The Fleet
Was Again Dispersed By A Second Storm, And Only Three Vessels Remained
Under The Command Of Lancarot.
With these he made a descent on the island
of Tider, where he captured fifty-nine Moors; and with these, and some
natives he had made prisoners on the banks of the Senegal, he returned
into Portugal.
In the year 1447, Nuna Tristan made another voyage to the coast of Africa;
and, advancing beyond _Cabo dos Mastos_, or the Cape of Masts, so named
from some dead palms resembling masts, seen there by Lancarot, who made
this discovery in the former voyage, Nuna Tristan proceeded southwards
along the coast of Africa, 180 miles beyond Cape Verd, where he reached
the mouth of a river which he called Rio Grande, or the Large River,
since called Gamber, Gambra, or Gambia. Tristan came to anchor at the
mouth of this river, and went in his boat with twenty-two armed men on
purpose to explore its course. Having reached to a considerable distance
from his ship, he was environed by thirteen almadias or canoes, manned by
eighty negroes, who advanced with dreadful yells, and poured in continual
vollies of poisoned arrows, by which he, and almost every man in his boat
were wounded before they could regain the ship. Nuno Tristan and all the
wounded men died speedily of the effects of these poisoned weapons,
himself only living long enough to recount the nature of the terrible
disaster to the small remainder of the crew who had been left in charge
of the caravel; which was brought home by only four survivors, after
wandering for two months in the Atlantic, scarcely knowing which way to
steer their course.
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