The History of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Gomes Eannes de Zurara

And as he purposed, so he performed—for in that voyage he doubled the Cape, despising all danger, and found the lands beyond quite contrary to what he, like others, had expected. And although the matter was a small one in itself, yet on account of its daring it was reckoned great—for if the first man who reached the Cape had passed it, there would not have been so much praise and thanks bestowed on him; but even as the danger of the affair put all others into the greater fear, so the accomplishing of it brought the greater honour to this man. But whether or no the success of Gil Eannes gained for him any genuine glory may be perceived by the words that the Infant spoke to him before his starting; and his experience on his return was very clear on this point, for he was exceeding well received, not without a profitable increase of honour and possessions. And then it was he related to the Infant how the whole matter had gone, telling him how he had ordered the boat to be put out and had gone in to the shore without finding either people or signs of habitation. And since, my lord, said Gil Eannes, I thought that I ought to bring some token of the land since I was on it, I gathered these herbs which I here present to your grace; the which we in this country call Roses of Saint Mary. Then, after he had finished giving an account of his voyage to that part, the Infant caused a "barinel" to be made ready, in which he sent out Affonso Gonçalvez Baldaya, his cupbearer, and Gil Eannes as well with his "barcha", ordering him to return there with his companion. And so in fact they did, passing fifty leagues beyond the Cape, where they found the land without dwellings, but shewing footmarks of men and camels. And then, either because they were so ordered, or from necessity, they returned with this intelligence, without doing aught else worth recording.⁵³

CHAPTER X.

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      How Affonso Gonçalvez Baldaya reached the Rio d'Ouro.

      "As you have found traces of men and camels", said the Infant to Baldaya, "it is evident that the inhabited region cannot be far off; or perchance they are people who cross with their merchandise to some seaport with a secure anchorage for ships to load in, for since there are people, they must of necessity depend upon what the sea brings them, and especially upon fish, however bestial they may be. Much more so the inland tribes. Therefore I intend to send you there again, in that same 'barinel', both that you may do me service and increase your honour, and to this end I order you to go as far as you can and try to gain an interpreter from among those people, capturing some one from whom you can obtain some tidings of the land—for according to my purpose, it will not be a small gain if we can get someone to give us news of this sort." The ship was soon ready to sail, and Affonso Gonçalvez departed with great desire to do the Infant's will. And sailing on their way they passed seventy leagues beyond where they had been before, a space of 120 leagues beyond the Cape of Bojador, and found an estuary, as of a river of some size, in the which were many good anchorages.⁵⁴ And the entering in of this water ran eight leagues within the land, and in this they anchored. And because among the things he had brought, Affonso Gonçalvez had two horses, which were given him by the Infant to mount two youths upon, he now had the horses put on shore, and before any one else disembarked, he ordered the youths to ride on those horses, and go up country as far as they could, looking about carefully on every side for villages, or people travelling by some path. And to cause them and their horses the less fatigue, he told then to take no arms of defence, but only their lances and swords, wherewith to attack, if needed. For if they came on people who tried to capture them, their best remedy would be in their horses' feet, unless they found one man alone of whom they might make use without danger.

      Now in the performing of this action the youths shewed clearly what sort of men they would prove. For although they were so far distant from their own country and knew not what kind of people, or how many, they would find, not to speak of the dread of wild beasts, whose fearful shadow might well have alarmed them, considering their youth (for they were not either of them more than seventeen years of age), yet putting all this aside, they set out boldly and followed the course of the river for the space of seven leagues, where they found nineteen men all banded together without any other arms of offence or defence, but only assegais. And as soon as the youths saw them, they attacked them with great courage. But that unknown company, although so many in number, dared not meet them on the level, but rather for security retired to some rocks, whence they fought with the youths for a good space. And during the fight one of those youths was wounded in the foot, and although the wound was slight, it did not remain unavenged, for they wounded one of the enemy likewise. And they kept on fighting until the sun began to give warning of night, on which account they went back to their ship. And I am sure that the injuries of that combat would not have been so small, if the enemy had remained upon the open ground. Two things I consider in this place, saith he who wrote this history.⁵⁵ And first, what would be the fancy in the minds of those men at seeing such a novelty, to wit, two such daring youths, of colour and features so foreign to them; what could they think had brought them there, aye and on horseback, with lances and swords, arms that some of them had never seen. Of a surety I ween that their hearts were not so faint, but that they would have displayed greater bravery against our men, had it not been for the wonderment that was caused by the novelty of the thing. Secondly I consider the daring of these two youths, who were in a strange land, so far from the succour of their companions, and yet were bold enough to attack such a number, whose power of fighting was so uncertain to them. One of the youths, I knew in after time as a noble gentleman, very valiant in the profession of arms, and he was called Hector Homem: the same you will find in the Chronicle of the Kingdom well proved by great deeds. The name of the other was Diego Lopez d'Almeida, also a gentleman and a man of good presence, as I have learnt from some that knew him. So they held on their journey to the ship, as we have related, and reached it about dawn and took a little repose. And as soon as it was light, Affonso Gonçalvez had the boat made ready, and putting himself and some of his people into it, followed the course of that river, sending the youths on horseback along by the land, till he reached the place where the Moors had been found the other day, intending to fight with them and capture some; but their toil was in vain, for so great was the alarm that, although the youths had retreated, the natives were possessed with a great fear and departed, leaving behind them the greater part of their poor belongings, with the which Affonso Gonçalvez loaded his boat as a witness of his toil. And seeing that it would not profit to pursue any further, he returned to the ship. And because he saw on a bank at the entrance of the river a great multitude of sea-wolves, the which by the estimate of some were about 5,000, he caused his men to kill as many as they could, and with their skins he loaded his ship—for, either because they were very easy to kill, or because the bent of our men was towards such an action, they made among those wolves a very great slaughter.

      But with all this Affonso Gonçalvez was not satisfied, because he had not taken one of those Moors, so going on beyond this for a space of fifty leagues to see if he could make captive some man, woman, or child, by which to satisfy the will of his Lord, he came to a point, where stood a rock which from a distance was like a galley. And for this reason they called that port from that day forward the "Port of the Galley". And there they went on land, where they found some nets, which they took on board. And here you may note a new matter, new I say to us who live in this Spain, that the thread of those nets was of the bark of a tree, so well fitted for such a use that without any other tanning or admixture of flax, it could be woven right excellently, and nets made of it, with all other cordage.⁵⁶

      And so Affonso Gonçalvez turned back to Portugal, without any certain knowledge as to whether those men were Moors or Gentiles, or as to what life or manner of living they had. And this was in the year of Jesus Christ 1436.

CHAPTER XI.

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      Of the things that were achieved in the years following.

In the years that follow^P we did not find anything noteworthy to record. True it is that there went to those parts two ships, each in its turn, but one turned back on account