6 Annals of the South African Museum. 



Of the five padroes here mentioned as erected by Dias, only one 

 of them lias hitherto been found, namely, Padrao Santiago. The 

 fragment exhibited is part of it. 



It was originally erected on the summit of a small granite 

 eminence, and was discovered by Captain Owen in 1833, but " cast 

 down evidently by design as the part of the shaft that had originally 

 been buried in the rock had remained unbroken." This pillar, includ- 

 ing the part originally placed in the ground, would have been altogether 



7 feet 9 inches in length, corresponding in height with that erected 

 at Cape Cross by Diogo Cao, and " was composed of marble rounded 

 on one side, but left square on the other." The cross surmounting 

 the pedestal was found at some distance. " It was sixteen inches 

 square, of the same breath and thickness as the shaft, and had on the 

 centre an inscription almost obliterated." 



Three pieces of the original Padrao Santiago were received at the 

 Museum in 1856, two of which, part of the rounded side, were sent 

 to Lisbon ; but a replica of the same has been made for us, presented 

 by the Museum of the Geographical Society of Lisbon ; a fourth 

 fragment is to be found in Auckland, New Zealand, left there as a 

 gift by a former Cape Governor, the late Sir George Grey. The 

 cross itself has not been recovered. 



POBTUGUESE INSCRIPTIONS. 



Vasco da Gama was the next navigator who was to complete, ten 

 years later, the exploration of Dias, and to reach India (1497-1499). 

 It seems, however, that the erection of padroes had then fallen into 

 disuse, for there is, I believe, no record of any put up by this 

 explorer, who, it is now almost certain, retraced the itinerary of his 

 predecessor, Dias. Other expeditions were to follow on the way to 

 the East Indies. 



Pedro Alvarez, better known under his nickname of " Cabral," in 

 trying to double the Cape, discovered Brazil. One of his captains, 

 Pedro de Atayde, separated from the fleet by a storm, reached the 

 Bay of San Braz (Mossel Bay), and left there a letter in a shoe, 

 placed, it is said, on the island in a conspicuous situation, and 

 which was found by Joas da Nova, who had sailed from Portugal 

 on the 5th of March, 1501, in charge of four vessels. 



Stone I. The Mossel Bay Stone. 



The fragmentary inscription on a stone found in Mossel Bay, 

 appears to be a record of the visit of one of these two expeditions. 



