But now, notwithstanding this error, there should have been no doubt in any mind that they had reached the end of the southern seaboard, which in a distance of over nine hundred kilometres does not vary a hundred and seventy kilometres in latitude. The coast before them trended away to the north-east in a bold, clear line, free of the haze that almost always hung over the western shore. And down it, only a short distance from the land, flowed a swift ocean current many degrees warmer than the water on either side, and revealing itself even to a careless eye by its deeper blue. That current could only come from a heated sea in the north, and so they might have known that the eastern side of Africa had surely been reached.
Historical Sketches.
Whether the explorers observed these signs the Portuguese writers who recorded their deeds, though in a manner so incomplete as to cause nothing but regret to-day, do not inform us,[9] but from the river Infante the expedition turned back. At Santa Cruz Dias landed again, and bade farewell to the cross which he had set up there with as much sorrow as if he was parting with a son banished for life. In returning, the great headland was discovered, to which the commander gave the name Cabo Tormentoso—the Stormy Cape—afterwards changed by the king to Cabo de Boa Esperança—Cape of Good Hope—owing to the fair prospect which he could now entertain of India being at last reached by this route. What particular part of the peninsula Dias landed upon is unknown, but somewhere on it he set up another of the marble pillars he had brought from Portugal, to which he gave the name São Philippe. The country about it he did not explore, as his provisions were so scanty that he was anxious to get away. Keeping along the coast, after nine months’ absence the storeship was rejoined, when only three men were found on board of her, and of these, one, Fernão Colaça by name, died of joy upon seeing his countrymen again. The other six had been murdered by negroes with whom they were trading. Having replenished his scanty stock of provisions, Dias set fire to the storeship, as she was in need of refitting, and he had not men to work her; and then sailed to Prince’s Island in the bight of Biafra, where he found some Portuguese in distress. A gentleman of the king’s household, named Duarte Pacheco, had been sent to explore the rivers on that part of the coast, but had lost his vessel, and was then lying ill at the island with part of the crew who had escaped from the wreck. Dias took them all on board, being very glad not only to relieve his countrymen but to obtain more men to work his ships, so many of those who sailed with him from Portugal having died, and, pursuing his course in a north-westerly direction, touched at a river where trade was carried on, and also at the fort of São Jorge da Mina, an established Portuguese factory,[10] of which João Fogaça was then commander. Here he took charge of the gold that had been collected, after which he proceeded on his way to Lisbon, where he arrived in December 1487, sixteen months and seventeen days from the time of his setting out.
Return of Dias to Portugal.
No other dates than those mentioned are given by the early Portuguese historians, thus the exact time of the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope and the coast onward to the mouth of the Infante river is doubtful, and it can only be stated as having occurred in the early months of 1487. The voyage surely was a memorable one, and nothing but regret can be expressed that more of its details cannot be recovered. Of the three pillars set up by Dias, two—those of the Holy Cross and São Philippe—disappeared, no one has ever been able to ascertain when or how; that of São Thiago at Angra Pequena remained where it was placed until it was broken down by some unknown vandals about the commencement of the nineteenth century.
Meantime the king sent two men named Affonso de Paiva, of Castelbranco, and João Pires,[11] of Covilhão, in another direction to search for Prester John. For this purpose they left Santarem on the 7th of May 1487, and being well provided with money, they proceeded first to Naples, then to the island of Rhodes, and thence to Alexandria. They were both conversant with the Arabic language, and had no difficulty in passing for Moors. At Alexandria they were detained some time by illness, but upon recovering they proceeded to Cairo, and thence in the disguise of merchants to Tor, Suakin, and Aden. Here they separated, Affonso de Paiva having resolved to visit Abyssinia to ascertain if the monarch of that country was not the potentate they were in search of, and João Pires taking passage in a vessel bound to Cananor on the Malabar coast. They arranged, however, to meet again in Cairo at a time fixed upon.
Historical Sketches.
João Pires reached Cananor in safety, and went down the coast as far as Calicut, after which he proceeded upwards to Goa. Here he embarked in a vessel bound to Sofala, and having visited that port, he returned to Aden, and at the time appointed was back in Cairo, where he learned that Affonso de Paiva had died not long before. At Cairo he found two Portuguese Jews, Rabbi Habrão, of Beja, and Josepe, a shoemaker of Lamego. Josepe had been in Bagdad, on the Euphrates, some years previously, and had there heard of Ormuz, at the mouth of the Persian gulf, and of its being the warehouse of the Indian trade and the point of departure for caravans to Aleppo and Damascus. He had returned to Portugal and informed the king of what he had learned, who thereupon sent him and Habrão with letters of instruction to Affonso de Paiva and João Pires, directing them if they had not already found Prester John, to proceed to Ormuz and gather all the information they could there.
Travels of João Pires.
Upon receiving this order João Pires drew up an account of what he had seen and learned in India and on the African coast, which he gave to Josepe to convey to the king, and taking Habrão with him, he proceeded to Aden and thence to Ormuz. From Ormuz Habrão set out with a caravan for Aleppo on his way back to Portugal with a duplicate of the narrative sent to the king by Josepe. None of the early Portuguese historians who had access to the records of the country ever saw this narrative, so that probably neither of the Jews lived to deliver his charge. Not a single date is given in the early accounts of this journey, except that of the departure from Santarem, which De Goes fixes as May 1486[12] and Castanheda and De Barros as the 7th of May 1487. There is no trace of any knowledge in Portugal of the commerce of Sofala before the return of Vasco da Gama in 1499, but as such a journey as that described must in the fifteenth century have occupied several years, it is just possible that Josepe or Habrão reached Lisbon after that date.