A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Ii Part 4

[35] Strabo, I. 17. p. 560, 561.

[36] Strab. I. 17. p. 549.

[37] Plin. I. 6. c. 23.

[38] Id. I. 12. c. 18.

[39] Id. I. 2. c. 67.

[40] Ziphilin. in vit. Traj.

[41] Ramusio, V. f. 372. p. 2

[42] Strabo, I. 11.

[43] Plin. I. 6. c. 11.

[44] Newfoundland?

[45] Jidda.

[46] Leo Afric. Ramus. v. 1. f. 373.

SECTION II.

_Summary of Portuguese Discoveries, from the Commencement of the Fifteenth Century, to the Discovery of America by Columbus_[1].

According to the chronicles of Portugal, John I. went from Lisbon in 1415, attended by his sons Don Duarte, or Edward, Don Peter, and Don Henry, and other lords and n.o.bles of his realm, into Africa, where he took the great city of Ceuta, which was one of the princ.i.p.al causes of extending the dominions of Portugal. After their return, Don Henry, the king's _third_[2] son, being then in Algarve, and desirous to enlarge the kingdom by the discovery of unknown regions, gave directions for discovering the coast of Mauritania; for in those days none of the Portuguese had ever gone beyond Cape Non, in lat. 29. N.[3]. For the better accomplishment of this purpose, Don Henry prepared a fleet, and commanded the officers whom he employed to proceed in making discoveries to the south of that cape, which they did; but when they came to another cape, named Bajador, none of them dared for a long time to go beyond it, at which cowardice the prince was much displeased.

In 1417, in the reign of John II. of Castile, and while his mother the lady Catharine was regent of the kingdom, Ruben de Bracamonte, the admiral of France, craved a grant of the Canary Islands, and the t.i.tle of king, for his kinsman John de Betancourt; which being conceded, he departed from Seville with an armament to attempt the conquest. The princ.i.p.al motive of this enterprize was to make a perfect discovery of Madeira, of which Macham had before given so much information; yet he went to the Canaries, where he carried a friar named Mendo as bishop, who had received that dignity from Pope Martin V. He reduced Lancerota, Fuerteventura, Gomera, and Ferro; whence he sent into Spain many slaves, and considerable quant.i.ties of honey, wax, camphire, hides, orchill, figs, dragons-blood, and other merchandize, of which he made good profit. This armament is said to have likewise discovered Porto Santo. The island first occupied by Betancourt was Lancerota, where he built a castle of stone for the better defence of the new settlers.

In the year 1418, John Gonzales Zarco, and Tristram Vaz Teixera, gentlemen of the household to Don Henry, perceiving the great desire of their master to discover new countries, requested and obtained a bark to proceed to the coast of Africa; where they were overtaken by a violent tempest, and driven into a haven of the island now called Porto Santo, where they remained two years. In 1420, they discovered the island of Madeira, where they found the chapel, tomb, and stone on which Macham had engraved his name. Others write, that a Castilian had informed Don Henry of having made the discovery of Porto Santo; and that he sent Bartholomew Perestrello, John Gonzales Zarco, and Tristram Vaz Teixera, purposely in search of that island, according to the signs and directions indicated by the Castilian; and that these persons afterwards discovered Madeira in 1420, where they found the memorial and monument left by Macham the Englishman.

Betancourt, who begun the conquest of the Canaries, was slain in a war with the natives, leaving one Menante his heir; who afterwards sold the islands to one Peter Barba of Seville. But others say, that John de Betancourt went to France to procure reinforcements, to enable him to complete his conquests, and left the command of Lancerota with his nephew; who, hearing nothing of his uncle, and being unable to continue the contest with the natives, sold the Canaries to Don Henry, for an estate in the island of Madeira.

It is related that, in 1424, Don Henry sent a squadron with some land forces, under Don Ferdinando de Castro, on purpose to make a conquest of these islands; but, being repulsed by the bravery of the natives, de Castro prudently desisted from the enterprize and returned home; and that Don Henry afterwards resigned his claim to these islands in favour of the crown of Castile. The Castilian writers, however, a.s.sert that both Don Henry and the king of Portugal refused to give up these islands, until the dispute was ended by the judgment of Pope Eugenius IV. who awarded them to the king of Castile. These islands, anciently called the Insulae Fortunatae, or Fortunate Islands, are seven in number, in lat.

28 N. where the longest day is thirteen hours, and the longest night the same. They are 200 leagues distant from the coast of Spain, and 18 leagues from the coast of Africa. The people were idolaters, and eat raw flesh for want of fire. They had no iron, but raised or tilled the ground with the horns of oxen and goats, for want of better implements of husbandry. Every island spoke a separate language, and many pagan customs prevailed among the natives; but now the Christian religion is planted among them. The commodities of these islands are wheat, barley, sugar, wine, and Canary-birds, which are much esteemed for the sweetness and variety of their song. In the island of Ferro they have no water but what proceeds in the night from a tree, encompa.s.sed by a cloud, whence water issues, and serves the whole inhabitants and cattle of the island[4].

In the year 1428, Don Pedro, the king's _eldest_[5] son, who was a great traveller, went into England, France, and Germany, and thence into the Holy Land and other places, and came home by Italy, through Rome and Venice. He is said to have brought a map of the world home with him, in which all parts of the earth were described, by which the enterprizes of Don Henry for discovery were much a.s.sisted. In this map the Straits of Magellan are called the _Dragons-tail_, and the Cape of Good Hope the _Front of Africa_, and so of the rest[6]. I was informed by Francis de Sosa Tavares, that in the year 1528, Don Fernando, the king's eldest son, shewed him a map which had been made 120 years before, and was found in the study of Alcobaza, which exhibited all the navigation of the East Indies, with the cape of Bona Speranca, as in our latter maps; by which it appears that there was as much discovered, or more, in ancient times as now[7].

Though attended with much trouble and expence, Don Henry was unwearied in prosecuting his plan of discoveries. At length Gilianes, one of his servants, pa.s.sed Cape Bojador, a place terrible to all former navigators, and brought word that it was by no means so dangerous as had been represented, he having landed on its farther side, where he set up a wooden cross in memorial of his discovery.

In the year 1433 died John king of Portugal, and was succeeded by his eldest son Duarte or Edward. In 1434, Don Henry sent Alphonso Gonzales Balduja and Gillianes, who penetrated from Cape Bajador to another cape, where they found the country to be inhabited, and went forward to another point of land, whence they returned to Portugal. In 1438 king Duarte died, and his son Alphonso being young, the kingdom was governed during his minority by his uncle Don Pedro. In 1441, Don Henry sent out two ships under Tristan and Antonio Gonzales, who took a prize on the coast, and sailed to Cape Blanco, or the White Cape in lat. 20 N.[8]. From thence they brought home some Moors, from whom Don Henry learned the state of the country. Don Henry sent an account of these discoveries to Pope Martin, by one Fernan Lopez de Savado; and the Pope granted indulgences and everlasting pardon of sins to all who should die in attempting the discovery of the land of the infidels. In the year 1443, Don Henry commanded Antonio Gonzales to carry back the Moors to their own country, where they were ransomed for black Moors with curled hair, or negroes, and some gold; owing to which that place is now called Rio de Oro, or the Golden River, that thereby the desire of discovery might be the more increased. He sent soon afterward one named Nunnez Tristan, who discovered the islands of Arguin, who brought more slaves from thence to Portugal in 1444. One Lancarote, a groom of Don Henrys chamber, and three others, armed certain ships, with which they sailed along the coast to the islands of Garze, where they took 200 slaves, which were the first that were brought from thence to Portugal.

In 1445, Gonsalvo de Syntra, an esquire belonging to Don Henry, went captain of a bark into these parts; and landing on the coast, was taken by the natives, with six or seven of his people The place where he was cut off got the name of Angra de Gonsalvo de Syntra from him; and this was the first loss sustained by the Portuguese in their discoveries. In 1446, three caravels were sent out under Antonio Gonsales, Diego Aloizio, and Gomes Perez; who were ordered to refrain from going to Rio de Oro, to carry themselves peaceably to the natives, to traffic with them peaceably, and to endeavour to convert as many infidels as possible to Christianity; but in this they had no success. In the same year, Dennis Fernandes of Lisbon, an esquire to the king, entered upon these discoveries, more to acquire fame than for profit. In the course of his voyage he discovered the river _Sanaga_ or Senegal, between 15 and 16 degrees of lat.i.tude[9]; and proceeding onwards, discovered Cape Verde, in 14 degrees[10], upon which he erected a wooden cross, and then returned, much elated at the success of his voyage. In 1447 Nunnez Tristan pa.s.sed beyond Cape Verde to Rio Grande, and went beyond that river to another in twelve degrees[11].

He was here taken and slain, with eighteen other Portuguese, and the ship was brought home in safety by four or five of the crew who escaped the hands of the negroes.

In this year 1447, a Portuguese ship, in coming through the Straits of Gibraltar, was forced a great way to the westwards by a violent tempest, and came to an island having seven cities, the inhabitants of which spoke the Portuguese language, and they inquired of our mariners if the Moors still infested Spain, whence their ancestors had fled to avoid the distresses which occurred subsequent to the death of Don Roderigo, king of Spain. The boatswain of this ship brought home some of the sand from this island, and sold it to a goldsmith in Lisbon, who procured from it a good quant.i.ty of gold. Don Pedro, who then governed the realm, being made acquainted with this circ.u.mstance, caused the whole to be recorded in the house of justice[12]. Some think that this island belonged to what is now called the Antilles or New Spain; but though their reasons for this opinion are good, I omit them here, as not connected with my present purpose.

In the year 1449, King Alphonso granted license to his uncle, Don Henry, to colonize the Acores, which had been formerly discovered. In the year 1458, this king went into Africa, where he took the town of Alcacer; and in the year 1461, he commanded Signior Mendez to build the castle of Arguin, in the island of that name, on the coast of Africa. In the year 1462, three Genoese gentlemen, of whom Antonio de Noli was the chief, the others being his brother and nephew, got permission from Don Henry to take possession of the Cape de Verde islands, which some believe to be those called Gorgades, Hesperides, and Dorcades, by the ancients. But they named them Mayo, Saint Jago, and Saint Philip, because discovered on the days of those saints. Some call them the islands of Antonio. In the year following, 1463, that excellent prince, Don Henry, died; having discovered, by his exertions, the whole coast of Africa, from Cape Non to the mountain of Sierra Liona, which is on this side of the line, in lat.

8 30' N. where no man had been before.

In 1469, the king of Portugal let out the trade of Guinea, afterwards called the Minas, to Fernan Gomez, for five years, at the yearly rent of 200,000 rees[13]; and under the express condition that he was every year to discover 100 leagues farther along the coast of Africa to the south.

In 1470, this king went into Africa, accompanied by his son Prince John, where he took the town of Arzila; and the inhabitants of Tangier having fled from fear, he took possession of it also. In the year 1471, John de St Aren and John de Scovar, under the orders of Fernan Gomez, continued the discovery of the coast of Guinea as far as St George del Mina, in lat.

5 N. and 2 W. long.; the coast from Cape Verde to Cape Palmas trending S.E. after which it goes to the east, with even a small northerly inclination for about twelve degrees of longitude. In 1472, one Fernando da Poo discovered the island now called after his name, beyond Cape Formosa, in lat. 3 40' N. and about the same time the islands del Principe and St Thomas were discovered, the latter of which is situated under the equinoctial line. The firm land also was explored at the same time, all the way from the kingdom of Benin to Cape St Catherina, in lat.

1 40' S. This last discovery was made by Sequetra, a person in the king's immediate service. Many suppose that then were these countries and islands discovered which had never been before known since the flood.

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 lat.i.tude[14], where he erected a stone pillar, with the royal arms and t.i.tles 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 amba.s.sadors 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 pa.s.sed 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 amba.s.sador, 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 amba.s.sador of the king of Congo, who had been brought over to Portugal in 1484, by Diego Caon. During his residence in Portugal, this amba.s.sador 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 40'.--E.

[4] Opportunities will occur hereafter, in particular voyages, to discuss the circ.u.mstances 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 54' N. There is another Cape Blanco in Morocco in lat. 33 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 45' N.--E.

[10] More correctly, 14 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 N. may be the Casamansa, the Santa Anna, or the St Dominico: which last is exactly in 12 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 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. The article here indicated was probably one of the many species, or varieties of the Capsic.u.m; called Guinea pepper, Cayenne pepper, Bird pepper, and various other names.