a a 
translation, “ after a careful compari- 
son’’ of it with the original Portugueze: 
but the original Portugueze says, that 
Paulo da Gama was the man whio per+ 
formed this act of humanity. Paulo da 
Gama, the brother of Vasco, to whom 
the command of the expeditiow was first 
offered, but Who declined it, not having 
health for the charge, and consented to 
serve under his brother, and who died 
himself on his return, perhaps from the 
want of those very medicines which he 
had thus distributed. Did Mr. Clarke 
make this ungenerous alteration himself? 
or did he only aid and abet the old 
translator in this lie by implication, by 
permitting the mistranslation to remain 
after his “ careful comparison,’’? and 
forcing it into notice by italic types and 
capitals? The character of Vasco da 
Gama has been usually misrepresented ; 
we have been taught to class him with 
Columbus, for his hideous and hellish 
eruelties have been industriously con- 
cealed. 
An account of Cada Mosto’s two 
voyages concludes the history of the dis- 
coveries during prince Henry’s life. It 
is remarkable that Barros makes no 
mention of this navigator, though his 
narrative was printed nearly fifty years 
before the publication of the first decade. 
The next section. narrates the voyages 
of Pedro da Cintra, and the Portugueze 
pilot from Ramusio; and carries on the 
history till the death of John II. One 
ludicrous error must be noticed for its 
oddity: the king of Portugal is said to 
nave had a Jew rabbi for his confessor. 
In his account of Covilham Mr. Clarke 
has been misled by Bruce. Frequent 
dispatches, says that traveller, came 
from him to the king of Portugal, who, 
on his part, spared no expence to keep 
open the correspondence. 
*« In his journal Covillan described the 
several ports in India which he had seen ; 
the temper and disposition of the princes ; 
the ‘situatiou and riches of the mines of 
Sofala: he reported that the country was 
very populons, full of cities both powerful 
and rich ; and he exhorted the king to pur- 
sue, with unremitting vigour, the passaze 
round Africa, which he ‘declared’.to be at- 
tended with very little danger; and that the 
cape itself was well known in India. He 
accompanied this description with a chart, 
r map, which he had received trom, the” 
nds of a moor in India, where ‘the Cape, 
and cities all around the coast, wefe exactly 
sepresented.” 
This is in dixect contradiction of all 
CLAREB’S MAR(TIME DISCOVERIES, 
i9 
the Portugueze historians; no tidings 
were ever received from Covilham, from 
the time when he entered Abyssinia, 
till the Portugueze found him there, long 
after king John’s death. Ruy de Pina, 
in his chronicle of king John, mentions 
him as 2 man Jost; and all the other 
historians affirm that he was never heard 
ox till after the lapse of many years. 
The passage in Bruce is very extraor- 
dinary: it will hardly be supposed that 
he found copies of Covilham’s journal 
and chart in Abyssinia; but unless he 
actually did find such copies, the only 
solution is, that he wrote the passage 
from memory, having no documents be- 
fore him, and has thus altered the ac- 
count which was sent orally by the Jew 
from Cairo, into written papers from 
Abyssinia. That the passage is errone- 
ous is indisputable. Some hydrogra- 
phical remarks are appended to this 
section; here the author mentions as a 
desideratum, accurate obsérvations of 
the width and depth of all the rivers in 
the world, veith observations on their 
bars. 
In the following section we have a 
rambling inappropriate retrospect of 
Indian history, from the Macedonian 
discoveries to the close of the fifteenth 
century. 
The last section cbmprizesthe outward 
voyage of Vasco da Gama. ‘This is 
related by alternate scraps from the old 
translation of Castanheda, and from 
Mickle’s Lusiad, for “ the Lusitanian 
Homer, says the author, as he must have 
had access to many authorities now lest, 
or not generally known, is’ justly en- 
titled to the authority of an’ historian; 
his means of information were ample 
and extended from Portugal to India.”’ 
Even if this could by any possibility be 
admitted ; it would not follow that Mr. 
Micxle’s translation was entitled to the 
same confidence; for no poem was eyer. 
so licentiously translated as the English 
Lusiad; the English poet has every where 
inserted without scruple whatever he 
thought would improve the original, 
‘The estracts from this version fill twenty 
pages of this part of Mr. Clarke’s his- 
tory. Ja ce 
The appendix contains 263 ages, of 
which ten only are “ original corres- 
pondence ;”? the rest’ consists entirely of 
republications. , 
The character of this work may easily 
be summed up. Above two-thirds of 
wae are Slled with unnecessary 
9° 
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