300 Note on Portions of the Cross or Memorial Pillar [1898. 



of the St. Philippe memorial pillar, and that the heirs of the great 

 sculptor have tried vainly to dispose of it. Of this picture the Geo- 

 graphical Society possesses a photograph. 



III. — On the other Pillars erected by Bartholomew Diaz. 



I have not been able to find any fuller account of Diaz' memorable 

 voyage than that contained in Barros' * ' Asia.' On p. 184 of the first 

 volume of this work it is related how Diaz embarked from Lisbon in 

 August, 1486, with two vessels of about fifty tons apiece. He took 

 with him a supply of marble pillars to mark the successive points of 

 his discoveries, and the first of these he set up at Pedestal Point just 

 south of Angra Pequena. 



Diaz continued his voyage, landing at a place he named Angra das 

 Voltas, of uncertain position, but probably in the neighbourhood of 

 the Orange Biver, a point just south of which is called Cape Yoltas 

 to this day. 



After this he was driven away from land by a storm, and did not 

 again touch the coast till he reached a bay, which he named Angra 

 dos Vaqueiros, which is probably one of the bays between Cape 

 Agulhas and Knysna. He next proceeded along the coast as far as 

 Algoa Bay, where, on an island now called St. Croix, he again 

 erected a second pillar. 



Finally he proceeded a little further to the mouth of a consider- 

 able river, either the Fish or Kowie, and then, owing to the protes- 

 tations of his crew, he turned back along the coast, discovering and 

 naming Cabo Tormentoso, which was on his return to Portugal 

 renamed by King John the Second, Cabo de Boa Esperanca, or the 

 Cape of Good Hope, now generally known as Cape Point. Here also 

 he is stated by Barros to have erected a third pillar, which he dedi- 

 cated to St. Philippe, and to which allusion is made above. 



Begarding the identification of the island in Algoa Bay with the 

 ; sland on which Diaz landed, there seems to be considerable doubt. 

 According to Barros, the island is described as a rocky one, and to 

 have had on it two springs of fresh water ; the island of St. Croix, on 

 the other hand, is perfectly flat and sandy, and has no spring on it ; 

 furthermore, it is very close to the mainland, and not an island such 

 as would be likely to be first met with by a vessel entering Algoa 

 Bay. There is no trace, and no tradition of a trace of the existence 

 of a pillar on the island : it is, therefore, extremely improbable that 

 it was on St. Croix that Diaz landed, and it remains to be discovered 

 * ' Da Asia de Joao de Barros e de Diogo de Conto.' Nov. ed. Lisbon, 178S. 



