Freiburger historische Bestände - digital

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by giving him an account of a powerful ruler, far inland,
who held a position among the negroes not unlike that
held by the Pope in the Christian world. The King
hastily concluded that this Ogane, as he was called, could
be no other than the long-sought Prester John. He at
once sent messengers by way of Jerusalem and Egypt in
search of him, and prepared an expedition to aim at the
same goal by sailing round Africa. The command of this
expedition was given to Bartholomew Dias de Novaes,
who departed from Lisbon in July or August 1487. He
followed the coast to the south, and before the year had
closed arrived at a Cabo da Volta and a Serra Parda at
the entrance of a capacious bay, originally called Golfo de
S. Christovao, but since known as Angra pepuena and
Liideritz Bay. Here, in lat. 26° 38' S., he set up his
first pillar, fragments of which may now be seen at
Lisbon and in the Cape Town Museum.

Proceeding onward, Dias, for a time, ran along the
coast, but before he reached St. Helena Bay he had lost
sight of the land. He thus sailed as far as 45° S., and,
having apparently weathered a storm, stood east, but
failing in the course of several days to meet with land,
turned, his prow to the northward. Sailing in that
direction for 150 leagues, he saw lofty mountains rising
before him, and on February 3, 1488, the day of St.
Braz, he came to anchor in a bay which he called Bahia
dos Vaqueiros (Cowherd's Bay). It is the Mossel Bay of
our days.

During his onward course Dias had to struggle against
the Agulhas current, as also against the prevailing southeasterly
winds, and his progress was slow. He entered
the Bahia da Roca (Rock Bay), now known as Algoa Bay,
and 30 miles beyond it on an islet at the foot of a cape
still known as Cape Padrone, he erected his second pillar,
no trace of which has yet been discovered. When Dias
reached the Rio de Infante (Great Fish River), and with
it the threshold of the Indian Ocean, his crews refused to
go any further. He turned back reluctantly, and on this
homeward voyage he first beheld the mountains which
fill Cape Peninsula, and at their foot set up his third and
last padrao. According to tradition he named the
southern extremity of this peninsula Cabo tormentoso, in
memory of the storms which he had experienced, but
King John, whose hope of reaching India by this route
seemed on the eve of realization, re-named it Cabo da boa
esperanca—the Cape of Good Hope. We do not know
whether Dias, on his homeward voyage, called at the
Congo. We know, however, that he touched at the ilha
do Principe, did some trade at a Rio do Resgate,1 and
called at S. Jorge da Mina. Ultimately, after an absence
of sixteen months and seventeen days, he once more
entered the Tagus. This was in December 1482.2

1 ' Trade river'—perhaps the Rio formoso.

1 Dias in 1497 accompanied Vasco da Gama as far as the Cape Verde
Islands; in 1500 he commanded a vessel in Cabral's fleet, and perished
off the Cape which he had discovered.

Minor Expeditions.

Voyages to the Guinea coast were of frequent
occurrence at that time, and there is no reason why
Behaim should not have been permitted to join one of
these, either as a merchant or as a volunteer anxious to
see something of the world. Most of these voyages were
made for commercial purposes, but in addition to
merchant-men there were Royal ships in the preventive
service,3 and surveying vessels charged with a more
minute examination of the coast and the inland waters
than had been done by the pioneer explorers. One of the
most famous of these surveyors was the heroic Duarte
Pacheco Pereira, the author of the ' Esmeraldo de Situ
orbis.'4

We have particulars of only two expeditions of this
kind. The first of these I have already noticed. It was
accompanied by Jose Vizinho, the astronomer.5 The
second was led by Joao Affonso d'Aveiro, who had been
associated with Diogo d'Azambuja in the building of
S. Jorge da Mina.6

Joao Affonso d'Aveiro and Benin, 1484-85.

The information concerning this voyage is fragmentary
and leaves much to conjecture. J. A. d'Aveiro started in
1484, and he or his ship returned in the following year
with an ambassador of the King of Benin, and the first
Guinea pepper or pimento de rabo seen in Portugal, and
sensational information about a king, Ogane, living far
inland and rashly identified with the Prester John so long
sought after. Upon receiving this news the King of
Portugal ordered a factory to be established at Gato, the
port of Benin, but the climate proved deadly to
Europeans, many of the settlers fell victims to it,7 and the
place was abandoned. King John, at the same time, sent
Fr. Antonio of Lisbon and Joao of Montarroyo to the
east to inquire into the whereabouts of Prester John,8 but,
being ignorant of Arabic, they failed in their mission,

3 It was in this service that D. Cao, in 1480, captured three Spanish
interlopers.

4 For a biographical notice see p. 2, Note 5.

5 See p. 13.

6 Ruy de Pina, c. 94, Garcia de Resende, and J. de Barros, ' Da Asia,
Dec. L, Liv. III., c. 3, say that d'Aveiro returned from this voyage in
1486; according to A. Galvao he returned in 1485 or 1486 ; according to
Correa, ' Lendas,' t. I., c. 1, in 1484. According to A. Manuel y Vascon-
cellos, ' Vida y acciones do Rey D. Juan II.' (Madrid, 1625), p. 165, and
Manuel Telles da Silva, ' De rebus et gestis Joanno' (Lisbon, 1689),
p. 215, both Cao and d'Aveiro sailed in 1484. These dates, unfortunately,
are not very trustworthy.

7 There is no doMbt that d'Aveiro died in Benin, but whether his
death happened in the course of the first voyage or after the establishment
of the factory at Gato, is not made clear from the available narratives of
the voyage. J. Codine (' Bull, de la Soc. de geographic,' 1876) believes
that he died during the first voyage.

8 De Barros, ' Asia,' Dec. I., Liv. III., c. 5.