[116] (p. 136). Where they had captured the seven Moors [viz., at Tider; see note 78.]—S.
The reference on p. 139 to the Portuguese ships "in the Strait of Ceuta (Gibraltar) and through all the Levant Sea," may be compared with Introduction, p. viii, and notes 28, 31, etc.
[117] (p. 142). Cape Tira.—[In the old maps we meet with no cape of this name, but combining this passage with what our author says in ch. xxx (How Nuno Tristam went to Tira), and with the distance of 80 leagues which they navigated after leaving the Isle of Herons, or of Arguim, it appears that the cape to which Azurara gives this name, or to which our first navigators gave the name of Tira, was a point, or "tira," of land at the embouchure of the Senegal, at a place marked in the old maps a little beyond Palma Seca, an inscription which is to be read on many (of the ancient charts), and especially on that of João Freire of 1546, and on that of Vaz Dourado of 1571. Although on this last there appears marked a point in close proximity with the name of Tarem, which is not met with in the preceding (maps). Be this as it may, by the distances of latitude between Arguim and that point at the mouth of the Senegal, it appears that the Cape of Tira of which our author speaks, is the place which we indicate. Notwithstanding the unfortunate laconism of Azurara about a fact so interesting for the history of geography, we nevertheless see clearly by this passage that the exploration of the bays, inlets, and points of that part of the coast of Africa was steadily pressed on; that all these points were successively examined by our sailors; and that to these same men are due the names which served for the hydro-geographical nomenclature (of W. Africa) adopted by all nations from the end of the fifteenth century to nearly the end of the seventeenth (see as to this our Memoria sobre a prioridade dos descobrimentos Portuguezes na costa d'Africa occidental, § ix).]—S.
[118] (p. 143). Turtles.—[This passage shows that these mariners were navigating among the great banks and shoals of sand which exist between the isles of Arguim and the mouth of the Senegal. "And they saw an island, which is further out than all the others, but small and very sandy." Combining this account with the map which we meet in vol. i of the work of the Abbé Demanet (Nouvelle Histoire de l'Afrique) we perceive two islands clearly marked to the west of the last (sand-) bank, and in front of the places which, on the ancient Portuguese charts are indicated as Tarem, Palmar, and Palma Seca (as in the maps of Freire, 1546, of the Royal Library, and of Vaz Dourado).
Also in the following chapter our author says "They afterwards saw another island which was separated by an arm of the sea that ran between the two—to wit, that in which they were, and the other they had in sight.">[—S.
The lake, or fiord, of Obidos, between Atouguya and Pederneira (p. 143) is in the Estremadura province of Portugal, an inlet on the coast, 47 miles N.N.W. of Lisbon.
[119] (p. 146). Arguim.—See notes 75 and 97, pp. 58 and 103.
[120] (p. 146). Marco Polo.—[Azurara, writing this chronicle before 1453, availed himself of a manuscript of the travels of Marco Polo, perhaps the same as the copy which the Infant Don Pedro brought from Venice. The oldest printed edition is of 1484. This book, which exercised great influence on discovery, was not only read in the beginning of the fifteenth century by our learned men, but we may notice that one of the most ancient translations which exists of the same is in Portuguese, published by Valentim Fernandez, with the journey of Nicholas the Venetian, etc., dedicated to the King Don Manuel, Lisbon, 1502, one volume, in folio gothic, a copy of which exists in the public library of Lisbon.]—S. Azurara's reference here is to Marco Polo, ch. lvii (Bk. i); ch. lxxiii (Bk. ii). On Valentim Fernandez and the bibliography of the Machin story, see Introduction to vol. ii, p. lxxxiv-v. On the editions of Marco Polo, see Yule's edition, Introduction; Pauthier, Le Livre de M. P.
[121] (p. 147). Lançarote ... collector of royal taxes (= Almoxarife, p. 62) in Lagos ... judges ... alcayde ... officials of the corporation.—Another of Azurara's references to "local," "home," or "municipal" affairs in Portugal, at this time. Cf. p. 62 of this Chronicle.
[122] (p. 151). Knight Don Pedro ... Sueiro da Costa ... Monvedro.—On the general history alluded to by Azurara in the first paragraph of ch. li, see Cronica de D. Alvaro de Luna, ed. Milan, 1546, Madrid, 1784; Histoire secrète de Connetable De Lune, Paris, 1720; Marina, Ensaio historico-critico; Cardonne, Histoire de l'Afrique et de l'Espagne...; Hallam, Middle Ages, ii, 16-17. It may be summarised as follows: The reign of John II of Castille, after his majority, was constantly disturbed by conspiracies and civil wars, headed by his cousins John and Henry, the Infants of Aragon, who possessed large properties in Castille, bequeathed them by their father Ferdinand. They were also assisted often by their brother the King of Aragon. The nominal object of attack was Alvaro de Luna, favourite minister of John II during thirty-five years, a man probably unscrupulous and somewhat rapacious, but of great ability and energy. At last John gave way, withdrew his favour, and the minister was tried and beheaded, meeting his fate "with the intrepidity of Strafford," to whom some have compared him.