144 NATIVES OF AFRICA IX THE i6tII CENTURV. 



lorce, who succeeded in saving" 182 persons out of 285 who 

 reached the shore. The voyage lasted three months, and 

 covered more than 500 leagTies. Having heard of the awful 

 d.ifficulties met hy the San Joao and San Bento's crews, Pereira 

 decided to travel inland and not along the coast, trusting" that he 

 would find more means of subsistence, and that the rivers would 

 be easier to cross. ¥{\s expectations were partially fulfilled. 

 But what helped him most was the kindness united with firmness 

 which he always showed to the natives, preventing hds people 

 from plundering the plantations, paying regularly for all that 

 he bought by means of bits of copper and iron, adorning children 

 and women with ordinary beads or beads of crystal taken from 

 rosaries, which had happily come to the she re after the wreck, 

 etc. Xuna \'elho Pereira did so well that the Natives of Zulu- 

 land said the white men were just like the black, and diiTered 

 only froni them in their colour. In some places, they kissed the 

 Portuguese on their faces and accompanied them dancing and 

 singing. How difl^erent from the dreadful experiences of the 

 earlier parties. So his journey was a kind of triumphal crossing 

 of all Caft'raria (as the Portuguese called this coast) with almost 

 1 o fighting; he bought a great nuniber of cattle, whicii the party 

 took with them, eat'ng theni when they had to cross deserts. 

 Thev still had nineteen with them when they reached Inhaqa ; 

 they had the good luck to find there the traders' ship, which only 

 can"ie every second year. Most of the party could embark in it 

 for Mozambic|ue. 



The story of the wreck was written by Joao Baptista 

 Lavanha. " C( smografonior de Sua Magestade." in 161;, 

 from a detailed account by the pilot of the ship. It con- 

 tains tlic names of most of the ]:)ett\" chiefs whicli the party 

 found froni },2° south latitude up to Inhaca Island, anrj this list 

 is most valuable. 



Though the subject of this paj^er is the condition of the 

 Natives in the i6th century, and not that of the Portuguese of 

 that time. I will not proceed further without insisting on the 

 strong religious faith which animated and comforted these men 

 through the horrors of ' their peregrinations. The anonymous 

 chronicler of the wreck of the San Joao says his aim in telling 

 this stor\' was to teach the men who travel on the sea to recom- 

 mend themselves constantly to God and to the Virgin that she 

 should pray for then"i all In their order of march throughout 

 the country they generally put in front a priest or the pilot carry- 

 ing the crucifix. In all their misfortunes, they saw the finger of 

 God, a punishment for their bad deeds. Relating the terrible 

 journey round Kosi Bay, Perestrello says: 



No doubt, if someone ha'd seen us, from the top of these hills (may he 

 be one of the savages living in the midst of these inhabited mountains) 

 marching naked, without boots, weary and strangers, lost, and in awful 

 necessity, feeding on raw herbs, of which even we did not tind eniough for 

 our needs, he would have thought we had gravely sinned against God, 

 because, if our sins had been small, His mercy would not have allowed 



