ABYSSINIA. 259 



Virgin, to which Yasco de Gama had conducted them 

 in procession before he left Lisbon. They revolted, 

 the pilots placing themselves at the head of the 

 mutineers. But Yasco, seconded by his officers, seized 

 the leaders of the revolt, and loading them with irons, 

 placed them in the hold. He himself went to the 

 helm, and, steering off the land, went out to sea, to 

 the great astonishment of his brave companions. The 

 tempest lasted two days more, and on the 20th of 

 November he had the honour of being able to say that 

 he had doubled the Cape. In the moment of victory 

 the trumpets were sounded, and Yasco liberated the 

 prisoners, amid great rejoicing, and impressed upon 

 them that the proper name for the promontory was 

 the Cape of Good Hope. 



The admiral landed with Martin Alonzo, who spoke 

 several of the Negro dialects, upon the Tierra de Natal, 

 where he was very well received by the king and the 

 natives. 



Upon the 15th of January, 1498, after having taken 

 in a fresh supply of water, which the Negroes them- 

 selves helped him to get on board, Gama proceeded as 

 far as a cape which he named the Cape of Currents, 

 where the coast of Natal commences, that of Sofala 

 being farther north. He reached the very spot 

 where Covillan, coming from the north, had pre- 

 viously arrived, so that these two Portuguese went 

 right round Africa. 



David III., the ancestor of Alexander, ascended 



