ABSTRACT
The travellers from whose narratives are five in number—Ludovico di Varthema, Duarte Barbosa, Caesar de Federici, Fernao Nuniz, and Domingos Paes. Some additional evidence has been obtained from the Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, and L. de Camoens' Lusiad. Other narratives exist and have been consulted, but their value is in the main slight. The evidence of these men is important from several distinct points of view. The great viceroy was one of the founders of the Portuguese power in Asia; Camoens travelled in the East Indies between 1553 and 1569. The history of the one is part of the history of his country; the history of the other belongs to the history of his country's literature. The Portuguese empire in India, their trade with Vijayanagar was of considerable importance to them.
