At this time also an illness overtook the king, which gave him care and occupation, so that he could no longer look after the building of the three ships, until the year 1495, when he died of his illness in Alvor; and there succeeded him as king the King Doin Manoel. He provided for the affairs of the kingdom as he thought fitting; and after all had been set in order, being inspired by Our Lord, he took the resolution to learn and inform himself about the affairs of India, for he knew that the king had had so great a desire in this matter that he had sent his two equerries, from whom there had not been any answer. He (Dom Joam) only had information by means of letters which he wrote respecting this to Venice, to a principal merchant, a great friend of his, who negociated and executed his commissions. From him he had received answers, in which he gave him a long account of India, and of its great riches and trade which issued from it by many seas and lands, by which way there came rich merchandise and aromatic spices to Alexandria, from which the Turk drew great profits; and from that place the merchandise came by the trading of the merchants who brought it to Venice. This was the greatest trade which there was in Venice, because it went thence to all parts, so that sometimes the galleys of Venice came to Spain and went to sell at Lisbon, as he had seen, but in what part India lay he was unable to tell him.

The ships being equipped and ready, as I have said, one Sunday the king went with the Queen Dona Maria to hear Mass, which was said pontifically by the Bishop Calçadilha, who also made a discourse in praise of the voyage, and holy design of the king in regard to the new discovery which he was commanding to be made; and he called upon the people to pray to the Lord that the voyage might be for his holy service, and for the exalting of his holy faith, and for the increase of the good and honour of the kingdom of Portugal. When the Mass was ended, at which the good brothers and their associate were present, richly dressed, and to whom the king shewed great honour and favour, as they stood close to the curtain, where also were the principal lords of the realm and gentlemen of the court, the king came out from the curtain, and spoke to the captains who placed themselves on their knees before him, and they spoke to him, saying: “Sire, the honour we are receiving from your Highness is so great, that with a hundred bodies and lives which we might expend in your service we never could repay the least part of it, since greater honours were never shewn by a sovereign to his vassals, than you have done us, as the great prince, king, and lord that you are, with such magnanimity and honour that, if at this very moment we should die, our lineage would remain in the highest degree of honour which is possible, only because your Highness has chosen and sent us for this workwork, whilst you have so many and such noblevassals to whom to commit it: for which we are already recompensed before rendering this service, and until we endour lives in performing it. For this we beg of the mercy of the Lord, that He direct us, and that we may perform such works that He, the Lord, and your Highness also, may beserved in some measure in this so great favour that has been shown us, as He knows that such is our desire; and should we not be deserving to serve Him in this voyage, and soholy undertaking, may the Lord be pleased that we may pay with our lives for our shortcomings in the work. We promiseyour Highness that our lives will be the matters of least moment that we shall adventure in this so great favour that has been shewn us, and that we will not return beforeyour Highness with our lives in our bodies, without bringing some certain information of that which your Highness desires”

The account here given of Vasco da Gama's voyages is taken from Gaspar Correa's Lendas da India, and is entirely new; for Correa's work, which has only been printed within the last ten years, enters into much more detail than the other chroniclers, frequently differs from them, and has not been made use of by the great majority of the historians who wrote subsequently to him.

Gaspar Correa went to India, as he says in his prologue, when very young, and sixteen years after India was discovered,—that would be in 1514. The editors of the history, printed by the Academy of Lisbon, say, however, that he sailed with Jorge de Mello in March of 1512, on the ground of a receipt of which a facsimile is given. The receipt is signed by Gaspar Correa, but bears no date. It does not appear to bear out the assumption that Correa sailed with Jorge de Mello. It runs thus:

During the reign of Dom Joan, the second of that name in the kingdom of Portugal, in the year one thousand four hundred and eighty-four, there came to Portugal the King of Benin, a Caffre by nation, and he became Christian, with many of his people, as must be related in his chronicle. From this king, and from his people, the said King Dom Joan collected much information about India and its affairs, for he was very desirous to learn with much certainty that the king of it was Prester John, who was a Christian, and the lord of great riches. Which information produced so great an impression upon the king's heart, that he became possessed with an earnest resolve to send and learn about, and discover India. On which account, carrying out his desire, he at once, in the said year (1484) secretly sent two young men of his equerries to learn of many lands, and wander in many parts, because they knew many languages. To these he gave many injunctions that each one should go wherever God gave him the inclination to go; and that they should labour earnestly to know about India, and in what direction it was, and that they should go there, and learn

The king, in his great satisfaction at what the Jew had told him, gave great praise to our Lord for having granted him the so great favour of so important an affair as the discovery of the navigation to India in the commencement of his reign: the which had not been granted to any other king of Christendom, and during so long a time had been reserved for him: and with great trust in our Lord, he followed his chief inclination and desire, which was all for His holy service. He immediately gave orders for the finishing of the three ships which were begun, and that they should be made the strongest built that was possible. So much diligence was employed in this, that in a short time they were completed and launched in the sea, and equipped with everything. The king ordered the sailors who had gone with Janifante, who were good workmen, to serve in this labour of the caravels, and to supply the ships with double tackle and sets of sails, and artillery and munitions in great abundance: above all, provisions with which the ships were to be filled, with many preserves, and perfumed waters, and in each ship, all the articles of an apothecary's shop for the sick, a master, and a priest for confession.

The King our sovereign, Dom Manuel, was very mindful, with the great regret which he felt in his heart, of the treachery which the King of Calecut had committed towards Pedralvarez Cabral, who, when he arrived from India, at once related it to him, and he had promised to send him again with a much larger fleet, and well equipped, in order to make war upon Calecut, and take vengeance on it, since lie had more right on his side. With this recollection, as the time had arrived, he ordered large ships to be prepared for lading; and they were ten in number, into which was put much beautiful artillery, with plenty of munitions and weapons, all in great abundance, and supplies of everything most fitting for the voyage and their return to the kingdom; and they carried good men-at-arms, and captains, and gentlemen of birth, and Pedralvarez Cabral went as captain-major. All this was done and ordained by Vasco da Gama, whom the King charged with doing it all, for in the affairs of India the King ordered that he should do everything. When the fleet was quite ready to depart to Belem, and the King was one day talking about the affairs of the fleet, and of how well equipped and well supplied it was with everything, the King said: “Everything is much to my satisfac tion, but I pray the Lord that Pedralvarez may be as lucky with this fleet and voyage as Dom Vasco was with his; because, although we know Pedralvarez to be an excellent man, he is not very fortunate in affairs of the sea.”

The captain-major, on arriving at Calecut, was in a passion because he found the port cleared, and in it there was nothing to which he could do harm, because the Moors, knowing of his coming, had all fled, and hid their vessels and sambuks in the rivers; for they knew what the captain-major had done at Onor and Batticala, and what he had done to the ship Mount Dely, which belonged to a brother of Coja Casem, the factor of the sea of the King of Calecut. The King of Calecut thought that he might gain time so that the captain-major should not do him harm; and when his fleet arrived he sent him a Brahman of his in a boat with a white cloth fastened to a pole, as a sign of peace. This Brahman came dressed in the habit of a friar, one of those who had been killed in the country; and on reaching the ship, he asked for a safe conduct to enter. When it was known that he was not a friar,—-for the captain-major and everyone had been joyful, thinking that he was one of our friars,—seeing that he was not, the captain-major gave him a safe conduct, and bade him enter the ship.

The Viceroy, feeling that he was ill, spoke secretly at night to the guardian of St. Antony, who was his confessor, with whom he consulted; and at this conjuncture there arrived at Cochym the ships and vessel from Ceylon with the cinnamon, which was transferred from them into the ships bound for the kingdom, which were now almost laden, and the Viceroy hurried this on. He despatched at once the vessel to the kingdom with his letters; Francisco de Mendonca went as captain of it, and he sailed on the first of December.

Fernan Gomes de Lemos, who had been captain there (in Ceylon), came in the cinnamon ship. The Viceroy had information of him that he was an evil liver, quarrelsome, and fond of divisions, reckless in doing evil. He had committed iniquities in Ceylon, and a man named Ganchinho by nickname had demanded justice of him from the Viceroy, for he had cut off his arm at the elbow, and he was maimed. So when the ship reached the bar he sent thither the auditor general to take from him a pledge signed to the effect that he would not leave the ship without his commands; and if he would not give such a pledge, the auditor was to bring him as a prisoner, and shut him up in irons in the fortress, and collect the depositions which came from Ceylon: and this was done.

Vasco da Gama made that caressing speech to the crews from apprehension that some of them might run away on finding some country with which they might be satisfied, in which case it would be the most certain perdition that might be. And he was fearful of the vagabonds whom he brought with him, because he had begged the king to order some men who had been condemned to death to be given to him, in order to risk them in sending them ashore in certain countries of doubtful safety; in which also, and wherever it was expedient, he would leave them, as he might greatly benefit by what they learned when he found them later. The king had highly approved of this, and had commanded to put six such men on board each ship, of whom some were already dead. Then, with the favourable wind which they had, and the ships well repaired, they sailed with much satisfaction along the coast, with a good look-out by day and night. Running in this manner, they sighted a sail, which was making from the sea to the land: at which they felt great satisfaction, and gave great thanks to the Lord for having brought them into a region of navigation. The ships at once made after the sail, which, on seeing our ships, fled to seawards, and our people lost sight of it at night, at which they were very sad, and continued on their course as they saw it no more.

Whilst these things were happening the wind did not shift its direction, but the sea being smoother the ships were more easy, though they let in so much water that they never left off pumping. The captain-major saw this, and that the ships had an absolute need of repairs; and also because they had no more water to drink, because, with the tossing about in the storm, many barrels had broken and given way under such great pressure, he stood in to land under sail, for the weather was moderate and was beginning to be favourable all were praying to God for mercy, and that He would grant them a haven of safety. Which God was pleased to do in His mercy, for presently He showed them land/ at which it seemed that all were resuscitated from the death which they looked upon as certain if the ships were not repaired. After that the wind came free, and they sailed along the land for several days without finding where to put in; this was now in January of the year 1498. Thus they ran close to the land, with a careful look out, for they did not dare to leave the land, from the great peril in which the ships were from the great leakage.

As the fleet was on its way to Cananor, before reaching Mount Dely, a gust of wind struck it, which sprung the mainmast of the ship Leitoa Esmeralda, in which Pero Afonzo d'Aguiar sailed; and the lances which were in the top fell upon the deck, and killed four men, and wounded several, and there was one who was transfixed with eight lances. On account of this, the captain-major anchored in the bay of Marabia, because he saw there several Moorish ships, in order to get a mast from them. He sent on shore to search for one, and at once the Moors gave him one such as was fitting, and the captain-major ordered its owner to be well paid for it, so that the ship was well remasted with the labour of many workmen in a few days. Whilst they were at this work, one day at dawn there came a large ship of Calecut which came from Mekkah with much wealth, and it fell in with the caravels, which were on the watch out at sea. In this ship came the owner, who was the chief merchant and the richest in Calecut, and the ship was coming from the offing to make Mount Dely. The caravels went to it, and made it come and anchor close to the captain-major, who, on learning that it was from Calecut, ordered the men to go and pillage it.

The governor (D. Duarte de Meneses) made great profits in Ormuz upon the goods which he brought, because the brokers delivered them to the merchants at high prices, and made the payment of them obligatory, and there were other gifts and bribes, which the Resxarafo (Reis ul Sharafa) took from the people to give to the governor, to keep him in good humour. Whilst he was thus at Ormuz, there arrived there one Joan Gonzalves with letters from Dom Rodrigo, who was in the lands of the Prester, by which he urgently requested the governor to send him a vessel, because persons, who were Dom Luis and Heytor da Silveira, had come to the port of Masowah, and had not brought them away, because they were at some distance from the sea by order of the Prester, in order to be in greater security; on which account, on hearing a message from the vessels, and travelling with much expedition, they were not able to arrive at the port within the time for which they had been summoned: the captains, therefore, had gone away without waiting for them, and the cause of this was that the vessels had arrived late at the port, when they could no longer wait for them. So that the two vessels went there for nothing, and caused great expense to the King.

When the ships arrived at the port of Melinde, they anchored, and dressed themselves out with flags, and the trumpets sounded, and the crews shouted. The pilot, who had already got leave from the captain-major, hailed the skiff of a ship which was near to them, and it was sent, and he went on shore to take the good news to the King of the good fortune which our men had met with; at which the King was much pleased, and went immediately to seat himself on the beach, waiting flntil the boats were lowered into the sea. The captains got into them at once and went to the shore, and as soon as the boats grounded they jumped out, because the King was standing by with the water reaching to his feet. He embraced the captains with both arms, as though they had been his brothers; and so he led them away to the palace, where he again embraced them, and sat down between them both, the captains making great salutations. The King then began to inquire of them if they came with good health, and if their affairs had been to their satisfaction.

When it was known in Cochym that the Viceroy was already near the town, the Doctor Pero Nunes, the overseer of the treasury, went out to sea in a large boat with an awning, and dressed out, to land the Viceroy in it if he was so pleased. Since the sea-breeze was feeble, the Viceroy did not reach further than to Cranganor, where the overseer came up with him, and was received by him with great honour, because he had been much, commended by the King; for as long as he had held his office, which had been six years, he had done such good service, that he had sent pepper of such quality that in the kingdom it suffered a loss of seven or eight per cent., whilst at first it lost thirty or forty per per cent., on account of being damp, green, and with a mixture of sand and grit, and the factors mixed it badly, by which they made their profit. This man remained all night with the Viceroy, to whom he gave a long account of the affairs of the governor and of all India.

Dom Luis kept the galloon Sam Luis outside of the bar; he had refitted it this winter, and it was well equipped with artillery of heavy calibre, and awnings and flags. He embarked in it next day with many gentlemen and plenty of food, and set sail in search of the Viceroy, who was standing well out to sea with the land-breeze, which was light for reaching Cochym.