Th3 discoveries made by
Pedraluarez Cabral and his Captains.
Jaines Roxburgh McClyiaont.
P Tasmania, 1909.

¦1

E4i 9 Of)

"/give tAe/e Books
for the founding if a. CoUtge in. this Colonf

The Discoveries Made by
Pedraluarez Cabral and his Captains
By j. R. MPClymont, M.A., Edin.

The Discoveries Made by
Pedraluarez Cabral
AND HIS Captains.

THE DISCOVERIES

MADE BY

Pedraluarez Cabral
and his Captains
an attempt to Harmonise the narrations of
the voyage set forth by barros
and by correa

BY
James Roxburgh McClymont
M.A., Edin,, Author of 'The First Expedition of the Portuguese
to Banda'; 'Problematical Features in Maps Designed
BY Mercator and Desceliers.'

Printed for the Author

All Rights Reserved.

T~*HE first voyage of Vasco da Gama to India had been
sufficiently successful to encourage the hope of Dom
Manoel that the monopoly of the trade in spices and oriental
merchandise in general might be obtained by Portugal.
The choice of commander of a second royal fleet to India
fell upon Pedraluarez Cabral with whom Simao Miranda
de Azevedo was associated as second in command and as his
successor in the event of his death. Cabral was a friend of
Vasco da Gama, who had induced him to offer himself for
this service. He was a son of Fernao Cabral, adelantado of
Beira, Senhor of Zurara and Alcaide-mor of Belmonte and
was himself a fidalgo of the Casa d'El-Rey. We learn
incidentally that he was married when he undertook this
mission.* A descendant, Jorge Cabral, became Captain of
the Fortress of Bassein and in 1549 and 1550 was Governor
of India in succession to Garcia de Sa.
Ban-OS avers that the fleet consisted of thirteen sail. An
inscription on the Cantino Chart affirms that Cabral was
Capitao-mor of fourteen large ships (naos) ; small ships are
not mentioned. Correa asserts that the fleet consisted of ten
large and three small ships. But on comparing the names of
the captains of these ships as we find them in the Asia of Barros
with the names mentioned by Correa we find that Correa has
ten of the thirteen names mentioned by Barros and four
which are not amongst the thirteen. The number of
captains is thus raised from thirteen to seventeen. In another
matter there is a discrepancy between the two authors.
According to Barros, Simao de Miranda sailed in a different
vessel from the Capitao-mor but Correa alleges that he sailed
in the same vessel. The captains whom Barros mentions by
name are the following: Pedraluarez Cabral; Sancho de
Toar, son of Martin Fernandez de Toar ; Simao de Miranda,
son of Diogo de Azevedo ; Aires Gomez da Silva, son of
Pero da Silva; Vasco de Taide; Pero de Taide, whose by
name was Inferno ; Nicolao Coelho ; Bartholomeu Diaz ;
Pero Diaz ; Nuno Leitao ; Gaspar de Lemos ; Luis Pirez
and Simao de Pina. The additional names to be found in
the Lendas da India are Bras Matoso, Pedro de Figueiro, Diogo
Diaz and Andre Gongalves. Three small vessels (navios

* Correa, I,, p. 226,

pequenos) were commanded by Luis Pirez, Gaspar de Lemos
and Andre Gongalves,* A vessel owned or commanded by
Bartolomeo Marchione, a Florentine merchant who resided in
Lisbon, may have been permitted by Dom Manoel to accom
pany the fleet.'!"
The story of the voyage as it is related by Barros and
Correa will not permit us to dispense with any of the captains
whose names are recorded by these historians. I find the
only reconciliation between the two narratives to lie in
the adoption of all the names and in the assumption that
Cabral and Simao de Miranda sailed in the same vessel. As
his successor in case of death it is reasonable to suppose that
Miranda was with the commander-in-chief.
The king in consultation with Vasco da Gama, Pedral
uarez Cabral and Jorge de Vasconcellos, superintendent of
the royal magazines (Provedor dos almazens do Reyno) fixed
the salaries and w^ages to be paid to the officers and men.
The Capitao-mor was to receive ten thousand cruzados, five
thousand of which were to be paid in advance ; the captains
were to receive one thousand cruzados for every hundred
' toneis ' of their ships and one thousand cruzados of the total
amount was to be paid in advance. One year's wages, — one
hundred and thirty cruzados, were to be paid in advance to
the married able-bodied seamen, and sixty-five cruzados to
the unmarried, six months' wages, — sixty-five cruzados, were
to be paid in advance to the ordinary seamen, if married, and
thirty-two cruzados and half a cruzado to those who were not
married. The ships were provisioned for two years and were
freighted with woollen stuffs, velvets, satins, damasks,
copper, amber, coral and scarlet dye-stuffs. Vasco da Gama
took counsel with the masters and pilots concerning the
course to be followed, and the advice of Vasco da Gama was
that they should navigate by the open sea, for by so doing
they would avoid dangerous winds blowing towards the land,
that they should take special precautions when they reached
the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope, and that, when the
Cape had been rounded, they should make for the land
beyond it as speedily as possible. At that stage of the
voyage the pilots from Melinda, who accompanied the fleet,
were to assist the Capitao-m6r with their knowledge of the
coast.

* Correa, I., p. 148,
+ Pnesi HOtiamente retrotiati, cap, cxxv.

When all was in readiness, the fleet sailed from Lisbon
to Restello, and on the following day, the ninth of March,
1500, it set sail for the Cape Verd Islands, where fresh water
was to be taken on board. About fifteen hundred persons
embarked. Six Franciscan monks, the Superior (guardiao) of
whom was Frey Anrique Soares, afterwards Bishop of Ceuta,
accompanied the fleet.
Disasters, of which we shall have not a few to recount,
commenced at an early stage of the voyage. The Canary
Islands were sighted on the fourteenth day of March, and a few
days later, when the fleet was in the vicinity of the Cape
Verd Islands, a squall struck the ship of Pedro de Figueiro,
and it was lost to sight in mist and rain. In the expecta
tion that if no disaster had befallen it, it would rejoin the
fleet, Cabral gave orders to proceed, but it was not seen again
and no doubt foundered. Santiago was in sight on the
twenty-second day of March and probably a brief stay was
made at that island. The average rate of progress each day
until this time must have been about one hundred and twenty-
four nautical miles.
On the twenty-fourth day of March, after leaving
Santiago, the ship commanded by Vasco de Taide lost convoy
and two days were spent in waiting for it to rejoin the fleet.
Vasco de Taide returned to Lisbon.
When Vasco da Gama left Santiago in 1497 he steered
in an easterly direction and towards Sao Jorge da Mina,* but
Cabral, in accordance with the advice received from
Vasco da Gama, shaped his course towards south-south-west.
Tides running towards north-west carried him to leeward
after a month had elapsed and on the twenty-fourth
day of Aprilt he came in sight of the American continent in
ten degrees south latitude. Barros asserts that the distance
from the coast of Guinea was computed to be four hundred
and fifty leagues,! but it is probable that the distance was
really computed from Santiago, — the last port which had
been visited. If so, the rate of progress during this portion of
the voyage was on an average only forty-eight nautical miles
daily. Such a low average rate might result from the delay of
two days' duration which was caused by the separation from
* Galvao, Discoveries of the World. (Hakluyt Society), p. 93.
t According to Correa, on the third day of May, (I. p. 152,) In this
passage and elsewhere there is a difference of about ten days between Barros
and Correa. Possibly in these passages Barros followed the Old Style and
Correa the New Style.
t Barros, I. v. 2.

Vasco de Taide, and from loss of time in passing through
the equatorial calm belt.
Cabral coasted along until he reached a part of the
coast where he thought the fleet could safely anchor and sent a
boat ashore in order to ascertain the disposition of the inhabi
tants, many of whom were seen on the beach as soon as the
boat neared the land. They had dark complexions and long
straight hair. Seeing that they had no resemblance to any
race whom the voyagers had seen, those who had landed
immediately returned to the Capitao-mor and reported that
the port appeared to be a safe anchorage. When the
fleet had cast anchor, the boat again went ashore in order to
obtain closer acquaintance with the inhabitants. These,
however, did not await the near approach of the new-comers
but fled, and could not be prevailed upon to return either by
means of signs or of gifts thrown upon the ground. A third
attempt to approach them was equally resultless. It had been
the intention of the Capitao-mor to land on the following
day at this place, but during the night the wind freshened to
a gale, to the violence of which the ships were exposed, and
it was necessary to weigh anchor and seek a more sheltered
anchorage. Late in the afternoon of the day after arrival
in American waters the fleet arrived at a large bay which
the Capitao-mor entered, sounding with the lead. Here was
found a safe haven sheltered from the gale, and good
holding-ground. We cannot suppose that the progress made
on the day on which land was sighted, or on the following
day, exceeded the average of one hundred and twenty-four
miles maintained between Lisbon and Santiago. One
hundred miles might, I think, be reasonably assumed to be
accomplished each day, and such a rate of progress would
result in the attainment of the vicinity of All Saints' Bay on
the day after arrival. It is, moreover, very improbable that
a bay which affords such good shelter and space for a
large fleet to anchor in would be passed by. These
considerations lead me to believe that All Saints' Bay
(Bahia dos Todos Santos) was the Porto Seguro of Cabral.
At the second anchorage Nicolao Coelho was sent
ashore and attempted to have speech with the inhabitants.
These were of more confiding disposition than those who had
been encountered at the first anchorage. They awaited the
approach of the strangers and replied to the signs made to
them. In complexion they were similar to those previously
seen. Correa styles them a white people and adds

that their noses resembled those of Javans. They were
armed with bows of great length and arrows having arrow
heads of cane. Some sailors who went a few miles inland
found that their villages consisted of wooden houses thatched
with grass; they slept in nets suspended by the extremities
(which we now call hammocks) and a few of them wore
garments or cloaks made of cotton twist (fio d'algodao) to
which brightly coloured feathers were attached. If this bay
was Bahia dos Todos Santos it is probable that the inhabi
tants thus described were either of the Tupuia or of the
Tupinamba tribe.
The Capitao-mor and the council of captains held it to
be their duty to inform Dom Manoel speedily of the discovery
which they had made, and it was therefore resolved to dis
patch to Portugal the small vessel commanded by Andre
Gongalvez and to send in it several natives of the country, as
was customary at that period, and also specimens of their
handiwork such as feather cloaks and hammocks. Parrots
and brazil-wood were also sent to Portugal.*
Barros asserts that Cabral departed on the third day of
May, but he may have been influenced by a desire to make the
day of departure synchronise with the Feast of the Finding of
the Holy Cross. Osorio informs us that Cabral weighed anchor
on the twenty-ninth day of April.! The American coast was
kept in sight until a latitude of at least 17° S. was attained ;
possibly a brief sojourn was made at that part of the coast for
Galvao tells us that the anchorage of Cabral was said to be in
17° S. lat., and that Cabral sailed thence to double the Cape of
Good Hope, j The newly discovered country had been named
Terra da Santa Cruz, for a reason which does not clearly appear.
On the ninth day of May, as the vessels were proceeding on
their course with a high sea following astern, the wind sudden
ly veered to the contrary direcfion and before the sails could
be lowered, four vessels were overset and the crews thrown
into the sea.S The captains of these vessels were Bartholo-
meu Diaz, Symao de Pina, Gaspar de Lemos and Ayres
Gomez de Silva. One of the pilots from Melinda attempted
to explain this disaster in a quaint manner. He told Cabral

* Correa, I. p, 152.
t Osorio, The History of the Portuguese during the reign of Emmanuel.
I. p, 105,
J Galvao, The Discoveries of the World. (Hakluyt Society), p. 96, The
inhabitants of this locality were Tupiniquins,
? Osorio, The History of the Portuguese. I, p, 105, Barros relates that this
disaster occurred on the twenty-third of May,

10
that there were islands in the vicinity of the ships and that the
wind, striking these islands, rebounded and returned to the
quarter whence it came. The belief that islands were near the
place of this disaster was assumed to be confirmed subsequently
by the discovery of the Tristan da Cunha Islands. When
Vasco da Gama was sailing to India in 1502 and was over
taken by a storm in the South Atlantic he was, Correa
asserts, near the islands of which the 'Moorish' pilot had
spoken to Cabral. t But John Pory, in his Introduction to the
English Translation of the History of Africa of Leo Africanus,
tells us that the first island discovered in the Ethiopian Sea
about the Cape of Bona Speranza was that of Don Aluarez in
thirty and a half degrees.! If the rate of progress after
leaving Brazil was the same as that between Lisbon and the
Cape Verd Islands, 30° 30' S. lat. may have been approximately
the latitude of the position of the ships on the ninth day
of May. A storm followed this hurricane and scattered the
ships. Diogo Diaz sailed far to the eastward and came in sight
of the east coast of Madagascar and only discovered his true
position when he arrived at the northern extremity of the island.
He thereupon neared the coast and found a good harbour in
which he anchored and on shore he found good water. As
was the custom in those days, condemned criminals were
borne on the vessel of Diogo Diaz. These were borne on the
vessels in order that they might be put ashore for the purpose
of reporting to the captains the appearance and disposition
of the inhabitants of unknown countries. In consideration of
risking their lives amongst savages they received free par
dons. Diogo Diaz followed this practice and sent a criminal
on shore. The degradado went inland and found several
villages consisting of grass huts, and conversed by means of
signs with the inhabitants, several of whom accompanied
him to the anchorage, bringing fowls, yams, and edible wild
fruits, which they exchanged for knives, hatchets, hawks'
bells and hand mirrows. They were black-skinned, and in
this respect resembled the Sakalavas. All went well for a
few days, but soon the crew was prostrated by fever and
several deaths occurred. Diogo Diaz therefore weighed
anchor and sailed towards the coast of Africa, which he
approached to the north of Melinda. Even then he was
unaware that he had passed the rendezvous, which
t Correa, I, p. 271,
:',: A Geographical Historie of Africa by John Leo. Translated by John
Pory, p. 50.

II
was Mozambique, and he still continued to look out for
that town. Holding on his way in a northerly direction, he
doubled Cape Guardafui and coasted along the African shore
of the Gulf of Aden until he came in sight of a town with a
harbour in which were many ships and sambuks. This was
Barbora, as Correa and Duarte Barbosa write it, — a name which
suggests the modern name Bora. But the troubles of Diogo
Diaz and his men were by no means at an end with their
advent in this port, for Moorish merchants,* who had been in
Calicut when Vasco da Gama was in that city, had the ear of
the Sheikh, and gave him their own version of that which
had taken place in India. Thereupon the Sheikh planned
the seizure of the Portuguese ship and its cargo and in order
to conceal his intentions made specious offers of assistance
and promised an exchange of merchandise. Diogo Diaz sent
a boatload of merchandise on shore with his clerk and about
fifty of his sick that they might be benefited by a brief
sojourn ashore. The boat was seized by the men of Barbora, the
sick were bound, and the ship simultaneously attacked by men
armed with bows and arrows and with "zaguchos." The
condestabre was sick but rose from his couch and ignited the
charges in the falconets and bergos, and by great good
fortune three boats of the Arabs were hit and sank. Mean
while the Captain and gunners and some of the sailors had
hoisted sail and the ship was soon under way. The enemy
did not pursue. But there were not enough sound men on
board to work the ship or to hoist the sails if they were
lowered ; they were therefore left upon the masts and the
sheets were untied when the wind freshened. After three
months, during which more deaths occurred and all suffered
great hardships, they arrived at Cape Verd reduced in number
to thirteen men. Here they met some of their fellow-
countrymen who worked the ship for the remainder of the
voyage, and they reached Lisbon probably early in 1501, and
brought the first intelligence of the loss of four vessels in a
great storm, whereat Dom Manoel was deeply distressed.!
The town in which Diogo Diaz and his men had been
treacherously beset was destroyed by Antonio da Saldanha
in I5l8.t On the sixteenth day of July, Cabral with six ships was

* Or Arab merchants. Correa does not distinguish Moors from Arabs,
t Correa, I. pp. 153-158.
^ t O Livro de Duarte Barbosa. (Noticias para a historia e geografia das
nafoes itltramarinas. II. p. 255.^

12
off Sofala. These vessels were the flagship and the ships
commanded by Sancho de Toar, Bras Matoso, Nuno Leitao,
Nicolao Coelho and Luiz Pirez. When the fleet was abreast
of the Primeira Islands two Arab vessels were sighted and
pursued. One of these was beached by its captain, but the
other was captured together with the owner of both, a sheikh,
Foteima by name, who was returning from Sofala to
Melinda. He was an uncle of the Sultan of Melinda
and was therefore immediately set at liberty and the
captured vessel was restored to him. Cabral then continued
his voyage to Mozambique where he appears to have been
rejoined by Pero de Taide. Here a governor ruled who was
subject to the Sultan of Kilwa. The former port was entered
on the twenty-fourth day of July, the ships were repaired and
refitted and the services of a pilot obtained. Having tarried
here for several days, Cabral departed for Kilwa, where a
certain Ibrahim was Sultan, Kilwa had at that period about
twelve thousand inhabitants. The Capitao-mor did not tarry
long at this place, for he was informed by a brother of the
Sultan of Melinda that Ibrahim cherished evil designs. He
therefore continued his voyage to Melinda which was
reached on the second day of August. At Melinda Pedraluarez
was received with a like hospitality to that with which
Vasco da Gama had been received about two years
previously. Four days were spent in all kinds of festivities
and on the seventh day of the month the fleet departed
for India in charge of Gujarati pilots. The coast of
India, a little to the north of the Anjediva Islands,
was sighted on the twenty-second day of August. The
events which next transpired pertain to the history of India
and therefore do not fall within the scope of this memoir.
But for the sake of continuity in the narrative, I shall briefiy
summarise them. Calicut was reached on the thirtieth day of
August and negotiations were opened with the rajah. These
related principally to lading with spices, which the rajah
agreed to, and promised that the Portuguese should have every
facility in procuring them. He also assigned to Cabral a
house near the beach as a residence for the factor and a
storehouse. There is much diversity in the accounts of the
massacre which followed. But the Portuguese historians
agree in affirming that Arab traders were the instigators of
it and chief participators in it. Ayres Correa, the factor,
had been warned that the warehouse was likely to be plundered
and on a certain night, when the factory was surrounded by

13
several thousand Arabs, one of Correa's servants raised an
alarm by shouting 'Ladroes, ladroes.' Moplah Arabs and
some Malabaris immediately scaled the outer walls in many
places but were unable to force their way into the factory
through the doorways. They succeeded however in climbing
to the roof, which they broke through, and attacked the
inmates with darts and arrows. The Portuguese cross-
bowmen had by this time discharged all their bolts so that
resistance was impossible. Thereupon Correa gave orders
to fly to the beach and the Portuguese, reduced in number
from eighty to fifty, sallied forth, but only thirty-six reached
the beach, almost all of whom were dangerously wounded.
Fray Anrique and two monks were wounded. Ayres Correa
was killed. Nuno Leitao took little Antonio Correa under
his protection and succeeded with great difficulty in con
veying him to the beach, where he entrusted him to a sailor
who carried him to one of the boats of a rescue party under
the command of Sancho de Toar, These events occurred
on the seventeenth day of December, 1500. No apology or
explanation of the affair was offered by the Rajah of Calicut
and Cabral believed that he was not free from blame. He
seized and burned ten Arab vessels which were lying in the
harbour and bombarded the town. He then sailed for
Cochin, the Rajah of which port desired to cultivate the
friendship of the Portuguese. At this place a cargo of
pepper was shipped ; cinnamon and drugs were also pur
chased and benzoin, musk, chinaware, fine cloth and stuff
of which veils were made.
Cananor was the last port that was visited in India.
At that place one hundred bahars of cinnamon were taken
on board and immediately thereafter, on the sixteenth day of
January, 1501, the fleet commenced its homeward voyage.
When the ships were on the high seas a strange sail hove
in sight. It proved to be a ship of Cambay homeward-
bound from Malacca with a cargo of spices and sandal-wood.
The Capitao-mor signalled to it to strike sail which it
immediately did and a boat was launched. Valuable presents
were conveyed to the Capitao-mor for which the Cambay
captain would accept no payment in money but begged for
a flag which was given to him, — a Portuguese royal standard
bearing the Sphere and the Five Reals (Quinas Reaes). In
this affair the humane character of Pedraluarez Cabral was
evident. The captain was dismissed with many compliments

14
and with a letter to the Nawab wherein Cabral wrote that
he had taken nothing out of the ship because its captain
had obeyed the King's flag and that the officers of the King of
Portugal would always act thus towards those who obeyed —
that is to say, who acknowledged the supremacy of the King
of Portugal upon the eastern seas.
The coast of Africa was sighted between Melinda and
Mozambique and, as the summer was well advanced, the
pilots advised Cabral not to turn back to Melinda. Near
Mozambique, Sancho de Toar, in consequence of hugging
the coast in disregard of the advice of his pilot, ran his
ship aground on a sandbank and the vessel began to fill. All
persons on board and all the light tackle and also the anchors
and cables were removed to the other ships, but the cargo
was abandoned because there was no space on the other
ships in which to stow it and the ship was set on fire.
When the fleet reached Mozambique, the Capitao-mor and
council resolved to detach from it the naveta of which
Luis Pirez was captain and to send it to Sofala under the
command of Sancho de Toar, for Luis Pirez was dangerously
ill and had been removed to the ship of the commander-in-
chief. Gaspar da Gama and several merchants of Mozambique
accompanied Sancho de Toar and one of the Melinda pilots,
who was skilled in the navigation of the coast, also went
with him. The Mozambique merchants took with them
Cambay cloth and red beads to barter with the people of
Sofala and Sancho de Toar had red silk, mirrors, barrets,
Flemish handbells and cut-glass beads as presents to the
king, who was of African blood, and to barter for gold beads.
The European merchandise reafised from twelve to fifteen
times as much at Sofala as it would have done in Lisbon
and payment for everything was made in gold. When he
had disposed of the merchandise and taken in wood and
water, Sancho de Toar took his departure, bearing a letter
from the king to the Capitao-mor urgently requesting him
to send more ships to Sofala. He proceeded thence to
M
the Agoada de Sao Bras on the south coast of Africa and
there left in a covered pot a letter for the next Portuguese
commander who should visit the bay. The letter was found
by Joao da Nova when on his way to India in 1501. From
the Angra de Sao Bras Sancho dc Toar sailed for Lisbon
which he reached at the end of September.
Cabral ordered the ships to be careened and caulked at

15
Mozambique, for when rain fell it penetrated between the
planks of the decks. When this work was finished and he
was about to sail, the Melinda pilots counselled him to
navigate with great care when he was off the coast of Sofala,
for sudden and violent squalls might be encountered in that
quarter at that season of the year. Before setting sail, Cabral
sent a letter to to the Sultan of Melinda by the master of a
sambuk which had arrived from that port. He thanked the
Sultan for the provisions sent by the sambuk, consisting" of
biscuit, dried fish and flesh and sheep, gave the Sultan an
account of the events which had transpired in India, informed
him that a small ship had been despatched to Sofala and
explained the cause which had hindered him from re
visiting Melinda. He then took his departure from Mozam
bique. The prognostications of the pilots were justified by
the event, for a gale arose, so violent and sudden that the
ships were driven seaward under bare poles, and would have
been in greater peril had they not been deeply laden. They
were separated. Pero de Taide made for the Angra de Sao
Bras and there left a letter in a shoe suspended from a branch
of a tree where it was found by Joao de Nova. Cabral
doubled the Cape of Good Hope on the twenty-second day of
May and probably arrived at Cape Verd in the month of July.
Almost simultaneously Pero Diaz, who had been missing for
more than a year, arrived there also. He recounted to the
Capitao-mor that he had sailed to Magadoxo, where he was
received with feigned hospitality by the inhabitants, but,
when he sent a boat ashore to obtain water, it was seized by
Arabs and the ship was attacked by other Arabs in sambuks.
This was probably done as a measure of reprisal because of
the bombardment of the town by Vasco da Gama in 1499.
So few men were aboard that Pero Diaz was unable to repel
the attack and therefore cut the cable and hoisted sail.
Cabral reached Lisbon on the thirty-first day of July according
to Osorio,* Pero de Taide at the beginning of August and other
ships at unknown dates. The last vessel to arrive was
that of Sancho de Toar. The cargoes brought by five of
the vessels which returned from India were of sufficient value
to repay all the outlay incurred in equipping and despatching
the fleet, to indemnity the Crown for the ships and cargoes
which had been lost and to yield in addition a profit equiva-
to the amounts so expended and so lost. These five vessels

* Osorio, The History ofthe Portuguese, I. p. 121.

i6
were those which had been under the command of Cabral,
Nicolao Coelho, Pero de Taide, Nuno Leitao and Bras Matoso.
Pedraluarez Cabral was appointed by Dom Manoel to
the command of a fleet which was to sail to India in 1502
but adverse circumstances prevented him from profiting by
this appointment. Correa asserts that Vasco da Gama in
terposed and produced a letter from Dom Manoel which
authorised him to claim the chief command in any fleet
destined for India, even if it were anchored at Restello and
ready to sail, and that he desired to exercise this right on that
occasion. The King, who had been greatly moved by the
news of the various disasters to the ships of the fleet
commanded by Cabral and of the massacre of Portuguese
at Calicut, listened to the request of Vasco da Gama, ex
pressed his desire that Cabral should not proceed to India
and promised that he should have command of the next
Indian fleet. Barros alleges that Cabral was dissatisfied
because Vincent Sodre was to have command of a section
of the fleet independently of the Capitao-mor and that he
begged to be relieved of the command. Da Gama with
whom the desire for revenge was always a strong motive,
told the Rajah of Cochin that his reason for desiring to
come to India a second time in command of a fleet was that
he might take vengeance upon the Rajah of Calicut because
of insults offered to himself,*
I may flttingly close this memoir with the words in
which Cabral signified to Dom Manoel his acquiescence in
the transference of the command to Da Gama. The King
had said that he would regard it as a favour if Cabral were
not offended at the loss of his appointment. To which
Pedraluarez replied 'Senhor, a vontade de Vossa Alteza
feita, essa he minha gloria.'

* Correa, I. p. 321.

J. Waluh & Sons, PiiiiLcrb, Hobai-l, THbiuania

BY THE SAME AUTHOR:
The First Ex;pedition of the Portuguese to Banda,
and the Events Antecedent Thereto. 1905. Price,
Three Shillings.
Problematical Features in Maps Designed by Mercator
AND Desceliers. 1907. Price, Three Shillings.

This Pamphlet (Price, T"W0 Shillings) and the Pamph
lets named above, may be obtained from Mr. W.
M9.CLYMONT, 58 Morningside Park, Edinburgh.

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