EARLY VOYAGES TO THE EAST. 



23 



positions on a map given liim by King John of 

 Portugal. Thence lie returned along tlie coast of 

 Persia to Cape Guardafui, and contLQued soutli to 

 Mozambique and Zofala," where he ascertained 

 that that land joined the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 thus was the first man who hmm that it was possible 

 to sail fi'om Europe to India. From Zofala he re- 

 turned to Abyssinia, and sent his diary, charts, and 

 drawings to Genoa by some Portuguese merchants 

 who were trading at Memphis. 



On receiving this news, King Emanuel, who had 

 sncceeded King John, sent out, during the followmg 

 year, 1495, four ships under Vasco di Gama, who 

 visited Katal and Mozambique ; in 1498 he was at 

 Calcutta, and in 1499 back at Lisbon. 



In 1509 the Portuguese, under Sequiera, first came 

 into the archipelago. During the next year Alfonso 

 Albuquerque visited Sumatra, and in 1511 took the 

 Malay city Malacca, and established a militaiy post 

 from which he sent out Antonio d'Abren to search 

 for the Spice Islands. On his way eastward, 

 D'Abreu touched at Agasai (Gresik) on Java 



In 1511 the Portuguese visited Bantam, and two 

 years later Alvrin was sent from Malacca with four 

 vessels to bring away a cargo of spices from a ship 

 wrecked on the Java coast while on her way back 

 fix>m the Spice Islands. 



Ludovico Barthema was the first European who 

 described Java fi'om personal observation. He re- 

 mained on it fourteen days, but his descriptions 

 are questionable in part, for he represents parents as 

 selling their childi-en, to be eaten by their purchasers. 



