Alvarez, who appears to have been a priest, calls Covilham his
spiritual son, and says that he had been thirty-three years in great
credit with _Prette Janni_, so he calls the king of Abyssinia, and all
the court, during all which time he had never confessed his sins, except
to GOD in secret, because the priests of that country were not in use to
keep secret what had been committed to them in confession. This would
protract the residence of Covilham in Abyssinia, at least to the year
1521, or 1522; but how long he may have lived there afterwards does not
appear.
[1] Clarke, i. 384. Purchas, II. 1091.
[2] El Tor is on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea, near the mouth of the
Bahr Assuez, or Gulf of Suez, in lat. 28 deg. 10' N. long. 33 deg. 36' E. - E.
CHAPTER VI.
HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY AND CONQUEST OF INDIA BY THE PORTUGUESE, BETWEEN
THE YEARS 1497 AND 1525: FROM THE ORIGINAL PORTUGUESE OF HERMAN LOPES DE
CASTANEDA.
INTRODUCTION.
Although, in strict conformity to chronological arrangement, the
discovery of America by COLUMBUS in 1492, ought to precede our account of
the discovery of the maritime route from Europe to India by the
Portuguese, which did not take place until the year 1498; it yet appears
more regular to follow out the series of Portuguese navigation and
discovery to its full completion, than to break down that original and
vast enterprise into fragments.
