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XVIII
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VOYAGES OF DIEGO
GOMEZ. 1458-60.
The last voyage of
Henry’s lifetime was that of his faithful servant, Diego Gomez, by which the
Cape Verde islands first became clearly and fully known. It followed close upon Cadamosto’s venture.
“No long time
after, the Prince equipped at Lagos a caravel, called the Wren, and
set over it Diego Gomez, with two other caravels, of which the same Gomez was
captain-in-chief. Their orders were to go as far as they could. But after
passing a great river beyond the Rio Grande, we met such strong currents in the
sea that no anchor could hold. The other captains and their men were much
alarmed, thinking we were at the end of the ocean, and begged me to put back.
In the mid-current the sea was very clear and the natives came off from the
shore and brought us their merchandise, cotton cloth, ivory, and a quart
measure of malaguette pepper, in grain and in its
pods as it grows, which delighted us. As the current prevented our going
farther, and even grew stronger, we put back and came to a land where there
were groves of palms near the shore with their branches broken, so tall that
from a distance I thought they were the masts or spars of negroes0 vessels. So
we went there and found a great plain covered with hay and more than five
thousand animals like stags, but larger, who shewed no fear of us. Five
elephants came out of a small river that was fringed by trees, three full
grown, with two young ones, and on the shore we saw holes of crocodiles in
plenty. We went back to the ships and next day made our way from Cape Verde and
saw the broad mouth of a great river, three leagues in width, which we entered
and guessed to be the Gambia. Here wind and tide were in our favour, so we came to a small island in mid-stream and
rested there the night. In the morning we went farther in, and saw a crowd of
canoes full of men, who fled at the sight of us, for it was they who had killed
Nuno Tristam and his men. Next day we saw beyond the
point of the river some natives on the right-hand bank, who welcomed us. Their
chief was called Frangazick and he was the nephew of Farosangul, the great Prince of the Negroes. There they
gave us one hundred and eighty pounds worth of gold, in exchange for our goods.
The lord of the country had a negro with him named Buka, who knew the tongue
only of Negroland, and finding him perfectly
truthful, I asked him to go with me to Cantor and promised him all he needed. I
made the same promise to his chief and kept it.
THE BORGIAN MAP OF 1450
“We went up the
river as far as Cantor, which is a large town near the river-side. Farther than
this the ships could not go, because of the thick growth of trees and
underwood, but here I made it known that I had come to exchange merchandise,
and the natives came to me in very great numbers. When the news spread through
the country that the Christians were in Cantor, they came from Tambucatu in the North, from Mount Gelu in the South, and
from Quioquun, which is a great city, with a wall of
baked tiles. Here, too, I was told, there is gold in plenty and caravans of
camels cross over there with goods from Carthage, Tunis, Fez, Cairo and all the
land of the Saracens. These are exchanged for gold, which comes from the mines
on the other side of Sierra Leone. They said that range ran southwards, which
pleased me very greatly, because all the rivers coming from thence, as far as
could be known, ran westward, but they told me that other very large rivers ran
eastward from the other side of the ridge.
“There was also,
they said, East of these mountains, a great lake, narrow and long, on which
sailed canoes like ships. The people on the opposite sides of this lake were
always at war; and those on the eastern side were white. When I asked who ruled
in those parts, they answered that one chief was a negro, but towards the East
was a greater lord who had conquered the negroes a short time before.
“A Saracen told me
he had been all through that land and had been present at the fighting, and
when I told this to the Prince, he said that a merchant in Oran had written him
two months before about this very war, and that he believed it.
“Such were the
things told me by the negroes at Cantor; I asked them about the road to the
gold country, and who were the lords of that country. They told me the King
lived in Kukia, and was lord of all the mines on the
right side of the river of Cantor, and that he had before the door of his
palace a mass of gold just as it was taken from the earth, so large that twenty
men could hardly move it, and that the King always fastened his horse to it and
kept it as a curiosity on account of its size and purity. The nobles of his
Court wore in their nostrils and ears ornaments of gold.
“The parts to the
East were full of gold mines, but the men who went into the pits to get gold
did not live long, because of the foul air. The gold sand was given to women to
wash the gold from it.
“I enquired the
road from Cantor to Kukia and was told the road ran
eastward; where was great abundance of gold; as I can well believe, for I saw
the negroes who went by those roads laden with it.
“While I was thus
trafficking with these negroes of Cantor, my men became worn out with the heat
and so we returned towards the ocean. After I had gone down the river fifty
leagues, they told me of a great chief living on the South side, who wished to
speak with me.
“We met in a great
wood on the bank, and he brought with him a vast throng of people armed with
poisoned arrows, assegais, swords and shields. And I went to him, carrying some
presents and biscuit and some of our wine, for they have no wine except that
made from the date-palm, and he was pleased and extremely gracious, giving me
three negroes and swearing to me by the one only God that he would never again
make war against Christians, but that they might trade and travel safely
through all his country.
“Being desirous of
putting to proof this oath of his, I sent a certain Indian named Jacob whom the
Prince had sent with us, in order that in the event of our reaching India, he
might be able to hold speech with the natives, and I ordered him to go to the
place called Al-cuzet, with the lord of that country,
to find Mount Gelu and Timbuctoo through the land of Jaloffa.
A knight had gone there with him before.
“This Jacob, the
Indian, told me that Al-cuzet was a very evil land,
having a river of sweet water and abundance of lemons; and some of these he
brought to me. And the lord of that country sent me elephants' teeth and four
negroes, who carried one great ivory tusk to the ship.
“Now the houses
here are made of seaweed, covered with straw, and while I stayed here (at the
river mouth) three days, I learned that all the mischief that had been done to
the Christians had been done by a certain king called Nomimansa,
who has the country near the great headland by the mouth of the river Gambia.
So I took great pains to make peace with him, and sent him many presents by his
own men in his own canoes, which were going for salt along the coast to his own
country, for this salt is plentiful there and of a red colour.
Now Nomimansa was in great fear of the Christians,
lest they should take vengeance upon him.
“Then I went on to
a great harbour where I had many negroes come to me,
sent by Nomimansa to see if I should do anything, but
I always treated them kindly. When the King heard this, he came to the river
side with a great force and sitting down on the bank, sent for me. And so I
went and paid him all respect. There was a Bishop there of his own faith who
asked me about the God of the Christians, and I answered him as God had given
me to know; and then I questioned him about Mahomet, whom they believe. At last
the King was so pleased with what I said that he sprang to his feet and ordered
the Bishop to leave his country within three days, and swore that he would kill any one who should speak the name of Mahomet from
that day forward. For he said he trusted in the one only God and there was no
other but He, whom his brother Prince Henry worshipped.
“Then calling the
Infant his brother, he asked me to baptize him and all his lords and women. He
himself would have no other name than Henry, but his nobles took our names,
like James and Nuno. So I remained on shore that night with the King but did
not baptize him, as I was a layman. But next day I begged the King with his
twelve chief men and eight of his wives to dine with me on my caravel; and they
all came unarmed and I gave them fowls and meat and wine, white and red, as
much as they could drink, and they said to one another that no people were better
than the Christians.
“Then again on
shore the King asked me to baptize him but I said I had not leave from the
Pope; but I would tell the Prince, who would send a priest. So Nomimansa at once wrote to Prince Henry to send him a
priest and some one to teach him the faith, and
begged him to send him a falcon with the priest, for he was amazed when I told
him how we carried a bird on the hand to catch other birds. And with these he
asked the Prince to send him two rams and sheep and geese and ganders and a
pig, and two men to build houses and plan out his town. And all these wishes of
his I promised him that the Prince would grant. And he and all his people made
a great noise at my going but I left the King at Gambia and started back for
Portugal. One caravel I sent straight home, but with the others I sailed to
Cape Verde.
“And as we came
near the sea-shore we saw two canoes putting out to sea; but we sailed between
them and the shore, and so cut them off. Then the interpreter came to me and
said that Bezeghichi, the lord of the land and an
evil man, was in one of them.
“So I made them
come into the caravel and gave them to eat and drink with a double share of
presents, and making as if I did not know him to be the chief, I said 'Is this
the land of Bezeghichi?' He answered 'Yes, it is.'
And I, to try him, exclaimed 'Why is he so bitter against the Christians? He
would do far better to have peace with them, so that they might trade in his
land and bring him horses and other things, as they do for other lords of the
negroes. Go and tell your lord Bezeghichi that I have
taken you and for love of him have let you go.'
“At this he was
very cheerful and he and his men got into their canoes, as I bade them, and as
they all were standing by the side of the caravel, I called out 'Bezeghichi, Bezeghichi, do not
think I did not know thee. I could have done to thee what I would, and now, as
I have done to thee, do thou also to our Christians.'
“So they went off,
and we came back to Arguin and the Isle of the
Herons, where we found flocks of birds of every kind, and after this came home
to Lagos, where the Prince was very glad of our return.
“Then after this
for two years no one went to Guinea, because King Affonso was at war in Africa and the Prince was quite taken up with this. But after he
had come back from Alcaçer, I reminded him of what
King Nomimansa had asked of him; and the Prince sent
him all he had promised, with a priest, the Abbot of Soto de Cassa, and a young man of his household named John Delgado.
This was in 1458.
“Two years
afterwards King Affonso equipped a large caravel and
sent me out as captain, and I took with me ten horses and went to the land of
the Barbacins, which is near the land of Nomimansa. And these Barbacins had two kings, but the King of Portugal gave me power over all the shores of
that sea, that any ships I might find off the coast of Guinea should be under
me, for he knew that there were those who sold arms to the Moors, and he bade
me to seize such and bring them bound to Portugal.
“And by the help
of God I came in twelve days to this land (of the Barbacins),
and found two ships there,—one under Gonzalo Ferreira, of Oporto, of the
Household of Prince Henry, that was conveying horses; the other was under
Antonio de Noli, of Genoa. These merchants injured
our trade very much, for the natives used to give twelve negroes for one horse,
and now gave only six.
“And while we were
there, a caravel came from Gambia, which brought us news that a captain called
De Prado was coming with a richly laden ship, and I ordered Ferreira to go to
Cape Verde and look for that ship and seize it, on pain of death and loss of
all his goods. And he did so, and we found a great prize, which I sent home
with Ferreira to the King. And then I and Antonio de Noli left that coast, and sailed two days and one night towards Portugal, and we sighted
islands in the ocean, and as my ship was lighter and faster than the rest, I
came first to one of those islands, to a good harbour,
with a beach of white sand, where I anchored. I told all my men and the other
captains that I wished to be first to land, and so I did.
“We saw no trace
of natives, and called the island Santiago, as it is still known. There were
plenty of fish there and many strange birds, so tame that we killed them with
sticks. And I had a quadrant with me, and wrote on the table of it the altitude
of the Arctic Pole, and I found it better than the chart, for though you see
your course of sailing on the chart well enough, yet if once you get wrong, it
is hard by map alone to work back into the right course.
“After this we saw
one of the Canary islands, called Palma, and so came to the island of Madeira;
and then adverse winds drove me to the Azores, but Antonio de Noli stayed at Madeira, and, catching the right breeze, he
got to Portugal before me, and begged of the King the captaincy of the island
of Santiago, which I had found, and the King gave it him, and he kept it till
his death.
“But De Prado, who
had carried arms to the Moors, lay in irons and the King ordered him to be
brought out. And then they martyrised him in a cart,
and threw him into the fire alive with his sword and gold”.
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