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.
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.
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.
[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.
[2] It is singular that a Portuguese should not be more correct. Henry was
the _fifth_ son. - Clarke.
[3] More accurately 28 deg. 40'. - E.
[4] Opportunities will occur hereafter, in particular voyages, to discuss
the circumstances of this wonderful tree.
[5] Galvano is again mistaken. Edward or Duarte was the _eldest_ son;
Pedro the _third_. - Clarke.
[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. - Clarke.
[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.
[8] More correctly in lat. 20 deg. 54' N. There is another Cape Blanco in
Morocco in lat. 33 deg. 10' N. and this more southerly cape on the great
desert is named Branca in our best charts. - E.
[9] The mouth of the Senegal is in lat. 15 deg. 45' N. - E.
[10] More correctly, 14 deg. 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 deg. N. may be the
Casamansa, the Santa Anna, or the St Dominico: which last is exactly
in 12 deg. N. the two others a little farther north, and nearer the Gambia.
- E.
[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.
[13] Equal to L.138: 17: 9-1/4 d. English money. - Halk.
[14] Only 6 deg. 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.
