About sixteen miles beyond Cape Misurado, there is a large forest of trees close to the shore, to which they gave the name of St Mary's Grove. The caravels came to anchor beyond this wood, and several almadias came off from the shore towards them. There were two or three naked negroes in each, having sharp pointed sticks in their hands, which our seamen supposed to be darts; some of them had small knives, and they had only two targets and three bows among them all. These Negroes, had their ears and noses pierced, from which hung some strange ornaments resembling human teeth. The interpreters spoke to them, but could not understand their language. Three of these Negroes ventured on board one of the caravels, one of whom was detained by the Portuguese, and the other two allowed to go away; for Cintra had been ordered by the king, in case of discovering any country where the interpreters did not understand the language, that he was to bring away one of the natives either by force or fair means, that he might be able to give an account of his country, either by some of the Negroes in Portugal happening to understand his language, or after he had acquired the Portuguese.
Piedro de Cintra, having determined to proceed no farther, returned back to Portugal from Cape Misarado, to which he had traced the coast of Africa from the Rio Grande. Upon his return, this negro who had been detained off Cape Misurado, was examined by several Negroes, and at length was understood by a Negress who belonged to an inhabitant of Lisbon; not indeed by his own proper language, but by means of another which was known to them both. Whatever intelligence may have been procured on this occasion, was not made public, except that there were unicorns in his country. After this Negro had been kept for some months in Lisbon, and had been shewn many of the curiosities of Portugal, the king ordered him to be supplied with clothes, and sent him back in a caravel to his own country. But from that coast no other ship had arrived before my departure, which was on the first of February 1463350.
CHAPTER V.
Continuation of the Portuguese Discoveries along the Coast of Africa, from the death of Don Henry in 1463, to the Discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1486351
After the decease of Don Henry, the illustrious father of maritime discovery, the progress of the Portuguese along the coast of Africa received a considerable check, as the military ardour of Alphonzo the Fifth was principally directed to the support of his pretensions to the throne of Castile, the circumstances of which are unconnected with the plan of this work. King Alphonzo was not however entirely inattentive to the trade for gold and slaves, which his illustrious uncle Don Henry had commenced with that part of Africa which is now called Guinea. The origin of this name of Guinea, or Ghinney, is unknown. It is not in use among the natives, and seems to have been imposed by the Portuguese from the appellation of Ghenchoa, given to a country on the south side of the Senegal, us first mentioned by Leo and afterwards by Marmol. Ever since the year 1453, as already mentioned, considerable importations of gold had been made to Portugal from the coast of Africa; but little or no progress had been made in extending the discoveries farther south, for some time previous to the decease of Don Henry. In 1470, King Alphonzo sailed with a considerable army, in a fleet of above 300 ships, and carried the strong fort of Arzila on the Atlantic coast of Africa, a little way to the south of the Straits of Gibraltar. But of his military exploits in Africa, from which he acquired the appellation of Africanus, and assumed the additional title of Lord of the coasts on both seas, our present purpose does not call for any recital. In 1479, the disputes between the crowns of Portugal and Castile were compromised by a treaty entered into by Alphonzo V. king of Portugal, and Ferdinand king of Castile; by which the trade of Guinea, and the navigation of its coast, with the proposed conquest of Fez, were guaranteed to Portugal, and the Canary islands were annexed to the crown of Castile.
From the want of any accurate history of the progress of the Portuguese discoveries, it is utterly impossible to determine the dates or circumstances of many of the progressive discoveries along the western coast of Africa, and of its islands. In 1469, Alphonzo farmed the Guinea trade for five years to Fernando Gomez, for the yearly rent of 500 ducats, or about 138 pounds; taking, him bound at the same time, to extend the discoveries for 500 leagues to the southwards during the period of his exclusive privilege. In 1471, according to Marmol, Juan de Santareu and Pedro de Escobar, discovered the Oro de la Mina, or the Gold coast; and advancing still farther, under the guidance of two experienced pilots, Martin Fernandez and Alvaro Esteves, they discovered Cabo Catalina, or Cape St Catherine, in lat. 1° 40' S. This promontory, which is thirty-one leagues to the south of Cabo de Lope Gonzales, derived its name from the day of the saint on which it was first seen, and forms the northern boundary of the great kingdom of Congo. The discovery of this cape is assigned by some writers to Sequiera, a knight belonging to the royal household.
The celebrated Portuguese historian, Emanuel de Faria, in his Asia Portuguesa, has recorded all the Portuguese voyages, from their first attempts under Don Henry, to their developement of China and Japan, and has even left an account of all the ships that sailed from Lisbon for Africa and Asia, down to the year 1600; but was unable to ascertain the dates of many important events. Neither he nor De Barros have been able to remove the uncertainty respecting the first discovery of the island of St Thomas on the coast of Africa, the south end of which touches the equinoctial. During the remainder of the reign of Alphonzo, the line of coast, from Cape Verga in lat. 10° N. to Cape St Catherine in 1° 40' S. was much frequented by the Portuguese. Of this coast an ample account has been given by Dapper and Barbot, chiefly following a tract published by Gotard Artus of Dantzick, which is to be found in De Bry's Collection, and that of David von Nyendael and others. This was the work of a Dutch navigator, which was first translated in to German, and thence by Artus into Latin. But our peculiar department is confined to actual voyages and travels, and the progress of discovery; and it would both much exceed our proper limits, and would be an entire deviation from our plan of arrangement, to admit lengthened geographical and topographical disquisitions; which, so far as they are at all admissible, must be reserved for the more particular voyages and travels, after those of general discovery have been discussed.
There are four principal islands in the Gulf of Guinea, or Bight of Biafra, as it is usually called by English navigators, Ferdinand Poo, Princes isle, St Thomas, and Annobon, the discovery of which have been related as follows by Barbot, and his account seems the most probable352. Fernando Lopez discovered the first of these in 1471, in lat. 3° 40' N. giving it the name of Ilha formosa, or the Beautiful Island, which was afterwards changed to that of Fernando Poo, which it still retains. In an account of the kingdom of Congo, in Churchill's Collection, viii. 527, more properly named the Oxford Collection, or that of Osborne, v. 2. This island, and a river on the coast of the continent of Africa, directly east, now called Cameroon River, are said to have taken their names of Fernando Poo from their first discoverer. Some writers assign the discovery of these four islands, and that of St Matthew, to Fernando Gomez, who formed the Guinea trade. Perhaps they were discovered under his auspices, by the navigators whom he employed. This island is composed of very high land, easily seen at a great distance, and the Portuguese had formerly sugar plantations upon it. The Ilha do Principe, or Princes Island, in lat. 1° 30' N. was either discovered by Fernando Lopez, or by Santaren and Escobar, about the same period, and probably received its name in honour of the illustrious prince, Don Henry. This island is described as consisting of high table mountains, pyramidal at their bases, and visible at the distance of twenty leagues; being about nine leagues long by five leagues broad. It is said to abound in oranges, lemons, bananas, cocoa-nuts, sugar-canes, rice, many species of sallad herbs, and to be susceptible of producing the European grains. The mandioca, or root of the cassada plant, is generally used for bread, of which the juice while raw is said to be a virulent poison; while its meal, or rasped root, after the malignant juice is carefully pressed out, is used for bread. The inhabitants also, have sheep, hogs, goats, and an immense number of poultry; but these have probably been introduced by the Portuguese.
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We have already seen that Don Henry died in this year, which must, therefore, be here an error of the press, either in the original publication by Cada Mosto, or in some of the after editions. –E.