Pepper and Gold 



to this it is said that two or three young Englishmen shipped as 

 sailors on board vessels in order to find out the way to Guinea 

 and the land of pepper and gold. They reached as far as 

 Benin, but very nearly lost their lives at the hands of the 

 enraged Portuguese.) 



About 1550 a Portuguese sea-captain called Antonio 

 Anes Pinteado of Oporto, after holding high rank in the 

 Portuguese naval service and defending the 

 coasts of Portugal and Guinea against the 

 French, got into trouble on his own account, 

 and lost favour at Court. He came to South- 

 ampton in anger, and resolved to show the 

 English the way to Guinea. It was arranged 

 to send him out in joint command of these 

 two ships, the "Primrose and the Lion^ with a 

 certain Captain Windham. Touching at the 

 Canary and Cape Verde Islands by the way, 

 they made a pretty straight course for the 

 Grain Coast (Liberia), and fetched up at the 

 Cestos River, " the great river of Sesto," as 

 it is called in the English chronicle. Here 

 Pinteado proposed that they should fill up 

 part of their cargo space with large quantities 

 of grains of Paradise, the Amomum pepper already described. 

 But Captain Windham thirsted to reach the land of gold, 

 and so hurried on. This date may be fixed approximately at 

 October 15th, 1553. Afterwards Windham's voyage met with 

 something like disaster. The ships entered the Benin River, 

 and Pinteado escorted a party of the officers and men to see 

 the King of Benin, a monarch who was found to be speaking 

 Portuguese perfectly. He promised them a great cargo of 

 pepper ; but Pinteado delayed so long over his commercial 



61 



26. A PORTUGUESE 

 SEA - CAPTAIN OF 

 THE SIXTEENTH 

 CENTURY. DRAWN 

 FROM A BENIN 

 CARVING IN THE 

 BRITISH MUSEUM 



