ABSTRACT
The chief captain having turned back along the coast, as he was unable to double the headland at S. Lourenço, as I have said, the two Moors whom he had taken at Lulangane carried him to a large bay, which is called Çada, entirely surrounded with tribes of Cafres, because the principal exchange of all places on the coast of Melinde, Mombaça, and Mogadoxo is established there. As soon as the fleet had cast anchor, the chief captain with all his men got into the boats, and made for the land, where he attacked two tribes, who were stationed along the coast. The Cafres, whose number reached about two thousand, armed with pikes, shields, bows, and arrows, although they at first showed the intention of preventing our landing, when they saw the determined spirit of our people, dared not wait, but fled into the woods. Now Afonso Dalboquerque, seeing the waste of time in discovering that island, and the great risk incurred by the fleet, although the chief captain had resented any remonstrance made to him, went to him and told him he ought to bear in mind that it was now the middle of January, and that all the time that might hereafter be spent in that exploration would be lost, and that they would be performing more service to the king by going to the Cape of Goardafum, and waiting for the ships which came from India through the straits with spices, and by building the fortress in Çocotora, according to the king’s orders, than by going on to their own destruction in the way they were doing. And if, nevertheless, he would continue this new exploration, he desired permission to go to Çocotora, and on his way enlist all the ships, wheresoever he might find 32them, and take them with him. The chief captain, who was highly delighted with the prospect of exploring the whole of the Island of St. Lawrence, approved of this, and gave permission for him to go, and delivered over to him all the ships which came from Portugal, with orders to remain with him, and gave him, as well, authority over all the captains whom he might find on that coast, that they should obey him. Although Afonso Dalboquerque carried secret powers from the king, D. Manoel, sufficient for all he might wish to do, yet, to avoid any quarrelling which might arise, about which of the two had the greater authority, he took his commission from the chief captain. After this, the latter despatched Antonio de Saldanha to go to Moçambique, and take the command of the ship Sanctiago, and get it ready, for he intended to despatch it to Portugal, immediately upon his arrival. Afonso Dalboquerque, having taken his leave, collected his ships, and went straight to Moçambique, and on the road gave orders that Antonio do Campo should go to Quiloa, and request Lionel Coutinho, and the captain of the ship Garça, to take all the supplies they required and wait for him at Melinde. Six days after the departure of Antonio do Campo, Afonso Dalboquerque arrived at Moçambique, and began to set about the refitting of his ships, which he made ready in a short time, and then he left, steering for Melinde by a straight course, where he was to join the other captains, and to go together with them to the Cape of Guardafum. And being as far advanced as the Islands of Comoro 1 , he came by night to see the chief captain. And when it was morning he struck his flag, and came up close to him, and went to pay his respects. The chief captain recounted to him the many misfortunes he had experienced since they had separated; how Ruy Pereira had been lost in some shallows, wherein he himself would 33also have perished, as it was at night, had it not been for the shouting which the sailors made when they touched the sand, and for the vigilance of his pilot, who, hearing the shouting, ordered the ship to be stopped, and miraculously turned and went out the same way he went in, for all in front was shallows. Afonso Dalboquerque returned with him thence to Moçambique, where they found João da Nova very ill, who had sailed lasb year for India, in the ship Flor de la mar, for Portugal, but he, in tacking to pass the Cape of Good Hope, had sprung a large leak, which forced him to put in at the Islands of Angoja, where he remained some days working to repair it. When he found it so large that he could not stop it, he had made his way to Moçambique, to wait for the ships which were coming from the kingdom, in hopes of some means of repairing his ship. The chief captain was very glad to see him, for he was a friend of his, and tried to get his ship repaired, and because the leak was at the step of the mast, and could not be mended without discharging the cargo, he bought a merchant ship, of which André Dias (who was afterwards Alcaide of Lisbon) was captain and factor, and ordered all the cargo of the Flor dé la mar to be stowed in it, and gave the command of it to Antonio de Saldanha, and sent it to Portugal, and in company with it a ship of Fernão de Loronha, of which the captain was Diogo Mendez Correa. When he was on his course doubling the Cape of Good Hope, he discovered a very favourable watering place for the ships, before the Island of St. Elena 1 had been noticed. To this, he gave the name of the watering station of Saldanha, and it was here that the Cafres of the land murdered the Viceroy D. Francisco Dalmeida, when he touched there to take water on his way from India to Portugal. 2
