Three Of The Prisoners Carried To Portugal By Gonzales Were Moors Of Some
Rank And Considerable Opulence; Who Each Promised To Pay Ransoms For
Their Safe Return To Their Native Country, And To Give, Besides, Six Or
Seven Slaves Each To The Captors.
Don Henry, as grand master of the order
of Christ, was eager for the acquisition of so many converts
From the
religion of Mahomet, and was in hopes that the favourable report which
the Moors might make on their return to Africa, would induce the natives
to enter into trade with his navigators; and that, among the slaves which
were to be given in exchange, some certain knowledge might be acquired of
the burning regions of Africa, about which such strange reports were then
prevalent. Antonio Gonzales was therefore dispatched on another voyage in
1442, accompanied by a German gentleman named Balthazar, who had
distinguished himself in the late unfortunate attempt on Tangier, and who
was anxious to carry home some account of the newly discovered countries.
After being forced to return to port, to repair the damages they had
sustained in a dreadful tempest, they again sailed, and reached the coast
where the Moors had been made prisoners. The principal Moor was landed,
and was received with great deference and respect by his countrymen; but
he forgot all his promises on regaining his liberty, and never returned
to pay the ransom he had bargained for. It would appear, however, that he
had informed the natives of the return of the other two chiefs; as at the
end of nine days, above an hundred natives appeared on the coast, and
entered into treaty for the ransom of their two countrymen who remained
captives, and for whom ten negroes, natives of different parts of Africa,
were given in exchange.
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