A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama 1497-1499
History
A Journal of the First Voyage of Vasco da Gama 1497-1499
Africa -- Description and travel; Gama, Vasco da, 1469-1524; India -- Description and travel; Voyages and travels
The river Samtiagua [S. Thiago][44] enters the bay four leagues to the
S.E. of the anchorage. It comes from the interior (sertão), is about
a stone’s throw across at the mouth, and from two to three fathoms in
depth at all states of the tide.[45]
The inhabitants of this country are tawny-coloured.[46] Their food is
confined to the flesh of seals, whales and gazelles, and the roots of
herbs. They are dressed in skins, and wear sheaths over their virile
members.[47] They are armed with poles of olive wood to which a horn,
browned in the fire, is attached.[48] Their numerous dogs resemble
those of Portugal, and bark like them. The birds of the country,
likewise, are the same as in Portugal, and include cormorants, gulls,
turtle doves, crested larks, and many others. The climate is healthy
and temperate, and produces good herbage.
On the day after we had cast anchor, that is to say on Thursday
[November 9], we landed with the captain-major, and made captive one of
the natives, who was small of stature like Sancho Mexia. This man had
been gathering honey in the sandy waste, for in this country the bees
deposit their honey at the foot of the mounds around the bushes. He
was taken on board the captain-major’s ship, and being placed at table
he ate of all we ate. On the following day the captain-major had him
well dressed and sent ashore.[49]
On the following day [November 10] fourteen or fifteen natives came to
where our ships lay. The captain-major landed and showed them a variety
of merchandise, with the view of finding out whether such things were
to be found in their country. This merchandise included cinnamon,
cloves, seed-pearls, gold, and many other things, but it was evident
that they had no knowledge whatever of such articles, and they were
consequently given round bells and tin rings. This happened on Friday,
and the like took place on Saturday.
On Sunday [November 12] about forty or fifty natives made their
appearance, and having dined, we landed, and in exchange for the
çeitils[50] with which we came provided, we obtained shells, which they
wore as ornaments in their ears, and which looked as if they had been
plated, and fox-tails attached to a handle, with which they fanned
their faces. I also acquired for one çeitil one of the sheaths which
they wore over their members, and this seemed to show that they valued
copper very highly; indeed, they wore small beads of that metal in
their ears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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