The prudential jealousy and distrust displayed on this occasion by Camarança, astonished and perplexed the Portuguese commander; and it required the exercise of much address on his part, to prevail upon the Negro chief to allow the fulfilment of his orders, and to prevent the necessity of having recourse to violent measures. When the workmen were making preparations next day to lay the foundations of the intended fortress on the coast, they observed a large rock, which lay very commodious for serving them as a quarry, and accordingly proceeded to work it for that purpose. This happened unfortunately to be venerated by the Negroes as one of their Gods, and they immediately flew to arms in opposition against the sacrilegious violation of the sanctified rock, and many of the workmen were wounded, before the natives could be pacified by numerous presents. At length, after the constant labour of twenty days, the fort began to assume a formidable appearance, and received the name of Fortaleza de San Jorge da Mina , or Fort St. George at Mina. In a church constructed within its walls, a solemn mass was appointed to be celebrated annually, in honour of Don Henry, Duke of Viseo, of illustrious memory. Azambuja continued governor of this place during two years and seven months, and was honoured, on his return to Portugal, with particular marks of royal favour. In 1486, King John bestowed on this new establishment all the privileges end immunities of a city.
Impressed with the great advantages that might be derived to his kingdom, through the prosecution of the maritime discoveries in Africa, and more especially by opening a passage by sea to India, of which his hopes were now sanguine, the king of Portugal, who had now added to his titles that of Lord of Guinea , made application to the pope, as universal father and lord of Christendom, for a perpetual grant of all the countries which the Portuguese had already discovered, or should hereafter discover, towards the east, with a strict prohibition against the interference of any European State in that immense field of discovery, commerce, and colonization. The pope conceded this enormous grant, probably without the most distant idea of its extent and importance: not only prohibiting all Christian powers from intruding within those prodigious, yet indefinite bounds, which he had bestowed upon the crown of Portugal, but declaring, that all discoveries that were or might be made in contravention, should belong to Portugal. Hitherto, the Portuguese navigators, in the course of their discoveries along the shores of Western Africa, had been in use to erect wooden crosses, as indications of their respective discoveries. But the king now ordered that they should erect stone crosses , about six feet high, inscribed with, the arms of Portugal, the name of the reigning sovereign, that of the navigator, and the date of the discovery.
In the year 1484, Diego Cam or Cano proceeded beyond Cape St. Catherine, in lat. 1° 40' S. the last discovery of the reign of King Alphonso, and reached the mouth of a considerable river, in lat. 5° 10' S. called Zayre by the natives, now called Congo river, or the Rio Padron. Diego proceeded some distance up this river, till he met with some of the natives, but was unable to procure any satisfactory intelligence from them, as they were not understood by the Negro interpreters on board his ship. By means of signs, however, he understood that the country was under the dominion of a king who resided at a considerable distance from the coast, in a town or city called Banza, since named San Salvador by the Portuguese; on which he sent a party of his crew, conducted by the natives, carrying a considerable present far the king, and meaning to wait their return. Unavoidable circumstances, however, having protracted the return of his people far beyond the appointed time, Diego resolved to return into Portugal with an account of his discovery; and, having gained the confidence of the natives, he prevailed on four of them to embark with him, that they might be instructed in the Portuguese language, to serve as interpreters for future intercourse with this newly discovered region, and made the natives understand by means of signs, that, after the expiration of fifteen moons, these persons should be returned in safety.
These Africans were men of some consequence in their own country, and were of such quick apprehensions, that they acquired a sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language during the voyage back to Lisbon, as to be able to give a competent account of their own country, and of the kingdoms or regions beyond it, to the southwards. The king of Portugal was much gratified by this discovery, and treated the Africans brought over by Diego with much munificence. Next year, Diego Cam returned to the river of Congo, where he landed the four natives, who carried many presents from King John to their own sovereign, and were directed to express his anxious desire that he and his subjects would embrace the Christian faith.
Having landed the Negroes, and received back his own men whom he had left on his former voyage, Diego proceeded to discover the coast to the southwards of the Congo river; leaving a respectful message for the king of Congo, that he must postpone the honour of paying his respects to him till his return from the south. The farther progress of Diego is very indefinitely related by the Portuguese historians; who say, that after a run of twenty leagues, he erected two stone crosses, as memorials of his progress, one at a cape called St. Augustine, in lat. 13° S. but the other on Cape Padron, in 22° S. This last latitude would extend the discovery of Diego between the latitude of the Congo river and this high latitude, to 280 Portuguese leagues, instead of twenty. Besides, Cape Padron forms the southern point at the mouth of the river of Congo, and is only in lat. 6° 15' S. The high probability is, that the first cross erected by Diego Cam in this voyage, was at Cape Palmerinho, in lat. 9° 15' S. and the other may have been at Rocca Boa, in lat. 13° 20' S. Clarke[1] is disposed to extend the second cross to Cabo Negro, in lat. 16° S. Either influenced by his provisions running short, or desirous of forming a friendly, connection with the king of Congo, Diego measured back his way to the Congo river, where he was received in a most satisfactory manner by the sovereign of that country. The reports of his subjects who had been in Portugal, and the liberal presents which they had brought to him from King John, had made a deep impression on the mind of this African monarch. He made many inquiries respecting the Christian religion, and being highly gratified by its sublime and consolatory doctrines, perhaps influenced by the reports his subjects had brought him of its magnificent ceremonies, he appointed one of his principal noblemen, named Caçuta or Zazut , to accompany Diego Cam, as his ambassador to King John; anxiously requesting the king of Portugal to allow this nobleman and his attendants to be baptized, and that he would be pleased to send some ministers of his holy religion to convert him and his subjects from their idolatrous errors. Diego Cam arrived safely in Portugal with Caçuta; who was soon afterwards baptized by the name of John Silva , the king and queen of Portugal doing him the honour of attending on him as sponsors at the holy font; and the splendid ceremonial was closed by the baptism of his sable attendants.
[1] Prog, of Mar. Disc. I. 329. note r.
Some time previous to this event, Alphonso de Aviero carried an ambassador from the king of Benin to the king of Portugal, requesting that some missionaries might be sent for the conversion of his subjects; and, although the artful conduct of that African prince threw many difficulties in the way of this mission, many of the Negroes of that country were converted. From the ambassador of Benin, the king of Portugal received information of a powerful monarch, named Organe , whose territories lay at the distance of 250 leagues beyond the kingdom of Benin, and who possessed a supremacy over all the adjacent states. Assuming Cape Lopo Gonçalves, in lat. 1° S. as the southern boundary of the kingdom