Yet They Never Adventured
Beyond The Red Sea; Neither Was The Greatest Of Their Famous Victories
Comparable To Those Battles Which Have Been Fought By Our Men In India;
In Which, Most Invincible Prince, The Great Prosperity Of Your Father
And You Is Well Known.
As, without moving from your palace,
discoveries and conquests have been achieved by your captains, more
extensive than ever were discovered or conquered by any prince in
person.
There never was any conquest, either by the Barbarians, Greeks,
or Romans, of any thing like equal difficulty with this of India;
neither any kings or captains of any of these nations equal in valour
and conduct to those of your father and yourself, as will manifestly
appear from the whole tenor of the following history.
The great actions which the subjects of your highness have worthily
accomplished, must be deemed to have been permitted and appointed by
the providence of God; that so those barbarians, with their vain idols,
and the false sectaries of Mahomet, might be brought into the catholic
faith, as at this time great numbers have been added to the Christian
religion. For, since these great exploits, your highness, as a most
godly and Christian prince, hath taken especial care, and hath given
command that the Christian doctrine of the _brotherhood of the company
of Jesus_ should be taught in India, which you ordered to be brought
from Rome, and have always supported at your expence. Thus likewise,
you have erected, and founded the noble and sumptuous university of
Coimbra, to augment the honour and reputation of your kingdom; where,
besides many divines and colleges of poor begging friars to expound
the evangelical law, there are temporal men also to instruct those of
your subjects that defend and enlarge the commonwealth by deeds of
arms, and those who adorn the same by means of learning.
All these heroic virtues of your highness being well known to me, have
encouraged me to publish this work and others, which have some taste
of learning, that they may remain a perpetual memorial of the noble
deeds of so many gentlemen and knights of Portugal, your subjects. In
this I have been much forwarded by having been in India, where I
sojourned with my father, who was sent into that country by your
highness as a judge. I spent all my youth in the pursuit of learning,
and in the study of ancient historians. Being in India, I set myself
with all diligence to learn and understand all that had been done in
regard to the discovery and conquest of that country by the Portuguese,
with the intention of making the same known and common to all men. By
my inquiries, and through the information derived from sundry
gentlemen and captains, both such as were actually present in the
various transactions, and employed in their execution, as by others
who were engaged in counselling and preparing the means of their being
performed, I have derived much authentic information; as, likewise, by
the perusal of many letters and memorials, which were written by men
of credit and reputation, all of which I have examined as evidences of
the authenticity of my work, both while in India and since my return
into Portugal. As the matters I meant to write of were many, so it
became necessary for me to acquire information from many sources; and
as those whom I examined were upon oath, it is lawful for me to bring
them forward as sure evidence. In these researches some of these men
had to be sought after in almost every part of Portugal; and being
separated in sundry places, my inquiries have occasioned great travel
of my person, and much expence; to which I have devoted the greater
part of my life, and have constituted the preparation for this work my
sole recreation. Since my residence in the university of Coimbra, in
the service of your highness, I have joined together all these
informations; which, together with the duties of my office, have
caused much toil both of body and mind. Having now accomplished the
composition of this book and others, I most humbly offer the same to
your highness; and, after many and most fortunate years of governing,
I pray God to take you from the transitory seignory of this earth, and
to receive you into the perpetual joys of Heaven.
_Hernan Lopes de Castaneda._
SECTION I.
_Previous steps taken by the King of Portugal, John II. preparatory to
the Discovery of India._
Don John, the second of that name, and thirteenth king of Portugal,
considering that all spices, drugs, precious stones, and other riches
which came from Venice, were brought out of the east, and being a prince
of great penetration, and high emprize, he was greatly desirous to
enlarge his kingdom, and to propagate the knowledge of the Christian
faith to distant regions. He resolved, therefore, to discover the way by
sea to the country whence such prodigious riches were brought, that his
subjects might thereby be enriched, and that his kingdom might acquire
those commodities which had hitherto been brought by way of Venice. He
was much encouraged to this enterprise, by learning that there were
Christians in India, governed by a powerful monarch called Presbyter John,
who was reported to be a Christian prince, and to whom he thought proper
to send ambassadors, that an intercourse of friendship might be
established between them and their subjects. He consulted, therefore,
with the cosmographers of the time, whom he directed to proceed according
to the example already given in sailing along the coast of Guinea, which
had been formerly discovered by command of the prince his uncle, Master
of the order of Christ. Accordingly, Bartholomew Diaz, one of the
officers of the royal storehouse at Lisbon, was sent upon this expedition,
who discovered that great and monstrous cape, now called of Good Hope,
which was unknown to our ancestors. Finding it both terrible and
dangerous, he yet passed 140 leagues beyond, to a river which he named
_Rio del Infante_, whence he returned into Portugal.
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