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HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



island of Zanzibar, and received offers of service from the 

 sovereign. He doubled the Cape successfully on the 20th of 

 March, and anchored soon after at the Cape Verds. Here, 

 during the night, Nicolao Coelho, the captain of the caravel, 

 slipped away, and made all haste to Portugal, in order to be 

 the first to carry to Europe the intelligence of the grand dis- 

 covery. 



Da Gama now found that he could prosecute the voyage no 

 further in his disabled vessel, the San Gabriel, and chartered a 

 caravel in which to proceed to Lisbon. On the way his brother 

 Paulo died, and was buried at the island of Terceira. Vasco 

 arrived at Belem in September, 1499, two years and two months 

 after his departure. The king, informed of his approach by 

 the previous arrival of Coelho, sent a magnificent cortege to 

 conduct him to court. He overwhelmed him with honors, 

 wealth, and distinctions. He himself took the title of Lord of 

 the Conquest of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and the Indies. Coelho 

 was ennobled, and a pension of one thousand ducats secured to 

 him. Of the one hundred and sixty men who departed upon 

 this voyage, only fifty-five had returned, and all these were 

 munificently rewarded for their share in the brilliant achieve- 

 ments of their commander. The king ordered a series of 

 public festivities, which were preceded by a solemn service of 

 thanksgiving to Heaven for the glory vouchsafed to the Portu- 

 guese name and nation. 



Emmanuel allowed not a week to pass before he directed the 

 necessary preparations to be made for fitting out another and 

 more powerful fleet, to follow in da Gama's track and attempt 



to colonize the Indies. He determined that da Gama should 



/ 



enjoy his dignities and renown in peace, however, and intrusted 

 the command to one Pedro Alvarez Cabral, a gentleman of 

 merit and distinction. The fleet numbered thirteen vessels, 

 manned by twelve hundred men, among whom were eight Fran- 

 ciscans to convert the pagans, and some thirty condemned male- 



