There Appears Some Difficulty And Contradiction In Regard To The River
Discovered By Nuna Tristan, From The Vague Name Of Rio Grande.
Instead of
the Gambia, in lat.
13 deg. 30' N. some of the Portuguese historians are
inclined to believe that this fatal event took place at another river, in
lat. 10 deg. 15' N. at least 500 nautical miles beyond the Gambia, to the S.S.
E. which was afterwards called Rio de Nuno. This is scarcely probable,
as no notice whatever is taken of the great archipelago of shoals and
islands which extend from Cabo Rosso to beyond the mouth of that river
which is still called Rio Grande. Yet it must be acknowledged that our
remaining information respecting these early Portuguese voyages of
discovery, is unfortunately vague and unsatisfactory.
In the same year, 1447, Alvaro Fernando proceeded to the coast of Africa,
and is said to have advanced forty leagues beyond Tristan, having arrived
at the mouth of a river called Tabite[11], 100 miles to the south of Rio
Nuno. Notwithstanding the appearance of a determined opposition on the
part of the natives, who had manned five almadias, Alvaro resolved to
explore its course in his boat, and proceeded up the river for that
purpose, with the utmost circumspection. One of the almadias stood out
from the rest, and attacked his boat with great bravery, discharging a
number of poisoned arrows, by which Alvaro and several of his men were
wounded, which forced him to desist and return to his ship. Being,
however, provided with _theriac_ and other antidotes against the poison,
Alvaro and all his men recovered from their wounds. He resolved, after
leaving the river Tabite, to proceed along the coast, which he did to a
sandy point; and, apprehending no danger in so open a situation, was
preparing to land, when he was suddenly assailed by a flight of poisoned
arrows, from 120 negroes who started up from a concealment. Alvaro,
therefore, desisted from any farther attempt to explore the coast, and
returned to Lagos to give an account of his proceedings.
In the same year, ten caravels sailed from Lagos for Madeira, the
Canaries, and the coast of Africa, but returned without making any
progress in discovering the coast. Under this year likewise, 1447, the
Antilles, or Caribbee islands, are pretended to have been discovered by a
Portuguese ship driven, thither by a storm. But the fact rests only on
the authority, of Galvano, a Portuguese historian, and is not at all
credible. Indeed the story is an absolute fable; as the inhabitants are
said to have spoken the Portuguese language, and to have had _seven
cities_ in their island. In the same year, Gomez Perez went with two
caravels to Rio del Ouro, whence he carried eighty Moors to Lagos as
prisoners.
About this period the progress of discovery was arrested by political
disputes in Portugal, which ended in a civil war between Don Pedro, Duke
of Coimbra, and King Alphonso V. his nephew and son-in-law, in the course
of which Don Pedro was slain.
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