[438] There is no doubt that the island referred to by Thome Lopes (see Ramusio) as being 330 leagues from the Ilha dos Papagaios (Brazil), 775 leagues from the Ilha da Boa Vista (Cape Verdes), and 850 leagues from the Cape, is the island now known as Trinidad. This island, on early Portuguese charts, is called Ascenção menor. [439] If the distance given by Giovanni da Empoli, who writes as an eye-witness, can be trusted, this must be the Ascenção menor (Trinidad), and not the island discovered by João da Nova, which is only 400 leagues from Cape Verde. [440] On Canerio’s chart St. Helena’s Bay is placed 32° 30´ S., the true latitude being 32° 40´ S. Cantino, whose _outline_ is far more correct places the Bay in 31° S. [441] See Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, p. 48. Compare Introduction, p. xviii. [442] See Stanley’s _Vasco da Gama_, pp. 62, 67, 270. [443] _The History of the Portuguese during the Reign of Emmanuel_ London, 1752, 1, p. 48. [444] _Roteiro_, first edition, p. 143. [445] For a discussion of these sites, see p. 18, _note_. [446] _Africa Pilot_, iii, p. 241. [447] Vasco da Gama thus took 24 days to cross from Melinde to India. Cabral, João da Nova, Estevão da Gama and Affonso de Albuquerque effected this passage in from 15 to 18 days. They crossed in August, when the S.-W. monsoon blows freshly. [448] _The Discoveries of the World_ (Hakluyt Society), p. 93. [449] These “Flats” are a submerged coral reef lying between 12° 30´ and 13° 40´ N. The native name is Maniyal Par. [450] According to the author of Add. MS. 20901 (British Museum), Vasco da Gama “cast anchor in front of the most noble and rich city of Calecut on May 22”. The date of this MS. is about 1516. [451] On page 80, note 2, we have identified the island upon which this padrão was placed with Pigeon Island, 14° 1´, on the ground of its answering better to the description given by the author of the _Roteiro_; but we see reasons for accepting the general opinion that one of the islands off Mulpy (perhaps Coco Nut Island) must be meant, although none of these islets is more than a mile from the coast, instead of two leagues. Barros (Dec. 1, l. iv, c. ii.) locates the Ilhéos de Santa Maria between Bacanor and Baticala. [452] Cabral, on his homeward voyage in 1501, reached Lisbon from Cape Verde in twenty days, but Juan Sebastian del Cano, in the _Victoria_, took fifty-seven days to reach San Lucar from the Cape Verde Islands. [453] In converting legoas into nautical miles we have assumed 100 legoas to be the equivalent of 338 miles. See _League_ in Index and Glossary. [454] Or thirty miles, if we exclude the five days wasted in a vain effort to stem the Agulhas current (see p. 15). [455] No account is taken of the four days lost in an attempt to sail north (see p. 28). [456] This includes a delay of fifteen (?five) days when burning the _S. Raphael_.