exploration no less
than in that of commerce. It confirmed the hypothesis of a
circumambient ocean, first put forward by Hecataeus, but
rejected by Ptolemy and his numerous followers; and, at the
same time diverted into a new channel the profitable spice trade with the
East which for ages had passed through Syria and Alexandria. In
consequence of this diversion Venice lost her monopoly, and Lisbon
became for a time the great spice-market of Europe.
But Portugal was a small country whose resources were hardly even equal
to the task of waging the continuous wars with the Moors in which she had
so unwisely been engaged for generations past. And when, in addition to
her African forces, she was called upon to maintain great fleets in the
distant East, in order to enforce her monopoly of the spice trade, at first in
the face only of the Moors, and afterwards in that of powerful European
rivals, her resources speedily came to an end, and she found herself
exhausted and helpless. It may well be asked whether Portugal would not be
happier now, and richer, too, had she never had the opportunity of dwelling
upon these ancient glories; had the wealth of the Indies never been poured
into her lap, only to breed corruption; and had her strength not been wasted
in a struggle to which she was materially unequal, and which ended in
exhaustion and ruin.

Vasco da Gama.
(From a Contemporary Medallion in
the Cloister of Belem.)

Portugal, however, notwithstanding the sad ending of her vast Eastern
enterprises, is still justly proud of the achievements of her “great” Vasco da
Gama, and boldly places him by the side of Magelhães and Christopher
Columbus, as one of a noble triad which occupies the foremost rank among
the great navigators of an Age of Great Discoveries.
Vasco da Gama was born, about 1460,1 at Sines, of which coast-town his
father, Estevão, was alcaidemór. He was the youngest of three brothers.
Genealogists trace back his pedigree to a valiant soldier, Alvaro Annes da
Gama, who resided at Olivença in 1280, and greatly distinguished himself
in the wars with the Moors. The Gamas could thus boast of gentle blood,
though they neither belonged to the aristocracy of Portugal, nor were they
possessed of much worldly wealth.
We know next to nothing of Vasco da Gama’s youth. When King João, after
the return of Bartholomeu Dias, decided to fit out an armada to complete
the discovery of an ocean highway to India, he selected Vasco da Gama as
its captain-major, and this choice of the King was confirmed by his
successor, D. Manuel.2 Such an appointment would not have been made

had not Vasco da Gama already been known as a man of energy, capacity
and competent knowledge. We ought therefore not be surprised if Garcia de
Resende, in his Chronicle of D. João II (c. 146), tells us that he was a man
whom the King trusted, as he had already served in his fleets and in
maritime affairs, and whom he had consequently charged, in 1492, with the
task of seizing the French vessels lying in the ports of Algarve, in reprisal
for the capture by a French pirate of a Portuguese caravel returning from S.
Jorge da Mina with gold.3
Castanheda (I, c. 2) speaks of Vasco as having done good service in the time
of King João II, and as being experienced in the affairs of the sea. Mariz
(Dial., iv, c. 14; v, c. 1) calls him a young man (mancebo), high-spirited and
indefatigable, who had such a thorough knowledge of navigation (arte
maritima) that he would have been able to hold his own with the most
experienced pilots of Europe. We know, moreover, from Barros and Goes
that he landed at S. Helena Bay with his pilots in order to determine the
latitude. These extracts show, at all events, that Vasco da Gama was not a
mere landsman; nor is it likely that the command of an expedition, the one
object of which was discovery, and not trade or war, would have been
entrusted to such an one.
He was, moreover, well qualified for his post in other respects. His
indomitable firmness made him shrink from no obstacle which opposed
itself to the success of his expedition; and notwithstanding the unheard-of
length of the voyage and the hardships endured, he retained the confidence
of his men to the very last.
The question whether Da Gama can fairly be ranked with Columbus and
Magelhães, has frequently been discussed.
The first place among these three undoubtedly belongs to Magelhães, the
renegade Portuguese, who first guided a ship across the wide expanse of the
Pacific. The second place is almost universally accorded to Columbus,
whose unconscious discovery of a new world, fit to become the second
home of the European races, was immensely more far-reaching in its
consequences than the discovery of an ocean highway to India, now largely
discarded in favour of the shorter route across the isthmus of Suez.
It is maintained, in support of the claims of Columbus, that he was the
originator of the scheme the success of which covered him with everlasting

glory, whilst Vasco da Gama simply obeyed the behests of his King, when
he took the lead of an expedition which was to crown the efforts made by
little Portugal for generations past.
There is much truth in this contention. The scheme of reaching the East by a
westward course across the Atlantic had no doubt been entertained in
Portugal in the reign of Affonso the African [1438-81]. Fernão Martinz, the
Royal Chaplain, had discussed its prospects with Paolo Toscanelli, when in
Italy, and had been instructed to apply for further particulars to the
Florentine physician, in response to which he had received the famous letter
of June 25th, 1474, and the chart which accompanied it. But practically
nothing was done, except that an adventurer or two4 were authorised to seek
for the islands supposed to lie to the west of the Azores. Prince Henry the
Navigator would perhaps have acted upon such a suggestion, had he been
still alive, but the King’s resources were devoted to Africa, or wasted in two
disastrous wars with Spain.
Columbus, on the other hand, made the discarded scheme his own; he, too,
applied to Toscanelli for counsel,5 and found confirmation of that
physician’s erroneous hypothesis as to the small breadth of the Atlantic by
studying the Imago Mundi of Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly, and other writings.
Nor did he rest until he found in Queen Isabella the Catholic a patron who
enabled him to put his theories to the test of practical experience. It was his
good fortune that Providence had placed the new world as a barrier between
him and Marco Polo’s Cipangu (Japan), which was his goal, or he might
never have returned to claim the reward of his success.
On the accession of D. João II, in 1481, the discovery of Africa was
resumed with renewed vigour, and the councillors of that King acted wisely
when they advised him to decline the offers of Columbus,6 for the resources
of Portugal were quite unequal to pursuing at one and the same time a
search for a western route and continuing the efforts for opening a practical
route around the southern extremity of Africa. And thus it happened that
Columbus “discovered a new world for Castile and Leon”, and not for
Portugal.
When, however, we come to consider the physical difficulties which had to
be overcome by these great navigators in the accomplishment of their
purpose, the greater credit must undoubtedly be awarded to Vasco da Gama.

Columbus, trusting as implicitly to the chart and sailing directions of
Toscanelli as did Vasco da Gama to those of Dias, and, perhaps, of Pero de
Covilhão, shaped a course westward of Gomera; and, having sailed in that
direction for thirty-six days, and for a distance of 2,600 miles, made his first
landfall at Guanahani, being favoured all the while by the prevailing
easterly winds. The task which Vasco da Gama undertook was far more
difficult of accomplishment. Instead of creeping along the coast, as had
been done by his predecessors, he conceived the bold idea of shaping a
course which would take him direct through the mid-Atlantic from the Cape
Verde Islands to the Cape of Good Hope. The direct distance to be covered
was 3,770 miles, but the physical obstacles presented by winds and currents
could only be overcome by taking a circuitous course, and thus it happened
that he spent ninety-three days at sea before he made his first landfall to the
north of the bay of St. Helena. This first passage across the southern
Atlantic is one of the great achievements recorded in the annals of maritime
exploration.
Once beyond the Cape, Vasco had to struggle against the Agulhas current,
which had baffled Bartholomeu Dias, and against the current of
Mozambique; and it was only after he had secured a trustworthy pilot at
Melinde that the difficulties of the outward voyage can be said to have been
overcome.
In one other respect Vasco da Gama, or, perhaps, we ought to say his pilots,
proved themselves the superiors of Columbus, namely, in the accuracy of
the charts of their discoveries which they brought home to Portugal.
Accepting the Cantino Chart7 as a fair embodiment of the work done by this
expedition, we find that the greatest error in latitude amounts to 1° 40´. The
errors of Columbus were far more considerable. In three places of his
Journal the latitude of the north coast of Cuba is stated to be 42° by actual
observation; and that this is no clerical error, thrice repeated in three
different places, seems to be proved by the evidence of the charts. On that
of Juan de la Cosa, for instance, Cuba is made to extend to lat. 35° N.
(instead of 23° 10´), and even on the rough sketch drawn by Bartolomeo
Columbus after the return from the Fourth Voyage, Jamaica and Puerto Rico
(Spagnola) are placed 6° too far to the north.8
Verily, the Portuguese of those days were superior as navigators to their
Spanish rivals and the Italians.

Posterity is fortunate in possessing a very full abstract of the Journal which
Columbus kept during his first voyage to the West Indies.9 No such
trustworthy record is available in the case of Vasco da Gama, whose
original reports have disappeared. They were consulted, no doubt, by João
de Barros and Damião de Goes; but these writers, much to our loss, dealt
very briefly with all that refers to navigation. The only available account
written by a member of the expedition is the Roteiro or Journal, a
translation of which fills the bulk of this volume, and of which, later on, we
shall speak at greater length. The only other contemporary accounts, which
we also reproduce, are at second-hand, and are contained in the letters
written by King Manuel and Girolamo Sernigi immediately after the return
of Vasco da Gama’s vessels from India.
Apart from these, our chief authorities regarding this voyage are still the
Decades of João de Barros and the Chronicle of King Manuel, by Damião
de Goes. Both these authors held official positions which gave them access
to the records preserved in the India House. Castanheda relied almost
wholly upon the Roteiro, but a few additional statements of interest may be
found in his pages.
As to the Lendas of Gaspar Correa, we are unable to look upon his account
of Vasco da Gama’s first voyage as anything but a jumble of truth and
fiction,10 notwithstanding that he claims to have made use of the diary of a
priest, Figueiro, who is stated to have sailed in Vasco’s fleet. Correa’s long
residence in India—from 1514 to the time of his death—must have proved
an advantage when relating events which came under his personal
observation, but it also precluded him from consulting the documents
placed on record in the Archives of Lisbon. This much is certain: that
whoever accepts Correa as his guide must reject the almost unanimous
evidence of other writers of authority who have dealt with this important
voyage.11
A few additional facts may be gleaned from Faria y Sousa’s Asia
Portuguesa, from Duarte Pacheco Pereira and Antonio Galvão; but in the
main we are dependent upon the Roteiro, for recent searches12 in the Torre
do Tombo have yielded absolutely nothing, so far as we are aware, which
throws additional light upon Da Gama’s First Voyage, with which alone we
are concerned.

And now we shall proceed to give an account of the Roteiro.

The Manuscript of the “Roteiro”.

In giving an account of the manuscript of this Journal, we entrust ourselves
to the guidance of Professors Kopke and Antonio da Costa Paiva, the two
gentlemen who first published it.

Signature of Fernam Lopes de Castanheda Water Mark

That is:—
“Em Nome de Ds Amem// Na era de mill iiij lr vij
mamdou Ellrey Dom manuell o primo desde nome em portugall/
a descobrir/ quat
navios/ os quaes hiam em busca da especiaria/ dos quaees na
vios hia por capitam moor Vco da Gama e dos outros duũ
delles Paullo da Gama seu jrmaoo e doutro njcollao Coelho”.

The manuscript originally belonged to the famous Convent of Santa Cruz at
Coimbra, whence it was transferred, together with other precious MSS., to
the public library of Oporto.
It is not an autograph, for on fol. 64 (p. 77 of this translation), where the
author has left a blank, the copyist, to guard against his being supposed to
have been careless in his task, has added these words: “The author has
omitted to tell us how these weapons were made”. This copy, however, was
taken in the beginning of the sixteenth century, as may be seen from the
style of the writing as exhibited in the facsimile of the first paragraph of the
work, shown on preceding page.
The MS. is in folio, and is rudely bound up in a sheet of parchment, torn out
of some book of ecclesiastical offices. The ink is a little faded, but the
writing is still perfectly legible. The paper is of ordinary strength, and of
rather a dark tint; the manufacturer’s water mark is shown in the above
facsimile. Blank leaves of more modern make, and having a different water-
mark, have been inserted at the front and back, and the first of these leaves
contains the following inscription in a modern hand, which is still legible,
although pains have been taken to erase it:—
“Pertinet ad usum fratris Theotonii de Sancto
G ... Canonici Regularis in Cenobio
Scte Crucis”.

Immediately below this we read:—
“Dô Theotonio”,

and near the bottom of the page, in a modern hand, probably that of one of
the librarians of the convent:—
“Descobrimento da India por D. Vasco
da Gamma”.

Prof. Kopke suggests13 that the copyist of this valuable MS. was the famous
historian Fernão Lopes de Castanheda, who was Apparitor and Keeper of
the Archives in the University of Coimbra, and was engaged there during
twenty years, much to the injury of his health and private fortune, in
collecting the materials for his Historia do Descobrimento e Conquista da
India. In support of this assumption he publishes a signature (see the
facsimile on page xxii) taken from a copy of the first book of Castanheda’s

history, published in 1551. But A. Herculano,14 whilst admitting this
signature to be genuine, points out that the cursive characters of the MS. are
of a type exceedingly common during the first half of the sixteenth century,
and that it would consequently not be safe to attribute it to any writer in
particular. Until, therefore, further evidence is forthcoming, we cannot
accept the Professor’s theory that we are indebted for this copy to
Castanheda; though, as we have already said, there can be no doubt that in
writing his account of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama he depended
almost exclusively for his facts upon the anonymous author of this Roteiro.

The Author of the “Roteiro”.

It is quite possible, as suggested by Prof. Kopke, that the title by which the
Roteiro was known at the convent of Santa Cruz misled certain
bibliographers into a belief that Vasco da Gama himself had written this
account of his voyage.
Thus Nicoláo Antonio, in his Bibliotheca Hispana Veta (1672), lib. 10, c.
15, § 543, says:—
“Vascus da Gama ... dedit reversus Emanueli suo Regi populari Portugaliæ idiomate navigationis
suae ad Indiam anno MCDXCVII relationem, quae lucem vidit.”

The words “quae lucem vidit” need not, however, be understood as
conveying the meaning that this narrative was actually printed and
published, for the same author, in his Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, makes use
of the same equivocal expression when describing another voyage to India,
expressly stated by him to be still in MS.
Moreri, in his Dictionnaire (1732), quoting as his authority a Bibliotheca
Portuguesa in MS., which he had from “a man of judgment and of vast
erudition”, states that Vasco da Gama is said to have published an account
of his first voyage to India, but that no copy of it had up till then been
discovered.
Similarly, Barbosa Machado, the author of the standard Bibliotheca
Lusitana (t. iii, p. 775), 1752, accepting Nicoláo Antonio as his authority,
says that Vasco da Gama “wrote an account of the voyage which he made to
India in 1497”.15

We are quite safe in assuming that no such a narrative has ever been
published, although it is equally certain that Vasco da Gama furnished
official reports of his proceedings, which were still available when João de
Barros wrote his Decades, but are so no longer.

No one has yet succeeded in discovering the author of the Roteiro. Prof.
Kopke attempts to arrive at the name by a process of elimination, and in
doing so starts with several assumptions which we cannot accept. First of
all he assumes that Castanheda must have known the writer of the MS. of
which he made such excellent use in writing his history. But Castanheda
only became acquainted with this MS. after 1530, when he took up his
residence at Coimbra on his return from India, that is, more than thirty years
after it had been written. Of course, the author might then have been still
alive, notwithstanding the lapse of years; but had this been the case, and had
Castanheda been personally acquainted with him, he would surely have
obtained from him an account of the termination of the voyage, instead of
abruptly breaking off in the same way as the Roteiro does, with the arrival
of the fleet at the shoals of the Rio Grande (see p. 93), adding that he had
been unable to ascertain the particulars of the further voyage of the captain-
major, and only knew that Coelho arrived at Cascaes on July 10th, 1499.16
It is probable, moreover, that if Castanheda had known the name of the
author to whom he was so greatly indebted, he would have mentioned it in
his book.
Prof. Kopke assumes further that the writer was a common sailor or soldier,
and most probably the former: first, because he frequently makes use of the
expression “nós outros” (we others) as if to draw a distinction between the
officers of the ships and the class to which he himself belonged; and,
secondly, because “the style of his narrative would seem to point to his
humble condition”. We can admit neither of these conclusions. The author
by no means uses the expression “we others” in the restricted sense in
which Prof. Kopke understands it. In proof of this we may refer to such
sentences as are to be found at pp. 57 and 61:—“When the King beckoned
to the captain he looked at us others”; “as to us others, we diverted
ourselves”—the “others”, in both these cases, including the thirteen men
who attended Vasco da Gama to Calecut, and among whom were the three
pursers, the captain-major’s secretary, and others who may not have been

“persons of distinction” but who nevertheless cannot be classed with
“common soldiers or sailors”. As to the literary style of the Journal, we may
at once admit that its author cannot take rank with Barros, Castanheda or
Correa, but this by no means proves him to have been an uncultured man,
or of “humble condition.” His spelling may not have been quite in
accordance with the somewhat loose rules followed in the fifteenth century,
but his narrative is straightforward and to the point, and shows that he was a
man of judgment perfectly able to give an intelligent account of the many
novel facts which came under his observation. If he looked upon the Hindus
as fellow-Christians, he shared that opinion with the other members of the
expedition, including its chief. It only needs a perusal of such a collection
of letters, reports, and narratives as is to be found in Alguns documentos do
Archivo nacional (Lisbon, 1892) to convince us that there were men
holding high positions in those days whose literary abilities fell short of
those which can be claimed on behalf of our author. Moreover, it is not
likely that access to the information required to enable him to write a
Roteiro da Viagem would have been given to a “common sailor or soldier”,
even if such a person had been bold enough to ask for it.
We shall now follow Prof. Kopke in his “process of elimination”:—
1. The author, in the course of his narrative, mentions a number of persons
by name, and these we must eliminate forthwith. They are: Vasco and Paulo
da Gama, Nicolau Coelho (p. 22), Pero d’Alenquer (p. 5), João de Coimbra
(p. 30), Martin Affonso (pp. 12, 17), Sancho Mexia (p. 6), and Fernão
Veloso (p. 7).
2. We know further that the author served on board the S. Raphael.17 This
disposes of Gonçalo Alvares and Diogo Dias18 of the S. Gabriel; and of
Gonçalo Nunes, Pero Escolar, and Alvaro de Braga, of the Berrio.
3. The author mentions certain things as having been done by persons
whose names he does not give. The name of one of these is supplied by
Castanheda and Barros. We thus learn from Barros that Fernão Martins was
the sailor mentioned by the author (p. 23) as being able to speak the
language of the Moors; and from Castanheda (I, p. 51) that he was one of
the two men sent with a message to the King of Calecut (p. 50). The convict
who was sent to Calecut on May 21st (p. 48) was João Nunez, according to
Correa. The author states (p. 64, line 18, and p. 65, last line) that the

captain-major sent three men along the beach in search of the ships’ boats.
According to Castanheda (I, pp. 71 and 72), one of these men was Gonçalo
Pires.
We may therefore strike out all these names from the list of possible
authors.
4. Three members of the expedition are reported to have died during the
voyage, namely, Pedro de Covilhão, the priest; Pedro de Faria de Figueredo,
and his brother Francisco, all of them mentioned by Faria y Sousa alone.
5. Lastly, there are four convicts whose names are given by Correa, none of
whom is likely to have been the author of the MS. The presence of some of
these convicts is, moreover, very doubtful.
We have thus accounted for all the members of the expedition whose names
are known, with the exception of eight.
Four of these—João de Sá, Alvaro Velho, João Palha and João de Setubal—
are stated to have been among the thirteen who attended Vasco da Gama to
Calecut (p. 51), and of these, João de Sá was clerk in the S. Raphael, the
author’s ship. He certainly might have been the author. Prof. Kopke thinks
not, first, because of the author’s supposed humble position; secondly,
because. João de Sá, if we may credit an anecdote recorded by Castanheda
(I, p. 57),19 had his doubts about the people of India being Christians, whilst
the author unhesitatingly affirms them to be so. The only other person
mentioned by Castanheda as having been connected with the expedition is
Alvaro Velho, a soldier, who, according to Prof. Kopke, may “fairly be
looked upon as the author of this Journal.” He admits, however, that this
conclusion is acceptable only on the assumption that Castanheda knew the
author: a purely gratuitous assumption, in our opinion.
Castanheda only mentions six out of the thirteen who were present at Vasco
da Gama’s audience of the Zamorin. Correa mentions two others—João de
Setubal and João Palha. Five remain thus to be accounted for; and, although
these may have included servants and trumpeters, not likely to have
troubled about keeping a journal, our author may have been among them. It
will thus be seen that this process of elimination has led to no result, and
that we cannot even tell whether the author’s name occurs in any single
account of this expedition. Comparing his “Journal” with the contents of

Sernigi’s first letter, it almost seems as if he had been the person from
whom the Florentine derived the bulk of his information. In that case his
name may perhaps turn up some day in the Italian archives. If our choice
were limited to Alvaro Velho and João de Sá, we should feel inclined to
decide in favour of the latter.
Correa mentions three other persons as having been with Vasco da Gama:
namely, João Figueiro, whose diary he claims to have used, and who cannot
therefore have been the author of a “Journal” the contents of which are so
widely different; André Gonçalves and João d’Amoxeira. Camões adds a
fourth name, that of Leonardo Ribeyra. This exhausts the muster-roll, as far
as the names are known to us.

The Portuguese Editions of the “Roteiro”.20

The Roteiro was printed for the first time in 1838. The editors, Diogo
Kopke and Dr. Antonio da Costa Paiva, both teachers at the Academia
Polytechnica of Oporto, furnished it with an introduction, in which they
give an account of the manuscript and discuss its authorship, add sixty-nine
notes, explanatory of the text, and append King Manuel’s letters patent of
January 10th, 1502 (see p. 230). The illustrations include a map, the
facsimile of a page of the MS., a portrait, and an illustrated title-page of
poor design. The book was published by subscription. Three hundred and
ninety-two copies were subscribed for, including two hundred and thirty-
seven by residents in Oporto, among whom British wine-merchants figure
prominently. Only five copies went abroad, and three of these were
subscribed for by Captain Washington, R.N., the Royal Geographical
Society, and the Geographical Society of Paris.
A second edition appeared at Lisbon in 1861. Its editors, A. Herculano, the
famous historian, and Baron do Castello de Paiva, claim to have “got rid of
those imperfections in the text, as also in the notes of the first edition,21
which must be attributed to the inexperience of the editors, and to their
eagerness to bring before the public so precious an historical document”.
Their emendations, however, are not of a kind to justify this somewhat
brutal reference to the work done by their predecessors. They consist, in the
main, of a modernisation of the spelling, the introduction of a few

“philological” notes of no particular interest, and a short preface in which
Correa’s Lendas da India are spoken of in terms of eulogy. These Lendas
the editors consider to be “far superior in substance (quanto á substancia)
to the Decades of João de Barros, and to the exuberant but evidently honest
narrative of Castanheda.” After praising Correa “for depicting in firm
contours and vivid colours” the human passions brought into play by close
companionship within the narrow limits of a ship, they admit that as to
“facts” “he is often vague, forgetful, or ambiguous”. They conclude by
saying that the author of the Roteiro and the chronicle-writers mutually
complement each other, and jointly acquaint us with all the details of one of
the great events in the history of modern nations.22

The French Translations of the “Roteiro”.

Two have been published. The first of these, by M. Ferdinand Denis, will be
found in the third volume of Charton’s Voyageurs Anciens et Modernes,
Paris, 1855. It is based upon the first Portuguese edition, and ends with the
arrival of the two vessels at the Rio Grande. The notes by Professor Kopke
are embodied in those of the translator, who has added an introduction,
giving a short but excellent biography of Vasco da Gama, and a
bibliography. The map of the original is retained, and there are twenty
illustrations, including two portraits of Vasco da Gama, the one stated to be
from Count Farrobo’s painting, as published in the Panorama, the other
from a Paris MS. of Barretto de Rezende.23
For the second French translation24 we are indebted to M. Arthur Morelet. It
is from the second Portuguese edition, and not a word of either text or notes
has been omitted. The translator has confined himself to supplying a short
introduction. The map is retained, but a free rendering of Count Farrobo’s
painting25 has been substituted for the poor portrait of Vasco da Gama in the
original, and the portrait of King Manuel has been omitted as being “flat,
without relief and vigour, and wanting even in that unaffected simplicity
which marks the works of that period.”26

The English Translation.

In 1869 the Hakluyt Society published Lord Stanley of Alderley’s
translation of the Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, from the Lendas of
Gaspar Correa, with numerous foot-notes indicating those instances in
which Correa differs from Barros, Goes, Castanheda and other historians, as
well as from the poetical version of this voyage presented in the Lusiadas of
Camões.
It was intended at the same time to bring out an English version of the
Roteiro, but no definite arrangements were made, and thus the matter was
left in abeyance until the present Editor revived the idea, and suggested that
the volume proposed might prove acceptable as an interesting though
humble contribution to the literature of the Fourth Centenary of Vasco da
Gama’s arrival in India, which Portugal is about to celebrate.
The translation of the Roteiro itself is literal and complete. The notes of the
Portuguese editors have, however, been abridged, and only the substance of
what they say in their introductions has been retained.
On the other hand, the Editor has added translations of the letters of King
Manuel and Sernigi, and of three Portuguese accounts of the voyage. He
has, moreover, added Appendices, among which the one dealing with early
maps will, he hopes, prove of some interest.
In conclusion, the Editor fulfils an agreeable duty in acknowledging the
kindly help and advice extended to him by a number of gentlemen. To Capt.
E. J. de Carvalho e Vasconcellos and Senhor José Bastos, of Lisbon, he is
indebted for the fine portraits which ornament this edition; to Prof. Gallois
for a tracing of the unpublished portion of Canerio’s chart; to Dr. M. C.
Caputo for a photograph of the African portion of the Cantino chart; to Prof.
Biagi for a copy of Sernigi’s letter in the Biblioteca Riccardiana; to Sir J.
Kirk for several illustrations and important notes; to the late Rt. Rev. Dr. J.
M. Speechley, and the Rev. J. J. Jaus, of the Basel Missionary Society, for
notes on Calecut; and for help in minor matters to Dr. Garnett, of the British
Museum; Baron Hulot, Secretary of the Paris Geographical Society; M.
Marcel, of the Bibliothèque Nationale; Prof. Dalla Vedova, of Rome; Prof.
Berchet, of Venice; and Capt. B. B. da Silva, of Lisbon.
His special thanks are due to three members of the Hakluyt Society, namely,
Sir Clements Markham, the President; Admiral Albert H. Markham, who
acted as the Editor’s nautical adviser; and Mr. William Foster, the Secretary,

whose careful reading of the proofs kept this volume free from many a
blunder.
London, March, 1898.

HAKLUYT. S. I. v. XCIX

A CHART
illustrating the First Voyage of
VASCO DA GAMA
1497-99

A JOURNAL
OF THE FIRST
VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA
IN 1497-99.

[Words and Dates not in the MS. have been placed within square brackets.]

N the name of God. Amen!
In the year 1497 King Dom Manuel, the first of that name
in Portugal, despatched four vessels to make discoveries
and go in search of spices. Vasco da Gama was the captain-
major of these vessels; Paulo da Gama, his brother,
commanded one of them, and Nicolau Coelho another.27

[Lisbon to the Cape Verde Islands.]

We left Restello28 on Saturday, July 8, 1497. May God our Lord permit us
to accomplish this voyage in his service. Amen!
On the following Saturday [July 15] we sighted the Canaries, and in the
night passed to the lee of Lançarote. During the following night, at break of
day [July 16] we made the Terra Alta, where we fished for a couple of
hours, and in the evening, at dusk, we were off the Rio do Ouro.29
The fog30 during the night grew so dense that Paulo da Gama lost sight of
the captain-major, and when day broke [July 17] we saw neither him nor the
other vessels. We therefore made sail for the Cape Verde islands, as we had
been instructed to do in case of becoming separated.
On the following Saturday, [July 22], at break of day, we sighted the Ilha do
Sal,31 and an hour afterwards discovered three vessels, which turned out to
be the store-ship, and the vessels commanded by Nicolau Coelho and
Bartholameu Diz [Dias], the last of whom sailed in our company as far as
the Mine.32 They, too, had lost sight of the captain-major. Having joined
company we pursued our route, but the wind fell, and we were becalmed

until Wednesday [July 26]. At ten o’clock on that day we sighted the
captain-major, about five leagues ahead of us, and having got speech with
him in the evening we gave expression to our joy by many times firing off
our bombards33 and sounding the trumpets.
The day after this, a Thursday [July 27], we arrived at the island of
Samtiago [São Thiago],34 and joyfully anchored in the bay of Santa Maria,
where we took on board meat, water and wood, and did the much-needed
repairs to our yards.

[Across the Southern Atlantic.]

On Thursday, August 3, we left in an easterly direction. On August 18,35
when about 200 leagues from Samtiaguo, going south, the captain-major’s
main yard broke, and we lay to under foresail and mainsail for two days and
a night. On the 22nd of the same month, when going S. by W., we saw
many birds resembling herons.36 On the approach of night they flew
vigorously to the S.S.E., as if making for the land.37 On the same day, being
then quite 800 leagues out at sea [i.e., reckoning from S. Thiago], we saw a
whale.
On Friday, October 27, the eve of St. Simon and Jude, we saw many
whales, as also quoquas38 and seals.39
On Wednesday, November 1, the day of All Saints, we perceived many
indications of the neighbourhood of land, including gulf-weed,40 which
grows along the coast.
On Saturday, the 4th of the same month, a couple of hours before break of
day, we had soundings in 110 fathoms,41 and at nine o’clock we sighted the
land.42 We then drew near to each other, and having put on our gala clothes,
we saluted the captain-major by firing our bombards, and dressed the ships
with flags and standards. In the course of the day we tacked so as to come
close to the land, but as we failed to identify it, we again stood out to sea.

[The Bay of St. Helena.]

On Tuesday [November 7] we returned to the land, which we found to be
low, with a broad bay opening into it. The captain-major sent Pero
d’Alenquer43 in a boat to take soundings and to search for good anchoring
ground. The bay was found to be very clean, and to afford shelter against all
winds except those from the N.W. It extended east and west, and we named
it Santa Helena.
On Wednesday [November 8] we cast anchor in this bay, and we remained
there eight days, cleaning the ships, mending the sails, and taking in wood.
The river Samtiagua [S. Thiago]44 enters the bay four leagues to the S.E. of
the anchorage. It comes from the interior (sertão), is about a stone’s throw
across at the mouth, and from two to three fathoms in depth at all states of
the tide.45
The inhabitants of this country are tawny-coloured.46 Their food is confined
to the flesh of seals, whales and gazelles, and the roots of herbs. They are
dressed in skins, and wear sheaths over their virile members.47 They are
armed with poles of olive wood to which a horn, browned in the fire, is
attached.48 Their numerous dogs resemble those of Portugal, and bark like
them. The birds of the country, likewise, are the same as in Portugal, and
include cormorants, gulls, turtle doves, crested larks, and many others. The
climate is healthy and temperate, and produces good herbage.
On the day after we had cast anchor, that is to say on Thursday [November
9], we landed with the captain-major, and made captive one of the natives,
who was small of stature like Sancho Mexia. This man had been gathering
honey in the sandy waste, for in this country the bees deposit their honey at
the foot of the mounds around the bushes. He was taken on board the
captain-major’s ship, and being placed at table he ate of all we ate. On the
following day the captain-major had him well dressed and sent ashore.49
On the following day [November 10] fourteen or fifteen natives came to
where our ships lay. The captain-major landed and showed them a variety
of merchandise, with the view of finding out whether such things were to be
found in their country. This merchandise included cinnamon, cloves, seed-
pearls, gold, and many other things, but it was evident that they had no
knowledge whatever of such articles, and they were consequently given

round bells and tin rings. This happened on Friday, and the like took place
on Saturday.
On Sunday [November 12] about forty or fifty natives made their
appearance, and having dined, we landed, and in exchange for the çeitils50
with which we came provided, we obtained shells, which they wore as
ornaments in their ears, and which looked as if they had been plated, and
fox-tails attached to a handle, with which they fanned their faces. I also
acquired for one çeitil one of the sheaths which they wore over their
members, and this seemed to show that they valued copper very highly;
indeed, they wore small beads of that metal in their ears.
On that day Fernão Velloso, who was with the captain-major, expressed a
great desire to be permitted to accompany the natives to their houses, so
that he might find out how they lived and what they ate. The captain-major
yielded to his importunities, and allowed him to accompany them, and
when we returned to the captain-major’s vessel to sup, he went away with
the negroes. Soon after they had left us they caught a seal, and when they
came to the foot of a hill in a barren place they roasted it, and gave some of
it to Fernão Velloso, as also some of the roots which they eat. After this
meal they expressed a desire that he should not accompany them any
further, but return to the vessels. When Fernão Velloso came abreast of the
vessels he began to shout, the negroes keeping in the bush.
We were still at supper; but when his shouts were heard the captain-major
rose at once, and so did we others, and we entered a sailing boat. The
negroes then began running along the beach, and they came as quickly up
with Fernão Velloso51 as we did, and when we endeavoured to get him into
the boat they threw their assegais, and wounded the captain-major and three
or four others. All this happened because we looked upon these people as
men of little spirit, quite incapable of violence, and had therefore landed
without first arming ourselves. We then returned to the ships.

[Rounding the Cape].

At daybreak of Thursday the 16th of November, having careened our ships
and taken in wood, we set sail. At that time we did not know how far we
might be abaft the Cape of Good Hope. Pero d’Alenquer thought the

distance about thirty leagues,52 but he was not certain, for on his return
voyage [when with B. Dias] he had left the Cape in the morning and had
gone past this bay with the wind astern, whilst on the outward voyage he
had kept at sea, and was therefore unable to identify the locality where we
now were. We therefore stood out towards the S.S.W. and late on Saturday
[November 18] we beheld the Cape. On that same day we again stood out to
sea, returning to the land in the course of the night. On Sunday morning,
November 19, we once more made for the Cape, but were again unable to
round it, for the wind blew from the S.S.W., whilst the Cape juts out
towards the S.W. We then again stood out to sea, returning to the land on
Monday night. At last, on Wednesday [November 22], at noon, having the
wind astern, we succeeded in doubling the Cape, and then ran along the
coast.53
To the south of this Cape of Good Hope, and close to it, a vast bay, six
leagues broad at its mouth, enters about six leagues into the land.54

[The Bay of São Braz].55

Late on Saturday, November 25, the day of St. Catherine’s, we entered the
bay (angra) of Sam Brás, where we remained for thirteen days, for there we
broke up our store-ship and transferred her contents to the other vessels.56
On Friday [December 1], whilst still in the bay of Sam Brás, about ninety
men resembling those we had met at St. Helena Bay made their appearance.
Some of them walked along the beach, whilst others remained upon the
hills. All, or most of us, were at the time in the captain-major’s vessel. As
soon as we saw them we launched and armed the boats, and started for the
land. When close to the shore the captain-major threw them little round
bells, which they picked up. They even ventured to approach us, and took
some of these bells from the captain-major’s hand. This surprised us greatly,
for when Bartholomeu Dias57 was here the natives fled without taking any
of the objects which he offered them. Nay, on one occasion, when Dias was
taking in water, close to the beach, they sought to prevent him, and when
they pelted him with stones, from a hill, he killed one of them with the
arrow of a cross-bow. It appeared to us that they did not fly on this
occasion, because they had heard from the people at the bay of St. Helena

(only sixty leagues distant by sea)58 that there was no harm in us, and that
we even gave away things which were ours.
The captain-major did not land at this spot, because there was much bush,
but proceeded to an open part of the beach, when he made signs to the
negroes to approach. This they did. The captain-major and the other
captains then landed, being attended by armed men, some of whom carried
cross-bows. He then made the negroes understand, by signs, that they were
to disperse, and to approach him only singly or in couples. To those who
approached he gave small bells and red caps, in return for which they
presented him with ivory bracelets, such as they wore on their arms, for it
appears that elephants are plentiful in this country. We actually found some
of their droppings near the watering place where they had gone to drink.
On Saturday [December 2] about two hundred negroes came, both young
and old. They brought with them about a dozen oxen and cows and four or
five sheep. As soon as we saw them we went ashore. They forthwith began
to play on four or five flutes,59 some producing high notes and others low
ones, thus making a pretty harmony for negroes who are not expected to be
musicians; and they danced in the style of negroes. The captain-major then
ordered the trumpets to be sounded, and we, in the boats, danced, and the
captain-major did so likewise when he rejoined us. This festivity ended, we
landed where we had landed before, and bought a black ox for three
bracelets. This ox we dined off on Sunday. We found him very fat, and his
meat as toothsome as the beef of Portugal.
On Sunday [December 3] many visitors came, and brought with them their
women and little boys, the women remaining on the top of a hill near the
sea. They had with them many oxen and cows. Having collected in two
spots on the beach, they played and danced as they had done on Saturday. It
is the custom of this people for the young men to remain in the bush with
their weapons. The [older] men came to converse with us. They carried a
short stick in the hand, attached to which was a fox’s tail, with which they
fan the face. Whilst conversing with them, by signs, we observed the young
men crouching in the bush, holding their weapons in their hands. The
captain-major then ordered Martin Affonso, who had formerly been in
Manicongo [Congo] to advance, and to buy an ox, for which purpose he
was supplied with bracelets. The natives, having accepted the bracelets,
took him by the hand, and, pointing to the watering place, asked him why

we took away their water, and simultaneously drove their cattle into the
bush. When the captain-major observed this he ordered us to gather
together, and called upon Martin Affonso to retreat, for he suspected some
treachery. Having drawn together we proceeded [in our boats] to the place
where we had been at first. The negroes followed us. The captain-major
then ordered us to land, armed with lances, assegais, and strung cross-bows,
and wearing our breast-plates, for he wanted to show that we had the means
of doing them an injury, although we had no desire to employ them. When
they observed this they ran away. The captain-major, anxious that none
should be killed by mischance, ordered the boats to draw together; but to
prove that we were able, although unwilling to hurt them, he ordered two
bombards to be fired from the poop of the long boat. They were by that time
all seated close to the bush, not far from the beach, but the first discharge
caused them to retreat so precipitately that in their flight they dropped the
skins with which they were covered and their weapons. When they were in
the bush two of them turned back to pick up the articles which had been
dropped. They then continued their flight to the top of a hill, driving their
cattle before them.
The oxen of this country are as large as those of Alemtejo, wonderfully fat
and very tame. They are geldings, and hornless. Upon the fattest among
them the negroes place a packsaddle made of reeds, as is done in Castille,
and upon this saddle they place a kind of litter made of sticks, upon which
they ride. If they wish to sell an ox they pass a stick through his nostrils,
and thus lead him.
There is an island in this bay, three bowshots from the land, where there are
many seals.60 Some of these are as big as bears, very formidable, with large
tusks. These attack man, and no spear, whatever the force with which it is
thrown, can wound them. There are others much smaller and others quite
small. And whilst the big ones roar like lions, the little ones cry like goats.
One day, when we approached this island for our amusement, we counted,
among large and small ones, three thousand, and we fired among them with
our bombards from the sea. On the same island there are birds as big as
ducks, but they cannot fly, because they have no feathers on their wings.
These birds, of whom we killed as many as we chose, are called
Fotylicayos, and they bray like asses.61

Whilst taking in water in this bay of Sam Brás, on a Wednesday, we erected
a cross and a pillar.62 The cross was made out of a mizzen-mast, and very
high. On the following Thursday [December 7], when about to set sail, we
saw about ten or twelve negroes, who demolished both the cross and the
pillar before we had left.

[São Braz to Natal.]

Having taken on board all we stood in need of we took our departure, but as
the wind failed us we anchored the same day, having proceeded only two
leagues.
On Friday morning, the day of the Immaculate Concepcion [December 8],
we again set sail. On Tuesday [December 12], the eve of Santa Lucia, we
encountered a great storm, and ran before a stern-wind with the foresail
much lowered. On that day we lost sight of Nicolau Coelho, but at sunset
we saw him from the top four or five leagues astern, and it seemed as if he
saw us too. We exhibited signal lights and lay to. By the end of the first
watch he had come up with us, not because he had seen us during the day,
but because the wind, being scant, he could not help coming in our waters.
On the morning of Friday [December 15] we saw the land near the Ilhéos
chãos (Flat Islands). These are five leagues beyond the Ilhéo da Cruz (Cross
Island). From the Bay of Sam Brás to Cross Island is a distance of sixty
leagues, and as much from the Cape of Good Hope to the Bay of Sam Brás.
From the Flat Islands to the last pillar erected by Bartholomeu Dias is five
leagues, and from this pillar to the Rio do Infante is fifteen leagues.63
On Saturday [December 16] we passed the last pillar, and as we ran along
the coast we observed two men running along the beach in a direction
contrary to that which we followed. The country about here is very
charming and well wooded; we saw much cattle, and the further we
advanced the more did the character of the country improve, and the trees
increase in size.
During the following night we lay to. We were then already beyond the last
discovery made by Bartholomeu Dias.64 On the next day [December 17],
till vespers, we sailed along the coast before a stern-wind, when the wind

springing round to the east we stood out to sea. And thus we kept making
tacks until sunset on Tuesday [December 19], when the wind again veered
to the west. We then lay to during the night, in order that we might on the
following day examine the coast and find out where we were.
In the morning [December 20] we made straight for the land, and at ten
o’clock found ourselves once more at the Ilhéo da Cruz (Cross Island), that
is sixty leagues abaft our dead reckoning! This was due to the currents,
which are very strong here.65
That very day we again went forward by the route we had already
attempted, and being favoured during three or four days by a strong stern-
wind, we were able to overcome the currents which we had feared might
frustrate our plans. Henceforth it pleased God in His mercy to allow us to
make headway! We were not again driven back. May it please Him that it
be thus alway!

[Natal.]

By Christmas Day, the 25th of December, we had discovered seventy
leagues of coast [beyond Dias’ furthest]. On that day, after dinner, when
setting a bonnet we discovered the mast was sprung ... and ... secured it
with lashings below the top, and that the crack opened and shut. We patched
it up with backstays, hoping to be able to repair it thoroughly as soon as we
should reach a sheltered port.
On Thursday [December 28] we anchored near the coast, and took much
fish.66 At sunset we again set sail and pursued our route. At that place the
mooring-rope snapped and we lost an anchor.
We now went so far out to sea, without touching any port, that drinking-
water began to fail us, and our food had to be cooked with salt water. Our
daily ration of water was reduced to a quartilho.67 It thus became necessary
to seek a port.

[Terra da boa Gente and Rio do Cobre.]

On Thursday, January 11th [1498]68 we discovered a small river and
anchored near the coast. On the following day we went close in shore in our
boats, and saw a crowd of negroes, both men and women. They were tall
people, and a chief (“Senhor”) was among them. The captain-major ordered
Martin Affonso, who had been a long time in Manicongo, and another man,
to land. They were received hospitably. The captain-major in consequence
sent the chief a jacket, a pair of red pantaloons, a Moorish cap and a
bracelet. The chief said that we were welcome to anything in his country of
which we stood in need: at least this is how Martin Affonso understood him.
That night, Martin Affonso and his companion accompanied the chief to his
village, whilst we returned to the ships. On the road the chief donned the
garments which had been presented to him, and to those who came forth to
meet him he said with much apparent satisfaction, “Look, what has been
given to me!” The people upon this clapped hands as a sign of courtesy, and
this they did three or four times until he arrived at the village. Having
paraded the whole of the place, thus dressed up, the chief retired to his
house, and ordered his two guests to be lodged in a compound, where they
were given porridge of millet, which abounds in that country, and a fowl,
just like those of Portugal. All the night through, numbers of men and
women came to have a look at them. In the morning the chief visited them,
and asked them to go back to the ships. He ordered two men to accompany
them, and gave them fowls as a present for the captain-major, telling them
at the same time that he would show the things that had been given him to a
great chief, who appears to be the king of that country. When our men
reached the landing place where our boats awaited them, they were attended
by quite two hundred men, who had come to see them.
This country seemed to us to be densely peopled. There are many chiefs,69
and the number of women seems to be greater than that of the men, for
among those who came to see us there were forty women to every twenty
men. The houses are built of straw. The arms of the people include long
bows and arrows and spears with iron blades. Copper seems to be plentiful,
for the people wore [ornaments] of it on their legs and arms and in their
twisted hair. Tin, likewise, is found in the country, for it is to be seen on the
hilts of their daggers, the sheaths of which are made of ivory. Linen cloth is
highly prized by the people, who were always willing to give large
quantities of copper in exchange for shirts. They have large calabashes in

which they carry sea-water inland, where they pour it into pits, to obtain the
salt [by evaporation].
We stayed five days at this place, taking in water, which our visitors
conveyed to our boats. Our stay was not, however, sufficiently prolonged to
enable us to take in as much water as we really needed, for the wind
favoured a prosecution of our voyage.
We were at anchor here, near the coast, exposed to the swell of the sea. We
called the country Terra da Boa Gente (land of good people), and the river
Rio do Cobre (copper river).70

[Rio dos Bons Signaes.]71

On Monday [January 22] we discovered a low coast thickly wooded with
tall trees. Continuing our course we perceived the broad mouth of a river.
As it was necessary to find out where we were, we cast anchor. On
Thursday [January 25], at night, we entered. The Berrio was already there,
having entered the night before—that is eight days before the end of
January [i.e., January 24.]72
The country is low and marshy, and covered with tall trees yielding an
abundance of various fruits, which the inhabitants eat.
These people are black and well made. They go naked, merely wearing a
piece of cotton stuff around their loins, that worn by the women being
larger than that worn by the men. The young women are good-looking.
Their lips are pierced in three places, and they wear in them bits of twisted
tin. These people took much delight in us. They brought us in their
almadias73 what they had, whilst we went into their village to procure
water.
When we had been two or three days at this place two gentlemen (senhores)
of the country came to see us. They were very haughty, and valued nothing
which we gave them. One of them wore a touca,74 with a fringe
embroidered in silk, and the other a cap of green satin. A young man in their
company—so we understood from their signs—had come from a distant
country, and had already seen big ships like ours. These tokens (signaes)
gladdened our hearts, for it appeared as if we were really approaching the

bourne of our desires. These gentlemen had some huts built on the river
bank, close to the ships, in which they stayed seven days, sending daily to
the ships, offering to barter cloths which bore a mark of red ochre. And
when they were tired of being there, they left in their almadias for the upper
river.
As to ourselves, we spent thirty-two days75 in the river taking in water,
careening the ships,76 and repairing the mast of the Raphael. Many of our
men fell ill here, their feet and hands swelling, and their gums growing over
their teeth, so that they could not eat.77
We erected here a pillar which we called the pillar of St. Raphael,78 because
it had been brought in the ship bearing that name. The river we called Rio
dos Bons Signaes (River of good signs or tokens).

[To Moçambique.]

On Saturday [February 24] we left this place and gained the open sea.
During the night we stood N.E., so as to keep away from the land, which
was very pleasing to look upon. On Sunday [February 25] we still stood
N.E., and at vesper time discovered three small islands, out in the open, of
which two were covered with tall trees, while the third and smallest was
barren. The distance from one island to the other was four leagues.79
On the following day we pursued our route, and did so during six days,
lying to at night.80
On Thursday, the 1st of March, we sighted islands and the mainland, but as
it was late we again stood out to sea, and lay to till morning. We then
approached the land, of which I shall speak in what follows.

[Moçambique.]81

On Friday morning [March 2] Nicolau Coelho, when attempting to enter the
bay, mistook the channel and came upon a bank in tacking towards the
other ships, which were astern, Coelho perceived some sailing boats
approaching from a village on this island, in order to welcome the captain-

major and his brother. As for ourselves we continued in the direction of our
proposed anchorage, these boats following us all the while, and making
signs for us to stop. When we had cast anchor in the roadstead of the island
from which these boats had come, there approached seven or eight of them,
including almadias, the people in them playing upon anafils.82 They invited
us to proceed further into the bay, offering to take us into port if we desired
it. Those among them who boarded our ships ate and drank what we did,
and went their way when they were satisfied.83
The captain thought that we should enter this bay in order that we might
find out what sort of people we had to deal with; that Nicolau Coelho
should go first in his vessel, to take soundings at the entrance, and that, if
found practicable, we should follow him. As Coelho prepared to enter he
struck the point of the island and broke his helm, but he immediately
disengaged himself and regained deep water. I was with him at the time.
When we were again in deep water we struck our sails and cast anchor at a
distance of two bowshots from the village.84
The people of this country are of a ruddy complexion85 and well made.
They are Mohammedans, and their language is the same as that of the
Moors.86 Their dresses are of fine linen or cotton stuffs, with variously
coloured stripes, and of rich and elaborate workmanship. They all wear
toucas with borders of silk embroidered in gold. They are merchants, and
have transactions with white Moors, four of whose vessels were at the time
in port, laden with gold, silver, cloves, pepper, ginger, and silver rings, as
also with quantities of pearls, jewels,87 and rubies, all of which articles are
used by the people of this country. We understood them to say that all these
things, with the exception of the gold, were brought thither by these Moors;
that further on, where we were going to, they abounded, and that precious
stones, pearls and spices were so plentiful that there was no need to
purchase them as they could be collected in baskets. All this we learned
through a sailor the captain-major had with him, and who, having formerly
been a prisoner among the Moors, understood their language.88
These Moors, moreover, told us that along the route which we were about to
follow we should meet with numerous shoals; that there were many cities
along the coast, and also an island, one half the population of which

consisted of Moors and the other half of Christians,89 who were at war with
each other. This island was said to be very wealthy.
We were told, morever, that Prester John90 resided not far from this place;
that he held many cities along the coast, and that the inhabitants of those
cities were great merchants and owned big ships. The residence of Prester
John was said to be far in the interior, and could be reached only on the
back of camels. These Moors had also brought hither two Christian captives
from India.91 This information, and many other things which we heard,
rendered us so happy that we cried with joy, and prayed God to grant us
health, so that we might behold what we so much desired.
In this place and island of Moncobiquy [Moçambique] there resided a chief
[senhor] who had the title of Sultan, and was like a vice-roy.92 He often
came aboard our ships attended by some of his people. The captain-major
gave him many good things to eat, and made him a present of hats,
marlotas,93 corals and many other articles. He was, however, so proud that
he treated all we gave him with contempt, and asked for scarlet cloth, of
which we had none. We gave him, however, of all the things we had.
One day the captain-major invited him to a repast, when there was an
abundance of figs and comfits, and begged him for two pilots to go with us.
He at once granted this request, subject to our coming to terms with them.
The captain-major gave each of them thirty mitkals94 in gold and two
marlotas, on condition that from the day on which they received this
payment one of them should always remain on board if the other desired to
go on land. With these terms they were well satisfied.
On Saturday, March 10, we set sail and anchored one league out at sea,
close to an island,95 where mass was said on Sunday, when those who
wished to do so confessed and joined in the communion.
One of our pilots lived on the island, and when we had anchored we armed
two boats to go in search of him. The captain-major went in one boat and
Nicolau Coelho in the other. They were met by five or six boats (barcas)
coming from the island, and crowded with people armed with bows and
long arrows and bucklers,96 who gave them to understand by signs that they
were to return to the town. When the captain saw this he secured the pilot
whom he had taken with him, and ordered the bombards to fire upon the

boats. Paulo da Gama, who had remained with the ships, so as to be
prepared to render succour in case of need, no sooner heard the reports of
the bombards than he started in the Berrio. The Moors, who were already
flying, fled still faster, and gained the land before the Berrio was able to
come up with them. We then returned to our anchorage.

The vessels of this country are of good size and decked. There are no nails,
and the planks are held together by cords,97 as are also those of their boats
(barcos). The sails are made of palm-matting.98 Their mariners have
Genoese needles,99 by which they steer, quadrants, and navigating charts.
The palms of this country yield a fruit as large as a melon, of which the
kernel is eaten.100 It has a nutty flavour. There also grow in abundance
melons and cucumbers, which were brought to us for barter.

On the day in which Nicolau Coelho entered the port, the Lord of the place
came on board with a numerous suite. He was received well, and Coelho
presented him with a red hood, in return for which the Lord handed him a
black rosary, which he made use of when saying his prayers, to be held as a
pledge. He then begged Nicolau Coelho for the use of his boat, to take him
ashore. This was granted. And after he had landed he invited those who had
accompanied him to his house, where he gave them to eat. He then
dismissed them, giving them a jar of bruised dates made into a preserve
with cloves and cumin, as a present for Nicolau Coelho. Subsequently he
sent many things to the captain-major. All this happened at the time when
he took us for Turks or for Moors from some foreign land, for in case we
came from Turkey he begged to be shown the bows of our country and our
books of the Law. But when they learnt that we were Christians they
arranged to seize and kill us by treachery. The pilot, whom we took with us,
subsequently revealed to us all they intended to do, if they were able.

[False Start and Return to Moçambique.]

On Sunday [March 11] we celebrated mass beneath a tall tree on the island
[of S. Jorge]. We returned on board and at once set sail, taking with us

many fowls, goats and pigeons, which had been given us in exchange for
small glass-beads.
On Tuesday [March 13] we saw high mountains rising on the other side of a
cape. The coast near the cape was sparsely covered with trees, resembling
elms. We were at that time over twenty leagues from our starting-place, and
there we remained becalmed during Tuesday and Wednesday. During the
following night we stood off shore with a light easterly wind, and in the
morning [March 15] found ourselves four leagues abaft Moçambique, but
we went again forward on that day until the evening, when we anchored
once more close to the island [of S. Jorge] on which mass had been
celebrated the preceding Sunday, and there we remained eight days waiting
for a favourable wind.
During our stay here the King of Moçambique sent word that he wanted to
make peace with us and to be our friend. His ambassador was a white Moor
and sharif,101 that is priest, and at the same time a great drunkard.
Whilst at this place a Moor with his little son came on board one of our
ships, and asked to be allowed to accompany us, as he was from near
Mecca, and had come to Moçambique as pilot of a vessel from that country.
As the weather did not favour us it became necessary once more to enter the
port of Moçambique, in order to procure the water of which we stood in
need, for the watering place is on the mainland. This water is drunk by the
inhabitants of the island, for all the water they have there is brackish.102
On Thursday [March 22] we entered the port, and when it grew dark we
lowered our boats. At midnight the captain-major and Nicolau Coelho,
accompanied by some of us, started in search of water. We took with us the
Moorish pilot, whose object appeared to be to make his escape, rather than
to guide us to a watering-place. As a matter of fact he either would not or
could not find a watering-place, although we continued our search until
morning. We then withdrew to our ships.
In the evening [March 23] we returned to the main land, attended by the
same pilot. On approaching the watering-place we saw about twenty men
on the beach. They were armed with assegais, and forbade our approach.
The captain-major upon this ordered three bombards to be fired upon them,
so that we might land. Having effected our landing, these men fled into the

bush, and we took as much water as we wanted. When the sun was about to
set we discovered that a negro belonging to João de Coimbra had effected
his escape.
On Sunday morning, the 24th of March, being the eve of Lady Day, a Moor
came abreast our ships, and [sneeringly] told us that if we wanted water we
might go in search of it, giving us to understand that we should meet with
something which would make us turn back. The captain-major no sooner
heard this [threat] than he resolved to go, in order to show that we were able
to do them harm if we desired it. We forthwith armed our boats, placing
bombards in their poops, and started for the village [town]. The Moors had
constructed palisades by lashing planks together, so that those behind them
could not be seen. They were at the time walking along the beach, armed
with assegais, swords,103 bows, and slings, with which they hurled stones at
us. But our bombards soon made it so hot for them that they fled behind
their palisades; but this turned out to their injury rather than their profit.
During the three hours that we were occupied in this manner [bombarding
the town] we saw two men killed, one on the beach and the other behind the
palisades. When we were weary of this work we retired to our ships to dine.
They at once began to fly, carrying their chattels in almadias to a village on
the mainland.
After dinner we started in our boats, in the hope of being able to make a few
prisoners, whom we might exchange for the two Indian Christians whom
they held captive and the negro who had deserted. With this object in view
we chased an almadia, which belonged to the sharif and was laden with his
chattels, and another in which were four negroes.104 The latter was captured
by Paulo da Gama, whilst the one laden with chattels was abandoned by the
crew as soon as they reached the land. We took still another almadia which
had likewise been abandoned. The negroes we took on board our ships. In
the almadias we found fine cotton-stuffs, baskets made of palm-fronds, a
glazed jar containing butter, glass phials with scented water, books of the
Law, a box containing skeins of cotton, a cotton net, and many small
baskets filled with millet. All these things, with the exception of the books,
which were kept back to be shown to the king, were given by the captain-
major to the sailors who were with him and with the other captains.
On Sunday [March 25] we took in water, and on Monday we proceeded in
our armed boats to the village, when the inhabitants spoke to us from their

houses, they daring no longer to venture on the beach. Having discharged a
few bombards at them we rejoined our ships.
On Tuesday [March 27] we left the town and anchored close to the islets of
São Jorge,105 where we remained for three days, in the hope that God would
grant us a favourable wind.

[Moçambique to Mombaça].

On Thursday, the 29th of March, we left these islets of S. Jorge, and as the
wind was light, we only covered twenty-eight leagues up to the morning of
Saturday, the 31st of the month.106
In the morning of that day we were once more abreast of the land of the
Moors, from which powerful currents had previously carried us.107
On Sunday, April 1, we came to some islands close to the mainland. The
first of these we called Ilha do Açoutado (“Island of the flogged-one”),
because of the flogging inflicted upon our Moorish pilot, who had lied to
the captain on Saturday night, by stating that these islands were the
mainland. Native craft take their course between these islands and the
mainland, where the water is four fathoms deep, but we kept outside of
them. These islands are numerous, and we were unable to distinguish one
from the other; they are inhabited.
On Monday [April 2] we sighted other islands five leagues off the shore.108
On Wednesday, the 4th of April, we made sail to the N.W., and before noon
we sighted an extensive country, and two islands close to it, surrounded
with shoals. And when we were near enough for the pilots to recognise
these islands, they told us that we had left three leagues behind us an
island109 inhabited by Christians. We manœuvred all day in the hope of
fetching this island, but in vain, for the wind was too strong for us. After
this we thought it best to bear away for a city called Mombaça, reported to
be four days ahead of us.
The above island was one of those which we had come to discover, for our
pilots said that it was inhabited by Christians.

When we bore away for the north it was already late, and the wind was
high. At nightfall we perceived a large island, which remained to the north
of us.110 Our pilot told us that there were two towns on this island, one of
Christians and the other of Moors.
That night we stood out to sea, and in the morning [April 5] we no longer
saw the land. We then steered to the N.W., and in the evening we again
beheld the land. During the following night we bore away to the N. by W.,
and during the morning-watch we changed our course to the N.N.W. Sailing
thus before a favourable wind, the S. Raphael, two hours before break of
day [April 6], ran aground on a shoal, about two leagues from the land.
Immediately the Raphael touched bottom, the vessels following her were
warned by shouts, and these were no sooner heard than they cast anchor
about the distance of a gunshot from the stranded vessel, and lowered their
boats. When the tide fell the Raphael lay high and dry. With the help of the
boats many anchors were laid out, and when the tide rose again, in the
course of the day, the vessel floated and there was much rejoicing.
On the mainland, facing these shoals, there rises a lofty range of mountains,
beautiful of aspect. These mountains we called Serras de São Raphael, and
we gave the same name to the shoals.111
Whilst the vessel was high and dry, two Almadias approached us. One was
laden with fine oranges, better than those of Portugal. Two of the Moors
remained on board, and accompanied us next day to Mombaça.
On Saturday morning, the 7th of the month, and eve of Palm Sunday, we
ran along the coast and saw some islands at a distance of fifteen leagues
from the mainland, and about six leagues in extent. They supply the vessels
of the country with masts. All are inhabited by Moors.112

[Mombaça].

On Saturday [April 7] we cast anchor off Mombaça, but did not enter the
port. No sooner had we been perceived than a zavra113 manned by Moors
came out to us: in front of the city there lay numerous vessels all dressed in
flags.114 And we, anxious not to be outdone, also dressed our ships, and we
actually surpassed their show, for we wanted in nothing but men, even the

few whom we had being very ill. We anchored here with much pleasure, for
we confidently hoped that on the following day we might go on land and
hear mass jointly with the Christians reported to live there under their own
alcaide115 in a quarter separate from that of the Moors.

Native Craft in the Harbour of Mombasa.
(From a photograph by the late Capt. Foot, R.N.)

The pilots who had come with us told us there resided both Moors and
Christians in this city; that these latter lived apart under their own lords, and
that on our arrival they would receive us with much honour and take us to
their houses. But they said this for a purpose of their own, for it was not
true. At midnight there approached us a zavra with about a hundred men, all
armed with cutlasses (tarçados) and bucklers. When they came to the vessel
of the captain-major they attempted to board her, armed as they were, but
this was not permitted, only four or five of the most distinguished men
among them being allowed on board. They remained about a couple of
hours, and it seemed to us that they paid us this visit merely to find out
whether they might not capture one or the other of our vessels.
On Palm Sunday [April 8] the King of Mombaça sent the captain-major a
sheep and large quantities of oranges, lemons and sugar-cane, together with
a ring, as a pledge of safety, letting him know that in case of his entering the
port he would be supplied with all he stood in need of. This present was
conveyed to us by two men, almost white, who said they were Christians,

which appeared to be the fact. The captain-major sent the king a string of
coral-beads as a return present, and let him know that he purposed entering
the port on the following day. On the same day the captain-major’s vessel
was visited by four Moors of distinction.
Two men were sent by the captain-major to the king, still further to confirm
these peaceful assurances. When these landed they were followed by a
crowd as far as the gates of the palace. Before reaching the king they passed
through four doors, each guarded by a doorkeeper with a drawn cutlass. The
king received them hospitably, and ordered that they should be shown over
the city. They stopped on their way at the house of two Christian merchants,
who showed them a paper (carta), an object of their adoration, on which
was a sketch of the Holy Ghost.116 When they had seen all, the king sent
them back with samples of cloves, pepper and corn,117 with which articles
he would allow us to load our ships.
On Tuesday [April 10], when weighing anchor to enter the port, the captain-
major’s vessel would not pay off, and struck the vessel which followed
astern. We therefore again cast anchor. When the Moors who were in our
ship saw that we did not go on, they scrambled into a zavra attached to our
stern; whilst the two pilots whom we had brought from Moçambique
jumped into the water, and were picked up by the men in the zavra. At night
the captain-major “questioned” two Moors [from Moçambique]118 whom
we had on board, by dropping boiling oil upon their skin, so that they might
confess any treachery intended against us. They said that orders had been
given to capture us as soon as we entered the port, and thus to avenge what
we had done at Moçambique. And when this torture was being applied a
second time, one of the Moors, although his hands were tied, threw himself
into the sea, whilst the other did so during the morning watch.
About midnight two almadias, with many men in them, approached. The
almadias stood off whilst the men entered the water, some swimming in the
direction of the Berrio, others in that of the Raphael. Those who swam to
the Berrio began to cut the cable. The men on watch thought at first that
they were tunny fish, but when they perceived their mistake they shouted to
the other vessels. The other swimmers had already got hold of the rigging of
the mizzen-mast. Seeing themselves discovered, they silently slipped down
and fled. These and other wicked tricks were practised upon us by these

dogs, but our Lord did not allow them to succeed, because they were
unbelievers.

A Tower at Mombasa.
(From a photograph by Sir John Kirk.)

Mombaça is a large city seated upon an eminence washed by the sea. Its
port is entered daily by numerous vessels. At its entrance stands a pillar, and
by the sea a low-lying fortress.119 Those who had gone on shore told us that
in the town they had seen many men in irons; and it seemed to us that these
must be Christians, as the Christians in that country are at war with the
Moors.
The Christian merchants in the town are only temporary residents, and are
held in much subjection, they not being allowed to do anything except by
the order of the Moorish King.
It pleased God in his mercy that on arriving at this city all our sick
recovered their health, for the climate (“air”) of this place is very good.
After the malice and treachery planned by these dogs had been discovered,
we still remained on Wednesday and Thursday [April 11 and 12].120

[Mombaça to Malindi.]

We left in the morning [April 13], the wind being light, and anchored about
eight leagues from Mombaça, close to the shore. At break of day [April 14]
we saw two boats (barcas) about three leagues to the leeward, in the open
sea, and at once gave chase, with the intention of capturing them, for we
wanted to secure a pilot who would guide us to where we wanted to go. At
vesper-time we came up with one of them, and captured it, the other
escaping towards the land. In the one we took we found seventeen men,
besides gold, silver, and an abundance of maize and other provisions; as
also a young woman, who was the wife of an old Moor of distinction, who
was a passenger. When we came up with the boat they all threw themselves
into the water, but we picked them up from our boats.
That same day [April 14] at sunset, we cast anchor off a place called
Milinde (Malindi),121 which is thirty leagues from Mombaça. The following
places are between Mombaça and Milinde, viz., Benapa, Toça and
Nuguoquioniete.122

[Malindi.]123

On Easter Sunday [April 15] the Moors whom we had taken in the boat told
us that there were at this city of Melinde four vessels belonging to
Christians from India,124 and that if it pleased us to take them there, they
would provide us, instead of them, Christian pilots and all we stood in need
of, including water, wood and other things. The captain-major much desired
to have pilots from the country, and having discussed the matter with his
Moorish prisoners, he cast anchor off the town, at a distance of about half a
league from the mainland. The inhabitants of the town did not venture to
come aboard our ships, for they had already learnt that we had captured a
vessel and made her occupants prisoners.
On Monday morning [April 16] the captain-major had the old Moor taken
to a sandbank in front of the town, where he was picked up by an
almadia.125 The Moor explained to the king the wishes of the captain-
major, and how much he desired to make peace with him. After dinner the

Moor came back in a zavra, accompanied by one of the king’s cavaliers and
a sharif: he also brought three sheep. These messengers told the captain-
general that the king would rejoice to make peace with him, and to enter
into friendly relations; that he would willingly grant to the captain-major all
his country afforded, whether pilots or anything else. The captain-major
upon this sent word that he proposed to enter the port on the following day,
and forwarded by the king’s messengers a present consisting of a
balandrau,126 two strings of coral, three wash-hand basins, a hat, little bells
and two pieces of lambel.127
Consequently, on Tuesday [April 17] we approached nearer to the town.
The king sent the captain-major six sheep, besides quantities of cloves,
cumin, ginger, nutmeg and pepper, as also a message, telling him that if he
desired to have an interview with him he (the king) would come out in his
zavra, when the captain-major could meet him in a boat.
On Wednesday [April 18], after dinner, when the king came up close to the
ships in a zavra, the captain-major at once entered one of his boats, which
had been well furnished, and many friendly words were exchanged when
they lay side by side. The king having invited the captain-major to come to
his house to rest, after which he (the king) would visit him on board his
ship, the captain-major said that he was not permitted by his master to go on
land, and if he were to do so a bad report would be given of him. The king
wanted to know what would be said of himself by his people if he were to
visit the ships, and what account could he render them? He then asked for
the name of our king, which was written down for him, and said that on our
return he would send an ambassador with us, or a letter.
When both had said all they desired, the captain-major sent for the Moors
whom he had taken prisoner, and surrendered them all. This gave much
satisfaction to the king, who said that he valued this act more highly than if
he had been presented with a town. And the king, much pleased, made the
circuit of our ships, the bombards of which fired a salute. About three hours
were spent in this way. When the king went away he left in the ship one of
his sons and a sharif, and took two of us away with him, to whom he
desired to show his palace. He, moreover, told the captain that as he would
not go ashore he would himself return on the following day to the beach,
and would order his horsemen to go through some exercises.

The king wore a robe (royal cloak) of damask trimmed with green satin,
and a rich touca. He was seated on two cushioned chairs of bronze, beneath
a round sunshade of crimson satin attached to a pole. An old man, who
attended him as page, carried a short sword in a silver sheath. There were
many players on anafils, and two trumpets of ivory,128 richly carved, and of
the size of a man, which were blown from a hole in the side, and made
sweet harmony with the anafils.

A Siwa Blower.
(From a photograph by Sir John Kirk.)

On Thursday [April 19] the captain-major and Nicolau Coelho rowed along
the front of the town, bombards having been placed in the poops of their
long-boats. Many people were along the shore, and among them two
horsemen, who appeared to take much delight in a sham-fight. The king
was carried in a palanquin from the stone steps of his palace to the side of
the captain-major’s boats. He again begged the captain to come ashore, as
he had a helpless father who wanted to see him, and that he and his sons
would go on board the ships as hostages. The captain, however, excused
himself.129
We found here four vessels belonging to Indian Christians. When they came
for the first time on board Paulo da Gama’s ship, the captain-major being
there at the time, they were shown an altar-piece representing Our Lady at
the foot of the cross, with Jesus Christ in her arms and the apostles around
her. When the Indians saw this picture they prostrated themselves, and as
long as we were there they came to say their prayers in front of it, bringing
offerings of cloves, pepper, and other things.130
These Indians are tawny men; they wear but little clothing and have long
beards and long hair, which they braid. They told us that they ate no beef.
Their language differs from that of the Arabs, but some of them know a
little of it, as they hold much intercourse with them.
On the day on which the captain-major went up to the town in the boats,
these Christian Indians fired off many bombards from their vessels, and
when they saw him pass they raised their hands and shouted lustily Christ!
Christ!131
That same night they asked the king’s permission to give us a night-fête.
And when night came they fired off many bombards, sent up rockets, and
raised loud shouts.
These Indians warned the captain-major against going on shore, and told
him not to trust to their “fanfares”, as they neither came from their hearts
nor from their good will.
On the following Sunday, the 22nd of April, the king’s zavra brought on
board one of his confidential servants, and as two days had passed without
any visitors, the captain-major had this man seized, and sent word to the
king that he required the pilots whom he had promised. The king, when he

received this message, sent a Christian pilot,132 and the captain-major
allowed the gentleman, whom he had retained in his vessel, to go away.
We were much pleased with the Christian pilot whom the king had sent us.
We learnt from him that the island of which we heard at Moçambique as
being inhabited by Christians was in reality an island subject to this same
King of Moçambique; that half of it belonged to the Moors and the other
half to the Christians; that many pearls were to be found there, and that it
was called Quyluee.133 This is the island the Moorish pilots wanted to take
us to, and we also wished to go there, for we believed that what they said
was true.
The town of Malindi lies in a bay and extends along the shore. It may be
likened to Alcouchette.134 Its houses are lofty and well white-washed, and
have many windows; on the landside are palm-groves, and all around it
maize and vegetables are being cultivated.
We remained in front of this town during nine days,135 and all this time we
had fêtes, sham-fights, and musical performances (“fanfares”).

[Across the Gulf—the Arabian Sea.]

We left Malindi on Tuesday, the 24th of the month [of April] for a city
called Qualecut [Calecut], with the pilot whom the king had given us. The
coast there runs north and south, and the land encloses a huge bay with a
strait. In this bay,136 we were told, were to be found many large cities of
Christians and Moors, including one called Quambay [Cambay], as also
six-hundred known islands, and within it the Red Sea and the “house”
[Kaabah] of Mecca.
On the following Sunday [April 29] we once more saw the North Star,
which we had not seen for a long time.
On Friday, the 18th of May,137 after having seen no land for twenty-three
days,138 we sighted lofty mountains, and having all this time sailed before
the wind we could not have made less than 600 leagues. The land, when
first sighted,139 was at a distance of eight leagues, and our lead reached
bottom at forty-five fathoms. That same night we took a course to the

S.S.W., so as to get away from the coast. On the following day [May 19] we
again approached the land, but owing to the heavy rain and a
thunderstorm,140 which prevailed whilst we were sailing along the coast,
our pilot was unable to identify the exact locality. On Sunday [May 20] we
found ourselves close to some mountains,141 and when we were near
enough for the pilot to recognise them he told us that they were above
Calecut, and that this was the country we desired to go to.

[Calecut.]

[Arrival.] That night [May 20] we anchored two leagues from the city of
Calecut, and we did so because our pilot mistook Capua,142 a town at that
place, for Calecut. Still further143 there is another town called
Pandarani.144 We anchored about a league and a half from the shore. After
we were at anchor, four boats (almadias) approached us from the land, who
asked of what nation we were. We told them, and they then pointed out
Calecut to us.
On the following day [May 21] these same boats came again alongside,
when the captain-major sent one of the convicts145 to Calecut, and those
with whom he went took him to two Moors from Tunis, who could speak
Castilian and Genoese.146 The first greeting that he received was in these
words: “May the Devil take thee! What brought you hither?” They asked
what he sought so far away from home, and he told them that we came in
search of Christians and of spices. They said: “Why does not the King of
Castile, the King of France, or the Signoria of Venice send hither?” He said
that the King of Portugal would not consent to their doing so, and they said
he did the right thing. After this conversation they took him to their
lodgings and gave him wheaten bread and honey. When he had eaten he
returned to the ships, accompanied by one of the Moors, who was, no
sooner on board, than he said these words: “A lucky venture, a lucky
venture! Plenty of rubies, plenty of emeralds! You owe great thanks to God,
for having brought you to a country holding such riches!” We were greatly
astonished to hear his talk, for we never expected to hear our language
spoken so far away from Portugal.147
[A description of Calecut.] The city of Calecut is inhabited by Christians.
They are of a tawny complexion. Some of them have big beards and long

hair, whilst others clip their hair short or shave the head, merely allowing a
tuft to remain on the crown as a sign that they are Christians. They also
wear moustaches. They pierce the ears and wear much gold in them. They
go naked down to the waist, covering their lower extremities with very fine
cotton stuffs. But it is only the most respectable who do this, for the others
manage as best they are able.148
The women of this country, as a rule, are ugly and of small stature. They
wear many jewels of gold round the neck, numerous bracelets on their
arms, and rings set with precious stones on their toes. All these people are
well-disposed and apparently of mild temper. At first sight they seem
covetous and ignorant.
[A messenger sent to the King]. When we arrived at Calecut the king was
fifteen leagues away.149 The captain-major sent two men150 to him with a
message, informing him that an ambassador had arrived from the King of
Portugal with letters, and that if he desired it he would take them to where
the king then was.
The king presented the bearers of this message with much fine cloth. He
sent word to the captain bidding him welcome, saying that he was about to
proceed to Qualecut (Calecut). As a matter of fact, he started at once with a
large retinue.
[At Anchor at Pandarani, May 27]. A pilot accompanied our two men, with
orders to take us to a place called Pandarani, below the place [Capua] where
we anchored at first. At this time we were actually in front of the city of
Calecut. We were told that the anchorage at the place to which we were to
go was good, whilst at the place we were then it was bad, with a stony
bottom, which was quite true;151 and, moreover, that it was customary for
the ships which came to this country to anchor there for the sake of safety.
We ourselves did not feel comfortable, and the captain-major had no sooner
received this royal message than he ordered the sails to be set, and we
departed. We did not, however, anchor as near the shore as the king’s pilot
desired.
When we were at anchor, a message arrived informing the captain-major
that the king was already in the city. At the same time the king sent a
bale,152 with other men of distinction, to Pandarani, to conduct the captain-

major to where the king awaited him. This bale is like an alcaide, and is
always attended by two hundred men armed with swords and bucklers. As it
was late when this message arrived, the captain-major deferred going.
[Gama goes to Calecut.] On the following morning, which was Monday,
May 28th, the captain-major set out to speak to the king, and took with him
thirteen men, of whom I was one.153 We put on our best attire, placed
bombards in our boats, and took with us trumpets and many flags. On
landing, the captain-major was received by the alcaide, with whom were
many men, armed and unarmed. The reception was friendly, as if the people
were pleased to see us, though at first appearances looked threatening, for
they carried naked swords in their hands. A palanquin was provided for the
captain-major, such as is used by men of distinction in that country, as also
by some of the merchants, who pay something to the king for this privilege.
The captain-major entered the palanquin, which was carried by six men by
turns. Attended by all these people we took the road of Qualecut, and came
first to another town, called Capua. The captain-major was there deposited
at the house of a man of rank, whilst we others were provided with food,
consisting of rice, with much butter, and excellent boiled fish. The captain-
major did not wish to eat, and when we had done so, we embarked on a
river close by, which flows between the sea and the mainland, close to the
coast.154 The two boats in which we embarked were lashed together,155 so
that we were not separated. There were numerous other boats, all crowded
with people. As to those who were on the banks I say nothing; their number
was infinite, and they had all come to see us. We went up that river for
about a league, and saw many large ships drawn up high and dry on its
banks, for there is no port here.
When we disembarked, the captain-major once more entered his palanquin.
The road was crowded with a countless multitude anxious to see us. Even
the women came out of their houses with children in their arms and
followed us.

Krishna nursed by Devaki.

[Christian Church.]156 When we arrived [at Calecut] they took us to a large
church, and this is what we saw:—
The body of the church is as large as a monastery, all built of hewn stone
and covered with tiles. At the main entrance rises a pillar of bronze as high
as a mast, on the top of which was perched a bird, apparently a cock. In
addition to this, there was another pillar as high as a man, and very stout. In
the centre of the body of the church rose a chapel,157 all built of hewn stone,
with a bronze door sufficiently wide for a man to pass, and stone steps
leading up to it. Within this sanctuary stood a small image which they said
represented Our Lady.158 Along the walls, by the main entrance, hung seven
small bells.159 In this church the captain-major said his prayers, and we
with him.160
We did not go within the chapel, for it is the custom that only certain
servants of the church, called quafees,161 should enter. These quafees wore
some threads passing over the left shoulder and under the right arm, in the
same manner as our deacons wear the stole. They threw holy water over us,
and gave us some white earth,162 which the Christians of this country are in

the habit of putting on their foreheads, breasts, around the neck, and on the
forearms. They threw holy water upon the captain-major and gave him
some of the earth, which he gave in charge of someone, giving them to
understand that he would put it on later.
Many other saints were painted on the walls of the church, wearing crowns.
They were painted variously, with teeth protruding an inch from the mouth,
and four or five arms.
Below this church there was a large masonry tank, similar to many others
which we had seen along the road.
[Progress through the Town.] After we had left that place, and had arrived at
the entrance to the city [of Calecut] we were shown another church, where
we saw things like those described above. Here the crowd grew so dense
that progress along the street became next to impossible, and for this reason
they put the captain into a house, and us with him.
The king sent a brother of the bale, who was a lord of this country, to
accompany the captain, and he was attended by men beating drums,
blowing anafils and bagpipes, and firing off matchlocks. In conducting the
captain they showed us much respect, more than is shown in Spain to a
king. The number of people was countless, for in addition to those who
surrounded us, and among whom there were two thousand armed men, they
crowded the roofs and houses.
[The King’s Palace.]163 The further we advanced in the direction of the
king’s palace, the more did they increase in number. And when we arrived
there, men of much distinction and great lords came out to meet the captain,
and joined those who were already in attendance upon him. It was then an
hour before sunset. When we reached the palace we passed through a gate
into a courtyard of great size, and before we arrived at where the king was,
we passed four doors, through which we had to force our way, giving many
blows to the people. When, at last, we reached the door where the king was,
there came forth from it a little old man, who holds a position resembling
that of a bishop, and whose advice the king acts upon in all affairs of the
church. This man embraced the captain when he entered the door. Several
men were wounded at this door,164 and we only got in by the use of much
force.

[A Royal Audience, May 28.]165 The king was in a small court, reclining
upon a couch covered with a cloth of green velvet, above which was a good
mattress, and upon this again a sheet of cotton stuff, very white and fine,
more so than any linen. The cushions were after the same fashion. In his left
hand the king held a very large golden cup [spittoon], having a capacity of
half an almude [8 pints]. At its mouth this cup was two palmas [16 inches]
wide, and apparently it was massive. Into this cup the king threw the husks
of a certain herb which is chewed by the people of this country because of
its soothing effects, and which they call atambor.166 On the right side of the
king stood a basin of gold, so large that a man might just encircle it with his
arms: this contained the herbs. There were likewise many silver jugs. The
canopy above the couch was all gilt.
The captain, on entering, saluted in the manner of the country: by putting
the hands together, then raising them towards Heaven, as is done by
Christians when addressing God, and immediately afterwards opening them
and shutting the fists quickly. The king beckoned to the captain with his
right hand to come nearer, but the captain did not approach him, for it is the
custom of the country for no man to approach the king except only the
servant who hands him the herbs, and when anyone addresses the king he
holds his hand before the mouth, and remains at a distance. When the king
beckoned to the captain he looked at us others, and ordered us to be seated
on a stone bench near him, where he could see us. He ordered that water for
our hands should be given us, as also some fruit, one kind of which
resembled a melon, except that its outside was rough and the inside sweet,
whilst another kind of fruit resembled a fig, and tasted very nice.167 There
were men who prepared these fruits for us; and the king looked at us eating,
and smiled; and talked to the servant who stood near him supplying him
with the herbs referred to.
Then, throwing his eyes on the captain, who sat facing him, he invited him
to address himself to the courtiers present, saying they were men of much
distinction, that he could tell them whatever he desired to say, and they
would repeat it to him (the king). The captain-major replied that he was the
ambassador of the King of Portugal, and the bearer of a message which he
could only deliver to him personally. The king said this was good, and
immediately asked him to be conducted to a chamber. When the captain-
major had entered, the king, too, rose and joined him, whilst we remained

where we were.168 All this happened about sunset. An old man who was in
the court took away the couch as soon as the king rose, but allowed the
plate to remain. The king, when he joined the captain, threw himself upon
another couch, covered with various stuffs embroidered in gold, and asked
the captain what he wanted.
And the captain told him he was the ambassador of a King of Portugal, who
was Lord of many countries and the possessor of great wealth of every
description, exceeding that of any king of these parts; that for a period of
sixty years his ancestors had annually sent out vessels to make discoveries
in the direction of India, as they knew that there were Christian kings there
like themselves. This, he said, was the reason which induced them to order
this country to be discovered, not because they sought for gold or silver, for
of this they had such abundance that they needed not what was to be found
in this country. He further stated that the captains sent out travelled for a
year or two, until their provisions were exhausted, and then returned to
Portugal, without having succeeded in making the desired discovery. There
reigned a king now whose name was Dom Manuel, who had ordered him to
build three vessels, of which he had been appointed captain-major, and who
had ordered him not to return to Portugal until he should have discovered
this King of the Christians, on pain of having his head cut off. That two
letters169 had been intrusted to him to be presented in case he succeeded in
discovering him, and that he would do so on the ensuing day; and, finally,
he had been instructed to say by word of mouth that he [the King of
Portugal] desired to be his friend and brother.
In reply to this the king said that he was welcome; that, on his part, he held
him as a friend and brother, and would send ambassadors with him to
Portugal. This latter had been asked as a favour, the captain pretending that
he would not dare to present himself before his king and master unless he
was able to present, at the same time, some men of this country.
These and many other things passed between the two in this chamber, and
as it was already late in the night, the king asked the captain with whom he
desired to lodge, with Christians or with Moors? And the captain replied,
neither with Christians nor with Moors, and begged as a favour that he be
given a lodging by himself. The king said he would order it thus, upon
which the captain took leave of the king and came to where we were, that

is, to a veranda lit up by a huge candlestick. By that time four hours of the
night had already gone.170
[A Night’s Lodging.] We then all went forth with the captain in search of our
lodgings, and a countless crowd with us. And the rain poured down so
heavily that the streets ran with water. The captain went on the back of six
men [in a palanquin], and the time occupied in passing through the city was
so long that the captain at last grew tired, and complained to the king’s
factor, a Moor of distinction, who attended him to the lodgings. The Moor
then took him to his own house,171 and we were admitted to a court within
it, where there was a veranda roofed in with tiles. Many carpets had been
spread, and there were two large candlesticks like those at the Royal palace.
At the top of each of these were great iron lamps, fed with oil or butter, and
each lamp had four wicks, which gave much light. These lamps they use
instead of torches.
This same Moor then had a horse brought for the captain to take him to his
lodgings, but it was without a saddle, and the captain refused to mount it.172
We then started for our lodgings, and when we arrived we found there some
of our men [who had come from the ships] with the captain’s bed, and with
numerous other things which the captain had brought as presents for the
king.173
[Presents for the King.] On Tuesday [May 29] the captain got ready the
following things to be sent to the king, viz., twelve pieces of lambel,174 four
scarlet hoods, six hats, four strings of coral, a case containing six wash-
hand basins, a case of sugar, two casks of oil, and two of honey. And as it is
the custom not to send anything to the king without the knowledge of the
Moor, his factor, and of the bale, the captain informed them of his intention.
They came, and when they saw the present they laughed at it, saying that it
was not a thing to offer to a king, that the poorest merchant from Mecca, or
any other part of India, gave more, and that if he wanted to make a present
it should be in gold, as the king would not accept such things. When the
captain heard this he grew sad, and said that he had brought no gold, that,
moreover, he was no merchant, but an ambassador; that he gave of that
which he had, which was his own [private gift] and not the king’s;175 that if
the King of Portugal ordered him to return he would intrust him with far
richer presents; and that if King Camolim176 would not accept these things

he would send them back to the ships. Upon this they declared that they
would not forward his presents, nor consent to his forwarding them himself.
When they had gone there came certain Moorish merchants, and they all
depreciated the present which the captain desired to be sent to the king.
When the captain saw that they were determined not to forward his present,
he said, that as they would not allow him to send his present to the palace
he would go to speak to the king, and would then return to the ships. They
approved of this, and told him that if he would wait a short time they would
return and accompany him to the palace. And the captain waited all day, but
they never came back. The captain was very wroth at being among so
phlegmatic and unreliable a people, and intended, at first, to go to the
palace without them. On further consideration, however, he thought it best
to wait until the following day. As to us others, we diverted ourselves,
singing and dancing to the sound of trumpets, and enjoyed ourselves much.
[A Second Audience, May 30.] On Wednesday morning the Moors returned,
and took the captain to the palace, and us others with him. The palace was
crowded with armed men. Our captain was kept waiting with his conductors
for fully four long hours, outside a door, which was only opened when the
king sent word to admit him, attended by two men only, whom he might
select. The captain said that he desired to have Fernão Martins with him,
who could interpret, and his secretary.177 It seemed to him, as it did to us,
that this separation portended no good.
When he had entered, the king said that he had expected him on Tuesday.
The captain said that the long road had tired him, and that for this reason he
had not come to see him. The king then said that he had told him that he
came from a very rich kingdom, and yet had brought him nothing; that he
had also told him that he was the bearer of a letter, which had not yet been
delivered. To this the captain rejoined that he had brought nothing, because
the object of his voyage was merely to make discoveries, but that when
other ships came he would then see what they brought him; as to the letter,
it was true that he had brought one, and would deliver it immediately.
The king then asked what it was he had come to discover: stones or men? If
he came to discover men, as he said, why had he brought nothing?
Moreover, he had been told that he carried with him the golden image of a
Santa Maria. The captain said that the Santa Maria was not of gold, and that

even if she were he would not part with her, as she had guided him across
the ocean, and would guide him back to his own country. The king then
asked for the letter. The captain said that he begged as a favour, that as the
Moors wished him ill and might misinterpret him, a Christian able to speak
Arabic should be sent for. The king said this was well, and at once sent for a
young man, of small stature, whose name was Quaram. The captain then
said that he had two letters, one written in his own language and the other in
that of the Moors; that he was able to read the former, and knew that it
contained nothing but what would prove acceptable; but that as to the other
he was unable to read it, and it might be good, or contain something that
was erroneous. As the Christian was unable to read Moorish, four Moors
took the letter and read it between them, after which they translated it to the
king, who was well satisfied with its contents.
The king then asked what kind of merchandise was to be found in his
country. The captain said there was much corn, cloth, iron, bronze, and
many other things. The king asked whether he had any merchandise with
him. The captain replied that he had a little of each sort, as samples, and
that if permitted to return to the ships he would order it to be landed, and
that meantime four or five men would remain at the lodgings assigned
them. The king said no! He might take all his people with him, securely
moor his ships, land his merchandise, and sell it to the best advantage.
Having taken leave of the king the captain returned to his lodgings, and we
with him. As it was already late no attempt was made to depart that night.
[Return to Pandarani, May 31.] On Thursday morning a horse without a
saddle was brought to the captain, who declined to mount it, asking that a
horse of the country, that is a palanquin, might be provided, as he could not
ride a horse without a saddle. He was then taken to the house of a wealthy
merchant of the name of Guzerate,178 who ordered a palanquin to be got
ready. On its arrival the captain started at once for Pandarani, where our
ships were, many people following him. We others, not being able to keep
up with him, were left behind. Trudging thus along we were overtaken by
the bale, who passed on to join the captain. We lost our way, and wandered
far inland, but the bale sent a man after us, who put us on the right road.
When we reached Pandarani we found the captain inside a rest-house, of
which there were many along the road, so that travellers and wayfarers
might find protection against the rain.

[Detention at Pandarani, May 31 to June 2.] The bale and many others
were with the captain. On our arrival the captain asked the bale for an
almadia, so that we might go to our ships; but the bale and the others said
that it was already late—in fact, the sun had set—and that he should go next
day. The captain said that unless he provided an almadia he would return to
the king, who had given orders to take him back to the ships, whilst they
tried to detain him—a very bad thing, as he was a Christian like themselves.
When they saw the dark looks of the captain they said he was at liberty to
depart at once, and that they would give him thirty almadias if he needed
them. They then took us along the beach, and as it seemed to the captain
that they harboured some evil design, he sent three men in advance, with
orders that in case they found the ship’s boats and his brother, to tell him to
conceal himself. They went, and finding nothing, turned back; but as we
had been taken in another direction we did not meet.
They then took us to the house of a Moor—for it was already far in the
night—and when we got there they told us that they would go in search of
the three men who had not yet returned. When they were gone, the captain
ordered fowls and rice to be purchased, and we ate, notwithstanding our
fatigue, having been all day on our legs.
Those who had gone [in search of the three men] only returned in the
morning, and the captain said that after all they seemed well disposed
towards us, and had acted with the best intentions when they objected to our
departure the day before. On the other hand we suspected them on account
of what had happened at Calecut, and looked upon them as ill-disposed.
When they returned [June 1] the captain again asked for boats to take him
to his ships. They then began to whisper among themselves, and said that
we should have them if we would order our vessels to come nearer the
shore. The captain said that if he ordered his vessels to approach his brother
would think that he was being held a prisoner, and that he gave this order on
compulsion, and would hoist the sails and return to Portugal. They said that
if we refused to order the ships to come nearer we should not be permitted
to embark. The captain said that King Çamolin had sent him back to his
ships, and that as they would not let him go, as ordered by the king, he
should return to the king, who was a Christian like himself. If the king
would not let him go, and wanted him to remain in his country, he would do
so with much pleasure. They agreed that he should be permitted to go, but

afforded him no opportunity for doing so, for they immediately closed all
the doors, and many armed men entered to guard us, none of us being
allowed to go outside without being accompanied by several of these
guards.
They then asked us to give up our sails and rudders. The captain declared
that he would give up none of these things: King Çamolin having
unconditionally ordered him to return to his ships, they might do with him
whatever they liked, but he would give up nothing.
The captain and we others felt very down-hearted, though outwardly we
pretended not to notice what they did. The captain said that as they refused
him permission to go back, they would at least allow his men to do so, as at
the place they were in they would die of hunger. But they said that we must
remain where we were, and that if we died of hunger we must bear it, as
they cared nothing for that. Whilst thus detained, one of the men whom we
had missed the night before turned up. He told the captain that Nicolau
Coelho had been awaiting him with the boats since last night. When the
captain heard this he sent a man away secretly to Nicolau Coelho, because
of the guards by whom we were surrounded, with orders to go back to the
ships and place them in a secure place. Nicolau Coelho, on receipt of this
message, departed forthwith. But our guards having information of what
was going on, at once launched a large number of almadias and pursued
him for a short distance. When they found that they could not overtake him
they returned to the captain, whom they asked to write a letter to his
brother, requesting him to bring the ships nearer to the land and further
within the port [roadstead]. The captain said he was quite willing, but that
his brother would not do this; and that even if he consented those who were
with him, not being willing to die, would not do so. But they asked how this
could be, as they knew well that any order he gave would be obeyed.
The captain did not wish the ships to come within the port, for it seemed to
him—as it did to us—that once inside they could easily be captured, after
which they would first kill him, and then us others, as we were already in
their power.
We passed all that day most anxiously. At night more people surrounded us
than ever before, and we were no longer allowed to walk in the compound,
within which we were, but confined within a small tiled court, with a

multitude of people around us. We quite expected that on the following day
we should be separated, or that some harm would befall us, for we noticed
that our gaolers were much annoyed with us. This, however, did not prevent
our making a good supper off the things found in the village. Throughout
that night we were guarded by over a hundred men, all armed with swords,
two-edged battleaxes,179 shields, and bows and arrows. Whilst some of
these slept, others kept guard, each taking his turn of duty throughout the
night.
On the following day, Saturday, June 2, in the morning, these gentlemen
[i.e., the bale and others] came back, and this time they “wore better faces.”
They told the captain that as he had informed the king that he intended to
land his merchandise, he should now give orders to have this done, as it was
the custom of the country that every ship on its arrival should at once land
the merchandise it brought, as also the crews, and that the vendors should
not return on board until the whole of it had been sold. The captain
consented, and said he would write to his brother to see to its being done.
They said this was well, and that immediately after the arrival of the
merchandise he would be permitted to return to his ship. The captain at
once wrote to his brother to send him certain things, and he did so at once.
On their receipt the captain was allowed to go on board, two men remaining
behind with the things that had been landed.180
At this we rejoiced greatly, and rendered thanks to God for having
extricated us from the hands of people who had no more sense than beasts,
for we knew well that once the captain was on board those who had been
landed would have nothing to fear. When the captain reached his ship he
ordered that no more merchandise should be sent.

[The Portuguese Merchandise at Pandarani, June 2-23.]

Five days afterwards [on June 7] the captain sent word to the king that,
although he had sent him straight back to his ships, certain of his people had
detained him a night and a day on the road; that he had landed his
merchandise as he had been ordered, but that the Moors only came to
depreciate it; and that for these reasons he looked forward to what he (the
king) would order; that he placed no value upon this merchandise, but that

he and his ships were at his service. The king at once sent word saying that
those who acted thus were bad Christians, and that he would punish them.
He, at the same time, sent seven or eight merchants to inspect the
merchandise, and to become purchasers if they felt inclined. He also sent a
man of quality to remain with the factor already there, and authorised them
to kill any Moor who might go there, without fear of punishment.
The merchants whom the king had sent remained about eight days, but
instead of buying they depreciated the merchandise. The Moors no longer
visited the house where the merchandise was, but they bore us no good-
will, and when one of us landed they spat on the ground, saying: “Portugal,
Portugal.” Indeed from the very first they had sought means to take and kill
us.
When the captain found that the merchandise found no buyers at that place,
he applied to the king for permission to forward it to Calecut. The king at
once ordered the bale to get a sufficient number of men who were to carry
the whole on their backs to Calecut, this to be done at his expense, as
nothing belonging to the King of Portugal was to be burthened with
expenses whilst in his country. But all this was done because it was
intended to do us some ill-turn, for it had been reported to the king that we
were thieves and went about to steal. Nevertheless, he did all this in the
manner shown.

[The Merchandise removed to Calecut, June 24.]

On Sunday, the 24th of June, being the day of St. John the Baptist, the
merchandise left for Calecut. The captain then ordered that all our people
should visit that town by turns, and in the following manner:—Each ship
was to send a man ashore, on whose return another should be sent. In this
way all would have their turn, and would be able to make such purchases as
they desired. These men were made welcome by the Christians along the
road, who showed much pleasure when one of them entered a house, to eat
or to sleep, and they gave them freely of all they had. At the same time
many men came on board our ships to sell us fish in exchange for bread,
and they were made welcome by us. Many of them were accompanied by
their sons and little children, and the captain ordered that they should be
fed. All this was done for the sake of establishing relations of peace and

amity, and to induce them to speak well of us and not evil. So great was the
number of these visitors that sometimes it was night before we could get rid
of them; and this was due to the dense population of the country and the
scarcity of food. It even happened that when some of our men were
engaged in mending a sail, and took biscuits with them to eat, that old and
young fell upon them, took the biscuits out of their hands, and left them
nothing to eat.
In this manner all on board ship went on land by twos and threes, taking
with them bracelets, clothes, new shirts, and other articles, which they
desired to sell. We did not, however, effect these sales at the prices hoped
for when we arrived at Moncobiquy [Moçambique], for a very fine shirt
which in Portugal fetches 300 reis, was worth here only two fanôes,181
which is equivalent only to 30 reis, for 30 reis in this country is a big sum.
And just as we sold shirts cheaply so we sold other things, in order to take
some things away from this country, if only for samples. Those who visited
the city bought there cloves, cinnamon, and precious stones; and having
bought what they desired they came back to the ships, without any one
speaking to them.
When the captain found the people of the country so well disposed, he left a
factor with the merchandise, together with a clerk and some other men.

[Diogo Dias Carries a Message to the King, August 13.]

When the time arrived for our departure the captain-major sent a present to
the king, consisting of amber, corals, and many other things. At the same
time he ordered the king to be informed that he desired to leave for
Portugal, and that if the king would send some people with him to the King
of Portugal, he would leave behind him a factor, a clerk and some other
men, in charge of the merchandise. In return for the present he begged on
behalf of his lord [the King of Portugal] for a bahar182 of cinnamon, a bahar
of cloves, as also samples of such other spices as he thought proper, saying
that the factor would pay for them, if he desired it.
Four days were allowed to pass after the dispatch of this message before
speech could be had with the king. And when the bearer of it entered the
place where the king was, he (the king) looked at him with a “bad face,”

and asked what he wanted. The bearer then delivered his message, as
explained above, and then referred to the present which had been sent. The
king said that what he brought ought to have been sent to his factor, and that
he did not want to look at it. He then desired the captain to be informed that
as he wished to depart he should pay him 600 xerafins,183 and that then he
might go: this was the custom of the country and of those who came to it.
Diogo Dias, who was the bearer of the message, said he would return with
this reply to the captain. But when he left [the palace] certain men followed
him, and when he arrived at the house in Calecut where the merchandise
was deposited, they put a number of men inside with him to watch that none
of it was sent away. At the same time proclamation was made throughout
the town prohibiting all boats from approaching our ships.
When they [the Portuguese] saw that they were prisoners, they sent a young
negro who was with them along the coast to seek for some one to take him
to the ships, and to give information that they had been made prisoners by
order of the king. The negro went to the outskirts of the town, where there
lived some fishermen, one of whom took him on board, on payment of three
fanôes. This the fisherman ventured to do because it was dark, and they
could not be seen from the city; and when he had put his passenger on
board he at once departed. This happened on Monday, the 13th August,
1498.
This news made us sad; not only because we saw some of our men in the
hands of our enemies, but also because it interfered with our departure. We
also felt grieved that a Christian king, to whom we had given of ours,
should do us such an ill turn. At the same time we did not hold him as
culpable as he seemed to be, for we were well aware that the Moors of the
place, who were merchants from Mecca and elsewhere, and who knew us,
could ill digest us. They had told the king that we were thieves, and that if
once we navigated to his country, no more ships from Mecca, nor from
Quambaye [Cambay], nor from Imgros,184 nor from any other part, would
visit him. They added that he would derive no profit from this [trade with
Portugal] as we had nothing to give, but would rather take away, and that
thus his country would be ruined. They, moreover, offered rich bribes to the
king to capture and kill us, so that we should not return to Portugal.

All this the captain learnt from a Moor of the country,185 who revealed all
that was intended to be done, warning the captains, and more especially the
captain-major, against going on shore. In addition to what we learnt through
the Moor, we were told by two Christians that if the captains went ashore
their heads would be cut off, as this was the way the king dealt with those
who came to his country without giving him gold.
Such then was the state of affairs. On the next day [August 14] no boats
came out to the ships. On the day after that [August 15] there came an
almadia, with four young men, who brought precious stones for sale; but it
appeared to us that they came rather by order of the Moors, in order to see
what we should do to them, than for the purpose of selling stones. The
captain, however, made them welcome, and wrote a letter to his people on
shore, which they took away with them. When the people saw that no harm
befell them, there came daily many merchants, and others who were not
merchants, from curiosity, and all were made welcome by us and given to
eat.
On the following Sunday [August 19] about twenty-five men came. Among
them were six persons of quality, and the captain perceived that through
these we might recover the men who were detained as prisoners on land. He
therefore laid hands upon them, and upon a dozen of the others, being
eighteen186 in all. The rest he ordered to be landed in one of his boats, and
gave them a letter to be delivered to the king’s Moorish factor, in which he
declared that if he would restore the men who were being kept prisoners he
would liberate those whom he had taken. When it became known that we
had taken these men, a crowd proceeded to the house where our
merchandise was kept, and conducted our men to the house of the factor,
without doing them any harm.
On Thursday, the 23rd,187 of the same month, we made sail, saying we were
going to Portugal, but hoped to be back soon, and that then they would
know whether we were thieves. We anchored about four leagues to the
leeward of Calecut, and we did this because of the headwind.
On the next day [August 24] we returned towards the land, but not being
able to weather certain shoals in front of Calecut, we again stood off and
anchored within sight of the city.

On Saturday [August 25] we again stood off and anchored so far out at sea
that we could scarcely see the land. On Sunday [August 26] whilst at
anchor, waiting for a breeze, a boat which had been on the lookout for us
approached, and informed us that Diogo Dias was in the king’s house, and
that if we liberated those whom we detained, he should be brought on
board. The captain, however, was of opinion that he had been killed, and
that they said this in order to detain us until they had completed their
armaments, or until ships of Mecca able to capture us had arrived. He
therefore bade them retire, threatening otherwise to fire his bombards upon
them, and not to return without bringing him [Dias] and his men, or at least
a letter from them. He added that unless this were done quickly he intended
to take off the heads of his captives. A breeze then sprang up, and we sailed
along the coast until we anchored.

[The King sends for Diogo Dias.]

When the king heard that we had sailed for Portugal, and that he was thus
no longer able to carry his point, he thought of undoing the evil he had
done. He sent for Diogo Dias, whom he received with marked kindness, and
not in the way he did when he was the bearer of [Vasco’s] present. He asked
why the captain had carried off these men. Diogo Dias said it was because
the king would not allow him and his to return to the ships, and detained
them as prisoners in the city. The king said he had done well. He then asked
whether his factor had asked for anything,188 giving us to understand that he
was ignorant of the matter, and that the factor alone was responsible for this
extortion. Turning to his factor, he asked whether he was unaware that quite
recently he had killed another factor because he had levied tribute upon
some merchants that had come to this country? The king then said: “Go you
back to the ships, you and the others who are with you; tell the captain to
send me back the men he took; that the pillar, which I understood him to
say he desires to be erected on the land shall be taken away by those who
bring you back, and put up; and, moreover, that you will remain here with
the merchandise.” At the same time he forwarded a letter to the captain,
which had been written for him by Diogo Dias with an iron pen upon a
palm-leaf, as is the custom of the country, and which was intended for the
King of Portugal. The tenor189 of this letter was as follows:—

“Vasco da Gama, a gentleman of your household, came to my country, whereat I was pleased. My
country is rich in cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. That which I ask of you in
exchange is gold, silver, corals and scarlet cloth.”

[Off Calecut, August 27-30.] On Monday, the 27th of this month, in the
morning, whilst we were at anchor, seven boats with many people in them
brought Diogo Dias and the other [Portuguese] who were with him. Not
daring to put him on board, they placed him in the captain’s long boat,
which was still attached to the stern. They had not brought the merchandise,
for they believed that Diogo Dias would return with them. But once the
captain had them back on board, he would not allow them to return to the
land. The pillar190 he gave to those in the boat, as the king had given orders
for it to be set up. He also gave up, in exchange, the six most distinguished
among his prisoners, keeping six others, whom he promised to surrender if
on the morrow the merchandise were restored to him.
On Tuesday [August 28], in the morning, whilst at anchor, a Moor of
Tunis,191 who spoke our language, took refuge on board one of our ships,
saying, that all he had had been taken from him, that worse might happen,
and that this was his usual luck. The people of the country, he said, charged
him with being a Christian, who had come to Calecut by order of the King
of Portugal; for this reason he preferred going away with us, rather than
remain in a country where any day he might be killed.
At ten o’clock seven boats with many people in them approached us. Three
of them carried on their benches the striped cloth which we had left on land,
and we were given to understand that this was all the merchandise which
belonged to us.192 These three came to within a certain distance of the
ships, whilst the other four kept away. We were told that if we sent them
their men in one of our boats they would give our merchandise in exchange
for them. However, we saw through their cunning, and the captain-major
told them to go away, saying that he cared nought for the merchandise, but
wanted to take these men to Portugal.193 He warned them at the same time
to be careful, as he hoped shortly to be back in Calecut, when they would
know whether we were thieves, as had been told them by the Moors.
On Wednesday, the 29th [of August], the captain-major and the other
captains agreed that, inasmuch that we had discovered the country we had
come in search of, as also spices and precious stones, and it appeared

impossible to establish cordial relations with the people, it would be as well
to take our departure. And it was resolved that we should take with us the
men whom we detained, as, on our return to Calecut, they might be useful
to us in establishing friendly relations. We therefore set sail and left for
Portugal, greatly rejoicing at our good fortune in having made so great a
discovery.
On Thursday [August 30], at noon, being becalmed about a league below
[that is, north of] Calecut, about seventy boats approached us.194 They were
crowded with people wearing a kind of cuirass made of red cloth, folded.
Their weapons for the body, the arms and the head were these195.... When
these boats came within the range of our bombards, the captain-major
ordered us to fire upon them. They followed us for about an hour and a half,
when there arose a thunderstorm which carried us out to sea; and when they
saw they could no longer do us harm they turned back, whilst we pursued
our route.

[Calecut and its Commerce.]

From this country of Calecut, or Alta India,196 come the spices which are
consumed in the East and the West, in Portugal, as in all other countries of
the world, as also precious stones of every, description. The following
spices are to be found in this city of Calecut, being its own produce: much
ginger and pepper and cinnamon, although the last is not of so fine a quality
as that brought from an island called Çillan [Ceylon],197 which is eight days
journey from Calecut. Calecut is the staple for all this cinnamon. Cloves are
brought to this city from an island called Melequa [Malacca].198 The Mecca
vessels carry these spices from there to a city in Mecca199 called Judeâ
[Jidda], and from the said island to Judeâ is a voyage of fifty days sailing
before the wind, for the vessels of this country cannot tack. At Judeâ they
discharge their cargoes, paying customs duties to the Grand Sultan.200 The
merchandise is then transshipped to smaller vessels, which carry it through
the Red Sea to a place close to Santa Catarina of Mount Sinai, called
Tuuz,201 where customs dues are paid once more. From that place the
merchants carry the spices on the back of camels, which they hire at the rate
of 4 cruzados each, to Quayro [Cairo], a journey occupying ten days. At

Quayro duties are paid again. On this road to Cairo they are frequently
robbed by thieves, who live in that country, such as the Bedouins and
others.
At Cairo the spices are embarked on the river Nile, which rises in Prester
John’s country in Lower India, and descending that river for two days they
reach a place called Roxette [Rosetta], where duties have to be paid once
more. There they are placed on camels, and are conveyed in one day to a
city called Alexandria, which is a sea-port. This city is visited by the galleys
of Venice and Genoa, in search of these spices, which yield the Grand
Sultan a revenue of 600,000 cruzados202 in customs duties, out of which he
pays to a king called Cidadym203 an annual subsidy of 100,000 cruzados for
making war upon Prester John. The title of Grand Sultan is bought for
money, and does not pass from father to son.

[The Voyage Home.]

I now again speak of our voyage home.
Going thus along the coast we kept tacking, with the aid of the land and sea
breezes, for the wind was feeble. When becalmed in the day we lay to.
On Monday, September 10, the captain-major landed one of the men whom
we had taken, and who had lost an eye, with a letter to the Çamolin, written
in Moorish [Arabic] by one of the Moors who came with us.204 The country
where we landed this Moor was called Compia,205 and its king, Biaquolle,
was at war with the King of Calecut.
On the following day [September 11], whilst becalmed, boats approached
the ships, and the boatmen, who offered fish for sale, came on board
without exhibiting any fear.

[Santa Maria Islands.]206

On Saturday, the 15th of said month, we found ourselves near some islets,
about two leagues from the land. We there launched a boat and put up a
pillar on one of these islets, which we called Santa Maria, the king having
ordered three pillars (padrãos), to be named S. Raphael, S. Gabriel, and

Santa Maria. We had thus succeeded in erecting these three, scilicet, the
first, that of S. Raphael, on the Rio dos bons signaes; the second, that of S.
Gabriel, at Calecut; and this, the last, named Santa Maria.
Here again many boats came to us with fish, and the captain made the
boatmen happy by presenting them with shirts. He asked them whether they
would be glad if he placed a pillar upon the island. They said that they
would be very glad indeed, for its erection would confirm the fact that we
were Christians like themselves. The pillar was consequently erected in
much amity.

[Anjediva, September 20 to October 5.]207

That same night, with a land breeze, we made sail and pursued our route.
On the following Thursday, the 20th of the month,208 we came to a hilly
country, very beautiful and salubrious, close to which there were six small
islands.
There we anchored, near the land, and launched a boat to take in water and
wood to last us during our voyage across the Gulf, which we hoped to
accomplish, if the wind favoured us. On landing we met a young man, who
pointed out to us a spring of excellent water rising between two hills on the
bank of a river. The captain-major gave this man a cap, and asked whether
he was a Moor or a Christian. The man said that he was a Christian, and
when told that we too were Christians he was much pleased.

On the following day [September 21] an almadia came to us with four men,
who brought gourds and cucumbers. The captain-major asked whether
cinnamon, ginger, or any other spices were to be found in this country. They
said there was plenty of cinnamon, but no other kind of spice. The captain
at once sent two men with them to the mainland to bring him a sample, and
they were taken to a wood where a large number of trees yielding cinnamon
were growing, and they cut off two big branches, with their foliage. When
we went in our boats to fetch water we met these two men with their
cinnamon branches, and they were accompanied by about twenty others,
who brought the captain fowls, cow-milk and gourds. They asked the
captain to send these two men along with them, as there was much dry

cinnamon not far off, which they would show them, and of which they
would bring samples.209
Having taken in water we returned to the ships, and these men promised to
come on the ensuing day to bring a present of cows, pigs and fowls.
Early on the next morning [September 22] we observed two vessels close to
the land, about two leagues off, but took no further notice of them. We cut
wood whilst waiting for the tide to enable us to enter the river to take in
water, and being thus engaged it struck the captain that these vessels were
larger than he had thought at first. He therefore ordered us into the boats, as
soon as we had eaten, and sent us to find out whether these vessels
belonged to Moors or Christians. After his return on board, the captain-
major ordered a mariner to go aloft and look out for vessels, and this man
reported that out in the open sea and at a distance of about six leagues he
saw eight vessels becalmed. The captain, when he heard this, at once gave
orders to sink these vessels. They, as soon as they felt the breeze, put the
helm hard a-lee, and when they were abreast of us, at a distance of a couple
of leagues, and we thought they might discover us, we made for them.
When they saw us coming they bore away for the land. One of them being
disabled, owing to her helm breaking, the men in her made their escape in
the boat, which they dragged astern, and reached the land in safety. We,
who were nearest to that vessel, at once boarded her, but found nothing in
her except provisions, coco-nuts, four jars of palm-sugar, and arms, all the
rest being sand used as ballast. The seven other vessels grounded, and we
fired upon them from our boats.
On the following morning [September 23], whilst at anchor, seven men in a
boat visited us, and they told us that these vessels had come from Calecut in
search of us, and that if they had succeeded in taking us we should have
been killed.210

On the following morning, having left this place, we anchored at a distance
of two bombard-shots from the place at which we had been at first, and
close to an island, where we had been told that water would be found.211
The captain-major at once sent Nicolau Coelho in an armed boat in search
for this watering place. He came there upon the ruins of a large stone
church which had been destroyed by the Moors, with the exception of a

chapel which had been roofed with straw. This, at least, was told us by the
natives of the country, who prayed there to three black stones which stood
in the middle of the chapel.212 Beside this church we discovered a tank of
the same workmanship as the church itself—that is, built of hewn stone—
from which we took as much water as we needed. Another tank, of large
size and four fathoms deep, occupied the highest part of the island. On the
beach, in front of the church, we careened the Berrio and the ship of the
captain-major. The Raphael was not drawn up on the beach, on account of
difficulties which will be referred to further on.
Being one day in the Berrio, which was drawn up on the beach, there
approached two large boats, or fustas,213 crowded with people. They rowed
to the sound of drums and bagpipes, and displayed flags at the masthead.
Five other boats remained on the coast for their protection. As they came
nearer we asked the people whom we had with us who they were. They told
us not to allow them to come on board, as they were robbers who would
seize us if they could. The people of this country, they said, carried arms
and boarded vessels as if they came as friends, and having succeeded, and
feeling strong enough, they laid hands upon them. For this reason they were
fired upon from the Raphael and the captain-major’s ship, as soon as they
came within range of our bombards. They began to shout “Tambaram,”214
which meant that they were Christians, for the Christians of India call God
“Tambaram.” When they found that we took no notice of this, they fled
towards the land. Nicolau Coelho pursued them for a short distance, when
he was recalled by a signal flag on the ship of the captain-major.
On the following day, whilst the captain and many of our people were on
land, careening the Berrio, there arrived two small boats with a dozen well-
dressed men in them, who brought a bundle of sugar-cane as a present for
the captain-major. After they had landed they asked permission to see the
ships. The captain thought they were spies, and grew angry. Just then two
other boats, with as many people, made their appearance, but those who had
come first, seeing that the captain was not favourably disposed towards
them, warned these new-comers not to land, but to turn back. They, too, re-
embarked at once, and went away.
Whilst the ship of the captain-major was being careened there arrived a
man,215 about forty years of age, who spoke Venetian well. He was dressed

in linen, wore a fine touca on his head, and a sword in his belt. He had no
sooner landed than he embraced the captain-major and the captains, and
said that he was a Christian from the west, who had come to this country in
early youth; that he was now in the service of a Moorish lord,216 who could
muster 40,000 horsemen; that he, too, had become a Moor, although at heart
still a Christian. He said that, being one day at his master’s house, news was
brought that men had arrived at Calecut, whose speech none could
understand, and who were wholly clad; that when he heard this he said that
these strangers must be Franks, for this is the name by which we
[Europeans] are known in these parts. He then begged permission of his
master to be allowed to visit us, saying that a refusal would cause him to die
of sorrow. His master thereupon had told him to go and tell us that we
might have anything in his country which suited us, including ships and
provisions, and that if we desired to remain permanently it would give him
much pleasure. When the captain had cordially thanked him for these
offers, which appeared to him to have been made in good faith, our visitor
asked as a favour that a cheese be given him, which he desired to take to
one of his companions who had remained on the mainland, as a token that
all had gone well. The captain ordered a cheese and two soft loaves to be
given to him. He remained on the island, talking so much and about so
many things, that at times he contradicted himself.
Paulo da Gama, in the meanwhile, had sought the Christians who had come
with this visitor, and asked who he was. They said he was a pirate
(armador), who had come to attack us, and that his ships, with many people
in them, had remained on the coast. Knowing this much, and conjecturing
the rest, we seized him, took him to the vessel drawn up on the beach, and
there began to thrash him, in order to make him confess whether he was
really a pirate, or what was the object with which he had come to us. He
then told us that he was well aware that the whole country was ill-disposed
towards us, and that numbers of armed men were around, hidden within the
creeks, but that they would not for the present venture to attack us, as they
were expecting some forty vessels which were being armed to pursue us.
He added that he did not know when they would be ready to attack us. As to
himself he said nothing except what he had said at first. Afterwards he was
“questioned”217 three or four times, and although he did not definitely say

so, we understood from his gestures that he had come to see the ships, so
that he might know what sort of people we were, and how we were armed.
At this island we remained twelve days, eating much fish, which was
brought for sale from the mainland, as also many pumpkins and cucumbers.
They also brought us boat-loads of green cinnamon-wood with the leaves
still on. When our ships had been careened, and we had taken in as much
water as we needed, and had broken up the vessel which we had captured,
we took our departure. This happened on Friday, October 5.218
Before the vessel referred to was broken up, its captain offered us 1000
fanões for it, but the captain-major said that it was not for sale, and as it
belonged to an enemy he preferred to burn it.

When we were about two hundred leagues out at sea, the Moor whom we
had taken with us declared that the time for dissembling was now past. It
was true that he had heard at the house of his master that we had lost
ourselves along the coast, and were unable to find our way home; that for
this reason many vessels had been despatched to capture us; and that his
master had sent him to find out what we were doing and to entice us to his
country, for if a privateer had taken us he would not have received a share
of the booty, whilst if we had landed within his territory we should have
been completely in his power, and being valiant men, he could have
employed us in his wars with the neighbouring kings. This reckoning,
however, was made without the host.

[The Voyage across the Arabian Sea.]

Owing to frequent calms and foul winds it took us three months less three
days to cross this gulf,219 and all our people again suffered from their gums,
which grew over their teeth, so that they could not eat. Their legs also
swelled, and other parts of the body, and these swellings spread until the
sufferer died, without exhibiting symptoms of any other disease. Thirty of
our men died in this manner—an equal number having died previously—
and those able to navigate each ship were only seven or eight, and even
these were not as well as they ought to have been. I assure you that if this
state of affairs had continued for another fortnight, there would have been

no men at all to navigate the ships. We had come to such a pass that all
bonds of discipline had gone. Whilst suffering this affliction we addressed
vows and petitions to the saints on behalf of our ships. The captains had
held council, and they had agreed that if a favourable wind enabled us we
would return to India whence we had come.
But it pleased God in his mercy to send us a wind which, in the course of
six days, carried us within sight of land, and at this we rejoiced as much as
if the land we saw had been Portugal, for with the help of God we hoped to
recover our health there, as we had done once before.220
This happened on January 2, 1499.221 It was night when we came close to
the land, and for this reason we put about ship and lay to. In the morning
[January 3] we reconnoitred the coast, so as to find out whither the Lord
had taken us, for there was not a pilot on board, nor any other man who
could tell on the chart in what place we were. Some said that we must be
among certain islands off Moçambique, about 300 leagues from the
mainland;222 and they said this because a Moor whom we had taken at
Moçambique had asserted that these islands were very unhealthy, and that
their inhabitants suffered from the same disease which had afflicted us.

[Magadoxo.]

We found ourselves off a large town, with houses of several stories, big
palaces in its centre, and four towers around it. This town faced the sea,
belonged to the Moors, and was called Magadoxo.223 When we were quite
close to it we fired off many bombards,224 and continued along the coast
with a fair wind. We went on thus during the day, but lay to at night, as we
did not know how far we were from Milingue [Malindi] whither we wished
to go.
On Saturday, the 5th of the month, being becalmed, a thunderstorm burst
upon us, and tore the ties of the Raphael. Whilst repairing these a privateer
came out from a town called Pate225 with eight boats and many men, but as
soon as he came within reach of our bombards we fired upon him, and he
fled. There being no wind we were not able to follow him.

[Malindi.]

On Monday, the 7th [of January]226 we again cast anchor off Milindy, when
the king at once sent off to us a long boat holding many people, with a
present of sheep, and a message to the captain-major, bidding him welcome.
The king said that he had been expected for days past, and gave expression
to his amicable and peaceable sentiments. The captain-major sent a man on
shore with these messengers with instructions to bring off a supply of
oranges, which were much desired by our sick. These he brought on the
following day, as also other kinds of fruit; but our sick did not much profit
by this, for the climate affected them in such a way that many of them died
here. Moors also came on board, by order of the king, offering fowls and
eggs.
When the captain saw that all this attention was shown us at a time when
we stood so much in need of it, he sent a present to the king, and also a
message by the mouth of one of our men who spoke Arabic, begging for a
tusk of ivory to be given to the King [of Portugal], his Lord, and asking that
a pillar be placed on the land as a sign of friendship. The king replied that
he would do what was asked out of love for the King of Portugal, whom he
desired to serve; and, in fact, he at once ordered a tusk to be taken to the
captain and ordered the pillar to be erected.227
He also sent a young Moor,228 who desired to go with us to Portugal, and
whom he recommended strongly to the captain-major, saying that he sent
him in order that the King of Portugal might know how much he desired his
friendship.

Vasco da Gama’s Pillar at Malindi.
(From a photograph by Sir John Kirk.)

The Figure-head of the S. Raphael.

We remained five days at this place enjoying ourselves, and reposing from
the hardships endured during a passage in the course of which all of us had
been face to face with death.

[Malindi to São Braz.]

We left on Friday [January 11], in the morning, and on Saturday, which was
the 12th of the month, we passed close to Mombaça. On Sunday [January
13] we anchored at the Baixos de S. Raphael,229 where we set fire to the
ship of that name, as it was impossible for us to navigate three vessels with
the few hands that remained to us. The contents of this ship were transferred
to the two other ships. We were here fifteen days,230 and from a town in

front of us, called Tamugate,231 many fowls were brought to us for sale or
barter in exchange for shirts and bracelets.
On Sunday, the 27th, we left this place with a fair wind. During the
following night we lay to, and in the morning [January 28] we came close
to a large island called Jamgiber [Zanzibar], which is peopled by Moors,
and is quite ten leagues232 from the mainland. Late on February 1, we
anchored off the island of S. Jorge, near Moçambique and left at once. On
the following day [February 2], in the morning, we set up a pillar in that
island, where we had said mass on going out. The rain fell so heavily that
we could not light a fire for melting the lead to fix the cross, and it therefore
remained without one. We then returned to the ships.
On March 3 we reached the Angra de São Braz, where we caught many
anchovies, seals and penguins, which we salted for our voyage. On the 12th
we left, but when ten or twelve leagues from the watering-place the wind
blew so strongly from the west, that we were compelled to return to this
bay.

[São Braz to the Rio Grande.]

When the wind fell we started once more, and the Lord gave us such a good
wind that on the 20th we were able to double the Cape of Good Hope.
Those who had come so far were in good health and quite robust, although
at times nearly dead from the cold winds which we experienced. This
feeling, however, we attributed less to the cold than to the heat of the
countries from which we had come.
We pursued our route with a great desire of reaching home. For twenty-
seven days233 we had the wind astern, and were carried by it to the
neighbourhood of the island of São Thiago. To judge from our charts we
were within a hundred leagues from it, but some supposed we were quite
near. But the wind fell and we were becalmed. The little wind there was
came from ahead. Thunderstorms,234 which came from the land, enabled us
to tell our whereabouts, and we plied to windward as well as we could.
On Thursday, the 25th of April, we had soundings of 35 fathoms. All that
day we followed our route, and the least sounding we had was 20 fathoms.

We nevertheless could get no sight of the land, but the pilots told us that we
were near the shoals of the Rio Grande.235

[Here the Journal ends abruptly. The succeeding events may be shortly
stated. Vasco da Gama and Coelho were separated in a storm, according to
Resende. Coelho continued his voyage, arriving at Cascaes, below Lisbon,
on July 10, 1499. Vasco da Gama, having waited one day for his consort,
proceeded to the island of São Thiago, placed João de Sá in charge of the S.
Gabriel, and chartered a caravel in which he conveyed his dying brother
Paulo to the island of Terceira. João de Sá arrived soon after Coelho, and
certainly anterior to August 28th, on which day the king addressed a letter
to the Cardinal Protector of Portugal (see Appendix). Paulo died a day after
he had landed at the Angra of Terceira, and was buried in the church of the
Monastery of S. Francisco.236 A resident of Terceira, one Arthur Rodriguez,
at once started in a caravel to carry the news of Vasco da Gama’s arrival to
Lisbon.
The date of Vasco da Gama’s return to Lisbon is not known with certainty.
The commission appointed in 1871 to remove the remains of Vasco da
Gama from the church of Vidigueira to Belem made every effort to
ascertain the exact date, but in vain; and whilst Barros, Goes, and Pero
Barretto de Resende state that it happened on August 29th, Castanheda fixes
upon September 8th, and a MS. in the Torre do Tombo, consulted by
Texeira de Aragão, has September 18th. Herculano, in a note to the second
edition of the “Roteiro”, is content with saying that it happened at the end
of August or at the beginning of September. Texeira de Aragão assumes (on
the ground of a vague expression in De Barros) that he reached Terceira on
August 29th, arrived at Lisbon on September 9th, and made his triumphal
entry into the town on September 18th. This assumption is partly supported
by the statement of Barros that Vasco da Gama, after his arrival at Belem,
on account of the loss he had suffered in the death of a beloved brother,
spent nine days in retirement.237
I am myself inclined to believe that Vasco da Gama reached Lisbon on
August 29th, and made his triumphal entry on September 8th.]

[THE KINGDOMS TO THE SOUTH OF CALECUT.]

The following are the names of certain kingdoms on the coast to the south
of Calecut, together with the productions of each, and what they are worth,
all of which I have learnt in the most trustworthy manner from a man who
spoke our language and who had come to those parts from Alexandria thirty
years before.238
Calecut, where we were. The articles of merchandise mentioned below are
sent to it, and the vessels of Mecca take their cargoes to that city. The King,
who is called Çamolim, can muster 100,000 fighting men, including
auxiliaries, for the number under his proper jurisdiction is very small.
In the following we give the articles of merchandise brought thither in the
vessels of Mecca, and their value throughout this part of India239:—
Copper, of which the frazila of nearly 30 pounds is worth 50 fanãos or 3
cruzados.
Stone of Baqua,240 which is worth its weight in silver.
Knives, worth one fanão each.
Rosewater, worth 50 fanãos the frazila.
Alum, worth 50 fanãos the frazila.
Camlot, worth 7 cruzados the piece.
Red cloth, worth 2 cruzados the pequy241 of three spans (palmas).
Quicksilver, worth 10 cruzados the frazila.
Quorongoliz [Corongolor]242 is a Christian country and the king is a
Christian. Its distance from Calecut by sea, and with a favourable wind, is 3
days. The king can muster 40,000 fighting men. There is much pepper, the
frazila being worth 9 fanãos, whilst at Calecut it is worth 14.
Coleu [Colam, Coulão]243 is Christian. Its distance from Calecut by sea,
and with a good wind, is 10 days. The king can muster 10,000 men. There
is much cotton-cloth in this country, but little pepper.
Caell [Cael],244 the king of which is a Moor, whilst the people are
Christians. Its distance from Calecut, by sea, is 10 days. The king can

assemble 4,000 fighting men, and owns 100 war-elephants. There are many
pearls.
Chomandarla [Choramandel]245 is inhabited by Christians, and the king is
a Christian. He can muster 100,000 men. There is much lac here, worth half
a cruzado the frazila, and an extensive manufacture of cotton cloths.
Ceylam [Ceylon] is a very large island inhabited by Christians under a
Christian king. It is 8 days from Calecut, with a favourable wind. The king
can muster 4,000 men, and has moreover many elephants for war as well as
for sale. All the fine cinnamon of India is found here, as well as many
sapphires, superior to those of other countries,246 besides rubies, few but of
good quality.
Camatarra [Sumatra] is Christian. It is 30 days from Calecut with a
favourable wind. The king can muster 4,000 fighting men, and has 1,000
horsemen and 300 war-elephants. In this country much spun247 silk is
found, worth 8 cruzados the frazila. There is also much lac, worth 10
cruzados the bahar of 20 frazilas [208 kilo.].
Xarnauz248 is Christian and has a Christian king. Its distance from Calecut
is 50 days with a good wind. The king can muster 20,000 fighting men and
4,000 horse, and owns 400 war-elephants. In this country is found much
benzoin,249 worth 3 cruzados the frazila, as also much aloes,250 worth 25
cruzados the frazila.
Tenacar251 is Christian with a Christian king. It is 40 days’ sail from
Calecut, if the wind is favourable. The king can muster 10,000 fighting men
and possesses 500 fighting elephants. In this country is found much Brazil-
wood252 which yields a red dye, as fine as kermes, and is worth 3 cruzados
the bahar, whilst at Quayro [Cairo] it fetches 60. There is likewise a little
aloes.
Bemgala [Bengal].253 In this kingdom there are many Moors and few
Christians, and the king is a Christian. He can muster 20,000 fighting men
on foot and 10,000 horse. In this country there is much cloth made of cotton
and of silk, and much silver. The distance from Calecut is 40 days’ sail,
with a favourable wind.

Melequa [Malacca] is Christian with a Christian king. It is 40 days’ sail
from Qualecut [Calecut], with a good wind. The king can muster 10,000
fighting men, including 1,200 horse. All cloves254 come from here, being
worth on the spot 9 cruzados the bahar,255 as also nutmeg, which is worth
the like amount. There is also much porcelain, much silk and much tin, of
which last they coin money; but this money is heavy and of little value, 3
frazilas being worth only 1 cruzado. There are many big parrots in this
country, whose plumage is red, like fire.
Peguo [Pegu] is Christian and has a Christian king. The inhabitants are as
white as we are. The king can muster 20,000 fighting men, scilicet 10,000
horse and the others on foot, besides 400 war-elephants. This country
produces all the musk256 of the world. The king possesses an island about
four days’ sail, with a good wind, from the mainland. In this island there are
animals like deer, who have pouches containing this musk, attached to their
navels. At a certain period of each year they rub themselves against trees,
when the pouches come off. It is then that the people of the country gather
them. Their abundance is such that they give you four large pouches, or ten
to twelve small ones, which would fill a large chest, for one cruzado. On the
mainland many rubies257 and much gold are found. For ten cruzados as
much gold may be bought here as for twenty-five at Calecut. There is also
much lac and benzoin of two kinds, white and black. The frazila of white
benzoin is worth three cruzados, of black only a cruzado and a half. The
silver to be obtained here for ten cruzados is worth fifteen at Calecut.
The distance of this country from Calecut is thirty days with a fair wind.
Bemguala [Bengal]258 has a Moorish king, and is inhabited by both Moors
and Christians. Its distance from Calecut is thirty-five days with a fair wind.
There may be 25,000 fighting men, scilicet 10,000 horse and the remainder
on foot, as also 400 war-elephants. In this country the following
merchandise is found:—much corn and much cloth of great value. Cloth
which may be bought here for ten cruzados is worth forty at Calecut. There
is also much silver.
Conimata259 has a Christian king and Christian inhabitants. It is fifty days’
sail from Calecut, with a good wind.

The king can assemble five or six thousand men, and owns one thousand
fighting elephants. In this country there are many sapphires and much
brazil-wood.
Pater260 has Christian inhabitants and a Christian king, and there is not a
single Moor. The king can assemble four thousand fighting men, and has a
hundred war-elephants. In this country is found much rhubarb, the frazila
on the spot being worth nine cruzados. There are also many spinel rubies
and much lac, a bahar of which is worth four cruzados. The distance from
Calecut is fifty days with a fair wind.

About Elephants.

How the Elephants fight in this country.

They make a house of wood holding four men, and this house is put on the
back of the elephant with the four men in it. The elephant has attached five
naked swords to each of his tusks, being ten for the two tusks. This renders
him so redoubtable that none awaits his attack if flight is possible.
Whatever those seated on the top order to be done is done as if he were a
rational creature, for if they tell him “kill this one, or do this thing or
another”, he does it.

How they capture Elephants in the Primeval Forests.

When they wish to capture a wild elephant they take a tame female, and dig
a large hole on the track frequented by elephants, and cover its mouth with
brushwood. They then tell the female “Go! and if you meet with an
elephant, entice him to this hole, in such a way that he falls into it, but take
care that you do not fall into it yourself.” She then goes away, and does as
she has been told, and when she meets one she draws him on in such a way
that he must fall into the hole, and the hole is so deep that unaided he could
never get out of it.

How they are got out of the hole and broken-in.

After the elephant has fallen into this hole, five or six days are allowed to
pass before he is given anything to eat. When that time has elapsed, a man
brings him a very small supply of food, the supply being increased from
day to day until he eats by himself. This is continued for about a month,
during which time those who bring him food gradually tame him, until at
last they venture to descend into the hole. This is done for several days until
he permits the man to put his hands upon his tusks. He then goes into the
hole and puts heavy chains around the legs, and whilst in this condition they
train him so well that he learns all but to speak.
These elephants are kept in stables like horses, and a good elephant is worth
2,000 cruzados.261

Prices at Alexandria.262

[Value per
Pound.]
£. s. d.
One quintal of cinnamon is worth 25 cruzados, 2 5
” ” cloves ” 20 ” 1 11
” ” pepper ” 15 ” 1 5
” ” ginger ” 21 ” 2 0
(At Calecut one bahar, equal to 5 quintals, is worth 20
cruzados) 0 5
One quintal of nutmeg is worth 16 ” 0 1 7
” ” lac ” 25 ” 0 2 5
” ” Brazil-wood ” 10 ” 0 1 10
One ratel of rhubarb ” 25 ” 5 16 0
One mitikal of musk ” 1 ” 50 5 4
One ratel of aloe-wood ” 2 ” 0 19 4
One ratel of benzoin ” 1 ” 0 9 8
One quintal of frankincense ” 2 ” 0 0 2½
(At Mecca the bahar is worth 2 cruzados) 0 0 0½

[A VOCABULARY OF MALAYALAM.]

This is the Language of Calecut.263

See, look! nocane [nōkka].
Hearest thou? que que ne [kēlka].
Take him away criane.
To draw balichene [walikkān].
Rope coraoo [kayara].
Largely lacany.
Give me cornda.
To drink carichany [kutippān].
Eat tinane [tinmān].
Take y na.
I do not wish to totenda.
To go mareçane.
Go away! poo [pō].
Come here! baa [bā or wā].
Be silent! pote.
Rise! legany.
To throw carecane [karikkān].
To speak para ne [parane, speak thou].
Mad, silly moto.
Serious monday decany.
Lame mura call [murakāl].
To fall biamçe.
Many, much balidu [walare].

Bad betall [chītta].
Wind clarle [kātta].
Little chiredu [chiratu?].
Give him criane.
Timber, wood mara [maram].
Stone calou [kallu].
Teeth faley.
Lips çire [chīra?].
Nose muco [mūkka].
Eyes cana [kanna].
Forehead necheim [nīcha?].
Hair talanay [talla].
Head tabu.
Ears cadee [chewi].
Tongue naoo [nākka].
Neck caestez.
[Breast] mulay [mula].
Breasts nane.
Arms carit.
Stomach barri [wayara].
Legs cali [kāla].
— canay.
— seyrim.
— cudo.
Hands lamguajem [kai].
Fingers beda.
— cula.
Fish miny [mīna].
Mast mana.
Light, fire tiir [tī].
To sleep teraquy.
Man amoo [āna].

Women pena [penna].
Chin, beard tari.
Lobster xame.
Parrot tata [tatta].
Doves cayninaa.
— baly.
To kiss mucane.
To bite canchany [katikkān].
To see, look noquany [nokkuwān].
To hear çegade [kēlkawān].
To beat catane.
Wound morubo.
Sword batany.
Shield cutany.
Bow cayny.
Arrow ambum [anpa].
Spear concudoo.
To shoot with a bow heany.
Sun nerara.
Moon neelan.
Heaven mana.
The earth caraa.
The sea caralu.
Ship capell [kappal].
Boat çambuco.
Night erabut.
Day pagalala.
Eat tinane [tinmān].
— matara.
To mount arricany.
To be on foot anicany.
To go, travel narecane.

To embrace traigany.
Blows talancy.
To mourn, wail que ne.
To raise alagany.
To dance canechane.
To throw with stones or wood ouriany.
To sing fareny.
Rain ma jaa [mara].
Water tany [tanni].
Blind curuge [kurutan, blind man].
Maimed of a hand muruquay [murukai].
— panany.
Take! ennay.
Let us go! pomga [pomka].
East careçache [kirakka].
West mecache [patinynyara].
North barcangache [watakka].
South tycamgarche [tekka].
Dog naa [nāya].
Bitch pena [pennāya].
Young man hum nee.
Girl co poo.
House pura [pura].
Needle cu doo.
Rod parima.
Oar tandii [tandu].
A great gun ve dii.
Top-sail talii.
Halyard anguaa.
Anchor napara.
Flag çoti [koti].
Rudder, helm xoca.

Pilot cu pajaoo.
Shoe cacu paja.
Cap tupy [topi].

The following are some of the Names [of Persons].

Tenae. Aja paa. Anapa.
Pumi. A rreco. Canapa.
Paramganda. A xirama. Gande.
Uja pee. Cuerapa. Rremaa.
Quilaba. Cutotopa. Mamgala.
Gouaa.

APPENDICES.

Dom Manuel the Fortunate, King of Portugal, 1495-1521.
From “Leitura nova” (1o de Alemdouro) in the Torre do Tombo.
The signature is that of the King:—“Rey.”

APPENDIX A.

TWO LETTERS OF KING MANUEL, 1499.

HE first of these letters is addressed to King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella, of Castile, whose daughter, Doña Isabella,
King Manuel had married in October 1497.264 The letter is
dated July 1499, and may have been written immediately
after the arrival of Coelho’s vessel on July 10.
The draught, or copy, of this letter in the Torre do Tombo265 has been
published by A. C. Texeira de Aragão in the Boletim of the Lisbon
Geographical Society, VI, 1886, p. 673. It was published a second time in
Alguns Documentos do Archivo National da Torre do Tombo, Lisbon, 1892,
p. 95. There are several omissions in the latter version, due probably to the
illegibility of the manuscript. In our rendering of this valuable document, all
passages omitted in Alguns Documentos are printed in italics, while
attention is directed to other differences by means of foot-notes.
The draught of the letter addressed to the “Cardinal Protector” also exists in
the Torre do Tombo,266 but is evidently very illegible, for the text published
by Texeira de Aragão is full of blanks. The original, as also the letter to
Pope Alexander VI, to which reference is made, may possibly be discovered
in Rome. The letter is dated August 28, 1499, that is, the day before Vasco
da Gama’s supposed return to Lisbon. It was certainly written after the
arrival of the S. Gabriel, for it refers to the “Moor of Tunis” or Monçaide,
to the “Jew”, who subsequently became known as Gaspar da Gama, and to
the men carried off from Calecut, none of whom is likely to have been on
board Coelho’s small vessel.267
The “Cardinal Protector” can be identified with D. Jorge da Costa, a man of
mean extraction, whom Doña Catharina, the virgin daughter of King
Duarte, and sister of King Afonso IV, appointed her chaplain, and who
subsequently rose to high dignities in the Church, until, finally, the Pope

bestowed upon him a cardinal’s hat. King John took a dislike to the
cardinal, who went to reside at Rome; but King Manuel had a high opinion
of his wisdom, and soon after his accession, in 1495, he invited him,
through Pedro Correa,268 his special ambassador to the Court of Rome, to
return to Lisbon. The cardinal declined this invitation, pleading his great
age and infirmities as an excuse, but ever afterwards attended most
faithfully to the King’s business with the Pope.

I.—King Manuel’s Letter to the King and Queen of Castile, July 1499.
Most high and excellent Prince and Princess, most potent Lord and Lady!
Your Highnesses already know that we had ordered Vasco da Gama, a nobleman of our household,
and his brother Paulo da Gama, with four vessels to make discoveries by sea, and that two years
have now elapsed since their departure. And as the principal motive of this enterprise has been, with
our predecessors, the service of God our Lord, and our own advantage,269 it pleased Him in His
mercy to speed them on their route. From a message which has now been brought to this city by one
of the captains,270 we learn that they did reach and discover India and other kingdoms and lordships
bordering upon it; that they entered and navigated its sea, finding large cities, large edifices and
rivers, and great populations, among whom is carried on all the trade in spices and precious stones,
which are forwarded in ships (which these same explorers saw and met with in good numbers and of
great size) to Mecca, and thence to Cairo, whence they are dispersed throughout the world. Of these
[spices, etc.] they have brought a quantity, including cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and pepper,
as well as other kinds, together with the boughs and leaves271 of the same; also many fine stones of
all sorts, such as rubies and others. And they also came to a country in which there are mines of gold,
of which [gold], as of the spices and precious stones, they did not bring as much as they could have
done, for they took no merchandise with them.272
As we are aware that your Highnesses will hear of these things with much pleasure and satisfaction,
we thought well to give this information. And your Highnesses may believe, in accordance with what
we have learnt concerning the Christian people whom these explorers reached, that it will be
possible, notwithstanding that they are not as yet strong in the faith or possessed of a thorough
knowledge of it, to do much in the service of God and the exaltation of the Holy Faith, once they
shall have been converted and fully fortified (confirmed) in it. And when they shall have thus been
fortified in the faith there will be an opportunity for destroying the Moors of those parts. Moreover,
we hope, with the help of God, that the great trade which now enriches the Moors of those parts,
through whose hands it passes without the intervention of other persons or peoples, shall, in
consequence of our regulations (ordenanços) be diverted to the natives and ships of our own
kingdom, so that henceforth all Christendom, in this part of Europe, shall be able, in a large measure,
to provide itself with these spices and precious stones. This, with the help of God, who in His mercy
thus ordained it, will cause our designs and intentions to be pushed with more ardour [especially as
respects] the war upon the Moors of the territories conquered by us in these parts, which your
Highnesses are so firmly resolved upon, and in which we are equally zealous.
And we pray your Highnesses, in consideration of this great favour, which, with much gratitude, we
received from Our Lord, to cause to be addressed to Him those praises which are His due.273

Most high and excellent Prince and Princess, most potent Lord and Lady, may the Lord our God ever
hold your persons and kingdoms in His holy keeping.
Written at Lisbon, July 1499.

II.—King Manuel to the Cardinal Protector, August 28th, 1499.
Most Reverend Father in Christ, whom we love much as a brother!
We, Dom Manuel, by the Grace of God King of Portugal and of the Algarves on this side of and
beyond the sea, in Africa, Lord of Guinea and of the Conquest the Navigation and Commerce of
Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India, We send to recommend to your Reverence ... very great news ...
Our Lord having ended our labours in the exploration of Ethiopia and India, of other countries, and
eastern islands ... we inform you with pleasure ... and in order that you may know the progress of
events we enclose the draught of a letter which we wrote to the Holy Father ... Beyond what we
wrote to his Holiness, your Reverence must know that those who have just returned from this
investigation and discovery visited, among other ports of India, a city called Qualicut, whence they
brought us cinnamon, cloves ... the King looks upon himself and the major part of his people as
Christian ... throughout the year there are found there cucumbers, oranges, lemons and citrons ...
there are great fleets ... The island of Taprobane, which is called Ceilam,274 is 150 leagues from
Qualicut ... Our people brought five or six Indians from Qualicut ... moreover a Moor of Tunes ... and
a Jew,275 who turned Christian, and who is a merchant and lapidary, and well acquainted with the
coasts from Alexandria to India, and beyond with the interior (sertão) and Tartary as far as the major
sea.... As soon as we had these news we ordered general processions to be made throughout our
kingdom, returning many thanks to Our Lord ... His Holiness and your Reverence must (deve)
publicly rejoice no less and give many praises to God. Also, whereas by Apostolical276 grants we
enjoy very fully the sovereignty and dominion of all we have discovered, in such manner that little or
nothing else seems needed, yet would it please us, and we affectionately beg that after you shall have
handed our letters to the Holy Father and the College of Cardinals, it may please you, speaking in this
as if from yourself, to ask for a fresh expression of satisfaction with reference to a matter of such
novelty and great and recent merit, so as to obtain His Holiness’s renewed approval and declaration,
in such form as may appear best to you, most Reverend Father, whom Our Lord hold in his keeping.
Written at Lisbon, August 28, 1499. The King.

APPENDIX B.

(From the Portrait in the Museu das Bellas Artes at Lisbon.)

This portrait formerly belonged to the Conde de Farrobo, who had it from the Casa de Niza. It was
presented to the Museu in 1866 by King D. Ferdinand. It dates back, apparently, to the first quarter of
the sixteenth century. In 1845 it was restored by Luiz Tirinanzi. The above is taken from a
photograph kindly forwarded by Senhor José Bastos, of Lisbon. The signature attached (Ho Conde
Almyrante) is that of Vasco da Gama.
The portrait in the possession of the Conde de Lavradio, which was published in Lord Stanley of
Alderley’s The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, is a copy of the above.

GIROLAMO SERNIGI’S LETTERS ON VASCO DA GAMA’S FIRST
VOYAGE.

Girolamo Sernigi was born in Florence in 1453. His father, Cipriano di
Chimenti, was a member of the Clothiers’ Guild, and was held in high
respect by his fellow citizens. The family became extinct in 1680.277
Girolamo was residing at Lisbon, where he had settled as a merchant, when
Vasco da Gama’s expedition returned from India. He remained there for
many years afterwards, and in 1510 commanded a vessel which went out to
Malacca with the fleet of Diogo Mendez de Vasconcellos.278
In addition to the letters giving an account of the voyage of Vasco da Gama,
he wrote others dealing with the trade between Portugal and India. Some of
these will be found in the Diari of Marino Sanuto.
Manuscript copies of these letters exist in the Biblioteca Riccardiana,
Florence (Codices 1910, f. 61, and 2112b), in the library of Mr. Ralph
Sneyd, of Newcastle-under-Lyne, and possibly elsewhere. I am indebted to
the mediation of Dr. R. Garnett and the kindness of Professor Biagi, chief
librarian of the Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenciana, at Florence, for a careful
copy of Codex 1910. The MS. in the library of Mr. Sneyd formerly
belonged to Count Soranzo of Venice, and Prof. Guglielmo Berchet of that
city quotes passages from it in his valuable contribution to the “Raccolta
Colombiana”.279 I regret to say that I failed in my endeavours to secure a
copy of this valuable manuscript. Fortunately, to judge from the few
extracts given by Prof. Berchet, there seems to be no reason to suppose that
it differs in any essential respect from the other documents of which I was
able to avail myself.
The two letters addressed to a gentleman at Florence were published for the
first time in Fracanzio di Montalboddo’s famous Paesi novamente retrovati,
Vicenza, 1507. This seems to be a faithful reproduction of the original,
except that a few passages have been omitted, and that the letters have been

divided into chapters, each with a distinctive heading. Ramusio,280 who
republished these letters in 1550, has taken much greater liberties with their
writer. He has not merely improved his literary style, but has also
condensed many passages, not always very happily, and suppressed others
altogether. The more important of these omissions, and occasional
additions, have been pointed out by me in the notes appended to the present
translation.
The writer’s name is not mentioned by Fracanzio or Ramusio. Bandini281
rashly suggested it was Amerigo Vespucci, who addressed these letters to
Dr. Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici. Professor Kopke282 devotes
several pages to a refutation of this untenable hypothesis. It suffices to state
that Vespucci was away with Alonzo de Hojeda in the West Indies, from
May 1499 to February 1500, and cannot consequently have been at Lisbon
in July 1499, when the first vessel of Vasco da Gama’s fleet came back
from India.283
To Baldelli Boni is due the credit of having first made known the name of
the actual writer, and of having directed attention to the copy of the first
letter existing in the Riccardian library.284
The first of these letters was undoubtedly written immediately after the
arrival of Coelho’s vessel, on July 10th. The information it conveys was
obtained from various members of the expedition, and there is at least one
passage in it which shows that it was not all written on the same day.
The second letter was written some time afterwards, for it embodies
information obtained from the “pilot”, Gaspar da Gama, who had not come
back when the first letter was written (see p. 136). This intelligent informant
reached Lisbon on board the flag-ship, the S. Gabriel, the command of
which had been entrusted by Vasco da Gama to his clerk, João de Sá, when
he himself left São Thiago in a caravel for Terçeira.
Both these letters are addressed to a gentleman at Florence with whom the
writer was not on terms of familiarity, and whom he consequently addresses
as “Vossignoria”. This need not, however, be translated as “your Lordship”,
for that style of address was customary in the case of persons of much
humbler degree.

The third letter is undoubtedly by the same writer. An abstract of it, in
German, was discovered among the papers of Conrad Peutinger, of
Augsburg, the antiquarian, and at one time the owner of the famous Tabula
Peutingeriana. It was first published, together with other documents dealing
with early voyages to the New World and to India, by Dr. G. Greiff, in
1861.285
Peutinger286 was shown this letter during a temporary visit to Rome, and
made the abstract thus published. He states explicitly that the letter was
addressed to the author’s brother. Covering the same ground as the
preceding letters, and written about the same time, it is only natural that
there should occur many similar passages; and this would in all probability
be even more apparent if we were in a position to collate the letter seen by
Peutinger at Rome with that preserved in the “Riccardiana”. But the letter,
notwithstanding, is quite distinct from the letters addressed to a gentleman
in Florence. The arrangement of the subjects dealt with is different, and
whilst we meet with paragraphs not to be found in either of the other letters,
there are numerous omissions. Among these latter we may direct attention
to the speculation about the Chinese being Germans, which would most
certainly not have been passed over by a German.
The Peutinger letter was written after the captain had come back “a
salvamento” to Lisbon with the “one vessel” of 90 tons, not previously
accounted for. This definite statement is rather puzzling, for if Vasco da
Gama really came home in his flagship, we are either compelled to reject
the statements of such well-accredited historians as De Barros, Goes, and
Castanheda, who affirm that the captain-major ordered João de Sá to take
his flagship, the S. Gabriel, to Lisbon, whilst he himself chartered a swift
caravel which conveyed himself and his dying brother to the Azores; or we
must assume that João de Sá, having refitted the S. Gabriel at São Thiago,
joined his chief at Terçeira, and returned with him to Lisbon.287 We are
inclined to believe that we have before us an inaccurate statement made by
the writer of the letter, or else an erroneous rendering of his meaning by
Peutinger. The letter was certainly written after the arrival of João de Sá in
the S. Gabriel, but Vasco da Gama himself, coming direct from Terçeira,
may have reached Lisbon a day or two later: these two distinct events
becoming thus blended, as it were, in the mind of a man not thoroughly
informed of the matter.

We have contented ourselves with printing a few extracts from Peutinger’s
letter.

Girolamo Sernigi’s First Letter to a Gentleman at Florence.288

[The Start.]

The most illustrious Lord Manuel of Portugal sent 3 new vessels to discover new countries, namely 2
vessels289 (balonieri) of 90 tons each, and one of 50 tons, in addition to which there was a ship
(navetta), of one hundred and ten tons, laden with provisions. Between them they took away cxviij
men,290 and they left this city of Lisbon on July 9 1497.291 Vasco da Gama went as captain of this
fleet.

[The Voyage.]

On July x 1499 the vessel of 50 tons came back to this city.292 The captain, Vasco da Gama,
remained at the Cape Verde islands with one of the vessels of 90 tons in order to land there his
brother Paulo da Gama, who was very ill.293 The other vessel of 90 tons was burnt because there
were not people enough to navigate and steer her. The store-ship also was burnt, for it was not
intended she should return.
In the course of the voyage there died 55 men from a disease which first attacked the mouth, and
thence descended to the throat; they also suffered great pain in the legs from the knee downwards.
They discovered 1800 leagues294 (each league being equal to 4¼ of our miles) of new land beyond
the cape of Good Hope, which cape was first discovered in the time of King John. Beyond that cape
they followed the coast for about 600 leagues295 and met with a dense population of black people.
And when they had made these 600 leagues they discovered a large river,296 and at the mouth of that
river a great village inhabited by black people, who are, as it were, subject to the Moors. These
Moors live in the interior of the country, and continually make war upon the blacks. And in this river,
according to these blacks, are found immense quantities (infinite) of gold; and they told the captain
that if he would tarry a moon,297 that is a month, they would give him gold in plenty. But the captain
would not wait, and went about 350 leagues298 further, and discovered a great walled city, with very
good stone houses in the Moorish style, inhabited by Moors of the colour of Indians. There the
captain landed, and the Moorish king of this city received him with much feasting (chon gran festa),
and gave him a pilot for crossing the gulf. This city is called Melinde, and lies at the entrance of a
gulf, the whole of which is peopled by Moors. This pilot spoke Italian.299

[The Arabian Sea.]

This gulf is above 700 leagues across,300 and they crossed it from side to side, and came to a very
large city, larger than Lisbon, inhabited by Christians, and called Chalichut.
On both sides of this gulf there is a dense population of Moors, with great towns and castles.301 At
the termination of this gulf there is a strait302 like that of Romania,303 and having passed through this
strait there is another and greater gulf, which is the Red Sea. And from the right hand of this to the

house of Mecca, where is the tomb of Mohammed, is 3 days’ journey by land. At the said house of
Mecca is a very great town of Moors. I am of opinion that this is the Gulf of Arabia,304 concerning
which Pliny wrote that Alexander the Great went there, to make war, as also did the Romans, who
took all by war.

[Chalichut.]

Let us return to the above-named city of Chalichut, which is bigger than Lisbon, and peopled by
Christian Indians, as said.305
In this city are churches with bells,306 but there are no priests, and the divine offices are not
performed nor sacrificial [masses] celebrated, but in each church there is a pillar holding water, in the
manner of the fonts holding our holy water, and a second pillar with balm. They bathe once every 3
years in a river which is near the city.307 The houses in this city are of stone and mortar, in the
Moorish style, and the roads laid out and straight as are these.308

[An Audience.]

And the king of this city is waited upon in grand style (molto altamente), and keeps regal state,
having his chamberlains, door-keepers, and barons,309 as also a very sumptuous palace. When the
captain of the said vessel arrived at the city the king was away at a castle at a distance of about 6
leagues, and having been informed that Christians had arrived he at once came to the city attended by
about 5000 persons.310 After the lapse of 3 days the king sent for the captain, who had stayed in his
vessel. The captain, with xii of his men, went at once, and about 5000 persons accompanied him
from the shore as far as the palace of the king, at the gate of which stood x doorkeepers with silver-
mounted sticks. Having entered he proceeded to a chamber where the king reposed upon a low
couch. The whole of the floor was covered with green velvet,311 whilst around it was drapery of
variously-coloured damask. The couch had a very fine white coverlet, all worked with gold thread,
and above it was a canopy, very white, delicate and sumptuous.
The king at once asked312 the captain what he had come to seek. The captain replied that it was the
custom among Christians that when an ambassador had to deliver his message to a prince he should
do so in secret and not in public. The king, upon this, ordered all his people outside. The captain then
said that the King of Portugal had long since heard of his Highness (alteza) and that he was a
Christian king. Being desirous of his friendship he had been ordered to visit him, as was the custom
between Christian kings.
The king received this message (ambascata) most graciously, and ordered the Christian captain to be
lodged in the house of a very rich Moor.

[Moorish Merchants.]

In this city there reside many very wealthy Moorish merchants, and all the trade is in their hands.313
They have a fine mosque314 in the square of the town. The king is, as it were, governed by these
Moors because of the presents which they give him; and owing to their industry315 the government is
wholly in their hands, for these Christians are coarse people.

[Spice Trade.]

All kinds of spices are to be found in this city of Chalichut, such as cinnamon, pepper, ginger,
frankincense, lac; and brazil-wood abounds in the forests. These spices do not grow here, but316 in a
certain island at a distance of 160 leagues from this city, near the mainland. It can be reached
overland in xx days and is inhabited by Moors.317 All the above spices are brought to this city as to a
staple.318

[Coins.]

The coins most in circulation in this city are serafins of fine gold, coined by the Sultan of
Babylonia,319 which weigh 2 or 3 grains less than a ducat, and are called serafins.320 There also
circulate some Venetian and Genoese ducats, as also small silver coins, which must likewise be of the
coinage of said sultan.

[Merchandise.]

There is abundance of silken stuffs, namely, velvets of various colours,321 satins, damask, taffetas,
brocades worked in gold, scarlet cloth, brass and tin ware.322 In fine, all these things are to be found
in abundance, and it is my opinion that the cloths worked in gold and the silks are brought thither
from Cairo.

[Shipping.]

The Portuguese remained three months at that town, namely, from May 21323 to August 25, and
during that time there arrived about 1,500 Moorish vessels in search of spices. The largest of these
vessels did not exceed 800 tons.324 They are of all sorts, large and small. Having only one mast they
can make headway only with the wind astern, and sometimes are obliged to wait from four to six
months for fair weather [the monsoon or season].
Many of these vessels are lost.325 They are badly built,326 and very frail. They carry neither arms nor
artillery.
The vessels which visit the islands to carry spices to this city of Chalichut are flat-bottomed, so as to
draw little water, for there are many dry places (shoals). Some of these vessels are built without any
nails or iron,327 for they have to pass over the loadstone.
All the vessels, as long as they remain at this city, are drawn up on the beach, for there is no port
where they would be safe otherwise.328

[Prices.]

A load of cinnamon equal to 5 Lisbon cantars329 is worth in that city between x and xii ducats, or
serafins, at most; but in the islands where it is collected it is worth only half that sum. Pepper and
cloves are rated similarly. Ginger330 and cinnamon are worth more than any other spices, but lac is

worth next to nothing, and they ballast their vessels with it, that is calk them.331 Brazil-wood
abounds in the forests.
In payment they only take gold and silver; coral and other merchandise of our parts they esteem but
little,332 linen-cloth excepted, which I believe would find a ready market, as the sailors bartered some
of their shirts very profitably for spices, although very fine white linen cloth, probably imported from
Cairo, is found there.
There is a custom-house in this city as elsewhere, and merchandise pays a duty of 5 p. c.
The Portuguese who returned home brought a few precious stones of little value, for, in truth, they
had neither gold nor silver to buy any. They say that these jewels are very dear there, as also are
pearls, but I believe they are to be had cheap. This is my opinion, but those they bought were in the
hands of Moorish brokers, who sell at a fourfold profit. They have brought some balasci,333 sapphires
and very small rubies, as also many garnets. They say that the captain brings some valuable jewels,
which he bought with the silver which he had at his disposal, but as he has not yet come back it is not
known what he brings.334

[Trade with Egypt and East Africa.]

Most of the vessels which lade spices at Chalichut cross the large gulf, mentioned above, over which
the pilot took them; they then pass through the strait.335 The Red Sea is crossed in smaller vessels,
after which they proceed by land to the House of Mecca, which is a journey of 3 days. They then take
the route for Cairo, past the foot of Mount Sinai, and through a desert of sand where, they say, high
winds sometimes raise the sand in such a manner that it covers them. Some of the spice-vessels visit
all the cities of the gulf, others go to the mouth of the great river,336 where gold is found and a
Moorish population, and there discharge their cargoes.
They found in this city of Chalichut barrels of Malvasia337 from Candia, and I believe that they were
brought from Cairo, as is other merchandise.

[Chinese Visitors.]

It is now about 80 years since there arrived in this city of Chalicut certain vessels of white Christians,
who wore their hair long like Germans, and had no beards except around the mouth, such as are worn
at Constantinople by cavaliers and courtiers.338 They landed, wearing a cuirass, helmet, and vizor,
and carrying a certain weapon [sword] attached to a spear. Their vessels are armed with bombards,
shorter than those in use with us. Once every two years they return with 20 or 25 vessels. They are
unable to tell what people they are, nor what merchandise they bring to this city, save that it includes
very fine linen-cloth and brass-ware. They load spices. Their vessels have four masts like those of
Spain. If they were Germans it seems to me that we should have had some notice about them;
possibly they may be Russians if they have a port there. On the arrival of the captain we may learn
who these people are, for the Italian-speaking pilot, who was given him by the Moorish king,339 and
whom he took away contrary to his inclinations, is with him, and may be able to tell.340

[Food.]

Corn in abundance is found in this city of Chalichut, it being brought thither by the Moors. For 3
reals,341 which are smaller than ours, bread sufficient for the daily sustenance of a man can be

purchased. Their bread is unleavened, resembling small cakes, which are baked daily in the ashes.
Rice, likewise, is found in abundance. There are cows and oxen. They are small, but yield much milk
and butter. Oranges of indifferent flavour342 are plentiful, as also lemons, citrons and limes, very
good melons,343 dates, fresh and dried, and great variety of other kinds of fruit.
The king of this city of Chalichut eats neither of meat nor fish nor anything that has been killed, nor
do his barons, courtiers, or other persons of quality, for they say that Jesus Christ344 said in his law
that he who kills shall die. For this reason they refuse to eat anything that has been killed, and it is a
great thing that they should be able to support themselves without eating meat or fish.345 The
common people eat meat and fish, but they do not eat oxen or cows, for they hold these animals to be
blessed (benedetto), and when they meet an ox on the highway they touch him, and afterwards kiss
their hand, as a sign of great humility.
The king lives on rice, milk and butter,346 and so do his barons and some of the other men of quality.
And the king is waited upon right royally at table. He drinks palm-wine out of a silver cup. This cup
he does not put to his mouth, but holds at some distance and pours the wine down his throat.

[Fish.]

The fish are of the same kinds as are those of Portugal, namely, perch,347 soles,348 bream,349 salmon,
mullets, and so of all other kinds. And there are fishermen who go a-fishing350 [soles and salmon].

[Elephants.]

The Christians ride on elephants, of whom there are many: they are domesticated. When the king
goes to war most of his people go on foot, but some are mounted on elephants; but when he goes
from place to place he causes himself to be carried by some among the principal men of his court.351

[Dress.]

All or most of these people are clothed in cotton-cloths from the waist down to the knee, but from the
waist upwards they go naked. Courtiers and men of condition dress in the same manner, but make use
of silk-stuffs, reddish or scarlet or of other colours, as seems good to them.352 The wives (ladies) of
men of condition are clothed above the girdle in very white and delicate linen; but the wives of lower
degree are naked above the waist.353 The Moors dress according to their custom in jubbi and
balandrau.354

[Distance to Lisbon.]

From this city of Chalichut to Lisbon is a distance of 3800 leagues,355 and at the rate of 4½ miles to
the league this makes 17,100 miles, and as much again for the return voyage. From this the time in
which such a voyage can be made may be judged, it requiring from 15 to 16 months.

[Native Navigation.]

The mariners of that part, namely the Moors, do not guide themselves by the Pole in navigating this
gulf, but trust to quadrants of wood.356 When they cross the gulf to that side, so they were told by the
pilot, they leave a thousand or more islands357 to the right; and whoever gets among these will be lost
as there are many rocks (shoals), and I am inclined to think that they be those which were discovered
by the King of Castile.358

[Prester John.]

At the city of Chalichut they have some knowledge of Prester John,359 but not much, as he is far
away. These Christians believe that Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, without sin, was
crucified and killed by the Jews, and buried at Jerusalem. They also have some knowledge of the
Pope of Rome, but know nothing of our faith beyond this. They [the people of Prester John] have
letters and a written language.

[Articles of Commerce.]

In this city are found many tusks of elephants, also much cotton, sugar and sweetmeats, and all the
wealth of the world seems now to have been discovered.
I presume that wine would prove a good article in these parts, and very acceptable to these
Christians. Oil, too, is in demand.
Justice is strictly administered in this city. Robbers, murderers, and other malefactors are
incontinently impaled in the Turkish fashion; and whoever defrauds the king’s excise (customs) is
punished by having his merchandise confiscated.
Civet, musk, ambergris and storax are met with.360

[Spice Islands.]

The island where the spices grow is called Zilon, and is 60361 leagues from said city. In that island
grow the trees which yield very good cinnamon; as also pepper.362 However, there is still another
island [in which spices grow]. Cinnamon and pepper also grow on the mainland, around this city, but
the quality is inferior to the products of the islands. Ginger grows on the mainland, and is of very
good quality. Cloves grow at a great distance. Of rhubarb there is much, and many other kinds of
spices are found there, as also many almonds.363

[The Arabian Sea.]

I stated above that the gulf was wholly peopled by Moors, but I have since364 learnt that this is not
the case. Only the shore on this side [the west], where is the city of Melinde, is wholly inhabited by
white Moors, whilst the further [eastern] shore is peopled by Christian Indians, who are white as we
are. Along the coast and throughout the mainland much corn, meat and fruit are produced.
The country around the city of Melinde is very fertile, and many of these provisions are shipped from
it to Chalichut, for most of the land around the latter is sandy and yields no fruit.365

[The Monsoons.]

There are only two dominant winds in those parts, namely westerly and easterly winds, and it is
winter during the former and summer during the latter.

[Artists.]

There are many excellent painters in this city of Ghalinde,366 of figures as well as of other subjects.

[Architecture.]

Neither Ghalinde nor any of the other cities is enclosed within walls or otherwise, but there are many
good houses, built in the Moorish style, of stone and mortar, and streets regularly laid out
(ordinate).367

[Ceylon.]

In the island of Zilon, where the cinnamon grows, are found many precious stones and the biggest
sapphires.
Girolamo Sernigi.
Lisbon.

Girolamo Sernigi’s Second Letter to a Gentleman of Florence.368
Since I sent you full particulars about India and its discovery there has arrived here the pilot whom
they took by force. He appeared to be a Sclavonian and turns out to be a Jew, born at Alexandria, or
in those parts, and thence went to India when very young. At Calichut he has a wife and children. He
owned a ship and went several times to sea.

[Spices.]

This man told wonderful things about those countries, and their wealth in spices. The best and finest
cinnamon is procured from another island [Ceylon], about 150 leagues beyond Calichut and very
near the mainland. This island is inhabited by Moors. Pepper and cloves come from more distant
parts.

[Jews.]

He says that there are not many Jews there; and that there is a King of the Jews of the ten tribes of the
Jewish people which went out of Egypt.369

[Christians.]

He says that in those countries there are many gentiles, that is idolaters, and only a few Christians;370
that the supposed churches and belfries are in reality temples of idolaters, and that the pictures within
them are those of idols and not of Saints. To me this seems more probable than saying that there are
Christians but no divine administrations, no priests and no sacrificial mass. I do not understand that
there are any Christians there to be taken into account,371 excepting those of Prester John, whose
country is far from Calichut, on this [i.e., the western] side of the Gulf of Arabia, and borders upon
the country of the King of Melinde, and, far in the interior, upon the Ethiopians, that is the black
people of Guinea, as also upon Egypt, that is the country of the Sultan of Babylon [Cairo]. This
Prester John has priests, who offer sacrifices, respect the Gospels and the Laws of the Church, much
as is done by other Christians.

[Trade with Egypt.]

The Sultan has a port on the Red Sea, and the route from Alexandria to that port passes throughout
through his territories, it being a journey of quite lxxx days.372 At that port all spices coming from
Calichut are discharged.

[A Pearl Fishery.]

There is an island about a league from the mainland,373 inhabited by fishermen, who do nothing but
fish for pearls. There is no water in the island, and many barges go daily to a large river on the
mainland where they are filled with water—no tubs or barrels being used. When the animals of the
island see these barges return, they immediately hasten to the shore to drink out of these barges.
Pearls are not fished at any island except this one which lies quite 60 leagues374 this side of Calichut.
It is inhabited by gentiles, who set great store by cows and oxen, whom they almost worship, so that
anyone discovered to have eaten beef is adjudged guilty of death.375

[Taprobana.]

Taprobana, concerning which Pliny wrote so fully, was not known to the pilot, for it must be quite
out at sea, far away from the mainland.376

[A Pagoda.]

At Calichut there is a temple and whoever enters it before noon on a seventh Wednesday dies377
because of diabolical apparitions. The Jewish pilot affirms that this is most certainly true, and that on
a certain day of the year some lamps in this same temple begin to burn spontaneously and cause
many deformities of nature to appear.

[Moorish Navigation.]

He, moreover, stated that in those seas they navigate without compasses, but with the aid of
quadrants of wood. This seems to be a difficult thing to do, especially during a fog, when it is

impossible to see the stars. They also have a kind of very small anchor, but I do not know how it is
used.378 The planks of their vessels are held together by cords, and they are three palms longer than
the beam. All the vessels of that country are built at Calichut, for no wood is found elsewhere.

[Suitable Exports.]

The articles of merchandise most suitable for that country seem to be coral, copper kettles and thin
plates of the same metal; tartar, spectacles (for there are countries where a pair of them fetches a high
price), coarse linens, wine, oil, thin brocades, and also boccasins, that is cloths. The said Jew has
thrown much light on all these matters.

[Plans of King Manuel.]

Our King of Portugal is very keen in this matter and has already ordered four vessels to be got ready,
besides two caravels, well armed, to sail in January with plenty of merchandise.379 Should the King
of Calicut not allow the Portuguese to trade in those countries, the captain of these vessels is
instructed to capture as many native craft as he can. In my opinion he will be able to capture as many
as he chooses, for they are frail, and so badly constructed that they can only sail before the wind. Of
these native vessels, engaged in the spice trade, there are very many.

[Elephants.]

The principal animals of this country are elephants, which they employ in war. On the back of the
animal they place a kind of castle sheltering three or four fighting men, in addition to whom there is
one man, and he the most important, who guides the animal, as described by Pliny.380 Some kings
there are who have 1500 elephants each, others a thousand and others eight hundred, according to the
extent of their dominions. When they wish to beach their ships they do so by the strength of these
animals, and they make them run, which seems fabulous, but is nevertheless true.

[Precious Stones.]

Those who have returned say that precious stones (jewels) are plentiful, but dear in comparison with
other merchandise. Neither the captain nor the others have brought back jewels worth taking into
account, and this makes me think that they are not found there, but come from afar. The princes and
kings of those countries value precious stones very much.
Storax, benzoin, civet and similar things are not as plentiful there as I was led to believe.

[The Royal Title.]

Our king has taken a title from those countries, viz. King of Portugal and Algarve on this and on the
other side of the sea, in Africa, Lord of Guinea, and of the conquest, the navigation and commerce of
Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India.
This is what I was able to learn from some persons of intelligence who returned with this fleet. And if
I have written it down somewhat at random you, Sir,381 will pardon and excuse me.

Extracts from Girolamo Sernigi’s Letter to his Brother, 1499.
From an Abstract made by Conrad Peutinger at Rome.

...
The four vessels left Lisbon on July 10, 1499 ... The captain remained behind with three vessels,
because his brother Paulo da Gama, was sick unto death. He landed him at an island called Capo
Verde, far from Lisbon, and burnt two vessels, the one of 110 tons and one of 90 tons, so that they
might not fall into the hands of the heathen [Mohammedans], for 55 of his people had died, and he
was unable to bring these ships home with the remaining 63 men. Afterwards the captain came a
Sambameno (a salvamento, safely) back to Lisbon with the one ship.382
... On the voyage out from Lisbon the vessels came to some distant islands where they [the
Portuguese] had been before.383 Beyond these islands they came to a gulf, or arm of the sea, which
they crossed, having the land always to the left and the broad sea to the right....
Various kinds of spices are brought from distant islands to Colokutt. Pepper, brazil-wood, grao,384
cinnamon, frankincense, lac, are to be found there. These things abound and are worth next to
nothing. Of brazil-wood there is plenty. There are likewise many ivory tusks and various other kinds
of merchandise, such as variously-coloured silk-stuffs, costly cloth worked in gold, fine white linen,
and woollen-stuffs, such as bocassins of various colours, and also much cotton. It is thought that the
silver stuffs and cloths, as also the linens, come from Alkeiro (Cairo).
... Most of the spices brought to Kalikut are said to come from the island of Zelong (Ceylon). Only
heathen live in that island, and the king is a heathen [Moor]. It is at a distance of 160 leagues from
Kalekutt, and only one league from the mainland. By land it is a journey of twenty days. In the island
are forests of brazil-wood and roseberries,385 and other spices, including cloves and rhubarb, are
found. Some minor spices come from more distant islands. Cinnamon is imported from Ceylon ...

APPENDIX C.

Vasco da Gama.
(From a Paris MS. of Barretto de Rezende.)

THREE PORTUGUESE ACCOUNTS OF VASCO DA GAMA’S FIRST
VOYAGE (1608-1646).

I.—Jornal das Viagens dos Portuguezes as Indias, 1608.

The late Visconde de Santarem, in his Noticia dos Manuscriptos, 2nd
edition, Lisbon, 1863, p. 93, draws attention to the existence of a MS. in the
Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, which in his opinion furnishes most
valuable chronological information on the Portuguese voyages to India,
from 1497 to 1632. We have translated from this codex all that refers to the
first voyage of Vasco da Gama; and a perusal of the translation will, we
think, convince the reader that he has before him, not a document based
upon authentic sources, but a compilation of very doubtful value.
We have examined three copies, or rather editions, of this Jornal das
Viagens dos Portuguezes ás Indias, viz.:—
1. Bibl. Nat. Port. 8, No. 85. This is the earliest of the three MSS., for it
only extends to the year 1608. On folio 206b is a statement to the effect that
it was copied in 1618 from a MS. in the possession of the Conde de
Vidigueira.
2. Bibl. Nat. Port. 46. This, formerly, bore the number 10023, and is the
MS. described by Santarem. It is identical with Port. 8, except that its
information is extended to the year 1632.
3 British Museum Add. MSS. 20902. This is the MS. quoted by Dr. Walter
de Gray Birch (The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, ii, p.
xvi). It is still more recent than the preceding, having been extended by an
unknown author to the year 1653. A list of the Viceroys up to 1610 is
appended. The marginal notes are derived from Pedro Barretto de
Rezende’s Livro das Armadas.

The Year 1497.

On the second of June, 1497, there set sail from Lisbon for the discovery of Oriental India, Vasco da
Gama, the second son of Estevão da Gama, comptroller (veador) of the household of the King Don

Affonso V, and of Doña Isabel Sodré, his wife, as captain-major of four vessels: himself in the São
Raphael; Paulo da Gama, his elder brother, in the São Gabriel; Nicolao Coelho in the São Miguel.
Gonçalo Nunes was captain of a vessel carrying provisions, which this side (antes) the Cape of Good
Hope were transferred to the other vessels, when he returned to this kingdom [of Portugal]. And the
vessel S. Gabriel, in which went Paulo da Gama, being much dilapidated, so as to be unable to
continue the voyage, was broken up for the purpose of repairing the other vessels, in a river of
Cafraria, beyond the Cape of Good Hope, which was named the river of Mercy. And Paulo da Gama
went over to the vessel of his brother, while his people were distributed among the two vessels.
Thence they continued their voyage.
Having come to an anchor at Moçambique, where the Sheikh attempted to take the vessels by
treachery, they disembarked at the island of São Jorge, where was celebrated the first mass beyond
the Cape of Good Hope. Thence they went to Quiloa and Mombaça, and the kings of all these islands
attempted to act treacherously, but God would not permit their success.
At Melinde the King made them honestly welcome, and gave them trustworthy pilots, who guided
them to Angediva, where they fought the fustas of the Sabayo, the governor of Goa, over whom they
gained the victory. And thence they went to Calicut, where the Samori planned many treacherous acts
which took no effect. Thence they went to Cochin, where the King received them well, and to
Cananor, in the same manner. There they completed the loading of the two vessels, and returned to
this kingdom, arriving safely at Lisbon on September 18th, 1499.386
Paulo da Gama died of an illness in the island of Terçeira, at the city of Angra, and lies buried in the
monastery of São Francisco of that city.387

II.—Luiz de Figueiredo Falcão, 1612.

Luiz de Figueiredo Falcão was secretary of King Philip II of Portugal
(Philip III of Spain), and is the compiler of a Livro em que se contem toda a
Fazenda, & Real Patrimonio dos Reynos de Portugal, India, ilhas
adjacentes de sua coroa, which was printed by order of the Portuguese
Government in 1859.
The Preface is dated “Madrid, October 20, MDC.VII”, but this is evidently
a misprint, for reference is made in it to a list of captains who went to India
since 1497 as containing information up to the year 1612; and instead of
VII, we ought therefore to read XII, the date of the book being thus 1612.
The author had access to the original records in the India House, and claims
to have expended three years upon the compilation of his work, which
certainly contains a mass of information of the highest interest.
Nevertheless, his book is not free from errors, many of which have already
been pointed out by Cunha Rivara in an Appendix to a translation of the

Viagem de Francisco Pyrard, published at Nova Goa in 1858. Texeira de
Aragão (Boletim, Lisbon Geographical Society, vi, p. 578) also warns
against accepting without question all the statements made by this author.
We quote the following information on Vasco da Gama’s first voyage from
a “List of Captain-majors and Captains who went to India since 1497”, p.
137:—

1497.
In the year 1497 there departed for India Vasco da Gama, the first discoverer, as captain-major of
four vessels. He left Lisbon on July 8th, 1497.
São Miguel, flagship Pilot: Pero d’Alenquer.
São Raphael Captain: Paulo da Gama, brother of Vasco da Gama.
Pilot: João de Coimbra.
Berrio Captain: Nicolao Coelho.
Pilot: Pero Escolar.
A ship (nao) Captain: Gonçalo Nunez, a retainer of Vasco da Gama.
She carried provisions.388
The Berrio, with her captain, returned and reached the bar of Lisbon on July 10th, 1499.
Vasco da Gama went from India to Cape Verde, where he remained with his brother, Paulo da Gama,
who died there, and whose body he conveyed to the island of Terçeira, and he sent one of his servants
with the São Raphael to Lisbon.
Vasco da Gama himself reached Lisbon in a caravel on August 29th, two years and nearly two
months after he had left that port.

It is scarcely necessary to point out that the flagship was the São Gabriel,
and that Paulo da Gama came back in that vessel and not in the store-ship.
It was, indeed, Paulo’s own ship, the São Raphael, which was burnt off
Tangáta.
As an instance of the author’s inconsistencies, we need only quote the
following passage from a “Summary Statement of Vessels which left
Portugal for India”, p. 194:—
Between July 10th, 1499, on which day there arrived in the port of Lisbon the ship São Raphael, in
which Vasco da Gama had gone to India in 1497, and 1612, there came back from India 425 vessels.
It was the Berrio which came back on July 10th, the São Raphael having been burnt off Mtangata;
and Vasco da Gama did not go in the S. Raphael, by the author’s own (erroneous) statement.

III.—Pedro Barretto de Rezende, 1646.

Captain Pedro Barretto de Rezende, a professed Knight of the Order of St.
Benedict of Aviz, and a native of Pavia,389 is the author of a Livro do
Estado da India, consisting of three Parts and an Appendix, of which MS.
copies exist in the British Museum (Sloane Collection, No. 197) and the
Bibliothèque Nationale (Port. 1, and Port. 36). Part I of this work contains a
succinct account of the doings of the Viceroys of India up to 1634, and
gives portraits of all of them; Parts II and III contain plans of the
Portuguese forts between the Cape of Good Hope and China, with
descriptions; whilst the Appendix furnishes an account of the “armadas” or
fleets which were sent to India up to 1605.
Dr. Walter de Gray Birch (Commentaries of the Great Afonso
Dalboquerque, i, pp. vii-xiii) has given an account of the MS. of this work
existing in the British Museum.

Vasco da Gama as Viceroy.
(After Correa’s portrait in the Palacio do
Governo, at Goa.)

If this valuable document should ever be printed, it will be necessary to
collate the copies existing in London, Paris, and probably also elsewhere,
for they are not in all respects identical. Port. 36 seems to me to deserve the
preference as far as respects Part I, but Part II (the description of the forts)
has been abridged, as compared with Port. 1. The portraits in this latter are
more neatly done than in Port. 36. No reference to the source of these full-
length portraits is made by the author. They certainly differ from the
portraits designed in 1547 by a native artist under the supervision of Gaspar
Correa, and published in the Lisbon edition of his Lendas (see t. iv, p. 596).
Lord Stanley (Vasco da Gama, p. ix) says that Correa’s portraits are “better”
than those in Rezende’s work. All that we can say is that they are not worse.
Our full-length portrait is from a MS. of Barretto de Rezende in the
Bibliothéque Nationale, as reproduced in Charton’s Voyageurs anciens et
modernes. The small oval portrait is from a copy of Correa’s painting which
was made by order of D. Francisco, da Assumpção de Brito, who was
installed Archbishop of Goa in 1774. It was first published in 1817 in a
work entitled Retratos e Elogios de Varões e Donas.

First Voyage, 1497; Four Sails.

King John II of Portugal having died without a legitimate son, Dom Manuel was proclaimed King on
October 27th, 1495; and as this fresh dignity entailed that he should prosecute the undertakings
initiated by his predecessors, he proposed to himself to go on with the discovery of Oriental India by
sea, which, seventy-five years before, had been set going.
In 1496 he had many councils on this affair, and in consequence of the resolutions arrived at he
agreed (assentou) to despatch on this enterprise one Vasco da Gama, and forthwith arranged for the
fleet to be sent, the work upon which was carried on with such expedition that rigging and all was
ready by Saturday, July 8th, 1496.
The fleet (armada) only included three ships of from 100 to 320 tons, and there went in them,
between sailors and soldiers, 260 persons. In addition there was a ship carrying provisions.
The flag-ship, in which Vasco da Gama, the captain-major, embarked, was called the São Gabriel,
and Pero de Alemquer was the pilot. The second ship was called the São Raphael; Paulo da Gama,
the brother of said Vasco, was captain, and João de Coimbra, pilot.

The third vessel was called the Berrio; Nicolao Coelho was her captain and Po. Escolar her pilot.
Gonsalo Nunes, a retainer (criado) of Vasco da Gama, was captain of the cargo-ship (nao); only
provisions went in her. These, as also the crew, having been transferred to the other ships at the Cape
of Good Hope, they set fire to her.
They set sail from the bar of Lisbon on July 8th, 1497, arrived at Moçambique on March 1st, 1498,
made Mombasa on Palm Sunday, the 7th of April,390 and Melinde on the 15th of the same month.

There he took pilots to guide him to India, and on May 16th of the same year, ’498,391 he made the
land at a port on the coast of Mallavar (Malabar), in the kingdom of the Samorim, two leagues below
Callecut, which is the principal city and capital of that kingdom. There he remained seventy-four
days, in the course of which, induced thereto by the Moors who live in that country, he practised
upon us a thousand deceits. But having discovered that for the sake of which he had been sent,
namely, India, of which he was able to take home such good intelligence, he determined to return to
Portugal, and set sail on August 29th of this same year, namely, ’498. At the Anjediva islands he
careened the ships and took in water, and there he took a Jew who, by order of Sabayo, the King of
Goa, had visited him, it being the intention, immediately after the return of this Jew, to send a fleet
against him (Vasco da Gama).
Vasco da Gama departed thence and made the coast of Melinde. Wishing to depart thence for this
kingdom, the ship São Raphael, in which was his brother, was lost on the same shoals on which she
had already once grounded on the way out to India. The loss of this ship did not give much concern
to Vasco da Gama, for he was short of men, and those in her were distributed among the two other
vessels. He passed Moçambique, doubled the Cape of Good Hope on March 20th, 1499; when near
the Cape Verde Islands a severe storm separated the two vessels, namely, that in which he (Vasco)
was from her consort in which was Nicolau Coelho, who, leading, lost sight of Vasco da Gama, and
reached the bar of Lisbon392 on July 10th of said year.
Vasco da Gama only arrived on August 29th in a caravel, for his brother, Paulo da Gama, being very
ill, he went from the island of São Thiago to that of Terçeira, allowing his ship to be taken to Lisbon
by João de Sá.
And Vasco da Gama buried his brother, whose death much afflicted him, in the island of Terçeira, and
after that landed at Lisbon on August 29th, as stated above, or two years after he had started on his
discovery.
From the Livro das armadas e capitaes que forão a India, which, as already stated, forms an
Appendix to Rezende’s Livro do estado da India, we take the following:—

Vasco da Gama, captain-major, 1497.

He departed on July 8th, by order of King Dom Manuel, with four ships to discover India, viz.:

Vasco da Gama in the S. Gabriel.
Paulo da Gama, his brother, in the S. Raphael.
Nicolao Coelho in the ship Berrio.
Gonçalo Nunes in a store-ship.
The people and provisions in the ship of Gonçalo Nunes were distributed among the other ships after
the Cape of Good Hope had been passed, and beyond the Aguada (watering-place) of S. Braz, and
this ship, having been stripped, was set on fire.
The ship of Paulo da Gama stranded on the voyage home to Portugal on the shoals between Guilva
[Kilwa] and Mombaça, and these shoals were named after the S. Raphael which had now run
aground upon them. Her people were distributed among the two companion-ships.

APPENDIX D.

The “São Gabriel”.
(From a Model designed by Captain A. A. Baldaque da Silva,
drawn by Herbert Johnson.)

VASCO DA GAMA’S SHIPS AND THEIR EQUIPMENT.

All authorities agree that the fleet, or armada, fitted out for Vasco da
Gama’s voyage numbered four vessels, but they are not agreed as to the
names which these vessels bore. We are not, however, likely to be misled if
we accept the unanimous testimony of the author of our Roteiro, of João de
Barros, Lopez de Castanheda, Pedro Barretto de Rezende, and Manuel Faria
y Sousa: according to whom the names of the ships and of their principal
officers were as follows:—
S. Gabriel (flag-ship).—Vasco da Gama, captain-major; Pero d’Alenquer, pilot; Gonçalo Alvarez,
master; Diogo Dias, clerk.
S. Raphael.—Paulo da Gama, captain; João de Coimbra pilot; João de Sá, clerk.
Berrio.—Nicolau Coelho, captain; Pero Escolar, pilot; Alvaro de Braga, clerk.
Store-ship.—Gonçalo Nunes, captain.

Correa and the unknown author of the Jornal das Viagens (p. 145) call the
“Berrio” S. Miguel, and make the S. Raphael the flag-ship; whilst L. de
Figueiredo de Falcão (p. 147) substitutes a S. Miguel for the S. Raphael. It
is just possible that the vessel popularly called Berrio, after its former
owner, had been re-christened S. Miguel.
The Berrio was one of those swift lateen-rigged vessels for which Portugal
was famous from the thirteenth to the beginning of the sixteenth century,
and which, after the barinel393 had been discarded, were exclusively
employed in the exploration of the African coast. Their burthen did not
exceed 200 tons, and they had two or three masts, and occasionally even
four.394 The Berrio is stated to have been a vessel of only 50 tons. She was
named after her former owner and pilot,395 of whom she was purchased
expressly for this voyage.

A Caravel.
(After a Painting of the sixteenth century, in the
Monastery of the Mother of God at Lisbon.)

The store-ship was of more considerable size. Sernigi (p. 123) says she
measured 110 tons; Castanheda credits her with 200. She may have been a
so-called caravela redonda, that is a caravel which carried square sails on
the main and fore-masts and triangular ones on the mizzen-mast and the
bowsprit. This vessel was purchased of Ayres Correa, a shipowner of
Lisbon.
The S. Gabriel and S. Raphael were specially built for this voyage.
Bartholomeu Dias, who superintended their construction, discarded the
caravel in which he himself had achieved his great success, in favour of
square-rigged vessels of greater burthen, which, although slower sailers and
less able to ply to windward, offered greater safety and more comfort to
their crews. He took care, at the same time, that the draught of these vessels
should enable them to navigate shallow waters, such as it was expected
would be met with in the course of the voyage. The timber for these two
vessels had been cut during the last year of the reign of King John, in the
Crown woods of Leiria and Alcacer. The vessels having been completed,
the King ordered them to be equipped by Fernão Lourenço, the factor of the
house of Mines, and one of the most “magnificent” men of his time.396

No contemporary description or picture of these vessels has reached us, but
there can hardly be a doubt that their type397 is fairly represented on a
painting made by order of D. Jorge Cabral, who was Governor of India
from 1549 to 1550. This painting subsequently became the property of D.
João de Castro. A copy of it was first published by the Visconde de
Juromenha, who took it from a MS. dated 1558.398 The fine woodcut in W.
S. Lindsay’s History of Merchant Shipping (II, p. 5), from an ancient picture
which also belonged to D. João de Castro, seems to be derived from the
same source, but as the vessel carries the flag of the Order of Christ at the
main, and not the Royal Standard, it cannot represent the flag-ship. At all
events, it is not more authentic than either of the ships delineated in the
drawing first published by Juromenha.

The supposed Armada of Vasco da Gama.
(From a Painting made by order of Jorge Cabral (1549-50.))

Authorities differ very widely as to the tonnage of these two vessels.
Sernigi (see p. 123) says they were of 90 tons each, thus partly bearing out
Correa, who states that the three ships (including the Berrio) were built of
the same size and pattern.399 D. Pacheco Pereira400 states that the largest of

them did not exceed 100 tons; J. de Barros gives them a burthen of between
100 and 120 tons; whilst Castanheda allocates 120 tons to the flag-ship and
100 to the S. Raphael.
But whilst the authorities quoted dwell upon the small size of the vessels
which for the first time reached India from a European port, and even give
reasons for this limitation of burthen,401 there is some ground for believing
that the tonnage of Vasco da Gama’s ships, expressed according to modern
terminology, was in reality much greater than is usually supposed. Pedro
Barretto de Rezende (p. 151) may therefore have some justification when
he states that these vessels ranged from 100 to 320 tons. Mr. Lindsay (loc.
cit.) would go even further. The S. Gabriel, according to him, was
constructed to carry 400 pipes, equivalent to 400 tons measurement, or
about 250 to 300 tons register. He adds that Sr. E. Pinto Bastos agrees with
him.402
In considering this question of tonnage, it must be borne in mind that “ton”,
at the close of the fifteenth century, was a different measure from what it is
at present. We learn from E. A. D’Albertis403 that the tonelada of Seville
was supposed to afford accommodation for two pipes of 27½ arrobas (98
gallons) each, and measured 1.405 cubic metres, or about 50 cubic feet. The
tonel of Biscay was 20 per cent. larger. According to Capt. H. Lopez de
Mendonça, the tonel at Lisbon measured 6 palmos de goa in length (talha),
and 4 such palmos in breadth and height (parea), that is, about 85 cubic
feet.404 This, however, seems excessive, for my wine merchant tells me that
two butts of sherry of 108 gallons each would occupy only 75 cubic feet. At
any rate, these data show that the ton of the fifteenth century was
considerably larger than the ton measurement of the nineteenth.
Two attempts have been made recently by distinguished officers of the
Portuguese Navy, Captains Joào Braz d’Oliveira405 and A. A. Baldaque da
Silva,406 to reconstruct Vasco da Gama’s flagship, or rather to design a ship
of a type existing at the close of the fifteenth century, and answering as
nearly as possible to the scanty indications to be found within the pages of
the historians of this memorable voyage. In this reconstruction good use has
been made of an early manuscript on shipbuilding by Fernando Oliveira (O
livro da fabrica das Nãos), which Captain Lopez de Mendonça proposes to
publish.

The designs produced by the two naval officers differ widely in several
respects, and more especially as regards the relation between the total
length of the ship and the breadth of beam. In Captain B. da Silva’s ship the
beam is equal to one-third of the length, whilst the proportion in Captain J.
Braz d’Oliveira’s ship is as one to five. The former of these ships is broad-
beamed, as befits the period, whilst the latter is almost as slim as a modern
clipper. It must be remembered that, until comparatively recent times, it was
held that the length of a sailing ship should not exceed four times the
breadth of beam; and this maxim was undoubtedly acted upon by the
shipbuilders of the fifteenth century.
Captain Baldaque da Silva’s design of the S. Gabriel has been embodied in
a model, and from a photograph of this model Mr. Herbert Johnson has
produced the illustration placed in front of this Appendix.
The dimensions of the ship designed by Captain Baldaque da Silvia are as
follows:—407
Length over all 84.1 feet.
Water-line (when laden) 64.0 ”
Keel 56.7 ”
Breadth of beam 27.9 ”
Depth 17.1 ”
Draught, abaft 7.5 ”
” forward 5.6 ”
Metocentric height above the water-line (laden) 7.4 ”
Displacement 178 tons.
Tonnage 4,130 cubic feet, or 103 ”

This, as I learn from a private letter of Captain B. da Silva, is supposed to
be the gross under-deck tonnage, but on calculating the tonnage according
to the Builders’ Old Measurement Rule, I find it to amount to 230 tons of 40
cubic feet each, whilst the “expeditive” method practised at Venice408
during the fifteenth century yields 896 botte of 28 gallons, or about 250
toneladas.
The ship was flat-bottomed, with a square stern and bluff bow, the latter
ornamented with a figure of her patron saint. Wales were placed along the
sides to reduce her rolling when going before the wind. Formidable

“castles” rose fore and aft, having a deep waist between them. These
“castles,” however, had not then grown to the portentous height attained at a
subsequent period, when they rendered it difficult to govern the ship in a
gale, and it often became necessary to cut down the foremast and dismantle
the forecastle to enable them to keep her head to the wind.
These “castles” were in reality citadels, and enabled the crew to make a last
stand after the vessel had been boarded. A notable instance of this occurred
in the course of the fight with the Meri in 1502.409
The captain was lodged in the castle rising upon the quarter-deck, the
officers were accommodated in the room below his and in the forecastle,
whilst the men had their quarters beneath the gang boards which ran along
the top-sides from castle to castle. The men were each allowed a locker, to
contain such goods as they might obtain by barter with the natives. Ladders
led from the main deck up to the fighting decks (chapitéo de ré and de
vante) of the two castles, and these were defended against boarders by
nettings. The tiller of the rudder entered the battery abaft the captain’s
apartments, where also stood the binnacle. The armament consisted of
twenty guns. The lower battery of the “castle” rising on the quarter-deck
was armed with eight breech-loaders made of wrought-iron staves, held
together by hoops and mounted on forked props. The upper battery held six
bombards, and the forecastle the same number.410 We may at once state that
the men carried no firearms. Their arms included cross-bows, spears, axes,
swords, javelins, and boarding-pikes. Some of the officers were clad in steel
armour, whilst the men had to be content with leather jerkins and breast-
plates.
Amidships stood the batel, or long boat, in addition to which there was
available a yawl rowed with four or six oars.
There were three masts and a bowsprit. The main-mast rose to a height of
110 ft. above the keel and flew the Royal Standard at its head, whilst the
captain’s scarlet flag floated from the crow’s-nest, nearly 70 ft. above deck.
A similar crow’s-nest was attached to the foremast. In the case of an
engagement these points of vantage were occupied by fighting men, who
hurled thence javelins, grenades, and powder-pots upon the enemy. The
sails were square, with the exception of that of the mizzen, which was
triangular. When spread they presented 4,000 square feet of canvas to the

wind; this was exclusive of the “bonnets” which were occasionally laced to
the leeches of the mainsail, and served to some extent the same purpose as a
modern studding-sail.411 The Cross of the Order of Christ was painted on
each sail.
The anchors, two in number, were of iron, with a wooden stock and a ring
for bending the cable.
The hold was divided into three compartments. Amidships were the water
barrels, with coils of cable on the top of them—a very inconvenient
arrangement; abaft was the powder-magazine, and most arms and
munitions, including iron and stone balls, were kept there; the forward
compartment was used for the storage of requisites, including spare sails
and a spare anchor.
The lower deck was divided by bulkheads into three compartments, two of
which were set apart for provisions, presents, and articles of barter. The
“provisions”, according to Castanheda, were calculated to suffice for three
years, and the daily rations were on a liberal scale, consisting of 1½ pounds
of biscuit, 1 pound of beef or half a pound of pork, 2½ pints of water, 1¼
pints of wine, one-third of a gill of vinegar, and half that quantity of oil. On
fast days, half a pound of rice, of codfish, or cheese was substituted for the
meat. There were, in addition, flour, lentils, sardines, plums, almonds,
onions, garlic, mustard, salt, sugar and honey. These ships’ stores were
supplemented by fish, caught whenever an opportunity offered, and by fresh
provisions obtained when in port, among which were oranges, which
proved most acceptable to the many men suffering from scurvy.
The merchandise was not only insufficient in quantity, but proved
altogether unsuited to the Indian market. It seems to have included lambel
(striped cotton stuff), sugar, olive-oil, honey, and coral beads. Among the
objects intended for presents, there were wash-hand basins, scarlet hoods,
silk jackets, pantaloons, hats, Moorish caps; besides such trifles as glass
beads, little round bells, tin rings and bracelets, which were well enough
suited for barter on the Guinea coast, but were not appreciated by the
wealthy merchants of Calecut. Of ready money there seems to have been
little to spare. All this is made evident by the letters of D. Manuel and
Signor Sernigi.

The scientific outfit of the expedition, it may safely be presumed, was the
best to be procured at the time. The learned D. Diogo Ortiz de Vilhegas412
furnished Da Gama with maps and books, including, almost as a matter of
course, a copy of Ptolemy, and copies of the information on the East
collected at Lisbon for years past. Among these reports, that sent home by
Pero de Covilhão found, no doubt, a place,413 as also the information
furnished by Lucas Marcos,414 an Abyssinian priest who visited Lisbon
about 1490.
The astronomical instruments were provided by Zacut, the astronomer, and
it is even stated that Vasco enjoyed the advantage of being trained as a
practical observer by that learned Hebrew. These instruments included a
large wooden astrolabe, smaller astrolabes of metal, and, in all probability,
also quadrants; and they were accompanied by a copy of Zacut’s Almanach
perpetuum Celestium motuum cujus radix est 1473, a translation of which,
by José Vizinho, had been printed at Leiria in 1496.415 These tables enabled
the navigator to calculate his latitudes by observing the altitude of the sun.
There was, of course, a sufficient supply of compasses, of sounding leads
and hour-glasses, and possibly also a catena a poppa, that is, a rope towed
at the stern to determine the ship’s leeway, and a toleta de marteloia, a
graphical substitute for our modern traverse tables, both of them
contrivances long since in use among the Italians. It is also possible that
Vasco was already provided with an equinoctial compass for determining
the time of high water at the ports he visited, and with a variation compass.
This instrument consisted of a combination of a sun-dial with a magnetic
needle. It had been invented by Peurbach, c. 1460, was improved by Felipe
Guillen, 1528, and by Pedro Nunes, 1537, and used for the first time on an
extensive scale by João de Castro, during a voyage to India and the Red
Sea, in 1538-41.416 We are inclined to think that Vasco had such a variation
compass, for the Cabo das Agulhas, or “Needle Cape”, thus named because
the needle there pointed, or was supposed to point, due north, has already
found a place on Cantino’s Chart, and can have been named only as the
result of an actual observation, however inaccurate.
Lastly, there remain to be noticed the Padrãos, or pillars of stone which
were on board the vessels, and three of which, by the king’s express desire,
were dedicated to S. Raphael, S. Gabriel, and S. Maria (see p. 80). Barros

and Castanheda tell us that these pillars resembled those set up
by Cão and Dias in the time of D. João II; and in a series of
pictures which D. Manuel desired to have painted in
celebration of the discovery of India, the Padrão to be shown at
the Cape of Good Hope, or “Prasum promontorium”, was to
have been surmounted by a cross, and to bear the Royal Arms
and a Pelican, with an inscription giving the date.417
Correa, on the other hand, affirms in his Lendas that the pillar Cão’s Padrão at
set up at the Rio da Misericordia (the Rio dos Bons Signaes of Cape Cross.
the Roteiro) was of marble, with two escutcheons, one of the
arms of Portugal, and the other (at the back) of a sphere, and that the
inscription was “Do senhorio de Portugal reino de Christãos”. The pillar at
Melinde had the same escutcheons, but the inscription was limited to the
words “Rey Manoel”.418 As Correa had an opportunity of seeing these
pillars, his description of them may be correct, though he is an arrant
fabulator.

APPENDIX E.

Vasco da Gama.
(From A. Morelet’s French version of the “Roteiro”, 1864.)
After a Portrait formerly the property of Conde de Farrobo, now
in the Museu das Bellas Artes, Lisbon.

MUSTER-ROLL OF VASCO DA GAMA’S FLEET.

The officers and men in Vasco da Gama’s armada were carefully selected.
Several of them had been with Bartholomeu Dias round the Cape; all of
them, as appears from this “Journal”, justified by their conduct under
sometimes trying circumstances the selection which had been made.

Authorities widely differ as to the number of men who embarked. Sernigi
(p. 124) says there were only 118, of whom 55 died during the voyage and
only 63 returned. Galvão says there were 120, besides the men in the store-
ship. Castanheda and Goes raise the number to 148, of whom only 55
returned, many of them broken in health. Faria y Sousa and San Ramon say
there were 160, and the latter adds that 93 of these died during the voyage,
thus confirming a statement made by King Manuel in his letter of February
20th, 1504, to the effect that less than one-half returned.419 According to
Barros there were 170 men, including soldiers and sailors. Correa raises the
number to 260, for he says that in each of the three ships there were 80
officers and men, including servants, besides six convicts and two
priests.420 He says nothing of the store-ship. By the time Vasco da Gama
had reached the Rio da Misericordia only 150 out of this number are said to
have been alive.
Correa, no doubt, exaggerates. On the other hand, Sernigi’s numbers seem
to us to err quite as much on the other side. It is quite true that a
Mediterranean merchantman of 100 tons, in the sixteenth century, was
manned by 12 able and 8 ordinary seamen;421 but in the case of an
expedition sent forth for a number of years and to unknown dangers, this
number would no doubt have been increased. We are, therefore, inclined to
believe that the number given by De Barros—namely, 170—may be nearer
the truth, namely 70 men in the flag-ship, 50 in the S. Raphael, 30 in the
caravel, and 20 in the store-ship. The men in the flag-ship may have
included 1 captain, 1 master, 1 pilot, 1 assistant pilot, 1 mate (contramestre),
1 boatswain (guardião), 20 able seamen (marinheiros), 10 ordinary seamen
(grumetes), 2 boys (pagens), 1 chief gunner or constable, 8 bombardiers, 4
trumpeters, 1 clerk or purser (escrivão), 1 storekeeper (dispenseiro), 1
officer of justice (meirinho), 1 barber-surgeon, 2 interpreters, 1 chaplain, 6
artificers (ropemaker, carpenter, calker, cooper, armourer and cook), and 10
servants. One or more of these servants may have been negro slaves. The
“Degradados”, or convicts on board, to be “adventured on land” (p. 48), are
included in the total. Whether private gentlemen were permitted to join this
expedition as volunteers history doth not record.
The following “muster-roll” contains short notices of all those who are
stated to have embarked at Lisbon in Vasco da Gama’s fleet, or who
subsequently joined it, either voluntarily or upon compulsion.

Apart from natives, thirty-one persons are mentioned, and with respect to
twenty-six of these no reasonable doubt can be entertained that they were
actually members of the ships’ companies.
Those among them whose names appear in the “Journal” are distinguished
by an asterisk.422

Captains.

* Vasco da Gama, Captain-Major in the S. Gabriel.
* Paulo da Gama, his brother, commanding the S. Raphael.
* Nicolau Coelho, Captain of the Berrio or S. Miguel. He subsequently went out to India with Cabral
(1500), and for a third time with Francisco d’Albuquerque, in 1503.
On February 24, 1500, the King granted him a pension of 70,000 reis. He also received a coat-of-
arms, viz.: a field gules, charged with a lion rampant between two pillars (padrãos), silver, standing
upon hillocks by the sea vert; and two small escutcheons charged with five bezants (Severim de
Faria, Noticias de Portugal, Disc. 3, § 15). He seems to have been dead in 1522, for on December 19
of that year, his son, Francisco, begged the King to transfer the pension of his late father to himself.
—(Cunha Rivara, Arch. Port. Oriental, fasc. v, p. 254; and Texeira de Aragão, Boletim, 1886, p. 573.)
Gonçalo Nunes, Captain of the store-ship (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 279; Castanheda, I, p. 7). Castanheda,
1st edition, erroneously calls him Gonçalo Gomez. He was a retainer of Vasco da Gama.

Pilots and Masters.

* Pero d’Alenquer, pilot of the S. Gabriel (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 279; Castanheda, I, p. 7; Goes, I, 69;
Faria y Sousa, p. 29). He had been with Dias in the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, and with
the Congo mission in 1490.
* João de Coimbra, pilot of the S. Raphael (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 279). A negro slave belonging to him
deserted at Moçambique (see p. 30).
Pero Escolar, pilot of the Berrio (Barros, ib.; Faria y Sousa, p. 29). On February 18, 1500, the King
granted him a pension of 4,000 reis. He went as pilot with Cabral.
Gonçalo Alvares, master of the S. Gabriel (Barros, ib.). He subsequently held the office of pilot-
major of India (Correa, Lendas, I, p. 570). On January 26, 1504, the King granted him a pension of
6,000 reis (Texeira de Aragão, Boletim, 1886, p. 674).
André Gonçalves. According to Correa (Lendas, I, p. 148), he had been with Vasco da Gama, whose
interest had procured him an appointment in Cabral’s fleet. The same untrustworthy author states (p.
152) that Cabral sent him back from Brazil with the news of his discovery, and that the King,
immediately after his arrival, fitted out a fleet to continue the explorations in the New World. Barros
(I, pt. 1, p. 384) and Castanheda (I, p. 97) state that Cabral sent back Gaspar de Lemos. Neither they,
nor, as far as I am aware, any other authority, mention an André Gonçalves in connection with
Gama’s or Cabral’s expeditions.

Pursers or Clerks.

* Diogo Dias, clerk of the S. Gabriel (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 279; Castanheda, I, pp. 54, 80; Goes, I, p.
90; Faria y Sousa, I, p. 29). He was a brother of Bartholomeu Dias, the discoverer of the Cape of
Good Hope.
João de Sá, clerk of the S. Raphael (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 370; Castanheda, Goes, Faria y Sousa). He
again went to India with Cabral (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 403), and subsequently became treasurer of the
India House (Castanheda, I, p. 54).
Alvaro de Braga, clerk of the Berrio (Barros, Castanheda, Goes). Vasco appointed him head of the
factory at Calecut. Correa (Lendas, I, pp. 89-91) erroneously calls him Pedro de Braga. He was
rewarded by the King, February 1, 1501 (Boletim, 1886, p. 675).

Interpreters.

* Martim Affonso (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 289; Castanheda, I, p. 15; Goes, I, p. 74; Faria y Sousa, p. 29).
He had lived in Congo.
Fernão Martins (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 290; Castanheda, I, pp. 51, 54; Goes, I, p. 89). Vasco sent him to
the King of Calecut, and he was present at the audience which Vasco had of the King (Goes, I, p. 95).
Subsequently he filled several positions of trust in India. He is the “African slave” who spoke Arabic,
referred to by Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 76, 203).
João Martins, see João Nunez, infra.

Priests.

Pedro de Covilhã, called Pero de Cobillones by Faria y Sousa (I, p. 29), who refers to ancient
documents and the assertion of F. Christoval Osorio, of the Order of Trinity, as his authorities. He
was Prior of a monastery of the Order of the Trinity at Lisbon, and went out as Chaplain of the Fleet
and Father Confessor. According to Francisco de Sousa’s Oriente Conquistado, I, p. 477, he died a
martyr on July 7, 1498, and this statement is accepted by P. Francisco de S. Maria (Anno historico, II,
Lisbon, 1794, p. 323). Fr. Jeronymo de São Jose (Historia chronologica da Ordem da S. Trindade,
Lisbon, 1789-94) enlarges upon this by stating that this apocryphal “protomartyr” of India “was
speared whilst expounding the doctrines of the Trinity”. At the date of his alleged death, Vasco da
Gama was still at Calecut. He may have died of disease. Neither Barros, Castanheda, nor Correa
mentions the name of this priest.
João Figueiro. Correa claims to have derived much information from a diary kept by this priest, of
which only fragments appear to have come into his possession. Other authors ignore the name (see
Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. ii, vi, 260).

Sailors and Soldiers.

João d’Ameixoeira or Dameiroeiro. According to Correa (I, p. 136), he was one of the mutineers who
returned to Portugal. No other writer mentions him.
Pedro de Faria e Figueiredo, died at Cabo das Correntes (Faria y Sousa, I, p. 29).
Francisco de Faria e Figueiredo, brother of the preceding. He wrote Latin verses. He, too, died at
Cabo das Correntes (Faria y Sousa, I, p. 29).
* Sancho Mexia, incidentally mentioned in the Roteiro (see p. 6).

João Palha, one of the thirteen who attended Vasco da Gama to Calecut (Correa, I, p. 96).
Gonçalo Pirez, a mariner and retainer of Vasco da Gama (Castanheda, I, p. 54). On May 31, 1497, he
had been appointed master of a caravel recently built at Oporto (Texeira de Aragão, Boletim, 1886, p.
563).
Leonardo Ribeyro. According to Manuel Correa’s commentary on the Obras do grande Camões,
Lisbon, 1720, this, on the authority of the poet himself, is the full name of the “Leonardo” mentioned
in Canto VI, stanza 40. Faria y Sousa (Asia Portuguesa, I, p. 29) identified this “Leonardo” with
Francisco de Faria e Figueredo, but subsequently (Commentos aos Lusiadas, 1639) he gave up the
point.
João de Setubal, according to Correa (I, pp. 96, 104, 107), was one of the thirteen who accompanied
Vasco da Gama to Calecut (see Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 119, 213).
Alvaro Velho, a soldier (Castanheda, I, p. 54; Goes, I, p. 90; Faria y Sousa). Perhaps this is the Alvaro
Velho de Barreyro mentioned by Valentin Ferdinand (Valentino de Moravia or Alemão), in his
Description of Africa (1507), as having resided eight years at Sierra Leone (see Kunstmann, in
Abhdlgn. d. bayer. Ak. d. W., Cl. iij, t. IX, Abt. 1).
* Fernão Veloso, a soldier (Barros, I, pt. 1, p. 283-6; Castanheda, I, p. 9; Goes, I, p. 71; Faria y
Sousa; Camoens, Canto VI, stanza 41).

Convicts or Banished Men (Degradados).

Pedro Dias, nicknamed “Northeasterling”. Correa (Lendas, I, p. 46) says that Vasco da Gama left him
behind at Moçambique, and that subsequently he came to India (compare Stanley’s Vasco da Gama,
p. 106).
Pero Esteves. Correa (Lendas, I, p. 236) says that Vasco da Gama left him behind at Quiloa, and that
when J. da Nova reached that port in 1501, he came out to meet him. Barros (I, pt. 1, p. 467) says that
the convict who met J. da Nova had been landed by Cabral, and that his name was Antonio
Fernandez.
João Machado, according to Correa (Lendas, I, pp. 41, 160), was left behind by Vasco da Gama at
Moçambique, but according to Barros (I, pt. 1, p. 406) it was Cabral who left him at Melinde, with
instructions to make inquiries about Prester John. Cabral may have transferred him from
Moçambique to the more northern port. He subsequently did good service, and Affonso de
Albuquerque appointed him alcaide mór of Goa. He was slain in battle, 1515 (see Stanley’s Vasco da
Gama, pp. 93-5).
Damião Rodriguez was a friend of João Machado, and a seaman on board the S. Gabriel, from which
vessel he deserted at the shoals of S. Raphael. When Cabral came to Moçambique, his grave was
pointed out. All this is stated on the sole authority of Correa (Lendas, I, p. 160). Compare Stanley’s
Vasco da Gama, p. 94.
João Nunez, a “new” Christian (i.e., a converted Jew), who knew a little Arabic and Hebrew, and was
landed at Calecut. In the Portuguese edition of Correa (I, p. 78) he is erroneously called João Martins
(see Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 159, 180, 206).

Natives and others Embarked in the East.

* Gaspar da Gama. This is the “Moor”, or renegade, who joined Vasco da Gama at Anjediva Island.
Our anonymous author describes him as about forty years of age, and as being able to speak

“Venetian” well. He claimed to have come to India in early youth, and was at the time in the service
of the Governor of Goa. Vasco da Gama carried him to Portugal, where he was baptized and received
the name of Gaspar da Gama. In the Commentaries of Afonso Dalboquerque (Hakluyt Society, 1884)
he is frequently referred to as Gaspar da India. Correa (Lendas da India) usually refers to him as
Gaspar da Gama, but also calls him Gaspar de las Indias, or Gaspar d’Almeida. King Manuel, in his
letter to the Cardinal Protector, calls him a “Jew, who turned Christian, a merchant and lapidary”.
Sernigi (see p. 136) held a conversation with him at Lisbon. He speaks of him as a Sclavonian Jew,
born at Alexandria.
According to the information given by Barros and Goes, the parents of Gaspar fled from Posen, in
Poland, at the time when King Casimir cruelly persecuted the Jews (about 1456). After a short
residence in Palestine they removed to Alexandria, where Gaspar was born (Barros, I, pt. 1, pp. 364-
5; Goes, pt. 1, c. 44).
He accompanied Cabral as interpreter. Vespucci met him on his homeward voyage at Cape Verde,
and in his letter of June 4, 1501, published by Baldelli (Il Milione, 1827), he speaks highly of
Gaspar’s linguistic attainments, and refers to his extensive travels in Asia.
Gaspar repeatedly accompanied Portuguese expeditions to India, and was last heard of in 1510. Goes
(loc. cit.) says that King Manuel liked him, and appointed him a cavalier of his household.
Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 247) describes this Gaspar as a Jew, who, “at the taking of
Granada was a very young man; and who, having been driven from his country, passed through many
lands ... on to India”. But, as Granada was only taken in 1492, this is absurd.
Lunardo da Chá Masser, who came to Lisbon in 1504 as ambassador of the Signoria, in a letter
written about 1506 and first published in the Archivio Storico Italiano (Florence, 1846), says that
Gaspar married a Portuguese lady,423 and was granted a pension of 170 ducats annually, in
recognition of the valuable information which he furnished respecting the Oriental trade.
* Monçaide, who came on board Vasco da Gama’s vessel at Calecut, is stated by Barros (I, pt. 1, pp.
330 et seq.) and Goes (I, p. 98) to have been a native of Tunis, who, in the time of King John II had
done business with the Portuguese at Oran, and spoke Castilian. He accompanied Vasco da Gama to
Portugal and was baptised. In King Manuel’s letter to the Cardinal Protector he is referred to as a
“Moor of Tunis”. The author of the Roteiro calls him a “Moor of Tunis” whom the Moors of Calecut
suspected of being a Christian and emissary of the King of Portugal (p. 75).
Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 162-5, 221) says that he was a native of Seville, who, having
been captured when five years old, turned Moslem, although “in his soul he was still a Christian”. He
generally refers to this man as “the Castilian”, and says that his true name was Alonso Perez.
Castanheda (I, p. 50) tells us that the Portuguese corrupted Monçaide into Bontaibo, a combination of
the Portuguese bom, “good”, and the Arabic tayyib, having the same meaning. Monçaide is probably
a corruption of El Masud, the “happy-one” (Burton’s Camoens, iv, p. 432).
* Malemo Canaqua, or Cana, the pilot who guided Vasco da Gama from Melinde to Calecut. He was
a native of Gujarat (Barros, I, pt. 1, pp. 319, 328, 330; Goes, I, c. 38; Castanheda, I, p. 41). Malemo
stands for “muallim” or “mallim”, “master” or “teacher”, the usual native designation of the skipper
of a vessel, whilst “Kanaka” designates the pilot’s caste.
Davane, of Cambay, said to have been taken out of a dhau to the south of Moçambique, to have
agreed to accompany Vasco da Gama to Calecut as broker, and to have been ultimately discharged
with good testimonials in November 1498 at Cananor, is only mentioned by Correa (Stanley’s Vasco
da Gama, pp. 79, 84, 113, 128, 235). No other historian knows anything about this mythical
personage.

* Baltasar, and the four other Moors, forcibly carried away from Calecut (see pp. 73, 75, and 79, and
King Manuel’s letter to the Cardinal Protector, p. 115) were taken back by Cabral, as was also the
Ambassador of the King of Melinde (Alguns Documentos do Archivo nacional, 1892, p. 97).
Vasco da Gama originally detained eighteen “Moors”. He is stated in the “Journal” to have
subsequently liberated six, and to have sent one with a letter to the Zamorin. This would leave
eleven, not five. The number of those liberated must, therefore, have been twelve, and not six.

APPENDIX F.

Calecut in 1876.
(From a Sketch by Mr. Herbert Johnson.)

THE VOYAGE.

The King was at Montemór o novo424 when he despatched Vasco da Gama
and his fellow-commanders upon the momentous expedition which was to
place Portugal for a time in the forefront of maritime and commercial
powers. It was summer, and His Majesty did not, therefore, desert the
beautiful hills of Monfurado for the stifling heat of the capital, in order that
he might witness the embarkation of his “loyal vassal” whom, on account of

his proved valour and past services he had deemed worthy of the
honourable distinction of being entrusted with the conduct of so important
an enterprise.425 Vasco da Gama and his officers, the night before their
departure, kept vigil in the chapel of Our Lady of Belem, which was not
then a stately pile such as that which now occupies the site of the original
unostentatious ermida founded by Prince Henry for the convenience of
mariners.
On the following morning, which was Saturday, the 8th of July, 1497,426
Vasco da Gama and his companions were escorted to the beach by a
procession of priests and friars. They all carried lighted tapers, and an
excited crowd muttered responses to the litany which was being intoned by
the priests. On reaching the place of embarkation, the vicar of the chapel
celebrated mass and received a general confession; after which, in virtue of
a Bull published by Pope Nicholas V in 1452, he absolved the departing
adventurers of their sins. And thus they left on their errand with the
blessings of the Church, in the favour of their King, and amidst the
acclamations of a sympathising people.

Lisbon to the Cape Verde Islands.

Winds and currents being favourable, the voyage to the Cape Verde Islands
was accomplished in good time, and the flag-ship, notwithstanding some
delay caused by a dense fog on the Saharan coast, reached the Ilha do Sal,
1,590 miles from Lisbon, in the course of fourteen days, if not earlier, and
on July 27th the little armada lay snugly in the harbour of São Thiago.

The Voyage across the Southern Atlantic.

The accounts of Vasco da Gama’s remarkable voyage across the Southern
Atlantic are of so scanty a nature that it is quite impossible to lay down his
track with certainty. What we learn from the “Journal” may be condensed
into a few words. The little armada left São Thiago on August 3rd, going
east! On the 18th of that month, when 200 leagues (680 miles) out at sea,
the main-yard of the flagship sprung in a squall, and this necessitated laying
to for a couple of days and a night. On the 22nd of October,427 when 800

leagues (2,700 miles) out at sea, going S. by W.,428 large birds were seen
flying to the S.S.E. as if making for the land, as also a whale.429 On October
27th more whales were seen, besides seals. On November 4th, at 9 a.m., the
main land was sighted, probably about 150 miles to the north of St. Helena
Bay (30° S.).
In these days of hydrographic offices and sailing directories we know how a
sailing vessel desirous of proceeding from the Cape Verde Islands to the
Cape would shape her course. She would endeavour to cross the equator
about long. 22° W., pass to the leeward of Trinidad Island (20° S.), and
then, gradually gaining a higher latitude, trust to the “brave” westerly winds
carrying her beyond Tristão da Cunha to the Cape, or beyond.430
But Vasco da Gama had none of this information to guide him in shaping
his course. He was informed, as a matter of course, about the winds and
currents prevailing off the Guinea coast, but of what might be experienced
in the open sea beyond he knew nothing.
It is just possible that he may have considered the possibility of reaching the
Cape by a direct course of 3,770 miles, and he may even have attempted to
carry out such a scheme. In the end, however, he would never have been
able to work down against the strong S.E. “trades” and northern currents,
for his ships could not be laid nearer than six points to the wind, and even
then they would have made considerable leeway.
His actual course, in any case, must have been a circuitous one, and we may
suppose it to have been as follows:—Having left São Thiago in an easterly
direction,431 he kept in the direction of the coast for a considerable distance,
but when he came within the influence of the dreaded doldrums he met with
unpleasant weather in the shape of calms, baffling winds, and squalls,
which prevail more especially during the months of June, July, and August.
One of these squalls sprung the mainyard of the flagship, and heaving up a
new yard necessitated a delay of two days and a night. When attempting to
make southing he was driven to the westward, but managed to cross the
equator in about 19° west.
Thence he followed a circuitous course, which brought him within 600
miles of the coast of Brazil. The northern part of this assumed course lies to
the west of a track recommended by Captain Horsburgh as being most

favourable for vessels proceeding between April and October from the Cape
Verdes to St. Helena, whilst its southern part lies to the west of the usual
track of sailing vessels going from Ascension to the Cape. In this manner
we suppose Vasco da Gama to have reached lat. 30° S. long. 15° W., by
October 22nd. This point lies about 800 leagues, or 2,700 miles, in a direct
line from São Thiago; but by the track assumed by us the distance is 1,030
leagues, or 3,480 miles. As Vasco da Gama spent eighty days in making this
distance, including the time lost in repairing his yard, his daily run only
amounted to 44 miles.
It was here that Vasco da Gama saw birds flying to the S.S.E. They were no
doubt making for Tristão da Cunha, which lies at a distance of about 400
miles in that direction. He also saw a whale, a very common sight in these
latitudes.432
Thus far the course followed had been more or less southerly, but Vasco da
Gama had now passed beyond the S.E. “trades”, and found himself under
the welcome influence of “brave” west winds and of an eastern current,
running at the rate of a knot in the hour. This speeded him on his course,
and he covered the 500 leagues, or 1,700 miles, which still separated him
from the west coast of Africa, in the course of thirteen days, making his first
landfall on November 4th in about 30° S. His average daily run on this
course must, therefore, have amounted to 131 miles.433
This may seem a high rate, but it is by no means an exceptional one. Vasco
himself made at least 114 miles daily during his passage from Lisbon to the
Cape Verdes, and 125 between the Cape and the Guinea coast when
homeward bound. Columbus, during his first voyage, averaged 84 miles434
daily between Gomera and Guanahani, but on nine days his daily run
exceeded 150 miles, and on one day—the 4th of September—he actually
covered 210 miles, although he had to take into account the bad sailing
qualities of one of his vessels, the Niña.
We have laid down Vasco da Gama’s hypothetical track with a considerable
amount of diffidence. The passage might, of course, have been effected in
various other ways.435 When Cabral started for India in 1500 he was
instructed by Vasco da Gama himself to sail southward from the Cape Verde
Islands, until he should have reached the latitude of the Cape, and then to
head to the east. Cabral, however, was carried by winds and currents

towards Brazil, which he made in lat. 17° 20´ S., and thence followed a
track which took him past Trinidad and Fernão Vaz,436 and does not differ
much from that now recommended to sailing vessels.
João da Nova, who left for India in March 1501, did not follow the route of
his predecessor, perhaps on account of the terrible disaster which overtook
Cabral when in the vicinity of Tristão da Cunha. Nova seems to have
attempted a direct passage; for following perhaps the eastern route
recommended to a later generation by Laurie’s Sailing Directory for the
Ethiopic Ocean (4th edition, by A. G. Finlay, p. 74), he discovered the
island of Ascension on the outward voyage, and is generally credited with
having reached the Cape without coming within sight of the coast of
Brazil.437
Vasco da Gama, during his second voyage in 1502, seems to have seen no
land from the time he left Cape Verde until he arrived at Sofala, that is,
during ninety-nine days, viz., from March 7th to June 14th: a remarkably
quick passage. He seems on that occasion to have given the Cape of Good
Hope a wide berth.
His nephew, Estevão da Gama, who left Lisbon on April 1st, took the
western route. He passed the Cape Verde Islands on April 15th, Trinidad,438
in the Southern Atlantic, on May 18th, doubled the Cape about the
beginning of June, and first made land, on July 11th, at the Cabo Primeiro,
on the coast of Natal, one hundred and two days after his departure from
Lisbon.
When Affonso de Albuquerque reached Cape Verde on his voyage to India,
in 1503, he took counsel with his pilots whether to follow the “usual route”
along the coast of Africa, or to make boldly for mid-ocean. The latter course
was decided upon. After a voyage of twenty-eight days, the Island of
Ascension439 was reached, at an estimated distance of 750 to 800 leagues
from the Cape. Subsequently de Albuquerque touched the coast of Brazil,
and then stood across the Atlantic for the Cape of Good Hope, which he
made on July 6th, having thus accomplished the passage from Lisbon in the
course of ninety-one days.
Duarte Pacheco, who wrote his Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis in 1505,
recommends vessels to go south from Cape Verde for 600 leagues, to lat.

19° S., and thence to make for a point 40 leagues to the S.W. of the Cape of
Good Hope, in lat. 37° S. Such a course would take a vessel to the
windward of Trinidad.
These notes prove that the Portuguese, in the course of a few years, must
have acquired a remarkably correct knowledge of the winds and currents of
the Southern Atlantic; for the tracks laid down and followed by their pilots
in the beginning of the sixteenth century differ but little, if at all, from those
recommended in our modern sailing directories.

Doubling the Cape.

Three days after his landfall we find Vasco da Gama in the Bay of St.
Helena, where he careened his ships, took in a fresh supply of water, and
observed the latitude.440
He left this anchorage on November 16th. Two days afterwards he sighted
the Cape, but the wind being from the S.S.W. he was obliged to stand off
and on until the 22nd, when he succeeded in getting beyond it “without
encountering the storms and perils expected by the mariners”; and
following the coast he cast anchor in the Bay of S. Braz on the 25th, and
there set up his first padrão. In that run he must have been favoured by the
wind, which along the coast and in November blows generally from the
S.E., although westerly winds and even gales are not infrequent.
Barros, Castanheda, and Goes give the same account of the doubling of the
Cape, but Correa would have us believe that Vasco da Gama, after having
made a landfall to the north of the Cape, stood out for the open sea for a
month, until there were scarcely six hours of sunlight in the day; and that,
even after that, and after he had once more failed to reach the southern
extremity of Africa, he continued south for two more months. Then at last
he turned again to the east, and found that he had doubled the Cape. Beyond
it he discovered lofty mountains and many rivers, one of which was
ascended by Coelho for twenty leagues.441 The utter absurdity of this
account is evident, and it is surprising that it should have been accepted by
serious historians. A day of six hours may be experienced in lat. 58° 30´ S.
in mid-winter—that is in June—but nowhere in the southern hemisphere
during summer. In November the duration of daylight in that latitude is

about sixteen hours, and to talk about “darkness” under these circumstances
seems absurd. It would, moreover, have been impossible to reach so high a
latitude without coming amidst masses of drift-ice, which surely would
have proved a stranger experience to Vasco’s companions than “tremendous
seas” and “high winds”, and better worth recording.

Along the East Coast of Africa.

On December 8th Vasco left the Bay of S. Braz, and four days afterwards
experienced a heavy westerly gale (p. 18).
Barros, Goes, and Castanheda refer to this gale, but Correa, not content
with a gale, conjures up a succession of storms, continuing for days, so that
the crews clamoured to be taken back to Portugal. The men in Coelho’s
ships are actually said to have conspired to mutiny at the earliest
opportunity. Their intention, we are expected to believe, was made known
to the captain-major by a mysteriously-worded message shouted from ship
to ship by Coelho. Vasco at once summoned his people, declared to them
that “if the bad weather came again he had determined to put back; but to
disculpate himself with the King it was necessary for some among them to
sign a document giving the reasons for putting back.” Having invited on
this pretence his pilot, his master and three leading seamen into his cabin,
he treacherously put them in irons, and, flinging all the instruments
necessary for navigating the ship into the sea, declared that God would
henceforth be their master and pilot. The men were released on reaching the
River of Mercy, but on their return to Portugal they were ironed once more,
to be presented in that degrading state to their King!442
Osorio443 likewise gives an account of a mutiny, but says that it occurred
before the Cape was doubled. He differs in other respects from Correa,
stating, for instance, that “all the pilots were put in chains.” As Osorio’s
book was published in 1571, whilst Correa’s MS., although written in 1561,
only reached Lisbon in 1583, it is not probable that the former borrowed
from the latter. They may both have derived their information from the
same impure source, and accepted an idle tradition as the record of a fact.
That there may have been some discontent among the men is quite possible,
but we cannot believe that the pilots intended to head a mutiny. We quite

agree with Professor Kopke,444 when he prefers the authority of Barros,
Goes, and Castanheda, and of the author of this “Journal”, to that of Osorio.
This applies with still greater force to the absurdly elaborate account of
Correa. Professor A. Herculano, in the second edition of the Roteiro (p.
viii), discredits Professor Kopke’s notes on the insufficient ground that the
eminent authorities referred to above refrained from every allusion to a
mutiny from a “fear of tarnishing the fame of Vasco da Gama’s
companions.” But Herculano believed in Correa—we do not.
Early on December 15th, Vasco once more made for the land, and found
himself abreast, the Ilhéos Chãos (Bird islands) in Algoa Bay, having thus
covered only a couple of hundred miles in the course of seven days. Fair
progress was made for a couple of days after this. The vessels kept near the
coast, and being favoured by the wind, and also by an inshore counter-
current, were able to pass beyond the pillar set up by Dias and the furthest
point reached by that navigator. But on December 17th the wind sprang
round to the east. Vasco da Gama stood out to sea, and was thus made to
experience the full force of the Agulhas current, which here runs at a
distance of about ten miles from the land. He was unable to make head
against the combined forces of wind and current, and when, on December
20th, he again approached the land he found himself at the Ilhéo da Cruz,
27 miles to the westward of the group of islets from which he had started on
the 15th (see p. 15).
Henceforth, for a number of days, the wind proved propitious, and by
December 25th our voyagers, clinging all the while to the coast, had
proceeded 240 miles beyond the furthest point reached by Dias (as
estimated by the pilots); and three days afterwards they cast anchor and
took a quantity of fish. This locality we identify with Durnford Point—the
Ponta da Pescaria of the old charts—300 miles beyond the Rio de Infante
(which was Dias’s furthest), and 370 miles beyond the Ilhéo da Cruz. The
daily run since December 20th had thus averaged 46 miles.
Vasco da Gama then stood off the land, for reasons not given by any of the
historians. Whether it was from fear of being driven upon a lee-shore by a
strong easterly wind, or the hope of being able to shorten his passage by a
more direct north-easterly course, we are unable to tell. However that may
be, a fortnight passed before the vessels returned to the land, so that
drinking-water began to fail, and the men had to be put on short rations. It

was on the 11th of January that Vasco da Gama found himself off the mouth
of a small river, the Rio do Cobre, where he established friendly relations
with the “good people” of a country ruled by petty chiefs.445 The distance
of this river from the “Fishing Point” is only 315 miles, and contrary winds
must therefore have driven the little flotilla far out of its direct course, but
not as far as the neighbourhood of Madagascar, for southerly winds would
have been picked up there, which would have carried it more speedily
towards its destination than was possible in the face of the south-easterly
winds prevailing along the coast of Africa.
After a stay of five days, Vasco da Gama left the Rio do Cobre on January
16th, and without further incident, and leaving Sofala far to the west, he
arrived off the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Signaes (Kilimani) on January
24th, having thus accomplished a distance of 480 miles in eight days.
Coelho’s caravel at once crossed the bar to take soundings, and the two
ships followed on the next day. In this river Vasco da Gama stayed 31 days,
careening his vessels, refreshing his crews, and erecting a padrão dedicated
to S. Raphael (see p. 19). It was here that he heard the glad tidings of more
civilised regions in front of him.
On February 24th the vessels once more gained the open sea, and following
the coast for six days arrived off Mozambique on March 2nd. During this
voyage of 330 miles they kept outside the islands which here skirt the coast,
and lay to at night, as usual, which accounts for the slow rate of progress
made during this coasting voyage. Coelho, as before, led the way, and
entered by the shallow southern channel, between the islands of S. Thiago
and S. Jorge. The three vessels anchored in front of the town (see p. 23).
Later on they removed to the island of S. Jorge, where mass was read on
March 12th, after which the little flotilla set sail for the north. Two days
afterwards, the Soriza Peaks rose in the distance. In the course of that day
they were becalmed. A light easterly wind arose, and at night on the 14th
they stood off shore; and when in the morning of the 15th they looked about
them, they found that the Mozambique current, which here frequently runs
at the rate of two to four knots to the southward, had swept them twelve
miles abaft Mozambique. Sailing vessels are advised,446 under such
circumstances, to stand to the eastward for sixty miles or more, and regain
their northing beyond the influence of the southerly current. Of course,
Vasco da Gama knew nothing about all this. Fortunately, he was able to

recover his old anchorage at the island of S. Jorge in the course of the
afternoon.
A fresh start was made on March 29th. This time the wind was favourable.
The Moorish pilot whom Vasco da Gama had on board took him past
Kilwa, which the captain would have liked to have visited, and shaped a
course outside Mafia, Zanzibar and the other islands lying off that coast.
Early on April 7th the S. Raphael ran aground near Mtangata, but was
speedily got off; and on April 7th Vasco da Gama cast anchor in the outer
road of Mombasa, the finest port on the whole coast of Eastern Africa. The
distance thus accomplished in the course of nine days was 690 miles (see p.
34).
Sixty miles more brought the Portuguese to the roadstead of Melinde,
where they cast anchor on April 14th, and remained until the 24th. This was
the only town at which they met with a cordial reception (p. 40).

Across the Arabian Gulf to Calecut.

On April 24th Vasco da Gama, who had secured the services of a Gujarati
pilot, started for India. By that time the S.W. monsoon was blowing
steadily, though not as yet very strongly. The African coast was kept in sight
for a couple of days, after which the vessels stood boldly across the “Great
Gulf.” They passed in all probability to the south of the Baixos de Padua.
They had been twenty-one days at sea, and were still 24 miles from the
land, when there rose in front of them a lofty wooded mountain. This was
Mount Eli, 2,220 miles from Melinde, and the day on which India was first
beheld by Europeans who had come direct from a European port was May
18th, a Friday (see p. 47).447
Galvão448 is the only author who mentions the “Flats of Padua,”449 as
having been discovered by Vasco da Gama on his outward voyage, and we
freely accept his statement, for the Portuguese must either have crossed the
Laccadives or passed to the north of them. As these islands are very low, the
author of the Roteiro may not have thought it worth while to mention them.
It is evident, however, from what Sernigi says (p. 134), as also from the
evidence of the earliest maps illustrating this voyage, that the Portuguese
learnt a good deal about them from the pilots whom they employed.

On the following day, having stood off during the night, the captain-major
again approached the land, but the western Ghats were wrapped in clouds,
and it rained heavily, so that the pilot failed to identify the locality. The day
after, however, the 20th of May, having passed Monte Formosa (see p. 47,
note 6), he recognised the lofty mountains above Calecut, and in the
evening of that day the little fleet was riding at anchor about five miles off
Capocate, or Capua, a small town only seven miles to the north of the
much-desired city, which was pointed out to the expectant Portuguese (p.
48). Soon afterwards Vasco da Gama took up a position right in front of that
city;450 but on May 27th a pilot of the Zamorin guided him to an anchorage
off Pandarani, thirteen miles to the north, on the ground of its greater safety,
and at that anchorage the Portuguese remained no less than 88 days, until
August 23rd, when Vasco da Gama once more took up a position four
leagues to the leeward of Calecut. From that time to the day of his final
departure, in the afternoon of August 30th, he hovered about that city,
standing off and on, as the state of the weather or the exigencies of his
relations with the Zamorin required.

The Voyage Home.

In the afternoon of August 30th, a tornado carried Vasco da Gama out to sea
(p. 77), and when making his way along the coast he was obliged to tack,
depending for his progress upon land and sea breezes, and laying-to when
becalmed. At Cananor he sent ashore one of his captives (p. 79), but held no
communication with the town himself. On September 15th he landed on a
small island, and erected the padrão dedicated to St. Mary (p. 80).451
On September 20th Vasco da Gama arrived at the Anjediva Islands, about
14° 45´ N., having thus spent twenty-one days in accomplishing 240 miles.
He seems, first of all, to have anchored near the Oyster Rocks, off the
Kalipadi river, but on September 24th he landed on the largest of these
islands, where he remained until October 5th, waiting for a propitious wind,
and availed himself of the enforced leisure to careen the flagship and the
Berrio (p. 83).
The passage across the gulf proved a fearful trial for the Portuguese. Foul
winds and calms impeded their progress, whilst a renewed outbreak of

scurvy carried off thirty victims and prostrated the remaining men, so that
only seven or eight were fit to do duty in each vessel. Vasco da Gama had
left Anjediva on October 5th (a Friday!), although the N.E. monsoon only
sets in at the end of the month, and ninety days elapsed before the African
coast came within sight, near Magadoxo, and five more before the hard-
proved mariners once more found themselves with the friendly Sultan of
Melinde (p. 89).
The remainder of the voyage home calls for little comment. Having left
Melinde on January 11th, Vasco da Gama, passing between the mainland
and Zanzibar, stopped for a fortnight at the “baixos” upon which the S.
Raphael had run in the outward voyage, and there that doomed ship was set
on fire, as there were no men left to sail her. Late on February 1st the
remaining two vessels hove to in front of S. Jorge Island, where a padrão
was erected on the following morning in drenching rain. The voyage was
continued without communicating with the town of Moçambique, and on
March 3rd Vasco once more found himself in the Bay of S. Braz.
The Cape was doubled on March 20th. The wind proved fair during twenty-
seven days—that is, to April 16th or 17th—but after came calms and foul
winds; and on April 25th, when the wearied mariners already believed
themselves to be near S. Thiago, the pilots told them that they had only
reached the shoals off the Rio Grande (p. 93).
Here the two consorts appear to have parted company, under circumstances
not known; and whilst Vasco da Gama accompanied his dying brother to
Terçeira, Coelho is said to have made straight for Lisbon, where he arrived,
after a voyage of seventy-six days, on July 10th. The distance along the
coast of Africa is only 1,900 miles, and that by way of the Azores, the only
route at all suitable for sailing vessels, is 2,920 miles. The passage ought
certainly to have been accomplished in forty days.452 What did he do during
the remaining thirty-six days? We cannot suppose for one moment that an
experienced sailor like Coelho would have faced the head-winds of the
coast for the sake of shortening the distance to be run. Still, such things
have happened.
From the following statement of distances run it will be seen that from July
8th, 1497, the day of Vasco da Gama’s departure from Lisbon to the return
of Coelho on July 10th, 1499, there elapsed 732 days, or two years and two

days. Of this time 316 days were expended before Calecut was reached, 102
at Calecut and in its vicinity, and 314 on the homeward passage.453

Old Average
Dates and Places. Days. Portuguse Nautical Daily
Miles. Run,
Leagues.453 Miles.
Lisbon to S. Thiago, July 8 to 27, 1497 19 515 1740 90
S. Thiago to First Landfall, 30° S., Aug. 3 to Nov. 4 93 1533 5180 54
To S. Helena Bay, Nov. 4 to 7 3 49 165 55
S. Helena Bay to Cape of Good Hope, Nov. 16 to 22 6 34 115 19
Cape to Bay of S. Braz, Nov. 22 to 25 3 59 200 67
S. Braz to Rio do Cobre, Dec. 8 to Jan. 11, 1498 34 259 875 26454
Rio do Cobre to Rio dos Bons Signaes, Jan. 16 to 24 8 1 480 60
Rio dos Bons Signaes to Moçambique, Feb 24 to March 2 6 98 330 55
Moçambique to Mombaça, March 29 to April 7455 9 204 690 77
Mombaça to Melinde, April 12 to 14 2 18 60 30
Melinde to Mount Eli, April 24 to May 18 24 657 2220 93
Mount Eli to Capocate near Calecut, May 18 to 20 2 16 53 26
Total Outward Passage 209 3584 12108 58

Calecut to Anjediva, Aug. 30 to Sept. 20, 1498 21 71 240 11
Anjediva to Melinde, Oct. 5 to Jan 7, 1499 94 710 2400 25
Melinde to Moçambique, Jan. 11 to Feb. 1 21456 219 740 35
Moçambique to S. Braz, Feb. 2 to March 3 30 500 1690 56
S. Braz to Cape, March 12 to 20 8 59 200 25
Cape to Rio Grande, March 20 to April 25 36 99 3360 93
Rio Grande to Lisbon (Coelho’s vessel), April 25 to July
76 4 2920 25
10, 1499
Total Homeward Passage 286 3417 11550 40

APPENDIX G.
EARLY MAPS ILLUSTRATING VASCO DA GAMA’S FIRST VOYAGE.

It must ever be matter for regret that none of the sailing charts prepared by
Vasco da Gama’s pilots should have reached us. In tracing the progress of
his expedition with the aid of charts we are consequently dependent upon
compilations which, although contemporary, embody also materials brought
home by other navigators.
One great drawback of all the charts available for our purpose is their small
scale.457 This compelled their compilers to make a selection from the names
which they found inserted upon the larger charts at their disposal, and this
selection may not always have been a judicious one. The compilation of a
map from discordant materials presents difficulties even in the present day,
and these difficulties were much greater at a time when the compiler had
not at his command trustworthy observations for latitude which would have
enabled him to check the positions of intermediate places, and bring into
agreement the records brought home by successive explorers. As an
instance, we may mention that in the five maps which we shall bring more
fully under notice, the latitude assigned to the Cape of Good Hope varies
between 29° and 34° S., its true position being 34° 22´ S. As to longitudes,
they had to be determined by dead reckoning, and it need not therefore
surprise us if, on the maps referred to, the Cape is placed from 3° 50´ to 10°
20´ too far to the eastward. Nay, this near approach to the truth, in at least
one instance, compels our recognition of the skill of the men who piloted
the first ships around that long-sought Cabo desejado.
Another difficulty arises from the crabbed characters employed by the map
draughtsmen of the early part of the sixteenth century: a difficulty all the
more serious when these illegible characters had to be reproduced by
Italians having no knowledge of the language of the documents they used,
or the meaning of the uncouth names which they were called upon to copy.
It is one of the great merits of Mercator to have caused these characters to
be banished from the maps of his countrymen; but a second Mercator is still
wanted to do the same good work for their printed books.

I now proceed to a consideration of the charts which illustrate more
especially Vasco da Gama’s first voyage.
The first of these charts is by Henricus Martellus Germanus. It is one of
many in a MS., Insularium illustratum, now in the British Museum (Add.
MS. 15760). It is a map of the world, very roughly drawn and without a
scale, and is dated 1489, that is almost immediately after the return of Dias
in the December of the preceding year. The author, no doubt, was an Italian,
and other maps by his skilful hand are known to exist.458 Unfortunately for
our purpose, the coast beyond the Cape is very incorrectly drawn, and there
are but six names, viz., Golfo dentro delle serre (False Bay), Rio della
vacche (Gouritz), Cavo dalhado (talhado, Seal Point), Golfo de Pastori (St.
Francis Bay), Padrom de S. George (instead of Gregorio), and Ilha de fonte
(instead of infante).459
The first map illustrating, or rather attempting to illustrate, Vasco da
Gama’s voyage is that compiled by Juan de la Cosa, the famous pilot of
Columbus, in 1500. The author was fairly well informed of the discoveries
made by his own countrymen, but knew apparently but little about those of
the Portuguese. Thus, although Vicente Yanez Pinzon only returned to
Spain on September 30th, 1500, the coast explored by him to the westward
of the Rostro hermoso (the Cabo de Agostinho of the Portuguese) is laid
down properly; whilst Santa Cruz, discovered by Cabral in April 1500, is
incorrectly indicated,460 although Gaspar de Lemos, whom Cabral sent back
with the news of his discovery, arrived in Portugal three months before the
Spanish navigator. As to two groups of islands in the southern Atlantic,
namely, “thebas, yslas tibras etiopicas yn mare oceanum austral” (lat 1° 40´
S.), and “Y. tausens, ylas tausens montises etiopicus oceanas” (lat. 15° S.),
they seem to be quite imaginary, and I only refer to them here because they
kept their place on later maps, and might be mistaken for the islands
discovered by João da Nova in 1501-2. Of the results of Vasco da Gama’s
expedition Juan de la Cosa must have been very ill-informed; among the
many uncouth and incomprehensible names inserted by him along the
Eastern coast of Africa there is not one which can be traced to Gama. Not
even such places as Sofala, Quiloa, Moçambique and Mombaça can be
identified, whilst Zanzibar and Madagascar lie far out in the Indian
Ocean.461

The coastline of the Indian Ocean is Ptolemaic; there is no hint at the
peninsular shape of India, the map being in that respect inferior to that of
the Catalan, more than a hundred years older, and the only indication of
Vasco da Gama’s visit to these seas is the name “Calicut”, placed on the
south coast of Caramania (Kerman), with a legend to the east of it: “tierra
descubierto por el rey dom Manuel rey de Portugal.”462
Our next chart shows a great advance upon the preceding. It was purchased
at a sale in London, and is now the property of Dr. Hamy, who published a
description of it, with facsimiles, in his Études historiques et
géographiques, Paris, 1896. The author is not known. His chart places on
record the discoveries made by Vicente Yanez Pinzon, Cabral, Sancho de
Toar, and Cortereal, and by the expedition which King Manuel sent to
Brazil in 1501, and which returned at the beginning of September, 1502.463
This expedition, which was accompanied by Vespucci, explored the
American coast as far as the Rio de Cananea, in lat. 25° 45´ S. The author
knows nothing of the discoveries of João da Nova, who returned to Lisbon
on September 11th, 1502. We may therefore safely date his map “1502”, as
is done by Dr. Hamy.
One curious feature of this map is its double equator: that for the western
half of the map being the ‘new’ equator, to which the recent discoveries of
the Spaniards and Portuguese are to be referred, whilst that for the east lies
four degrees to the north of the former, and is taken from Ptolemy. Indeed,
the outline of the Indian Ocean is Ptolemy’s, and so is the nomenclature,
with a few exceptions to be noticed presently. In the south-east, however,
the author has broken through Ptolemy’s encircling barrier, and has thus
opened a way from the Indicum mare to an outer ocean where room has
been found for Seilam, Iava and far Quinsai. The eastern edge of his
Oekumene lies 205° to the east of Lisbon (196° E. of Greenwich).464 The
only original features within the Indian Ocean are a peninsular India, which
is made to project from Ptolemy’s old coastline to the west of Taprobana,
with a town, “Colochuti”, and the islands of Madagascar and Tangibar lying
far out at sea in lat. 20° S. The only other modern name within this wide
area is “Malacha”, which is placed in the Aurea Chersonesus.
The nomenclature along the African coast is fairly full, and evidently taken
from original sources,465 but the spelling is so corrupt, and the letters are

frequently so illegible, that I failed to make out many of the names,
although I had that portion of the map which specially interested me
enlarged from Dr. Hamy’s facsimile by photography. An examination of the
copy, which I give, will show that the drawing of the coast-line leaves very
much to be desired.
A very great advance upon the preceding is shown by a chart which Alberto
Cantino, the correspondent of Hercules d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, caused to
be specially designed for his patron, at Lisbon, and for which he paid
twelve golden ducats. There can be no doubt about the date of this map. It
was begun after Cortereal’s return, October 11th, 1501, and had been
completed some time before November, 1502. The MS. of this valuable
chart is deposited in the Biblioteca Estense at Modena. The American
portion of it has been published by Mr. Harrisse (Les Cortereals, Paris,
1888466), and the Indian Section by the Vienna Geographical Society.467
Through the kindness of Signor M. C. Caputo, librarian of the Biblioteca
Estense, who procured for me an excellent photograph, I am enabled to
publish Africa from the Gulf of Guinea to Makhdesho. An examination of
this reproduction will at once establish the superiority of this chart over
those already noticed, as also over later charts. The outline of Africa is
wonderfully correct, considering the age of the chart, and the broad face
presented by that continent to the south is brought out most satisfactorily.
Unfortunately, several of the names along the south coast are rendered
illegible, even on the original, owing to the coloured Table Mountain, and I
have failed to decipher these satisfactorily, notwithstanding the kind help
afforded me by Signor Caputo. Along the east coast there is a paucity of
names. It should be observed that the padrões and Portuguese flags have
been located somewhat at haphazard.
Whilst the African coast is taken exclusively from recent Portuguese
sources, that of India and Further India is largely based upon native
information. This is proved by some of the legends. At Çatiguam we read
“esta em xi pulgados a o norte,” but these “pulgados” or inches are clearly
the “isbas” of the “Mohit,” a mode of expressing the latitude which is
peculiar to the Indian Ocean and has been explained by me on p. 26, note 4.

Sidi Ali Ben Hosein’s MOHIT 1554.

In order to enable the reader to judge of the extent to which the compilers of
early Portuguese maps were indebted to native sailing directories and
charts, and of the judgment exercised by them in their use, I insert here a
reduction of Dr. Tomaschek’s elaborate reconstruction of a chart in
accordance with the data contained in Admiral Sidi Ali ben Hosein’s
“Mohit,” or “Encyclopædia of the Sea,” which, although only written in
1554, embodies the local knowledge gained in the course of centuries, and
is not indebted to Portuguese charts for its superiority.468
The next chart to be considered is by Nicolas de Canerio, of Genoa. Its date
is undoubtedly the same as that of the Cantino Map, that is, it was drawn
before the results of João da Nova’s voyage had become available. This is
proved by finding “y. tebas, iste insulle chamada secular” in the mid-
Atlantic (9° S.), with a Portuguese flag, for these islands are borrowed from
Juan de la Cosa, and have nothing to do with Conceiçao (Ascension) or St.
Helena, discovered by João da Nova. It is almost wholly based upon the
materials previously utilised by Cantino’s draughtsman, although more
detailed in outline and with a more ample nomenclature in some places. The

shape of Africa, however, is far more correctly given on Cantino’s chart
than on Canerio’s,469 and the technical workmanship of the former is of a
superior character. The legends on both maps have evidently been taken
from the same source: those on Cantino’s map, as far as I have been able to
examine it, appearing to be more numerous and in some cases fuller.
The MS. of this important chart is at present in the Hydrographic Office at
Paris. Prof. L. Gallois, whose contributions to the history of geography are
highly appreciated by all interested in the subject, has given an account of it
in the Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Lyons.470 This account is
accompanied by a reproduction of two sections of the map, viz., America
and Africa. Prof. Gallois has had the extreme kindness to supply me with a
tracing of the Asiatic portion of the map, and has thus enabled me to
produce Map VII, illustrating this volume. My reproduction contains all the
names of the original to the east of the Cape of Good Hope, whilst the
legends for which there was no room upon the Reduction are given at the
end of this Appendix.
On examining this chart it will at once be seen that the author—not the
Italian copyist, whose name alone appears upon it—drew very largely upon
native information. Still, he has not ventured to disassociate himself
altogether from Ptolemy. He has, however, made some use of Marco Polo,
though he puts the names taken from him—such as Murfulu, Var and Coilu
—in the wrong places. The island in the middle of the Indian ocean—Y.
rana—is not one of the Mascarenhas, as might be supposed, but the Illa Iaua
of the Catalan map, that is, Java. The legend tells us that “In this island is
much benjoim, and silk and porcelain.” Still further south there are three
islands, representing the Mascarenhas, then known by Malabari names.
A few words remain to be said about the Portuguese maps published in the
Strassburg edition of Ptolemy, in 1513. The originals upon which these
maps are based were sent to Duke Renée II of Lorraine (died 1508), from
Portugal. Uebelin and Essler, the editors of Ptolemy, state that they were
drawn by an “admiral” of King Ferdinand. But Lelewel471 points out that
the king meant must be D. Manuel of Portugal. They may have been
forwarded together with the French translation of Vespucci’s Four Voyages,
1504, and Vespucci may even have had something to do with their
compilation, even though not the actual compiler. But however this may be,

and whatever the date of actual publication, there can be no doubt that they
are identical in all essentials with Canerio’s chart, and must be referred to
the same date, that is 1502.472
On placing side by side some of the above charts it almost looks as if they
were not merely based upon the same original authorities, but had actually
been slavishly copied one from the other, or from some common prototype.
On a closer examination, however, this opinion is not sustainable, for the
latitudes and longitudes assigned by the authors to the leading points will be
found to differ very considerably. The following little table show this as
regards the latitudes:—
Strassburg
—— True Lat. Cosa. Hamy. Cantino. Canerio.
Ptolemy.
Congo 6° 5´ S. 5° 30´ S. 7° 50´ S. 6° S. 10° S. 10° S.
Cape of Good Hope 34° 22´ S. 29° S. 30° 40´ S. 32° 45´ S. 34° S. 33° 40´ S.
Malindi 3° 20´ S. — 3° N. 3° 25´ S. 1° S. 1° N.
Calecut 11° 50´ N. 18° N. 13° N. 10° N. 13° 20´ N. 17° 30´ N.
Malacca 2° 13´ N. — 2° 30´ N. 14° S. 12° 30´ N. 8° S.

The latitudes from Dr. Hamy’s chart are referred to the Western Equator.

I now append the legends to be found in Canerio’s chart, together with a
translation. The spelling is that of the original. A few legends from the
Cantino chart, not to be found in Canerio’s, have been added. The bold
Roman Capitals are references to Map vii. The printer is not responsible for
the mistakes of the original copyist.
A. Aqui he amina douro emque dia multra abondancia de la mais que em outro.

(Here is the gold mine yielding greater abundance than any other.)

B. Aqui ha laquar et panos finos de toda sortes et figuos pasados et ubas et ensenso et almizquer et
ambre et aljofar que tud bem de demtro pello a sertam da careto [cidade].

(Here are to be found lac, fine cloth of all kinds, corn, food-stuffs, grapes, incense, perfumes,
ambergris and seed-pearls, all of which come to this city from the interior.)

C. Aqui he Caliqut he multo noble cidade descoberta pel el muy escarrado
prip. Rey dom Manoel Rey de Portugall aqui ay molto menxas [benjoim]
desua naturea [de fina natura] e pimenta et outras muitas mercedarias que
vem de multas partes, & canella gengiber cravo emcenso sandalos et tode

sortes de especiaria pedras de grande vallor et perlas de grande vallor et
aliofar.
(This is Caliqut, the most noble city discovered by the most illustrious prince Dom Manuel, King of
Portugal. There is here much fine benzoin, pepper, and many other kinds of merchandise coming
from many parts, also cinnamon, ginger, cloves, incense, sandal-wood and all kinds of spices; stones
and pearls of great value and seed-pearls.)

D. Aqui ha panos muitos finos de reda et dalgodom et aros e azucar et cera,
e outras multas mercedarias.
(There are here very fine silk and cotton stuffs, and rice, sugar, wax, and many other kinds of
merchandise.)

E. Aqui a sandalos e menxuim e ruibarbo e aiofa.
(Here are sandal-wood, benzoin, rhubarb and seed-pearls.)

F. Em esta cidade ha todas as mercadarias que bem a Caliqut, cravo e
benjoym e lenhaloes e sandalos, estoraque, ruybarbo e marfim e pedras
preciosas de muyto valor e perlas ed almizquer e porçelanas finas e outras
muytas mercadarias. (From the Cantino Chart.)
(In this city are to be found all kinds of merchandise which go to Caliqut: cloves, benzoin, aloes,
sandal-wood, storax, rhubarb, ivory, precious stones of much value, pearls, perfumes, fine porcelain
and many other kinds of merchandise.)

G. Aqui ha chumbo almizquer e menzoy e sandalos.
(Here are lead [tin], perfumes, benzoin and sandal-wood.)

H. Aqui ha almizquer e sandalos e menioim e estoraque e linolos et
chumbo.
(Here are perfumes, sandal-wood, benzoin, storax, aloes and lead [tin]).

I. Esta insulla chamada ataprobana he maior insulla que se en lo mondo et
mais richa de todos os cousas s. auro e praia e predas preciosos et perlas et
rubis muito grandes et finos et todas sortes de speciaria et sedas et borcados
et a gente son idolatres et multo dispostas e tradam com os de fora et achan
daqui multas mercedarias per a fora, e trasem outras que [nam] ay em esta
insulla.
(This island, called Taprobana, is the largest island in the world, and is very rich in all things, such as
gold, silver, pearls, precious stones and rubies of large size and fine quality; all kinds of spices, silks

and brocades. The inhabitants are idolators and well disposed, and take much merchandise abroad,
bringing back other kinds not to be found in their island.)

K. Aqui naca a canella e muitos sortes de espeçiaria, ed aqui pescam as
perlas ed aljofar, sam as gentes de esta ylha idolatres e tratam muito cravo
com Caliqut.
(Here grows cinnamon and many kinds of spices, and there they fish pearls and seed-pearls. The
people of the island are idolators, and take many cloves to Caliqut.)

L. Em esta ylha ha gente do que comase huum as outras. (Cantino Chart.)
(In this island there are people who eat one another.)

M. Em estas tres ylhas nam ai nada sinam gente nuito pobre a nua (Cantino
Chart.)
(In these three islands the people are very poor and naked.)

The following list of place-names includes all names found upon the maps
referred to from the Cape of Good Hope to Malindi. Beyond that place the
principal names only are given.
In addition to the names to be found on the maps, we have introduced those
given in Duarte Pacheco Pereira’s Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, written in 1505.

LIST OF PLACE-NAMES.

The authorities are referred to by Arabic numerals thus:—
1. Henricus Martellus Germanus. 2. Juan de la Cosa. 3. Dr. Hamy’s Chart.
4. Cantino Chart. 5. Canerio. 6. Strassburg Ptolemy. 7. Duarte Pacheco.
Place-names having an asterisk prefixed to them are mentioned in the
Roteiro. The small letters in Italics refer to the Notes.
The Dates, in the first column, are those of the Saints after whom localities
have been named.
In Portuguese. Names on the Maps. Modern Names.
*Cabo da boa Esperança 1, Cavo desperanza; 2, C. de boa Cape of Good
esperança; 3, Cabo di bona Hope
speranza; 4, Cabo de boa
esperança; 5 and 6, Cabo di bona
speranza

G. dentro das serras (gulf within 1, Golfo dnto delle serre; 3, Praia False Bay
the mountain ranges) sabio (pablo?) a; 4, abaia
Ponta espinhosa b (thorny point) 2, Punta espinosa (chrinosa ?) Cape Hangklip
As serras 4, As seia (a serra ?)
Ponta de S. Brandãāo, May 16 2, Mastradios (nutrador ?); 4, S. Quoin Point
biado; 7, Ponta de S. Brandam
Cabo das Agulhas Golfo das 2, Punta de gra?; 7, Cabo dos Cape Agulhas c
agulhas (Needle Cape or Bay) agulhos Struys Bay
Serras seccas (dry ridges) 4. G. das Agullas Bare sandhills to E.
2, Sieras secos of Struys Point
A bahia 2, Abaia dal es ... las Marcus Bay
A praia (shore) 4, Apraia
Cabo de Infante (Cape of João 3, C. de infante; 4, C. do infante; 5, Cape Infanta
Infante) Cabo donfante; 6, C. do infante; 7,
Punta de infante
—— 4, G. do Coberti St. Sebastian Bay.
Rio de Nazaret 2, R. de nazaren; 3, Croa de nazare; Breede River
Cabo do Salto 4, C. de resunancal ...; 5, Cabo do Cape Barracouta
Ialta; 6, G. de Salco
—— 3, Rio de fo...oas Kaffirkuyl River
Rio dos vaqueiros (herdsman 1, Rio della vacche; 3, Rio Gouritz River
river) vachoeros
Angra das vaccas 2, Angra das vaccas Flesh Bay
Cabo das Vaccas (Cow point) or 2, C. delgado; 7, Cabo dos vaccas. Cape Vacca
C. delgado (slender or cattle cape)
Ponta da estrella (Star point) 2, Punta destrella Cape St. Blaise
Terra de S. João, June 24 and Dec. 5 and 6, Terra de S. Joham The country west
27 of Mossel Bay
Golfo dos Vaqueiros (herdsmen 2, G. de baguros; 3, Baia de Mossel Bay d
bay) or Angra (aguada) de São anguada; 4, G. de Sanbras; 5, G. de
Braz (bay or watering-place of St. Sanbras; 6, G. de Sanbras; 7, Angra
Blasius) Feb. 3 or Anguada de S. Braz
—— 4, Rio de frung Harten bosch River
Serra de S. Lazaro, Dec. 17 3, Serra de S. Lazaro W. Outeniqua
mountains (Brocks
Bosch, 5,000 ft.)
Ponta da Pescaria (Fishery Point) 5 and 6, Ponta da pescaria Gerieke Point
Lago cerrado and Angra da lagôa 4, Alago carrado; 5, Lago cairado; Zwarte Vlei
6, Lago cairado; 7, Angra de lagoa
Serra da Estrella 3, M. dastrella; 4 Serra da estrella Outeniqua
mountains
Cabo talhado (steep cape) 1, Cavo dalhado; 2, Punta de canar Seal Cape
(astar? astros?); 3, C. ta... de 4, C.
talhado; 5, Cabo talcado; 6, C.
calcado
Bahia das alagoas (Bay of the 4, Abaia das alagoas; 5 and 6, Plaia Plettenburg Bay e
Lagoons) das alagoas; 7, Angra dos alagoas

Terra das trovoadas (land of 2, Montanas; 4, terra dos montes; 3, Langekloof
thunderstorms) terra dos trovados
Ponta de Ruy Pirez Costa da areia 4, Punta de Ruyez ... 5 and 6, Costa Seal corner
(sandy shore) darea
Ponta (golfo) das queimadas f 3, Pta. da semados; 4, Pūta Cape St. Francis
dasqūmadas; 5 and 6, G. dos and Krom Bay
quemadas
Golfo dos vaqueiros (Herdsmen 1, Golfo de pastori; 3, G, St. Francis Bay
Bay) g vacheoros; 5, Angra
Cabo do recife (reef cape) 5, P. do reciffe; 4, C. do arreciffe; 5 Cape Recife
and 6, Cabo do recisi; 7, C. de
recife
G. da Roca (rock bay) 3, G. do Roca; 4, Baia da Roca; 5, Algoa Bay h
G. do raca; 6, G. daraca
Serra branca (white mountains) 3, Serra do blanco Zuurberg, or Addo
Heights
Ilhéo da Cruz (Cross Island) 4, Ilheos da Cruz; 5, Ilheos da Cruz; St. Croix Island
6, Insule de Cruz; 7, Penedo dos
Fontes or I. da Cruz
Ilhéos chãos (low islands) 4, Ilheoos chaos; 5, Ilheos chaaos; Bird Islands
6, Insule chaaos
Ponta do carrascal i (Green-oak 4, Puta do carascal; 5, Porto de Woody Cape
Point) charseal; 6, Porto datharson
Padrão de S. Gregorio, March 12 1, Padrom de S. George; 3, P. de S. Cape Padrone
Gregorio; 4, Padro de S. Gregorio
Rio da lagoa (Lagoon river) 3, Rio de lago; 4, Rio de lagoa Kasuga River
Praia das alagôas. 4, Praia das alagoas
Penedo das fontes j (Fountain 2, Penedos; 4, penedo da ... Ship Rock
Rock)
Furna (cove) ... 4, Furna ... Port Arthur
Ilha de Infante 1, Ilha de Fonte; 2, Ys de ynfante Three Sisters off
Riet Point?
*Rio de Infante 4, Rio do infante; 5 and 6, Rio de Great Fish river
infante
—— 5, Cabo
Rio S. Thomé, Dec. 21 5, Rio san tome; 7, R. S. thome Umtata River
Ilha de S. Christovão, July 25 3, Ilha de San Xpistofa; 5, Ilheos Keiskamma Point k
San Cristofe; 6, Insule de S.
Chrifero; 7, Ilheos de Sanxpono;
Praia corada? l 4, Praia; 5, Praia; 6, Corrada 5,
Gorffo boscho; m 6, G. postho
(hostio?)
Cabo primeiro (first cape) 3, Cabo primero; 4, Cabo primeiro Cape Morgan
Porto de Natal, Dec. 25 5, Gorffo de natal; 6, G. do natal Port Natal
Terra do Natal 3, Terra de Natall
Porto da pescaria 3, Pescarias; 5 and 6, Porto das Durnford Bay
pescarias

Porto de S. Lucia, Dec. 13 3, Pr. de S. lucia; 5 and 6, Porto de St. Lucia Bay
Sta. lucia
Terra das mesas (land of table- 5, Tierram das mesas; 6, Tiram das Flat hills S. of
hills) mesas Cape Vidal
Rio dos medões de Ouro (river of 3, Modosdosoro; 4, Rio dos medos Kosi River
the golden downs) douro; 5 and 6, Rio do medos
Serranias (mountain ridges) 5 and 6, Serramas Sandhills N. of
Kosi River
Ponta dos medões (point of 5, Ponta de medons Cape Colatto, 250
downs) feet.
Terra dos Fumos n 3, Terra dos Fumos; 5, T. chrimias;
6, T. thrimias
Rio da lagoa o Rio do lagoa; 4, Rio da lagoa; 5 and Umbelasi River,
6, Rio de lago Delagoa Bay
Rio dos reis, Jan. 6 3, Ri do reis; 5, G. de lom raios De Inkomati River
Barros confounds the Rio dos Reis
and the Rio do Cobre
*Rio do Cobre p and *Terra da 3, Agoa de bona passa; 5, Rio Zavora River
boa Gente d’aguada; 6, Rio dagarda
Barreiras 5 and 6, Bariras
Cabo das correntes (Cape of 3, C. das correntes; 4, Cabo das Cabo das Correntes
Currents) correntes; 5 and 6, C. das coreateso
Cabo de S. Maria 3, C. de Sta Maria Ponta da Burra
Golfo das Manchas (g. of specks) 5 and 6, Gorffo (b.) das manchas Inyamban
G. de meros (g. of whitings) 5 and 6, Gorffo de meros Cove at Burra falsa
Cabo do Pichel (tankard cape) 3, Cabo de picell; 5 and 6, Cabo de Shivala Cliff
pichel
Cabo de S. Sebastian, Jan. 20 4, Cabo de Sam Sebastiam Cape St. Sebastian
Ilha de S. Domingos, ? Aug. 4 3, Igoa decico texoda; 5, Ilha de Bazaruto Islands
Sam Domingo; 7, Insule S.
Dominico
Ilha de S. Sebastian, Jan. 20 3, Sanustiam; 5, Ilha de Sam Bazaruto Islands
Sebastiam; 6, Insule de S.
Sebastiam
Çofalla 3, Zafalla, Sofalla; 4, Cafalla; 5 Sofala
Sofala and 6, flag shown, but name
omitted
Rio de S. Vicente, Jan. 22 3, Rio de Sam Vincenso; 5, Rio de Pungwe River
San Vicenso
*Rio dos bons q Signaes 3, Rio de bon signale; 4, Rio das Kilimani River
bons sinaes; 5, Rio de bono futaes;
6, Rio de bonsuraes.
*Padrão de S. Raphael, Oct. 24 3, Padro de San Rafaell; 5, Porto de
Sam Rafaell
Barreiras 5, Barreiras; 6, bareiras 3, “Questo
avemo visto” (this we saw) r
*Ilhas primeiras s 3, Insulas primeras, 4, Ilhas Ilhas primeiras
primeras; 5 and 6, Insulla primeras

Cabo das ilhas 5, Cabo dos ilhas; 6, C. insularum Makalanga Cape
Ilhas de S. Maricha 5, Ilhas de Sta maricha; 6, Insule de Angoshe Islands
S. Maricha
Aguada do Lago 3, Agea do Lago 5, Ilhetos 5 and 6, Angoshe River
Curaes t
*Moçambique 3, Mōsenbichi; 4, Moçambique; 5 Mozambe
and 6, Moncambiqui
*Ilhéos de S. Jorge, April 23, p. 31 —— Ilhéo de S. Jorge
3, Monquique (duplication of
Moçambique)
Rio de Fernão Veloso u 3, Rio de Fernanesso; 4, Rio de Mazazima Bay
fernam veloso; 5 and 6, Rio do
fernam Velloso
Furna (cove) 5 and 6, Furna
*Ilha do açoutado v 3, P. asoutado; 5, Ilha de acutado; 7, Kiziwa Island
Insule de amrado
Ilha das palmas 5, Ilha das palmas; 6, Insule de Ibo
palinis
Ilhas de S. Lazaro, Dec. 17 4, Ilhas de S. Lazaro Kerimba Islds.
Ilhas das cabaças (gourd islands) 3, Cabesa seca; 5, Ilhas das Islands S. of Cabo
cabecas; 6, Insule das Cabeas Delgado
Cabo delgado 3, Cavo de Sco Cabo Delgado
Rio de S. Pantaleone July 28 5 and 6, Rio de Sam Pantaleone Lindi River
*Quiloa 3, Quilloa; 4, Quillua; 5, Quiola; 6, Kilwa
Quiloa
Ilhas desertas 3, Ilha de sechas; 5, Ilhas desertas; Islands thence to
6, Insule desertas Mafia
—— 3, Ilha de baxo
—— 3, Baxo
Ponta redonda 3, Punta redonda Ras Kimbiji
*Zanzibar 4, Zamzibar
*Tamugata, pp. 33, 92 Mtamgata
*Baixos de S. Raphael w 3, Baxi dop lochio (i.e., farolhos, Mtangata Reefs
shoals); 4, 5, and 6, Baixos de Sam
Rafaell
*Serras de S. Raphael 3, T ... de Rafael; 5 and 6, Terra de Usambara
baixos Mountains
*Mombaça x 3, Mombaça; 4, Mōbaça; 5, Mombasa
Monbacha; 6, Monbacha
—— 5, Vutual; 6, butual
*Benapa, p. 40 —— Mtwapa
*Toça (Tocanugua) p. 40 —— Takaungu
*Nuguoquioniete (Quioniete), p. Kioni
——
40
*Melinde 3, Melindi; 4, 5 and 6, Melinde Malindi
*Pate y 4, Pate; 5, Parte Pata

Bar (Land) Lamu 4, Berrama; 5, Berlama Lamu
*Magadoxo z 4, Mogodoxo; 5, Magadoxo; 6, Mukhdisho
Magadozo
Obbia 5, Opim Obbia, 6° 40´ N
5, Animalla, caralla, lacurcella, Along coast to
—— carapui, gargella (gargeia), cabo Cape Guardafui
d’angra
Socotora 5, Çacotoia Sokotra
Aden 5, Adam Aden
Mascate 5, Porto dama lemeniaco Maskat
Soar 5, Siffar Sohar
Ormuz 5, Collomoco; 6, Collomoro Hormuz
(Marco Polo’s Cormuso)
5, Betras; 6, Bertas Beyt Island, at
—— entrance to Gulf of
Cutch
—— 5, Dabo Diu
Cambaia *Cuambey; 4, Combaya; 5, Cambay
Cambaia
Surat 5, Cuia; 6, Cura Surat
Baroche 5, paruça; 5, paruca; 6, Parnea Broach
Damão 5, Dema Daman
Canara 5, Canarea Kanara
5, Ginia; 6, Binia. The Ras boria of
the “Mohit”
5, Meria. The Ras Meria of the
“Mohit”
Ilhéos queimados (burnt islands) 5, Dobascha; 6, Dobastha. Vengorla Rocks
Dandabashi of the “Mohit”
Goa 5, A flag, name omitted
Anjediva aa 5, Andegiba Anjediva
Ilhas dos pombos 5, Niture; 6, Nicare Netrani
*Ilhas de S. Maria St. Mary’s Islands
——
bb
Onor —— Honowar
Mangalor 5, Māgalor Mangalore
Cananor cc 6, Cananor Cannanore
*Capua, Capocate dd *Capua (Capucate of Castanheda
and Barros)
*Pandarani ee *5, Pandarani Pantharini Kollam
*Calecut 2, Calitcut; 3, Colochuti; 4, Caliqut; Calicut
5, and 6, Calliqut
Panane 5, Panade; 6, Panane Ponani
Cranganor 5, Cangalor. *Quorongoliz of the Kranganur
“Roteiro”
Cochijn 5, Cochin; 6, Cothim Cochin

Coulãoo 5, Collium; 6, Collum. *Coleu of Quilon
the “Roteiro”
Cabo Camorij 4, Comaria; 5, Cano de curiam Cape Comorin
Cael, *Cael 5, Cail. Qail of the “Mohit” Kayal, see p. 98
Mutapili 4, Mutapalay
Masulipatão 5, Tessulpata Masulipatam
Godavari 4, 5 and 7, Gudarim Godavari River
Satigam 4, 5 and 6, Çatiguam, the capital of Satgaon, on Hugli
Bangala. Shadigam of the “Mohit”
Chatigam 4, Çatigam Chittagong
Arracam 4, Arecāni; 5, Arcagna Arakan
Pegú 4, Çatimpegno; 5, Carinpaguo Pegu, near the
Satam or Sittang
Sadoe 4, Patoo; 5, Facto. Satowahi of the Sandoway
“Mohit”
Martabão 4 and 5, Martabane Martaban
Tavai 4, Taoo; 5, Lioa; 6, Taoo Tavoy
Tenaçarij 4 and 5, Danasaguim. *Tenacar of Tenasserim
the “Roteiro”
Cara 4, Carza; 5 Carta Kra
Tacoa 4, Tacoaa; 5, Tacoa Takuwa or Takoa
Modobar 4, 5 and 6, Modobar Meduar on Lingga
River
Malaca 4, 5 and 6, Malaqua Malacca
Cingapura 4, Bar Singuapura; 5, Bar siniga- Singapore
pura; 6, Barginigapor
Os baixos de Padua 4 and 5, Os baixos de Padua Munyal-par
Ilha malique 4, Malaqym; 5, Mallo. Molaki of Minicoy
the “Mohit”
Ceylão 4, Cillam Ceylon
Triquinamala 4, Tragonamalay; 5, Trincomali
Traganollaneos; 6, Tragana
Andemão 3, Bonae fortunae (Ptolemy); 4 and Andaman Islands
5, Indana and Indrona
Nicovade 4, Nagolarim; 5, Nagolainu Nicobar Islands
Çumatra 4, Ataporbana; 5, Ataprobana; 6, Sumatra
Taprobann

[a] Juan de la Cosa places “a praia s. plo” (pablo) outside the Cape.
[b] On the anonymous map published by Dr. Hamy, this Point (punta spinosa) is
placed on the west coast, and may possibly be Bok Point.
[c] The name of Ponta de gran (“scarlet cloth cape”) may have been given to the
Needle Cape before the supposed fact that the needle in its vicinity pointed due

north had been observed.
[d] For notes on the identification of this bay, see p. 9, note 4.
[e] Bay of lagoons seems a misnomer. Subsequently the bay was dedicated to S.
Catherine.
[f] “Queimada” means a forest-fire, but there are no “forests”, at all events near
the coast. The hills, however, are partially covered with bush, which may have
been set on fire.
[g] This second “golfo dos vaqueiros” may be a duplication.
[h] Our present Lagoa Bay seems originally to have been called “Bay of the
Rock”. Subsequently it became known as Bahia dos lobos (Seal Bay) and Bahia
de lagoa (Lagoon Bay), perhaps after the Rio da lagoa (Lagoon River), which
figures very prominently on Dr. Hamy’s and Cantino’s Charts, and almost seems
to represent the Rio de Infante in the case of the former.
The Kasuga River, which is closed at its mouth, and forms a lake-like expansion
at the back of the dunes, seems to correspond more nearly with the conditions
required. Several other rivers, to the east and west of it, present the same feature,
and these may have given rise to the designation “Praia das alagôas”, i.e., Shore
of Lagoons.
For identifications of localities within this bay, see p. 14, note.
[i] Thus named after the evergreen oak (Ilex crocea), known in South Africa as
Safraan hout.
[j] Along this coast the pent-up water of several rivulets soaks through the coast-
ridge, giving rise to springs. This may account for the “Fountain Rock”.
[k] Keiskamma Point looks like an island when seen from the sea, and this may
account for the island of St. Christopher, of the first explorers, developing into a
river dedicated to the same Saint when the country became better known.
[l] “Praia corada” (Red shore), I am unable to identify, as there are no red cliffs
along this part of the coast. Perhaps we ought to read “cerrada”, with reference
to the rocks which fringe the coast.
[m] I can make nothing of “Golfo boscho”. Bósco is the Italian for ”wood,
forest”, and is the synonym of “bosque” in Portuguese. Woods are plentiful along
this coast.
[n] For its identification, see p. 17.
[o] Delagoa Bay seems to have been known originally as “Golfo dos tres Reis
magos” (Gulf of the Three Kings); see p. 18, note. The Rio do Ouro is the
Limpopo.
[p] See p. 19, note: The “barreiras” to the east of it may be a reef forming a
“barrier” along the coast.
[q] See p. 19, note 1, and p. 21.
[r] These words prove that the compiler of Dr. Hamy’s Chart was able to utilise
materials brought home by Vasco da Gama’s pilots, for it is just in this locality
that he again turned to the land, and discovered his “first islands”. See p. 21.

[s] See p. 21, note 2.
[t] “Coraes” means “corals”. “Moçambique Flat” is a great coral bank.
[u] This river was named after one of Vasco da Gama’s companions. See p. 177.
[v] See p. 32.
[w] For the baixos de S. Raphael, etc., see pp. 33, 92.
[x] For Mombaça and places to the north of it, see p. 40.
[y] See p. 58.
[z] See p. 88.
[aa] See p. 80.
[bb] See p. 200.
[cc] See p. 79.
[dd] See p. 48.
[ee] See p. 48.

APPENDIX H.

The Coat-of-Arms of Vasco da Gama.

HONOURS AND REWARDS BESTOWED UPON VASCO DA GAMA,
1499-1524.473

King Manuel has not infrequently been charged with a niggardly
disposition, but whatever his conduct may have been in other instances
there can be no doubt that he dealt most liberally with the navigator who
was the first to sail a ship from a European port to India. This liberality had
been called forth by the sensation produced by the discovery of an ocean
highway to India, and the expectation that great wealth would pour into
Portugal as a consequence; it was kept alive by the persistent importunities
of the discoverer.

Vasco da Gama certainly did not undervalue the services he had rendered to
the King. He considered himself entitled to a high reward, and in the end
secured it. His ambition, from the very first, seems to have been to take his
place among the territorial nobles of his native land. His father, Estevão da
Gama, had at one time been Alcaide-mór of Sines, he himself had been born
at that picturesque old fishing town, and his desire to be territorially
connected with it was therefore only natural. The King was quite willing
that this should be, but Sines belonged to the Order of S. Thiago, of which
D. Jorge, Duke of Coimbra, a natural son of D. João II, was master; and
although a papal dispensation had been received in 1501, which empowered
the Order to exchange Sines for some other town, the Order refused to part
with it (see Document 1). Meanwhile the King, on February 22, 1501, had
granted Vasco da Gama not only an annual pension of 1,000 cruzados
(£483), but also the territorial title of “Dom” (Documents 2 and 3).474
Still further favours were conferred upon Vasco da Gama on January 10,
1502, only one month previous to his second departure for India; and this,
we are told, was done “freely”, and without these favours having been
solicited either by their recipient or by any of his friends (see Document 4).
These favours included an annual hereditary pension of 300,000 reis
(£362), the title of “Admiral of India”, with all the valuable privileges
conferred by it;475 the right of sending annually to India 200 cruzados, to be
laid out in merchandise, upon which no import duties were to be levied,
excepting the 5 per cent. claimed by the Order of Christ,476 and
confirmation of the hereditary title of “Dom”, which was also to be borne
by his brother Ayres, and in its feminine form of “Dona” by his sister
Theresa.
A few months after Vasco da Gama’s return from his second voyage, the
King, who was especially pleased with the “tribute” received from the
Sultan of Kilwa, bestowed upon him a further hereditary pension of
400,000 reis (1,000 cruzados, or £483). This was done on February 4, 1504
(Document 5).
Meanwhile the negotiations for putting Gama in possession of Sines had
made no progress, and the Admiral, impatient of the delay, took up his
residence in that town, began to build himself a manor-house, and generally
conducted himself as if the town were his own. The alcaidemór, D. Luiz de

Noronha, did not venture to interfere, but the Order of S. Thiago
complained to the King; and the King, justly incensed at the masterful
conduct of his vassal, peremptorily ordered his Admiral to quit Sines within
thirty days, and not to return to it except by special permission of the
Master of S. Thiago. This order was dated March 21, 1507 (see Document
7). We need scarcely say that it was obeyed.
But the Admiral still hankered after the territorial honours which had been
promised him. He enjoyed already three royal pensions amounting to 2,750
cruzados (£1,328), and Leonardo Masser,477 the Venetian Ambassador at
Lisbon, estimated the whole of his income at that time at 4,000 ducats, or
rather cruzados (£1,930). This was a very large sum indeed. There were at
that time only six noblemen, two archbishops, and seven bishops in all
Portugal whose income exceeded his.478
In November, 1508, the King authorised Luiz d’Arca to cede to Vasco da
Gama the alcaideria-mór of Villafranca de Xira (see Document 8), but the
negotiations appear to have led to no result. Ten years were allowed to pass,
when the Admiral informed the King that, the promised title of “Count” not
having been conferred upon him, he desired permission to emigrate with his
family. The King, on August 17, 1518 (see Document 13), granted this
permission, on condition that the Admiral should defer his departure until
the end of the year. In the meantime he seriously looked about him for the
territorial qualification which would enable him to confer upon his
importunate Admiral the title of Count. D. Jayme, Duke of Bragança, a
nephew of the King, who held Vasco da Gama in high respect, was willing
to accommodate his uncle. By an agreement signed on November 4, 1519,
he surrendered the towns of Vidigueira and Villa de Frades, in consideration
of Vasco da Gama ceding to him an hereditary Royal pension of 400,000
reis (1,000 cruzados), and in addition, paying the sum of 4,000 cruzados in
gold. This transaction having been completed at Evora, on November 7, the
King, in Document 16, granted to Vasco da Gama, his heirs and successors,
the towns of Vidigueira and Villa de Frades, together with all revenues and
privileges hitherto enjoyed by the Duke of Bragança; and on December 29
he conferred upon his Admiral the title of “Conde de Vidigueira” (see
Documents 14-17).
And thus, when Vasco da Gama, in April, 1524, departed for the last time
for India, the great ambition of his life had been realised. He died at Cochin,

on Christmas eve of the same year.

Abstracts of Official Documents.

1.—Lisbon, December 24, 1499.479

By Letters Patent, dated Lisbon, December 24, 1499, the King, in recognition of the merits of Vasco
da Gama, and the great services rendered by him in the discovery of India, grants to him, his heirs
and successors, the town of Sines, together with all the revenues, privileges, and tithes pertaining
thereto, as well as civil and criminal jurisdiction. But inasmuch as this town belongs to the Order of
São Thiago, the formal title-deeds are to be drawn up only after this Order shall have received
satisfaction by the grant of another town belonging to the Crown, and dispensation of the Holy
Father, sanctioning this exchange, shall have been received.
Satisfaction was, moreover, to be given to D. Luiz de Noronha, the alcaide-mór of the said city. But
should D. Luiz refuse to surrender the said alcaideria, then, the dispensation of the Pope having been
received, the King promises at once to put Vasco da Gama in possession of the said town, and
likewise of the castle, as soon as terms shall have been arranged with D. Luiz de Noronha.

2.—Lisbon, February 22, 1501.480

D. Manuel orders the Casa da Mina to pay annually to Vasco da Gama the of sum 1,000 cruzados in
gold [at that time equal to 390,000 reis], until he shall have been placed in possession of the manor of
Sines.

3.—Lisbon, November 19, 1501.481

The King orders Gonçalo de Sequeira, chief treasurer of the Casa de Ceuta, to deliver to Dom Vasco
da Gama 15 moios [43 imperial quarters] of wheat, of the value of 28,000 reis, in part-payment of
70,000 reis due to him this year, the balance of 41,200 reis to be levied upon the Casa da Mina.
The receipt given by Vasco da Gama for this wheat is still extant, and is one of the very few
autographs of the Admiral in existence.

That is to say:

dõ vco da gama dygo que he verdade que receby
os dytos q’nze moyos de trygo do dyto
go de sequeyra feito a xxbiij de novẽbro de
q’nhẽtos hu. dõ vco da gama.
Or, in English:—

Don Vasco da Gama acknowledges to have received said 15 moios of wheat from said go de
Sequeyra. Done on November 28, 1501.
Dom Vasco da Gama.

4.—Lisbon, January 10, 1502.482

D. Manuel after pointing out, in these letters-patent, that the explorations begun by the Infante D.
Henry [the Navigator] in 1433,483 in the hope of discovering a new highway to India, had been
continued by King Alfonso and King John, at an expenditure of many lives and of much treasure,
until, in 1482,484 the Rio do Infante, at a distance of 1,885 leagues, had been reached, continues:
“Being animated by an ardent desire to continue the work initiated by the Infante and our
predecessors, and being assured that Vasco da Gama, a gentleman of our household, was well
qualified for rendering us this service, and would disregard the perils to his person and the risk of life
which he ran in accomplishing the task set him, we sent him to India as captain-major of our fleet,
and with him Paulo da Gama, his brother, and Nicolau Coelho, likewise a gentleman of our
household. In this voyage he did most excellent service, for whilst only 1885 leagues of coast had
been discovered during the many years which had elapsed since the commencement of this
enterprise, and by the many captains sent out, he by himself, in this single voyage, discovered 1550
leagues, in addition to a great gold-mine and many wealthy towns and cities, having a great trade,
and finally reached and discovered that India, which all those who have given descriptions of the
world rank higher in wealth than any other country, which from all time had been coveted by the
Emperors and Kings of the world, and for the sake of which such heavy expenses had been incurred
in this kingdom, and so many captains and others forfeited their lives—a country, in fact, which all
kings not only desired to possess but even to discover.
“This discovery, begun years ago, he accomplished at a greater sacrifice of life and of treasure, and at
greater peril to his own person, than suffered by those who preceded him. Paulo da Gama, his
brother, died in the course of the voyage, as also one-half of the people whom we sent out with this
armada, they having passed through many perils, not only because of the length of this voyage,
which exceeded two years, but also because of the desire to furnish trustworthy information on these
territories and all connected with them.
“And bearing in mind the great services yielded to ourselves and our kingdoms by this voyage and
discovery; the great advantages accruing thence, not only to our kingdoms but to all Christendom; the
injury done to the infidels [i.e., Mohammedans] who, up till now, have enjoyed the advantages
offered by India; and more especially the hope that all the people of India will rally round Our Lord,
seeing that they may easily be led to a knowledge of His holy faith, some of them already being
instructed in it; desiring, moreover, to recompense him for his services, as befits a prince when
dealing with those who have so greatly and so well served him, and to bestow upon him a grace and
favour; with full knowledge, and out of our royal and absolute power, without his having solicited it,
nor any other person on his behalf, we grant him, freely and irrevocably, from this day in perpetuity,
an annuity of 300,000 reis, to be paid to him and his descendants.”

For the payment of this annuity the King assigns the new tithe on fish imposed upon the towns of
Sines and Villanova de Milfontes, supposed to yield 60,000 reis annually, which tithe has been
surrendered by Martinho de Castelbranco, who held it from the Crown, and has been compensated
elsewhere. Any surplus receipts out of this tithe were to be retained by Vasco da Gama, the King, on
the other hand, not being obliged to make up any deficiencies. Secondly, the King surrenders 130,000
reis annually out of the excise levied upon Sines, any deficiency in that amount to be made up out of
the excise of S. Thiago de Cacem. Thirdly, the King assigns to him 40,000 reis, to be paid out of the
excise of S. Thiago. Lastly, the 70,000 reis still wanted to make up the 300,000 reis shall be paid out
of the receipts of the timber octroi of the city of Lisbon.
In addition the King appoints him Admiral of India, conferring all honours, franchises and revenues
which that rank carries with it, throughout the territories which shall be placed under the rule of the
King.
Moreover, he is granted the privilege of sending annually, by the royal vessels, 200 cruzados to India,
to be laid out in merchandise, upon the importation of which no duties whatever shall be levied
except the 5 per cent. payable to the Order of Christ; this privilege to be transmitted to his
descendants.
The King, moreover, confers upon him, his brother Ayres da Gama, and his sister, Tarayja (Theresa)
da Gama, the hereditary title of Dom (Dona).
Finally, the King desires that the heirs of Vasco da Gama shall always bear the name of Gama, in
memory of the said Vasco da Gama.

5.—Lisbon, February 4, 1504.485

The King, having pointed out that as Divine justice recompenses, in the other world, those who have
firmly adhered to the Catholic faith and practised good works, so should the Kings and Princes of
this world recompense those who have rendered them faithful service, directs attention to the signal
services rendered by Vasco da Gama during his first voyage, when he discovered India. This
discovery has resulted in a great accession of wealth. What the Romans, and Emperors and Kings
have vainly attempted, has been accomplished by the said Admiral, and the advantages coveted by all
nations have been secured to his kingdoms. These results have been attained at a great loss of life, for
more than half the men in this first expedition have succumbed, and among them Paulo da Gama, the
brother of the Admiral. On his return honours and other rewards were conferred on the Admiral.
In the course of a second voyage486 the services rendered by him have been equally brilliant. The
King of Kilwa has been reduced to submission, and compelled to pay an annual tribute of 1,500
mitkals in gold,487 the first instalment of which has been received. This king is very powerful, and
the owner of the gold mines of Sofala, the richest in that part of the world. In all other respects Vasco
da Gama has faithfully guarded the royal interests, both in making war upon the Moors of Mecca,
and in peaceable negotiations with the kings of those countries. The fleet intrusted to him, owing to
the wisdom and judgment exercised, has returned richly laden. On these grounds he is entitled to
some recompense. Acting as becomes a King, and considering his merits, he, D. Manuel, therefore
grants him, and his male descendants in the direct line, an annuity of 400,000 reis, to commence on
the first of January of this year, 1504, and to be secured on the salt tax of the city of Lisbon.

6.—Lisbon, February 20, 1504.488

The King instructs Fernão Lourenço, factor of the Guinea and India trade, to pay henceforth the
annuity of 1,000 cruzados to Vasco da Gama; each caravel coming from the city of S. Jorge da Mina
is to contribute 32,500 reis, the payments out of twelve caravels thus making up a total of 390,000
reis.

7.—Thomar, March 21, 1507.489

In a letter dated Thomar, March 21, 1507, and signed by Antonio Carneiro, the King’s chief
secretary,490 Vasco da Gama, the Admiral of India, is informed that within thirty days after date he
must withdraw from the town of Sines, with his wife and the whole of his household, and that neither
himself, nor his wife, nor his household can be permitted to return to that town, or its precincts,
except by permission of the Master [of the Order of São Thiago and Aviz]. In case any of them
should enter the town without such permission, they will render themselves liable to a fine of fifty
cruzados, beyond which they will incur the punishment deserved by those who refuse obedience to
the orders of their King and Lord. In a postscript the King orders, moreover, that the same penalty
shall be incurred if Vasco da Gama continue the buildings he has commenced.
(This Royal Edict was presented on June 26, 1507, at the office of the Master of the Order at S.
Thiago de Cacem, by one João da Gama,491 and ordered to be placed in the Archives of the Order).

8.—Tavira, November 18, 1508.492

The King authorises Luiz d’Arca to surrender his Alcaideriamór of Villafranca de Xira492 to the
Admiral of India (Vasco da Gama).

9.—Lisbon, November 19, 1511.493

The King orders the authorities (“judges”) of the Order of S. Thiago to afford the receiver appointed
by the Admiral every facility for collecting the revenues assigned him in the towns of S. Thiago de
Cacem, Sines and Villanova de Milfontes.

10.—Lisbon, June 1, 1513.494

The King informs all whom it may concern that in consideration of the merits and very great services
of Dom Vasco da Gama, it pleases him to order that no freights be charged upon merchandise
forwarded to the Admiral from India, whether sent by royal or private ships, the expenses, in the
latter case, being charged to the India House. This privilege is not to extend to certain spices reserved
for the Crown.

11.—Lisbon, August 22, 1515.495

The King authorises the Admiral to send with each fleet sailing to India a person to attend to his
business, this person to draw pay as a man-at-arms.

12.—Lisbon, August 29, 1515.496

1). Manuel, having quoted in extenso the conditions of a pension of 400,000 reis granted on February
4, 1504, orders that one-half this pension shall be paid in future out of the revenues of the town of
Niza,497 and the other out of the salt-tax, as before.

13.—Lisbon, August 17, 1518.498

The Admiral having reminded the King that the title of “Count” has been promised him, but has not
yet been conferred, asks permission to leave the kingdom. The King, in a letter in which he addresses
Vasco da Gama as “Almirante amiguo”, replies: “We order you to remain in our kingdom up to the
end of December of the present year, and we hope by that time you will have seen the error you are
about to commit, and desire to serve us as is seeming, and not take the extreme course proposed. But
if by that time you are still minded to go, we shall not hinder your departure, with your wife, your
sons, and all your moveable property. Done at Lisbon by the Secretary [Antonio Carneiro], August
17, 1518.... The King.”

14.—Evora, October 24, 1519.499

The King authorises Vasco da Gama to surrender his pension of 400,000 reis [see No. 5], to D.
Jayme, Duke of Bragança, and the latter to give in exchange the towns of Vidigueira and Villa de
Frades.

15.—Villa Viçosa, November 4, 1519.500

D. Jayme, Duke of Bragança and Guimaraes, authorises his “ouvidor” (bailiff), João Alves, to
surrender the towns of Vidigueira and Villa de Frades, with all their revenues, etc., to D. Vasco da
Gama, on condition of the latter ceding to him an hereditary pension of 400,000 reis, which he has
from the King, and of paying, in addition, a sum of 4,000 cruzados in gold.
[This transaction was completed at Evora, where Vasco da Gama resided, on November 7, the 4,000
cruzados being paid in Portugueses of 10 cruzados each. As the eldest sons of the contracting parties,
D. Theodesio of Bragança and D. Francisco da Gama, were still minors, it was agreed that the King
should be asked to “overlook this deficiency of age”, so that they, too, should be bound by this
agreement.501]

16.—Evora, December 17, 1519.502

The King, having sanctioned the arrangement between the Duke of Bragança and Vasco da Gama,
and having dwelt once more upon the good services rendered by the latter not only to the Crown, but
also to the inhabitants of the kingdom, and to all Christendom, grants to him and his heirs,
irrevocably and for all time, the towns of Vidigueira and Villa de Frades, together with all privileges,
including civil and criminal jurisdiction and church patronage, which had been enjoyed by the Dukes
of Bragança, [These privileges, it should be understood, exceeded those usually enjoyed by a mere
Count.]

17.—Evora, December 29, 1519.503

D. Manoel, after a glowing eulogy of the services rendered by his Admiral of India, confers upon him
the title of Count of Vidigueira, together with all prerogatives, rights, graces, privileges, liberties and
franchises enjoyed by the Counts of the Kingdom by usage and ancient custom.

18.—Lisbon, March 30, 1522.504

D. João III confirms Vasco da Gama’s claim, as Admiral, to the anchorage dues paid at Malacca, Goa
and Ormuz, and authorises him to appoint receivers.

19.—Evora, February 5, 1524.505

The Admiral, being about to proceed to India for a third time, the King, D. João III, is pleased to
order that in case of his death his son and heir shall forthwith assume the title of Count of Vidigueira,
and enter upon the enjoyment of all privileges, etc., to which this rank entitles him.

Church and Monastery of Our Lady of the Relics at Vidigueira.
(From a woodcut in Teixeira de Aragão’s Paper.)

FOOTNOTES:
[1] He was thus eighteen years of age when Queen Isabella, in 1478, granted a safe-conduct to him
and Fernão de Lemos, enabling them to pass through Castile on their way to Tangier (Navarrete, iii,
p. 477). According to P. Antonio Carvalho da Costa’s unsupported statement, Vasco da Gama was
born in 1469.
[2] According to Castanheda, the appointment was at first offered to Paulo da Gama, Vasco’s elder
brother. He declined on account of ill-health, but offered to accompany his brother as captain of one
of the vessels.
[3] Vasco da Gama, after his return from India, married Catarina de Ataide. He proceeded a second
time to India in 1502. When returning from Cananor he shaped a direct course across the Indian
Ocean to Mozambique. After a long period of rest, King João III again sent him to India in 1524, but
he died at Cochin on December 25th of the same year, at the age of sixty-five. His remains were
taken to Portugal in 1538, and deposited at Vidigueira. Since 1880 they are supposed to have found
their last resting-place in the church of Belem.
For an interesting estimate of the character of the great navigator, see Lord Stanley of Alderley’s The
Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama (Hakluyt Society), 1869. See also the Appendices of this volume
for further information on the first voyage.
[4] Ruy Gonçalves da Camara in 1473, Fernão Telles in 1474.
[5] Toscanelli’s letter to Columbus was written long after that addressed to Fernão Martinz, for the
expression ha dias (perhaps a rendering of pridem or haud diu) does not mean “a few days ago”, but
“long ago.” Columbus himself uses it in that sense when he writes from Jamaica that the “Emperor of
Catayo asked long ago (ha dias) for men of learning to instruct him in the faith of Christ.” The
request for missionaries had been made to the Pope in 1339 (Navarrete, Colleccion, 2nd ed., I, p.
457).
[6] Barros, Dec. I, l. 3, c. ii.
[7] It is quite possible that the draughtsman of the Cantino Chart placed St. Helena Bay incorrectly,
and not as determined by Vasco da Gama. Canerio places this bay in lat. 32° 30´ S., which is only 10´
out of its true position.
[8] See Wieser, Die Karte des Bartolomeo Columbo, Innsbruck, 1893. Cuba is not shown on this
chart, possibly because Bartolomeo would not do violence to his conscience by representing it as a
part of Asia (as his brother believed it to be to the day of his death) after its insularity had been
recognised.
[9] The Journal of Christopher Columbus, by C. R. Markham (Hakluyt Society), 1893.
[10] Thus Correa states correctly that the Cape was rounded in November, that is, in the height of
summer, but introduces accessory details—perhaps taken from an account of some other voyage
(Cabral’s, for instance)—which could only have happened in mid-winter. (See p. 193).
[11] An excellent translation of Correa’s account of The Three Voyages of Vasco da Gama, by Lord
Stanley of Alderley, was published by the Hakluyt Society in 1869. It is accompanied by foot-notes,
directing attention to those numerous instances in which Correa differs from other writers.
[12] Most of the documents discovered on these occasions were made known by Texeira de Aragão
and Luciano Cordeiro, to whose published works frequent reference will be made.

[13] Roteiro, prim. edição, p. xix.
[14] Roteiro, seg. edição, p. xii.
[15] Prof. Kopke (Roteiro, prim. ed., pp. ix-xiv) deals much more fully with this subject. We have
been content to give the substance of his remarks.
[16] See livro I, c. xxvii, of the first edition (1551) of his Historia. In the edition of 1554 this passage
is suppressed, but further particulars of the voyage are not given.
[17] For a conclusive proof of this see p. 2. After the S. Raphael had been broken up, the author may
have been transferred to Coelho’s vessel, and have returned in her.
[18] This is the “secretary” (escrivão) of Vasco da Gama. Castanheda (I, p. 54) mentions also the
comptroller (veador) of the captain-major, but we are inclined to think that this is a duplication of the
same person, namely, Diogo Dias, the clerk or purser of the S. Gabriel.
[19] See p. 54, note 2, for this anecdote.
[20] Roteiro da Viagem que em descobrimento da India pelo Cabo da Boa Esperança fez Dom Vasco
da Gama em 1497. Porto, 1838. 8vo, pp. xxviii, 184.
[21] Roteiro da Viagem de Vasco da Gama em MCCCCXCVII. Segunda edição. Lisboa (Imprensa
Nacional), 1861. 8vo, pp. xliv, 182.
[22] Compare p. xvii, and numerous references to Correa throughout this volume.
[23] Reproduced on p. 150.
[24] Journal du Voyage de Vasco da Gama en MCCCCXCVII, traduit du Portugais par Arthur
Morelet, Lyon, 1864.
[25] Reproduced by us, p. 171.
[26] For a copy of this contemned portrait, see p. 109.
[27] These vessels, as appears in the course of the Journal, were the S. Gabriel (flag-ship), the S.
Raphael (Paulo da Gama), the Berrio (Nicolau Coelho), and a store-ship (Gonçalo Nunes). The
author served on board the S. Raphael. See Introduction.
[28] In the suburb of Restello, four miles below the Arsenal of Lisbon, stood a chapel or ermida,
which had been built by Henry the Navigator for the use of mariners. In this chapel Vasco da Gama
and his companions spent the night previous to their departure in prayer. After his victorious return,
D. Manuel founded on its site the magnificent monastery of Our Lady of Bethlehem or Belem.
[29] The forbidding line of low cliffs, extending for 35 miles from Leven Head to Elbow Point, in lat.
24° N., was known to the Portuguese of the time as terra alta (see D. Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo de
Situ Orbis, p. 40). The Rio do Ouro or River of Gold is a basin, extending about 20 miles inland and
four miles wide at its mouth. No river flows into it. The real “River of Gold” is the Senegal or the
Upper Niger.
[30] Castanheda attributes the separation of the vessels to the fog and a storm.
[31] At the southern extremity of Ilha do Sal, in lat. 16° 31´ N., is the Porto de Santa Maria.
[32] S. Jorge da Mina, the famous fort built on the Gold Coast in 1482, by Diogo d’Azambuja, one of
whose captains had been the very Bartholomew Dias who five years afterwards doubled the Cape,
and who now returned to the Mine, having been made its captain, in recognition of his great services.
(See L. Cordeira, Diogo d’Azambuja, Lisbon, 1890, and Barros, edition of 1778, to. I, part 1, p. 271.)

[33] Bombardas, originally catapults, subsequently any piece of ordnance from which stone balls
were thrown. In the north of Europe the term was restricted to mortars. Gama, however, carried
breech-loading guns, with movable cameras or chambers. (See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 226,
note and Introduction.)
[34] São Thiago, the largest of the Cape Verde Islands. The Porto da Praia, within which lies the
Island of Santa Maria (14° 50´ N.), is no doubt the bay referred to in the text.
[35] This date, August 18th, is obviously wrong. Deducting the delay of two days, Vasco da Gama
spent 95 days on his passage from São Thiago to the Bay of St. Helena, the distance being about
1,170 leagues (4,290 miles), his daily progress amounted to 12 leagues or 45 miles. If the dates in the
text were correct, he would have made 12½ leagues daily up to August 18th, and between that date
and the 22nd (allowing for the delay) at least 300 leagues (1,010 miles), which is quite impossible. It
is evident that the second date is wrong, and instead of “the same month”, we ought perhaps to read
“October”. In that case the daily progress, up to October 22nd, would have averaged 10 leagues (34
miles). Thence, to St. Helena Bay, a distance of 370 leagues accomplished in 16 days, the daily
progress would have averaged nearly 23 leagues (78 miles). Of course these are merely rough
approximations, as the course taken by Vasco da Gama and the incidents of this memorable passage
are not known to us. We may mention that modern sailing vessels going from S. Thiago by way of
Sierra Leone and Ascension to the Cape, a distance of 5,410 miles, occupy on an average 49½ days
on the passage, making thus 110 miles daily (58 in crossing from Sierra Leone to Ascension). A ship
going direct (3,770 miles) has performed the passage in 41 days, thus averaging 92 daily. (See
Admiral Fitzroy’s “Passage Tables” in the Meteorological Papers published by the Admiralty in
1858.)
[36] The MS. has Garçõees, a word not to be found in the dictionary, but evidently an augmentative
of garça, a heron. Pimental, in his Arte de Navegar, mentions large birds with dark wings and white
bodies as being met with a hundred leagues to the west of the Cape of Good Hope, which are known
as Gaivotões.—Kopke.
The Gaivota, or gull, however, in no respect resembles a heron.
[37]That is, towards Tristão da Cunha, Gama being at that time 400 miles to the N.N.W. of these
islands.
[38] Kopke supposes that we should read phoca instead of quoqua, but this is not very likely, as lobo
marinho is employed throughout the Rutter to describe the phocæ or seals. Among the animals which
these early navigators must have met with, but which are not mentioned, are porpoises (peixe de
porco) and dolphins (doiradas or gilt-heads).
[39] Lobo marinho, sea-wolf, a term vaguely applied to all species of seals, as also to the sea-
elephant, has been translated throughout as seal.
[40] Golfão, i.e., Zostera nana, which is met with along the coast of South-Western Africa.
[41] A Portuguese fathom, or braça, is equal to 5.76 feet.
[42] This was considerably to the north of St. Helena Bay, which was only reached three days later.
[43] A reference, no doubt, to Pero d’Alenquer, Vasco da Gama’s pilot, who had been with B. Dias
during his memorable voyage round the Cape, as had probably others of this armada.
[44] Now called Berg River.—Kopke.
[45] Castanheda and Goes state that Nicolau Coelho was sent to take the soundings. It is, however,
much more probable that this duty was intrusted to Pero d’Alenquer, who had already doubled the
Cape with Bartholomew Dias, and had touched at several points in its vicinity.—Kopke.

I cannot see how his having been with Dias can have conferred any very special qualification for
taking soundings in a bay which Pero d’Alenquer had never seen before. On subsequent occasions
Coelho seems to have been employed repeatedly upon this duty.
[46] Baço, a vague term, meaning also brown or blackish.
[47] Castanheda, in his first edition (1551), adopted this statement, but subsequently suppressed it. D.
Jeronymo Osorio, Bishop of Silves, in De rebus Emanuelsis, has “pudenta ligneis vaginis includunt.
—Kopke.
The use of such a sheath is universal among the Bantu tribes of Southern Africa, but seems now to be
more honoured in the breach than the observance among the Hottentots, here spoken of. John of
Empoli, who went to India with Afonso de Albuquerque (Ramusio, i), observed such a sheath made
of leather with the hair on, among the Hottentots of the Bay of S. Blas. Leguat (Hakluyt Society’s
edition, 1891, p. 288) found it still in use in 1698.
[48] The shafts of their assegais are made of assegai- or lance-wood (Curtisea faginda) and not of
olive-wood, and even in John of Empoli’s time had iron blades. Their spears for spearing fish, on the
other hand, are tipped with the straight horn of the gemsbuck.
[49] We learn from Barros that Vasco da Gama landed for the purpose of observing the latitude. The
captive was handed over to two ship’s boys, one of whom was a negro, with orders to treat him well.
[50] Çeitil, a copper coin, worth about one-third of a farthing.
[51] We gather from Barros and Goes that Fernão Velloso was granted the desired permission at the
intercession of Paulo da Gama. When Vasco da Gama returned to his vessel, Coelho and some of the
crew were left behind, collecting wood and lobsters. Paulo amused himself by harpooning a whale,
which nearly cost him dearly, for the whale dived, and would have capsized the boat had not the
water been shallow. In the afternoon, when Coelho and his people were returning to the vessels,
Velloso was observed to run down a hill. Vasco da Gama, ever observant, saw this from his ship, and
at once ordered Coelho back, entering himself a boat to join him. Some delay or misunderstanding
occurred, the “negroes” threw stones and discharged arrows, and several men were wounded,
including the captain-major and Gonçalo Alvarez. For further particulars see Stanley’s Vasco da
Gama, p. 46.
[52] The distance is 33 leagues.
[53] Castanheda says that the Cape was doubled on “Wednesday, November 20”, but Wednesday was
the 22nd. Barros says “Tuesday, 20th”, but Tuesday was the 21st. Compare Stanley’s Vasco da
Gama, p. 48.

[54] The actual dimensions of False Bay are about 5 by 5 leagues. The bay is called “Golfo dento.
delle Serre” on the map of Henricus Martellus Germanus, 1489, which illustrates the voyage of B.
Dias (Add. MS. 15760, Brit. Mus.).
[55] This is without the shadow of a doubt Mossel Bay (see plan on map II). It is also most probably
the Bahia de los Vaqueiros of B. Dias, who certainly was here [see below]. Barros refers to it as being
now called S. Braz. Its original name had thus been abandoned in favour of that bestowed by Vasco
da Gama.
[56] The thirteen days are counted from November 25 to December 7, both these days being counted.
According to Castanheda (I, p. 12), the store-ship was burnt.
[57] See note 4, p. 9.
[58] The distance by sea is over 90 leagues, that by land 64. “By sea” is probably a slip of the pen.

[59] The “gora” is the great musical instrument of the Hottentots. It is not a flute or reed-pipe.
[60] This island is still known as “Seal” Island, although its former visitors no longer make their
appearance. The islet lies about half a mile from the land, is only 250 ft. in length and 15 ft. high.
[61] Usually called Sotilicaires by Portuguese writers. They are clearly Cape Penguins.—Kopke
(abridged).
[62] The word used by the author is “padrão”, that is, a stone pillar bearing the arms of Portugal and
an inscription, such as King John first ordered to be set up by his explorers. None of the “pillars” set
up by Vasco da Gama has been recovered, for the “pillar” near Malindi is clearly of later date (see p.
90).
[63] This paragraph is of the greatest importance with reference to the voyage of B. Dias, for Pero
d’Alenquer, one of his companions, is the real authority for these statements. The usual statement that
this pillar was erected on the Ilha da Cruz must henceforth be rejected, as had already been done in
1575, when M. de Mesquita Perestrello made a survey of this coast (see his Report in Pimental’s
Roteiro da Navegação da India Oriental).
The distances given by the author are remarkably correct. From the Cape of Good Hope to Mossel
Bay (São Braz) is 60 leagues, as stated by him. Thence to Santa Cruz is 56 leagues; from Santa Cruz
to the Rio de Infante is 21 leagues.
Santa Cruz is the largest of a group of islands in the western part of Algoa Bay. It is 4 cables in
length, rises to a height of 195 ft., and is nearly all bare rock. There are no springs. The Ilhéos chãos
are readily identified with a cluster of low rocky islets about 7 leagues to the east. The Cape Padrone
of the charts marks the site of the last pillar erected by Dias, and 5 leagues beyond it rises “Ship
Rock,” in the locality where Perestrello claims to have discovered the Penedo das Fontes of Barros
and other writers. Perestrello had, no doubt, in his possession original documents (now lost) which
enabled him to identify the localities named by the early explorers. His substantial agreement with
the author of this Roteiro is most satisfactory.
[64] That is the Rio do Infante, now known as the Great Fish river.
[65] The Agulhas current hereabouts runs at the rate of 1 to 4 knots an hour to the westward.
[66] On Canerio’s map there is a Ponta da Pescaria, to the north of Port Natal.
[67] Equivalent to three-fourths of a pint.
[68] The MS. says January 10th, but Thursday was the 11th.
[69] Hence called “Terra dos Fumos”, or, more correctly, “Mfumos” the “land of petty chiefs”. Dr.
Hamy’s chart of 1502 has the name; Canerio has a “terra thrimias”, an exceptionally unrecognisable
corruption of it; whilst on Ribero’s map (1529) we find the name, although in a slightly corrupted
form (humos). The appellation has nothing to do with either “smoke” (fumo), or “moisture” (humor).
[70] Barros (Dec. I, l. 4, c. 4) tells us that Vasco da Gama entered the Rio dos Reis, by others called
Rio do Cobre, on Twelfth Night (January 6). Goes, on the other hand, confirms the author of the
Roteiro, and there cannot be a doubt that Barros is mistaken. The Rio dos Reis is, indeed, one of the
rivers which enters the bay subsequently called after Lourenço Marques, but discovered, either in
1501 by Sancho de Toar, one of the captains of Cabral’s fleet, or in the following year by Antonio de
Campo.
Dr. Hamy’s Chart has “R. do reys”, Canerio’s “G. de lom raios” (evidently a corrupt rendering of
“Golfo dos or delos Reis”, which thus seems to have been the earliest name bestowed upon what is
now known as Delagoa Bay). The “agoada de bon passa” of Dr. Hamy’s Chart, and the “Rio
d’aguada” of Canerio, between this bay and Cabo das Correntes, is clearly the locality referred to by

the author. Ribero (1529) has a “Rio de la laguna,” a “rio de los reyes”, and further east, an “aguada
de buena paz”. M. de Mesquita Perestrello (1575) places the “Aguada da boa Paz” 15 leagues to the
east of “Rio do Ouro” (the Limpopo), and 43 leagues to the west of Cabo das Correntes. This
position corresponds to that of the Zavora River of Admiralty Chart No. 648, in 34° 25´ E. It was
here that Vasco da Gama cast anchor. The reference to the “swell of the sea” quite precludes the
notion that he entered the well-sheltered Delagoa Bay.
M. Kopke (in a note, Roteiro, p. 147) would place the “Aguada da Boa Gente” between the Lagoa
River and the Limpopo (Inhambane), in 32° 23´ E., and says that this locality is still generally known
as “Aguada da Boa Paz”, but I can find no confirmation of this. Moreover, if this be the “Aguada”,
where, on this barren coast, are we to look for the “Rio do Cobre”? (Compare Stanley’s Vasco da
Gama, p. 66). See Map III.
[71] João dos Santos (Ethiopia Oriental, I. 2, c. 20) already identified this river with the Kiliman
River. Dr. Hamy’s Chart calls it “Rio de bon Signals”, an evident corruption. Barros and Goes both
call it ”Rio dos Bons Signals”, whilst Correa refers to it as Rio da Misericordia, the river of Mercy
(see Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 11). Comp. Map III.
[72] A very involved sentence! Gama arrived off the bar of the Kiliman on January 24, cast anchor,
and sent the smallest of his vessels, the Berrio, within, to take soundings. On the day after, the 25th,
he crossed the bar with the two other vessels.
[73] Almadia, a “dug-out”, properly El Maziyah, ferry-boat (Burton’s Camoens, iv, p. 577.)
[74] Burton (Commentary, p. 408), points out that the “touca” is not a turban, but a kind of cap. Its
shape, however, was not that of the “toque” of our milliners.
[75] From January 24 to February 24, both days included, is thirty-two days.
[76] Barros says they were beached for that purpose.
[77] This disease was evidently scurvy, so fatal to our early navigators. Castanheda (I. c. 4) tells us
that in this time of trouble Paulo da Gama visited the sick night and day, condoled with them, and
freely distributed the medicines which he had brought for his own use.
[78] The Padrão de São Raphael is distinctly marked and named on Dr. Hamy’s and Canerio’s Charts.
No trace of it has ever been discovered.
[79] These are the “Insule primeras” (i.e., Ilhas primeiras) of Dr. Hamy’s and Canerio’s Charts. They
are five in number, and form a chain less than 5 leagues in length. The three southern islands (Silva,
do Fogo, and Crown) form a separate group, and are bare, whilst the two northern islands (Casuarina
and Epidendron) have trees. Gama, apparently, missed the two southernmost islands.
[80] These six days are reckoned from February 24 to March 1.
Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 76-84) says that on the voyage from the river of Mercy to
Moçambique, Davane, a Moor, was taken out of a zambuk. Barros and Goes know nothing of this
incident. Later on (p. 128) we are told that this Davane agreed to accompany the Portuguese as
broker, and that he was finally discharged at Cananor with good testimonials (p. 235). He was
nicknamed “tayyib”, which in Arabic means “good” (p. 132). See Appendix E.
[81] See plan on Map III. See also Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 80.
[82] Arabic, el Nafir, a sort of straight Moorish trumpet or tuba.
[83] They took their visitors for “Turks”, or at all events for Mohammedans. All this changed after
their true character had been discovered.

[84] It appears from this that Vasco da Gama entered the port immediately on his arrival, and took up
a position close to the town.
[85] “Ruivo”, red, in the original. Castanheda, who made use of this Journal, substitutes baço, tawny,
which is equally inapplicable.
[86] That is, Arabic. The “Moors” of the author are, in fact, either pure Arabs (white Moors) or
Swahilis speaking Arabic.
[87] “Aljofar”, cf. Arabic jauhar, johar, a jewel or precious stone (Burton). Aljofar, in Portuguese,
means seed-pearls
[88] Barros says that Fernão Martins was their interpreter.
[89] The notions about the Christianity of India prevailing at that time in Portugal (and among the
earlier navigators) will be referred to elsewhere. We may add that Vasco da Gama was instructed to
find out a mighty sovereign, known as Prester John, said to be a Christian, but the situation of whose
states was very uncertain.—Kopke.
[90] On Prester John, see Zarncke (Abhd. K. Sächs. G. der Wiss., 1876 and 1879), and G. Uzielli
(Boll. della Soc. Africana d’Italia, 1892, viii). Vasco da Gama had no doubt received special
instructions to inquire for that Christian potentate. At one time he was looked for inland from Benin,
but the information received from Pero de Covilhão, whom King John had despatched overland to
India, in 1487, no less than that furnished by Lucas Marcos, an Abyssinian priest, who came to
Lisbon soon after Covilhão’s departure, confirmed the Portuguese in the belief that the “Prester John”
they were in quest of was the Emperor of Ethiopia, whose capital at that time was in Shoa. (See
Covilhão’s narrative, as given by Alvarez, Hakluyt Soc., 1881.)
[91] Barros calls them Abyssinians from the country of Prester John, and says that when they saw the
image of the saint which formed the figure-head of the St. Gabriel, they knelt down and worshipped.
The Abyssinian Christians, whatever their shortcomings, do not worship images, as is the practice of
the Roman Church. These captives, therefore, must have been Indians, as stated by our author.
[92] Barros calls this sheikh Zacoeja (Shah Khwajah?).
[93] Marlota, a short dress of silk or wool worn in Persia and India. (Moura, Vestig. da lingua Arab.,
sub “marlota.”)
[94] A Mozambique matikal (miskal) weighs 4.41346 grammes (Antonio Nunes, O livro dos Pesos,
1554, p. 50, published at Lisbon, 1868), and its value in standard gold would consequently be about
12s.; elsewhere (p. 64) he makes this coin the equivalent of 467 reis, or about 11s. 4d. (see Index,
under Cruzado).
[95] The island of S. Jorge.
[96] Tavolochinha, in the original, is an obsolete word, which from its etymology seems to refer to a
defensive armour presenting a broad surface (tavola). Castanheda, in relating this incident, substitutes
escudo—shield—whilst Goes and Osorio speak of adargas or parmae, that is, bucklers.—Kopke.
[97] Tamiça, lit. “spatry-cord”, popularly known as coir-rope. These “sewn boats” were already in
use when the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea was written, and the town of Rhapta (from [Greek:
rhaptein], to sew) derived its name from them. (See McCrindle, The Commerce and Navigation of the
Erythrean Sea, p. 71).
[98]
“Mats were the wings wherewith they lightly flew,
From certain palm-fronds wove by cunning hand.”
Camoens, Canto I, st. 46.—Burton’s Translation.

[99] The “Genoese needle” is, of course, the mariner’s compass.—According to the “Mohit” of
Admiral Sidi Ali ben Hosein (1554), published by Dr. Bittner and Dr. Tomascheck (Vienna, 1897),
the pilots of the Indian Ocean determined relative latitudes by observing the altitudes of certain stars.
The result was expressed, not in degrees as was done by the scientific astronomers of the day, but in
isbas or “fingers”, each equivalent to 1° 42´ 50´´. The instrument which they used consisted of three
staffs. Two of these were moveable on a hinge, and were directed respectively upon the horizon, and
the star the altitude of which it was desired to determine. A third staff (or an octant) was fixed at the
end of the horizon-staff, and upon it the angle observed could be read off. Vasco da Gama brought
one of these instruments with him to Portugal, but the astronomer of Cabral’s expedition, who had
been instructed to test its qualities, reported unfavourably (Alguns documentos, 1892, p. 122). Yet the
results obtained by means of this instrument by the pilots of the Indian Ocean were very satisfactory,
and the charts prepared by these very practical men were far more correct than the abortions
produced by “scientific” Arab geographers. Parallels (at intervals of one-eighth of an isba) and
meridians were marked upon these charts, and they were superior in this respect to the Portulani of
the Mediterranean pilots. The meridians were probably drawn at intervals of zams, which were equal
to one-eighth isba, or three hours’ sail, or nearly thirteen of our sea-miles. It is quite possible, as
suggested by Dr. Bittner, that these pilots also invented the cross-staff, for balhestilho, the name by
which this instrument became known in Portugal, is more likely to be derived from the Arabic al-
balista (altitude), than from the Latin ballista. Compare also Barros (Dec. I, liv. 4, c. 6), where an
allusion is made to the instrument employed by the pilot who joined Vasco da Gama at Malindi.
Barros says that the instrument consisted of three taboas or plates.
[100] This fruit is the coco-nut.
[101] The sharifs (“nobles”) are the descendants of the Prophet, and although not “priests”, they
enjoy a certain religious rank. Strictly speaking, this title can be claimed only by the head of the
family which descends from the Prophet in a direct line. All others can only claim the title of Saiyid,
Lord. The “white” Moors are, of course, true Arabs.
[102] There are Government tanks now on the island, which are filled by the prisoners of Fort St.
Sebastian.
[103] Agonia, Arabic El Jumbiyah, a crooked poniard, worn in the waist-belt.
[104] Barros calls these captives “Moors”, and the author himself does the same at a later stage of his
Journal (see note, p. 37).
[105] That is S. Jorge, and the small islet of S. Thiago, 1¾ miles to the south.
[106] The text has 30th, but Saturday was the 31st.
[107] These were the Kerimba islands, the southernmost of which is Kiziwa, 12° 35´ S. The
mainland being generally low, will rarely be seen when coasting outside the reefs (Africa Pilot, Part
III, p. 254).

[108] These were the islands off Cabo Delgado, called Ilhas das Cabecas (Cabras?) on Dr. Hamy’s
and Canerio’s maps. None of these, however, is more than nine miles from the mainland.
[109] This island was Quiloa (Kilwa), whose king, at that time, was the most powerful along the
coast, Sofala, the Zambezi, Angoshe and Mozambique being subject to him (Duarto Barbosa, p. 10).
—Kopke.
When Vasco da Gama attempted to put back he had probably reached Ras Tikwiri, 8° 50´ S.
[110] Mafia.—Kopke.
[111] On the homeward voyage, in January 1499, the S. Raphael was burnt at these shoals, which are
described as lying off the town of Tamugata (Mtangata), and this enables us to fix upon the locality
with much certainty. There still is a roadstead or bay called Mtangata, which “the long roll of the
Indian Ocean renders a place of trembling to the coast trader” (Burton, Journal Royal Geographical
Society, 1858, p. 200). A “town” of this name exists no longer, but Burton describes the ruins of what
was once an extensive city near the village of Tongoni.
There are no “mountains” close to the coast corresponding to the “Serras de S. Raphael”, but the
mountains of Usambara, rising 20 to 25 miles inland to an altitude of 3,500 ft., are visible in clear
weather for a distance of 62 miles.
Sir John Kirk writes to me: “The baixas de S. Raphael are undoubtedly the coral reefs of Mtangata;
and the Usambara mountains, with their valleys, steep precipices, and lofty summits would,
especially at that season of the year, be plainly seen from the ships. There can be no doubt as to this
point, as these are the only mountains that approach the coast and form so marked an object from the
sea when the air is clear. They are then visible from the town of Zanzibar.”
[112] This was Pemba, which, owing to its deep bays, appeared to consist of a number of islands. Its
distance from the mainland is only 30 miles (9 leagues), its length 37 miles. The trees of that island
still supply masts for native vessels (Note by Sir J. Kirk).
[113] Zavra or zabra, a dhow, which is a small open vessel, sharp at the stern, with a square sail of
matting.
[114] The Swahili “dress” their vessels at the feast that follows the Ramadan month (Sir J. Kirk), but
Ramadan, of the year of the Hejra 903, began on April 23, 1498, and the Bairam therefore lasted
from May 22-24. These dates are according to the Old Style.
[115] Alcaide, from the Arabic Alkadi, the Judge.
[116] Burton (Camoens, iv, p. 241) suggests that this picture of the Holy Ghost may have been a
figure of Kapot-eshwar, the Hindu pigeon-god and goddess, an incarnation of Shiva and his wife, the
third person of the Hindu Triad.
[117] Trigo tremez, corn that ripens in three months. This, according to a note furnished by Sir John
Kirk, would be sorghum (the “matama” of the Swahili), which is sent in shiploads to Arabia and the
Persian Gulf.
[118] These two “Moors” were undoubtedly two of the four men whom Paulo da Gama had captured
at Moçambique, but whom the author previously described as “Negroes”. Of the two pilots who
escaped, one had been given them by the Sultan of Moçambique, the other must have been the old
Moor who came on board voluntarily, unless one of the men taken by Paulo was a pilot. (See note 1,
p. 31).
[119] Barros (Dec. I, liv. 8, c. 7) says erroneously that this fort was built after Vasco da Gama’s visit.
When the vessel of Sancho de Toar, of the armada of Pedro Alvarez Cabral, was lost near Mombaça,

the Moors succeeded in fishing up seven or eight of her guns. These they placed in this fort, in the
vain hope of being thus enabled to resist the attack of D. Francisco d’Almeida in 1505.—Kopke.
[120] Castanheda (I, c. 10, p. 35) says they waited two days in the hope of being able to secure a pilot
to take them to Calecut. On crossing the bar they were unable to heave up one of the anchors. The
Moors subsequently fished it up and placed it near the royal palace, where D. Francisco d’Almeida
found it when he took the town in 1505.
[121] The author spells Milinde, Milynde, Milingue.
[122] Sir J. Kirk suggests to me that these places are Mtwapa, Takaungu and Kilifi, distorted into
Benapa, Toca-nuguo and Quioniete. “Kioni” is the native name of the village usually called Kilifi.
[123] The ruins of the ancient town of Malindi lie to the south of the modern village of that name,
and are of great extent. They include the remains of a town wall. Persian and Arabic inscriptions have
been discovered, but, with the exception of Vasco da Gama’s pillar, no traces of occupation by the
Portuguese. Malindi Road, or Port Melinda of the Admiralty chart, lies about three miles to the south
of the town, but Vasco da Gama anchored off the town, and not in this sheltered road. The anchorage
is less than half a mile from the town in four fathoms and a half. Comp. Lord Stanley’s Vasco da
Gama, p. 109.
[124] Barros speaks of these Christians as Banyans, while Goes and Castanheda say that these
vessels belonged to merchants from Cranganor, in Malabar.
[125] Correa (p. 113) says that the Moor sent with this message was the Davane already referred to,
and (p. 115) distinguishes him from the Moor who was captured on April 14th.
[126] Balandrau, a surtout worn by the Brothers of Mercy in Portugal.
[127] Lambel, a striped cotton stuff which had a large sale at the beginning of the African trade.—
Herculano.
[128] I am indebted for a photograph of one of these trumpets to Sir John Kirk, who states that the
Royal Trumpet, or Siwa, was peculiar to the cities ruled by the descendants of the Persians of Shiraz,
who settled on this coast in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. They were of ivory, or copper and
wood, and consisted of three pieces. The ivory or copper was sometimes most elaborately carved,
and bore Arabic texts.
[129] We learn from this passage that the “king” referred to by the author was in reality the king’s
son, who acted as regent. He may be supposed to be the Sheikh Wagerage (Wajeraj), who in 1515
wrote a letter to D. Manuel, in which he begged for permission to send annually one vessel to Goa
and to Mozambique. He very humbly (or sarcastically?) addresses the king as the “fountain of the
commerce of all cities and kingdoms, the most equitable of sovereigns, and the enricher of all
people”; when, indeed, the Portuguese had crippled the trade of Malindi, which had received them
with open arms. Another letter addressed to King Manuel was written by “Ali, King of Melinde”, in
1520. Was this “king” the son of Wajeraj, or of the “prince who visited Vasco da Gama on board his
vessel”? F. João de’ Sousa, who publishes these letters (Documentos Arabicos, Lisbon, 1790, pp. 67,
123), with a few comments, only obscures the point, unless indeed Wajeraj the Sheikh and Ali the
Prince be one and the same person.
Cabral met a Sheikh Omar, a brother of the King of Malindi, who was present at Malindi when Vasco
da Gama touched at that place; as also a Sheikh Foteima, an uncle of the king (Barros, Dec. I, liv. 5,
c. 3).
On the ungenerous treatment dealt to the King of Malindi, see D. F. d’Almeida’s letter of 1507
(Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 125).

[130] Of course they looked upon these Romish images and pictures as outlandish representations of
their own gods or idols.
[131] Burton (Camoens, IV, p. 420) suggests that they cried Krishna, the name of the eighth
Incarnation of Vishnu, the second person of the Hindu Trinity, and the most popular of Indian gods.
Sir J. Kirk knows of no word resembling “Krist” likely to have been called out by these Indians.
[132] This pilot was a native of Gujarat, whom Goes (c. 38), Barros (Dec. I, liv. 4, c. 6), and Faria y
Sousa call Malema Cana, or Canaqua. Malema is a corruption of Mallim, master or teacher, whilst
Canaqua (Kanaka), is the name of his caste. It is also used for sailing master.
[133] The island in question is Kilwa. The information furnished by this Malindi pilot is scarcely
more correct than that previously obtained from the Moors (see note 3, p. 32).
[134] Alcochete, a town on the left bank of the estuary of the Tagus, above Lisbon.
[135] From April 15 to 23 is nine days.
[136] The “Bay” is the Arabian Sea, which the “Strait” of Bab el Mandeb joins to the Red Sea.
Cambay (Khambhat), in Gujarat, when the Portuguese first came to India, was one of the most
flourishing marts of commerce. The silting up of the Gulf accounts, in a large measure, for its
commercial decline since then.
[137] The MS. says 17th, but Friday was the 18th.
[138] From April 24 to May 18, both days inclusive, is twenty-five days; the African coast was
within sight for several days.
[139] Mount Eli (Dely) was probably the land first sighted, a conspicuous hill forming a promontory
about 16 miles to the north of Cananor, and named thus from the Cardamoms which are largely
exported from this part of Malabar, and are called Ela in Sanscrit (Yule’s Marco Polo, ii, p. 321).
[140] The rains in Malabar begin about April or May, and continue until September or October. They
are synchronous with the S.W. monsoon, and are heaviest in June, July, and August. The annual
rainfall exceeds 150 inches!
[141] Cotta Point, or Cape Kadalur, the “Monte Formosa”, of the Portuguese, 15 miles N.N.W. of
Calecut.
[142] Castanheda and Barros call this place Capocate. It was seven miles N.N.W. of Calecut, at the
mouth of the Elatur River.
[143] The MS. says “abaixo”, below, with reference no doubt to the latitude, which is less than that
of Calecut.
[144] Pandaramy (Pandarani) is Batuta’s Fandarain. Barros calls it Pandarane. It is identical with
Pantharini Kollam, the northern Kollam or Quillan, and boasts one of the nine original mosques built
on the Malabar coast by Malik Ibn Dinar. It is 14 miles N.N.W. of Calecut. The author of the MS.
elsewhere spells Pandaramy and Pandarin.
[145] According to Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 159), his name was João Nunez. See
Appendix E.
[146] One of the “Moors” is frequently referred to as “Monçaide”. See Appendix E.
[147] Castanheda (I, c. 15) retails the conversation which this Moor is supposed to have had with
Gama on board ship, and says that the captain-major was much pleased with his offers of service.
[148] The visitors thus became at once acquainted with the various castes constituting the population
of Calecut, including the Nairs, or fighting caste of Malabar, who eat meat (which shows a servile

origin), but wear the thread of the Dwija (twice-born), rank next to the Brahmans, and practise
polyandry; and the turbulent Moplah, who are descendants of Arab fathers and native women. These
latter are the “native” Moors.
[149] Goes (I, c. 39) and Castanheda (I, c. 15) say that he was at Panane, a coast town, 28 miles to
the south of Calecut.
[150] One of these messengers was Fernão Martins. They were accompanied by Monçaide
(Castanheda, I, c. 15).
[151] Off Calecut there are banks and reefs which may endanger the safety of a ship, but the
anchorage in the roadstead within them is perfectly safe.
[152] Bale in the Arabic Wali, governor. Alcaide, in Portuguese, has this same meaning. Barros and
Castanheda give this official the title of “Catual” (Kot-wal, governor of a fort, in Hindustani). He was
the civil intendant of the Rajah and head of the police. Correa calls him gosil, or guozil (pron. Wozil),
a corruption, probably, of the Arabic wazir, minister.
[153] Among the thirteen men were Diogo Dias, João de Sá, Gonçalo Pirez, Alvaro Velho, Alvaro de
Braga, João de Setubal, João de Palha, and six others, whose names are not recorded. Paulo da Gama
and Coelho were left in charge of the vessels, with orders to sail at once for Portugal should any
disaster happen to their chief. Coelho was, moreover, ordered to await his chief’s return in the boats.
See Appendix E.
[154] This river is the Elatur. See Map IV.
[155] Burton (Goa, p. 191) says that even now the usual ferry-boat consists of a platform of planks
lashed to two canoes and usually railed round.
[156] This “church” was, of course, a pagoda or temple. The high pillar in front of it is used for
suspending the flag which indicates the commencement of the Temple festival. It is of wood, but
usually covered with copper or silver. The cock, which surmounts it, is the symbol of the War-god
Subraumainar. The smaller pillar supports the coco-oil lamps during the festival.—Rev. J. J. Jaus.
[157] Corucheo, which literally means spire or minaret; but further on the author calls this sanctuary
a chapel, capella. Goes (c. 40) calls it a “round” chapel.
[158] Goes (c. 40) says that the four priests alone entered this sanctuary, and, pointing to the image,
said “Maria, Maria”, upon which the natives prostrated themselves, whilst the Portuguese knelt, in
adoration of the Virgin. Burton suggests that this was an image of Gauri, the ”White Goddess”, whilst
Charton (III, p. 246) suggests Maha Maja and her son Shakya. Our illustration is taken from E. Moor,
The Hindu Pantheon, new edition by Rev. W. O. Simpson (Madras, 1864) Plate xxxv. It represents
Krishna and his mother Devaki. When Kansa (Devaki’s brother) heard of his birth, he ordered all
newly-born infants to be slain. The trays with animals and fruit are supposed to symbolise Krishna’s
power over the animal and vegetable kingdoms. On the low table are placed food, poison, and amrita,
symbolising life, death, and immortality, as also a small triangular die denoting trinity in unity.
The Rev. J. Jacob Jaus, of the Basel Mission at Calicut, informs me that there is a local deity called
Māri, or Māriamma, much dreaded as the goddess of small-pox, and highly venerated. Amma, in
Malayalam, means mother.
[159] These bells are struck by the Brahmans when they enter the temple, but must not be touched by
people of inferior castes.
[160] It is just possible that some of the Portuguese doubted whether these Hindu Gods and images
represented the saints of their own churches. Castanheda (i, p. 57) says that when João de Sá knelt
down by the side of Vasco da Gama, he said: “If these be devils, I worship the true God”; at which

his chief smiled. But however this may be, it is equally true that the reports furnished by the heads of
the expedition described these Hindus as Christians, and that the king believed them to be so (see
Appendix A).
[161] The “quafees” are, of course, Brahman priests. The Rev. J. J. Jaus suggests kāz (Arabic),
meaning “judge”.
[162] The “white earth” is a mixture of dust, cow-dung, sacrificial ashes, sandal wood, etc., cemented
in rice-water (see Belnos, The Sundya or Daily Prayer of the Brahmans, Lond., 1851).
[163] For a description of this palace, see Travels of Pietro della Valle (Hakluyt Society, 1892), pp.
367-377.
[164] Goes says that knives were used.
[165] For Correa’s elaborate but quite untrustworthy narrative of this audience, see Stanley’s Vasco
da Gama, pp. 193-6.
[166] Atambor, a corruption of the Arabic tambur, the betel-nut. It is the fruit of Areca Catechu, and
is universally chewed throughout India, the Indian Archipelago and Southern China. Its juice
discolours the teeth, but is said to make the breath sweet, and to be conducive to health. “Erva”
(herb) is quite inapplicable to this fruit. Usually it is cut up into four slices, which are wrapped up in
a leaf of Betel-pepper (Piper Betle), and chewed with an admixture of lime and catechu.
[167] These fruits were the Jack (Artocarpus integrifolia) and bananas.
[168] According to Goes (c. 41), Gama was attended by his interpreter, Fernão Martins, whilst the
king was attended by the head Brahman, his betel carrier, and his factor (veador da fazenda), who, he
said, were persons in his confidence.
[169] These are, of course, the letters referred to by Barros and other historians, which were given to
Gama when he left Portugal. Correa’s story, that Vasco and his brother Paulo concocted the letters
whilst off Calecut, and forged the king’s signature, is therefore quite incredible. Nor is Gama made to
say in the “Roteiro” that he had been sent with a fleet of fifty ships, and that the voyage took two
years (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 168, 173). The “grand” Vasco has many sins to answer for, and
we ought not, without good proof, to fasten upon him the charge of forgery. As to truthfulness, that
seems not to have been a strong point with the diplomatists of that age.
[170] That is, it was about 10 p.m.
[171] This was done to afford shelter until the rain should have ceased.
[172] It is still the practice in Calecut to ride horses without a saddle, and no slight seems therefore to
have been intended.
[173] According to G. Correa’s not very credible narrative, the captain slept at the factory, which had
been established previously to the audience of which an account has just been given.
[174] Lambel, striped cloth, see p. 41, note 3.
[175] As a matter of fact, Vasco da Gama was very poorly provided with suitable merchandise, as
may be seen from the king’s letter printed in the Appendix.
[176] Barros writes Çamorij; Correa, Samori and Çamorin, and others Zamorin. It is a title; according
to some a corrupt reading of Tamuri Rajah, Tamuri being the name of the most exalted family of the
Nair caste, whilst others derive it from “Samudriya Rajah”, that is, “King of the Coast” (see G. P.
Badger’s Varthema, pp. lxii and I, 37).
[177] Whom others call his “veador”, that is butler or comptroller of the household.

[178] That is, a man of Guzerat.
[179] “Bisarma” in the original. Herculano accepts the definition of Spelmann ([v]. Ducange, sub
bisarma).
[180] These men were Diogo Dias, as factor, and Alvaro de Braga as his assistant (Castanheda, I, 74.)
[181] The fanão of Calecut (according to Nunes, O Livro dos Pesos, 1554) is worth 25-5/7 reis, or
7.45d. Three hundred reis of the coinage of 1485 were of the value of 7s. 7d., taking the gold cruzado
at 9s. 8d.
[182] The bahar at Calecut is equivalent to 208.16 kilogrammes (Nunes, O Livro dos Pesos.)
[183] The xerafin at Calecut is worth about 7s. 5d.; the sum demanded therefore amounted to £223.
[184] Can this be Ormuz?
[185] This Moor was Monçaide, elsewhere more accurately referred to as “a Moor of Tunis”. See
Appendix E.
[186] The author says nineteen; but it appears from what precedes that there were only eighteen in
all. See Appendix E.
[187] The author says Wednesday, but that day was the 22nd.
[188] A reference to the 600 xerafins.
[189] The “tenor”, not the literal phraseology; and hence the absence of the complimentary verbiage
so usual with Orientals must not be interpreted as an intentional insult to the King of Portugal.
[190] This pillar was dedicated to S. Gabriel. There exists apparently no record of its having actually
been set up by the king, as promised.
[191] This “Moor of Tunis”, according to Castanheda (I, c. 24, p. 8), was Bontaibe (Monçaide),
concerning whom see Appendix E.
[192] As a matter of fact, it was only a portion of what had been landed, and Cabral was instructed to
demand payment from the Samorin for what had not been returned (Alguns documentos, p. 98).
[193] Five of these men of Calecut were actually taken to Lisbon. They were restored to their country
by Cabral (see Alguns documentos, p. 97).
[194] Castanheda calls these “barcas”, tones. The “tone” is a rowing boat, the planks of which are
“sewn” together.
[195] A note by the copyist says:—“The author has omitted to tell us how these weapons were
made.”
[196] The country of Prester John (Abyssinia) was known as “Lower India.”
[197] Ceylon cinnamon still enjoys this pre-eminence, its cultivation in other parts of the world not
having hitherto been attended with success. The “cinnamon”, or cassia, found in Malabar is of very
inferior quality.
[198] The Moluccas, and more especially Amboīna, are the true home of the clove, the cultivation of
which is now carried on widely in different parts of the world.
[199] Should be Arabia.
[200] The “Grand Sultan” is, of course, the Circassian Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.
[201] Prof. Kopke rashly identifies this place with Suez, but M. F. Denis points out that it must be
Tor.

[202] The cruzado was a Portuguese gold coin worth about 9s. 8d.; 600,000 cruzados amounted thus
to £290,000.
[203] This Cidadym (called Cadadin in the Commentaries of Afonso Dalbuquerque, Hakluyt Society,
1875, i, p. 202) can be identified with Sultan Muhammed ben Azhar ed-din ben Ali ben Abu Bekr
ben Sa’d ed din, of Harar, who ruled 1487-1520 (see Paulitschke, Harar, p. 506).
[204] Castanheda (I, c. 25, p. 84) says that Monçaide wrote this letter, in which Vasco da Gama
apologised for having carried off the Malabaris; explained that he had done so in order that they
might bear witness to the discoveries he had made; and said that he would have left a factor behind
him if he had not been afraid that the Moors would kill him. He expressed a hope that ultimately
friendly relations would be established to their mutual advantage. Goes (c. 43), who also gives a
version of this letter, says the king was much pleased with it, and read it to his wives and the relatives
of the kidnapped men.
[205] Burton (Camoens) identifies Compia with Cananor, which, on the partition of the dominions of
Cherman Perumal was included in the kingdom of the Chirrakal Rajahs. From João de Sousa
(Documentos Arabicos, p. 80) we learn that the king with whom Vasco da Gama made a treaty in
1502 was called Cotelery. Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 224) gives a circumstantial account
of Vasco da Gama’s transactions with the king of Cananor during this first voyage. Neither Goes nor
Barros knows anything about these events.
[206] These are the Netrani or Pigeon Islands (Ilhas dos Pombos), in lat. 14° 1´ N., the largest being
about half a mile in length, and rising to a height of 300 feet.
[207] The Anjediva or “Five Islands” lie close to the coast in 14° 45´ N., and about 40 miles to the
south of Goa. The largest of these is not quite a mile in length. It rises boldly from the sea, but a
beach on its northern side affords facilities for landing. D. Francisco de Almeida built a fort there in
1505, but it was demolished seven months afterwards. The existing fortifications were erected by
order of Francisco de Tavora, Conde d’Alvar, in 1682. (See A. Lopez Mendes, A India Portugueza, ii,
1886, p. 209, with map.)
[208] The author says 19th, but Thursday was the 20th.
[209] These branches and leaves were carried to Portugal, as we learn from the king’s letter (see
Appendix A), but they had most certainly not been taken from true cinnamon trees, for only an
inferior cassia is found in that part of India.
[210] Barros and Goes say that the leader of these vessels was a pirate named Timoja, whose head-
quarters were at Onor. He subsequently rendered valuable services to the Portuguese. (See Stanley’s
Vasco da Gama, p. 244.)
[211] This island was the largest of the Anjediva.
[212] Three lingams, emblems of the generative power?
[213] The fusta is a galley or undecked rowing boat, with one mast. For an illustration see
Linschoten’s Itinerarium ofte Schip-vaert, etc.
[214] Tambaram, in Malayalam, has merely the meaning of lord or master.
[215] This man subsequently became known as Gaspar da Gama. See Appendix E.
[216] The Sabayo or Governor of Goa.
[217] The original MS. uses the verb “perguntar”, that is, to question; but Barros says that he was
tortured, and this would account for his attempting to make himself understood by “gestures”, when
previously he had spoken very fluently, and had been understood.

[218] September 24 to October 5 is twelve days, both days inclusive.
[219] From October 5 to January 2.
[220] At Mombaça.
[221] The MS. says “February” but this is an obvious mistake.
[222] From Moçambique to Madagascar is only 60 leagues; 300 leagues would carry a ship as far as
the Seychelles.
[223] Mukhdisho of the Arabs, Madisha of the Somal, in lat. 5° N. The town was founded by Arabs,
perhaps on the site of a more ancient city, in 907, and attained the height of its prosperity under the
dynasty of the El Mdofer, which was expelled by the Abgal Somal, probably in the sixteenth century.
[224] Whether merely as a sign of rejoicing or in wanton enmity is not clear.
[225] Pate is an island in 26° 5´ S., with a town of the same name.
[226] The author says the 9th, but Monday was the 7th. The stay of five days extended from the 7th
to the 11th.
[227] “Vasco da Gama’s Pillar”, now to be seen at Malindi, close to the town (to the left of it as seen
from the sea) and at the extremity of a narrow rocky promontory of only a few feet in height, is
certainly not the padrão erected by the great navigator, though it probably occupies its site. When
Cabral arrived at Malindi in 1501 the pillar had been removed, it having proved a “stone of offence”
to the people of Mombaça. The king, however, had stowed it away carefully, and had even caused the
royal arms to be repainted. João de Sá, who had been with Gama, identified it.
The existing pillar, of which we give an illustration, is built up of concrete made of coral rock and
lime. It rises to a height of 16 feet, and is surmounted by a cross, bearing on the sea side the arms of
Portugal, but no inscription. It is not the pillar put up at the request of Vasco da Gama, but Sir John
Kirk feels sure that the cross is very ancient. The latter is of sandstone, and evidently of local make,
whilst the other crosses discovered hitherto are of limestone or marble. See Introduction.
[228] This ambassador returned with Cabral in 1501.
[229] The figure-head of the S. Raphael was taken away by Vasco da Gama and treated as an
heirloom by the family, several members of which carried it with them on their travels. It ultimately
found a resting-place in the church of Vidigueira, founded by D. Francisco da Gama. When the
church was desecrated in 1840, the figure was removed to another church, where Texeira de Aragão
discovered it in 1853. It is now in the church at Belem. The figure is carved in oak, and about 24
inches in height (see Texeira de Aragão, in the Boletim of the Lisbon Geographical Society, VI,
1886, p. 621.)
[230] The author says five, but from January 13 to January 27, both included, is fifteen days.
[231] Barros says Tangata. It is Mtangata (see note, p. 33).
[232] Zanzibar is only twenty miles (six leagues) from the mainland.
[233] Twenty-seven days carry us from March 20 to April 16.
[234] The author here evidently refers to tornadoes or violent gusts of wind peculiar to the west coast
of Africa, and more frequent at the beginning and termination of the rainy season. They generally
blow off shore, their approach being indicated by an arch of clouds, from which lightning and
thunder constantly proceed. At Sierra Leone the rainy season begins at the end of April (see Africa
Pilot, 1893, Part II, p. 10).

[235] The Rio Grande of the Portuguese is an arm of the sea from five to thirteen miles in breadth,
called Orango Channel on the Admiralty Chart. It lies between the mainland and the Bissagos
islands.
[236] This church was demolished in 1646; the place of burial can no longer be identified.
[237] See Jose da Silva Mendes Leal (Transactions of Lisbon Academy, 1871), and Texeira de
Aragão (Boletim Lisbon Geogr. Soc., VI, 1886, p. 583).
[238] This trustworthy man can have been no other than the “Moor” who was carried off from
Anjediva (see Appendix E), and who, having been baptised, became known as Gaspar da Gama.
[239] The frazila of Calecut is equal to 10.4 kilogr.; the fanão is worth 25-5/7 reis of 1555 (about
7.45d.) and the cruzado is worth 9s. 8d. But if 3 cruzados are accepted as the equivalent of 50 fanãos,
the value of a fanão would be 6.96d.
[240] I have little doubt that instead of Baqua we ought to read Bezoar. In D. Manuel’s letter to the
King of Castile, the royal writer states that among the presents which the King of Cochin gave to
Vasco da Gama (in 1502) there was a stone as large as a filbert, which was taken out of the head of a
very rare animal, called Burgoldof, and which proved a specific against all poisons.
The Rev. J. J. Jaus, of the Basel Mission, informs me that the bezoar, in Malayalam, is called
Gōrōchanam, which means “out of the cow’s brain”, go signifying cow. It still sells for its weight in
silver, and is highly prized as a medicine and antidote. My esteemed correspondent is unable to
enlighten me as to the meaning of burgoldof.
Bishop J. M. Speechly, in a letter addressed to me, suggests that “Baqua” (Bakwa) may be a
corruption of “Bagawat”, a common name for Shiva, and the “Stone of Baqua” a dedication to him.
The Arabic name of the bezoar (badesar) has the meaning of antidote. This “stone” is a calcareous
concretion found in the intestines of some animals, more especially goats and antelopes, but also in
those of monkeys. It varies in size from a pea to a fist. All through the Middle Ages, this oriental
bezoar was looked upon as a most potent medicine against poisons, and it is still highly valued in the
East. The Bezoar of Goa (Gowa) is an artificial product made up of musk, ambergris, and gum of
tragacanth.
[241] The pequy (pik) is about 27 inches.
[242] This, according to Prof. Kopke, is meant for Crangalor, the modern Kodungalar in Cochin. The
frazila there is equal to 8.314 kilo., and the fanão, when buying pepper, is valued at 22-8/19 reis
(6.5d.).
[243] It is the Coilum of Marco Polo, the Columbum of Friar Jordanus (1330), the modern Quilon. It
is one of the principal seats of the Syrian Christians. The Portuguese built a fort there in 1503.
[244] Marco Polo’s Cael has been satisfactorily identified by Dr. Caldwell with the decayed village
of Kayal (Palaya Kayal), near the mouth of the Tamrapanni river; whilst our author’s Caell is the
Callegrande of Barros, now represented by Kayal Patnam, some distance to the south of that river.
(Comp. Yule’s Marco Polo, ii, p. 307.) The pearl fisheries are near it, on the coast of Ceylon.
[245] According to Prof. Kopke, it extended from Point Calymere to the Godavari.
[246] Barbosa (p. 214) says that “the best sapphires are found in Ceylon,” as also “many rubies,” but
inferior to those of Pegu.
[247] The silk referred to by the author, as also by Barbosa and Barros, is the produce of the silk
cotton tree (Bombax malabaricum) and is much inferior in quality to true silk.—Kopke.

[248] This, according to Prof. Kopke and Yule (Marco Polo, ii, p. 222), is Siam, the old capital of
which (Ayuthia) is called Sornau or Xarnau by Varthema, Giovanni d’Empoli, and Mendez Pinto.
[249] Benzoin (Gum-Benjamin) is the produce of Styrax Benzoin, found in Siam, Cochin-China,
Java and Sumatra, that of Siam being accounted the best.
[250] The odoriferous aloe-wood of the author is the wood of Aquilaria Agallocha (Roxb.), found in
Further India, and more especially in Chamba. Its Sanscrit name, Aguru, was corrupted into Agila
and Aquila; and hence its Latin and Portuguese name of “Eaglewood.” (Yule’s Marco Polo, ii, p.
215.)
[251] Prof. Kopke identifies Tenacar with Tenasserim, a great emporium at one time, through which
the products of Siam reached the outer world.
[252] Brazil-wood first became known in Europe at the beginning of the fourteenth century under the
designation of Lignum presillum. The most esteemed kind of this dye-wood is known as Sapan wood
(Caesalpinia sappan), found more especially in Siam.
[253] This is no doubt Bengal, the capital of which was Chatigam (Chittagong).
[254] Cloves were originally found only in the Moluccas; the true nutmeg (Myristica moschata)
comes from the same islands and those further to the east. Tin was—and still is—a native product.
The silk and porcelain came from China.
[255] The frazila was equal to 10.51 kilo., the bahar was 210.22 kilo. The cruzado was a silver coin
and was valued at 360 reis (8s. 8d.).
[256] Barbosa (p. 186) gives a better account of musk, which really only reaches Pegu from the
interior. It is the secretion of Moschus moschiferus, an animal resembling a deer, which lives in the
mountains lying between the Amur river, China and India. The male has a pouch between the navel
and the genitals which holds about 50 grammes of this secretion.
[257] Burma, above Pegu, is still famous for its rubies.
[258] This is evidently a duplicate account of what has been said above about Bemgala.
[259] Prof. Kopke would identify this with Timor, where there is a fort called Camanaça. This,
however, is quite inadmissible, for there are no elephants in Timor. I am more inclined to think that
“Conimata” stands for Sumatra, a small state in North Sumatra, adjoining Pedir. The voyage to Pater
and Conimata is stated to occupy the same time, viz., fifty days. If this be so, there is a duplication of
Sumatra as well as of Bengal.
[260] This seems to be Pedir, a small kingdom in Northern Sumatra, which had a pagan king when
Varthema was there, although many of the inhabitants were Mohammedans. Rhubarb (Rheum
officinale) is, however, only to be found in W. and N.W. China and in Tibet. The lacca tree is a native
of Sumatra.
[261] Say £966.
[262] In calculating these values we have assumed the quintal to be equivalent to 100 pounds, the
bahar = 460 pounds, the ratel = 1 pound. The cruzado is taken at 9s. 8d.
It is interesting to compare these prices with those given by Duarte Barbosa for Calecut. Assuming
the fanão to be worth 6.5d. they were as follows per pound:—Cinnamon, 4.3d.; cloves, 7.2d. to 8.3d.;
pepper, 2.9d. to 3.3d.; ginger, 0.5d. to 0.9d.; nutmeg, 3.0d. to 3.36d.; lac, 3.6d. to 5.2d.; rhubarb, 9s.
9d. to 11s.; musk, £15 11s.; aloe-wood, 24s. 7d.; frankincense, 0.9d. to 1.5d. A purchaser of one
pound of each of these commodities would have paid at Calecut £17 13s. 6d., and would have
received at Alexandria £57 12s. 8d., an increase of 210 per cent. (See Lord Stanley of Alderley’s
version of Duarte Barbosa, Hakluyt Society, 1866, p. 219.)

Present Retail Prices in London are as follows (per pound): cinnamon, 1s. 8d.; cloves, 1s. 6d.; pepper,
7½d. to 10½d.; ginger, 10d. to 1s. 4d.; nutmeg, 2s. 6d. to 3s.; lac, 8d.; rhubarb, 8s. to 12s.; musk,
£117.
[263] The words placed within brackets have been kindly furnished me by the Rt. Rev. J. M.
Speechly, D.D., who was Bishop of Travancore, 1879-89. In a letter to me he remarks that, “at the
sea-port towns generally the worst Malayālam is spoken. Many Malayālam words are the same in
Tamil, and in this list there are some which a Tamil scholar would be able to point out. Also, it is not
unlikely that there are some Arabic words Malayālamised in the list. The anonymous author’s list is a
very interesting one, and his journal, I have no doubt, will be so also. The ‘ne’ which ends so many
words may stand for ‘nī’, ‘thou’. Sometimes it is only an expressive ending”.
[264] She died in childbed on August 24, 1498; and Dom Manuel, having been granted a
dispensation from the Pope, married her sister, Doña Maria, on August 24, 1500, the second
anniversary of his first wife’s death.
[265] Collecção de S. Vicente, t. III, fol. 513; XIV, fol. 1.
[266] Collecção de S. Vicente, t. XIV, fol. 1.
[267] Gaspar da Gama certainly came in the S. Gabriel (see Sernigi’s letter, Appendix B).
[268] The immediate business of Pedro Correa was to get Pope Alexander VI to grant permission to
the Commanders and Knights of the Orders of Christ and Aviz to marry. In this he succeeded (Goes,
Chronica do D. Manuel, I, c. 15).
[269] “e proveito nosso.” This, in Alguns Documentos, is rendered “e principalemente nosso”. It is
just possible that the King meant to say that the “service of God” was his principal object, as it had
been that of his predecessors.
[270] “By these same discoverers” (Alguns Documentos).
[271] This reference to “boughs and leaves” reminds us of what the author of the Journal says about
gathering the branches and leaves of supposed cinnamon trees, p. 81.
[272] Alguns Documentos adds: “nor such as suited”, that is, suited the requirements of the Indian
market.
[273] This paragraph only appears in Alguns Documentos.
[274] The King, or his advisers, thus at once identified Ptolemy’s Taprobane with Ceylon, whilst
Ortelius, the professional geographer, seventy-six years later, still assigns that name to Sumatra (see
his map Indiae Orientalis, in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum).
[275] Monçaide and Gaspar da Gama, see Appendix E.
[276] A Bull of Alexander VI, dated Rome 1497, kalendas of June, allows King Manuel and his
successors to keep possession of the countries conquered from the infidels, without prejudice to any
prior claims of other Christian powers, and prohibits all kings, not possessing such claims, from
disturbing King Manuel in the enjoyment of these rights. Finally, the Pope requires the King to
establish the Christian religion in all the countries he may conquer (quoted from Alguns Documentos,
p. 90).
[277] Canestrini, Delle relazioni tra Firenze e il Portugallo (Archivo Storico Italiano, Florence,
1846, App. III).
[278] Falcão, Livro de toda a fazenda, 1612, p. 144.
[279] See Parte III, Fonti italiane, vol. i, p. 215; vol. ii, p. 113.

[280] Delle Navigationi e Viaggi, i, Venice, 1550.
[281] Vita e lettere d’ Amerigo Vespucci, Firenze, 1745, p. L.
[282] Roteiro, 2º ed., pp. 124-7.
[283] Markham, The Letters of Amerigo Vespucci. London (Hakluyt Society), 1894, p. x.
[284] Il Milione di Marco Polo, Firenze, 1828, i, p. liii.
[285] Sechs-und-zwanzigster Jahresbericht des historichen Kreisvereins von Schwaben, Augsburg,
1861, pp. 113-170.
[286] Peutinger studied at Padua and other cities of Italy, 1483-6. He is supposed to have paid a
flying visit to Rome early in the sixteenth century. His brother-in-law, Christopher Welser, was at that
time resident there, and perhaps the abstract was made by him.
[287] Sailing vessels going from the Cape Verde Islands to Lisbon frequently shape their course by
the Azores. See p. 94.
[288] Translated from Codex 1910 in the Riccardian Library at Florence.
[289] Literally, “whalers”, or “vessels having the shape of a whale”, called “barinels” by the
Portuguese, and not caravels.
[290] According to the Paesi novamente retrovati and Ramusio, there were 180, but Peutinger says
there were 118, of whom 55 died and 60 came back.
[291] According to the Paesi, etc., July 11th.
[292] This was the vessel commanded by Nicolau Coelho.
[293] “Molto amalado”. The Paesi says “amallato a morte”, sick unto death, the very expression used
by Peutinger.
[294] Ramusio says 1,300 leagues, but even this is a gross exaggeration. If we allow 17½ leagues to a
degree, the new land actually discovered beyond the Rio de Infante amounted to 860 leagues, viz.,
800 leagues along the African coast and 60 leagues in India.
[295] From the Cape to the Rio dos Bons Signaes is only 460 leagues.
[296] The Rio dos Bons Signaes, or Kiliman River.
[297] Peutinger says: “if they would stay till new moon, when the waters would grow small, they
would give them gold in plenty in exchange for their money or merchandise.”
The Zambezi begins to subside in the beginning of April. Vasco da Gama left on February 25th. This
is a very satisfactory confirmation of the writer’s information.
[298] From the Kiliman River (Zambezi) to Melinde is 330 leagues.
[299] The writer must have misunderstood his informants. Gaspar da Gama is evidently referred to.
See Appendix E.
[300] From Melinde to Calecut is about 2,340 miles, or 682 leagues.
[301] This sentence is omitted by Ramusio.
[302] The “Bab el mandeb”.
[303] The Strait of Romania is the Bosporus, ancient cartographers (Ortelius and others) very
properly writing “Romania” for the Turkish “Rum-ili”, instead of the corrupt “Roumelia” of most
modern authors.

[304] The “Sinus Arabicus” of Pliny (vi, 28) is a gulf of the Erythrean, identical with our Red Sea.
[305] Peutinger adds that the people of Calecut were neither black nor white; and that they were
Christians, although bad ones.
[306] Peutinger says: “churches and convents.”
[307] Peutinger’s version of this sentence is as follows: “Large and small are baptized in a state of
nudity, once every three years, in a river near the town.”
[308] The writer evidently refers to the roads in Portugal, but Ramusio says “as in Italy”.
[309] Ramusio: “Esquires, doorkeepers and chamberlains.”
[310] Ramusio and Peutinger say: “by about fifty persons.”
[311] Peutinger says the couch “was hung round (umhangen) with blackish-green velvet, and had a
white coverlet, all worked with gold, and above it a sumptuous curtain. The walls were hung with
fine velvet of various colours.”
[312] Peutinger: “the king had the captain asked what he wanted or sought.”
[313] Ramusio: “carried on in their vessels.”
[314] Peutinger translates: “Irrkirche,” i.e., heterodox church.
[315] Industria: The word in Peutinger’s letter, “gescheidigkeit”, or intelligence, seems more
appropriate.
[316] Ramusio adds here “partly”. The island is Ceylon.
[317] Ramusio adds: “and not by Christians, and the Moors are the masters (signori).”
[318] The Italian original has “stapola”.
[319] Babylonia of Egypt. Ramusio omits “Babylonia”. Peutinger has Alkeiro (Cairo).
[320] The xerafins of Portuguese authors, worth about 7s. 10d. (at Calecut).
[321] The Paesi and Ramusio add “zetanini velutati”; and Ramusio introduces also “damasked Lucca
cloth”, in place of “scarlet cloth”. Prof. Dalla Vedova suggests that “cetanini” may stand for “setini”,
a silken stuff of narrow width used in decorating the columns of churches. Bandini says it means
“zendado, a kind of cloth”. Lucca was famous in the sixteenth century for its silks and woollen
cloths.
[322] Tin, from Malacca.
[323] The Paesi, Ramusio, and Peutinger say May 19. According to the “Roteiro”, Vasco da Gama
anchored off Capua on May 20.
[324] Ramusio says 200 tons; Peutinger 1,200.
[325] This sentence is omitted by Ramusio; but Peutinger says “many of these vessels are drowned in
the sea”.
[326] Ramusio says: “are of curious build”.
[327] Ramusio adds: “but with wooden bolts”, but omits the allusion to the loadstone.
Peutinger locates the “calamito or loadstone” near Ceylon. The myth of magnetic mountains and
islands originated in India or China, and was widely credited during the Middle Ages. It was believed
that the magnet pulled out the iron bolts and nails of passing ships, which then fell to pieces and were
lost.

[328] Ramusio adds: “The sea rises and falls alternately every six hours, as elsewhere, and
sometimes between 500 and 700 vessels may be seen there—a great sight”.
[329] Peutinger adds that the cantar is equal to 250 pounds, when in fact it is only a hundredweight.
Five cantars were equal to 1 bahar = 208 kilo = 460 pounds.
[330] Ramusio and Peutinger say that ginger is worth only one half. They say nothing about
cinnamon.
[331] Ramusio says nothing about “calking”. The writer seems to look upon “ballasting” and
“calking” as identical operations. Or has he made use of a Portuguese term (alastrar), the meaning of
which he did not know? Or are we to understand that lac was employed as a substitute for pitch?
[332] Ramusio and Peutinger say that they also take corals in payment, and this seems more
probable.
[333] “Balasci” are the pink rubies named after the country of their origin, Badakhshi, which was
usually known, according to Ibn Batuta, as Al-balaksh (Yule’s Marco Polo, I, p. 169; Heyd,
Geschichte des Levante-Handels, 1879, I, p. 582). Badakhshi is Badakhshan, and not a kingdom near
Pegu and Bengal, as supposed by Duarte Barbosa (Hakluyt Society’s edition, 1866, p. 212).
[334] The latter part of this sentence is omitted by Ramusio.
[335] Bab el Mandeb.
[336] The Rio dos Bons Signaes, or Zambezi.
[337] Malvasia (Malmsey) is a luscious Greek wine, named after the town of Napoli di Malvasia, in
Laconia. The vines were transplanted to Crete, Madeira, and other places.
[338] Ramusio says: “they had a beard between the nose and the mouth, such as is worn by the
courtiers at Constantinople, who call it a moustache.”
[339] Ramusio adds: “of Melinde”. The “pilot” here referred to was Gaspar da Gama. See Appendix
E.
[340] This information was apparently never asked for. The “strangers” were undoubtedly Chinese.
Marco Polo (Yule, I, p. lxvi, and II, pp. 197, 327) already mentions their four-masted vessels. In his
time, Chinese vessels regularly visited the west coast of India. The vizor in the guise of a mask,
distinctly points to the Chinese, and the sword attached to a spear is a Chinese weapon. Up to the
introduction of pig-tails by the Manju, in 1644, the Chinese wore their hair long. A punitive fleet of
sixty-two Chinese vessels was sent to Ceylon in 1401. In 1417 an embassy was sent from Mu-ku-tu-
su (Magadoxo) to China (Bretschneider, On the Knowledge possessed by the Ancient Chinese of the
Arabs, London, 1871), and in 1431 Chinese junks might be seen at Jedda (Hirth, Verhandlungen,
Berlin Geographical Society, 1889, p. 46).
During the second half of the fifteenth century the intercourse between China and Malabar seems to
have become rare, until at last it ceased altogether (Richthofen, China, I, p. 10, 5).
Ramusio contemptuously suppresses the writer’s speculations about these curious strangers being
Germans or Russians.
[341] Less than a penny.
[342] “di mezo sapore”. Ramusio has “tutte dolci”.
[343] “Poponi”: Ramusio says “pomi”, apples.
[344] Or rather Buddha.
[345] Ramusio has suppressed this passage.

[346] Ramusio adds: “And bread made of corn and other things of the kind”.
[347] Professor Dalla Vedova suggests that the “pescotto” of the original may be the “Pesce persico”
(Perca fluviatilis), or perch. Ramusio, in his edition of 1563, however, has “pescietti”, which means
“small fishes” (sardines).
[348] Lenguazzi: perhaps the modern “linguattole”, or sole.
[349] Bisuccho, in Portuguese Besugo, the sea-bream (Sparus cantabricus).
[350] The words within brackets are only to be found in the Paesi.
[351] Ramusio adds: “There are also horses as with us, and they are highly valued by Christians and
Moors alike”. Peutinger and the Paesi say the same.
[352] Ramusio says: “silk-stuffs and bocassins”. He does not mention the colours.
[353] Peutinger adds: “They are decent, quiet (fromm) people at his court, and dress according to
their condition and rank (adel)”.
[354] Jubbi (Arabic) is a long coat or caftan; the balandrau (Portuguese) is a surtout worn by the
Brothers of Mercy in Portugal. Ramusio calls the latter garments palascani.
[355] The actual distance is about 10,500 nautical miles, or 3,060 Portuguese leagues.
[356] In his second letter the writer recurs to this subject.
[357] These are the Laccadive islands, fourteen in number: but, as their name implies (Laksha Dwipa
= the Hundred Thousand Islands), supposed to be much more numerous. Mr. Sneyd’s Codex says
there were 11,000 of these islands. The Maldives were known as Narikela Dwipa.
[358] That is the West Indies!
[359] Ramusio adds: “through vessels which go to Mecca”.
[360] Ramusio adds: “benzoin”.
[361] It should be 160.
[362] Ramusio adds: “many sapphires and other jewels”. He then says: ”Pepper and ginger grow
around the said city of Calicut”. The paragraph is worded obscurely, but my version seems to be
preferable. Sapphires are mentioned at the end of the letter.
[363] Ramusio does not mention almonds, nor does Peutinger.
[364] This expression proves that the letter was not written at one sitting, but by degrees.
[365] Ramusio has much condensed the whole of this paragraph, and seems to have misunderstood
the writer. The statement that provisions were sent from Melinde to Calecut can hardly be accepted,
and it was perhaps for this reason that Ramusio suppressed the name of that town. The country
around Calecut is certainly sandy, but it is not as sterile as the bald statement of the writer would lead
one to believe, for the city lies in the midst of extensive groves of palm, mango, and jack trees.
Peutinger thus summarises this passage: “The country around Kalekut is mostly sand, and neither
corn nor any other fruit grows there. These are imported by sea.”
[366] Should be Chalechut, as Bandini prints it.
[367] The last two paragraphs have been omitted by Ramusio.
[368] Translated from the Paesi novamente retrovati, Vicenza, 1507.
[369] The true history of the Jewish colony in Malabar has been written by Claudius Buchanan
(Christian Researches in Asia, Edinburgh, 1812). Ritter (Erdkunde, v, pp. 595-601) gives an excellent

summary.
[370] Gaspar da Gama was quite right. There were no Christians at Calecut when Vasco da Gama
first visited that town, nor are there many now. Cochin, and not Calecut, was the chief seat of the
Syrian Christians of Malabar. They were an offshoot of the church of Persia, which recognised the
Nestorian patriarch of Babylon (Mosul). After the condemnation of their dogmas by the Council of
Ephesus (431) they sought a refuge in distant countries. After 1599 many of them recognised the
Pope, but after the ascendency of the Dutch (since 1653) some turned Protestants, whilst others
recognised the Jacobite bishop of Antioch as their head. Popularly they are known as S. Thomas
Christians, although there exists not the slightest evidence of that Apostle ever having visited India.
Their worship is of a simple nature: they admit no images to their churches, reject the doctrine of
transubstantiation, and allow their priests to marry (G. Milne Rae, The Syrian Church in India, 1892;
Percy Badger, The Nestorians and their Ritual, 1852; German, Die Kirche der Thomaschristen,
1877).
[371] Ramusio says: “excepting those called Jacobites and those of Prester John.”
[372] Ramusio says forty days.
[373] Ramusio adds: “towards the Gulf of Persia”.
[374] Ramusio says 300 leagues. The real distance of Bahrein is about 550 leagues. There may be
some confusion with the Manar pearl fishery.
[375] Varthema (p. 95) and Duarte Barbosa (p. 37) refer to the pearl fishery of the Bahrein islands.
They both describe the islanders as Mohammedans. Mr. Bent (Journal Royal Geographical Society,
xii, 1890) visited the islands in 1889, and states that there is a good supply of water. Indeed, a river
such as is described in the letter only exists some 250 miles away.
[376] King Manuel was better advised (see p. 115, note).
[377] Ramusio says: “is frightened”.
[378] These “anchors”, according to Varthema (p. 153), consist of a block of marble, which has two
ropes attached to it. On the African coast a box fitted with stones is used for the same purpose.
[379] The next expedition was that sent out under Pedralvarez Cabral, who left Lisbon in March,
1500, with thirteen vessels.
[380] In Book VIII of his Natural History.
[381] This last paragraph is not found in the Paesi novamente retrovati, and is taken from Ramusio.
[382] This paragraph is rather puzzling. July 10th, 1499, was the date of Coelho’s arrival. Of the four
vessels, two are correctly stated to have been burnt, though not near Cape Verde, namely, the store
ship of 110 tons, and one of the vessels of 90 tons (the S. Raphael). Coelho brought home the small
vessel of 50 tons, and the “captain” himself is stated to have returned in the remaining vessel of 90
tons.
[383] The Cape Verde islands.
[384] Grão or gran (Portuguese), kermes-grain, anciently scarlet, is not mentioned by Ramusio.
[385] Rosebeeren (Roseberries) seems to stand for Rose mallus, or Rossamalha, an aromatic resin
containing benzoic acid, yielded by the majestic Rasamala tree (Altingia excelsa) of Java, where it is
used as a substitute for benzoin.
[386] I need hardly direct the reader’s attention to the fact that the fustas of the Sabayo were fought
after Vasco’s return from Calecut, and that he visited neither Cochin nor Cananor in the course of this
first voyage.

[387] A MS. in the Torre do Tombo quoted by Texeira de Aragão (Boletim, VI, 1886, p. 580),
ornamented with the coloured coats of arms of the Counts of Vidigueira, and extending to 1641,
seems to be identical in several respects with the MS. from which the above is quoted. The
concluding portion, beginning with “returned to this kingdom”, is taken word for word from the
earlier Jornal. Vasco da Gama is stated to have gone in the S. Raphael, whilst Paulo’s vessel, the S.
Gabriel, is said to have been destroyed on the homeward voyage near Cabo de S. Vicente.
[388] Paulo da Gama came back in this vessel, his own having been burnt by order of Vasco da
Gama, off Tangáta. [Note by the author.]
[389] Pavia, a small town twenty miles to the north of Evora.
[390] The 7th of April was a Saturday (see p. 34).
[391] The preceding dates agree with those in the Journal, but the anchorage, two leagues from
Calecut (see p. 48) was only reached on May 20th, and the stay at or off Calecut was certainly much
longer than the seventy-four days allowed by Rezende. In fact, seventy-four days would only carry us
from May 20th to August 1st.
[392] That is, the mouth of the Tagus.
[393] A sailing vessel occasionally propelled by oars.
[394] Henrique Lopes de Mendonça, Estudos sobre navios Portuguezes, Lisbon (Ac. Real), 1892, p.
58.
[395] A pilot, Fernando Rodriques Berrio, resided at Lagos in 1502, and there were other members of
the same family (Varnhagen).
[396] Goes, Chronica do Rei D. Emanuel, 1790, I, p. 10.
[397] Only their type, for the legend below N. Coelho’s ship (“which they broke up”) shows that
these are not portraits of the actual vessels, but fancy sketches. Coelho’s vessel was the first to return
to Lisbon; it was the store-ship which was broken up.
[398] Obras de Luiz de Camões, VI.
[399] Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 26.
[400] Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis, Lisbon, 1892, p. 99.
[401] Esmeraldo, p. 99.
[402] A ton register is of a capacity of 100 cubic feet; a ton measurement is usually assumed to have
a capacity of 40 cubic feet. Hence 400 tons measurement would be equivalent to 160 tons register,
instead of 250 to 300.
[403] Le construzione navali (Raccolta Colombiana), Rome, 1893, p. 76.
[404] The palmo de goa was equal to 293 m.m., and the tonel consequently measured 2.42 cubic
metres or 85 cubic feet. “Goa” has nothing to do either with agoa, or with the town of that name in
India, but is a corruption of “gouê”, a measure anciently used by shipbuilders in the Mediterranean
(see Lopez de Mendonça, loc. cit., p. 118).
[405] Os Navios de Vasco da Gama, Lisbon, June, 1892.
[406] Noticia sobre e Não S. Gabriel, Lisbon, August, 1892.
[407] Captain Braz d’Oliveira gives the following dimensions: length, 106 ft.; keel, 54.5 ft.; beam, 20
ft.; draught, aft, 10.5 ft.; depth, 18 ft.

[408] This consists in multiplying length of keel, breadth and depth, and dividing by thirty. The result
is expressed in botte.
[409] See J. de Barros, Dec. I, l. vi, c. 3.
[410] Barros and Castanheda, in addition to bombards, mention spin-gards (wall-pieces) and one-
pounder matchlocks. Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama) says that the ships, or some of them, in
Vasco da Gama’s second voyage were armed with six heavy guns below, four smaller guns and four
falconets on deck, and several swivel guns. The caravels, though only manned by thirty men, carried
four heavy guns below, six falconets and twelve swivel guns.
[411] Note by Sir Clements R. Markham.
[412] D. Diogo Ortiz de Vilhegas was a native of Calçadinha, in Leon, and came to Portugal as
father-confessor and spiritual director of that “excellent lady”, D. Joanna. King Manuel held him in
high respect, and appointed him Bishop of Tangier in 1491. Jointly with Masters Rodriguez, the
physician, and Jose Vizinho, he is responsible for reporting adversely on the bold projects of
Columbus. In 1500, he was transferred to the See of Ceuta, and, in 1505, to that of Vizeu. He never
resided in his African dioceses. When Gama took leave of the King at Montemór ó novo, Vilhegas is
said to have celebrated Mass. He died in 1519 at Almeirim.—(Paiva Manso, Historia Ecclesiastica,
Lisbon, 1872, I, pp. 40, 47, 62.)
[413] Pero de Covilhão and Affonso de Paiva were despatched from Santarem in 1487 to spy out the
countries of the east. Covilhão, in the course of his extensive travels, visited Hormuz, Calecut, and
the east coast of Africa as far as Sofala. He ultimately reached the court of Prester John, and was
never again allowed to leave it. These travellers, too, received a map and instructions from D. Diogo
de Vilhegas. The best account of Covilhão’s adventures is that furnished by Alvarez, c. 103 (see Lord
Stanley’s translation, published by the Hakluyt Society).
[414] Lucas Marcos visited Rome and Lisbon. The information furnished by him included a
vocabulary.—(Barros, Da Asia, Dec. I, l. iii, c. 5.)
[415] Abraham ben Samuel Zacuto was professor of astronomy and mathematics in the University of
Salamanca when King John II called him to Portugal in 1492, and appointed him Astronomer Royal.
He is the author of Ephemerides, originally written in Hebrew, a Latin translation of which, by José
Vizinho, one of his pupils, was first printed in 1496—on the eve of Vasco da Gama’s departure—
although there can be no doubt that these useful tables previously circulated in MS. José Vizinho is
perhaps identical with the physician José whom King John had charged, jointly with Master Rodrigo,
to prepare tables of the declination of the sun, which would enable navigators to determine their
latitude after they had lost sight of the Pole star. Rudolf Wolf (Geschichte der Astronomie, p. 97)
credits Regiomontanus with having produced the first set of “practical” tables for the use of mariners.
He does not even once mention Zacuto in his history, and states that the tables of the great German
astronomer were those made use of by Dias and Vasco da Gama. As the Ephemerides of
Regiomontanus were printed in 1474, they naturally became more widely known than those of
Zacuto, which only circulated in MS., and they were, perhaps, brought to Portugal by Martin
Behaim. It cannot, however, be doubted that the tables which Vasco da Gama took with him were
those of Zacuto.
For the contents of the first printed edition of Zacuto’s Almanach Perpetuum, see Antonio Ribeiro
dos Santos in Memorias de Litteratura Portugueza, 2 edição, VIII, p. 46; for later reprints of the
Tables of the Declination of the Sun, see Luciano Cordeira in the Boletim of the Lisbon Geographical
Society, 1883, p. 163.
[416] See Hellmann, in Zeitschrift für Erdkunde, 1897. The Roteiros of João de Castro, containing
these observations, were published at Lisbon, 1833 and 1882.

[417] The description of this proposed series is of historical interest (see Alguns documentos, 1892, p.
516).
[418] See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 73 and 144. The “Sphere” was a device bestowed upon D.
Manuel by King João II. A coin called an “Esphera de Ouro” was coined in Portuguese India. M.B.
Lopez Fernandes (Memoria das moedas, Lisbon, 1856, p. 121) had such a coin in his possession. It
had the device on the face, and a royal crown with the word MEA on the obverse. Manuel de Faria
(Noticias de Portugal, Disc. IV, § 31) thinks that MEA stands for “Mine”, meaning that the whole
sphere was Manuel’s; but Fernandes is inclined to think that it stands for MEIA, that is, “Half”. The
coin in his collection had an intrinsic value of about six shillings.
The Pelican was the device of King João II. It may have been on the padrãos erected by Dias, but has
not been discovered on those of Cão.
[419] See Texeira de Aragão (Boletim, VI, 1886, p. 562).
[420] See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 38, 73, 94, 96.
[421] According to J. de Escalante de Mendoso (1575), quoted by D’Albertis, loc. cit., p. 84.
[422] In quoting authorities I refer to the following editions:—João de Barros, Da Asia, Lisbon,
1788; Castanheda, Historia da India, Lisbon, 1833; Manuel de Faria y Sousa, Asia Portuguesa,
Lisbon, 1666; Gaspar Correa, Lendas da India, Lisbon, 1858-64; Damião de Goes, Chronica do Rei
D. Manuel, 1790.
[423] If Correa (I, p. 656) can be trusted, he still had a wife at Cochin in 1506. Sernigi (see p. 136)
credits him with a wife and children at Calecut.
[424] Barros, Dec. I, IV, c. 1; Goes, 1, c. 23; Castanheda, I, c. 2.
[425] Correa gives a circumstantial account of the embarkation in the King’s presence, but the
description of the paintings which were to have been executed by the King’s order in illustration of
the discovery and “conquest” of India, shows very conclusively that the King was not there (Alguns
documentos, p. 516).
[426] This, without a doubt, is the correct date. The author of our “Journal”, Barros, Goes,
Castanheda, and Faria y Sousa, they all agree in this. Sernigi gives July 9th; Correa fixes upon March
25th as the day of departure.
We may say, once for all, that the dates given in the “Journal” may confidently be accepted as
correct, allowing for a few lapsi calami (or errors of the copyist), which can fortunately be rectified
in nearly every instance, as the Author names the day of the week, and often even the name of the
Saint to whom the day is dedicated.

[427] This date is doubtful. See p. 3, note 3. The wrong date is not August 18th, but August 22nd.
[428] The variation being about 19° E., according to João de Castro, the true course would have been
nearly S. by E.
[429] See p. 4, note 1.
[430] See Admiralty “Chart showing the tracks of sailing vessels with auxiliary steam power”; the
valuable track-charts by Capt. A. Schück in the Jahresbericht of the Hamburg Geographical Society,
for 1874; Dr. G. Schott, “Die Verkehrswege” in Zeitschrift für Erdkunde, 1895, with maps; the sailing
directories of all ages since Duarte Pacheco wrote his Esmeraldo in 1505.
[431] According to Barros, Bartholemeu Dias kept in his company until he took the direction of
Mina.
[432] See, for instance, The Voyage of François Leguat, by Capt. Pasfield Oliver (Hakluyt Society,
1891), i, p. 25.
[433] Modern sailing vessels do much better. The passage from São Thiago to the Cape by way of
Trinidad (5,140 miles) is made on an average in forty-six days, being a daily run of 125 miles, as
compared with 54 miles daily, with which we have credited Vasco da Gama (see the Table at the end
of this Appendix).
[434] One league of Columbus = 4 Italian miles = 3.38 nautical miles.
[435] In note 3, p. 3, we have assumed a somewhat shorter course, but after due consideration we
now give the preference to the track laid down upon our chart. On an old map of Africa, by H. Moll,
a “tract” passing to the east of Ascension and St. Helena is recommended as “a good course of sailing
from Great Britain to the East Indies in the Spring and Fall”. What would Admiral Wharton say to
this?
[436] These islands are distinctly shown on the Cantino Chart, but unfortunately not named. They are
not, however, the Ys. Tebas of Juan de la Cosa, as is supposed by the Editor of Spruner’s Historical
Atlas, for the chart of the Spanish pilot which contains this name was completed before Cabral’s
return. If we can credit a statement of Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 825), who quotes Gaspar
da Gama as his authority, Cabral also discovered Tristão da Cunha. He certainly must have been very
near these islands when several of his vessels foundered.
[437] King Manuel, in his letter of 1505, to King Ferdinand of Castile (“Centenario do
descobrimento da America”, Lisbon, 1892), says that João da Nova sailed to the Terra de Santa Cruz
(Brazil), and thence to the Cape. He does not mention Ascension (Conceiçao). This, however, is not
conclusive, for Kings, unlike Popes, are not infallible. Barros, Goes, and Galvão are our authorities
for the discovery of the island of Concepçao in 8° S.
[438] There is no doubt that the island referred to by Thome Lopes (see Ramusio) as being 330
leagues from the Ilha dos Papagaios (Brazil), 775 leagues from the Ilha da Boa Vista (Cape Verdes),
and 850 leagues from the Cape, is the island now known as Trinidad. This island, on early Portuguese
charts, is called Ascenção menor.
[439] If the distance given by Giovanni da Empoli, who writes as an eye-witness, can be trusted, this
must be the Ascenção menor (Trinidad), and not the island discovered by João da Nova, which is
only 400 leagues from Cape Verde.
[440] On Canerio’s chart St. Helena’s Bay is placed 32° 30´ S., the true latitude being 32° 40´ S.
Cantino, whose outline is far more correct places the Bay in 31° S.
[441] See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, p. 48. Compare Introduction, p. xviii.

[442] See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 62, 67, 270.
[443] The History of the Portuguese during the Reign of Emmanuel, London, 1752, 1, p. 48.
[444] Roteiro, first edition, p. 143.
[445] For a discussion of these sites, see p. 18, note.
[446] Africa Pilot, iii, p. 241.
[447] Vasco da Gama thus took 24 days to cross from Melinde to India. Cabral, João da Nova,
Estevão da Gama and Affonso de Albuquerque effected this passage in from 15 to 18 days. They
crossed in August, when the S.-W. monsoon blows freshly.
[448] The Discoveries of the World (Hakluyt Society), p. 93.
[449] These “Flats” are a submerged coral reef lying between 12° 30´ and 13° 40´ N. The native
name is Maniyal Par.
[450] According to the author of Add. MS. 20901 (British Museum), Vasco da Gama “cast anchor in
front of the most noble and rich city of Calecut on May 22”. The date of this MS. is about 1516.
[451] On page 80, note 2, we have identified the island upon which this padrão was placed with
Pigeon Island, 14° 1´, on the ground of its answering better to the description given by the author of
the Roteiro; but we see reasons for accepting the general opinion that one of the islands off Mulpy
(perhaps Coco Nut Island) must be meant, although none of these islets is more than a mile from the
coast, instead of two leagues. Barros (Dec. 1, l. iv, c. ii.) locates the Ilhéos de Santa Maria between
Bacanor and Baticala.
[452] Cabral, on his homeward voyage in 1501, reached Lisbon from Cape Verde in twenty days, but
Juan Sebastian del Cano, in the Victoria, took fifty-seven days to reach San Lucar from the Cape
Verde Islands.
[453] In converting legoas into nautical miles we have assumed 100 legoas to be the equivalent of
338 miles. See League in Index and Glossary.
[454] Or thirty miles, if we exclude the five days wasted in a vain effort to stem the Agulhas current
(see p. 15).
[455] No account is taken of the four days lost in an attempt to sail north (see p. 28).
[456] This includes a delay of fifteen (?five) days when burning the S. Raphael.
[457] Charts on a larger scale, but of a later date, are available, and enable us to trace the physical
features of the coast, but their nomenclature is not always that of the original discoverers. Nor are we
so fortunate as to possess such full descriptions of the coast as are to be found in the “Africa Pilot”,
for the Esmeraldo de Situ Orbis (1505) of the famous Duarte Pacheco Pereira stops short at the Rio
de Infante; whilst works such as Linschoten’s Itinerarium ofte Schipvaert, belong either to a much
later epoch, or are of too general a nature to prove of use when attempting to identify the more
obscure place-names. I think it was Admiral Ignacio da Costa Quintella, the author of the Annaes da
marinha Portugueza, who regretted that the task of writing the history of Portuguese exploration
should have devolved almost exclusively upon landsmen, who neglected to give satisfactory accounts
of the routes followed by the early navigators. This regret we fully share.
[458] See, for instance, A. Mori, in Atti IIo Congresso Geogr. Italiana, Rome, 1895, who describes
maps by him in a “Ptolemy” in the Biblioteca Nazionale at Florence.
[459] The late Dr. Kohl published a facsimile of this map in the Zeitschrift für Erdkunde, I, 1856, but
it is not very accurate. That portion of the map which lies between the Guinea islands and Dias’s

furthest accompanies my Paper on “Cão, Dias and Behaim”, in the Geographical Journal.
[460] A legend (near the southern tropic and on the meridian of Lisbon) refers to Santa Cruz as “ysla
descubierta por portugal”.
[461] There are flags at Abaran, c. etiopico and quinonico.
[462] A fine facsimile of this map was published at Madrid, in 1892, by Antonio Cánovas Vallego
and Prof. Traynor, together with a biographical sketch of Juan de la Cosa by Antonio Vasáno.
[463] A. Galvano, The Discoveries of the World, London (Hakluyt Society), 1862, p. 98; and The
Letters of Vespucci, translated by Sir C. R. Markham, ib. 1894.
[464] This carries us almost to Hawaii.
[465] The words “questo avemo visto”, to the south of Moçambique, point to the use of an original
sailing chart.
[466] Reproduced in Sir Clements R. Markham’s Journal of Christopher Columbus, London, 1893,
where also see Cantino’s letters.
[467] Die topographischen Capitel des Indischen Seespiegels Mohit, von Dr. M. Bittner, Vienna,
1897, with thirty maps by Dr. Tomaschek.
[468] Even Ptolemy seems to have been in possession of some of these Indian sailing charts, and Dr.
Tomaschek suggests that the monstrous size of his Taprobana, or Ceylon, is due to his having
mistaken the horizontal lines crossing these charts for parallels drawn at intervals of a degree.
[469] Africa to the north of Mozambique measures 28° across on Canerio’s chart, and 25° on
Cantino’s, the actual breadth being 26°.
[470] Le Portulan de Nicolas de Canerio (Bulletin de la Soc. de Géogr. de Lyon, 1890).
[471] Geographie du Moyen Age, ii, p. 143.
[472] In Nordenskiöld’s Atlas will be found facsimiles of these maps.
[473] Instead of a full translation of the two documents on this subject, which are printed as an
appendix to the original edition of the Roteiro, we have given abstracts of all the available documents
bearing upon it. Most of these will be found in extenso in Teixeira de Aragão’s Vasco da Gama e a
Vidigueira (Boletim, Lisbon Geogr. Soc., 1886, pp. 541-702); Luciano Cordeiro’s De come e quando
foi feito Conde Vasco da Gama (Boletim, 1892, pp. 257-303); and Cordeiro’s O Premio da
Descoberta, Lisbon, 1897.
[474] The original document bestowing this title is not available, but the King makes use of it in his
Order of Nov. 19th, 1501.
[475] Compare Document 18 at end of this Appendix.
[476] See also Documents 10 and 11.
[477] Peragallo, Carta de El-Rei D. Manuel ao Rei Catholico, Lisbon, 1892, p. 89. Leonardo Masser
describes the Admiral as being ill-tempered and unreasonable, and as exhibiting but little gratitude in
return for the favours conferred upon him by the King.
[478] Peragallo, loc. cit., p. 92. The highest incomes were enjoyed by the Duke of Coimbra (16,000
cruz.), the Duke of Bragança (16,000 cruz.), the Bishop of Evora (12,000 cruz.), the Marquis of Villa
Real and the Archbishop of Lisbon (10,000 cruz. each).
[479] Cordeiro, Boletim, 1892, p. 285.
[480] Quoted by teixeira de Aragão, p. 572, from a document in the Torre do Tombo.

[481] teixeira de Aragão, p. 573.
[482] This document was first printed as an Appendix to the second edition of the Roteiro, and has
since been published as an Appendix to Lord Stanley of Alderley’s Vasco da Gama, and in Alguns
Documentos, p. 127. Its provisions were confirmed in favour of D. Francisco da Gama by King John
III, May 4th, 1526 (Cordeiro, O Premio da Descoberta, pp. 48-55.
[483] In 1434 (not 1433) Gil Eanes doubled Cape Bojador.
[484] In 1482 Diogo Cão discovered the Congo. We ought evidently to read 1488, for the Congo is
only 1,240 leagues from Lisbon, whilst the 1,885 leagues actually carry us to the Rio do Infante. The
name is thus spelt in this document as if the river had been named in honour of Prince Henry, and not
after João Infante, the companion of Dias.
[485] Published in extenso in the 2nd edition of the Roteiro, p. 175.
[486] Departure from Lisbon, February 10, 1502; return, September 1, 1503.
[487] About £900. The King had this gold converted into a “custodia”, which he presented to the
church of Belem.
[488] Cordeiro, Boletim, 1892, p. 287.
[489] Teixeira de Aragão, p. 675.
[490] Leonardo da Chá Maser calls him “discreet and experienced, although quite illiterate” (see
Peragallo, Carta de El-Rei D. Manuel, Lisbon, 1892, p. 89).
[491] This Gama was the third son of the first Vasco, and consequently an uncle of the Admiral. He
was Comptroller of the Revenues (“casa da fazenda”) of the Order.
[492] Cordeiro, Boletim, 1892, p. 287.
[493] A town on the Tejo, 20 miles above Lisbon.
[494] Cordeiro, Boletim, 1892, p. 288. This Alvaró was confirmed by King John, June 17, 1522
(Cordeiro, O Premio da Descoberta, p. 45).
[495] Cordeiro, O Premio da Descoberta, p. 46.
[496] Roteiro, Appendice, p. 175.
[497] Niza, a town in the district of Portalegre, about 100 miles to the N.E. of Lisbon. When the 5th
Count da Gama was raised to the dignity of a “Marquis” in 1648, he took his title from this town.
[498] Cordeiro, Boletim, 1892, p. 289.
[499] Cordeiro, Boletim, 1892, p. 292.
[500] Cordeiro, Boletim, 1892, pp. 278, 291.
[501] Cordeiro, pp. 274, 295.
[502] Cordeiro, Boletim, p. 295.
[503] Cordeiro, p. 280.
[504] Cordeiro, O Premio da Descoberta, p. 46.
[505] Cordeiro, p. 302.

INDEX AND GLOSSARY.
Açoutado, ilha do (Kiziwa, 12° 35´ S., 400° 40´ E., Map III), 32, 218
Adarga (Arabic el darakah);
according to Jubinal (Armeria Real, Madrid, Plate 3), a short spear with a
target-like handguard, and a dagger projecting at right angles;
compare Burton’s Camoens, xiv, p. 571.
Affonso, Martin, interpreter, 12, 17, 176;
Boa Gente, 17
“Africa Pilot,” quoted, 32, 93, 197
Agonia (Arabic El Jumbiyeh) a crooked dagger worn in the waist, waist-belt, 30
Agostinho, Cabe de, Brazil (8° S., 35° W.), 205
Agulhas, Cabo das (34° 50´ S., 20° E., Map II), 168, 169, 215
Agulhas current, xviii, 15, 195
Ailly, Pierre d’ (b. 1350, d. 1419), xvii
Albertis, E. A. D’, quoted 161, 174
Albuquerque, Affonso de (Governor of India, 1509-15), 179, 191
Alcacer do Sal, Portugal (38° 20´ N., 8° 30´ W.), 159
Alcaide (Arabic Al Kadi), a judge, 35
In Portuguese it means the governor of a province, town, or castle.
Alcaide-mór governor in chief;
Alcaideria, the district or office of an alcaide.
Alcochete (38° 46´ N., 80° 57´ W.), town, Portugal, 46
Alenquer, Pero d’, 175;
at S. Helena Bay, 5;
at the Cape, 9;
Cross Island, 14
Alexander VI, Pope (1492-1503), 115
Alexandria, Egypt, 78
Algoa Bay (33° 50´ S., 26° E., Map II), 15, 221
Aljofar (from Arabic Jauhar or Gohar i.e., “Jewel”). In Portuguese it means seed-
pearls.
Alliacus, see Ailly, Pierre d’.
Almadia (Arabic El Maziyah), a ferry-boat, dug-out, 20

Almanach perpetuum, 167
Almeida, D. Francisco de (Viceroy of India, 1505-9);
at Mombaça, 38, 39;
at Malindi, 44;
at Anjediva, 80
Almoxarife (Arabic), a receiver of customs or taxes.
Almude, a measure of capacity, holding 29½ pints.
Aloes, 99, 104, 213
Alvares, Gonçalo, master of the S. Gabriel, 176.
Alvarez, Francisco (Chaplain of Portuguese mission in Abyssinia, 1520-27), 24, 167
Ambergris, 135, 213, 219
Ameixoeira, João de, 177
Anafil (Arabic El Nafir), a sort of trumpet, 22, 42
Anchovies, 92
Andaman Islands (12° N., 93° E., Maps I and VI), 220, 214 L.
Anjediva Islands (14° 45´ N., 74° 5´ E., Map IV), 80, 200
Antonio, Nicoláo, quoted, xxv
Arabian Sea, 46, 87, 123, 130, 135, 198, 200
Aragão, Texeira de, quoted, xxi, 91, 94, 95, 111, 112, 147, 148, 173, 175, 176, 178,
225
Ascension Island, or Conçeicão (80° S., 14° 10´ E., Map I), 190, 191
Ascençao menor, or Trinidad (20° 20´ S., 29° 20´ W., Map I), 191
Astrolabes, 167
Atambur, or Betel-nut, 56, 96

Badger, Rev. G. P., quoted, 61, 138
Bahar, a weight, at Calcutta equal to 268.16 kilo = 459 pounds. It was divided into 20
farazolas (farzilas) of 100 fens each, and roughly accepted as equal to 4 quintals.
Bahrein islands, Persian Gulf (26° N., 50° 30´ E., Map I), 139
Balandrau, a coat, 41
Balasci (rubies), 130
Baldelli Boni, quoted, 121, 179
Bale (Arabic Wale), governor, 51
Baltasar, a Moor of Calecut, 181
Bananas, 57
Bandini. A., quoted, 120

Baqua, stone of (bezoar), 96
Barbosa, Duarte, quoted, 32, 98, 99, 100, 103, 130, 139
Barca, a term vaguely applied by the author to sailing boats, where others make use
of the more definite terms of “fusta”, or “zambuk”.
Barros, João de, quoted, xx, 8, 9, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 31, 38, 40, 45, 48, 51, 92, 94,
98, 99, 157, 161, 164, 169, 175, 178, 179, 180
Bastos, E. Pinto, 161
Bastos, José, xxxvi, 118
Bees, 6
Behaim, Martin, (b. 1459, d. 1506), 165
Belnos, quoted, 54
Benapa, Mtapwa (3° 56´ S., 39° 40´ E., Map III), 40
Bengal (24° N., 100° E, Map I), 100, 101, 220
Bent, Theodore, quoted, 139
Benzoin, 99, 101, 103, 213
Berchet, Prof. Guglielmo, xxxvi, 119, 157, 158
“Berrio”, enters Rio dos bons Signaes, 19;
at Mombaça, 37;
at Anjediva, 84
Berrio, name of a pilot, 158
Betel-nut (atambur), 56, 96
Bezoar (Stone of Baqua), 96
Biagi, Prof., xxxvi, 119
Birch, Dr. Walter de Gray, quoted, 145, 146, 149
Bisarma, a two-edged battle-axe, 67
Bittner, Dr. M., quoted, 208, 216
Bombards, 3, 164
Boni, see Baldelli.
Bons signaes, Rio dos (18° S., 37° E., Map III), 19, 124, 146, 173, 196
Braça, or fathom, as used by seamen, equal to 8 palmas or 5.76 feet
Braga, Alvaro de, clerk of the Berrio, 67, 176
Bragança, Duke of, agrees to sell Vidigueira, 228
Braz, see São Braz.
Brazil wood, 99, 102, 104
Breech-loaders, 164
Bretschneider, E., quoted, 132

Buchanan, Claudius, quoted, 137
Bull of Alexander VI (1497), 115
Burton, Sir R., quoted, 20, 23, 33, 36, 44, 52, 53, 79

Cabaya, a silk robe reaching to the ankles.
Cabral, Jorge (governor of India, 1549-50), 159, 160
Cabral, Pedro Alvarez, the navigator, 18, 38, 44, 178, 179, 190, note 2 (supposed
discovery of Tristão da Cunha), 205
Caçadilho, Cazadillo, village near Salamanca, Spain. See Vilhegas.
Cael (8° 40´ N., 78° 5´ E., Map I), 98
Cairo, Egypt, 78, 113
Caldwell, Rev. Dr., quoted, 98
Calecut (11° 15´ N., 75° 45´ E., Map IV);
arrival, 48;
description, 49, 125;
pagodas, 52, 126, 137, 139;
royal palace 55;
the Zamorin or King, 57, 127, 132;
Portuguese sailors visit the city, 69;
a Padrão set up, 74, 75;
commerce, 77, 96, 115, 127, 135, 142;
Sernigi’s account, 125, 142;
legend on Canerio’s map, 213
Çamatarra (Sumatra, 0°, 110° E., Map I); 98, 101, 213, 220
Cambay (22° 20´ N., 72° 35´ E., Map IV), 47, 213 A.
Camoens, quoted, 26, 178
Çamolim, see Zamorin.
Campo, Antonio de, in Delagoa Bay, 18
Cananor (11° 50´ N., 75° 20´ E., Map IV), 79, 146, 200
Canaries (29° N., 140° W., Map I) sighted, 2
Canerio’s Map, 16, 18, 21, 32, 210, 212
Canestrini, quoted, 119
Cantino, Alberto, his chart, xix, 208, 212
Cão’s padrão at Cape Cross, 169
Cape of Good Hope (34° 20´ S., 18° 32´ E., Map II) doubled, 8, 92, 192, 215
Cape Verde islands (10° N., 24° W., Map I), 2, 94, 141, 142

Capua, or Capocate (11° 20´ N., 75° 44´ E., Map IV), 48, 52
Caputo, M. C., xxxvi, 208
Caravels, 157, 158
Carneiro, Antonio (King Manuel’s secretary), 233, 235
Carvalho e Vasconcellos, Capt. E. J. de, see Vasconcellos.
Casa da Mina, the “House”, or office, charged with the affairs of the “mine” on the
Gold Coast.
Castanheda, Lopez de, quoted, xx, xxiv, 1, 5, 6, 9, 21, 23, 26, 39, 48, 49, 50, 51, 54,
67, 77, 79, 94, 157, 161, 164, 166, 169, 173, 175, 178, 183;
his signature, xxii
Castro, João de, (Governor and Viceroy of India, 1545-48), 159, 168
Catalan Chart, 211
Catena a poppa, 165
Çatiguam, Sadigam, or Shadigam (Satgaon on Hugli, 22° 15´ N., 88° 5´ E., Maps I
and VIII), 220, 213 D.
Cattle among the Hottentots, 11, 12
Catual (Kot-Wal), governor of a fort, 51
Çeitil, a small copper coin, worth one-third of a farthing, 7
Ceylon, (Çillan, 8° N., 80° E., Map I), 77, 98, 115, 135, 136, 143, 214 K.
Chãos, ilhéos; see Ilhéos.
Charton, quoted, 53; see F. Denis.
Charts of Indian pilots, 26
Chinese at Calecut, 131
Chomandarla (Choromandel, on south-east coast of India), 98
Christians at Mombaça, 35, 36, 39;
at Malindi, 40, 44, 45;
in India, 24, 114, 115, 125, 231;
at Calecut, 49, 53, 137
Cidadym, of Harar, 78, note 5
Çillan, see Ceylon.
Çinguapura, Singapore (1° 20´ N., 104° E., Maps I and VII), 18, 196
Cinnamon, 77, 81, 86, 98, 103, 113, 213, 214;
boughs, 113
Cipangu (Japan), xvii
Cloves, 77, 100, 103, 113, 213
Cobilhões, Pedro de (Cobillones), see Covilhã.

Cobre, Rio de (24° 50´ S., 34° 25´ E., Map III), 18, 196
Cochin (10° N., 76° 12´ E., Map IV), 146
Coco-nut palm, 27
Coelho, Nicolau, captain of the Berrio, 175;
at St. Helena Bay, 5;
crossing Kilimani Bar, 196;
lost sight of, 14;
alleged ascent of river in South Africa, 193;
at Moçambique, 22, 27, 29, 197;
at Malindi, , 44;
at Calecut, 51, 66;
at Anjediva, 83, 84;
at Rio Grande, 152;
return to Lisbon, 93, 94, 201
Çofalla, see Sofalla.
Coge (Arabic, Khojah), lord, master
Coimbra (40° 10´ N., 8° 25´ W.), xxii
Coimbra, João de, 30, 175
Coins at Calecut, 128
Coleu, Coulão, Coulam (9° 10´ N., 76° 30´ E., Map IV), 98
Columbus, Bartholomeu, map of world, xix
Columbus, Christopher, compared with Gama, xv;
his first voyage, 189;
his latitudes, xviii;
his journal, xix
Compass, Mariner’s, 26
Compass, equinoctial and variation, 168
Conimata, Sumatra? a corrupt spelling of, 101
Convicts, see Degradados.
Copper, 18, 96
Cordeira, Luciano, quoted, xxi, 2, 168, 225
Cormorants, 6
Coromandel (south-east coast of India), 98
Corongolor, Crangalor (10° 10´ N., 76° 10´ E., Map IV), 97
Correa, Gaspar, his untrustworthiness, xx, 56, 193, 194;

Herculano’s eulogy, xxxiii;
Vasco’s ships, 164;
his padrões, 169;
his portrait, 150;
number of men, 173;
convicts, 48, 178;
Gaspar da Gama, 179;
Monçaide, 180;
Davane, 21 note 4, 41, 181;
departure from Lisbon, 185;
doubling the Cape, 193;
alleged mutiny, 194;
transactions at Cananor, 79;
concoction of a letter to the Zamorin, 58
Correa, Manuel, 178
Correa, Ayres, 158
Cosa, Juan de la, his chart, xix, 205
Costa, D. Jorge da, 112
Costa, P. Antonio Carvalho da, xiii
Coulão (Coulam, 9° 10´ N., 76° 30´ E., Map IV), 98
Covilhã, Pedro de, a priest, 177
Covilhão, Pero de, 24, 167
Crangalor, Quorongoliz (10° 10´ N., 76° 10´ E., Map IV), 97
Cross-bows, 10, 12
Cross-staff, 26
Cruz, ilha da, Brazil (5° S., 40° W., Map I), 14, 15, 205
Cruz, ilhéo da, Algoa Bay (33° 48´ S., 25° 45´ E., Map II), 15, 195
Cruzado, a Portuguese gold coin, weighing 71.25 grãos (4,608 grãos = 1 marc =
229.5 grammes) of fine gold, and consequently worth 9s. 8d. It retained this value
up to 1555, when, being coined of gold having a fineness of 22⅝ carat only, its
value was reduced to 9s. 2d.

Up to 1499, 380 réis were accepted as the equivalent of a cruzado; between 1499
and 1517 the rate of exchange was 390 réis, and after that date 400 réis. This
shows that the relative value of gold to silver was assumed to have been as 1:10
(in England about the same time the rate of exchange was as 1:11).

The value of 100 réis was consequently 30.5d. up to 1499, 29.82d. from 1499 to

1517, and 29.08d. after 1517 (see Nunes, O livro dos Pesos, 1555, published at
Lisbon in 1868; and M. B. Lopes Fernandes, Memoria das moedas correntes em
Portugal, Lisbon, 1856).

Dalla Vedova, Prof., xxxvi, 133
Dameiroeiro, João, 177
Davane, the Moor, 21, 41, 181
Declination of the sun, 167, 168
Degradados (convicts or banished men), 174
Delagoa Bay (26° S., 34° E.), its discovery, 19, 221
Dely, Eli, Mount (12° N., 75° 15´ E., Map IV), 47, 198
Denis, Ferd., quoted, xxxiv, 53, 78
Dias, Bartholomeu sails to Elmina, 2;
his conflict at the bay of S. Braz, 10;
his last padrão, 14, 15, 195;
builds Gama’s ships, 159
Dias, Diogo, 176;
factor at Pandarani, 67;
carries a message to the Zamorin, 70;
his imprisonment, 71, 73;
liberated, 74
Dias, Pedro, a convict, 178
Dogs of the Hottentots, 6
Dress at Calecut, 133

Elephants, how they are captured, 102;
at Mossel Bay, 11;
in India, 98, 99, 100, 133, 140
Eli, Dely, mount (12° N., 75° 15´ E., Map IV), 47, 198
Empoli, Giovanni da, quoted, 6, 99, 191
Escolar, Pero, pilot of the Berrio, x, 148, 175; see Escovar.
Escovar, Pero, was associated with Santarem in the discovery of the Gold Coast,
1471;
another Pero Escovar went as pilot to the Congo, 1490;
Barros and Resende call the pilot of the Berrio Esolar and not Escovar.
Esphera de ouro, a coin, 170
Esteves, Pero, a convict, 178

Evora (38° 33´ N., 7° 55´ W.), 235, 236

Falcão, Luiz de Figueiredo, 119, 147, 157
False Bay, South Africa (34° 15´ S., 18° 30´ E., Map II), 9, 215
Fanão, a coin, at Calecut worth 7.45d. (see p. 69 n.).
Farazola, Frasila, weight, at Calecut, equal to 10.4 kilos., or 22 lbs.
Faria, Manuel de, 170
Faria, Severim de, quoted, 175
Faria e Figueiredo, Francisco de, xxx, 177
Faria e Figueiredo, Pedro de, 177
Faria y Sousa, quoted, xxi, 46, 157, 173, 175, 177, 178
Ferdinand, Valentin, 178
Fernandez, M. B. Lopez, 170
Figueiredo, see Faria and Falcão.
Figueiro, João, a priest, xxxi, 177
Fish, 133
Flutes, 11
Food at Calecut, 132
Foot, Captn., view of Mombasa, 35
Foster, William, xxxvi
Fowls, 17
Fracanzio di Montalboddo, editor of Paesi novamente retrovati, q. v.
Francisco de S. Maria, quoted, 177
Frankincense, 104, 213
Fumos (25° S., 32° E., Map III), 17, 217
Fusta, a galley, 83

Gabriel, see São Gabriel.
Gallois, Prof. L., xxxvi, 210
Galvão, Antonio, quoted, 173, 198, 206
Gama, Estevão da, nephew of Vasco, Voyage to India, 191
Gama, Gaspar da, at Anjediva, 84, 152;
tortured, 86;
information on countries to the south, 95, 115, 121;
his history, 179, 180
Gama, Paulo da, offered the command of the expedition, xiii;

captain of the S. Raphael, 1;
loses the flagship, 2;
rejoins his brother, 3;
at St. Helena Bay, 8;
tends the sick, 21;
at Moçambique, 26, 31;
his ship aground at Malindi, 44;
at Calecut, 51, 65;
at Anjediva, 85;
his ship burnt, 91, 153;
alleged breaking-up of his ship, 146, 147;
his death, 94, 147, 148
Gama, Vasco da;
His birth, xiii;
qualification as a navigator, xiv;
compared with Columbus, xv;
his observations for latitude, xviii;
authorities on his first voyage, xix;
his death, xiv
First Voyage.—
The ships, 147, 151, 157-160;
muster-roll, 173;
despatch by King Manuel, 185, 230;
Lisbon, dep., 1, 123, 146, 148, 151, 153, 185;
Cape Verde, 3, 186;
across the Southern Atlantic, xvii, 3, 142, 186;
first landfall, 5, 189;
St. Helena Bay, 5, 192;
doubling the Cape, 8, 192;
S. Braz Bay, 9, 192;
alleged mutiny, 194;
a gale, 14, 194;
ilhéos chãos, 14, 195;
Ilhéos da Cruz, 15, 195;
Dias’ furthest, 15, 195;

the Agulhas current, viii, 15;
Rio do Cobre, 16, 196;
Rio dos bons Signaes, 19, 146;
Mozambique, 22, 146, 151, 197;
false start for the north, 28, 197;
the S. Raphael aground, 33, 197;
Mombasa, 34, 198;
Malindi, 40, 146, 151, 198;
across the Arabian sea, 46, 198;
landfall near Mount Eli, 47, 198;
at Capocate, 48, 199;
royal audiences, 56, 61, 126;
capture of hostages, 72, 115, 180
Departure from Calecut, 76;
supposed visits to Cochin and Cananor, 146, 147, 200;
S. Maria islands and Anjediva, 80, 200;
across the Arabian Sea, 87, 200;
Magadoxo, 88, 200;
Malindi, 89, 200;
the S. Raphael burnt, 91, 201;
Mozambique, 92, 201;
S. Braz Bay, 92, 201;
doubling the Cape, 92, 201;
Rio Grande, 93, 201;
return to Lisbon, 94, 113, 122, 124, 148
Loss of life during the voyage, 124, 141, 231
Second Voyage to India, 1502-3, 191, 233
Honours and rewards bestowed upon Vasco da Gama, 225-232
Instructions to Cabral, 190.
Garnett, Dr. R., 119
Gazelles, 6
Genoese needles, 26
George, see São Jorge.
Germanus, Henricus Martellus, his Map, 204
Ghats, Western, in India, 199

Ginger, 77, 103, 113
Giovanni da Empoli, 6, 99, 191
Goa (15° 25´ N., 73° 50´ E., Map IV), 219
Goes, Damião de, quoted, xx, 5, 8, 18, 19, 21, 26, 40, 45, 50, 53, 56, 57, 94, 112, 159,
175, 176, 178, 179, 180
Gold of Sofala, 33, 113, 124
Gonçalves, André, 176
Greiff, Dr. G., 121
Guillen, Felipe, 168
Gujarat (Guzerat, 22° N., 72° E., Map IV), F 45, 63
Gulf-weed, 4
Gulls, 8
Guzerate (Gujarat, 22° N., 72° E., Map IV), 45, 63
“Guzerati”, a merchant of Guzerat, or Gujarat, at Calecut, 63

Hamy, Dr. E. T., quoted, 18, 19, 21, 32, 206
Harar, Cidadym of, 78
Harrisse, Mr., 205
Helena, see Santa Helena.
Hellmann, G., quoted, 169
Herculano, quoted, xxiv, xxxiii, 41, 65, 195
Herons, 4
Heyd, W., 130
Hirth, F., 132
Horsburgh, Captain, 188
Horses, 133
Hostages taken at Calecut, 72, 115;
carried to Portugal, 76
Hottentots, meeting with, 11-13
Hour-glasses, 168
Hulot, Baron, xxxvi

Ilha da Cruz, see Cruz.
Ilhas primeiras (17° S., 39° E., Map III), 21
Ilhéos chãos, low islets, Algoa Bay (33° 50´ S., 29° 18´ E., Map II), 4, 195, 216
Images, worshipped by Portuguese and Indians, 24

Incense, 104, 213
Infante, Rio de (i.e., River of J. Infante), frequently called Rio do Infante, i.e., River
of the Infante, Prince Henry (33° 30´ S., 27° 8´ E., Map II), 14, 216
Ivory, 18

Jack-fruit, 57
Jaus, Rev. J. J., quoted, xxxvi, 52, 54, 97
Java, on Canerio’s Map, 211
Jeronymo de São José, 177
Jews at Calecut, 137
Jidda, Red Sea (21° 30´ N., 39° 10´ E., Map I), 78
Jordanus, Friar, quoted, 98
Jorge, see São Jorge.
Jornal das Viagens, 145, 146
Juromenho, Visconde, 159
Justice, administration of, at Calecut, 135

Kilwa, see Quiloa.
Kioni, Quioniete (30° 38´ S., 39° 50´ E., Map III), 40
Kirk, Sir John, quoted, xxxvi, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 45, 90
Kohl, Dr., 205
Kopke, Diogo, quoted, xxii, xxiv, xxxii, 4, 5, 6, 13, 19, 24, 26, 32, 33, 38, 78, 97, 98,
99, 101, 120, 194
Krishna and Devaki, 53

Lac, 98, 101, 102, 104, 213
Laccadivas (10° N., 73° E, Map I), 134, 198
Lambel, striped cloth, 11
Lamu (2° 15´ S., 40° 20´ E., Map III), 219
Lançarote (29° N., 14° W.); pass to lee of it, 2
Larks, 6
Latitudes on early maps, 213;
observed by Colon, xix
Laurie’s Sailing Directory, 190
League. The Portuguese (Castilian) legoa of 7,500 varas was equal to 6,269 meters, or
20,568 feet, and 17.72 of these legoas were consequently equal to one mean
degree of a meridian. The Portuguese pilots generally assumed 17½ of these
legoas to be equal to 1°; and had they known the real size of the earth the league

would have been 6,350 m., an error of only 1.27 per cent. in the estimate of the
size of the earth as determined by observation for latitude taken at sea.

There can hardly be a doubt that the Italian mile was the same as the old Roman
mile, and had a length of 1,480 m. Consequently, 4.236 of these miles were equal
to a legoa, and when Sernigi (see p. 124) reckons 4¼ of these miles to a legoa he
is very near the truth. On the Cantino chart 75 Italian miles are = 1° = 17.5
Portuguese legoas, and if we accept this estimate the legoa would be = 4.29 Italian
miles. The Portuguese pilots at the Conference of Badajoz (1525), maintained,
however, that 1 legoa = 4 Italian miles. As to Prof. Wagner’s “Portulano mile”
(Report of Sixth International Geographical Congress, p. 698) of only 1,265 m.,
its shortness is obviously due to the very common over-estimate of distances, even
when there is no mileage charge as in the case of London cabmen.
Leal, J. da Silva Mendes, quoted, 95
Leiria (39° 42´ N., 8° 50´ W.), 159
Lelewel, Joachim, 211
Leguat, F., quoted, 6
Lemos, Gaspar de, 205
Leonardo of Camões, 178
Linen cloth, 18
Lindsay, W. S., 159, 161
Lingams, 83
Linschoten’s Itinerarium, 203
Loadstone islands, 129
Lopes, Thomé, 191
Lourenço, Fernão, 159

Machado, Barbosa, xxv
Machado, João, a convict, 178
Mafia, island (70° 50´ S., 39° 50´ E., Map III), 33
Magadoxo (2° 20´ N., 45° 25´ E.), 88, 200, 219
Magelhães, Fernão de, xv
Magnetic Variation, 168
Malabar, casts, 49
Malacca, Malagua (2° 10´ N., 102° 10´ E., Map I), 77, 100, 220, 213 F.
Malayalam, vocabulary, 105
Malema Cana, or Canaqua, pilot, 46, 181
Malindi, Melinde (3° 12´ S., 40° 10´ E., Map III), 40, 89, 125, 146
Malmsey, wine, 131

Manicongo (Congo), 17
Manso, Paiva, quoted, 167
Manuel, King, his letters on Vasco da Gama’s first voyage, 111, 230;
quoted, 96, 173, 233;
rewards to Gama, 225
Maps, early, 203
Marcel, Gabriel, xxxvi
Marcos, Lucas, an Abyssinian priest, 24, 167
Maria, see Santa Maria.
Mariz, Dialogues, xiv
Markham, Sir Clements R., quoted, xxxvi, 120, 165, 206, 208
Markham, Admiral Albert H., xxxvi
Marlota, a Moorish jacket or jerkin, 25
Matikal, a gold coin, value at Moçambique about 12s.; see p. 25
Martins, Fernão, at Moçambique, 23;
at Calecut, xxix, 50, 57, 62, 176
Martinz, Fernão, Royal Chaplain, xvi
McCrindle, J. W., quoted, 26
Masser, Leonardi da Chá, 180, 227, 233
Mecca (21° 20´ N., 45° E., Map I), 47, 87, 113, 125, 130
Melequa, see Malacca.
Melinde, see Malindi.
Melons, 57
Mendes, A. Lopes, quoted, 80
Mendoso, J. de Escalante de, quoted, 174
Mendonça, H. Lopez de, 158, 161, 162
Mercy, river of, is identical with the Rio dos bons signaes, 19, 146, 173
Mexia, Sancho, at St. Helena Bay, 6, 177
Millet, 17
Misericordia, Rio da, is identical with the Rio dos bons signaes, 19, 169, 173
Mitkal (matikal), gold coin, 25
Moçambique (15° S., 40° 45´ E., Map III);
arrival, 22, 146, 151, 197;
trade, 23, 69;
a conflict on return voyage, 92, 201

Moçambique current, 197
Modobar, Meduar on Lingga (2° 30´ N., 102° E., Map VII), 213, 220 E.
“Mohit”, quoted, 26, 208
Moll, A., map of Africa, 190
Moluccas, 77
Mombaça (4° 5´ S., 39° 40´ E., Map III); arrival, 34;
return, 91
Monçaide, a Moor, 48, 50, 72, 75, 79, 112, 115, 180
Monte formosa, Cotta Point (11° 30´ N., 75° 40´ E., Map IV), 199
Money, see Cruzado, Real, Reis, matikals, fanão, xerafin
Monsoons, 136, 198, 200
Montemór o novo (38° 40´ N., 8° 15´ W.), 185
Moor, E., quoted, 53
Moorish merchants at Calecut, 61, 62, 68, 127, 152
Moplah, 49
Morelet, Arthur, xxxiv
Moreri, xxv
Mori, A., 205
Mourá, quoted, 25
Mtwapa, see Benapa.
Musk, 100, 104

Nairs, at Calecut, 49
Natal, its discovery, 16
Native navigation, 134, 139
Navarrete, D. Martin Fernandez de, xvii, note 2
Nicobar Islands (7° N., 94° E., Map VII), 214 M., 220
Nile, river, 78
Niza (39° 32´ N., 7° 40´ W.), 100 miles N.E. of Lisbon, 235
Nova, João da, 178, 190, 206, 210
Nuguoquioniete, see Takaungu and Quioni.
Nunes, Antonio, quoted, 25
Nunes, Gonçalo, 175
Nunes, João, 48
Nunez, João, a convict, 179

Nunes, Pedro, 168
Nutmeg, 100, 104, 113

Oliveira, Fernando, quoted, 162
Oliveira, João Braz d’, 162
Olivença, Spain (38° 40´ N., 7° 5´ E.), xiii
Oporto, in Portugal, xxiii
Ortelius, 115, 125
Ortiz de Vilhegas, see Vilhegas.
Osorio, D. Jeronymo, quoted, 6, 26, 194
Ouro, Rio do (west coast of Africa, 23° 50´ N., 16° E., Map I), 2
Ouro, Rio do, or Limpopo (25° 20´ S., 33° 30´ E., Map III), 19

Pacheco Pereira, Duarte, quoted, 161, 192
Padrões, 169;
at S. Bráz, 15;
of S. Raphael, 21;
at Calecut, 74, 75;
of S. Maria, 80;
S. Jorge, 92
Padua, baixos de, (13° N., 72° 20´ E., Map IV), 198
Paesi novamente retrovati, 120, 123, 124, 128, 137, 141
Pagodas, at Calecut, 53
Paiva, Afonso de, 167
Paiva, Antonio da Costa, editor of the Roteiro, xxii, xxxii
Paiva, Baron Castello de, editor of the Roteiro, xxxiii
Palha, João, 177
Panane (10° 50´ N., 75° 55´ E., Map IV), 50
“Pandarani” (11° 28´ N., 75° 40´ E., Map IV), 48;
at anchor there, 50;
detention, 63
Parrots, 100
Pate, town (2° 10´ S., 41° 2´ E.), 88
Pater, Pedir (5° N., 96° 30´ E., Map I), 102
Pearls, 23, 138, 213, 214
Pegu (17° 20´ N., 96° 30´ E. Map I), 100