Departure of Ruy Freyre from Lisbon, and events of the voyage until reaching Mozambique.

The Monarchy of Portugal being weakened by the mysterious attenuation of the generation of its native Kings, and the unjust succession of Philip III King of Castile, powerful English and Dutch fleets infested those seas of the Orient upon which the sublime standards of the Lusitanian quinas ¹ had set a seal (for more than 100 years) to the general emulation, displaying their special virtue as well in the most remote parts as in the centre of their domain.