There was, of course, a sufficient supply of compasses, of sounding leads and hour-glasses, and possibly also a _catena a poppa_, that is, a rope towed at the stern to determine the ship’s leeway, and a _toleta de marteloia_, a graphical substitute for our modern traverse tables, both of them contrivances long since in use among the Italians. It is also possible that Vasco was already provided with an equinoctial compass for determining the time of high water at the ports he visited, and with a variation compass. This instrument consisted of a combination of a sun-dial with a magnetic needle. It had been invented by Peurbach, _c._ 1460, was improved by Felipe Guillen, 1528, and by Pedro Nunes, 1537, and used for the first time on an extensive scale by João de Castro, during a voyage to India and the Red Sea, in 1538-41.[416] We are inclined to think that Vasco had such a variation compass, for the Cabo das Agulhas, or “Needle Cape”, thus named because the needle there pointed, or was supposed to point, due north, has already found a place on Cantino’s Chart, and can have been named only as the result of an actual observation, however inaccurate. [Illustration: Cão’s Padrão at Cape Cross.] Lastly, there remain to be noticed the Padrãos, or pillars of stone which were on board the vessels, and three of which, by the king’s express desire, were dedicated to S. Raphael, S. Gabriel, and S. Maria (see p. 80). Barros and Castanheda tell us that these pillars resembled those set up by Cão and Dias in the time of D. João II; and in a series of pictures which D. Manuel desired to have painted in celebration of the discovery of India, the Padrão to be shown at the Cape of Good Hope, or “Prasum promontorium”, was to have been surmounted by a cross, and to bear the Royal Arms and a Pelican, with an inscription giving the date.[417] Correa, on the other hand, affirms in his _Lendas_ that the pillar set up at the Rio da Misericordia (the Rio dos Bons Signaes of the _Roteiro_) was of marble, with two escutcheons, one of the arms of Portugal, and the other (at the back) of a sphere, and that the inscription was “Do senhorio de Portugal reino de Christãos”. The pillar at Melinde had the same escutcheons, but the inscription was limited to the words “Rey Manoel”.[418] As Correa had an opportunity of seeing these pillars, his description of them may be correct, though he is an arrant fabulator. APPENDIX E. [Illustration: VASCO DA GAMA. (_From A. Morelet’s French version of the “Roteiro”, 1864._) After a Portrait formerly the property of Conde de Farrobo, now in the _Museu das Bellas Artes_, Lisbon.] MUSTER-ROLL OF VASCO DA GAMA’S FLEET. The officers and men in Vasco da Gama’s _armada_ were carefully selected. Several of them had been with Bartholomeu Dias round the Cape; all of them, as appears from this “Journal”, justified by their conduct under sometimes trying circumstances the selection which had been made.