[441] Faria e Sousa (_Varias Rimas_, pt. 2 (1689), p. 165), says that neither Lopez de Castanheda nor Barros was widely read, one of the reasons being the length of their histories. [442] According to Pero de Magalhães de Gandavo (_Dialogo em defensam da lingua portvgvesa_) Barros ‘is in Venice preferred to Ptolemy’. [443] His account of the fleet leaving Lisbon (I. v. 1) _is_ that of an eyewitness. [444] _Mais trabalhamos no substancial da historia que no ampliar as miudezas que enfadam e não deleitam_ (I. vii. 8). Cf. I. v. 10 (1778 ed., p. 465); III. ix. 9 (p. 426); III. x. 5 (p. 489). Yet the vivid light thrown by the details recorded in other writers, such as the ‘bushel of sapphires’ sent to Albuquerque by one of the native kings, or the open boat drifting with a few Portuguese long dead and a heap of silver beside them, is of undeniable value. Goes inserts details, but is too late a writer to do so without apology, like Corrêa and Lopez de Castanheda: _pode parecer a algũa pessoa_ [e. g. his friend Barros] _que em historia grave nam eram necessarias estas miudezas_ (_Cron. do Pr. D. Joam_, cap. cii). [445] e.g. the following mortar of conjunctions between the stones on p. 335 of _Decada_ II (1777 ed.) opened at hazard: _nas quaes ... que ... que ... qual ... que ... como ... que ... que ... o qual ... cujos ... que ... que ... que ... posto que ... como ... porque ... que_. [446] _E sendo eu moço servindo a El Rey D. João na guardaroupa_ (_Dec._ IV. iii. 8). In _Dec._ VII. viii. 1 he speaks of having served João III for two years as _moço da camara_ (1555-7). In the same passage he embarks for India in 1559 aged _fifteen_. In _Dec._ VII. ix. 12 (1783 ed. p. 396) he is eighteen (April 1560). [447] According to the Governor, Francisco Barreto, he was more at home with arms than with prices (_Dec._ IX. 20, 1786 ed., p. 160). Another passage in the _Decadas_ proves him to have been an excellent horseman. [448] Cf. _Dec._ IV. iii. 8 (1778 ed. p. 234). [449] He himself describes with great detail and pathos the wrecks of the ships _N. Senhora da Barca_ (VII. viii. 1), _Garça_ (VII. viii. 12), _S. Paulo_ (VII. ix. 16), _Santiago_ (X. vii. 1), as well as that of Sepulveda (_Dec._ VI. ix. 21, 22). In his account of the loss of the _S. Thomé_ (which was printed in the _Historia Tragico-Maritima_, in the _Vida de D. Paulo de Lima_, and no doubt in the lost eleventh _Decada_), the separation of D. Joana de Mendoça from her child is one of the most tantalizing and touching incidents ever penned. [450] _Não particularizo ninguem_ (_Dec._ XII. i. 7).