Extracts from Girolamo Sernigi’s Letter to his Brother, 1499.
From an Abstract made by Conrad Peutinger at Rome.
...
The four vessels left Lisbon on July 10, 1499 ... The captain remained behind with three vessels, because his brother Paulo da Gama, was sick unto death. He landed him at an island called Capo Verde, far from Lisbon, and burnt two vessels, the one of 110 tons and one of 90 tons, so that they might not fall into the hands of the heathen [Mohammedans], for 55 of his people had died, and he was unable to bring these ships home with the remaining 63 men. Afterwards the captain came a Sambameno (a salvamento, safely) back to Lisbon with the one ship.[382]
... On the voyage out from Lisbon the vessels came to some distant islands where they [the Portuguese] had been before.[383] Beyond these islands they came to a gulf, or arm of the sea, which they crossed, having the land always to the left and the broad sea to the right....
Various kinds of spices are brought from distant islands to Colokutt. Pepper, brazil-wood, grao,[384] cinnamon, frankincense, lac, are to be found there. These things abound and are worth next to nothing. Of brazil-wood there is plenty. There are likewise many ivory tusks and various other kinds of merchandise, such as variously-coloured silk-stuffs, costly cloth worked in gold, fine white linen, and woollen-stuffs, such as bocassins of various colours, and also much cotton. It is thought that the silver stuffs and cloths, as also the linens, come from Alkeiro (Cairo).
... Most of the spices brought to Kalikut are said to come from the island of Zelong (Ceylon). Only heathen live in that island, and the king is a heathen [Moor]. It is at a distance of 160 leagues from Kalekutt, and only one league from the mainland. By land it is a journey of twenty days. In the island are forests of brazil-wood and roseberries,[385] and other spices, including cloves and rhubarb, are found. Some minor spices come from more distant islands. Cinnamon is imported from Ceylon ...
APPENDIX C.
Vasco da Gama.
(From a Paris MS. of Barretto de Rezende.)