IV. And V. Volumes Of
Our Collection, The Great And Important Discovery Of America, And The
Establishment Of The Principal Spanish Colonies In That Grand Division
Of The World, With Some Short Notices Of The Earliest American
Discoveries By The Portuguese, English, And French Nations.
We now
return to a continuation of the early Discoveries and Conquests in
India, taking that word in its most extensive signification as
comprehending the whole of southern Asia, from the Persian Gulf to Japan
and Eastern China.
In the present portion of our Collection, we propose
chiefly to direct our attention to the transactions of the Portuguese;
adding however such accounts as we may be able to procure of the early
Voyages to India made by other European nations.
[Footnote 63: Portuguese Asia, by Manuel de Faria y Sousa-Astleys
Collection of Voyages and Travels, I. 58. et sequ.]
It is not necessary to particularize the various sources from which the
different articles to be contained in this Book or division of our
work has been collected, as these will be all referred to in the several
chapters and sections of which it is composed. Indeed as the
introductions we prefix, on the present and other similar occasions, are
necessarily written previous to the composition of the articles to
which they refer, contrary to the usual practice, it would be improper
to tie ourselves too strictly on such occasions, so as to preclude the
availment of any additional materials that may occur during our
progress, and therefore we here beg leave to notify that we reserve a
power of including the earliest voyages of other European nations to the
Atlantic and eastern coasts of Africa, together with Arabia and Persia,
among the early voyages to India, if hereafter deemed necessary; which
is strictly conformable to what has been already done in PART II. BOOK
I, and what must necessarily be the case on the present occasion. It may
be proper however to mention, that the present chapter, containing a
continuation of the early Discoveries, Navigations, and Conquests of the
Portuguese in India, is taken from the PORTUGUESE ASIA, of Manuel de
Faria y Sousa, taking that author up in 1505, where we had to lay down
Castaneda at the end of our Second BOOK. Faria[64], who is
designated as a member of the Portuguese military order of Christ, was a
celebrated historian among his countrymen, and his work, entitled ASIA
PORTUGUEZA, contains an account somewhat in the form of Annals, of the
Transactions of his countrymen in India, from their first going there
in 1497, to the year 1646. This work contains all the Portuguese Voyages
and Discoveries, from their first attempt to extend along the western
coast of Africa, to their final discovery of the farthest parts of
China and Japan: All their battles by sea and land, with their
expeditions, sieges, and other memorable actions: The whole interspersed
with descriptions of the places and countries they discovered, visited,
or conquered; including accounts of the manners, customs, government,
and religion of the natives. This author is remarkable for a concise and
clear narrative, and for judicious reflections on the conduct of the
Portuguese kings, ministers, governors, and commanders, as well as for
his remarks on many other occasions. These are always just, and have
often an air of freedom that might not have been expected under an
arbitrary government: But in matters regarding religion, he often
discovers a surprising reverse of character, full of weak and puerile
credulity, the never-failing consequence of education and publication
under the influence of that eternal and abominable stain of the
peninsula, the Inquisition.
[Footnote 64: Astley, I. 87.]
This work of De Faria has gone through various impressions in Portugal,
where it is esteemed a curious and accurate performance, though on some
occasions it is alleged that he has placed too much reliance on Mendez
Pinto, a dealer in bare-faced fiction. The first impression of the
Portuguese Asia was printed at Lisbon in 1666, in 3 vols. small folio,
and it has been often reprinted, and translated into Spanish, Italian,
French, and English.
The English translation used on the present occasion, and we know of no
other or later edition, was made by Captain John Stevens, and
published at London in 1695, in 3 vols. 8vo. dedicated to Catherine of
Portugal, Queen Dowager of England. In his Preface, Mr Stevens informs
the reader, that he had reduced the work to considerably less size than
the Spanish original, yet without omitting any part of the history, or
even abridging any material circumstances; having cut off long speeches,
which were only added by the author as rhetorical flourishes, and
omitted many tedious lists of the names of officers who were present at
the principal actions, and extended reflections of the author which
were only useful to increase the size of the work. In this account of
the work by the translator, the Spanish is mentioned as the original.
Indeed the Portuguese and Spanish original editions appear to have both
appeared contemporaneously in 1666.[65]
[Footnote 65: Bibl. Univ. des Voy. IV. 576.]
In the employment of Faria we have followed the example of Astleys
Collection of Voyages and Travels, of which Mr John Green is said to
have been the Editor. But although in that former Collection, published
at London in 1745, an absolutely verbal and literal transcript is used
so far as the Editor has been pleased to follow the translation of
Stevens, many very curious and important particulars contained in that
author are omitted, or slurred over by a hasty and careless abridgement.
From where we take up Faria, in consequence of the loss of Castaneda,
we have given his work nearly entire, only endeavouring to reduce the
language of Captain Stevens to the modern standard, and occasionally
using the freedom to arrange incidents a little more intelligibly, and
to curtail a few trifling matters that seemed to possess no interest for
modern readers.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 31 of 217
Words from 30697 to 31696
of 221361
