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1485.1 It seems that Cao, on this occasion, commanded
three vessels, his fellow captains being Pero Annes and
Pero da Costa. It is possible that Cao, when crossing the
Gulf of Guinea, discovered the island called I. Martini on
Behaim's Globe, and now known as Anno bom. Such a
discovery is suggested by a rough map of an ' Ilha Diogo
Cam ' depicted upon a loose sheet in Valentin Ferdinand's
MS. The shape of this island, however, resembles in no
respect the two delineations of the island of Anna bom
given in the same MS., and no reference to it is made in
the text.

Cao on reaching the Congo ascended it for about
ninety miles, as far as the River Mposo, above Matadi,
and within sight of the Yelala Falls, for there, upon some
rocks upon the right bank an inscription2 has been
discovered which records this achievement. The coat of
arms proves that this inscription dates from 1485, or a
subsequent year. We there read: "Thus far came the

Hot MpM*** /

/

"1 V

■ 2

Inscribed Rocks near Matadi.

vessels of the illustrious King D. Joao II. of Portugal:
D° Cao, P° Annes, P° da Costa "; further to the right,
" Alv° Pyrez, P° Escdlar "; lower down, " J° de Santyago,
+ of illness (da doenca), J° Alvez (Alvares), * D° Pinero,
G° Alvez—Antao." Still further away there is another
cross with a few names—Ruys, Farubo, Annes, and a
masonic symbol (X).

Several of the names given are those of well-known
Portuguese seamen. A Pero Annes served under Albuquerque
in India ; Pero Escolar accompanied the Congo
embassy in 1490-1, was pilot of one of Vasco da Gama's
vessels, and accompanied Cabral to India; Joao de
Santiago commanded the store vessel of the expedition
of B. Dias.

The remaining names may have been cut into the rock
subsequently to Cao's expedition of 1485. The name of
Martin de Bohemia is looked for in vain.

1 For a description of this padrao see Scheppig, ' Marine Rundschau,'
1894, p. 357, and 1 Die Cao-Saule am Kap Cross' (Kiel, 1903): L. Cor-
deiro, ' O ultimo Padrao de Diogo Cao ' (Boletim, 1895, p. 885).

2 This important inscription was known in 1882, for on the map of
the Lower Congo, by Capello and Ivens, is indicated a ' Padrao Portuguez.'
Father Domenjuz of Matadi seems to have been the first to have taken a
photograph of it, which was published by L. Frobenius in his work ' Im
Schatten des Kongo Staates,' 1907. Another photograph, by the Rev.
Pettersson, has been published by the Rev. Tho. Lewis (' Geogr. Journal,'
xxi., 1908, p. 501).

The Padbao of Cape Cross.

Cao, having landed the hostages whom he had carried
off two years before, proceeded to
the south. He kidnapped several
natives, who were to be taught
Portuguese so that they might
serve as interpreters in future expeditions
. On the face of • Monte
negro,' 15° 41' S., he erected a
padrao, and a second at Cape Cross,
described as Cabo do padrao and
Sierra parda on old maps, in
21° 50'. The former of these
pillars is now in the Museum of
the Lisbon Geographical Society,
its inscription quite illegible; that
of Cape Cross was carried off by
Captain Becker in 1893, and has
found a last resting-place in the
Museum of the ' Institut fur
Meereskunde' in Berlin. The
German Emperor has since
caused an exact copy of it to be erected on the spot.

If we may trust to a legend upon a Map of the World
drawn in 1489 by Henricus Martellus Germanus,3 a
legend confirmed by a ' Parecer' drawn up by the Spanish
pilots and astronomers who attended the ' Junta' of
Badajoz in 1524,4 Diogo Cao died near this Cape Cross.

And if Cao died, the details given by Buy de Pina and
Barros of the final stage of this expedition—the interview
with the Mani Congo, who asked for priests and artisans,
and sent Cazuto with gifts of carved ivory and palm-cloth
to Portugal as his ambassador—must be rejected. I am
inclined to believe that these details refer to Bartholomew
Dias. Cazuto would then have reached Portugal in
December 1488, was baptized at Beja in January 1489,
when the King, his Queen, and gentlemen of title acted as
sponsors, and was sent back to Congo with D. Goncalo de
Sousa, King John's ambassador, in December 1490.

But whatever the circumstances, Cao's name disappears
henceforth from the annals of Portugal. His ships
returned, no doubt, in the course of 1486, and when Dias
started on his memorable voyage in August 1487 he took
back with him the natives kidnapped by Cao on the coast
beyond the Congo.

The Voyage of Bartholomew Dias, 1487-88.

When an envoy of the King of Benin came to
Portugal in 1485 or 1486 he roused the King's curiosity

3 For a reduced facsimile of this map see p. 67. For further information
on this map, p. 66.

* This ' Parecer' or Report is printed in Navarrete's ' Colleccion,' IV.
(Madrid, 1837), p. 347. J. Cocline, ' Decouverte de la cote d'Afrique'
(Bulletin de la Soc. de Geogr., 1876, Notes 23 and 29), would have us
believe that the words " et hie moritur " of the legend do not refer to Cao
but to the Serra Parda. This is quite inadmissible. The Spanish pilots
say " donde murio " where he died.