The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. IIZurara, Gomes Eannes de
History
The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea. Vol. II
Zurara, Gomes Eannes de
Guinea (Region) -- Discovery and exploration -- Early works to 1800
[Endnote 111: (p. 123). _Cunning ... but small in this part of the
world._--The fair inference is that, on this occasion, Mafaldo, from his
previous experience, correctly estimated the danger (or absence of
danger), and knew when to trust the natives. Similar trustfulness was
not always equally successful, sometimes from absence of that past
experience possessed by Mafaldo. See chs. xxvii, pp. 90, 91; xlviii, pp.
144-5; lxxxvi, pp. 252, etc.; xxxv, pp. 112-3. The Azanegue Moors of the
Sahara on the whole showed less ability to defend themselves than the
Negroes of the Sudan coast; cf. chs. xlv, pp. 137-8; lx, pp. 179-182;
lxxxvi, pp. 252-6; xli, p. 130; xxxi, p. 99; contrast with pp. 126, 122,
114, 105-6, 78, 73, 36.]
[Endnote 112: (p. 126) ... _true effects._--Azurara certainly does not
commit the error of "those historians who avoid prolixity by summarizing
things that would be greatest if related in their true effects," _i.
e._, in detail. This central portion of his narrative (chs. xxxvi-lix,
lxviii-lxxiv) is especially tedious, and we cannot too much regret the
comparative sacrifice of the scientific interest to the anecdotal,
biographical, or slave-raiding details, with which he fills so much of
this Chronicle. Cf. the slender and imperfect narratives of the really
important voyages of Dinis Diaz (ch. xxxi), Alvaro Fernandez (ch. lxxv),
and Nuno Tristam (chs. xxx, lxxxvi), with the lengthy descriptions of
the expeditions personally conducted by Gonçalo de Sintra, Gonçalo
Pacheco, Lançarote, Mafaldo, and other men whose voyages resulted in
scarcely any advance of exploration. In all this Azurara's narrative
contrasts unfortunately with Cadamosto's, which is not only a record of
exploration, but of acute original observation, a quality by no means so
noticeable in the _Chronicle of Guinea_, except at rare intervals. Cf.,
however, chs. xxv, lxxvi-lxxvii, lxxix-lxxxiii, and see Introduction to
vol. ii, pp. xxiv-xxvi, etc.]
[Endnote 113: (p. 132). _Cape of St. Anne._--[This passage shows the
date when the name of Cape (or rather "Gulf") of St. Anne was given to
that point by Alvaro Vasquez, who was on this expedition. This name was
employed, like the others which we have already indicated, in the
nomenclature of the hydro-geographical charts of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Barros, in his corresponding chapter, not only
omits this detail, but further reduces the material of chs. xxxvii,
xxxviii, xxxix, xl, xli, xlii, to a few lines.]--S.]
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