THE PORTUGUESE AND TIIEIR FOLLOWERS. 29 
the route to the Indies, he ordered two gentlemen of his 
court to find out if it would not be possible to attain 
the same end by an easier, safer, and more rapid means; 
by way of the Isthmus of Suez, the Red Sea, and the 
Indian Ocean. 
For carrying out such a mission there was needed a 
clever, enterprising man, well acquainted with the diffi¬ 
culties of a journey in those regions, and possessing a 
knowledge of the Oriental languages, or at the very 
least, of Arabic. This agent must be of a versatile 
disposition, and able to dissemble ; capable, in a word, 
of concealing the real meaning of projects which aimed 
at nothing less than withdrawing all the commerce of 
Asia from the hands of the Mussulmans and Arabs, and 
through them from the Venetians, in order to enrich 
Portugal with it. 
There was living at this time an experienced 
navigator, Pedro de Covilham, who had served with 
distinction under Alonzo V. in the war with Castille, 
