32 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
in 1525, a Portuguese embassy, of which Alvares was a 
member, came into Abyssinia, he witnessed the de¬ 
parture of his countrymen with the deepest regret, and 
the chaplain of the expedition has naively re-echoed his 
complaints and his grief. 
M. Ferdinand Denis says: “By furnishing precise 
information upon the possibility of circumnavigating 
Africa, by indicating the route to the Indies, by giving 
more positive and extended ideas upon the commerce of 
these countries, and, above all, by describing the gold¬ 
mines of Sofala, and so exciting the cupidity of the 
Portuguese, Covilham contributed greatly to accelerate 
the expedition of Gama.” 
If one may believe an old tradition, but one which 
is unsupported by any authentic document, Gama was 
descended by an illegitimate line from Alphonso III., 
King of Portugal. His father, Estevam Eanez da Gama, 
grand alcade of Sines and of Silves, in the kingdom of 
Algarve, and commander of Seizal, occupied a high 
position at the court of John II. He enjoyed great 
reputation as a sailor, so much so, that just at the 
moment when his own unexpected death occurred, King 
John was thinking of giving Gama the command of the 
fleet which he was desirous of sending to the Indies. 
By his marriage with Dona Isabella Sodre, daughter of 
Juan de Resende, proveditore of the fortifications of 
Santarem, he had several children, and amongst them 
Vasco, who first reached India by doubling the Cape of 
Good Hope, and Paul, who accompanied him in that 
memorable expedition. It is known that Vasco was 
born at Sines, but the date of his birth is uncertain ; 
the year 1469 is that generally given, but besides the 
fact that if this be the correct date, Gama would have 
been very young—not more than eight and twenty—- 
when the important command of the expedition to the 
Indies was confided to him, there was discovered twenty 
years ago, amongst the Spanish archives, a safe-conduct 
to Tangier granted in 1478 to two persons, Vasco da 
Gama and Lemos. It is scarcely probable that such a 
passport would have been given to a child of nine years 
