Cão’s Padrão at Cape Cross. Lastly, there remain to be noticed the Padrãos, or pillars of stone which were on board the vessels, and three of which, by the king’s express desire, were dedicated to S. Raphael, S. Gabriel, and S. Maria (see p. [80]). Barros and Castanheda tell us that these pillars resembled those set up by Cão and Dias in the time of D. João II; and in a series of pictures which D. Manuel desired to have painted in celebration of the discovery of India, the Padrão to be shown at the Cape of Good Hope, or “Prasum promontorium”, was to have been surmounted by a cross, and to bear the Royal Arms and a Pelican, with an inscription giving the date.[417]
Correa, on the other hand, affirms in his Lendas that the pillar set up at the Rio da Misericordia (the Rio dos Bons Signaes of the Roteiro) was of marble, with two escutcheons, one of the arms of Portugal, and the other (at the back) of a sphere, and that the inscription was “Do senhorio de Portugal reino de Christãos”. The pillar at Melinde had the same escutcheons, but the inscription was limited to the words “Rey Manoel”.[418] As Correa had an opportunity of seeing these pillars, his description of them may be correct, though he is an arrant fabulator.
APPENDIX E.
Vasco da Gama.
(From A. Morelet’s French version of the “Roteiro”, 1864.)
After a Portrait formerly the property of Conde de Farrobo, now in the Museu das Bellas Artes, Lisbon.