664 ' ^he HIS 7 s O R T of the Book I. 
thing coft liitft very little, made a free Grant to the Crown to the King his Mailer ; but he dying fuddenly, his Sue- 
of Portugal of all that fnould be difeovered on that Side as ceffor Nahu , treated our Potugueze , not only with Cold- 
far as the Indies. This Bull is dated in 1444, and was con- nefs and Difrefpedt, but with ' the greateft Cruelty r efu- 
firmed by his Succeffors, Eugenius IV. Nicholas V. and fing him Leave to return home, and keeping: him at his 
Sixtus IV. which occafioned afterwards high Difputes b . Court as aPrifoner for manyYears ; fo that in Portugal they 
_ In 1471, Pedro d'Efcovar, difeovered the Ifland of St. concluded him dead, though he lived afterwards torecover 
Thomas, and Princes-ljland , and on the firft Day of the his Liberty c . 
next Year another Wand on the fame Coall, which for that 3. The fame worthy King of Portugal John II while 
Reafon he called Anno Bueno, which is the fame that is he endeavoured, by thefe his Embaffadors, to gain a per- 
: now called corruptly Annobon. In 1484, Diego Cam, a feft Knowledge of the State of the Indies 'by Land, nee- 
Portugueze , difeovered the Kingdom of Congo , and having ledted not the Profecution of what had been fo lono- la- 
heard there of a Chriftian Monarch, who reigned in boured with the fame View at Sea. It was to facilitate this 
Ethiopia , he magnified his Power fo much on his Return, Defign, that he employed Bartholomew Diaz, one of his 
that John II. who was at that Time on the Throne, took Courtiers, and a Perfon remarkable for great Prudence 
a Refolution to fend by Land two Perfons he could trull, much fkill in the Art of Navigation, as well as for ir vin- 
to gain lb me certain Intelligence of this Chriftian Prince, cible Courage, to proceed ftill farther along the South-Coftl 
whom he judged to be Preiby ter John, and atthe fame time to of Africa, which accordingly he did in the Year i486 
gain the moft fatisfadlory Knowledge they could of the State and executed his Commiffion with equal Conduct and Sue- 
of the Indies. The Perfons who went with this Commiffion, cefs. He carried with him feveral Negroes, who had been 
were Pedro de Covillan and Alphonfo de Payva, who had ftrict many Years in his Service, and who, from time to time 
Orders to commit to Writing whatever they judged worthy he fet on Shore, well dreffed, with a fmall Quantity of 
of Notice ; but more efpecially the Situation of Places, and Goods, on purpofe that they might inform the Peooie of 
the Navigation on the Coaft of Ethiopia, by which it was the Country how well they had been ufed, and how kindly* 
judged forne Difcovery might be made of the Means of treated by the Portugueze. He likewife fet up Croffes of 
pairing by anew Rout to the Indies. Our Travellers, who Stone, with the Arms of Portugal engraven upon them, 
fpoke the Arabick Tongue perfectly, went together to to alfert his Maker’s Tide to the Countries by him dif- 
Alexandria, and from thence to Cairo, from which City covered. 
they proceeded to the famous Port of Aden in Arabia, At laft, arriving in Sight of a high Cape, near which 
where they had an Opportunity of converfing with Traders he met with very bad Weather, he loll the Company of his 
of all Nations, and from all Parts of the Indies , from whom victualing Bark ; upon which his Crew mutined, complain- 
they learned many things, which were of great Confequenc.e ing, that it v/as too much to endure at one time the Hard- 
to them, inafmuch that they feemed to put it in their Power fhips of the Sea and of Famine. But Captain Diaz repre- 
to give the King a good Account of the Commiffion with fenting to them, that the former was not to be efcaped by 
which they were intruded. Llere they refolved to part, in going back, and that the only means they had of pre- 
order, that while one made a Tour through the Indies, the venting the latter, was to proceed till they came to fome 
other might go to the Court of the Emperor of Ethiopia. Place where they could get Refreflunents; he prevailed up- 
Accordingly, Pedro de Covillan went to the Indies, and on them to double the Cape, and to fail a good Way be- 
having made a very exadl Map of the Coafts, he crofted yond it, to a Place where he eredted another Pillar of 
the Arabian Sea to Africa, and after having vifited moft Stone ; and having obtained a fmall Supply he returned 
of the principal Ports there, came to Sofala , fully per- and, in his Paffage homewards, met with his Bark again, 
fuaded, as well from the Reafon of the Thing, as from in which, of nine Men that he had left, three only fur- 
the concurring Opinions of the Seamen he converfed vived, and of thefe Ferdinand Colazzo died with Joy at 
with, that a fnort, and eafy Paffage, might be found the firft Sight of his Captain. He continued his Voyage 
round the Continent of Africa to the Indies. Full of Joy, fafely to Lifbon where he arrived in December 1487, fix- 
from this Difcovery, he made the bed of his Way to teen Months and leven Days after his fetting out, hav- 
Cairo, where he was to meet his Companion ; but when ing difeovered above a thoufand Miles along the Coaft d . 
he came thither, he was informed that the unfortunate Al- He gave the King his Maker, a very full Account of all 
phonfo de Pay v a had been murdered on the Road to Ethio- that had happened to him, and infilled particularly on the 
pia. He was fomewhat at a Lofs as to the Meafures which Difficulty with which he had doubled that ftupendious Pro- 
he was next to take; but, after mature Confideration, he montory, which, from the ftormy Sea about it, he thought 
refolved to acquaint the King with the Difcoveries he had fit to call Cabo Dormant ofo, that is. The T empejluous Cape 
made by Letter, and to continue his Journey into Ethio- But the King, who from the Lights he had received from 
pia , that, at his Return to Portugal, he might be able to C civilian's Letters, knew how to form aright Judgment of 
fatisfy the King, in every Refpedt, fo that his Majefty the Importance of this Difcovery, filled it Cabo del 
might not be under a Neceffity of fending any other Per- Bueno Esperanza, or. The Cape of Good Hope, 
Ton to make farther Enquiries. He executed this fecond which Name it has ever fince retained : Forhefaw clearly. 
Journey with the fame good Fortune that he did the for- from the Agreement between thefe Accounts, that the Pal- 
mer, at leaft at the Beginning, and was extremely well fage was now open, and that there wanted but one Voyage 
received by Alexander, who was at that Time Emperor of more to finifh what .they had fo much defired, viz. the 
Abyffinia , who was extremely well pleafed with the Offers finding a diredl Paffage by Sea to the Eajl Indies. 
made him of the Affiftance of a powerful Prince, and pro- But while King John meditated this great Defign in his 
mifed to fend Pedro de Covillan back again with Letters Mind, and buffed himfelf in contriving the Means of ex- 
b This Tran faction fhews, that Don Henry was a very great Politician, for by pretending that all Countries were to be difpofed of at the Will and 
Pleafure of the Pope of Rome, he fecured his Holinefs’s Confent to whatever he demanded ; and he very well knew, that whatever was bellowed upon 
him by thofe Grants, would be infallibly fupported by the Thunder of the Church. This great Prince died in the Year 1463. The Continent of 
Africa under his Aufpice having been difeovered from Cape Non to Cape Sierra Leona, which is in the Latitude of 8° North, by which the Founda- 
tion was laid of all that was afterwards performed. 
c I cannot help owning, that it is a little out of the Road of what is propofedin this Seflion, to dwell on the Adventures of particular Perfons, but, 
as Iknow it is natural for an inquifitive Reader to wilh that he might be informed of what became of fuch remarkable perfons as are mentioned in the 
Hillory, I have taken Occafion, in the former Note, to obferve, that Don Henry, the firft Encourager of the Difcoveries of the Portuguefe, furvived 
to 1463 ; and here I lhall obferve, that this Pedro de Co-villan, who was the firft of his Nation that ever fet Foot in the Indies, lived a Prifoner in 
Ethiopia to the Year 1520, when Don Roderigo de Lima came thither in Quality ofEmbaffador from the Crown of Portugal, to whom he related 
all his Adventures, and from whom he learned what mighty Conquefts his Letters had produced. 
d The Remarks made upon this Tranfadlion by Sir IVilliam Monfon in his naval Tracis, deferve the Reader’s Notice, the rather, becaufe he 
has been always elleemed a very wife Man, and was, beyond Quellion, a very able Seaman, and, by no means, envious of the Portugueze, or dif- 
pofed to depreciate their Labours ; yet he attributes their Difcoveries to the peculiar Providence of God in thefe Words ; Before I treat of any Par ■ 
ticulars of the Eaji-lndies, give me Leave to put you in mind of fome Obfervations of mine, which will not be unworthy your Perulal, feeing they 
are only to be attributed to God, who is the Searcher of all Hearts, and the Difcoverer of hidden Secrets. It is ftrange and furprifing, that out of fo 
many flourifhing Nations as God hath created and civilized, he lhould eleft and chufe the Kingdom of Portugal to perform this great Work of his, a 
Country in thofe Day of lefs Efteem and Reputation, of lefs Renown and Fame, and of lefs Ability and Valour than any other Chriftian Monarchy we 
can cal! to mind, and to affign them fuch a Firne to cited it, when they enjoyed a happy Peace with their Neighbours, and had no Enemy to op- 
pofe, or hinder their Defigns, 
ecuting 
2 
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