had receiued the Water of Holy Baptisme and the knowledge of the liuing God Now the King hauing gathered together all these abhominable Images and put them into diuers houses within the Cittie and commanded that to the same place where a little before hee had fought and vanquished his brothers Armie euery man should bring a burthen of woode which grew to be a great heape when they had cast into it all the said Idoles pictures and whatsoeuer els the people afore that time held for a God he caused fire to be set vnto them and so vtterly consumed them When he had thus done he assembled all his people together and in steed of their Idoles which before they had in reuerence hee gaue them Crucifixes and Images of Saintes which the Portingalles had brought with them and enioyned euery Lord that euery one in the Cittie of his owne Gouernment and Regiment shoulde builde a Church and set vp Crosses as he had already shewed vnto them by his owne example And then he tolde them and the rest of his people that hee had dispatched an Embassadour into Portingall to fetch Priestes that should teach them Religion and administer the most holy and holesome Sacraments to euery one of them and bring with them diuers Images of Christ of the Virgin Mother and of other Saintes to distribute among them In the meane while hee willed them to bee of good comfort and to remaine constant in the faith But they had so liuely imprinted the same in their hartes that they neuer more remembred their former beliefe in false and lying Idoles He ordayned moreouer that there shoulde be three Churches builded One in reuerence of our Sauiour to giue him thanks for the victorie which he had granted vnto him wherein the Kinges of Congo doe lye buried and whereof the Cittie Royall tooke the name for as it was tolde you before it is called S. Sauiours The second Church was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin the Mother of God called Our Ladie of Helpe in memory of the succour which he had against his enemies And the thirde was consecrated to S. Iames in honour and remembraunce of the miracle which that Saint had wrought by sighting in the fauour of the Christians shewing himselfe on horsebacke in the heat of the battell Not long after this the shippes arriued from Portingall with many men that were skifull in the holy scriptures and diuers religious Friers of the orders of S. Frauncis and of Saint Dominike and of Saint Austine with sundry other Priestes who with great charitie and feruencie of spirite sowed and dispearsed the Catholike Faith ouer all the Countrey which was presently embraced by all the people of the kingdome who held the said Priests in so high reuerence that they worshipped them like Saintes by kneeling vnto them and kissing their hands and receiuing their blessing as often as they met them in the streetes These Priestes being arriued into their seueral Prouinces did instruct the people in the faith of Christ and taking vnto them certaine of the naturalles of the Countrey they taught them the true heauenly doctrine whereby they might the better declare the same to their owne Countreymen in their owne proper language So that in processe of time the Catholike Faith was rooted ouer all those Countreyes in such sorte as it perseuereth and continueth there euen till this day although it hath endured some small hinderance as in conuenient place we shall shew vnto you Chap. 4. The death of the King Don Alfonso and the succession of Don Piedro How the Islande of Saint Thomas was first inhabited and of the Bishop that was sent thether Other great accidents that happened by occasion of Religion The death of two Kings by the conspiracie of the Portingalles the Lordes of Congo How the Kinges linage was quite extinguished The banishment of the Portingalles WHile these matters were thus in working for the seruice of God that Christianitie was nowe begun and encreased with so happy successe it pleased God to call away to himselfe the King Don Alfonso who at the time of his death yeelded great signes which beautified and exalted his former life For he dyed in great faith declaring that his hower was now come and discoursed of the Christian Religion with so great confidence and charitie as it euidently appeered that the Crosse and Passion the true beliefe in our Sauiour Iesus Christ was imprinted in the roote of his heart To Don Piedro his sonne successour he did especially principally recommend the Christian doctrine which in deed following the example of his father he did maintain and vphold accordingly In his time there began to sayle into these quarters a great number of vessels and the Islande of S. Thomas was inhabited with Portingalles by the Kinges commandment For before those dayes it was all waste and desert within lande and inhabited onely vpon the shore by a few saylers that came from the countries adioyning But when this Islande in processe of time was well peopled with Portingalles and other nations that came thether by licence of the King and became to be of great trafficke and was tilled and sowed the king sent thether a Bishoppe to gouerne the Christians that were in that Islande and those also that were in Congo which the said Bishoppe did accomplish presently vpon his arriuall and afterwardes in Congo where hee tooke possession of his Pastorall charge When he was come into the kingdome of Congo it was a thing incredible to see with howe great ioy hee was entertained by the Kinge and all his people For from the sea side euen vnto the Cittie being the space of a hundred and fiftie miles he caused the streetes to bee made smooth and trimme and to be couered all ouer with Mattes commanding the people that for a certaine space seuerally appointed vnto them they shoulde prepare the wayes in such sort that the Bishoppe shoulde not set his foote vpon any part of the grounde which was not adorned But it was a farre greater wonder to behold all the countrey thereaboutes and all the trees and all the places that were higher then the rest swarming with men and weomen that ran forth to see the Bishop as a man that was holy and sent from God offering vnto him some of them lambes some kiddes some chickins some Partriches some venison and some fish and other kindes of victuailes in such aboundance that hee knew not what to do withall but leaft it behind him whereby he might well know the great zeale and obedience of these new Christians And aboue all other thinges it is to be noted for a memorable matter that the Bishoppe going on his way there met him an innumerable multitude of men weomen and girles and boyes and persons of fourescore yeares of age and aboue that crossed him in the streetes and with singular tokens of true beliefe
life of an Heremite in that wildernesse and so to doe penaunce for their sinnes Moreouer in the same place there is so great aboundaunce of fish as if the sea were very neere vnto them so that you shall not need but onely to cast your hooks into the water and you shall presently drawe them out againe loaden with fish I once demanded the questiō what reason there was why the Portingals did neuer make any accompt nor had any care to fortifie this Island considering it was so fit and necessary for saylers and founded there as it were by the prouidence of God for the reliefe of the Portingals which passe that way as Granata doth largely discourse vpon the Creede first written by him in Spanishe and since translated by my selfe into Italian But aunswere was made vnto mee that there was no need so to doo for that the Islande serueth to no purpose for the voyage into the Indies because there is another way for that passage and it is also a very harde matter to finde it out but in returning from thence it lyeth full in the way and is very easily descried So that it woulde not quite the cost to bestow money time in maintayning souldiers therein without any profite seeing none other vessels come thither but onely the Portugals And when I replyed that the English had nowe twice entred into those seas once vnder the conduct of Drake and secondly this year 1588. vnder another Pirate being also an English man and more valiant then hee called Candish who is returned home ful of great richesse It was aunswered that yet for all that it coulde not possibly bee brought to passe to fortifie the same within a sea being so farre off and seeing that all the prouision which should build there must of necessity bee brought out of Europe To be short besides all these naturall good giftes aboue rehearsed the climate is temperate the ayre pure cleane and holesome and the winds which blow there are very pleasaunt So that sicke persons and such as were halfe deade with the diseases of the sea arryuing at this Island haue beene presently healed and recouered their former strength through the benignity of this Country From the Islande of S. Helena they made sayle with the same weather and so within the space of xvij dayes came to the hauen of Loanda which is in the prouince of Congo the windes being somewhat more calme then they were afore This is a very sure and a great hauen so called of an Islande of the same name whereof wee shall speake hereafter I told you before there were two courses of sayling from the Islands of Capo verde to Loanda the one of thē is now declared which beeing neuer vsed afterwardes was at the first attempted and performed by the same ship wherein Signor Odoardo went being then guided by Francesco Martinez the kings Pilot a man very greatly experienced in those seas and the first that euer conducted vessell by that way the other is atchieued by passing along the coast of the firme lande From the Island of San Iacomo they come to Capo dos Palmas and from thence direct themselues to the Islande of San Thomas which lyeth vnder the Equinoctial so called because it was discouered vpon that day wherein the feast of that Apostle is vsed to bee celebrated It is distant from the firme lande CLxxx myles right against the riuer called Gaban which is so termed because it is in shape very like to that kinde of vesture that it is called a Gaban or a cloake The hauen thereof is fore-closed with an Island that raiseth it selfe in the chanell of the riuer whereunto the Portingalles do sayle with small barkes from S. Thomas Islande carrying thether such thinges as vsually they carry to the coast of Guinea and from thence carrying backe with them Iuory waxe hony Oyle of Palme and blacke-More slaues Neere to the Islande of S. Thomas towardes the the North lyeth another Islande called the Isle of the Prince distant from the firme lande an hundred and fiue miles being of the same condition and trafficke that the Isle of S. Thomas is although in circuite somewhat lesse This Islande of S. Thomas is in fashion almost rounde and in breadth contayneth Lx. miles and in compasse Clxxx. Very rich it is and of great trafficke discouered at the first and conquered by the Portingalles at such time as they began the conquest of the Indies It hath diuers hauens but the principal and chiefest of all whereinto the vesselles arriuing there doe withdraw themselues is in the place where the Cittie standeth The Islande breedeth an infinite deale of Sugar almost all kinds of victuals In the Citty there are some Churches and a Bishoppe with many Clerks and one Chaplen or Prieste There is also a Castell with a garrison and Artillary in it which beat vpon the hauen being a very great and a safe Port where many shippes may ride But a very straunge and admirable thing it is that when the Portugals did first come thether there was no sugar there planted but they brought it thether from other Countreys as they did Ginger also which tooke roote grew there in most aboundant manner The soyle in deed is moyst and as it were appropriated to foster the Sugar Cane which without any other watering multiplyeth of it selfe and fructifieth infinitely the reason whereof is because the dewe falleth there like rayne and moisteneth the earth There are in this Island aboue Lxx. houses or presses for making of Sugar and euery presse hath many cottages about it as though it were a village there may bee about some three hundred persons that are appointed for that kinde of worke They do euery yeare loade about fortie great shippes with sugar True it is indeed that not long ago the wormes as it were a plague to that land haue deuoured the rootes of the Canes and destroyed the fruites of their sugar in such sort as now of the forty shippes they do not load aboue fiue or sixe vessels with that marchandise And therevpon it commeth that sugar is growen so deare in those Countreyes The Island of S. Thomas holdeth trafficke with the people that dwell in the firme lande which do vsually resort to the mouthes or entries of their Riuers The first whereof to begin withal is named the riuer of Fernando di Poo that is to say of Fernando Pouldre who did first discouer the same and lieth in fiue degrees towardes our Pole Right against the mouth of it ryseth an Island of the same name lying thirty and sixe miles distant from it The seconde Riuer is called Bora that is to say Filth The thirde La riuiera del Campo The fourth di San Benedetto and the fifth that of Angra which in the mouth of it hath an Islande called di Corisco that is to say Thonder All these doe
marchants shippe the Negroes goe forth with their boates to fetch them and to take the oyle out of them which being mingled with pitch they vse to trimme their vessels withall Vpon the ridges or backes of these creatures there growe many Shelfishes made like Snailes Cockles and Whelkes whereof Signor Odoardo affirmed that hee had seene great store He was also of opinion that Amber commeth not from these fishes For ouer all the coast of Congo where there is an infinite number of them you shal not finde either Ambregriz or any other Amber blacke or white in any place And yet if it should come from these creatures there must haue beene of necessity great store of it founde vpon these Shores The principall hauen of this Island hath his entrance towardes the North and on that side it is halfe a mile broade and of a very great depth Vpon the firme land directly ouer against the Island is a towne called villa di San Paulo altogether inhabited with Portingalles and their wiues which they brought with them out of Spaine and yet it is not fortified All this channell is very full of fish especially of Sardinaes and of Anchioues whereof there is so great store that in the winter time they will of themselues leape vp to land Other kindes of most excellent fishes there are as Soles and Sturgeons and Barbelles and all manner of dainty fish and great Crabbes in straunge aboundance and all very wholesome so that the greatest parte of the people that dwel about the banks there do liue vpon them Into this channell runneth the Riuer called Bengo which is a very great one nauigable vpwardes xxv miles This Riuer with that other of Coanza whereof I tolde you before doe make the Isle of Loanda because when their waters do meete together they leaue their sande and filth behind them and so increase the Island There runneth also into it another great Riuer called Dande which wil receiue vessels of an hundred tunne then another Riuer called Lemba which neither hath Hauen neyther do any Shippes enter into it Very neere vnto this there is also another Riuer called Ozone which issueth out of the same Lake whence Nilus likewise springeth and it hath a hauen Next to Ozone there is another called Loze without any hauen and then another great one with a hauen called Ambriz which runneth within foure leagues neere to the Royall Citty of Congo Last of all is the Riuer Lelunda which signifieth a Trowtfish and watereth the rootes of that great hil wheron the pallace of Congo standeth called by the Portingalles the Oteiro This Riuer Lelunda springeth out of the same Lake from whence Coanza issueth and taketh into it by the way another Riuer that commeth from the great Lake and when it doth not raine then you may passe ouer Lelunda on foote because it hath so little store of water in it Next vnto this is the Zaire a huge Riuer and a large and in deed the greatest in all the kingdome of Congo The original of this Riuer commeth out of three Lakes one is the great Lake from whence Nilus springeth the second is the little Lake aboue mentioned and the third is the second great Lake which Nilus engendreth And certainely when you will consider the aboundance of water that is in this Riuer you will say that there was no nede to haue any fewer or lesser springes to make so huge a streame as this carrieth For in the very mouth of it which is the onely entraunce into it the Riuer is 28. myles broad and when it is in the height of his increase he runneth fresh water 40. or 50. miles into the sea and sometimes 80. so that the passengers doe refresh themselues withal by the troublesomnes of the water they know the place where they are It is nauigable vpwardes with great barkes about 25. miles vntill you come to a certaine straite betweene the rockes where it falleth with such a horrible noise that it may be hearde almost 8. miles And this place is called by the Portingalles Cachiuera that is to say a Fall or a Cataracte like to the Cataractes of Nilus Betweene the mouth of this Riuer and the fall thereof there are diuers great Islands well inhabited with townes and Lordes obedient to the king of Congo which sometimes for the great enmitie that is among them doo warre one against another in certaine boates hollowed out of a stocke of a tree which is of an vnmesurable bignes these boats they call Lungo The greatest boates that they haue are made of a certaine tree called Licondo which is so great that sixe men cannot compasse it with their armes and is in length of proportion aunswerable to the thicknesse so that one of them will carrie about 200. persons They rowe these boates with their oares which are not tyed to any loopes but they holde them at libertie in their handes and moue the water therewith at pleasure Euery man hath his oare and his bowe and when they fight together they lay downe their oare and take their bowe Neyther do they vse any other Rudders to turne and gouerne their boates but onely their oares The first of these Islandes which is but a little one is called the Isle of Horses because there are bredde and brought vp in it great store of those creatures that the Greekes call Hippopotami that is to say Water-horses In a certaine village within this Islande doe the Portingals dwel hauing withdrawen themselues thether for their better securitie They haue their vesselles to transporte them ouer the water to the firme lande vpon the south banke of the Riuer which lande is called the hauen of Pinda where many shippes doe ryde that arriue therein In this Riuer there are liuing diuerse kinds of creatures and namely mighty great Crocodiles which the Countrey people there call Caiman and Water-horses aboue named And another kind of creature that hath as it were two hands and a taile like a Target which is called Ambize Angulo that is to say a Hogge-fishe because it it as fat as a Porke The flesh of it is very good and thereof they make Larde and so keepe it neyther hath it the sauour or taste of a fish although it bee a fishe It neuer goeth out from the fresh water but feedeth vpon the grasse that groweth on the banks hath a mouth like the mozell of an Oxe There are of these fishes that weigh 500. poundes a peece The fishermen vse to take them in their little boates by marking the places where they feed and then with their hookes and forkes striking and wounding them they drawe them dead forth of the water and when they haue cut them in peeces they carry them to the king For who soeuer doth not so encurreth the penaltie of death and so doe they likewise that
trauell out of India to Europe are constrained of necessitie to touch at Mozambique to furnish themselues with victuailes This Island when the Portingalles discouered India was the first place where they learned the language of the Indians prouided themselues of Pilots to direct them in their course The people of this kingdome are Gentiles Rusticall and rude they be of colour blacke They go all naked They are valiaunt and stronge Archers and cunning Fishers with all kinde of hookes As you go on forwardes vpon the foresaide coasts there is another Islande called Quiloa in quantitie not great but in excellency singular For it is situate in a very coole and fresh ayre It is replenished with trees that are alwaies greene and affordeth all varietie of victuailes It lyeth at the mouth of the Riuer Coauo which springeth out of the same Lake from whence Nilus floweth and so runneth about sixtie miles in length till it commeth neere to the sea and there it hath a mightie streame and in the very mouth of it maketh a great Islande which is peopled with Mahometans and Idolaters and a little beyonde that towardes the Coast on the West you may see the said Island of Quiloa This Islande is inhabited with Mahometans also which are of colour something whitish They are well apparelled trimly adorned with cloth of silke and Cotton Their women do vse ornaments of Gold and Iewelles about their handes and their neckes and haue good store of houshold stuffe made of siluer They are not altogether so black as the men are and in their limmes they are very well proportioned Their houses are made of Stone and Lime Timber very well wrought and of good architecture with gardens and orchardes full of hearbes and sundry fruites Of this Islande the whole Kingdome tooke the name which vppon the Coast extendeth it selfe from Capo Delgado the Cape Delicate that bordereth Mozambique Quiloa is situate in nine degrees towards the South from thence it runneth out vnto the aforesaide Riuer of Coauo In olde time the Kingdome of Quiloa was the chiefest of all the Principalities there adioyning and stoode neere to the sea but when the Portingalles arriued in those countries the King trusted so much to himselfe that he thought he was able with his owne forces not onely to defend himselfe against them but also to driue them from those places which they had already surprised Howbeit the matter fell out quite contrary For when it came to weapons hee was vtterly ouerthrowen and discomfited by the Portingals and so fled away But they tooke and possessed the Island and enriched themselues with the great spoyles and booties that they found therein They erected there also a Fortresse which was afterwarde pulled downe by the commandement of the King of Portingall because hee thought it not necessary considering that there were others sufficient enough for that Coast. And here we may not leaue behinde vs the Isle of S. Laurence so called by the Portingalles because they did first discouer it vpon that Martyrs feast day It is so great that it contayneth in length almost a thousande miles and standeth right ouer against the coast which we haue described beginning directly at the mouthes of the Riuer Magnice which are in twenty and sixe degrees of the South and so going forwardes to the North it endeth right against the mouthes of Cuama in the kingdome of Quiloa Between this Island and the firme lande there is as it were a channell which at the entrie Westwarde is three hundred and fortie miles broade in the middest where it is narrowest ouer against the Islande of Mozambiche an hundred and seuentie miles and for the rest it enlargeth it selfe very much towards India and contayneth many Isles within it The ships that go from Spaine into India or returne from India to Spaine doo alwayes for the most parte passe and saile in and through this channell if by time or weather they be not forced to the contrary And surely this Islande deserueth to be inhabited with a better people because it is furnished with singular commodities For it hath many safe sure hauens It is watred with sundry Riuers that cause the earth to bring forth fruits of diuers kinds as Pulse and Ryce and other graine Oranges Limons Citrons and such like fruite Flesh of all sorts as Hennes c. and venison as wilde Boare and Deere and such like all this of a very good tast and relish because the soyle is very fat their fish also is exceeding good The inhabitants are Pagans with some of the sect of Mahomet among them They are of the colour which the Spaniardes call Mulato betweene blacke and white Very warlicke they are giuen to their weapons which are bowes and arrows and dartes of very light wood strengthned with Iron whereof they make the heads of their dartes which are crooked like hookes and these they wil cast and throw most slightly and cunningly They vse also Targattes and Iackes that are made of certain beasts-skins wherewith they saue themselues in fight from the blowes of their enemies This Islande is deuided among seueral Princes that are at enmitie one with another for they are in continuall warres and persecute one another with Armes There are diuers mynes of Gold of Siluer of Copper of Iron and of other Mettalles The sauage people doo not vse to saile out of the Island but onely from one side to the other they goe coasting along the shoares with certaine barks that are made but of one stocke of a tree which they hollowe for that purpose The most part of them doo not willingly entertaine straungers neyther will they consent that they shoulde trafficke or conuerse with them Notwithstanding in certaine portes the Portingalles do vse to trade with the Islanders for Amber Waxe Siluer Copper Ryse and such other thinges but they neuer come vpon the lande In the channell before mentioned there are diuers Islandes some greater and some lesse inhabited with Mahometans The chiefe of them is the Isle of Saint Christopher and then of Santo Spirito another called Magliaglie and so the rest as the Isles of Comoro Anzoame Maiotto and some other But let vs returne to the sea side and prosecute the Coast of the kingdome of Quiloa where we leaft Next vnto it is the kingdome of Mombaza in the height of three degrees and a halfe towardes the South which taketh the name from an Islande inhabited with Mahometans which is also called Mombaza where there is a fayre Cittie with houses that haue many Sollers furnished with pictures both grauen and painted The king thereof is a Mahometan who taking vpon him to resist the Portingalles receyued the same successe that happened to the king of Quiloa so that the city was ransacked spoyled by his enemies who found therein good store of Gold and Siluer and Pearle and Cloth of Cotton
the Kingdome of Angola for by that way they must afterwardes returne then they come to the altitude of betweene xxvij and xxix degrees beyond the equinoctiall quite opposite to our Pole which South Pole in this writing shall be called the Antarctike that is to say contrary to the Arctike which is our North Pole and so the Antarctik is opposite thereunto towardes the South In that altitude then of the contrary Pole the Saylers vse to meete with certaine windes that they cal Generali which doe blowe there almost all our Sommer and are termed by them Northeast and Northeastes in the plural number and by vs Italians Li venti dal Graeco that is to say the windes betweene the Northeast and the Easte in the spring time which peraduenture the Venetians in their proper speech doe call Leuantiere that is to say easterly the Greekes and Latines terme them Etesii that is to say such winds as euery yeare do ordinarily blow in their certayne and accustomed seasons And thus sayling euen to xxix degrees of the Antarctik with the North winde there falleth out an admirable effect For diuers saylers perceyuing the first Generall windes when they blowe doe straight turne their sailes about and set their fore-ship directly on the way to Angola and so very oftentimes they fayle and are deceyued But better it is for him that desireth to arriue at his wished hauen to go much further to expect a lustie winde and after to returne backwarde wherin it is to be noted for a most memorable accidēt that the windes do blow very strong from the North euen vnto xxix degrees beyond the Equinoctiall and then they meete with other winds which being more fierce furious then they are doe driue them backe againe And this is vsuall and seasonable there for sixe monethes in the yeare Now the ship called S. Anthony holding on his foresaid course met with the said Generall windes then turned their prowe and their sayles by North and by Northwest on the right hand towardes the kingdome of Congo And sayling onwardes closely with the halfe shippe they came in twelue dayes and twelue nightes to the Islande of S. Elena not looking for the same nor thinking of it This Islande was so called because on the feast day of S. Helene which falleth vppon the thirde day of May it was by the Portugalles first descried And as it is very smal so is it as it were singular by it selfe for being situate in the height of xvi degrees towardes the Antarctike it contayneth in compasse nine miles about is farre distant from the firme land As you sayle by sea it may be discouered thirty myles of through certayne hilles and it is a great miracle of nature that in so vnmeasurable an Ocean being all alone and so little as it is it shoulde arise as it were out of a most tempestuous and deep sea yet yeeld a most safe harborough and most aboundant store of reliefe and victuaile for shippes that are forewearied and ready to perishe for thirst which come out of the Indies The woodes of it are very thicke and full of Ebene trees whereof the Mariners do builde their boates In the barkes of these trees you may see written the names of an infinite number of Saylers which passing by that Islande doe leaue their names cut and carued in the sayde barkes the letters whereof doe grow greater and greater as the bodies of the trees doe waxe greater in bignes The soyle euen of it selfe bringeth forth very excellent fruites For there groweth the vine which was in deede at the first brought thether by the Portugalles and especially in the arbours and walkes that are about the little Church and in the lodgings that are there for such as sayle thether You shall see there also huge wild woodes of Orenges of Citrones of Limons and other such Apple trees that all the yeare long doe carry flowers fruites both ripe and vnripe And likewise Pomegranates great and sweete and of a good indifferent taste with kernelles great and redde and ful of pleasant iuyce and the stones within them very smal and ripe they are at all seasons of the yeare as the Orenges are and figges very great both in quantity and aboundance which naturall gift and property of being ripe all the yeare long Homere noted to bee in diuers fruites of the Isle of Corfu Ouer all the countrey they take Goates and wilde Kiddes that are very good to eate and Boares and other foure-footed beasts and Partriches and wild hens and Pigeons and other kindes of foules both great small All which beastes and fowles are so secure and so tame that they feare not a man because they doe not know in what daunger they are to be killed So that the people which dwell there doo take of them dayly and poulder them with salte that is congealed on the banks of the Islande in certaine caues and holes of the rockes that are naturally made hollow and eaten by the waues of the sea And the flesh thereof being thus preserued they giue to the Saylers that arriue at the Island The earth is as it were crommeled like ashes of colour redde very fat and fruitfull beyond measure and so soft as if ye treade on it with your foote it will sinke like sande and the very trees will shake with the force of a man And therefore it needeth no labour or tillage for when it raigneth the fruites doe presently spring vp out of the olde seede It beareth rootes of Radish as bigge as a mans legge and very good to eate There growe also Colewortes and Parsley and Lettise and Goordes and Chiche-person and Faselles and other kindes of Pulse naturally which being ripe doo fall into the fruitfull grounde and multiply of themselues and spring agayne without any tilling Euery shippe that commeth thether bringeth with it some fruyte or garden hearbe which being planted taketh roote presently and bountifull nature yeeldeth a courteous rewarde and vsury by reseruing the fruite thereof for the Saylers when the ship returneth againe There are certaine little Riuers in this Islande that runne in diuerse partes of it whose water is good and wholesome and wherein are sundry safe places for ships to ryde in as if they were hauens But the principall of them is in a place where they haue erected a little Church wherein are kept the ornamentes of the Altar and the priestes vestimentes and other necessaries for Masse And when shippes passe that way the Religious persons go downe vnto them to celebrate diuine seruice There is also in the same place a little cottage wherein for the most parte some Portingalles doo remayne sometimes three sometimes two yea and sometimes but one alone being left there eyther by reason of some infirmitie or for some offence committed or else euen voluntarily because they doe desire by this meanes to leade the
planted the christian religion in the Kingdome of Congo and thereupon the king of Congo became a Christian. After which time the Lorde of Angola was alwaies in amitie and as it were a vassall of the forenamed King of Congo and the people of both countries did trafficke together one with another and the Lord of Angola did euery yeare sende some presents to the king of Congo And by licence from the King of Congo there was a great trade betweene the Portingalles and the people of Angola at the hauen of Loanda where they bought slaues and chaunged them for other marchaundises and so transported all into the Isle of Sainte Thomas Whereby it came to passe that the trafficke was heere vnited with the trafficke of S. Thomas so that the shippes did vse first to arriue at that Islande and then afterwarde passed ouer to Loanda And when this trade began in processe of time to increase they dispatched their shippes from Lisbone to Angola of themselues and sent with them a Gouernour called Paulo Diaz of Nouais to whome this busines did as it were of right appertaine in regarde of the good desertes of his auncesters who first discouered this trafficke To this Paulo Diaz did Don Sebastiano King of Portingale graunt leaue and authority to conquere for the space of xxxiij leagues vpwardes along the coast beginning at the Riuer Coanza towards the South and within the lande also whatsoeuer hee coulde get towardes all his charges for him and his heyres With him there went many other shippes that opened and found out a great trade with Angola which notwithstanding was directed to the foresaide hauen of Loanda where the saide shippes did still discharge themselues And so by little little he entred into the firme land made himselfe a house in a certain village called Anzelle within a mile neer to the riuer Coanza because it was the more commodious nigher to the trafficke of Angola When the trade here beganne thus to increase and marchaundises were freely caried by the Portingales the people of Congo to Cabazo a place belonging to the Lorde of Angola and distant from the sea 150. miles there to sell and barter them it pleased his Lordship to giue out order that all the Marchants should be slaine and their goods confiscated alleadging for his defence that they were come thether as spies and to take possession of his estate but in truth it is thought that hee did it onely to gaine all that wealth to himselfe considering that it was a people that did not deale in the habite of warriours but after the manner of Marchants And this fell out in the same yeare that the King Don Sebastiano was discomfited in Barbarie When Paulo Diaz vnderstoode of this course he put himselfe in armes against the King of Angola and with such a troupe of Portingals as he could gather together that were to bee founde in that countrey and with two Gallies and other vessels which he kept in the riuer Coanza he went forwarde on both sides of the riuer conquering and by force subdued many Lords and made them his frendes and subiectes But the king of Angola perceyuing that his vassalles had yeelded to the obedience of Paulo Diaz and that with all prosperous successe he had gayned much land vpon him he assembled a great army to go against him and so vtterly to destroy him Whereupon Paulo Diaz requested the King of Congo that he woulde succour him with some helpe to defende himselfe withall who presently sent vnto him for aid an army of 60 thousand men vnder the conduct of his cosin Don Sebastiano Manibamba and another captayne with 120. Portingale souldiers that were in those countryes and all of his owne pay for the atchieuing of this enterprise This army was to ioyne with Paulo Diaz and so altogether to warre against the King of Angola but arriuing at the shoare where they were to passe ouer the riuer Bengo within 12. miles of Loāda where they shoulde haue met with many barkes to carry the Campe to the other shore partly because the said barks had slacked their cōming partly because much time wold haue been spent in transporting so many men the whole armie tooke their way quite ouer the riuer and so going on forwardes they met with the people of the King of Angola that were ready to stoppe the souldiers of Congo from entering vpon their Countrey The military order of the Mociconghi for by that terme we do call the naturall borne people of the kingdome of Congo as wee call the Spaniardes those that are naturally borne in Spaine and the military order of the people of Angola is almost all one For both of them doo vsually fight on foote and diuide their armie into seuerall troupes fitting themselues according to the situation of the field where they doo incampe aduancing their ensignes and banners in such sort as before is remembrd The remoues of their armie are guided and directed by certaine seuerall soundes and noyses that proceede from the Captayne Generall who goeth into the middest of the Armie and there signifieth what is to bee put in execution that is to say eyther that they shall ioyne battell or els retyre or put on forward or turne to the right hand and to the leaft hand or to performe any other warlick action For by these seueral sounds distinctly deliuered frō one to another they doe all vnderstande the commandementes of their Captayne as we heere among vs doo vnderstande the pleasure of our Generall by the sundrie stroakes of the Drumme and the Captaines soundes of the Trompet Three principall soundes they haue which they vse in warre One which is vttered aloude by great Rattles fastned in certaine woodden cases hollowed out of a tree and couered with leather which they strike with certaine little handles of Iuory Another is made by a certaine kinde of instrument fashioned like a Pyramis turned vpwarde for the lower ende of it is sharpe and endeth as it were in a point and the vpper end waxeth broader broader like the bottom of a Triangle in such sort that beneath they are narrow like an Angle aboue they are large and wide This instrument is made of certayne thinne plates of iron which are hollowe and empty within and very like to a bell turned vp side downe They make them ring by striking them with woodden wandes and oftentimes they do also cracke them to the ende that the sound should be more harsh horrible and warlicke The thirde instrument is framed of Elephants teeth some great and some small hollowe within and blowen at a certaine hole which they make on the side of it in manner of the Fife and not aloft like the Pipe These are tempered by them in such sort that they yeelde as warlicke and harmonious musicke as the Cornet doth and so pleasant and iocund a noyse that it moueth and
them and dresse them and to make them fit for vse to the end hee might employ them for Armour of defence And yet those nations doo already vse them for shieldes and Targats and do find that they will resist the blowe of a weapon and especially the shot of an Arrow They kill them with Arcubuses and with arrowes But if they doe espy the huntsman they wil set vpon him and being by nature very fierce and couragious they will so knocke him and thumpe him with their feete and their Muzzle because they cannot do him any harme with their hornes that they wil leaue him either halfe deade or starke dead There is also an infinite number of wilde Buffes that go wandring about the deserts in the kingdoms of the Anzichi and wilde Asses likewise which the Greekes call Onagri There are besides these other beasts called Empalanga which are in bignesse and shape like Oxen sauing that they holde their necke and heade aloft and haue their hornes broade and crooked three handbreadthes long diuided into knots and sharp at the endes whereof they might make very faire Cornets to sound withall and although they liue in the forrests yet are they not noysome nor harmefull The skinnes of their neckes are vsed for shoo-soles and their flesh for meate They might likewise bee brought to drawe the plough and doo good seruice in any other labour and tilling of the ground Moreouer they feed great heards of Kine and tame Oxen tame Hogges and wilde Boares flockes of Sheepe and Goates Signor Odoardo affirmed that the Goates and the Sheepe doo bring forth two and three foure lambes or kids at a time and two when they haue fewest and neuer one alone at any time And because their pasture is so fat they do all sucke and milke their owne dammes which hee proued himselfe to be true in his owne house where hee had very great store of that Cattell There are Wolues also which loue the oyle of Palmes beyonde all measure and haue a great sent a propertie that Virgile attributeth to Dogges Odora Canum vis The smelling sent of Dogges They will smell this oyle a farre off and steale it in the night time out of their houses of strawe and sometimes from those that carry it by the way whiles the poore soules doe rest themselues and sleepe The oyle as shall be tolde you is made of the Palme tree it is thicke and harde like Butter And it is a maruell to see how these Wolues do take a bottle that is full of this liquor betweene their teeth so cast it on their shoulders and run away withall as our Wolues here doo with a Sheepe There are very great store of Foxes that steale Hennes as our Foxes doo And further in this country of Bamba there is an innumerable quantity of hunting game as Stagges Fallow-Deere Roebucks and Gazelles whereof he affirmed that he had seene exceeding great heardes as also of Conies and Hares because there were no hunters to kill them In the Region of Pemba there are many wilde Ciuet-Cattes which the Portingales call Algazia and some of these the people of that countrey had made tame that they might inioy their Ciuet in the smell whereof they doo greatly delight But this was before the Portingals did trafficke with those Countryes And in Manibatta there are caught many Sables with very white hayres and exceeding fine called Incire but no man may weare these skinnes vnlesse the Prince permit him so to do for it is helde in great estimation and euery Sable is worth a slaue Towardes the Anzichi they catch Marterns also wherewith they apparrell themselues as in due place we will note vnto you Apes Monkeyes and such other kinde of beastes small and great of all sortes there are many in the Region of Sogno that lyeth vpon the Riuer Zaire Some of them are very pleasant and gamesome and make good pastime and are vsed by the Lordes there for their recreation and to shew them sport For although they be vnreasonable Creatures yet will they notably counterfait the countenances the fashions the actions of men In euery one of these Regions abouenamed there are some of the aforesaid Creatures in some places mo and in some places fewer Of Adders and Snakes in these countries there breedeth a certaine kinde that in respect of our countryes is very straunge and of an excessiue greatnesse For you shall finde some that are xxv spanne long and fiue span broade and the bellie and the mouth so large that they can swallow and receiue into their bellie a whole Stag or any other creature of that bignesse And it is called that is to say a great Water-Adder It wil go forth of the water vp to the land to prey for his victuails and then returne into the riuers againe and so it liueth in both the Elements It wil get it self vp vpon the bows braunches of trees and there watch the cattell that feed thereaboutes which when they are come neere vnto it presently it will fall vpon them and wind it selfe in many twines about them and clappe his tayle on their hinder partes and so it strayneth them and biteth so many holes in them that at last it killeth them And then it draweth them into some woode or other solitary place where it deuoureth them at pleasure skinne hornes hooffes and all Now it falleth out that when it is thus full and as it were great with so monstrous a meale it becommeth almost drunke very sleepie so that any child may kil it And in this sort wil it remaine full satisfied for the space of 5. or 6. daies together then returne againe to prey These Adders do change their skinnes in their ordinarie seasons yea and sometimes after they haue eaten so monstrously and the said sloughes when they are found are gathered vp and reserued for a shew of so vnmeasurable a Creature These Adders are also greatly esteemed by the Pagan Negroes for they do vse to rost them and eate them for meat make more account of them then they doo of Hennes or any such delicate flesh They find great store of them when they haue occasion to burne their thicke woods for there they shall haue them lying on the ground rosted with the fire Besides these there are Vipers also well knowne vnto that people Which Vipers are so venemous that such as are bitten by them doe die within the space of xxiiii houres But the Negroes are acquainted with certaine hearbes that will heale their woundes There are also certaine other Creatures which being as big as Rams haue wings like Dragons with long tailes and long chappes and diuerse rowes of teeth feede vpon raw flesh Their colour is blew and greene their skinne bepaynted like scales and two feete they haue but no more The Pagan Negroes do vse to worshippe them as Goddes and at
him a competent number of Confessors and Preachers that might bee sufficient to maintaine the Gospell in those remote Countries being but lately conuerted to Christianitie Moreouer that he should shew vnto him the sundrie trialles of Mettalles which hee had made and many other matters which were worthie to bee knowen and withall that he should proffer vnto him in his name free liberal trafficke of them which heretofore was euer denyed to his Predecessors Touching the Pope That he should likewise on his behalfe kisse his feete deliuer vnto him his letters and recount the miserable trouble and detriment that his people had suffered for the Christian Faith That he shold recōmend those poor soules to his Holines beseech him as the Vniuersal Father of all Christians to haue compassion vpon so many faithful persons who because they had no Priestes to deliuer the holy Faith vnto them and to administer the wholesome Sacramentes were by little and little falling into euerlasting perdition And being thus dispatched he departed from the Court and went about certaine seruices for the King wherein he spent about eyght Monethes So that in Ianuary being then Sommer time in Congo he embarked himselfe in a vessell of a hundred Tunne burthen which was bound with her lading for Lisbone Now as he sayled he came to the sea of the Islands of Cape Verde where the vessell being somewhat olde began to take in much water at a leake that was open in the foreship So that the wind blowing very lustely and strongely before and the Saylers being not able eyther to reach the Islandes aforesaid or to gayne the firme lande of Africa much lesse though they woulde neuer so fayne to follow on their voyage by sayling on with the halfe ship and to straine the vessel that leaked so much the Pilot thought it better to turne his course and taking the wind in the poope to goe saue themselues in the Islandes of Noua Hispania And so after terrible stormes and extreame dangers of drowning and of perishing with hunger for want of all kinde of meate they arriued with much adoo at a little Islande called Cubagoa and situate ouer against the Isle of Saynt Margarete where they fish for Pearles From thence when they had in some haste amended their shippe and somewhat refreshed themselues they sayled with a short cut to the firme lande and tooke hauen in a Porte called Cumana or as it is called by another name The new kingdome of Granado in the West Indies This battered and wetherbeaten vessell was no sooner arriued in this safe harbour but it sunke presently to the bottome but the persons that were in her were all saued although afterwardes they fell sicke to the death by reason of the great griefe which they had endured in hunger in thirst and in want of all other sustenance and chiefly by the horrible stormes of that tempestuous Ocean While the foresaide Embassadour endeauoured in this place to recouer his former health the company of shippes which is called La Flotta that is to say the Fleete and vseth euery yeare to sayle from the coast for Castile departed from thence so that he was constrayned to stay for a new Nauie and so consumed a whole yeare and a halfe without doing any good In this meane time the King of Congo hauing neuer receyued any tydinges of this his Embassadour Odoardo but accounting him for dead and not knowing that he was driuen by tempest into the West Indies continued still constant in his former purpose to procure some remedy for Christianitie in his kingdome And therefore hee sent another Embassadour with the selfe same commandements called Don Piedro Antonio the seconde person in all his Realme and with him one Gasparo Diaz a Portingall borne a principall man and very rich and an auncient inhabitant in that Countrey to the ende that hee shoulde accompany the saide Don Piedro and suffer him to want nothing and in any case ioyne his good helpe to procure that the request which he hoped to obtain of the king of Spaine might be fully effected with a further expresse commandement that if they did meete with the saide Signor Odoardo they should deale in their businesse with his aduise counsell But an infortunate end had this Embassadour for he was taken at sea by Englishmen and his shippe also which being drawen towardes Englande when it was neere vnto the Coast by great misfortune it ranne athwart the shoare ane there Don Piedro Antonio his sonne were both drowned but the Portingal and some fewe others with him escaped and arriued in Spaine at such time as the said Odoardo was come to the Court had entred vppon the charge of his Embassage And therefore this Gasparo wrote to Odoardo that hee was minded to returne home into Congo and not to goe to the Court at all whether it were for the death of the Cardinall or for any other respect I cannot tell but home he returned in deed as he said he would In the time that our Signor Odoardo remained in the West India which is situate vnder the same skie and vnder the same climate and of the same temperature of ayre that Congo is subiect vnto hee noted that the colour of the skinnes of the inhabitants in both countries was farre different For in Congo they are generally and for the most parte blacke and in India almost white that is to say of a middle colour betweene white and blacke which the Spaniardes call Mulato Browne or Darke-Tawney Whereby he would signifie that it is not caused by the Sunne as it hath beene recorded of long time but that it commeth of nature it selfe who worketh it by some secreat reason which neuer yet to this day eyther by auncient Philosopher or new writer hath beene fully set downe or vnderstoode When he had recouered his health he sayled to the Porte of the Cittie of San Domingo in the Island of Hispaniola that there at the first passage he might take some shippe that went towardes Castilia and by good chaunce he found a Portingall vessell among the rest of the Nauie which was minded to ioyne with the Fleete of shippes that passed from the firme lande to Castilia and so to goe in good companie and better safetie All these shippes being thus vnited together they arriued by the helpe of a very good winde at Terzera which is one of the Islandes called Azores that is to say the Sparre-Haukes and from thence to San Lucar di Barameda which is a hauen in the mouth of the Riuer Guadalchibir and so to Siuile from whence he tooke his iourney into Portingall to see his frendes and to furnish himselfe with all thinges necessarie for his businesse and at the last hee rode to the Court which was at that time in Madrill There hee was courteously entertained by his Catholike Maiestie to whom he propounded the contents of
is the distance of an hundred miles contayning the largenesse and breadth of this famous Cape which being deuided into two points as it were into two hornes it maketh a Gulfe where sometimes the Portingall shippes doe take fresh water in the Riuer that they call the Sweet Riuer The inhabitantes of this coast which dwell betweene these two points are of colour blacke although the Pole Antarctike in that place be in the eleuation of thirtie and fiue degrees which is a very strange thing yea the rude people that liue among the most colde mountains of the Moone are blacke also This I write of purpose to aduise and moue the Philosophers and such as search the effectes of nature that they would fall into their deepe contemplation and speculation therevpon teach vs whether this blacke colour be occasioned by the Sunne or by any other secrete and vnknowne cause Which question I for this time doe meane to leaue vndecided Now forasmuch as this Promontory of Good-Hope is the greatest Cape of all and stretcheth out into the Sea farther then any other in the whole vniuersall worlde and is very daungerous to passe as all Promontories are and for that also the sea is there most terrible and from the lande there blow most horrible winds which cause that Ocean to be exceedingly tempestuous and stormie so that many Portingall shippes of admirable burthens haue beene cast away therein and lastly because the auncient Historiographers did neuer knowe it no not so much as by hearesay and it is not long ago since the King of Portingalles Fleetes did first discouer the same It shal not be impertinent but rather a matter of great conuenience in this place to decipher the measure thereof to make so manifest a declaration of it as may serue also to vnderstande how great the nauigation is from Portingall into India by compassing the Coast of the Cape of Good-Hope onely almost the space of sixe thousande miles as a little hereafter it shall be shewed vnto you For from the Riuer of Ferdinando Poo where the said Cape beginneth to iut-out into the sea as farre as to the Poynt which we call the Point of Needles there is contayned vpon the shoare more then two thousande and 200. myles from the North to the South and on the contrary side from the said Point to the Cape of Guarda-Fuy right ouer against the Islande of Socotora they reckon more then three thousande and three hundred miles by the coast from the South to the North. So that from Lisbone compassing about the shoares of Africa and all the Cape of Good-Hope vnto the kingdome of Goa there are moe then fifteene thousand miles And from thence afterwardes to Malaca and to China and so forwardes there remayneth so long a iourney that neuer yet in any time hetherto hath there beene so great and so daungerous a nauigation vndertaken and performed as this of the Portingalles neyther with great vesselles nor with small It is called the Cape of Good-Hope because all such as saile that way aswell in going forth as in returning home doo especially principally ayme at this marke that they may passe and get beyonde this Promontorie which when they haue doone they account themselues to bee out of all daunger and as it were to haue performed their iourney And vpon this their generall desire they gaue it the name of the Cape of Good-Hope Nowe to returne to our purpose and to talke further of the Coast of Africa beyonde the Cape or Poynt of the Needelles there are many competent harboroughes and hauens the principall whereof is Seno Formoso The faire Bay and Seno del Lago The Bay of the Lake For there the sea maketh a certaine Gulfe wherein are sundry Islandes and Portes and somewhat beyonde there runneth into the sea the Riuer of S. Christopher and at the mouth thereof there lye three prettie Islettes A little further forwardes the Coast runneth all along by a Countrey which the Portingalles call Terra do Natal the Land of the Natiuitie because it was first discouered at Christmasse and so reacheth to the Cape called Della Pescheria Betweene which Cape and the Riuer Magnice within the Land is the Kingdome of Buttua whose Territories are from the rootes or bottome of the mountaines of the Moone vntill you come to the riuer Magnice towards the North where the countrey of Monomotapa standeth and westwardes from the Riuer Brauagul towardes the sea all along the bankes of the Riuer Magnice In this kingdome there are many mynes of Golde and a people that is of the same qualities and conditions that the people of Monomotapa is as hereafter shall bee shewed vnto you And so going along the shores of the Ocean you come to the Riuer Magnice which lyeth in the very entraunce of the Kingdome of Sofala and the Empire of Monomotapa Chap. 9. Of the Kingdome of Sofala THis Kingdome beginneth at the Riuer Magnice which springeth out of the first Lake of Nilus and conueyeth it selfe into the sea in the middest of the Bay betweene the point Pescheria and the Cape called Capo delle Correnti situate in twentie and three degrees a halfe of the Pole Antarctik vnder the Tropike of Capricorne With this Riuer neere vnto the sea there ioyne three other notable riuers the principall whereof is by the Portingalles called Saynt Christophers because vpon the day of that Saintes feast it was first discouered but by the inhabitantes it is named Nagoa The second tooke the name of one Lorenzo Margues that first found it These two Riuers do spring originally from the mountains of the Moone so greatly renowned among the auncient writers but by the people of the country they are called Toroa out of which Mountains they did thinke that famous Nilus tooke also his beginning but they were vtterly deceyued For as we haue already tolde you the first Lake ariseth not out of those Mountaines but lyeth a great way distant from it and betweene it and them is there a very great and a huge low plaine Besides that the streames that flow from the said mountaines do runne towardes the East and bestow their waters vpon other great Riuers so that it is not possible for them to passe into the foresaide Lake much lesse into Nilus considering especially that the Riuer Magnice springeth out of that first Lake and by a farre different course from the course of Nilus runneth towards the East and so ioyneth it selfe with the two Riuers aforesaide The thirde is called Arroe and ariseth on another side out of the Mountaines of the Gold-Mines of Monomotapa and in some places of this Riuer there are founde some small peeces of Golde among the sand These three Riuers enter into the great Magnice neere vnto the sea and all fower together doo make there a great water in a very large channell and so dischargeth it selfe into