The admiral was now near the Azores, when Paulus de Gama, long worn with fatigue and sickness, was unable to endure the motion of the ship. Vasco, therefore, put into the island of Tercera,[{lxxxiv}] in hope of his brother's recovery. And such was his affection, that rather than leave him he gave the command of his ship to one of his officers. But the hope of recovery was vain. John de Sa proceeded to Lisbon with the flag ship, while the admiral remained behind to soothe the deathbed of his brother, and perform his funeral rites. Coello, meanwhile, landed at Lisbon, and hearing that Gama had not arrived, imagined he might either be shipwrecked or beating about in distress. Without seeing one of his family he immediately set sail again, on purpose to bring relief to his friend and admiral. But this generous design was prevented by an order from the king, ere he got out of the Tagus.
The particulars of the voyage were now diffused by Coello, and the joy of the king was only equalled by the admiration of the people. Yet, while all the nation was fired with zeal to express their esteem of the happy admiral, he himself, the man who was such an enthusiast to the success of his voyage that he would willingly have sacrificed his life in India to secure that success, was now in the completion of it a dejected mourner. The compliments of the Court, and the shouts of the street, were irksome to him; for his brother, the companion of his toils and dangers, was not there to share the joy. As soon as he had waited on the king, he shut himself up in a lonely house near the seaside at Belem, from whence it was some time ere he was drawn to mingle in public life.
During this important expedition, two years and almost two months elapsed. Of 160 men who went out, only 55 returned. These were all rewarded by the king. Coello was pensioned with 100 ducats a year, and made a fidalgo, or gentleman of the king's household, a degree of nobility in Portugal. The title of Don was annexed to the family of Vasco de Gama. He was appointed admiral of the eastern seas, with an annual salary of 3000 ducats, and a part of the king's arms was added to his. Public thanksgivings to Heaven were celebrated throughout the churches of the kingdom; while feasts, dramatic performances, and chivalrous entertainments (or tournaments), according to the taste of that age, demonstrated the joy of Portugal.
Pedro Alvarez Cabral was the second Portuguese admiral who sailed for India. He entered into alliance with Trimumpara, king of Cochin, and high priest of Malabar. (See Bk. x. [p. 302].)
Gama, having left six ships for the protection of Cochin and Cananor, had sailed for Portugal with twelve ships, laden with the riches of the East. As soon as his departure was made known, the[{lxxxv}] zamorim made great preparations to attack Cochin—a city situated on an island, divided by an arm of the sea from the main-land. At one part, however, this creek was fordable at low water. The zamorim having renewed the war, at length, by force of numbers and bribery, took the city; and the King of Cochin, stripped of his dominions, but still faithful to the Portuguese, fled to the island of Viopia. Francisco Albuquerque, with other commanders, having heard of the fate of Cochin, set sail for its relief; the garrison of the zamorim fled, and Trimumpara was restored to his throne. Every precaution by which the passage to the island of Cochin might be secured was now taken by Pacheco. The Portuguese took the sacrament, and devoted themselves to death. The King of Cochin's troops amounted only to 5000 men, while the army of the zamorim numbered 57,000, provided with brass cannon, and assisted by two Italian engineers. Yet this immense army, laying siege to Cochin, was defeated. Seven times the zamorim raised new armies; yet they were all vanquished at the fords of Cochin, by the intrepidity and stratagems of Pacheco. In the later battles the zamorim exposed himself to the greatest danger, and was sometimes sprinkled with the blood of his slain attendants—a circumstance mentioned in the Lusiad, bk. x. p. 304. He then had recourse to fraud and poison; but all his attempts were baffled. At last, in despair, he resigned his throne, and shut himself up for the rest of his days in one of the temples.
Soon after the kingdom of Cochin was restored to prosperity Pacheco was recalled. The King of Portugal paid the highest compliments to his valour, and gave him the government of a possession of the crown in Africa. But merit always has enemies: Pacheco was accused and brought to Lisbon in irons, where he remained for a considerable time chained in a dungeon. He was at length tried, and after a full investigation of the charges made against him, was honourably acquitted. His services to his country were soon forgotten, his merits were no longer thought of, and the unfortunate Pacheco ended his days in an alms-house—a circumstance referred to in the Lusiad, bk. x. p. 305.[{lxxxvii}]
CONTENTS.
| [BOOK I.] | |
| PAGE | |
| Subject proposed | [1, 2] |
| Invocation to the Muses of the Tagus | [3] |
| Address to Don Sebastian | [3, 4] |
| Assembly of the gods and goddesses | [8] |
| The fleet enters the Indian Ocean | [13] |
| Discovers islands there | [13] |
| Description of the natives | [14] |
| Intercourse with the ships | [15, 16] |
| The governor visits Gama | [17, 18] |
| Bacchus determines on obstructing the fleet | [20] |
| His stratagem for that purpose | [21] |
| Attack by the Portuguese on landing to obtain water | [23] |
| Bombardment of the town | [24, 25] |
| Another plot of Bacchus | [26, 27] |
| The poet's reflections | [29] |
| [BOOK II.] | |
| Treacherous invitation from the King of Mombas for the fleet to enter the harbour | [31] |
| Messengers sent on shore by Gama to look at the town | [32, 33] |
| Venus and the Nereids save the fleet from danger | [35, 36] |
| Venus appeals to Jupiter on behalf of the expedition | [40] |
| His reply | [43] |
| Mercury sent to earth | [46] |
| His message to Gama in a dream | [47][{lxxxviii}] |
| How the vessels escaped | [49] |
| They meet two Moorish ships | [49] |
| Their account of Melinda and its king | [50] |
| Hospitable reception by the King of Melinda | [51] |
| Gama's address | [52] |
| The king's reply | [53, 54] |
| Night rejoicings in the ships and on shore | [54, 55] |
| Visit of the king to the fleet | [55] |
| Gama's speech | [57] |
| The king requests Gama to describe his country and relate its history | [58] |
| [BOOK III.] | |
| Invocation to Calliope | [60] |
| Gama commences his story | [61] |
| Geographical description of Europe | [62] |
| Ancient history of Portugal commences | [66] |
| Fidelity of Egas Moniz | [70, 71] |
| Battle of Ourique | [72-75] |
| Origin of the Portuguese shield and arms | [76] |
| Leiria, Mafra, Cintra, Lisbon, etc. | [76-78] |
| Palmella, etc., taken from the Moors | [79] |
| Alphonso at war with the Leonese | [79, 80] |
| Gathering of the Moors to invest Santarem | [81] |
| Defeated by the Portuguese | [83] |
| Death of Alphonso | [83] |
| Don Sancho besieges Sylves | [84] |
| Character of Sancho II. | [85] |
| " " King Dionis | [87] |
| " " Alphonso IV. | [87] |
| The Moors assemble again to invade Portugal | [88] |
| The Queen of Spain asks aid from her father, the King of Portugal | [88] |
| The two allied sovereigns defeat the Moors | [90] |
| Episode of Inez de Castro, or the "Fair Inez" | [92-96] |
| Character of King Ferdinand | [100] |
| [BOOK IV.] | |
| State of Portugal on the death of Ferdinand | [103] |
| King John succeeds to the throne | [103] |
| Character of Queen Leonora | [104][{lxxxix}] |
| Castitlians assemble in aid of Beatrice, daughter of Leonora | [106] |
| Don Nuno Alvarez's loyalty | [107] |
| Battle between the Portuguese and Castilians | [113] |
| The latter defeated | [116, 117] |
| Alphonso, after defeating the Moors, attacks the King of Arragon | [117] |
| Alphonso dies, and is succeeded by John II. | [118] |
| King John sends to explore the East by land | [122] |
| Emmanuel succeeds; his dream of the rivers Ganges and Indus | [123] |
| The king consults his council | [125] |
| Entrusts the expedition to Vasco de Gama | [125] |
| Vasco de Gama's preparations | [127] |
| Parting of the armada with their friends | [129] |
| The old man's farewell address | [130] |
| [BOOK V.] | |
| Departure of the fleet from Lisbon | [133] |
| Madeira, Coast of Morocco, the Azenegues | [134] |
| The river Senegal, Cape Verde, San Jago, Jalofo, Mandinga | [135] |
| Dorcades, Sierra Leone, Cape Palmas | [136] |
| St. Thomas, Congo, the river Zaire | [137] |
| A water-spout described | [139] |
| They land near the Tropic of Capricorn | [141] |
| A native African met with | [141] |
| Veloso's adventure on shore | [142] |
| Gigantic vision of the Cape | [146] |
| The armada lands at Saõ Braz | [153] |
| Currents encountered | [155] |
| The armada touches at Natal | [155] |
| Reaches Sofála; description of the inhabitants | [157] |
| The crews attacked by scurvy | [158] |
| Vasco de Gama compares his voyage with the narratives of ancient poets, and concludes his story | [159] |
| Reflections on the subject by the poet | [161, 162] |
| [BOOK VI.] | |
| Hospitality of the King of Melinda | [164] |
| Gama takes his leave | [166] |
| Bacchus descends to Neptune's abode | [166][{xc}] |
| Description thereof | [167] |
| The sea-gods assembled by Neptune. Bacchus' address to Neptune and the other sea-gods | [169] |
| Neptune orders Æolus to let loose the winds on the Portuguese fleet | [173] |
| The fleet on a tranquil sea | [174] |
| Veloso, to pass the time away, relates the story of a tournament in England | [175] |
| A dark cloud comes over, and the storm arises | [183] |
| Venus, the morning star, appears, and the goddess calls the Nereids to her aid | [188] |
| Orithya, Galatea, and other sea-nymphs persuade Boreas to cease his blustering | [189] |
| Morning appears, and with it the mountain-tops of the Indian coast | [190] |
| Gama returns thanks to God | [190] |
| The poet's reflections | [190, 191] |
| [BOOK VII.] | |
| The Portuguese exhorted to the warfare of the cross, other nations being reproved | [193-197] |
| India described | [198] |
| The fleet anchors, and a message is sent on shore | [198] |
| Meeting with Mozaide, who speaks Spanish | [199] |
| Mozaide visits Gama, and describes the country | [200] |
| Gama goes on shore | [209] |
| Enters with the kotwâl into an Indian temple | [209] |
| Gama's interview with the Indian king | [213] |
| His speech | [214] |
| The king's reply | [215] |
| Mozaide's description of the Portuguese | [216] |
| Visit of the kotwâl to the ships | [217] |
| The poet invokes the nymphs of the Tagus, and briefly describes his own shipwreck and other misfortunes | [218-221] |
| [BOOK VIII.] | |
| Description of the pictures | [222] |
| Bacchus appears as Mohammed, to a priest in a dream | [238] |
| The king consults with the magi and the soothsayers | [240] |
| The priest consults his friends | [241] |
| How evil counsellors mislead kings | [242][{xci}] |
| The king's defiant speech and base accusation | [244] |
| Gama's answer to the king | [245-247] |
| Gama detained prisoner in the kotwâl's house | [250] |
| [BOOK IX.] | |
| The king visits the house of the kotwâl | [252] |
| Addresses Gama, detained as a prisoner there | [252] |
| On what conditions he may be allowed to return to his fleet | [253] |
| Gama's indignant reply | [253, 254] |
| The king orders the signal to be given | [254] |
| The Moorish vessels surround the fleet, and attack it with clouds of arrows | [255] |
| The drums and trumpets of the fleet call to action | [255] |
| Destruction of the Moorish vessels by the cannon of the ships | [256] |
| Bombardment of Calicut by the fleet | [257] |
| The terrified multitude implores the king to release his prisoner | [258] |
| The king implores Gama to spare his city and people | [258] |
| Gama's dignified reply | [258] |
| The terms offered by the king rejected by Gama | [259] |
| Gama directs the king to hoist the Portuguese flag and convey him to his ships | [260] |
| Peace restored. Presents of Indian productions | [261] |
| Mozaide had discovered to Gama the intended treachery | [261] |
| Conversion to Christianity of Mozaide | [262] |
| Return of the fleet to Portugal with the hostages | [262] |
| Venus raises the Island of Love in the sea, to afford the sailors a resting-place. She summons the Nereids, and informs them of her intentions. Seeks her son, Cupid | [264] |
| Cupid discharges the arrows of love at the sea-nymphs | [269-271] |
| Approach of the Portuguese fleet | [273] |
| The Island of Love described | [274-280] |
| The sailors land and pursue the nymphs | [280-288] |
| Tethys leads Gama to a palace on a lofty hill | [289] |
| The allegory explained | [290] |
| [BOOK X.] | |
| Happiness of the heroes and nymphs | [299] |
| The poet apostrophizes his muse and bewails his own fate | [301, 302] |
| The siren's prophetic song | [302][{xcii}] |
| She pauses to reflect on the ill-requited bravery of Pacheco | [305] |
| The siren resumes her prophetic song | [305] |
| Foretells the needless cruelty of Albuquerque, who puts to death a soldier for a venial offence | [310, 311] |
| Soarez, Sequeyra, Menez, Mascarene, Nunio, Noronha, Souza, and other heroes | [312-318] |
| The nymph Tethys leads them to the summit of a rugged hill, where the globe in miniature is displayed before them | [319] |
| The Ptolemean system described | [320] |
| Sketch of the geography of the world | [325] |
| History of St. Thomas, the Apostle of India | [331-335] |
| Geographical description continued | [337-353] |
| Tethys bids the Portuguese farewell | [353] |
| Their return home and reception at Lisbon | [356] |
| The poet's conclusion, and patriotic exhortation to his sovereign | [356, 357] |