It is pleasant to believe that he received the welcome merited by the important results obtained in this memorable expedition. Although contemporary historians are silent upon the incidents of his life after his return, recent research has been rewarded by the discovery of his tomb at Santarem, and M. Ferdinand Denis has happily proved that, like Vasco da Gama, he received the title of _Dom_ as a reward for his glorious deeds. Whilst he was returning to Europe Alvares Cabral might have encountered a fleet of four caravels under the command of Joao da Nova, which King Emmanuel had despatched to give fresh vigour to the commercial relations which Cabral had been charged to establish in the Indies. This new expedition doubled the Cape of Good Hope without misadventure, discovered between Mozambique and Quiloa an unknown island, which was named after the commander of the fleet, and arrived at Melinda, where Da Nova was informed of the events which had taken place at Calicut. He felt that he had not forces at his disposal sufficient to justify him in going to punish the Zamorin, and not wishing to endanger the prestige of Portuguese arms by the risk of a reverse, he steered for Cochin and Cananore, of which the kings, although tributaries of the Zamorin, had entered into alliance with Alvares Cabral. Da Nova had already taken on board 1000 hundredweights of pepper, 50 of ginger, and 450 of cinnamon, when he received warning that a considerable fleet, coming apparently from Calicut, was advancing with hostile intentions. If he had hitherto been more concerned with trade than with war, he did not the less in these critical circumstances display a bold and courageous spirit worthy of his predecessors. He accepted the combat, notwithstanding the apparent superiority of the Hindoos, and partly by the skilful arrangements which he made, partly by the power of his guns, he managed to disperse, to take, or to sink the hostile vessels. Perhaps Da Nova ought to have profited by the terror which his victory had spread along the coast, and the temporary exhaustion of the Moorish resources, to strike a great blow by the taking of Calicut. But we are too far removed in time from the events, and know too little of their details, to appreciate with impartiality the reasons which induced the admiral to return immediately to Europe.