And Here He Also Learnt All The Arabs Knew
Respecting The Southern Part Of Africa, Viz.
That the sea was navigable to
the south-west (and this indeed their countrymen believed, when the author
of the Periplus visited them); but they knew not where the sea terminated.
At Sofala also Covilham gained some information respecting the island of
the Moon, or Madagascar.
He returned to Cairo, by Zeila, Aden, and Tor. At
Cairo, he sent an account of the intelligence to the king, and in the
letter which contained it, he added, "that the ships which sailed down the
coast of Guinea, might be sure of reaching the termination of the
continent, by persisting in a course to the south, and that when they
should arrive in the eastern ocean, their best direction must be to enquire
for Sofala and the island of the Moon."
"It is this letter," observes Dr. Vincent, "above all other information,
which, with equal justice and equal honour, assigns the theoretical
discovery to Covilham, as the practical to Diaz and Gama; for Diaz returned
without hearing any thing of India, though he had passed the Cape, and Gama
did not sail till after the intelligence of Covilham had ratified the
discovery of Diaz." One part of the instructions given to Covilham required
him to visit Abyssinia: in order to accomplish this object, he returned to
Aden, and there took the first opportunity of entering Abyssinia. The
sovereign of his country received and treated him with kindness, giving him
a wife and land.
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