Receiving their audience of leave from King John, in presence of Don Manuel, duke of Viseo, afterwards king, they departed from Santaxen on the 7th May 1487, and came to Naples on St Johns day of that year; whence they were forwarded by the sons of Cosmo de Medici, and went to Rhodes, and thence to Alexandria. From this place they travelled as merchants to Cairo, whence they went in company with certain Moors of Fez and Tremesen to Toro, a harbour on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. They here learned many things respecting the Indies, and of the trade from the Red Sea to Calicut; and, going from Toro to a place on the coast of Ethiopia, they went to the port of Aden. The travellers here separated, Alonso de Payva passing over to the emperor of Ethiopia, erroneously called Presbyter John: For he, of whom Marco Polo speaks, under that title, as governing all the Indies, and whose country joins with the great khan of Kathay, was vanquished and slain in a battle by that sovereign; at which time his kingdom was put an end to, and no one of that race or title has since reigned. Yet Alonso de Payva actually believed that the emperor of Ethiopia was Presbyter John, having learnt that he was a Christian king over a Christian nation, as shall be more particularly declared hereafter. At their separation they agreed to meet again at Cairo, when each had executed his part of the royal orders.
Pedro de Covillian sailed from Aden for the Indies, in a ship belonging to the Moors of Cananor, and went to Calicut and the island of Goa, where he acquired complete information respecting the spices of India, the commodities which come from other places, and the towns of the Indies; the names of all which he inserted, but ill written, in his chart. From India he went to Sofala, where he procured information respecting the great island of St Lawrence, called the Island of the Moon by the Moors. Observing that the natives of Sofala were black, like those of Guinea, he concluded, that all the coast between was under subjection to the Negroes, and consequently that navigation was practicable from Guinea to Sofala, and thence to the Indies. Returning from Sofala, he went to Ormus, and thence to Cairo, where he learnt that Alonso de Payva was dead, and meant to have returned to Portugal. He chanced to meet at Cairo two Spanish jews, Rabbi Abraham, a native of Viseo, and Joseph, born in Lamego; who, after the departure of Covillian and Payva from Portugal, had told the king that they had been in Cairo, where they had received much information concerning Ormus, and of its trade with the Indies. From these Jews Covillian received letters from the king, directed to him and Payva, ordering them to return along with the Jews, if they had seen all that he had given them in charge. If they had not executed all his original instructions, they were now directed to send by the Jews an exact account of all the knowledge they had acquired, and to use their utmost efforts to visit Presbyter John, and to give all the information in their power respecting Ormus, to Rabbi Abraham, who had sworn by his law not to return to Portugal without visiting that place.
On receiving these letters, Covillian changed his intention of returning into Portugal, and dispatched Joseph there with letters to the king, giving an account of all that he had seen and learnt in India and Sofala, and transmitted the chart on which he had inserted all the places he had visited. In these letters he informed the king that the emperor of Ethiopia was assuredly the same with Presbyter John; but my opinion is that this is an error, as this sovereign has no such name in his own dominions, as I shall more clearly shew hereafter. On the departure of Joseph, Covillian and Rabbi Abraham went to Ormus, and thence back to the Red Sea; whence Covillian sent Abraham into Portugal, with letters to the king, containing all the information acquired in this part of the expedition, and intimating his determination to go into the dominions of Presbyter John. This he accordingly did, and came to the presence of the then emperor of Ethiopia, named Alexander, to whom he delivered the letters with which he had been entrusted by the king of Portugal for that monarch. Alexander received him courteously, and seemed much pleased with the letters of the king of Portugal, as being from so very distant a Christian prince, yet did not seem to attach much credit or importance to them. But he gave all honour, and many gifts to Covillian.
When Covillian was ready to depart from Ethiopia, and awaited leave for that purpose, which he had solicited, Alexander died, and was succeeded by a new emperor named Nahu, who could never be prevailed on to allow of his departure; neither could he procure leave for that purpose from the next emperor, David, the son of Nahu, so that Covillian had to remain in Ethiopia, and never returned into Portugal. From that time King John never heard more of him, and therefore concluded that he was dead; nothing having ever been received from him respecting his travels, except what was contained in the letters carried by the Jews, as before mentioned.
There came afterwards to Lisbon, a friar from this country of Presbyter John, who was received courteously by the king, and on whose reports of great things concerning that country, the king determined to proceed in making a discovery of the way to the Indies by sea. He accordingly gave orders to John de Braganзa, his surveyor of the forests, to cut down timber for building two small ships for that voyage. But King John died, and was succeeded by King Manuel, of glorious memory, who had been chosen by Divine Providence to accomplish the discovery of these countries, by which the Christian faith hath been greatly extended, the royal house of Portugal much honoured, and the subjects wonderfully enriched.
On the death of King John, he was succeeded by Don Manuel, a prince of a great mind, bent upon high enterprise, and prone to undertake and execute things beyond the ordinary reach of human knowledge, even more than was Alexander the Great. Being exceedingly desirous to prosecute the discovery of the Indies, which had been begun by his predecessor, and proceeding upon the information left him by King John, relative to that navigation, he commanded Fernan Lorenzo, treasurer of the house of Mina, to cause construct two ships for this voyage, from the timber which had been provided by King John. These were named the Angel Gabriel and the San Raphael, the former being of the burden of 120 tons, the latter 100. In addition to these, a caravel of 50 tons, called the Berrio, and a ship of 200 tons were purchased. In the year 1497, the king appointed Vasco de la Gama, as chief captain for the voyage, an experienced navigator, who had done great service, and a man of great valour, well fitted for executing the great enterprize intended by the king. Paulo de la Gama, brother to the captain-general, and Nicholas Coello, both men of valour and enterprise, were appointed the other captains of the squadron. Bartholomew Diaz was likewise commanded to accompany the squadron of discovery in a caravel to the Mirna: And as the three ships of war appointed for the voyage could not contain a sufficient supply of provisions for their crews, the ship of 200 tons, which had been purchased from Ayres Correa, was ordered to accompany de Gama to a place called St Blaze, at which the squadron was to take in water, where the victuals with which she was loaded were to be distributed to the other ships, after which she was ordered to be burnt.
Having received their orders, Vasco de la Gama and the other captains took their leave of the king at Monte mayor, and departed for Lisbon, where he embarked his company of 148 persons, at Belem, on Saturday the 8th of July 1497. At this embarkation all the religious belonging to the church of our Lady at Belem, went in procession in their cowls, bare– headed, and carrying wax candles, praying for the success of the expedition; accompanied by almost the whole people of Lisbon, weeping and deploring the fate of those who now embarked, as devoted to certain death in the attempt of so dangerous a voyage. Thus commended to God and good fortune, the officers and crews embarked and immediately set sail. Vasco de la Gama, the captain-general, took the command in the Angel Gabriel, of which Pedro de Alenquer was pilot, who had been in the same capacity with Diaz when he passed the Cape of Good Hope, and discovered the Rio del Infante. Paulo de Gama went captain of the San Raphael, Nicholas Coello of the caravel Berrio, and Gonsalo Gomes374, a servant of Vasco de la Gama, commanded the large victualling ship. The captain-general gave out instructions, that in case of separation, they should keep their course for Cape Verd, which was appointed as their rendezvous.