[410] Barros and Castanheda, in addition to bombards, mention spin-gards (wall-pieces) and one-pounder matchlocks. Correa (Stanley’s Vasco da Gama) says that the ships, or some of them, in Vasco da Gama’s second voyage were armed with six heavy guns below, four smaller guns and four falconets on deck, and several swivel guns. The caravels, though only manned by thirty men, carried four heavy guns below, six falconets and twelve swivel guns.
[411] Note by Sir Clements R. Markham.
[412] D. Diogo Ortiz de Vilhegas was a native of Calçadinha, in Leon, and came to Portugal as father-confessor and spiritual director of that “excellent lady”, D. Joanna. King Manuel held him in high respect, and appointed him Bishop of Tangier in 1491. Jointly with Masters Rodriguez, the physician, and Jose Vizinho, he is responsible for reporting adversely on the bold projects of Columbus. In 1500, he was transferred to the See of Ceuta, and, in 1505, to that of Vizeu. He never resided in his African dioceses. When Gama took leave of the King at Montemór ó novo, Vilhegas is said to have celebrated Mass. He died in 1519 at Almeirim.—(Paiva Manso, Historia Ecclesiastica, Lisbon, 1872, I, pp. 40, 47, 62.)
[413] Pero de Covilhão and Affonso de Paiva were despatched from Santarem in 1487 to spy out the countries of the east. Covilhão, in the course of his extensive travels, visited Hormuz, Calecut, and the east coast of Africa as far as Sofala. He ultimately reached the court of Prester John, and was never again allowed to leave it. These travellers, too, received a map and instructions from D. Diogo de Vilhegas. The best account of Covilhão’s adventures is that furnished by Alvarez, c. 103 (see Lord Stanley’s translation, published by the Hakluyt Society).
[414] Lucas Marcos visited Rome and Lisbon. The information furnished by him included a vocabulary.—(Barros, Da Asia, Dec. I, l. iii, c. 5.)
[415] Abraham ben Samuel Zacuto was professor of astronomy and mathematics in the University of Salamanca when King John II called him to Portugal in 1492, and appointed him Astronomer Royal. He is the author of Ephemerides, originally written in Hebrew, a Latin translation of which, by José Vizinho, one of his pupils, was first printed in 1496—on the eve of Vasco da Gama’s departure—although there can be no doubt that these useful tables previously circulated in MS. José Vizinho is perhaps identical with the physician José whom King John had charged, jointly with Master Rodrigo, to prepare tables of the declination of the sun, which would enable navigators to determine their latitude after they had lost sight of the Pole star. Rudolf Wolf (Geschichte der Astronomie, p. 97) credits Regiomontanus with having produced the first set of “practical” tables for the use of mariners. He does not even once mention Zacuto in his history, and states that the tables of the great German astronomer were those made use of by Dias and Vasco da Gama. As the Ephemerides of Regiomontanus were printed in 1474, they naturally became more widely known than those of Zacuto, which only circulated in MS., and they were, perhaps, brought to Portugal by Martin Behaim. It cannot, however, be doubted that the tables which Vasco da Gama took with him were those of Zacuto.
For the contents of the first printed edition of Zacuto’s Almanach Perpetuum, see Antonio Ribeiro dos Santos in Memorias de Litteratura Portugueza, 2 edição, VIII, p. 46; for later reprints of the Tables of the Declination of the Sun, see Luciano Cordeira in the Boletim of the Lisbon Geographical Society, 1883, p. 163.
[416] See Hellmann, in Zeitschrift für Erdkunde, 1897. The Roteiros of João de Castro, containing these observations, were published at Lisbon, 1833 and 1882.
[417] The description of this proposed series is of historical interest (see Alguns documentos, 1892, p. 516).
[418] See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama, pp. 73 and 144. The “Sphere” was a device bestowed upon D. Manuel by King João II. A coin called an “Esphera de Ouro” was coined in Portuguese India. M.B. Lopez Fernandes (Memoria das moedas, Lisbon, 1856, p. 121) had such a coin in his possession. It had the device on the face, and a royal crown with the word MEA on the obverse. Manuel de Faria (Noticias de Portugal, Disc. IV, § 31) thinks that MEA stands for “Mine”, meaning that the whole sphere was Manuel’s; but Fernandes is inclined to think that it stands for MEIA, that is, “Half”. The coin in his collection had an intrinsic value of about six shillings.