Читать книгу The History of Voyages & Travels (All 18 Volumes) - Robert Kerr - Страница 64

Strabo, on the authority of Aristonicus the grammarian, says, that king Menelaus, after the destruction of Troy, sailed from the Grecian sea to the Atlantic, coasted along Africa and Guinea, doubled the Cape Bona Sperança, and arrived in India[19]; concerning which voyage many other particulars might be collected from the writings of the ancients. This Mediterranean Sea was sometimes called the Adriatic, the Aegean, and the Herculean Sea; and had other names, according to the lands, coasts, and islands, which it skirted, till, running through the Straits of Hercules, between Spain and Africa, it communicated with the great Atlantic Ocean. Thirteen hundred years after the flood, Solomon caused a navy to be constructed at Ezion-geber on the Red Sea, which sailed to Tharsis and Ophir, which some believe to have been islands in the East Indies. This fleet was three years on its voyage, and on its return brought gold, silver, cypress-wood, and other commodities[20]. The islands to which the navy of Solomon traded were probably those we now call the Luçones, the Lequeos, and China; for we know of few other places whence some of the things mentioned as forming their cargoes can be had, or where navigation has been so long practised.

[19] Strab. I. 1. p. 26.

[20] Kings, I. 9. Chron. II. 8.

Necho, one of the kings of Egypt, was desirous to have joined the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, and is said in history to have commanded some Phenicians to sail from the Red Sea by the Straits of Mecca, and to endeavour to return to Egypt by the Mediterranean[21]. This they accomplished, and sailed along the coast of Melinda, Quiloa, and Sofala, till they reached the Cape of Good Hope, which they doubled; and, continuing their course to the north, they sailed along the coast of Guinea all the way to the Mediterranean, and returned to Egypt after two years absence, being the first who had circumnavigated Africa.

[21] Herodot. I. 4.

In the year 590 before the Incarnation, a fleet belonging to Carthaginian merchants sailed from Cadiz through the ocean, to the west, in search of land[22]. They proceeded so far that they came to the islands now called the Antilles, and to New Spain[23]. This is given on the authority of Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, in his General History, who says that these countries were then discovered; and that Christopher Columbus, by his voyages in after times, only acquired more exact knowledge of them, and hath left us a more precise notice of their situation, and of the way to them. But all those historians who formerly wrote concerning the Antilles, as of doubtful and uncertain existence, now plainly allow them to be the same with New Spain and the West Indies. In the year 520 before Christ, Cambyses, king of Persia, conquered Egypt, and was succeeded by Darius, the son of Hystaspes. This latter prince determined upon completing the projects of Sesostris and Necho, by digging a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile: But, being assured that the Red Sea was higher than the Nile, and that its salt water would overflow and ruin the whole land of Egypt, he abandoned his purpose, lest that fine province should be destroyed by famine and the want of fresh water[24]; for the fresh water of the Nile overflows the whole country, and the inhabitants have no other water to drink.

[22] Arist. de Mirand.

[23] Gonz. Fern. Ovied. I. 2. c. 3.

[24] Plin. I. 9. c. 58. de Maribus Nili.

It may not be too great a digression from the subject, to say a few words concerning Egypt. The natives allege that they have in their country certain animals, of which one half of their bodies seem earth, and the other like rats, one species of which keeps continually in the water, while another species lives on the land. In my opinion, it is these animals which break the serpents eggs, of which there are many in the Nile, but which serpents are also called crocodiles. It is said, that in ancient times these animals were inchanted, so that they could not do harm to any one: But since they have been freed from the power of inchantment, by the arts and learning of the Egyptians decaying, they have done much hurt, by killing people, wild beasts, and cattle, more especially those which live in the water and come often on land. Those that live continually on the land become strongly venomous[25]. The people beyond the city of Cairo used to catch these animals, and even to eat them, setting up their heads on the walls of the city. Concerning these crocodiles, it is related[26] that they often lie along the shores of the river with their mouths wide open; on which occasion, certain white birds, little larger than our thrushes, fly into the mouths of the crocodiles, and pick out the filth from between his teeth, to the great delight of the crocodile; which, however, would surely close his mouth and devour the bird, had not nature provided the bird with a sharp sting, growing from the top of his head, which pricks the roof of the crocodiles mouth, and forces him to gape, so that the bird flies away unhurt. In this manner, by means of a succession of these birds, the crocodiles get their teeth cleansed. In this same river, there are many beasts resembling horses; and upon the land, there are certain birds like our cranes, which continually make war upon the serpents, which come thither out of Arabia: Which birds, and likewise the rats, which eat the eggs of the crocodiles, are held in great reverence and estimation, by the Egyptians.

[25] Joan. Leo Afric. I. 9. de Nilo.--Our author has got into a strange dilemma, by confounding crocodiles and serpents under one denomination. --E.

[26] Plin. and Leo, ub. cit.

But now, to return to my subject of discoveries. In the year 485 before Christ, Xerxes, king of Persia, sent his nephew Sataspis to discover India; who sailed from the Mediterranean through the Straits of Hercules, and passed the promontory of Africa, which we now call the Cape of Good Hope; but, wearying of the length of the voyage, he returned back again, as Bartholomew Diaz did in our days[27]. In 443 A. C. Hamilco and Hanno, two Carthaginian commanders who governed that part of Spain now called Andalusia, sailed from thence with two squadrons. Hamilco, sailing towards the north, discovered the coasts of Spain, France, England, Flanders, and Germany; and some allege that he sailed to Gothland, and even to Thule or Iceland, standing under the Arctic circle, in 64 degrees north, and continued his voyage during two years, till he came to that northern island, where the day in June continues for twenty-two hours, and the nights in December are of a similar length; on account of which it is there wonderfully cold. His brother, Hanno, took his course to the south, along the coast of Africa and Guinea, and discovered the Fortunate Islands, now the Canaries, and the Orcades, Hesperides, and Gorgades, now called the Cape de Verde islands. Proceeding onwards, Hanno doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and went along the eastern coast of Africa to another cape, called Aromaticum, now called Gardafu, and thence to the coast of Arabia, and was five years employed in this voyage before his return to Spain[28]. Others allege, that Hanno proceeded no farther than Sierra Leona, which he colonized, and afterwards discovered as far as the equinoctial line; but it would rather appear, from the length of time he employed, that he must have accomplished the more extended navigation.

[27] Plin. I. 2. c. 67.

[28] Plin. I. 6. c. 31. This subject will be discussed in the Fifth Part of our work; being much too extensive to admit of elucidation in a note.--E.

It is reported that the inhabitants of the country at the Cape of Good Hope are great witches, and by inchantment bring certain serpents so much under command, that they preserve their churches, churchyards, gardens, orchards, barns, and cattle, both from wild beasts and thieves. When these serpents see any person doing or intending to do harm, they wind themselves in such a manner around them as to make them prisoners, and then command their young ones to give notice to their masters, that they may come and secure the thieves. But if the thieves be numerous, or the wild beasts of too much strength, so that the serpents dare not encounter them, they go to their masters house, and if it happen to be in the night, they give many strokes with their tails, so as to awaken their masters, that they may provide for their defence[29].

[29] Hasty readers will have the justice to give the honour of this story to Galvano.--E.

A certain Italian, named Aloisius Cadamosta, relates, that when he was upon the discovery of Guinea, and resided in the house of Bisboral, the grandson of king Budomel, he heard one night, when in bed, a great noise and many blows given about the house, upon which Bisboral arose and went out; and, upon his return, Cadamosta demanded of him where he had been, and he answered that he had been with his cobras or snakes, which called him[30]. In the Indies there are many snakes, and some of them very full of poison; yet the Indians carry them about their necks, and put them in their bosoms, and under their arms, without fear or injury; and at certain sounds, the snakes will dance, and do many other strange things at command.

[30] This story will be found hereafter very differently related by Cada Mosto himself, but with a sufficient spice of the marvellous.--E.

I was informed by a certain Portuguese, who had been beyond the Cape of Good Hope, towards Sofala, Quiloa, and Melinda, that there were certain birds in that country, which would come to the negroes on a call, and as the negroes moved on through the woods, the birds would do the same from tree to tree, till at length they would alight on a tree whence they would not remove: And, on examining that tree, the negroes were sure to find wax and honey, but knew not whether it grew there naturally or not[31]. In the same country, they find much wax and honey in ant-holes, made by the ants, but somewhat bitter. In the seas of that coast, there are certain fish, known to the fishermen, which commonly swim upright in the water, having the faces and breasts of women[32].

[31] The Honey-guide, or Cuculus Indicator, will be noticed more particularly in the Travels through the Colony of the Cape.--E.

[32] The Philosophers of the nineteenth century have fortunately rediscovered the Mermaid in the north of Scotland! Hitherto, wonderful things used to be confined to barbarous regions and ignorant ages.--E.

In the year 355 before Christ, the Spaniards are said to have gone by sea to the flats of India, Arabia, and the adjoining coasts, to which they carried various merchandizes in great ships; and sailing to the north- west they came to certain flats which are covered by the tide, and left bare by the ebb, where they caught many tunnies of great size; which fishing turned out to their great profit, as they were very abundant and much esteemed[33].

[33] Arist. de Mirand. Strabo, I. 2. p. 68.

Alexander, who flourished 324 years before Christ, travelled from Europe into Asia and Africa, passed through Armenia, Assyria, Persia, and Bactria; whence he descended by the mountains of Imaus and the vallies of Parapomissus, into India, and prepared a navy on the river Indus, with which he passed into the ocean. He there turned by the lands of Gedrosia, Caramania, and Persia, to the great city of Babylon, leaving the command of his fleet to Onesicratus and Nearchus, who sailed through the straits of the Persian Sea and up the river Euphrates, discovering the whole coast between the Indus and that river.

After the death of Alexander, Ptolemy became king of Egypt, who by some was reputed to have been the bastard son of Philip, the father of Alexander: He, imitating the before named kings, Sesostris and Darius, caused dig a canal from the branch of the Nile which passed by Pelusium, now by the city of Damieta[34]. This canal of Ptolemy was an hundred feet broad and thirty feet deep, and extended ten or twelve leagues in length, till it came to the bitter wells . He meant to have continued it to the Red Sea; but desisted on the idea that the Red Sea was three cubits higher than the land of Egypt, and would have overflowed all the country, to its entire ruin.

[34] Plin. I. 6. c. 29.

Ptolemy Philadelphus, in the year 277 before Christ, changed the direction of the Indian traffic. The goods from Europe, by his orders, were carried up the Nile from Alexandria to the city of Coptus, and conveyed across the desert from thence to the sea-port of Myos-Hormos on the Red-sea[35]. To avoid the excessive heat, the caravans travelled only in the night, directing their course by the stars; and water being very scarce in the desert, they had to carry a sufficient quantity with them for the journey. Afterwards, to avoid this trouble, deep wells were dug at certain intervals; and in other places large cisterns or reservoirs were constructed for the reception of rain water. Still later, in consideration of the dangers attending the port of Myos-Hormos, on account of flats and islands, Philadelphus sent an army into Troglodytica, where he constructed a haven called Berenice, in which the ships engaged in the Indian commerce took shelter, as a place of greater security. From thence the goods were transported to the city of Coptus, and afterwards to Alexandria, which became rich and famous, through its trade with India, beyond any other city in the world; insomuch that it is asserted that the customs of Alexandria yielded every year to Ptolemy Auletes, the father of Cleopatra, seven millions and a half of gold, though the traffic had then scarcely subsisted in that direction for twenty years[36]. After the reduction of Egypt and Alexandria under the power of the Romans, the customs are said to have advanced to double that amount; and the trade was so great, that 120 ships used to be sent yearly from Myos-Hormos to India. The ships set sail every year from Myos-Hormos about the middle of July, and returned back within the year[37]. The merchandize they carried amounted to the value of one million two hundred thousand crowns; and the returns were an hundred for one; and through this prodigious increase of wealth, the matrons and noble ladies of those days in Alexandria, were exceedingly profuse in decorating themselves with purple, pearls, and precious stones, and in the use of musk, amber, and other rich perfumes of various kinds; of all which the historians and other writers of that age treat at great length[38].

[35] Strabo, I. 17. p. 560, 561.

[36] Strab. I. 17. p. 549.

[37] Plin. I. 6. c. 23.

[38] Id. I. 12. c. 18.

Pliny[39], on the authority of Cornelius Nepos, says that one Eudoxus, flying from Ptolemy Lathyrus, passed by sea through the gulf of Arabia, and sailing along the eastern coast of Africa, doubled the cape of Bona Sperança arrived by the Atlantic at Cadiz; and it would appear that this navigation was as often used in those days as it now is. Caius Caesar, the son of Augustus, going into Arabia, found in the Red Sea certain pieces of the ships which had gone thither from Spain.

[39] Id. I. 2. c. 67.

Long after these days it was usual to pass to India by land. This was done by the kings of the Sogdians, the princes of Bactria, and other famous captains and many merchants, who travelled thither and into Scythia by land. Marcus Paulus Venetus writes largely of these countries; and though his book at first was reckoned fabulous, yet what he and others have reported is now found true, by the experience of travellers, and merchants who have since been to the same parts.

It is reported that the Romans sent an army by sea to India, against the great khan of Cathaia, 200 years before the Incarnation; which, passing through the Straits of Gibraltar, and running to the north-west, found ten islands opposite to Cape Finisterre; producing large quantities of tin, which perhaps may have been those afterwards called the Cassiterides. Being come to 50 degrees of latitude, they found a strait passing to the west, through which they arrived in India, and gave battle to the king of Cathaia, after which they returned to Rome. Whether this story may appear possible or not, true or false, I can only say that I give it as I found it written in the histories of these times.

In the year 100 after the incarnation of Christ, the emperor Trajan fitted out a fleet on the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, whence he sailed to the islands of Zyzara; and passing the straits of Persia, entered into the ocean, by which he sailed along the coast to India, till he came to the place where Alexander had been. He there took some ships which came from Bengal, and learned the state of the country from the mariners. But being in years, and weary of the sea, and because he found it difficult to procure necessaries for his army, he returned back to Assyria[40].

[40] Ziphilin. in vit. Traj.

After the Romans had subdued most part of the world, many notable discoveries were made. But then came the Goths, Moors, and other barbarous nations, who destroyed all A.D. 412, the Goths took the city of Rome. Thereafter the Vandals went out of Spain, and conquered Africa. In 450, Attila destroyed many cities in Italy, at which time Venice began; and in this age the Franks and Vandals entered into France. In 474, the empire of Rome was lost, and fell from the Romans to the Goths. In 560, the Lombards came into Italy. About this time the sect of the Arians prevailed greatly, and Merlin the English prophet flourished. In 611, the Mahometan sect sprung up, and the Moresco government, which invaded both Africa and Spain. By this it may appear that all the world was in a state of war, and all places so very tumultuous, that traffic and merchandize ceased, no nation daring to trade with another by sea or land; nothing remaining stedfast, neither in kingdoms, signories, religions, laws, arts, sciences, or navigation. Even the records and writings of these things were burnt and destroyed by the barbarous power of the Goths, who proposed to themselves to begin a new world, and to root out the memory and knowledge of all other nations.

Those who succeeded in the government of Europe, perceiving the great losses of the Christian world by want of traffic and the stoppage of navigation, began to devise a way of passing into India, quite different from the route of the Nile and the Red Sea, and much longer and more costly[41]. The goods of India were brought up the river Indus as far as it was navigable. They were then carried by land in caravans through the country of Parapomissus into the province of Bactria, and shipped on the river Oxus, which falls into the Caspian, and thence across that sea to the haven of Citracan, or Astracan, on the river Rha, or Volga. Thence up that river, and to the city of Novogrod, in the province of Resan, which now belongs to the great duke of Muscovy, in lat. 54° N. The goods were carried thence overland to the province of Sarmatia and the river Tanais or Don, which is the division between Europe and Asia. Being there loaded in barks, they were carried down the stream of that river into the Paulus Maeotis to the city of Caffa, anciently called Theodosia, which then belonged to the Genoese, who came thither by sea in galliasses , or great ships, and distributed Indian commodities through Europe.

[41] Ramusio, V. f. 372. p. 2

In the reign of Commodita, emperor of Armenia, a better course was provided for this traffic: The goods being transported by land from the Caspian, through the country of Hiberia, now Georgia, and thence by the Phasis into the Euxine, and to the city of Trebisond, they were thence shipped for the various parts of Europe[42]. It is recorded that Demetrius Nicanor determined, or actually began, to open a canal of above 120 miles in length between the Caspian and Euxine, for the greater convenience of the Indian trade. But he was slain by Ptolemy Ceraunos, and this famous enterprize fell to nothing[43].

[42] Strabo, I. 11.

[43] Plin. I. 6. c. 11.

All other ways being lost, by reason of the wars of the Turks, the spiceries of the Indian Islands, particularly of Java, Sumatra, and the city of Malacca, were carried up the river Ganges, in Bengal, to the city of Agra; thence they were carried by land to another city near the Indus, named Boghar, where they were discharged, because the city of Cabor, or Laor, the principal city of the Mogores, stands too far within the land. From thence they were carried to the great city of Samarcand in Bactria, in which the merchants of India, Persia, and Turkey met together with their several commodities, as cloth of gold, velvets, camblets, scarlet and woollen cloths, which were carried to Cathay and the great kingdom of China; whence they brought back gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, silk, musk, rhubarb, and many other things of great value.

In after times these merchandizes, drugs, and spiceries, were carried in ships from India to the Straits of Ormus, and the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, and were unladen at the city of Basora; from whence they were carried overland to Aleppo, Damascus, and Barutti; and there the Venetian galliasses, which transported pilgrims to the Holy Land, came and received the goods.

In the year 1153, in the time of the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, it is said there came to the city of Lubeck, in Germany, a canoe like a long barge, with certain Indians, who were supposed to have come from the coast of Baccalaos[44], which is in the same latitude with Lubeck. The Germans greatly wondered to see such a boat and strange people, not knowing whence they came, nor being able to understand their language, especially as there was then no knowledge of their country. Although the boat was small in comparison with the seas it had to cross, it is yet possible that it might have been conveyed by the winds and waves; for in our days the almadias of the negroes, which are very small boats, venture to navigate from Quiloa, Mosambique, and Sofala, around the Cape of Good Hope, even to the island of St. Helena, a very small spot in the ocean, at a great distance from land.

[44] Newfoundland?

In the year 1300 after Christ, the great soldan of Cairo restored the trade of spiceries, drugs, and merchandize from India, by the Red Sea; at which time they unloaded the goods at the port of Judea[45], and carried them to Mecca; whence they were distributed by the Mahometan pilgrims[46], so that each prince endeavoured to increase the honour and profit of his own country. The soldans translated this trade to their own city of Cairo; whence the goods were carried to the countries of Egypt, Lybia, Africa, Tunis, Tremessen, Fez, Morocco, and Suz; and some of them were carried beyond the mountains of Atlas, to the city of Tombuto, and the kingdom of the Jalophos; till afterwards the Portuguese brought the Indian trade round the Cape of Good Hope to Lisbon, as we propose to shew more at large in a convenient place.

[45] Jidda.

[46] Leo Afric. Ramus. v. 1. f. 373.

A.D. 1344, Peter IV. reigned in Arragon, and the chronicles of his reign report that Don Lewis de Cerda, grandson of Don John de Corda, requested his aid to go and conquer the Canary Islands, which had been gifted to him by Pope Clement VI. a Frenchman. About this time, too, the island of Madeira is said to have been discovered by an Englishman named Macham; who, sailing from England into Spain with a lady whom he loved, was driven out of his course by a tempest, and arrived in a harbour of that island, now called Machico, after his name. The lady being oppressed with seasickness, Macham landed with her on the island, accompanied by some of his people; but in the mean time the ship weighed anchor and stood to sea, leaving them behind. On this the lady died of grief, and Macham, who was passionately fond of her, erected a chapel or hermitage on the island, which he named the chapel of Jesus, and there deposited her remains, engraving both their names and the cause of their coming to this place on a monumental stone. After this, he and his companions made a boat or canoe out of a large tree, and putting to sea without sails or oars, got over to the coast of Africa. The Moors among whom he arrived, considering their passage as miraculous, sent him to their king, who transmitted both him and his company to the king of Castile.

In 1395, while Henry III. reigned in Castile, in consequence of information given by Macham respecting this island, many persons of France and Castile were induced to attempt its discovery, and that of the Grand Canary. Those who went on this expedition were principally from Andalusia, Biscay, and Guipuscoa, who carried thither many men and horses; but I know not whether this was done at their own charge, or that of the king. But however that might be, these people seem to have been the first discoverers of the Canaries; where they took 150 of the islanders prisoners. There is some difference among authors respecting the time of this discovery, as some affirm that it did not take place till the year 1405.

SECTION II.

Summary of Portuguese Discoveries, from the Commencement of the Fifteenth Century, to the Discovery of America by Columbus [1].

[1] The only quotations used in this Section in the original translation by Hakluyt, are from the Asia of John de Barros, Decade 1. which it has not been deemed necessary to refer to here more particularly.--E.

According to the chronicles of Portugal, John I. went from Lisbon in 1415, attended by his sons Don Duarte, or Edward, Don Peter, and Don Henry, and other lords and nobles of his realm, into Africa, where he took the great city of Ceuta, which was one of the principal causes of extending the dominions of Portugal. After their return, Don Henry, the king's third [2] son, being then in Algarve, and desirous to enlarge the kingdom by the discovery of unknown regions, gave directions for discovering the coast of Mauritania; for in those days none of the Portuguese had ever gone beyond Cape Non, in lat. 29°. N.[3]. For the better accomplishment of this purpose, Don Henry prepared a fleet, and commanded the officers whom he employed to proceed in making discoveries to the south of that cape, which they did; but when they came to another cape, named Bajador, none of them dared for a long time to go beyond it, at which cowardice the prince was much displeased.

[2] It is singular that a Portuguese should not be more correct. Henry was the fifth son.--Clark.

[3] More accurately 28° 40'.--E.

In 1417, in the reign of John II. of Castile, and while his mother the lady Catharine was regent of the kingdom, Ruben de Bracamonte, the admiral of France, craved a grant of the Canary Islands, and the title of king, for his kinsman John de Betancourt; which being conceded, he departed from Seville with an armament to attempt the conquest. The principal motive of this enterprize was to make a perfect discovery of Madeira, of which Macham had before given so much information; yet he went to the Canaries, where he carried a friar named Mendo as bishop, who had received that dignity from Pope Martin V. He reduced Lançerota, Fuerteventura, Gomera, and Ferro; whence he sent into Spain many slaves, and considerable quantities of honey, wax, camphire, hides, orchill, figs, dragons-blood, and other merchandize, of which he made good profit. This armament is said to have likewise discovered Porto Santo. The island first occupied by Betancourt was Lançerota, where he built a castle of stone for the better defence of the new settlers.

In the year 1418, John Gonzales Zarco, and Tristram Vaz Teixera, gentlemen of the household to Don Henry, perceiving the great desire of their master to discover new countries, requested and obtained a bark to proceed to the coast of Africa; where they were overtaken by a violent tempest, and driven into a haven of the island now called Porto Santo, where they remained two years. In 1420, they discovered the island of Madeira, where they found the chapel, tomb, and stone on which Macham had engraved his name. Others write, that a Castilian had informed Don Henry of having made the discovery of Porto Santo; and that he sent Bartholomew Perestrello, John Gonzales Zarco, and Tristram Vaz Teixera, purposely in search of that island, according to the signs and directions indicated by the Castilian; and that these persons afterwards discovered Madeira in 1420, where they found the memorial and monument left by Macham the Englishman.

Betancourt, who begun the conquest of the Canaries, was slain in a war with the natives, leaving one Menante his heir; who afterwards sold the islands to one Peter Barba of Seville. But others say, that John de Betancourt went to France to procure reinforcements, to enable him to complete his conquests, and left the command of Lançerota with his nephew; who, hearing nothing of his uncle, and being unable to continue the contest with the natives, sold the Canaries to Don Henry, for an estate in the island of Madeira.

It is related that, in 1424, Don Henry sent a squadron with some land forces, under Don Ferdinando de Castro, on purpose to make a conquest of these islands; but, being repulsed by the bravery of the natives, de Castro prudently desisted from the enterprize and returned home; and that Don Henry afterwards resigned his claim to these islands in favour of the crown of Castile. The Castilian writers, however, assert that both Don Henry and the king of Portugal refused to give up these islands, until the dispute was ended by the judgment of Pope Eugenius IV. who awarded them to the king of Castile. These islands, anciently called the Insulae Fortunatae, or Fortunate Islands, are seven in number, in lat. 28° N. where the longest day is thirteen hours, and the longest night the same. They are 200 leagues distant from the coast of Spain, and 18 leagues from the coast of Africa. The people were idolaters, and eat raw flesh for want of fire. They had no iron, but raised or tilled the ground with the horns of oxen and goats, for want of better implements of husbandry. Every island spoke a separate language, and many pagan customs prevailed among the natives; but now the Christian religion is planted among them. The commodities of these islands are wheat, barley, sugar, wine, and Canary-birds, which are much esteemed for the sweetness and variety of their song. In the island of Ferro they have no water but what proceeds in the night from a tree, encompassed by a cloud, whence water issues, and serves the whole inhabitants and cattle of the island[4].

[4] Opportunities will occur hereafter, in particular voyages, to discuss the circumstances of this wonderful tree.

In the year 1428, Don Pedro, the king's eldest [5] son, who was a great traveller, went into England, France, and Germany, and thence into the Holy Land and other places, and came home by Italy, through Rome and Venice. He is said to have brought a map of the world home with him, in which all parts of the earth were described, by which the enterprizes of Don Henry for discovery were much assisted. In this map the Straits of Magellan are called the Dragons-tail , and the Cape of Good Hope the Front of Africa , and so of the rest[6]. I was informed by Francis de Sosa Tavares, that in the year 1528, Don Fernando, the king's eldest son, shewed him a map which had been made 120 years before, and was found in the study of Alcobaza, which exhibited all the navigation of the East Indies, with the cape of Bona Sperança, as in our latter maps; by which it appears that there was as much discovered, or more, in ancient times as now[7].

[5] Galvano is again mistaken. Edward or Duarte was the eldest son; Pedro the third .--Clark.

[6] Dr. Vincent, in his Periplus, considers this as a copy of the map of Marco Polo, which was exhibited in the church of St. Michael de Murano, at Venice.--Clark.

[7] Even if this were fact, it proves nothing, as the Cape of Good Hope must have been inserted merely by the fancy of the draughtsman.-- Clarke.--It may be added, that in 1528, it was no difficult matter to wrong date a forged map, on purpose to detract from the merit of the actual discoverers.--E.

Though attended with much trouble and expence, Don Henry was unwearied in prosecuting his plan of discoveries. At length Gilianes, one of his servants, passed Cape Bojador, a place terrible to all former navigators, and brought word that it was by no means so dangerous as had been represented, he having landed on its farther side, where he set up a wooden cross in memorial of his discovery.

In the year 1433 died John king of Portugal, and was succeeded by his eldest son Duarte or Edward. In 1434, Don Henry sent Alphonso Gonzales Balduja and Gillianes, who penetrated from Cape Bajador to another cape, where they found the country to be inhabited, and went forward to another point of land, whence they returned to Portugal. In 1438 king Duarte died, and his son Alphonso being young, the kingdom was governed during his minority by his uncle Don Pedro. In 1441, Don Henry sent out two ships under Tristan and Antonio Gonzales, who took a prize on the coast, and sailed to Cape Blanco, or the White Cape in lat. 20° N.[8]. From thence they brought home some Moors, from whom Don Henry learned the state of the country. Don Henry sent an account of these discoveries to Pope Martin, by one Fernan Lopez de Savado; and the Pope granted indulgences and everlasting pardon of sins to all who should die in attempting the discovery of the land of the infidels. In the year 1443, Don Henry commanded Antonio Gonzales to carry back the Moors to their own country, where they were ransomed for black Moors with curled hair, or negroes, and some gold; owing to which that place is now called Rio de Oro, or the Golden River, that thereby the desire of discovery might be the more increased. He sent soon afterward one named Nunnez Tristan, who discovered the islands of Arguin, who brought more slaves from thence to Portugal in 1444. One Lancarote, a groom of Don Henrys chamber, and three others, armed certain ships, with which they sailed along the coast to the islands of Garze, where they took 200 slaves, which were the first that were brought from thence to Portugal.

[8] More correctly in lat. 20° 54' N. There is another Cape Blanco in Morocco in lat. 33° 10' N. and this more southerly cape on the great desert is named Branca in our best charts.--E.

In 1445, Gonsalvo de Syntra, an esquire belonging to Don Henry, went captain of a bark into these parts; and landing on the coast, was taken by the natives, with six or seven of his people The place where he was cut off got the name of Angra de Gonsalvo de Syntra from him; and this was the first loss sustained by the Portuguese in their discoveries. In 1446, three caravels were sent out under Antonio Gonsales, Diego Aloizio, and Gomes Perez; who were ordered to refrain from going to Rio de Oro, to carry themselves peaceably to the natives, to traffic with them peaceably, and to endeavour to convert as many infidels as possible to Christianity; but in this they had no success. In the same year, Dennis Fernandes of Lisbon, an esquire to the king, entered upon these discoveries, more to acquire fame than for profit. In the course of his voyage he discovered the river Sanaga or Senegal, between 15 and 16 degrees of latitude[9]; and proceeding onwards, discovered Cape Verde, in 14 degrees[10], upon which he erected a wooden cross, and then returned, much elated at the success of his voyage. In 1447 Nunnez Tristan passed beyond Cape Verde to Rio Grande, and went beyond that river to another in twelve degrees[11]. He was here taken and slain, with eighteen other Portuguese, and the ship was brought home in safety by four or five of the crew who escaped the hands of the negroes.

[9] The mouth of the Senegal is in lat. 15° 45' N.--E.

[10] More correctly, 14° 45' N.--E.

[11] It is difficult to ascertain these two rivers: The Rio Grande here meant is properly named Gambia. The river in 12° N. may be the Casamansa, the Santa Anna, or the St. Dominico: which last is exactly in 12° N. the two others a little farther north, and nearer the Gambia. --E.

In this year 1447, a Portuguese ship, in coming through the Straits of Gibraltar, was forced a great way to the westwards by a violent tempest, and came to an island having seven cities, the inhabitants of which spoke the Portuguese language, and they inquired of our mariners if the Moors still infested Spain, whence their ancestors had fled to avoid the distresses which occurred subsequent to the death of Don Roderigo, king of Spain. The boatswain of this ship brought home some of the sand from this island, and sold it to a goldsmith in Lisbon, who procured from it a good quantity of gold. Don Pedro, who then governed the realm, being made acquainted with this circumstance, caused the whole to be recorded in the house of justice[12]. Some think that this island belonged to what is now called the Antilles or New Spain; but though their reasons for this opinion are good, I omit them here, as not connected with my present purpose.

[12] This is one of the many palpable and clumsy fables which were advanced to defraud Columbus of the honour of having discovered the new world, and is even more ridiculous, if possible, than the voyages of Zeno, adverted to in our First Part.--E.

In the year 1449, King Alphonso granted license to his uncle, Don Henry, to colonize the Açores, which had been formerly discovered. In the year 1458, this king went into Africa, where he took the town of Alcaçer; and in the year 1461, he commanded Signior Mendez to build the castle of Arguin, in the island of that name, on the coast of Africa. In the year 1462, three Genoese gentlemen, of whom Antonio de Noli was the chief, the others being his brother and nephew, got permission from Don Henry to take possession of the Cape de Verde islands, which some believe to be those called Gorgades, Hesperides, and Dorcades, by the ancients. But they named them Mayo, Saint Jago, and Saint Philip, because discovered on the days of those saints. Some call them the islands of Antonio. In the year following, 1463, that excellent prince, Don Henry, died; having discovered, by his exertions, the whole coast of Africa, from Cape Non to the mountain of Sierra Liona, which is on this side of the line, in lat. 8° 30' N. where no man had been before.

In 1469, the king of Portugal let out the trade of Guinea, afterwards called the Minas, to Fernan Gomez, for five years, at the yearly rent of 200,000 rees[13]; and under the express condition that he was every year to discover 100 leagues farther along the coast of Africa to the south. In 1470, this king went into Africa, accompanied by his son Prince John, where he took the town of Arzila; and the inhabitants of Tangier having fled from fear, he took possession of it also. In the year 1471, John de St. Aren and John de Scovar, under the orders of Fernan Gomez, continued the discovery of the coast of Guinea as far as St. George del Mina, in lat. 5° N. and 2° W. long.; the coast from Cape Verde to Cape Palmas trending S.E. after which it goes to the east, with even a small northerly inclination for about twelve degrees of longitude. In 1472, one Fernando da Poo discovered the island now called after his name, beyond Cape Formosa, in lat. 3° 40' N. and about the same time the islands del Principe and St. Thomas were discovered, the latter of which is situated under the equinoctial line. The firm land also was explored at the same time, all the way from the kingdom of Benin to Cape St. Catherina, in lat. 1° 40' S. This last discovery was made by Sequetra, a person in the king's immediate service. Many suppose that then were these countries and islands discovered which had never been before known since the flood.

[13] Equal to L.138: 17: 9–¼ d. English money.--Halk.

In the year 1480, the valiant King Don Alphonzo died, and was succeeded by his son Don John II. who, in 1481, gave orders to Diego d'Azambuxa to construct the castle of St. George del Mina, on the African coast. In 1484, Diego Caon, a knight belonging to the court, discovered the coast as far as the river Congo, on the south side of the line, in seven or eight degrees of latitude[14], where he erected a stone pillar, with the royal arms and titles of Portugal, with the date of his discovery. He proceeded southwards from thence along the coast, all the way to a river near the tropic of Capricorn, setting up similar stone pillars in convenient places. He afterwards returned to Congo, the king of which country sent ambassadors by his ship into Portugal. In the next year, or the year following, John Alonzo d'Aveiro brought home from Benin pepper with a tail[15], being the first of the kind ever seen in Portugal.

[14] Only 6° 45' S.--E.

[15] Mr. Clarke explains this as long pepper ; but besides that this by no means answers the descriptive name in the text, long pepper certainly is the production of the East Indies. The article here indicated was probably one of the many species, or varieties of the Capsicum; called Guinea pepper, Cayenne pepper, Bird pepper, and various other names. --E.

In 1487, King John sent Pedro de Covillan and Alphonzo de Payva, both of whom could speak Arabic, to discover India by land. They left Lisbon in the month of May, and took shipping in the same year at Naples for the island of Rhodes, and lodged there in the hotel of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, belonging to Portugal. From thence they went to Alexandria and Cairo, and then along with a caravan of Moors to the haven of Toro. There they embarked on the Red Sea, and proceeded to Aden, where they separated; de Payva going into Ethiopia, while Covillan proceeded to India. Covillan went to the cities of Cananor and Calicut, and thence to Goa, where he took shipping for Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa. He thence sailed to Mosambique, and the cities of Quiloa, Mombaza, and Melinda, returning back to Aden, where he and Payva had formerly separated. Thence he proceeded to Cairo, where he hoped to have rejoined his companion; but he here learnt by letter from the king his master, that de Payva was dead, and he was farther enjoined by the king to travel into the country of Abyssinia[16] He returned therefore, from Cairo to Toro, and thence to Aden; and hearing of the fame of Ormuz, he proceeded along the coast of Arabia by Cape Razalgate to Ormuz. Returning from the Gulf of Persia to the Red Sea, he passed over to the realm of the Abyssinians, which is commonly called the kingdom of Presbyter John, or Ethiopia, where he was detained till 1520, when the ambassador, Don Roderigo de Lima, arrived in that country. This Pedro de Covillan was the first of the Portuguese who had ever visited the Indies and the adjacent seas and islands.

[16] In the original this is called the country of Prester or Presbyter John. We have formerly, in the First Part of this work, had occasion to notice the strange idea of a Christian prince and priest, who was supposed to have ruled among the pagan nations of eastern Tartary. Driven from this false notion, by a more thorough knowledge of Asia, the European nations fondly transferred the title of Prester John to the half Christian prince or Negus of the semi-barbarous Abyssinians. --E.

In the year 1490, the king sent Gonzalo de Sosa to Congo with three ships, carrying back with him the ambassador of the king of Congo, who had been brought over to Portugal in 1484, by Diego Caon. During his residence in Portugal, this ambassador and others of his company had been instructed in the Christian religion, and baptized. Gonzalo de Sosa died during the outward-bound voyage; and Ruy de Sosa, his nephew, was chosen to the command of the expedition in his stead. Arriving in Congo, the king of that country received them with much joy, and soon yielded himself and the greater part of his subjects to be baptized; to the infinite satisfaction of the Portuguese, who by these means converted so many infidels from paganism to Christianity.

SECTION III.

Summary of Discoveries made by the Spaniards and Portuguese, from the Era of Columbus, in 1492, to the year 1555 .

In the year 1492, when Don Ferdinand king of Castile[1] was engaged in the siege of Granada, he sent one Christopher Columbus, a Genoese, with three ships, for the discovery of Nova Spagna. This Columbus had first offered his service lot a western discovery to John king of Portugal, who refused to employ him. Being sufficiently furnished for his enterprize, Columbus set out from the town of Palos on the third of August 1492, having with him, as captains and pilots, Martin Alionzo Pinzon, Francis Martinez Pinzori, Vincent Yannes Pinzon, and Bartholomew Columbus his brother[2] with an hundred and twenty other persons in the three ships. Some persons affirm, that this was the first voyage which was ever conducted by the observation of latitudes[3]. They took the Canaries in their way, whence shaping their course for Cipango, or towards Japan, they were much amazed to find the sea all full of weeds, and with great fear arrived at the Antilles on the tenth day of October; the first island they descried, called Guanahany by the natives, they named San Salvador. This island is in 25° N. latitude. After that they found many islands, which they called the Princes. The savages of those parts call these islands by the name of Lucaios, having indeed several names for them, and they stand on the north side of the line, almost under the tropic of Cancer. The island of St. James, or Jamaica, lies between the 16th and 17th degrees of northern latitude[4]. Thence they went to the island which the natives call Cuba, named Ferdinando by the Spaniards, after the king, which is in 22 degrees; from whence they were conducted by the Indians to another island called Hayti, named Isabella by the Spaniards, in honour of the queen of Castile, and afterwards Hispaniola, or Little Spain.

[1] Ferdinand was hereditary king of Arragon; but, by marrying Isabella, queen of Castile, had united the several monarchies of Spain, under one government. Ferdinand had no share whatever in the honour of sending out Columbus, the sole charge being defrayed by his consort, Isabella, hereditary queen of Castile and Leon; and who had even to borrow money for the purpose. The contemptuous notice of one Christopher Columbus, must be pardoned to the patriotic rivalry of a Portuguese.--E.

[2] Galvano is here inaccurate: It will be seen in the sequel, that Bartholomew Columbus did not accompany his brother in this voyage, being then in England.--E.

[3] It is certainly possible, that Columbus may have used that mode in his course to the Canaries: But as his run across the Atlantic was nearly on a parallel, he must have kept that part of his voyage by what is called dead reckoning, or by the log.--E.

[4] The middle of Guanahana is in lat. 24° 30' N. The centre of Jamaica in 18° 10' N. The latitudes of Galvano are generally inaccurate; and he never pretends to assign any longitudes whatever. The series, likewise, in which he arranges the discoveries of Columbus is very inaccurate. --E.

In that island the admirals ship was wrecked, and Columbus caused a fort to be constructed of her timbers and planks, in which he left Roderigo de Arana with a garrison of thirty-eight men, to learn the language and customs of the country. Columbus then returned to Spain, carrying with him samples of gold and pearls, and other productions of the country, with ten Indians, six of whom died on the voyage; the rest were brought to Spain and baptized. On their way home, Columbus touched at the Açores; and on the fourth of March 1493, entered the port of Lisbon. This discovery gave much discontent to the king of Portugal. Immediately on his arrival, Columbus went into Castile, where he informed the king of his discoveries and of the dissatisfaction of the king of Portugal. On this he and his queen Isabella sent word of the recent discovery to Pope Alexander VI, at which information he and all the Italians were much astonished, as they marvelled that there should be any land besides what had been known to the Romans. Alexander made a grant of all these countries to the crowns of Castile and Leon, under condition that they should labour to extirpate idolatry, and establish the holy faith of Christ among the natives.

On the report of this discovery, so universal a desire of travelling arose among the Spaniards, that they were ready as it were to leap into the sea, that they might swim if possible to the newly discovered islands. After receiving the authority of the Pope, King Ferdinando sent Columbus a second time to the newly-discovered country, of which he made him admiral, giving him many other honours, and a particular coat of arms, having this motto,

For Castile and for Leon

A new world discovered Colon[A].

[A] Gomara, I. 1. c. 15.

Columbus set out on his second voyage to the Antilles on the 25th October 1493, taking his course from Cadiz, with seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men, accompanied by his brothers Bartholomew and Diego Columbus, with many other knights, gentlemen of the law, and priests; having chalices, crosses, and other rich religious ornaments, and with great power and dignity from the Pope. The tenth day after commencing their voyage, they reached the Canaries; and from thence, in twenty-five or thirty days, they sailed to the Antilles, the first island they saw being in 14° N. due west from Cape de Verd in Africa. They called this island Deseada[5], or the desired island , which is said to be 800 leagues from the Canaries. They afterwards discovered many more islands, which they called the Virgins, but which are named the Caribbee islands by the natives, from a nation of that name, who are bold warriors, and excellent marksmen with bows and arrows. They poison their arrows with the juice of a certain herb, and whoever is wounded with these is sure to die, biting himself like a mad dog. From thence they went to the principal island in these parts, named Boriquen by the natives, and St. John by the Spaniards; and thence to Hispaniola, or Isabella, where they found all the men dead whom they had left on returning from the former voyage. Columbus left most of his people here to establish a colony, under the command of his brothers; and went with two ships to continue his discovery of Cuba and Jamaica. All these islands are between 16 and 20 degrees of northern latitude[6]. While the admiral was sailing in quest of discoveries, his brethren and those who were left in Hispaniola, were much incommoded by an insurrection among the savages; and Columbus went back to Spain, to give an account of his proceedings to the king and queen.

[5] Cape de Verd is in 14° 30' N. Deseada in 16° 30' N. a difference of two degrees of latitude. Dominica, in 15° 30' is the first land said to have been discovered by Columbus in his second voyage, in the authentic original narrative by his son, which will be found in the sequel.--E.

[6] Counting from Dominica to the north side of Cuba, between 15° 30' and 23° 15'.--E.

In January 1494, a congress of ambassadors from Spain and Portugal was held at Tordesillas, for the settlement of all disputes between the two countries respecting the new discoveries. The plenipotentiaries from Spain were Don Henry Henriques, Don John de Cardenas, and the Doctor Maldonado; those from Portugal, Ruy de Sosa, his son Don John, and the doctor Ayres de Almada. After some conference, these plenipotentiaries divided the world between the two crowns, by a meridian line drawn from north to south, 300 leagues to the west of the islands of Cape Verd, all to the east of this line being appropriated to Portugal, and all to the west to Spain; leaving, however, the liberty of navigation equally to both[7]. In 1495, John II. King of Portugal, died, and was succeeded by his cousin Emanuel.

[7] The negociators of the two crowns, as here related, seem to have been ignorant that this loose division of the globe gave the whole reciprocally to each of the parties.--E.

In the year 1496, a Venetian named John Cabota, or Gabota, went to England; and having acquired a knowledge of the new discoveries, and perceiving by the globe that the islands of the Antilles were almost in the same latitude with his own country, and lay much nearer to England than Spain and Portugal, he acquainted Henry VII. with this circumstance, and offered his services to make discoveries for the crown of England. Henry was much pleased with the proposal, and furnished him with two ships and three hundred men, with which he set sail in the spring of that year, and sailed west till he came in sight of land, in lat. 45°N. Whence he sailed northwards till he came into the latitude of 60 degrees, where the day is 18 hours long, and the night is very clear and bright. He there found the air very cold, with great islands of ice, and found no bottom with a line of 100 fathoms. From thence, finding the land turn eastwards, he coasted along it, discovering all the bay and river named Deseado[8], to see if it passed on to the other side of the land. Cabot afterwards sailed down the coast to the lat. of 38°N. though some people allege that he reached Cape Florida, in 25°N.

[8] The apparent object seems to have been in search of a passage to the East Indies by way of the north-west, a chimera long and anxiously sought after. It is needless to make any observations on these indistinct notices, as the voyage of Cabot will be afterwards given at full length.--E.

In the year 1497, Columbus was again sent out on discovery, with six ships furnished by the crown of Spain, and two others fitted out at his own expence. Sending his brother before, he sailed from Cadiz, taking his son Don Diego along with him. It was then reported, that he meant to take the island of Madeira, because he distrusted the Frenchmen, and therefore sent three ships thither; others say, that his object was for the Canaries. However this may be, he went with four ships to the Cape de Verd islands, whence he ran along a parallel, finding great rains and calms, and the first land he came to in the Antilles was an island in nine degrees of north latitude, called Trinidada,[9] which lies close to the main land. Here he entered the Gulf of Paria, and came out by the Bocca de Dragone, or Dragons-mouth. Holding his course westwards along the coast of Paria, he came to the islands called Los Testigos, or the Witnesses, beyond which is the island of Cubagua, where there is a great fishing for pearl-muscles, and where also there is a well of rock oil. Beyond that he came to the Frailes islands, named Roques, Aruba, and Curaçoa, and other small islands, along the coast of the main land, and to the point of land named Cabo de Vela, having discovered 200 leagues of coast. He thence crossed over the Caribbean Sea, directly north for Hispaniola, passing by the island Beata.

[9] The centre of Trinidada is in 10° 30'N. its S.W. point in 10° 12', and the N.E. cape in 10º 45' N.--E.

In this same year[10] 1497, on the 20th day of June[11], King Emanuel sent a squadron of three ships for India, commanded by one Vasques de Gama, having under his command his brother Paulus de Gama and Nicolas Coello, as captains of the other two ships, the whole having a complement of 120 men. They were accompanied by a fourth ship laden with provisions. In fourteen days they reached the island of St. Jago, one of the Cape Verds, whence they went along the coast beyond the Cape of Good Hope, erecting pillars of stone in proper places, as marks of discovery and possession, and came to Mosambique in lat. 15° S. After staying only a short time there, de Gama went to Mombaza and Melinda, the king of which last place gave him pilots, who conducted him to India, in which passage he discovered Los Baxos do Padua, or the Flats of Padua. In the month of May 1498, de Gama came to anchor before the city of Calicut, and Panama [12], where they remained till the first day of September, when they sailed towards the north, discovering all the coast till they came to the island of Angediva, on the western side of India, in 15° N. where they came to an anchor in the beginning of October. They remained here till February 1499, when they departed on their voyage homewards; coming first to Melinda, and so by Mosambique and along the coast to the Cape of Good Hope, and by the islands of Cape de Verd, and lastly to the city of Lisbon, in September of that year, having been absent on their voyage for twenty- six months.

[10] De Barros, Dec. I. 1. 4. c. 2. and to the end of ch. 11.--Hakl.

[11] Osorius says this voyage commenced on the 9th of July.--Clark.

[12] This Panama seems a blunder of some ignorant copyist, for Panarame. --E.

On the 13th of November 1499, Vincent Yannez Pinzon, who had sailed with Columbus in his first voyage of discovery, and his nephew Aries Pinzon, departed from the port of Palos with four well appointed ships, fitted out at their own cost, having a license from the king of Spain to prosecute discoveries in the new world, but with express orders not to touch anywhere that had been visited by Columbus. Going first to the islands of Cape de Verd, they passed the line and stood over towards the new world, which they fell in with at Cape St. Augustine, in lat. 8° 30' S. where they carved on the barks of trees the date of their arrival, and the names of the king and queen of Spain. They had several skirmishes with the inhabitants of Brazil, but got no advantage. Following the coast westwards[13], they entered the river named Maria Tambal, by which time they had made above thirty prisoners. The chief places where they touched were Cape St. Augustine, Cape St. Luke, Tierra de los Humos; the rivers of Marannon and of the Amazons, and the Rio Dolce, or Sweet river[14], and other places along the coast. At last, being come to 10° N. they lost two of their ships with their crews, and returned home, after having employed ten months and fifteen days in their voyage.

[13] The coast here is nearly N. and S. and their course must have been to the north.--E.

[14] The Marannon and Amazons are the same river. Perhaps by the Rio Dolce the Orinoco may be meant; but in these slight notices of discovery it is impossible at times to ascertain the real positions, through the alteration of names.--E.

In March 1500, Pedro Alvarez Cabral sailed from Lisbon with thirteen ships for India, being ordered not to go near the coast of Africa, that he might shorten the voyage. Losing sight of one of his ships, he deviated from his course in hopes to rejoin it, and sailed till he unexpectedly fell in with the coast of Brazil, where he sent a bark in, search of a safe harbour, which they found in 17° S. and called it Puerto Seguro. From thence they made sail for the Cape of Good Hope and Melinda, whence they crossed over to the river of Cochin, which was not before known. Here they loaded with pepper; and on their return Sancho de Thovar discovered the city of Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa.

It is reported, that in the year 1500, one Gaspar Cortereal got a general license from King Emanuel to make discoveries in the new world. He fitted out two stout ships at his own cost, from the island of Tercera, and sailed to that part of the new world which is in 50° N. which has been since known by his name, and came home in safety to Lisbon. In a second voyage, his own immediate vessel was lost, and the other came home. Upon this, his brother Michael Cortereal went to seek him with three ships, fitted out at his own charges; and finding many creeks and rivers on the coast, the ships divided for the more effectual search, agreeing that they should all meet again at an appointed time and place. The other two ships did so; but after waiting a reasonable rime for Michael Cortereal, it was concluded that he was also lost, on which the other two ships returned to Lisbon, and no news was ever afterwards heard of the two brothers; but the country where they were lost is still called the land of Cortereal[15].

[15] From the latitude indicated by Galvano, the land of Cortereal may have been somewhere on the eastern side of Newfoundland.--E.

In March 1501, John de Nova sailed from Lisbon with four ships for India. In his outward-bound voyage he discovered an island in the Atlantic, in lat. 8° S. to which he gave the name of Ascension[16]. On his return from India, he fell in with another island in the Atlantic in 17° S. called St. Helena, which, though very small, is yet of great importance from its situation. In the month of May of the same year 1501, three ships were sent from Lisbon by King Emanuel, to make a discovery of the coast of Brazil, which had been accidentally fallen in with, by Cabral: Passing by the Canaries, they stopped for refreshments at the town of Bezequiche in the Cape Verds; and passing southwards from thence beyond the line, they fell in with Brazil in five degrees of south latitude, at Cape St. Roquo, and sailed along the coast southwards, till they reckoned themselves to have reached 32° S. Finding the weather cold and tempestuous, they turned back in the month of April 1502, and got to Lisbon In September of that year, having been out fifteen months on their voyage.

[16] Barros, Dec. 1. I. 5. c. 10.

In the same year 1502, Alfonso Hojeda went to discover the Terra Firma, and followed its coast till he came to the province of Uraba I7. In 1503, Roderigo Bastidas of Seville went with two caravels at his own cost, to the Antilles, where he first came to the Isla Verde, or the Green island, close by Guadaloupe; whence he sailed westwards to Santa Martha and Cape do la Vela, and to the Rio Grande or Great river. He afterwards discovered the haven of Zamba, the Coradas, Carthagena, the islands of S. Bernard de Baru, the Islas de Arenas, Isla Fuerta, and the Point of Caribana, at the end of the Gulf of Uraba, where he had sight of the Farrallones, close by the river of Darien. From Cape de la Vela to this last place, which is in lat. 9° 40' N. is 200 leagues. From thence he stood over to Jamaica for refreshments. In Hispaniola he had to lay his ships on the ground to repair their bottoms, because a certain species of worms had eaten many holes in the planks. In this voyage Bastidas procured four hundred marks [18] of gold; though the people were very warlike, and used poisoned arrows.

[17] Gomara, I. 2.

[18] About 8200 ounces, worth about L. 16,000 sterling; equal in modern efficacy, perhaps, to L. 100,000.--E.

In the same year 1502, Columbus entered upon his fourth voyage of discovery, with four ships, taking with him his son Don Ferdinando. The particular object of this voyage, by command of King Ferdinand, was to look out for the strait which was supposed to penetrate across the continent of the new world, and by which a route to India by the west was expected to be discovered. He sailed by Hispaniola and Jamaica to the river Azua, Cape Higueras, the Gamares islands, and to Cape Honduras, which signifies the Cape of the Depths. From thence he sailed eastwards to Cape Garcias a Dios, and discovered the province and river of Veragua, the Rio Grande, and others, which the Indians call Hienra. Thence to the river of Crocodiles, now called Rio de Chagres, which rises near the South Sea, within four leagues of Panama, and runs into the Caribbean Sea. He went next to the Isle of Bastimentos, or of Provisions, and after that to Porto Bello; thence to Nombre de Dios and Rio Francisco, and the harbour of Retreat. Then to the Gulf of Cabesa Cattiva, the islands of Caperosa and Cape Marmora; having discovered two hundred leagues along the coast. He thence returned to the island of Cuba, and from that to Jamaica, where he laid his ships aground, on account of their bottoms being much eaten by the worms.

On the tenth of February 1S02, Don Vasques de Gama, now admiral, sailed from Lisbon for India, with nineteen or twenty caravels. On the last day of February he reached Cape de Verd, whence he went to Mosambique, and was the first who crossed over from thence to India. In this passage he discovered the islands of Amirante, in four degrees of south latitude. Having taken in a cargo of pepper and drugs, de Gama returned to Lisbon, leaving Vincent Sodre to keep the coast of India, with four stout ships. These were the first of the Portuguese who navigated the coast of Arabia Felix, which is so barren, that the inhabitants are forced to support their camels and other cattle on dried fish. The sea on that coast is so abundant in fish, that the cats are in use to take them. One Antonio de Saldania is reported to have discovered Socotora, formerly named Coradis, and the Cape of Guardafu in 1503.

In 1504, Roderigo de Bastidas, formerly mentioned, with the aid of John de Ledesma, and others of Seville, fitted out two ships, and taking John de Cosa as his pilot, went on discovery to the Terra Firma of America, where Carthagena now stands. He is said to have here met with Lewis de la Guerra, and they in conjunction landed in the island of Codego, where they made prisoners of 600 savages. Going a little farther along the coast, they entered the Gulf of Uraba, where they found sand mingled with gold, being the first of that kind which was brought to Spain. From thence they sailed for St. Domingo, loaded with slaves, but almost famished for want of victuals, as the natives refused to traffic with them for any. In the end of this year Isabella, queen of Castile, died. While she lived, no subject of Arragon, Catalonia, Valencia, or any other of the provinces, depending on her husband King Ferdinand, was allowed to sail to any of the newly-discovered countries; but only her own subjects of Castile and Biscay, by whom all these lands were discovered; excepting only such of her husbands subjects as might be in a servile capacity to her own, or a few that could procure special licenses.

In 1505, on the twenty-fifth of March, Francisco de Almeida, the viceroy of India, sailed from Lisbon with a fleet of twenty-two sail. On his way to India, he stopped at Quiloa, where he built a fort, appointing Peter Fereira to command it. From beyond Melinda he passed over to the island of Anguediva, of which he appointed Emanuel Passavia to be captain. He built a fort also at Cananor, of which he gave the command to Laurence de Brito; and one at Cochin, which was given in charge to Alphonso de Noronha. This year likewise, Peter de Anahay built a fort at Sofala, of which he was made captain. In the latter end of this year the viceroy commanded his son Laurenço to go to the islands of Maldivia. Beating up against contrary winds, he arrived at these islands which in ancient times were called Traganæ[19], but Ytterubenero by the Moors, and by us Ceilan. Here he went on shore, and entered into treaty with the people, and returned to Cochin. In the middle of this island there is a high rock, having the print of a mans foot, said to have been that of Adam when he ascended to heaven, which the Indians hold in great reverence.

[19] Probably an error for Taprobana; the same by which Ceylon was known to the ancients.--E.

In 1506, after the death of Isabella, King Philip and Queen Joan came to take possession of the crown of Castile, and. King Ferdinand retired into his own dominions of Arragon. In that same year Philip died, and Ferdinand resumed the government, giving license to all Spaniards to go to the new discovered countries; but not allowing the Portuguese to go there. In this year, likewise, Christopher Columbus died, in the month of May, and was succeeded in his dignities by his son Don Diego.

In March 1506, Tristan de Acunha and Alphonso de Albuquerque went to India with fourteen ships, and refreshed by the way at Bezequiche, in the Cape de Verd islands. Before reaching the Cape of Good Hope they discovered certain islands, in 37° S. which are now called the islands of Tristan de Acunha. During this voyage, the fleet was dispersed by a tempest, and Alvaro Teliz ran so far that he came to Sumatra, whence he returned to Cape Guardafu, having discovered many islands, seas, and countries, not known before that time to the Portuguese. At the same time, Emanuel Telez de Meneses was driven on the outside of the great island of St. Lawrence, or Madagascar, and having surveyed its coasts, came to Mosambique, where he met with Tristan de Acunha, who was the first captain that wintered there. Meneses, having reported that there was plenty of ginger, cloves, and silver in Madagascar, was sent back there, and traversed a considerable part of the island; but not finding any thing of value, returned to Mosambique, whence he went to Melinda, and Brava, and thence to Socotora, where he built a fort, of which he appointed one Antonio de Noronha to be captain. In 1507, Tristan de Acunha returned to Europe, and Alphonso de Albuquerque remained in India with five or six ships, to keep the command of the sea. In the course of that year or the next, Albuquerque stood over to discover the coast of Arabia, which he explored, and doubled the Cape of Rosalgate, which is under the tropic of Cancer.

In 1509, Diego Lopez de Sequiera went from Lisbon for India with four ships; and stopping at the island of Madagascar was almost a year on his voyage. Arriving at Cochin in the month of May, the viceroy gave him another ship, in which he went to Malacca in September passing between the islands of Nicubar and many others. He went also to Sumatra; to the cities of Pedir and Pacem; and all along that coast to the island of Puloreira, and the fiats of Capacia; thence he stood over to the city of Malacca, in lat. 2° N. where the people took and slew some of his men. After this he returned to Cochin, having discovered five hundred leagues in this voyage. The island of Sumatra is the first land in which we knew of mens flesh being eaten, by certain people in the mountains called Bacas, who gild their teeth. In their opinion the flesh of the blacks is sweeter than that of the whites. The flesh of the oxen, kine, and hens in that country is as black as ink. A people is said to dwell in that country, called Daraqui-Dara , having tails like sheep[20]. There are likewise springs of rock oil or bitumen. In the kingdom of Pedir, likewise, there is said to be a river of oil; which is not to be wondered at, as we are assured there is also a well of oil in Bactria. It is further said that there is a tree in that country, the juice of which is a strong poison if it touch a mans blood; but if drank, it is a sovereign antidote against poison. They have here also certain gold coins, called drachms, brought, as they say, into their country by the Romans[21], which seems to have some resemblance to truth, because beyond that country there are no gold coins.

[20] The Cakerlaka of other writers, which can only be large monkeys or baboons, called men with tails, through ignorance or imposture.--E.

[21] Rumi still continues the eastern name of the Turkish empire, as the successor of the Roman emperors, in Assyria and Egypt. Hence these Roman gold coins may have come in the way of trade from Assyria or Egypt, or may possibly have been Venetian sequins.--E.

In 1508, Alphonso de Hojeda went with the license of King Ferdinand, but at his own charges, to conquer the province of Darien, in the Terra Firma of the new world. Landing in the country of Uraba, he called it Castilia del Oro, or Golden Castile, because of the gold found in the sand along its coast. He went first from the city of San Domingo, in Hispaniola, with four ships and three hundred soldiers, leaving behind him the bachelor Anciso, who afterwards compiled a book of these discoveries. He was followed by a fourth ship with provisions and ammunition, and a reinforcement of 150 Spaniards. Hojeda landed at Carthagena, where the natives took, slew, and devoured seventy of his men, by which his force was much weakened. Some time after but in the same year, Diego de Niquesa fitted out seven ships in the port of Beata, intending to go to Veragua with 800 men; but coming to Carthegana, where he found Hojeda much weakened by his losses, they joined their forces, and avenged themselves of the natives. In this voyage Niquesa discovered the coast called Nombre de Dios, and went into the sound of Darien, on the river Pito, which he named Puerto de Misas. Coming to Veragua, Hojeda went on shore with his soldiers, and built there the town of Caribana, as a defence against the Caribbees; being the first town built by the Spaniards on the continent of the new world. He also built another at Nombre de Dios, and called it Nuestra Seniora de la Antigua. A town was built at Uraba, in which Francis Pisarro was left with the command, who was there much annoyed by the natives. They likewise built other towns, the names of which I omit. In this enterprize the Spaniards did not meet with the success they expected.