B.
[1] According to Astley, much difference of opinion took place in the
council of Portugal, whether to continue the trade to India for which
it was requisite to employ force, or to desist entirely from the
attempt; but the profits expected from the trade, and the expectation
of propagating the Romish religion and enlarging the royal titles,
outweighed all considerations of danger; and it was resolved to
persist in the enterprize. - Astl. I. 50.
[2] The distribution, of this force is somewhat differently related by
Astley. Ten ships only are said to have been placed under the
immediate command of Vasco de Gama; five ships under Vincente Sodre,
who had orders to scour the coast of Cochin and Cananor, and to watch
the mouth of the Red Sea, on purpose to prevent the Moors, or Turks
and Arabs, from trading to India; the third, as in the text, was under
Stephen de Gama, but with no particular destination mentioned; and the
whole were under the supreme command of Vasco de Gama, as captain-
general. - Astl. I. 50.
[3] Such is the expression in the translation by Lichefild; but which I
suspect ought to have been, "and had passed Cape Corientes." - E.
In Astley, the following incident is mentioned: When off Cape Verd,
Vasco de Gama met a caravel bound from La Mina, on the western coast
of Africa, carrying much gold to Lisbon.
