Correa (Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 162-5, 221) says that he was a native of Seville, who, having been captured when five years old, turned Moslem, although “in his soul he was still a Christian”. He generally refers to this man as “the Castilian”, and says that his true name was Alonso Perez. Castanheda (I, p. 50) tells us that the Portuguese corrupted Monçaide into Bontaibo, a combination of the Portuguese _bom_, “good”, and the Arabic _tayyib_, having the same meaning. Monçaide is probably a corruption of El Masud, the “happy-one” (Burton’s _Camoens_, iv, p. 432). *_Malemo Canaqua_, or _Cana_, the pilot who guided Vasco da Gama from Melinde to Calecut. He was a native of Gujarat (Barros, I, pt. 1, pp. 319, 328, 330; Goes, I, c. 38; Castanheda, I, p. 41). Malemo stands for “muallim” or “mallim”, “master” or “teacher”, the usual native designation of the skipper of a vessel, whilst “Kanaka” designates the pilot’s caste. _Davane_, of Cambay, said to have been taken out of a dhau to the south of Moçambique, to have agreed to accompany Vasco da Gama to Calecut as broker, and to have been ultimately discharged with good testimonials in November 1498 at Cananor, is only mentioned by Correa (Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 79, 84, 113, 128, 235). No other historian knows anything about this mythical personage. *_Baltasar_, and the four other Moors, forcibly carried away from Calecut (see pp. 73, 75, and 79, and King Manuel’s letter to the Cardinal Protector, p. 115) were taken back by Cabral, as was also the Ambassador of the King of Melinde (_Alguns Documentos do Archivo nacional_, 1892, p. 97). Vasco da Gama originally detained eighteen “Moors”. He is stated in the “Journal” to have subsequently liberated six, and to have sent one with a letter to the Zamorin. This would leave eleven, not five. The number of those liberated must, therefore, have been twelve, and not six. APPENDIX F. [Illustration: CALECUT IN 1876. (_From a Sketch by Mr. Herbert Johnson._)] THE VOYAGE. The King was at Montemór o novo[424] when he despatched Vasco da Gama and his fellow-commanders upon the momentous expedition which was to place Portugal for a time in the forefront of maritime and commercial powers. It was summer, and His Majesty did not, therefore, desert the beautiful hills of Monfurado for the stifling heat of the capital, in order that he might witness the embarkation of his “loyal vassal” whom, on account of his proved valour and past services he had deemed worthy of the honourable distinction of being entrusted with the conduct of so important an enterprise.[425] Vasco da Gama and his officers, the night before their departure, kept vigil in the chapel of Our Lady of Belem, which was not then a stately pile such as that which now occupies the site of the original unostentatious _ermida_ founded by Prince Henry for the convenience of mariners.