Since I have related, in the fifth Chapter of this work, where I spoke of the especial things which the Infant performed for the service of God and the honour of the realm, how that among the other matters accomplished by him was the peopling of these islands, I would here tell briefly of the said peopling, and the more particularly as in the past few chapters I have spoken of the Canary Islands. Now it was so, that in the household of the Infant there were two noble esquires, brought up by that lord, men young in years and fit for great deeds. And after the Infant returned from raising the siege of Ceuta, when the united power of those Moorish Kings had encircled it, these men begged him to put them in the way to perform some honourable deed, like men who desired it much, for it seemed to them that their time was ill spent if they did not toil in some undertaking with their bodies. And the Infant, perceiving their good wills, bade them make ready a vessel in which they were to go on a warlike enterprise against the Moors, directing them to voyage in search of the land of Guinea, which he already had purposed to discover.[[199]] And since it pleased God to ordain such a benefit, both for this Kingdom and also for many other parts, He guided them so that, even with the weather against them, they reached the island that is now called Porto Santo, being nigh to the island of Madeira, the which may be seven leagues in circumference. And so they remained there for some days and right well examined the land, and it seemed to them that it would be a very profitable thing to people it. And returning thence to the Kingdom, they spoke of it to the Infant, and described the goodness of the land and the desire they had as to its peopling; and this pleased the Infant much, and he straightway took order for them to obtain what was needful to enable them to return to the said island. And as they were busied in the work of making ready for their departure, there joined himself to their company Bartholomew Perestrello, a nobleman of the household of the Infant Don John; and these men, having all their things ready, set out on their voyage to the said island. And it happened that among the things they took with them to stock the said island was a she-rabbit, which had been given to Bartholomew Perestrello by a friend of his, and the rabbit went in a hutch pregnant, and it came about that it gave birth to young on the sea, and so they took all these to the island. And when they were lodged in their huts, to make ready houses for themselves, they set free that female rabbit with her young to breed; and these in a very short time multiplied so much as to overspread the land, so that our men could sow nothing that was not destroyed by them.
And it is a marvel how they found in the year following their arrival, that although they killed a very great quantity of these rabbits, there yet remained no lack of them. Wherefore they abandoned that island and passed over to the other isle of Madeira, which will be forty leagues in circumference, and twelve leagues distant from Porto Santo; and there stayed the two, to wit, John Gonçalvez and Tristam, and Bartholomew Perestrello returned to the kingdom. This second island they discovered to be good, especially in very noble flowing waters, which are made to irrigate what part they will; and there they began to make very great sowings, from the which they obtained most abundant crops. From that time they saw that the land had good air and was healthy, and they found many birds, which in the beginning they were wont to capture in their hands, and they discovered many other good things in the said island. So they let the Infant know all this, and he straightway laboured to send there other people and ornaments for a church, and clerics, so that in a very brief space a great portion of that land was put to use. And the Infant, considering how those two men were the pioneers of this settlement, bestowed on them the chief governance of the island, to wit, on John Gonçalvez Zarco, who was a noble man and had been made a knight at the siege of Tangier in a battle that the Infant won there upon a Thursday, of which the history of the Kingdom maketh a fuller mention. And this John Gonçalvez had already been present at very great actions, and especially at the raising of the siege of Ceuta and the overthrow of the Moors that took place on the day of arrival. And to this man the Infant gave the governance of the portion of the island called Funchal, and the other part called Machico[[CI]][[200]] he bestowed on Tristam, who also was dubbed a knight in a foray that was made at Ceuta; and he was a very daring man, but not so noble in every other respect as John Gonçalvez. And the beginning of the peopling of this island took place in the year of the birth of Jesus Christ one thousand and four hundred and twenty; and at the time of the making of this history it was peopled reasonably well, for there were in it one hundred and fifty inhabitants, besides other persons such as traders and unmarried men and women and youths, and boys and girls who had been born on the said island, as well as clerics and friars, and others who came and went for their merchandise and for those things which they cannot dispense with in that island. And in the year one thousand and four hundred and forty-five the Infant despatched a knight called Gonçallo Velho,[[201]] who was a Commander of the Order of Christ, to go and people other two islands that are distant from those one hundred and seventy leagues to the north-west. And one of these the Infant Don Pedro began to people with the approval of his brother; but his death followed shortly, therefore it remained afterwards for the Infant Don Henry to continue this work. And to this island Don Pedro had assigned the name of St. Michael, on account of the singular devotion which he had ever felt to that Saint. And the Infant Don Henry also caused to return to the island of Porto Santo, for the purpose of peopling it, Bartholomew Perestrello, the same man who had first voyaged there with John Gonçalvez and Tristam; but owing to the multitude of rabbits, which are almost without end, no tillage is possible there, but many cattle are reared there, and dragon's blood is also collected there and brought for sale to this Kingdom, and taken to many other parts as well. And he turned out cattle on another island which lieth seven leagues from the island of Madeira, intending to have it peopled like the other, and its name is Deserta. And of these seven islands, four are as large as that of Madeira and three are smaller. And for the profit of the Order of Christ, whose governor the Infant was at the time of the said peopling, he gave the said Order all the revenues ecclesiastical of the island of Madeira and of Porto Santo and all the revenues both ecclesiastical and temporal of the other island, of which he made Gonçallo Velho Commander. And beside all this he bequeathed to the said Order the tithes and half the sugar produce of the Island of St. Michael.
[CI] In the text, "Machito."
CHAPTER LXXXIV.
Of how the Infant Don Henry required of the King the right over the Canaries.
In the year 1446 the Infant began to make ready his ships to return to the said conquest, but before doing aught in the same, he requested the Infant Don Pedro, his brother, who at that time was ruling the Kingdom in the name of the King, to give him a Letter forbidding all the subjects of these realms from daring to go to the Canary Islands, to make war or treat of merchandise, without the command of the said Infant. This letter was granted him, and beside this he was privileged to enjoy a fifth of whatever should be brought from there; and this was very rightly given him, considering the great expense which that noble Prince had incurred in the matter of the said conquest. And though we found the substance of that letter set forth in the former book written by Affonso Cerveira, by aid of which we prosecute this history, yet we care not to transcribe it, for it is no new thing to any one of experience to see such writings, and well we know that their style would rather induce weariness in readers, so trite is it, than the desire to see their accustomed reasonings.[[201a]]
CHAPTER LXXXV.
Of how the caravel of Alvaro Dornellas returned, and of the Canarians that he took.
Now in this chapter it behoveth us to return to the action of Alvaro Dornellas, about whom we wrote that he stayed in the Canary Islands. And he let himself remain there out of shame, for it seemed to him that he would be blamed if he were to turn back to the kingdom without any booty, by means of which some portion of his toil might be known. And it was so, that Affonso Marta brought his caravel, as we have told, and this was despatched to the Madeira Islands. For here the said Alvaro Dornellas ordered him to take in provisions against the price he should receive for the sale of two Canarians that he forwarded in her, and he remained to pay those persons from whom he had borrowed them in merchandise equal in value. But by the chance of the weather he failed to make the Islands, and was forced to enter the river-mouth at Lisbon, where at that season was one John Dornellas, an esquire of the King, a man of noble birth, brought up in the household of the King Don John and the King Don Edward, and a cousin of this Alvaro Dornellas of whom we are speaking, who had an equal share with him in the ownership of the said caravel. And both were of one mind to go in her, only they accorded not as to the date of their first departure, when John Dornellas received command of the King, ordering him to abstain for the time from making the said voyage, for so it was necessary for his service. And when that esquire saw how the caravel came, he knew the necessity in which his cousin must be, and he at once had provisions and men got ready in haste so that the ship might be furnished, and he also took merchandise, by means of which he thought his cousin might satisfy his debt in respect of the captives he had taken. Now this John Dornellas was a man of courage, and longed to accomplish great actions, and so he made his voyage with despatch, although it was at great expense to himself, and arrived in a short time at that island where his cousin was, namely, the one called Fuerteventura. And Alvaro Dornellas arrived there as soon as he knew of his coming, and taking aside his cousin, he said to him: "In that I have informed these Castilians that this caravel is all mine (which I said that they might have cause to help me better in my actions, thinking that you would not come to this land, and also more especially that I might fit out by their help a pinnace that is here), I beg of you, even though this thing may be in some part a lessening of your honour, that for my sake you will be pleased to endure it, and advise all[[CJ]] to say none the less that the ship is mine, and that as a thing of mine it arrived here, with all it containeth. And from this moment, dear cousin, it remaineth for you to command me in some other matter, albeit a greater one, at a future time; and you may be well assured that, beside the reasons I have, if I receive this favour of you, I shall perform it with such good will as you shall see." "By God, cousin," replied John Dornellas, "though it be somewhat of a hardship for me to lessen my honour, being the man I am and with the upbringing I have had, yet I am well pleased to put all out of sight in order to do your will, although some of the men who come with me are persons of such rank that they have accompanied me here more out of friendship than from hope of profit. For here I have Diego Vasquez Portocarreiro, an esquire of the King our lord, and other good men; but I will endeavour what I can in the business." And this in fact he did, so that all ended as Alvaro Dornellas desired. But this much you ought to know, that he acted afterwards quite contrary to what his words showed. For but little time had passed when John Dornellas perceived his deceit, and on account of this they were henceforth in very great contention, and almost came to slaying one another over it, but the matter is not fit unto this place. And so when both men came to this first agreement, they straightway armed the pinnace, and arrived in company at the Island of Gomera, where Alvaro Dornellas, as the captain, spake with the chief men of the island and asked them, on behalf of the Infant Don Henry, that they would give him some assistance to go to the island of Palma to make some captures. And they with good will granted him as much as he required. And so taking some of those Canarians to aid them, they reached a port of the island of Palma, where they landed and at once concealed themselves in a valley, because it was in the day time and they feared to be discovered. But as soon as night fell, they began to journey through the island without any guide or sure path by which to direct them to any certain part, but only at any venture that God might be pleased to ordain for them, until they arrived at a place where they heard the barking of dogs, and knew by this that they were nigh to an inhabited spot. "Now that we are already sure of that we seek," said some, "let us rest here in this valley, and very early, God permitting, we will go against them, for our going now might bring to us rather injury than benefit." And so they reposed there until they saw it was time to attack their foes, and then they charged them with such vigour that in a very brief space they captured twenty. And since the Canarians gave them much trouble in their attempts to deliver their relations and friends, and also to avenge others who were left for dead, John Dornellas said to his cousin that he should take the captives and go on in advance with them, and he would hold in check the others, so that they might not diminish the booty; and in this stay, although they were hard pressed, yet they availed to escape from them, leaving fifteen of them dead in that valley, and none of the Christians died, and only two were wounded. And so they returned to the island of Gomera, where Alvaro Dornellas was compelled to stay, while his cousin departed to the Kingdom. But such lack of provisions overtook them that they looked for no other remedy than to eat some of those captives, as they felt they could be saved in no other way. However, it pleased God that before they came to this extremity, they made the port of Tavira,[[CK]] which is in the kingdom of the Algarve.[[202]]
[CJ] Your men.
[CK] The text has the old form, "Tavilla."
CHAPTER LXXXVI.
Of how Nuno Tristam was slain in the land of Guinea, and of those who died with him.