Having made provision for our voyage of such things as could be procured at Mozambique, we sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, passing the island of St Lawrence, otherwise called Madagascar, which is 80 leagues from the nearest part of the continent. I suppose that in a short time the Portuguese will be masters of this island, as they have burned and destroyed many of its towns and villages, and are much feared by the natives. So far as I conjecture by my peregrinations, especially those in India and Ethiopia, it is my opinion that the king of Portugal is likely to be the richest king in the world, if he continue as he has begun; and certainly his dignity and godly zeal is not unworthy of such high fortune, as by his means the knowledge of the Christian faith is greatly extended. In Cochin, where the viceroy of India resides, every holiday ten or twelve Mahometans or idolaters are professed to our religion; so that we may have good hope that in time our faith may greatly spread with the blessing of God, who hath given such miraculous victories to the Christians; wherefore all who profess to believe in the holy name of Christ, ought incessantly to pray to God to assist the king of Portugal in so godly an enterprise.

When we had sailed about two hundred miles beyond the Cape of Good Hope, there arose a sudden tempest of contrary wind, which towed us to and fro for seven days in great danger, but we escaped by the blessing of God. After the cessation of this tempest, and when we had again proceeded other two hundred miles on our voyage, a new tempest arose, which scattered all our ships during six days that it continued, so that we did not all meet again till our arrival at Lisbon in Portugal. I was in a ship called the St Vincent, belonging to one Bartholomew a Florentine, who was a citizen of Lisbon. She was a vessel of great size, and carried seven hundred tons of spices of all kinds. We passed the island of St Helena, near which we saw certain fishes of such enormous bigness that one of them was as large as a great house. When they rise above water, or gape or yawn, the upper jaw covers all the forehead, as it were a soldier in shining armour, and when they swim along the surface of the deep, the forehead seems three paces broad. As they swam about near the ships, they raised such a commotion in the sea that we discharged all our artillery to drive them away. We soon afterwards came to an island named Ascension, where we saw many birds about the size of ducks, which were so stupid that we took them with our hands, yet immediately afterwards they shewed wonderful fierceness. In that island we saw no outer living creatures besides these birds, which seemed as if they had never seen mankind before, and there were prodigious quantities of fish around its shores.

Having sailed many days beyond that island, we seemed to have returned again into our own world, as the north star, the guide of mariners, appeared to us. Here we have a good opportunity of refuting the opinion of those who think that it is impossible to sail in the regions of the antartic pole by the guidance of the north star; for it is undeniable that the Portuguese sail by the aid of the north polar star, although entirely hidden from their sight in the antartic region of the sea. Yet they frequently refresh the virtue of the needle by means of that stone which ever naturally points towards the north. A few days afterwards we arrived at a fair region, in which are seen many islands called the Astures Açores, so named from the multitude of that species of eagles or hawks which are called açores or azores. These islands are variously named, as Pico, Martii, Corvo, Flores, St George, Gratiosa and Fyal. From thence we went to the island of Tercera, where we remained two days. All these are very fertile, and have abundance of all the necessaries of life.

Departing from thence, we came in seven days sailing to Luxburne or Ulisbona [Lisbon] in Portugal. On my arrival I was carried to the presence of the king, whose hand I had the honour to kiss, and with most humble reverence I thanked his majesty for the great favour I had found with his officers and subjects in India. He entertained me very graciously at his court, until I had informed him fully of all that I had observed in my peregrinations in various parts of India. Some days afterwards, I shewed his majesty the letters-patent by which his viceroy in India had honoured me with the order of knighthood, and humbly requested of his majesty to confirm the same under his great seal, which he was graciously pleased to grant. Then departing from Lisbon, with the passport and safe conduct of the king, I returned at length, after these my long and perilous travels, to my long-desired native home, the city of Rome, by the blessing of God, to whom be all honour and glory.

End of the Voyages of Verthema.

CHAPTER VI.

VOYAGES AND TRAVELS OF CESAR FREDERICK IN INDIA

This article has been adopted from the Collection of Hakluyt, and, with that immediately preceding, may serve as a supplement to the Portuguese Transactions in India. The entire title, as given in that early and curious Collection, is "The Voyage and Travel of M. Cesar Fredericke, Merchant of Venice, into the East India and beyond the Indies: Wherein are contained the Customes and Rites of these Countries, the Merchandise and Commodities, as well of Golde as Silver, as Spices, Drugges, Pearles, and other Jewels. Translated out of Italian by M. Thomas Hickocke."

In adapting the present chapter to the purposes of our Collection, the only liberty we have taken with the ancient translation exhibited by Hakluyt, has been to employ the modern orthography in the names of places, persons, and things, and to modernise the language throughout. As in the itinerary of Verthema, to avoid the multiplication of notes unnecessarily we have corrected the frequently vicious orthography of these names as given by Cesar Frederick and his original translator, either by substituting the true names or more generally received modern orthography, or by subjoining the right name in the text immediately after that employed by the author. When the names employed in the original translation of this Journal are so corrupt as to be beyond our power to rectify, or where we are doubtful of our correction, we have marked them with a point of interrogation, as doubtful or unknown, as has likewise been done in our version of the Itinerary of Verthema. These two journals, besides that they coincide with the plan of our arrangement of giving as many appropriate original journals of voyages and travels as we can procure, contain a great number of curious particulars, nowhere else to be met with, respecting the manners and customs of various parts of India, between the years 1503 and 1581, with many intersecting notices respecting its history, production, and trade.

We learn from the following journal, that Cesar Frederick began his peregrination in 1563; and, as he informs us in his preface, that he was continually employed in coasting and travelling for eighteen years, he could not have returned to Venice before the year 1581. In the publication of this journal in the Collection of Hakluyt, it is very irregularly divided into fragments, upon no apparent principles of regular distribution; but on the present occasion it has been arranged in sections, so as to suit the general plan of the present work. –E.

Having for the space of eighteen years continually coasted and travelled over almost all the East Indies, and many other countries beyond the Indies, both with good and bad success; and having seen and learned many things worthy of notice, which have never been before communicated to the world; I have thought it right, since the Almighty hath graciously been pleased to return me to my native country, the noble city of Venice, to write and publish this account of the perils I have encountered during my long and arduous peregrinations by sea and land, together with the many wonderful things I have seen in the Indies; the mighty princes that govern these countries; the religion or faith in which they live; their rites and customs; the various successes I experienced; and which of these countries abound in drugs and jewels: All of which may be profitable to such as desire to make a similar voyage: Therefore, that the world may be benefited by my experience, I have caused my voyages and travels to be printed, which I now present to you, gentle and loving readers, in hopes that the variety of things contained in this book may give you delight.