In this same year97 1497, on the 20th day of June98, King Emanuel sent a squadron of three ships for India, commanded by one Vasques de Gama, having under his command his brother Paulus de Gama and Nicolas Coello, as captains of the other two ships, the whole having a complement of 120 men. They were accompanied by a fourth ship laden with provisions. In fourteen days they reached the island of St Jago, one of the Cape Verds, whence they went along the coast beyond the Cape of Good Hope, erecting pillars of stone in proper places, as marks of discovery and possession, and came to Mosambique in lat. 15° S. After staying only a short time there, de Gama went to Mombaza and Melinda, the king of which last place gave him pilots, who conducted him to India, in which passage he discovered Los Baxos do Padua, or the Flats of Padua. In the month of May 1498, de Gama came to anchor before the city of Calicut, and Panama99, where they remained till the first day of September, when they sailed towards the north, discovering all the coast till they came to the island of Angediva, on the western side of India, in 15° N. where they came to an anchor in the beginning of October. They remained here till February 1499, when they departed on their voyage homewards; coming first to Melinda, and so by Mosambique and along the coast to the Cape of Good Hope, and by the islands of Cape de Verd, and lastly to the city of Lisbon, in September of that year, having been absent on their voyage for twenty– six months.
On the 13th of November 1499, Vincent Yannez Pinzon, who had sailed with Columbus in his first voyage of discovery, and his nephew Aries Pinzon, departed from the port of Palos with four well appointed ships, fitted out at their own cost, having a license from the king of Spain to prosecute discoveries in the new world, but with express orders not to touch anywhere that had been visited by Columbus. Going first to the islands of Cape de Verd, they passed the line and stood over towards the new world, which they fell in with at Cape St Augustine, in lat. 8° 30' S. where they carved on the barks of trees the date of their arrival, and the names of the king and queen of Spain. They had several skirmishes with the inhabitants of Brazil, but got no advantage. Following the coast westwards100, they entered the river named Maria Tambal, by which time they had made above thirty prisoners. The chief places where they touched were Cape St Augustine, Cape St Luke, Tierra de los Humos; the rivers of Marannon and of the Amazons, and the Rio Dolce, or Sweet river101, and other places along the coast. At last, being come to 10° N. they lost two of their ships with their crews, and returned home, after having employed ten months and fifteen days in their voyage.
In March 1500, Pedro Alvarez Cabral sailed from Lisbon with thirteen ships for India, being ordered not to go near the coast of Africa, that he might shorten the voyage. Losing sight of one of his ships, he deviated from his course in hopes to rejoin it, and sailed till he unexpectedly fell in with the coast of Brazil, where he sent a bark in, search of a safe harbour, which they found in 17° S. and called it Puerto Seguro. From thence they made sail for the Cape of Good Hope and Melinda, whence they crossed over to the river of Cochin, which was not before known. Here they loaded with pepper; and on their return Sancho de Thovar discovered the city of Sofala, on the eastern coast of Africa.
It is reported, that in the year 1500, one Gaspar Cortereal got a general license from King Emanuel to make discoveries in the new world. He fitted out two stout ships at his own cost, from the island of Tercera, and sailed to that part of the new world which is in 50° N. which has been since known by his name, and came home in safety to Lisbon. In a second voyage, his own immediate vessel was lost, and the other came home. Upon this, his brother Michael Cortereal went to seek him with three ships, fitted out at his own charges; and finding many creeks and rivers on the coast, the ships divided for the more effectual search, agreeing that they should all meet again at an appointed time and place. The other two ships did so; but after waiting a reasonable rime for Michael Cortereal, it was concluded that he was also lost, on which the other two ships returned to Lisbon, and no news was ever afterwards heard of the two brothers; but the country where they were lost is still called the land of Cortereal102.
In March 1501, John de Nova sailed from Lisbon with four ships for India. In his outward-bound voyage he discovered an island in the Atlantic, in lat. 8° S. to which he gave the name of Ascension103. On his return from India, he fell in with another island in the Atlantic in 17° S. called St Helena, which, though very small, is yet of great importance from its situation. In the month of May of the same year 1501, three ships were sent from Lisbon by King Emanuel, to make a discovery of the coast of Brazil, which had been accidentally fallen in with, by Cabraclass="underline" Passing by the Canaries, they stopped for refreshments at the town of Bezequiche in the Cape Verds; and passing southwards from thence beyond the line, they fell in with Brazil in five degrees of south latitude, at Cape St Roquo, and sailed along the coast southwards, till they reckoned themselves to have reached 32° S. Finding the weather cold and tempestuous, they turned back in the month of April 1502, and got to Lisbon In September of that year, having been out fifteen months on their voyage.
In the same year 1502, Alfonso Hojeda went to discover the Terra Firma, and followed its coast till he came to the province of Uraba104. In 1503, Roderigo Bastidas of Seville went with two caravels at his own cost, to the Antilles, where he first came to the Isla Verde, or the Green island, close by Guadaloupe; whence he sailed westwards to Santa Martha and Cape do la Vela, and to the Rio Grande or Great river. He afterwards discovered the haven of Zamba, the Coradas, Carthagena, the islands of S. Bernard de Baru, the Islas de Arenas, Isla Fuerta, and the Point of Caribana, at the end of the Gulf of Uraba, where he had sight of the Farrallones, close by the river of Darien. From Cape de la Vela to this last place, which is in lat. 9° 40' N. is 200 leagues. From thence he stood over to Jamaica for refreshments. In Hispaniola he had to lay his ships on the ground to repair their bottoms, because a certain species of worms had eaten many holes in the planks. In this voyage Bastidas procured four hundred marks105 of gold; though the people were very warlike, and used poisoned arrows.
In the same year 1502, Columbus entered upon his fourth voyage of discovery, with four ships, taking with him his son Don Ferdinando. The particular object of this voyage, by command of King Ferdinand, was to look out for the strait which was supposed to penetrate across the continent of the new world, and by which a route to India by the west was expected to be discovered. He sailed by Hispaniola and Jamaica to the river Azua, Cape Higueras, the Gamares islands, and to Cape Honduras, which signifies the Cape of the Depths. From thence he sailed eastwards to Cape Garcias a Dios, and discovered the province and river of Veragua, the Rio Grande, and others, which the Indians call Hienra. Thence to the river of Crocodiles, now called Rio de Chagres, which rises near the South Sea, within four leagues of Panama, and runs into the Caribbean Sea. He went next to the Isle of Bastimentos, or of Provisions, and after that to Porto Bello; thence to Nombre de Dios and Rio Francisco, and the harbour of Retreat. Then to the Gulf of Cabesa Cattiva, the islands of Caperosa and Cape Marmora; having discovered two hundred leagues along the coast. He thence returned to the island of Cuba, and from that to Jamaica, where he laid his ships aground, on account of their bottoms being much eaten by the worms.
101
The Marannon and Amazons are the same river. Perhaps by the Rio Dolce the Orinoco may be meant; but in these slight notices of discovery it is impossible at times to ascertain the real positions, through the alteration of names. –E.
102
From the latitude indicated by Galvano, the land of Cortereal may have been somewhere on the eastern side of Newfoundland. –E.
105
About 8200 ounces, worth about L. 16,000 sterling; equal in modern efficacy, perhaps, to L. 100,000. –E.