104 BARTH0LOMIEU DIAS'S FURTHEST EAST.. 



pedia pouco mais alto que hum hanem com hua cruz em ctma" — 

 and at the same time he is positive that the Penedo das Fontes is 

 merely another name for this islet. In this point, however, 

 Pacheco is in conflict with Perestrello, who actually surveyed the 

 coast, whereas Pacheco merely skirted the coast in the course of 

 the voyage to India, and I am inclined to harden on the point that 

 the Penedo das Fontes of Dias is the Fountain Rocks of the 

 Kowie. 



In regard to the River Infante, most authors identify this 

 with the Fish River. Perestrello says that the Rio Infante is 

 five legoas (17 miles) east of the Penedo das Fontes, which is 

 the distance of the Fish River from the Fountain Rocks at the 

 Kowie. Theal accepts this identification, as does Major in his 

 " Life of Prince Henry," and also Ravenstein in his " Voyages 

 of Cao and Dias."* De Barros states that it is 25 leagues (85 

 miles) from St. Croix, which would place it more nearly at the 

 Buffalo River. After setting up the. Cross at St. Croix, the 

 crews of Dias's ships refused to go any further. After a long 

 parley, it was agreed that they should sail three days eastwards, 

 but no more. At the end of this time the ships anchored off a 

 Wiall river, which was called the Rio Infante, because Joao 

 Infante, captain of Dias's companion ship, the Sao Pautaleao, 

 was the first to land. 



The whole difficulty of the identification of the points in 

 Dias's voyage lies in the fact that imperfect data have to be 

 squeezed into accurate maps. How much confusion may be 

 caused by this is illustrated in Captain Riou's map of Van 

 Reenen's journey to the wreck of the Grosvcnor. The site of 

 the wreck, which is near St. John's, Pondoland, is placed just 

 south of Delagoa Bay. Bartholomieu Dias was on an exploring 

 expedition in an unknown sea; the crews were half mutinous, 

 and great trouble was encountered with regard to bad food and 

 stormy weather, and the Commander was half distracted. In 

 addition, Dias had completely lost his bearings, for it was only 

 on his return journey that he discovered the Cabo Tormentoso, 

 now the Cape of Good Hope; he had sailed south below the 

 Cape and then eastwards, endeavourng to find land, and had 

 struck the coast at Cape Vacca, near Mossel Bay. Under these 

 circumstances, distances would not be accurately computed. 

 Perestrello, coming soon afterwards, was engaged in a definite 

 survey, and could go about his work in a more leisurely way, 

 and also he was working on a coast which was already known 

 The very fact that he was employed so soon afterwards shows 

 that Dias's positions must have been unsatisfactory. Pacheco 

 was going to India, and no means were available to establish 

 points with any accuracy, for the ship had to hurry on as fast as 

 possible. 



* Geographical Journal, December, 1:900. 



