Part 1

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WORKS ISSUED BY

The Hakluyt Society

A JOURNAL

OF

THE FIRST VOYAGE

OF

VASCO DA GAMA,

1497-1499.

FIRST SERIES. NO. XCIX-MDCCCXCVIII

A JOURNAL

OF

THE FIRST VOYAGE

OF

VASCO DA GAMA,

1497-1499.

Translated and Edited, with Notes, an Introduction and Appendices,

BY E. G. RAVENSTEIN, F.R.G.S., CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF LISBON.

BURT FRANKLIN, PUBLISHER NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Published by BURT FRANKLIN 514 West 113th Street New York 25, N. Y.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY

REPRINTED BY PERMISSION

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

COUNCIL

OF

THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.

SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S., _Pres. R.G.S._, PRESIDENT. THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY, VICE-PRESIDENT. REAR-ADMIRAL SIR WILLIAM WHARTON, K.C.B., VICE-PRESIDENT. C. RAYMOND BEAZLEY, ESQ., M.A. COLONEL G. EARL CHURCH. SIR MARTIN CONWAY. ALBERT GRAY, ESQ. ALFRED HARMSWORTH, ESQ. THE RIGHT HON. LORD HAWKESBURY. EDWARD HEAWOOD, ESQ., M.A. ADMIRAL SIR ANTHONY H. HOSKINS, G.C.B. J. SCOTT KELTIE, ESQ. VICE-ADMIRAL ALBERT H. MARKHAM. E. DELMAR MORGAN, ESQ. CAPTAIN NATHAN, R.E. E. J. PAYNE, ESQ. CUTHBERT E. PEEK, ESQ. E. G. RAVENSTEIN, ESQ. HOWARD SAUNDERS, ESQ. CHARLES WELCH, ESQ., F.S.A.

WILLIAM FOSTER, ESQ., B.A., _Honorary Secretary_.

CONTENTS.

PAGE Introduction i

On the importance of Vasco da Gama’s voyage, p. xi; his Life, p. xiii; a parallel between Vasco da Gama and Columbus, p. xv; authorities on Vasco da Gama’s voyage, p. xix; the MS. of the _Roteiro_, p. xxii; its author, p. xxv; Portuguese editions, p. xxxii; French translations, p. xxxiv; the present edition, p. xxxv.

A JOURNAL OF THE VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA IN 1497-99 1

The Voyage Out 1

Lisbon to the Cape Verde Islands, p. 1; across the Southern Atlantic, p. 3; the Bay of St. Helena, p. 5; rounding the Cape, p. 8; the Bay of S. Braz, 9; S. Braz to Natal, p. 14; Terra da Boa Gente and Rio do Cobre, p. 16; the Rio dos Bons Signaes, p. 19; to Moçambique, p. 21; false start, and return to Moçambique, p. 28; Moçambique to Mombaça, p. 31; Mombaça, p. 34; Mombaça to Malindi, p. 39; Malindi, p. 40; across the Arabian Sea, p. 46

Calecut 48

Arrival, p. 48; a description of Calecut, p. 49; at anchor at Pandarani, p. 50; Gama goes to Calecut, p. 51; a Christian church, p. 52; progress through the town, p. 55. The King’s palace, p. 55; a royal audience, p. 56; a night’s lodging, p. 59; presents for the Zamorin, p. 60; a second audience, p. 61. Return to Pandarani, p. 63; detention there, p. 64; the Portuguese merchandise at Pandarani, p. 67; Diogo Dias carries a message to the King, p. 70; the King sends for Diogo Dias, p. 74; off Calecut, p. 75; Calecut and its commerce, p. 77

The Voyage home 79

Santa Maria Islets and Anjediva, p. 80; the voyage across the Arabian Sea, p. 87; Magadoxo, p. 88; Malindi, p. 89; Malindi to S. Braz, p. 91; S. Braz to the Rio Grande, p. 92; conclusion, p. 93

The Kingdoms to the South of Calecut 95

About Elephants 102

Prices at Alexandria 103

A vocabulary of Malayalam 105

APPENDICES.

A.—TWO LETTERS OF KING MANUEL, 1499 111

Letter to the King and Queen of Castile, July 1499 113

Letter to the Cardinal Protector, August 28, 1499 114

B.—GIROLAMO SERNIGI’S LETTERS, 1499 119

Introduction, p. 119; First letter to a gentleman at Florence, p. 123; Second letter, p. 137; a letter to his brother, p. 141

C.—THREE PORTUGUESE ACCOUNTS OF VASCO DA GAMA’S FIRST VOYAGE. 145

Jornal das Viagens dos Portuguezes ás Indias, 1608 145

Luiz de Figueiredo Falcão, 1612 147

Pedro Barretto de Rezende, 1646 149

D.—VASCO DA GAMA’S SHIPS AND THEIR EQUIPMENT 157

E.—MUSTER-ROLL OF VASCO DA GAMA’S FLEET 173

F.—THE VOYAGE 185

Lisbon to the Cape Verde Islands, p. 186; the Voyage across the Southern Atlantic, p. 186; doubling the Cape, p. 192; along the East Coast of Africa, p. 193; across the Arabian Sea, p. 198; the voyage home, p. 199.

G.—EARLY MAPS ILLUSTRATING VASCO DA GAMA’S FIRST VOYAGE 203

Henricus Martellus Germanus, p. 204; Juan de la Cosa, p. 205; Dr. Hamy’s Chart, p. 206; The Cantino Chart, p. 208; the chart of the “Mohit”, 209; Canerio, p. 210; list of Place-Names, p. 214

H.—HONOURS AND REWARDS BESTOWED UPON VASCO DA GAMA, 1499-1524 226

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

_Portraits._

PAGE

Vasco da Gama, from a portrait in the Honour Hall of the Lisbon Geographical Society _Frontispiece_

King Manuel 109

Vasco da Gama, from a contemporary medallion in the cloister of Belem xii

Vasco da Gama, from the _Museu das Bellas Artes_ 116

Vasco da Gama, from the same, according to M. Morelet’s version 171

Vasco da Gama as Viceroy, according to Barretto de Rezende 143

Vasco da Gama, from the _Palacio do Governo_, Goa 151

_Facsimiles._

Facsimile of the first paragraph of the MS. of the _Roteiro_ xxii

Facsimiles of Vasco da Gama’s signatures, _Frontispiece_ and 116

Facsimile of a Receipt given by Vasco da Gama 229

_Ships._

The supposed Armada of Vasco da Gama 160

The _S. Gabriel_ 155

The figure-head of the _S. Raphael_ 91

A Caravel 158

Native craft in the Harbour of Mombaça; from a photograph by the late Capt. Foot, R.N. 35

_Other Illustrations._

Cão’s Padrão at Cape Cross 169

Vasco da Gama’s Pillar at Malindi, from a photograph by Sir John Kirk 90

Coat-of-Arms of Vasco da Gama 223

A tower at Mombaça; from a photograph by Sir John Kirk 39

View of Calecut; from an original sketch by H. Johnson 183

A Siwa-blower; from a photograph by Sir John Kirk 43

Krishna nursed by Devaki; from Moor’s “Pantheon” 53

The Old Church at Vidigueira 238

LIST OF MAPS.

PAGE I. A Chart illustrating the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama, 1497-99 1

II. The Cape to Natal _At end of volume_

III. Natal to Malinde ” ”

IV. The West Coast of India ” ”

V. South Africa, from an anonymous chart of the world, first published by Dr. Hamy ” ”

VI. Africa, from the Cantino Chart ” ”

VII. Africa and India, from Canerio’s Chart ” ”

VIII. The Indian Ocean, according to the “Mohit” 209

ERRATA.

P. 3, note 3. The wrong date is not August 18, but August 22, which ought to be October 22. See also p. 190, note 1.

P. 3, line 17. _Instead of_ “lower mainsail”, _read_ “mainsail”.

P. 4, note 2, to be read thus: “That is, towards Tristão da Cunha, Gama being at that time 400 miles to the N.N.W. of these islands”.

P. 9, note 3. _Instead of_ “Antº”, _read_ “dentº” (dentro).

P. 15, note 1. _Instead of_ “Rio do Infante”, _read_ “Rio de Infante”.

P. 16, line 10. _Read_ “when setting a bonnet we discovered the mast was sprung ... and ... secured it with lashings”.

P. 22, line 8. _Instead of_ “when putting the ship about”, etc., _read_ “in tacking towards the other ships, which were astern, Coelho”, etc.

P. 23, note 4. _Add_ “Aljofar, in Portuguese, means seed-pearls”.

P. 73, line 17. _Instead of_ “August 23”, _read_ “August 24”.

P. 79, line 14. _Instead_ of “Biaquotte”, _read_ “Biaquolle”.

P. 80, note 1. For the identification of the Ilhas de S. Maria, see p. 200.

P. 92, line 13. _Add_ “and left at once”.

P. 148, line 20, and P. 175, line 60. The pilot was Pero Escolar, not Escovar. A Pero Escovar is mentioned by Barros (t. I, part 1, p. 143) jointly with João de Santarem, as having made discoveries on the Gold Coast in 1471. He was a “cavalier” of the King’s household. Another Pero Escovar went as pilot to the Congo in 1490. This latter may possibly have been our man.

P. 161, line 24. _Instead_ of “D’Alberti”, _read_ “D’Albertis”.

P. 167, line 17. _Instead of_ “Rodriguez”, _read_ “Rodrigo”.

P. 167, line 29. _Instead of_ “Diogo de Vilhegas”, _read_ “Diogo Ortiz de Vilhegas”.

INTRODUCTION.

The discovery of an ocean route to India, in 1497-98, marks an epoch in the history of geographical exploration no less than in that of commerce. It confirmed the hypothesis of a circumambient ocean, first put forward by Hecataeus, but rejected by Ptolemy and his numerous followers; and, at the same time diverted into a new channel the profitable spice trade with the East which for ages had passed through Syria and Alexandria. In consequence of this diversion Venice lost her monopoly, and Lisbon became for a time the great spice-market of Europe.

But Portugal was a small country whose resources were hardly even equal to the task of waging the continuous wars with the Moors in which she had so unwisely been engaged for generations past. And when, in addition to her African forces, she was called upon to maintain great fleets in the distant East, in order to enforce her monopoly of the spice trade, at first in the face only of the Moors, and afterwards in that of powerful European rivals, her resources speedily came to an end, and she found herself exhausted and helpless. It may well be asked whether Portugal would not be happier now, and richer, too, had she never had the opportunity of dwelling upon these ancient glories; had the wealth of the Indies never been poured into her lap, only to breed corruption; and had her strength not been wasted in a struggle to which she was materially unequal, and which ended in exhaustion and ruin.

Portugal, however, notwithstanding the sad ending of her vast Eastern enterprises, is still justly proud of the achievements of her “great” Vasco da Gama, and boldly places him by the side of Magelhães and Christopher Columbus, as one of a noble triad which occupies the foremost rank among the great navigators of an Age of Great Discoveries.

Vasco da Gama was born, about 1460,[1] at Sines, of which coast-town his father, Estevão, was alcaidemór. He was the youngest of three brothers. Genealogists trace back his pedigree to a valiant soldier, Alvaro Annes da Gama, who resided at Olivença in 1280, and greatly distinguished himself in the wars with the Moors. The Gamas could thus boast of gentle blood, though they neither belonged to the aristocracy of Portugal, nor were they possessed of much worldly wealth.

We know next to nothing of Vasco da Gama’s youth. When King João, after the return of Bartholomeu Dias, decided to fit out an armada to complete the discovery of an ocean highway to India, he selected Vasco da Gama as its captain-major, and this choice of the King was confirmed by his successor, D. Manuel.[2] Such an appointment would not have been made had not Vasco da Gama already been known as a man of energy, capacity and competent knowledge. We ought therefore not be surprised if Garcia de Resende, in his _Chronicle of D. João II_ (c. 146), tells us that he was a man whom the King trusted, as he had already served in his fleets and in maritime affairs, and whom he had consequently charged, in 1492, with the task of seizing the French vessels lying in the ports of Algarve, in reprisal for the capture by a French pirate of a Portuguese caravel returning from S. Jorge da Mina with gold.[3]

Castanheda (I, c. 2) speaks of Vasco as having done good service in the time of King João II, and as being experienced in the affairs of the sea. Mariz (_Dial._, iv, c. 14; v, c. 1) calls him a young man (_mancebo_), high-spirited and indefatigable, who had such a thorough knowledge of navigation (_arte maritima_) that he would have been able to hold his own with the most experienced pilots of Europe. We know, moreover, from Barros and Goes that he landed at S. Helena Bay with his pilots in order to determine the latitude. These extracts show, at all events, that Vasco da Gama was not a mere landsman; nor is it likely that the command of an expedition, the one object of which was discovery, and not trade or war, would have been entrusted to such an one.

He was, moreover, well qualified for his post in other respects. His indomitable firmness made him shrink from no obstacle which opposed itself to the success of his expedition; and notwithstanding the unheard-of length of the voyage and the hardships endured, he retained the confidence of his men to the very last.

The question whether Da Gama can fairly be ranked with Columbus and Magelhães, has frequently been discussed.

The first place among these three undoubtedly belongs to Magelhães, the renegade Portuguese, who first guided a ship across the wide expanse of the Pacific. The second place is almost universally accorded to Columbus, whose unconscious discovery of a new world, fit to become the second home of the European races, was immensely more far-reaching in its consequences than the discovery of an ocean highway to India, now largely discarded in favour of the shorter route across the isthmus of Suez.

It is maintained, in support of the claims of Columbus, that he was the originator of the scheme the success of which covered him with everlasting glory, whilst Vasco da Gama simply obeyed the behests of his King, when he took the lead of an expedition which was to crown the efforts made by little Portugal for generations past.

There is much truth in this contention. The scheme of reaching the East by a westward course across the Atlantic had no doubt been entertained in Portugal in the reign of Affonso the African [1438-81]. Fernão Martinz, the Royal Chaplain, had discussed its prospects with Paolo Toscanelli, when in Italy, and had been instructed to apply for further particulars to the Florentine physician, in response to which he had received the famous letter of June 25th, 1474, and the chart which accompanied it. But practically nothing was done, except that an adventurer or two[4] were authorised to seek for the islands supposed to lie to the west of the Azores. Prince Henry the Navigator would perhaps have acted upon such a suggestion, had he been still alive, but the King’s resources were devoted to Africa, or wasted in two disastrous wars with Spain.

Columbus, on the other hand, made the discarded scheme his own; he, too, applied to Toscanelli for counsel,[5] and found confirmation of that physician’s erroneous hypothesis as to the small breadth of the Atlantic by studying the _Imago Mundi_ of Cardinal Pierre d’Ailly, and other writings. Nor did he rest until he found in Queen Isabella the Catholic a patron who enabled him to put his theories to the test of practical experience. It was his good fortune that Providence had placed the new world as a barrier between him and Marco Polo’s Cipangu (Japan), which was his goal, or he might never have returned to claim the reward of his success.

On the accession of D. João II, in 1481, the discovery of Africa was resumed with renewed vigour, and the councillors of that King acted wisely when they advised him to decline the offers of Columbus,[6] for the resources of Portugal were quite unequal to pursuing at one and the same time a search for a western route and continuing the efforts for opening a practical route around the southern extremity of Africa. And thus it happened that Columbus “discovered a new world for Castile and Leon”, and not for Portugal.

When, however, we come to consider the physical difficulties which had to be overcome by these great navigators in the accomplishment of their purpose, the greater credit must undoubtedly be awarded to Vasco da Gama. Columbus, trusting as implicitly to the chart and sailing directions of Toscanelli as did Vasco da Gama to those of Dias, and, perhaps, of Pero de Covilhão, shaped a course westward of Gomera; and, having sailed in that direction for thirty-six days, and for a distance of 2,600 miles, made his first landfall at Guanahani, being favoured all the while by the prevailing easterly winds. The task which Vasco da Gama undertook was far more difficult of accomplishment. Instead of creeping along the coast, as had been done by his predecessors, he conceived the bold idea of shaping a course which would take him direct through the mid-Atlantic from the Cape Verde Islands to the Cape of Good Hope. The direct distance to be covered was 3,770 miles, but the physical obstacles presented by winds and currents could only be overcome by taking a circuitous course, and thus it happened that he spent ninety-three days at sea before he made his first landfall to the north of the bay of St. Helena. This first passage across the southern Atlantic is one of the great achievements recorded in the annals of maritime exploration.

Once beyond the Cape, Vasco had to struggle against the Agulhas current, which had baffled Bartholomeu Dias, and against the current of Mozambique; and it was only after he had secured a trustworthy pilot at Melinde that the difficulties of the outward voyage can be said to have been overcome.

In one other respect Vasco da Gama, or, perhaps, we ought to say his pilots, proved themselves the superiors of Columbus, namely, in the accuracy of the charts of their discoveries which they brought home to Portugal. Accepting the Cantino Chart[7] as a fair embodiment of the work done by this expedition, we find that the greatest error in latitude amounts to 1° 40´. The errors of Columbus were far more considerable. In three places of his Journal the latitude of the north coast of Cuba is stated to be 42° by actual observation; and that this is no clerical error, thrice repeated in three different places, seems to be proved by the evidence of the charts. On that of Juan de la Cosa, for instance, Cuba is made to extend to lat. 35° N. (instead of 23° 10´), and even on the rough sketch drawn by Bartolomeo Columbus after the return from the Fourth Voyage, Jamaica and Puerto Rico (Spagnola) are placed 6° too far to the north.[8]

Verily, the Portuguese of those days were superior as navigators to their Spanish rivals and the Italians.

Posterity is fortunate in possessing a very full abstract of the Journal which Columbus kept during his first voyage to the West Indies.[9] No such trustworthy record is available in the case of Vasco da Gama, whose original reports have disappeared. They were consulted, no doubt, by João de Barros and Damião de Goes; but these writers, much to our loss, dealt very briefly with all that refers to navigation. The only available account written by a member of the expedition is the _Roteiro_ or Journal, a translation of which fills the bulk of this volume, and of which, later on, we shall speak at greater length. The only other contemporary accounts, which we also reproduce, are at second-hand, and are contained in the letters written by King Manuel and Girolamo Sernigi immediately after the return of Vasco da Gama’s vessels from India.

Apart from these, our chief authorities regarding this voyage are still the _Decades_ of João de Barros and the _Chronicle_ of King Manuel, by Damião de Goes. Both these authors held official positions which gave them access to the records preserved in the India House. Castanheda relied almost wholly upon the _Roteiro_, but a few additional statements of interest may be found in his pages.

As to the _Lendas_ of Gaspar Correa, we are unable to look upon his account of Vasco da Gama’s first voyage as anything but a jumble of truth and fiction,[10] notwithstanding that he claims to have made use of the diary of a priest, Figueiro, who is stated to have sailed in Vasco’s fleet. Correa’s long residence in India—from 1514 to the time of his death—must have proved an advantage when relating events which came under his personal observation, but it also precluded him from consulting the documents placed on record in the Archives of Lisbon. This much is certain: that whoever accepts Correa as his guide must reject the almost unanimous evidence of other writers of authority who have dealt with this important voyage.[11]

A few additional facts may be gleaned from Faria y Sousa’s _Asia Portuguesa_, from Duarte Pacheco Pereira and Antonio Galvão; but in the main we are dependent upon the _Roteiro_, for recent searches[12] in the _Torre do Tombo_ have yielded absolutely nothing, so far as we are aware, which throws additional light upon Da Gama’s First Voyage, with which alone we are concerned.

And now we shall proceed to give an account of the _Roteiro_.

_The Manuscript of the “Roteiro”._

In giving an account of the manuscript of this Journal, we entrust ourselves to the guidance of Professors Kopke and Antonio da Costa Paiva, the two gentlemen who first published it.

That is:—

“Em Nome de Ds Amem// Na era de mill iiij LR vij mamdou Ellrey Dom manuell o primo desde nome em portugall/ a descobrir/ quat navios/ os quaes hiam em busca da especiaria/ dos quaees na vios hia por capitam moor Vco da Gama e dos outros duũ delles Paullo da Gama seu jrmaoo e doutro njcollao Coelho”.

The manuscript originally belonged to the famous Convent of Santa Cruz at Coimbra, whence it was transferred, together with other precious MSS., to the public library of Oporto.

It is not an autograph, for on fol. 64 (p. 77 of this translation), where the author has left a blank, the copyist, to guard against his being supposed to have been careless in his task, has added these words: “The author has omitted to tell us how these weapons were made”. This copy, however, was taken in the beginning of the sixteenth century, as may be seen from the style of the writing as exhibited in the facsimile of the first paragraph of the work, shown on preceding page.