Part 6

The king then asked what it was he had come to discover: stones or men? If he came to discover men, as he said, why had he brought nothing? Moreover, he had been told that he carried with him the golden image of a Santa Maria. The captain said that the Santa Maria was not of gold, and that even if she were he would not part with her, as she had guided him across the ocean, and would guide him back to his own country. The king then asked for the letter. The captain said that he begged as a favour, that as the Moors wished him ill and might misinterpret him, a Christian able to speak Arabic should be sent for. The king said this was well, and at once sent for a young man, of small stature, whose name was Quaram. The captain then said that he had two letters, one written in his own language and the other in that of the Moors; that he was able to read the former, and knew that it contained nothing but what would prove acceptable; but that as to the other he was unable to read it, and it might be good, or contain something that was erroneous. As the Christian was unable to _read_ Moorish, four Moors took the letter and read it between them, after which they translated it to the king, who was well satisfied with its contents.

The king then asked what kind of merchandise was to be found in his country. The captain said there was much corn, cloth, iron, bronze, and many other things. The king asked whether he had any merchandise with him. The captain replied that he had a little of each sort, as samples, and that if permitted to return to the ships he would order it to be landed, and that meantime four or five men would remain at the lodgings assigned them. The king said no! He might take all his people with him, securely moor his ships, land his merchandise, and sell it to the best advantage. Having taken leave of the king the captain returned to his lodgings, and we with him. As it was already late no attempt was made to depart that night.

[_Return to Pandarani, May 31._] On Thursday morning a horse without a saddle was brought to the captain, who declined to mount it, asking that a horse of the country, that is a palanquin, might be provided, as he could not ride a horse without a saddle. He was then taken to the house of a wealthy merchant of the name of Guzerate,[178] who ordered a palanquin to be got ready. On its arrival the captain started at once for Pandarani, where our ships were, many people following him. We others, not being able to keep up with him, were left behind. Trudging thus along we were overtaken by the _bale_, who passed on to join the captain. We lost our way, and wandered far inland, but the _bale_ sent a man after us, who put us on the right road. When we reached Pandarani we found the captain inside a rest-house, of which there were many along the road, so that travellers and wayfarers might find protection against the rain.

[_Detention at Pandarani, May 31 to June 2._] The _bale_ and many others were with the captain. On our arrival the captain asked the _bale_ for an _almadia_, so that we might go to our ships; but the _bale_ and the others said that it was already late—in fact, the sun had set—and that he should go next day. The captain said that unless he provided an _almadia_ he would return to the king, who had given orders to take him back to the ships, whilst they tried to detain him—a very bad thing, as he was a Christian like themselves. When they saw the dark looks of the captain they said he was at liberty to depart at once, and that they would give him thirty _almadias_ if he needed them. They then took us along the beach, and as it seemed to the captain that they harboured some evil design, he sent three men in advance, with orders that in case they found the ship’s boats and his brother, to tell him to conceal himself. They went, and finding nothing, turned back; but as we had been taken in another direction we did not meet.

They then took us to the house of a Moor—for it was already far in the night—and when we got there they told us that they would go in search of the three men who had not yet returned. When they were gone, the captain ordered fowls and rice to be purchased, and we ate, notwithstanding our fatigue, having been all day on our legs.

Those who had gone [in search of the three men] only returned in the morning, and the captain said that after all they seemed well disposed towards us, and had acted with the best intentions when they objected to our departure the day before. On the other hand we suspected them on account of what had happened at Calecut, and looked upon them as ill-disposed.

When they returned [June 1] the captain again asked for boats to take him to his ships. They then began to whisper among themselves, and said that we should have them if we would order our vessels to come nearer the shore. The captain said that if he ordered his vessels to approach his brother would think that he was being held a prisoner, and that he gave this order on compulsion, and would hoist the sails and return to Portugal. They said that if we refused to order the ships to come nearer we should not be permitted to embark. The captain said that King Çamolin had sent him back to his ships, and that as they would not let him go, as ordered by the king, he should return to the king, who was a Christian like himself. If the king would not let him go, and wanted him to remain in his country, he would do so with much pleasure. They agreed that he should be permitted to go, but afforded him no opportunity for doing so, for they immediately closed all the doors, and many armed men entered to guard us, none of us being allowed to go outside without being accompanied by several of these guards.

They then asked us to give up our sails and rudders. The captain declared that he would give up none of these things: King Çamolin having unconditionally ordered him to return to his ships, they might do with him whatever they liked, but he would give up nothing.

The captain and we others felt very down-hearted, though outwardly we pretended not to notice what they did. The captain said that as they refused him permission to go back, they would at least allow his men to do so, as at the place they were in they would die of hunger. But they said that we must remain where we were, and that if we died of hunger we must bear it, as they cared nothing for that. Whilst thus detained, one of the men whom we had missed the night before turned up. He told the captain that Nicolau Coelho had been awaiting him with the boats since last night. When the captain heard this he sent a man away secretly to Nicolau Coelho, because of the guards by whom we were surrounded, with orders to go back to the ships and place them in a secure place. Nicolau Coelho, on receipt of this message, departed forthwith. But our guards having information of what was going on, at once launched a large number of _almadias_ and pursued him for a short distance. When they found that they could not overtake him they returned to the captain, whom they asked to write a letter to his brother, requesting him to bring the ships nearer to the land and further within the port [roadstead]. The captain said he was quite willing, but that his brother would not do this; and that even if he consented those who were with him, not being willing to die, would not do so. But they asked how this could be, as they knew well that any order he gave would be obeyed.

The captain did not wish the ships to come within the port, for it seemed to him—as it did to us—that once inside they could easily be captured, after which they would first kill him, and then us others, as we were already in their power.

We passed all that day most anxiously. At night more people surrounded us than ever before, and we were no longer allowed to walk in the compound, within which we were, but confined within a small tiled court, with a multitude of people around us. We quite expected that on the following day we should be separated, or that some harm would befall us, for we noticed that our gaolers were much annoyed with us. This, however, did not prevent our making a good supper off the things found in the village. Throughout that night we were guarded by over a hundred men, all armed with swords, two-edged battleaxes,[179] shields, and bows and arrows. Whilst some of these slept, others kept guard, each taking his turn of duty throughout the night.

On the following day, Saturday, June 2, in the morning, these gentlemen [_i.e._, the _bale_ and others] came back, and this time they “wore better faces.” They told the captain that as he had informed the king that he intended to land his merchandise, he should now give orders to have this done, as it was the custom of the country that every ship on its arrival should at once land the merchandise it brought, as also the crews, and that the vendors should not return on board until the whole of it had been sold. The captain consented, and said he would write to his brother to see to its being done. They said this was well, and that immediately after the arrival of the merchandise he would be permitted to return to his ship. The captain at once wrote to his brother to send him certain things, and he did so at once. On their receipt the captain was allowed to go on board, two men remaining behind with the things that had been landed.[180]

At this we rejoiced greatly, and rendered thanks to God for having extricated us from the hands of people who had no more sense than beasts, for we knew well that once the captain was on board those who had been landed would have nothing to fear. When the captain reached his ship he ordered that no more merchandise should be sent.

[_The Portuguese Merchandise at Pandarani, June 2-23._]

Five days afterwards [on June 7] the captain sent word to the king that, although he had sent him straight back to his ships, certain of his people had detained him a night and a day on the road; that he had landed his merchandise as he had been ordered, but that the Moors only came to depreciate it; and that for these reasons he looked forward to what he (the king) would order; that he placed no value upon this merchandise, but that he and his ships were at his service. The king at once sent word saying that those who acted thus were bad Christians, and that he would punish them. He, at the same time, sent seven or eight merchants to inspect the merchandise, and to become purchasers if they felt inclined. He also sent a man of quality to remain with the factor already there, and authorised them to kill any Moor who might go there, without fear of punishment.

The merchants whom the king had sent remained about eight days, but instead of buying they depreciated the merchandise. The Moors no longer visited the house where the merchandise was, but they bore us no good-will, and when one of us landed they spat on the ground, saying: “Portugal, Portugal.” Indeed from the very first they had sought means to take and kill us.

When the captain found that the merchandise found no buyers at that place, he applied to the king for permission to forward it to Calecut. The king at once ordered the _bale_ to get a sufficient number of men who were to carry the whole on their backs to Calecut, this to be done at his expense, as nothing belonging to the King of Portugal was to be burthened with expenses whilst in his country. But all this was done because it was intended to do us some ill-turn, for it had been reported to the king that we were thieves and went about to steal. Nevertheless, he did all this in the manner shown.

[_The Merchandise removed to Calecut, June 24._]

On Sunday, the 24th of June, being the day of St. John the Baptist, the merchandise left for Calecut. The captain then ordered that all our people should visit that town by turns, and in the following manner:—Each ship was to send a man ashore, on whose return another should be sent. In this way all would have their turn, and would be able to make such purchases as they desired. These men were made welcome by the Christians along the road, who showed much pleasure when one of them entered a house, to eat or to sleep, and they gave them freely of all they had. At the same time many men came on board our ships to sell us fish in exchange for bread, and they were made welcome by us. Many of them were accompanied by their sons and little children, and the captain ordered that they should be fed. All this was done for the sake of establishing relations of peace and amity, and to induce them to speak well of us and not evil. So great was the number of these visitors that sometimes it was night before we could get rid of them; and this was due to the dense population of the country and the scarcity of food. It even happened that when some of our men were engaged in mending a sail, and took biscuits with them to eat, that old and young fell upon them, took the biscuits out of their hands, and left them nothing to eat.

In this manner all on board ship went on land by twos and threes, taking with them bracelets, clothes, new shirts, and other articles, which they desired to sell. We did not, however, effect these sales at the prices hoped for when we arrived at Moncobiquy [Moçambique], for a very fine shirt which in Portugal fetches 300 reis, was worth here only two fanôes,[181] which is equivalent only to 30 reis, for 30 reis in this country is a big sum. And just as we sold shirts cheaply so we sold other things, in order to take some things away from this country, if only for samples. Those who visited the city bought there cloves, cinnamon, and precious stones; and having bought what they desired they came back to the ships, without any one speaking to them.

When the captain found the people of the country so well disposed, he left a factor with the merchandise, together with a clerk and some other men.

[_Diogo Dias Carries a Message to the King, August 13._]

When the time arrived for our departure the captain-major sent a present to the king, consisting of amber, corals, and many other things. At the same time he ordered the king to be informed that he desired to leave for Portugal, and that if the king would send some people with him to the King of Portugal, he would leave behind him a factor, a clerk and some other men, in charge of the merchandise. In return for the present he begged on behalf of his lord [the King of Portugal] for a bahar[182] of cinnamon, a bahar of cloves, as also samples of such other spices as he thought proper, saying that the factor would pay for them, if he desired it.

Four days were allowed to pass after the dispatch of this message before speech could be had with the king. And when the bearer of it entered the place where the king was, he (the king) looked at him with a “bad face,” and asked what he wanted. The bearer then delivered his message, as explained above, and then referred to the present which had been sent. The king said that what he brought ought to have been sent to his factor, and that he did not want to look at it. He then desired the captain to be informed that as he wished to depart he should pay him 600 xerafins,[183] and that then he might go: this was the custom of the country and of those who came to it. Diogo Dias, who was the bearer of the message, said he would return with this reply to the captain. But when he left [the palace] certain men followed him, and when he arrived at the house in Calecut where the merchandise was deposited, they put a number of men inside with him to watch that none of it was sent away. At the same time proclamation was made throughout the town prohibiting all boats from approaching our ships.

When they [the Portuguese] saw that they were prisoners, they sent a young negro who was with them along the coast to seek for some one to take him to the ships, and to give information that they had been made prisoners by order of the king. The negro went to the outskirts of the town, where there lived some fishermen, one of whom took him on board, on payment of three fanôes. This the fisherman ventured to do because it was dark, and they could not be seen from the city; and when he had put his passenger on board he at once departed. This happened on Monday, the 13th August, 1498.

This news made us sad; not only because we saw some of our men in the hands of our enemies, but also because it interfered with our departure. We also felt grieved that a Christian king, to whom we had given of ours, should do us such an ill turn. At the same time we did not hold him as culpable as he seemed to be, for we were well aware that the Moors of the place, who were merchants from Mecca and elsewhere, and who knew us, could ill digest us. They had told the king that we were thieves, and that if once we navigated to his country, no more ships from Mecca, nor from Quambaye [Cambay], nor from Imgros,[184] nor from any other part, would visit him. They added that he would derive no profit from this [trade with Portugal] as we had nothing to give, but would rather take away, and that thus his country would be ruined. They, moreover, offered rich bribes to the king to capture and kill us, so that we should not return to Portugal.

All this the captain learnt from a Moor of the country,[185] who revealed all that was intended to be done, warning the captains, and more especially the captain-major, against going on shore. In addition to what we learnt through the Moor, we were told by two Christians that if the captains went ashore their heads would be cut off, as this was the way the king dealt with those who came to his country without giving him gold.

Such then was the state of affairs. On the next day [August 14] no boats came out to the ships. On the day after that [August 15] there came an _almadia_, with four young men, who brought precious stones for sale; but it appeared to us that they came rather by order of the Moors, in order to see what we should do to them, than for the purpose of selling stones. The captain, however, made them welcome, and wrote a letter to his people on shore, which they took away with them. When the people saw that no harm befell them, there came daily many merchants, and others who were not merchants, from curiosity, and all were made welcome by us and given to eat.

On the following Sunday [August 19] about twenty-five men came. Among them were six persons of quality, and the captain perceived that through these we might recover the men who were detained as prisoners on land. He therefore laid hands upon them, and upon a dozen of the others, being eighteen[186] in all. The rest he ordered to be landed in one of his boats, and gave them a letter to be delivered to the king’s Moorish factor, in which he declared that if he would restore the men who were being kept prisoners he would liberate those whom he had taken. When it became known that we had taken these men, a crowd proceeded to the house where our merchandise was kept, and conducted our men to the house of the factor, without doing them any harm.

On Thursday, the 23rd,[187] of the same month, we made sail, saying we were going to Portugal, but hoped to be back soon, and that then they would know whether we were thieves. We anchored about four leagues to the leeward of Calecut, and we did this because of the headwind.

On the next day [August 24] we returned towards the land, but not being able to weather certain shoals in front of Calecut, we again stood off and anchored within sight of the city.

On Saturday [August 25] we again stood off and anchored so far out at sea that we could scarcely see the land. On Sunday [August 26] whilst at anchor, waiting for a breeze, a boat which had been on the lookout for us approached, and informed us that Diogo Dias was in the king’s house, and that if we liberated those whom we detained, he should be brought on board. The captain, however, was of opinion that he had been killed, and that they said this in order to detain us until they had completed their armaments, or until ships of Mecca able to capture us had arrived. He therefore bade them retire, threatening otherwise to fire his bombards upon them, and not to return without bringing him [Dias] and his men, or at least a letter from them. He added that unless this were done quickly he intended to take off the heads of his captives. A breeze then sprang up, and we sailed along the coast until we anchored.

[_The King sends for Diogo Dias._]

When the king heard that we had sailed for Portugal, and that he was thus no longer able to carry his point, he thought of undoing the evil he had done. He sent for Diogo Dias, whom he received with marked kindness, and not in the way he did when he was the bearer of [Vasco’s] present. He asked why the captain had carried off these men. Diogo Dias said it was because the king would not allow him and his to return to the ships, and detained them as prisoners in the city. The king said he had done well. He then asked whether his factor had asked for anything,[188] giving us to understand that he was ignorant of the matter, and that the factor alone was responsible for this extortion. Turning to his factor, he asked whether he was unaware that quite recently he had killed another factor because he had levied tribute upon some merchants that had come to this country? The king then said: “Go you back to the ships, you and the others who are with you; tell the captain to send me back the men he took; that the pillar, which I understood him to say he desires to be erected on the land shall be taken away by those who bring you back, and put up; and, moreover, that you will remain here with the merchandise.” At the same time he forwarded a letter to the captain, which had been written for him by Diogo Dias with an iron pen upon a palm-leaf, as is the custom of the country, and which was intended for the King of Portugal. The tenor[189] of this letter was as follows:—

“Vasco da Gama, a gentleman of your household, came to my country, whereat I was pleased. My country is rich in cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. That which I ask of you in exchange is gold, silver, corals and scarlet cloth.”

[_Off Calecut, August 27-30._] On Monday, the 27th of this month, in the morning, whilst we were at anchor, seven boats with many people in them brought Diogo Dias and the other [Portuguese] who were with him. Not daring to put him on board, they placed him in the captain’s long boat, which was still attached to the stern. They had not brought the merchandise, for they believed that Diogo Dias would return with them. But once the captain had them back on board, he would not allow them to return to the land. The pillar[190] he gave to those in the boat, as the king had given orders for it to be set up. He also gave up, in exchange, the six most distinguished among his prisoners, keeping six others, whom he promised to surrender if on the morrow the merchandise were restored to him.

On Tuesday [August 28], in the morning, whilst at anchor, a Moor of Tunis,[191] who spoke our language, took refuge on board one of our ships, saying, that all he had had been taken from him, that worse might happen, and that this was his usual luck. The people of the country, he said, charged him with being a Christian, who had come to Calecut by order of the King of Portugal; for this reason he preferred going away with us, rather than remain in a country where any day he might be killed.