But the news of the arrival of the fleet at Terceira had preceded its actual arrival at Lisbon, more than one adventurer having started thence while De Gama was detained, so as to secure the reward for bringing the first good tidings to the king, then at Cintra.
It spread, indeed, far and wide. Another road had been discovered to a country which, famed for its riches, had been the envy of the Western nations from the earliest historic period, as well as the dream of the youth of every age and land since the days of Solomon and Semiramis. Well might Lisbon be in a state of the greatest ecstasy when the tidings of the great discovery reached its people. They were indeed tidings of the highest importance, not merely to them, but to the people of every maritime and commercial city of Europe.
Great rejoicings at Lisbon.
The information reaching the king at midnight, he resolved to start with his retinue early in the morning for Lisbon, to receive further intelligence, and to welcome the ships on their entry into the Tagus. There the glad tidings were confirmed. The king waited at the India House until the ships arrived at the bar, where there were boats with pilots, who brought them into port, decorated with numerous flags, and firing a salute as they anchored. When Vasco de Gama landed on the beach before the city, he was received by “all the nobles of the court, and by the Count of Borba and the Bishop of Calçadilha; and he went between these two before the king, who rose up from his chair, and did him great honour,” conferring upon him the title of “Dom,” with various grants and privileges, and creating him high admiral, an office which the Marquis of Niza, his lineal descendant, holds to this day. “Then the king mounted his horse, and went to the palace above the Alcasoba, where his apartments then were, and took Vasco de Gama with him, who, on entering where the queen was, kissed her hand, and she did him great honour.”[20]
While rewards were freely bestowed upon all persons who had taken part in the expedition, costly offerings were made to the monastery of Belem, with gifts to numerous churches, as also to various holy houses and convents of nuns, that “all might give thanks and praises to the Lord for the great favour which He had shown to Portugal.” The king, with the queen, went in splendid state and in solemn procession from the cathedral to St. Domingo, where Calçadilha preached on the grandeur of India, and its “miraculous discovery.”
Arrangements made for further expeditions.
Soon afterwards the king arranged to send another fleet, consisting of large and strong ships of his own, with great capacity for cargo, which, if navigated in safety, “would bring him untold riches.” All these matters his majesty talked over very fully with Vasco de Gama, who was to proceed as captain-major, if he pleased, in any fleet fitted out from Portugal to India, with power to supersede all other persons, and to appoint or discharge at his will the captains or officers of any of the vessels belonging to every expedition for India that might be equipped from the Tagus.
Indeed, the first expedition had yielded such immense profits, that arrangements for various others were readily entered into without delay. Correa states that a quintal of pepper realised eighty cruzados, cinnamon one hundred and eighty, cloves two hundred, nutmegs one hundred, ginger one hundred and twenty, while mace sold for three hundred cruzados the quintal.[21] So great were the profits, that when the accounts of the cost of the expedition were made up, by order of the king, and added to the prices paid for the merchandise when shipped, it was found that “the return was fully sixty-fold.”
Departure of the second expedition, 25th March, 1502.
The second expedition, however, under Vasco de Gama’s direct control, was destined for other and less laudable objects than commerce.[22] Dom Manuel had resolved to punish “the treachery of the king of Calicut.” Ten large ships were therefore prepared, fitted with heavy guns and munitions of war of every kind then known, besides abundance of stores, and with these, and five lateen-rigged caravels, Dom Vasco set sail for India on Lady-day, the 25th March, 1502, to wreak his sovereign’s “vengeance” on those contumacious kings of the East who had not treated his subjects with the respect which he felt was due to the representatives of “a great Christian monarch.” In this instance, as has been the case before and since in numerous other instances, solemn prayers were offered that the depredations about to be committed in the name of God and under the banner of a Christian king might be attended with success. “I feel in my heart,” exclaimed De Gama, addressing his sovereign, “a great desire and inclination to go and make havoc of him (the king of Calicut), and I trust in the Lord that He will assist me, so that I may take vengeance of him, and that your highness may be much pleased.” But though “vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord,” has been the text of every Christian church from the earliest ages, a solemn mass and numerous prayers were offered in the cathedral, at which the king was present and all his court, to invoke Heaven to strengthen the arm of Dom Gama in his openly-avowed mission of vengeance.