26 



MOMBASAH. 



with noble edifices fairly planned 



as from the offing showed afar the scene ; 



ruled by a king for years full many famed, 



the isle and city were Mombasah named.^ 



In J oao de Barros and others we read attractive 

 details of beautiful gardens, lofty towers, a har- 

 bour full of ships ; of handsome men and of 

 honourable women habited in silk robes and 

 adorned with gold and jewels ; of the ' knights 

 of Mombasah,' which now can hardly show a 

 head of horse, and of the 'ladies of Melinde,' 

 where the plundering Gallas have left only heaps 

 of ruins. The King, 'for years full many famed,' 

 received his first Portuguese visitors with pecu- 

 liar empressement, and with the kindly purpose 

 of cutting Vasco da Gama's throat, enticed him 

 to land by promises to furnish wax, wheat, am- 

 bergris, ivory, and precious metals,^ and by send- 



* In the original — 



Estava a ilha a terra tao chegada 



Que humo estreito pequeno a dividia ; 

 Huma cidade nella situada 



Que da fronte do mar apparecia ; 

 De nobres edificios fabricada 



Como por fora ao longe descobria ; 

 Eegida por hum Eei de antigua idade, 

 Momba9a he o nome da ilha e da cidade. 



LusiAD, i. 103. 



^ In 1823 the Arabs informed Capt. Boteler ' that in some 

 rivers in the vicinity gold in small quantities was at times pro- 



