On the next day, being the first of January 1505, the admiral went with the fleet to Cananor, to take in the rest of his lading. He was here informed by the factor of the humbled situation of the Moors, from whom, in his opinion, the Portuguese had no longer any thing to fear in India. Being ready to depart for Europe, the admiral made an oration to Manual Telez, and those who were to remain with him in India, giving them instructions for their conduct after his departure; and as the enemy was so greatly humbled, he considered that such a fleet as had formerly been left by Albuquerque was quite sufficient, in which he left an hundred soldiers. Indeed the zamorin, as has been already said, was sick of the war, and remained quiet after the departure of the admiral.
Departing from Cananor, Suarez arrived off Melinda on the 1st of February; where, without landing himself, he sent Antonio de Saldanna to bring away the rich prizes he had formerly made at Cape Guardafui. From Melinda, the fleet went to Quiloa, on purpose to enforce the payment of the tribute from the king of that place. Departing from thence on the 10th of February, he arrived safe at Lisbon on the 22d of June 1505558, without any incident worth relating559; carrying with him two ships more than had accompanied him to India, all laden with rich commodities, and was received by the King Don Manuel with great honour.
When the king learnt the great service which Pacheco had performed in India, he expressed his high approbation of his conduct in a public procession. The king went, in all the splendour usually shewn on Corpus Christi day, from the high church to that of St Domingo, accompanied by Duarte Pacheco. After solemn service, a sermon was preached by Don Diego Ortis, bishop of Viseo; who, by the kings command, gave a rehearsal of all that had been performed by Pacheco in the war against the zamorin. On the same day, a solemn festival was held in all the churches of Portugal and Algarve. The king sent letters on the occasion to the pope and all the princes of Christendom, announcing all these notable acts and victories which had been performed in the Indies.560
CHAPTER VII.
Letters from Lisbon in the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, respecting the then recent Discovery of the route by Sea to India561
The following letters bear to have been written by some Italian public agents and merchants, to their employers and friends, and contain a curious record of the first impressions made on the public mind by the wonderful discoveries which navigation was then opening up to the European world. They are selected from the Novus Orbis, a work which was published by Simon Grynжus early in the sixteenth century. According to M. de la Richarderie,562 this collection was formed by Hans Heteirs, canon of Strasburg, and was printed under the care of Simon Grynжus, by Isaac Hervag, in folio, at Basil in 1532. We learn likewise that it passed rapidly through several editions, having been reprinted at Basil in 1535, 1537, and 1555; and at Paris in 1582. The edition used on the present occasion is printed at Basil in 1555 by Jo. Hervag. Its principal contents, besides those translated for the present chapter, are the voyages of Cada Mosto, already given; the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, which will form the first article in our subsequent volume; the voyages of Vincent Alonzo Pinzon, and of Americus Vespucius, which will be attended to hereafter; and the travels of Marco Polo, which have been already given at full length from a better source.
The language of the Novus Orbis is perhaps the most barbarous Latin ever composed for the press, and its punctuation is so enormously incorrect that it would have been easier understood without any points whatever.
As already mentioned, the edition here used is dated in the year 1555, little more than fifty years after the discoveries they commemorate; and the letters themselves are dated in 1501, 1502, and 1503, immediately after the return of the earliest of the Portuguese voyages from India. Indeed the first letter seems to have been written only a day or two after the arrival of the first ship belonging to Cabrals fleet.
This work is accompanied by a very curious map of the world, on one planisphere, much elongated to the east and west, which may be considered as a complete picture of the knowledge then acquired of the cosmography of our globe. The first meridian is placed at the island of Ferro, and the degrees of longitude are counted from thence eastwards all round the world, so that Ferro is in long. 0° and 360° E. In every part of the world, the outlines are grossly incorrect, and it would serve no purpose to give an extended critical view of this map; yet a few notices respecting it may gratify curiosity.
Europe is singularly incorrect, especially in the north and east. America, called likewise Terra Nova, has an approximated delineation of its southern division, stretching far to the south, as if the cosmographer had received some tolerable notices of Brazil, Cape Horn, and the coasts of Peru and Chili. But instead of the continent of North America, the island of Cuba is delineated in a north and south direction, reaching between the latitudes of 10° and 50° north; leaving a small strait or passage between its southern extremity and the Isthmus of Darien into the South Sea. About twelve degrees west from Cuba the island of Zipangri is placed; and at least twenty degrees east from Cathay or China. At sixteen degrees east from the northern end of Cuba, a large island is placed in the Oceanus Magnus or Atlantic, called Terra Cortesia; which the cosmographer seems to have intended to represent the kingdom of Mexico, recently discovered by Cortez; though placed almost in lat. 50° N. Perhaps this may be an error for Corterealis, an early navigator, who is said to have made discoveries on the eastern coast of North America.
In Africa there is an approximation towards its true shape; yet the Caput Viride, or Cape Verd, is placed to the north of the river Senegal, instead of between that river and the Gambia; and the sources of the Nile are brought down to lat. 15° S. at least twenty-two degrees too far to the southwards.
Asia, with India and China, are too much distorted for criticism. Calicut is placed in the peninsula of Cambaya or Guzerate. The Aurea Chersonesus and Regnum Malacha, or Malacca, are separated by a great gulf, while the latter is placed so low as 30° S. latitude. This much may suffice for an account of the incorrect yet curious specimen of cosmographical knowledge which had been acquired by the learned in Europe about 300 years ago.
To these four letters we have added a short account of several curious circumstances relative to the trade of the Europeans with India at the commencement of the sixteenth century, or three hundred years ago; which, though not very accurately expressed, contains some curious information.
Most serene prince, &c. Believing that your highness has been already informed by the most excellent legate, of all the memorable things which have occurred in this place, and particularly respecting the fleet so lately dispatched for India by the king of Portugal, which, by the blessing of God, has now returned with the loss of seven ships; as it originally consisted of fourteen sail, seven of which only have come home, the other seven having been wrecked in the voyage. Their voyage was along the coasts of Mauritania and Getulia to Cape Verd, anciently called Experias; off which the islands called the Hesperides are situated. From thence they explored lower Ethiopia towards the east, beyond which the ancients never penetrated. They sailed along this eastern coast of Ethiopia to a line corresponding with the meridian of Sicily, about five or six degrees within the equinoctial, the gold mines belonging to the king of Portugal being about the middle of that coast.564 Beyond that coast of the gold mines, and nine degrees to the south of the winter tropic,565 they came to a great promontory called the Cape of Good Hope, which is almost 5000 miles distant from our country. From thence they came to the cape anciently called Prasum, which was considered by Ptolemy as the extremity of the southern regions, all beyond being unknown to the ancients. After that they reached the country of the Troglodites, now called Zaphala, or Sofala, which our ancestors affirm to have abounded in gold, infinitely more than any other part of the earth. Stretching from Sofala across the Barbaric Gulf,566 they came into the Indian Ocean, and at length to the city of Calicut. Such was their voyage, which carefully calculated, as following the coasts of the ocean, extends to the prodigious length of 15,000 miles; but which, if the lands and mountains would allow in a direct line, were greatly shorter.
558
By some strange typographical mistake, Lichefild makes this date 1525, both in the text and in a marginal note, thus adding no less than twenty years to the true chronology. In Astleys Collection, the conclusion of this voyage is dated 22d July 1506; but we have chosen to retain the regular series of dates as given by Castaneda. Owing to the mistake in Lichefilds translation not being detected till a part of this chapter was printed off, it has been repeated in our introduction to this article, which our readers are requested to correct. –E.
559
In Astley, the ship commanded by Pedro Mendoza, is said to have been stranded during the homeward voyage, fourteen leagues from the
560
Astley concludes the account of the honours conferred on Pacheco in the following words: "But soon after imprisoned, and allowed him to die miserably. A terrible example of the uncertainty of royal favour, and the little regard that is had to true merit!"-Astl. I. 58.
563
This letter is dated on the 20th of June 1501, and obviously refers to the voyage of Cabral, who had returned from India not long before. The writer is described as a native of Crete, and envoy from the lords of Venice to the king of Portugal. –E.
564
The strange geographical language here used is inexplicable, probably because the ideas of the writer were confused. He seems to mean the
566
The recession of the coast inwards from Cape Delgado to Melinda, which may be called the Bay of Zanzibar. –E.