In 1505, on the twenty-fifth of March, Francisco de Almeida, the viceroy of India, sailed from Lisbon with a fleet of twenty-two sail. On his way to India, he stopped at Quiloa, where he built a fort, appointing Peter Fereira to command it. From beyond Melinda he passed over to the island of Anguediva, of which he appointed Emanuel Passavia to be captain. He built a fort also at Cananor, of which he gave the command to Laurence de Brito; and one at Cochin, which was given in charge to Alphonso de Noronha. This year likewise, Peter de Anahay built a fort at Sofala, of which he was made captain. In the latter end of this year the viceroy commanded his son Laurenço to go to the islands of Maldivia. Beating up against contrary winds, he arrived at these islands which in ancient times were called Traganæ[19], but Ytterubenero by the Moors, and by us Ceilan. Here he went on shore, and entered into treaty with the people, and returned to Cochin. In the middle of this island there is a high rock, having the print of a mans foot, said to have been that of Adam when he ascended to heaven, which the Indians hold in great reverence.
[19] Probably an error for Taprobana; the same by which Ceylon was known to the ancients.--E.
In 1506, after the death of Isabella, King Philip and Queen Joan came to take possession of the crown of Castile, and. King Ferdinand retired into his own dominions of Arragon. In that same year Philip died, and Ferdinand resumed the government, giving license to all Spaniards to go to the new discovered countries; but not allowing the Portuguese to go there. In this year, likewise, Christopher Columbus died, in the month of May, and was succeeded in his dignities by his son Don Diego.
In March 1506, Tristan de Acunha and Alphonso de Albuquerque went to India with fourteen ships, and refreshed by the way at Bezequiche, in the Cape de Verd islands. Before reaching the Cape of Good Hope they discovered certain islands, in 37° S. which are now called the islands of Tristan de Acunha. During this voyage, the fleet was dispersed by a tempest, and Alvaro Teliz ran so far that he came to Sumatra, whence he returned to Cape Guardafu, having discovered many islands, seas, and countries, not known before that time to the Portuguese. At the same time, Emanuel Telez de Meneses was driven on the outside of the great island of St Lawrence, or Madagascar, and having surveyed its coasts, came to Mosambique, where he met with Tristan de Acunha, who was the first captain that wintered there. Meneses, having reported that there was plenty of ginger, cloves, and silver in Madagascar, was sent back there, and traversed a considerable part of the island; but not finding any thing of value, returned to Mosambique, whence he went to Melinda, and Brava, and thence to Socotora, where he built a fort, of which he appointed one Antonio de Noronha to be captain. In 1507, Tristan de Acunha returned to Europe, and Alphonso de Albuquerque remained in India with five or six ships, to keep the command of the sea. In the course of that year or the next, Albuquerque stood over to discover the coast of Arabia, which he explored, and doubled the Cape of Rosalgate, which is under the tropic of Cancer.
In 1509, Diego Lopez de Sequiera went from Lisbon for India with four ships; and stopping at the island of Madagascar was almost a year on his voyage. Arriving at Cochin in the month of May, the viceroy gave him another ship, in which he went to Malacca in September passing between the islands of Nicubar and many others. He went also to Sumatra; to the cities of Pedir and Pacem; and all along that coast to the island of Puloreira, and the fiats of Capacia; thence he stood over to the city of Malacca, in lat. 2° N. where the people took and slew some of his men. After this he returned to Cochin, having discovered five hundred leagues in this voyage. The island of Sumatra is the first land in which we knew of mens flesh being eaten, by certain people in the mountains called Bacas, who gild their teeth. In their opinion the flesh of the blacks is sweeter than that of the whites. The flesh of the oxen, kine, and hens in that country is as black as ink. A people is said to dwell in that country, called Daraqui-Dara , having tails like sheep[20]. There are likewise springs of rock oil or bitumen. In the kingdom of Pedir, likewise, there is said to be a river of oil; which is not to be wondered at, as we are assured there is also a well of oil in Bactria. It is further said that there is a tree in that country, the juice of which is a strong poison if it touch a mans blood; but if drank, it is a sovereign antidote against poison. They have here also certain gold coins, called drachms, brought, as they say, into their country by the Romans[21], which seems to have some resemblance to truth, because beyond that country there are no gold coins.
[20] The Cakerlaka of other writers, which can only be large monkeys or baboons, called men with tails, through ignorance or imposture.--E.
[21] Rumi still continues the eastern name of the Turkish empire, as the successor of the Roman emperors, in Assyria and Egypt. Hence these Roman gold coins may have come in the way of trade from Assyria or Egypt, or may possibly have been Venetian sequins.--E.
In 1508, Alphonso de Hojeda went with the license of King Ferdinand, but at his own charges, to conquer the province of Darien, in the Terra Firma of the new world. Landing in the country of Uraba, he called it Castilia del Oro, or Golden Castile, because of the gold found in the sand along its coast. He went first from the city of San Domingo, in Hispaniola, with four ships and three hundred soldiers, leaving behind him the bachelor Anciso, who afterwards compiled a book of these discoveries. He was followed by a fourth ship with provisions and ammunition, and a reinforcement of 150 Spaniards. Hojeda landed at Carthagena, where the natives took, slew, and devoured seventy of his men, by which his force was much weakened. Some time after but in the same year, Diego de Niquesa fitted out seven ships in the port of Beata, intending to go to Veragua with 800 men; but coming to Carthegana, where he found Hojeda much weakened by his losses, they joined their forces, and avenged themselves of the natives. In this voyage Niquesa discovered the coast called Nombre de Dios, and went into the sound of Darien, on the river Pito, which he named Puerto de Misas. Coming to Veragua, Hojeda went on shore with his soldiers, and built there the town of Caribana, as a defence against the Caribbees; being the first town built by the Spaniards on the continent of the new world. He also built another at Nombre de Dios, and called it Nuestra Seniora de la Antigua. A town was built at Uraba, in which Francis Pisarro was left with the command, who was there much annoyed by the natives. They likewise built other towns, the names of which I omit. In this enterprize the Spaniards did not meet with the success they expected.
In 1509, Don Diego Columbus, the second admiral of New Spain, went to the island of Hispaniola with his wife and household; and she, being a noble woman, carried with her many ladies of good families, who were there married; by which means the Spaniards began to multiply in their new colony, and Hispaniola became famous and much frequented. Columbus likewise reduced Cuba into order, and took measures for its colonization, where he placed one Diego Velasques as his lieutenant, who had accompanied his father in his second voyage of discovery.
In April 1511, Alphonso de Albuquerque went to Malacca from Cochin; and finding certain Chinese about to return from Malacca into their own country, he sent a Portuguese along with them, named Duarte Fernandes, with letters for the king of the Mantias, now called Siam. They passed through the Straits of Cincapura, and sailed northwards along the coast of Patane to the city of Cuy, and thence to Odia, the chief city of the kingdom, in 14° N.[22]. The king of this country received Duarte with great honour, as he was the first Portuguese who had been in these parts, and sent back ambassadors along with him to Albuquerque. They travelled overland to the westwards, till they came to Tanacerim, on the Bay of Bengal, in 12° N. where they embarked in two ships and sailed to Malacca. The inhabitants of Siam, through which they travelled, eat of all kinds of beasts, and even of what we repute to be vermin. The people of this country are reputed the most virtuous and honest of any in those parts of the world, and pride themselves much on their poverty and chastity; yet have a strange practice of carrying round bells within their foreskins, which is not permitted to the king and priests. They do not rear any poultry or pigeons about their houses. The kingdom is 250 leagues in length and 80 in breadth[23].