The Lusiad; Or, The Discovery of India, an Epic Poem
enraged the king against the Portuguese. The king's ships were getting
ready, and a numerous Moorish fleet from Mecca was daily expected. To
delay Gama till this force arrived was the purpose of the Court and of
the Moors, who were now confident of success. To this information
Monzaida added, that the Moors, suspecting his attachment to Gama, had
determined to assassinate him; that he had narrowly escaped from them;
that it was impossible for him to recover his effects, and that his only
hope was in the protection of Gama. Gama rewarded him with the
friendship he merited, took him with him, as he desired, to Lisbon, and
procured him a recompense for his services.
Almost immediately seven boats arrived loaded with the goods, and
demanded the restoration of the captive noblemen. Gama took the goods on
board, but refused to examine if they were entire, and also refused to
deliver the prisoners. He had been promised an ambassador to his
sovereign, he said, but had been so often deluded he could trust such a
faithless people no longer, and would therefore carry away the captives
to convince the King of Portugal what insults and injustice his
ambassador and admiral had suffered from the Zamorim of Calicut. Having
thus dismissed the Indians, he fired his cannon and hoisted his sails. A
calm, however, detained him on the coast some days; and the zamorim,
seizing the opportunity, sent what vessels he could fit out (sixty in
all), full of armed men, to attack him. Though Gama's cannon were well
handled, confident of their numbers, they pressed on to board him, when
a sudden tempest arose, which Gama's ships rode out in safety, miserably
dispersed the Indian fleet, and completed their ruin.
After this victory the admiral made a halt at a little island near the
shore, where he erected a cross,[61] bearing the name and arms of his
Portuguese majesty. From this place, by the hand of Monzaida, he wrote a
letter to the zamorim, wherein he gave a full and circumstantial account
of all the plots of the catual and the Moors. Still, however, he
professed his desire of a commercial treaty, and promised to represent
the zamorim in the best light to Emmanuel. The prisoners, he said,
should be kindly used, were only kept as ambassadors to his sovereign,
and should be returned to India when they were enabled from experience
to give an account of Portugal. The letter he sent by one of the
captives, who by this means obtained his liberty.
The fame of Gama had now spread over the Indian seas, and the Moors were
everywhere intent on his destruction. As he was near the shore of
Anchediva, he beheld the appearance of a floating isle, covered with
trees, advance towards him. But his prudence was not to be thus
deceived. A bold pirate, named Timoja, by linking together eight vessels
full of men and covered with green boughs, thought to board him by
surprise. But Gama's cannon made seven of them fly; the eighth, loaded
with fruits and provision, he took. The beautiful island of Anchediva
now offered a convenient place to careen his ships and refresh his men.
While he stayed here, the first minister of Zabajo, king of Goa, one of
the most powerful princes of India, came on board, and, in the name of
his master, congratulated the admiral in the Italian tongue. Provisions,
arms, and money were offered to Gama, and he was entreated to accept the
friendship of Zabajo. The admiral was struck with admiration; the
address and abilities of the minister appeared so conspicuous. He said
he was an Italian by birth, but in sailing to Greece, had been taken by
pirates, and after various misfortunes, had been necessitated to enter
into the service of a Mohammedan prince, the nobleness of whose
disposition he commended in the highest terms. Yet, with all his
abilities, Gama perceived an artful inquisitiveness--that nameless
something which does not accompany simple honesty. After a long
conference, Gama abruptly upbraided him as a spy, and ordered him to be
put to the torture. And this soon brought a confession, that he was a
Polish Jew by birth, and was sent to examine the strength of the fleet
by Zabajo, who was mustering all his power to attack the Portuguese.
Gama, on this, immediately set sail, and took the spy along with him,
who soon after was baptized, and named Jasper de Gama, the admiral being
his godfather. He afterwards became of great service to Emmanuel.
Gama now stood westward through the Indian Ocean, and after being long
delayed by calms, arrived off Magadoxa, on the coast of Africa. This
place was a principal port of the Moors; he therefore levelled the walls
of the city with his cannon, and burned and destroyed all the ships in
the harbour. Soon after this he descried eight Moorish vessels bearing
down upon him; his artillery, however, soon made them use their oars in
flight, nor could Gama overtake any of them for want of wind. The
hospitable harbour of Melinda was the next place he reached. His men,
almost worn out with fatigue and sickness, here received a second time
every assistance which an accomplished and generous prince could bestow.
And having taken an ambassador on board, he again set sail, in hope that
he might pass the Cape of Good Hope while the favourable weather
continued; for his acquaintance with the eastern seas now suggested to
him that the tempestuous season was periodical. Soon after he set sail
his brother's ship struck on a sand bank, and was burnt by order of the
admiral. His brother and part of the crew he took into his own ship, the
rest he sent on board of Coello's; nor were more hands now alive than
were necessary to man the two vessels which remained. Having taken in
provisions at the island of Zanzibar (where they were kindly entertained
by a Mohammedan prince of the same sect with the King of Melinda), they
safely doubled the Cape of Good Hope on April 26, 1499, and continued
till they reached the island of St. Iago, in favourable weather. But a
tempest here separated the two ships, and gave Gama and Coello an
opportunity to show the goodness of their hearts in a manner which does
honour to human nature.
The admiral was now near the Azores, when Paulus de Gama, long worn with
fatigue and sickness, was unable to endure the motion of the ship.
Vasco, therefore, put into the island of Tercera, in hope of his
brother's recovery. And such was his affection, that rather than leave
him he gave the command of his ship to one of his officers. But the hope
of recovery was vain. John de Sa proceeded to Lisbon with the flag ship,
while the admiral remained behind to soothe the deathbed of his brother,
and perform his funeral rites. Coello, meanwhile, landed at Lisbon, and
hearing that Gama had not arrived, imagined he might either be
shipwrecked or beating about in distress. Without seeing one of his
family he immediately set sail again, on purpose to bring relief to his
friend and admiral. But this generous design was prevented by an order
from the king, ere he got out of the Tagus.
The particulars of the voyage were now diffused by Coello, and the joy
of the king was only equalled by the admiration of the people. Yet,
while all the nation was fired with zeal to express their esteem of the
happy admiral, he himself, the man who was such an enthusiast to the
success of his voyage that he would willingly have sacrificed his life
in India to secure that success, was now in the completion of it a
dejected mourner. The compliments of the Court, and the shouts of the
street, were irksome to him; for his brother, the companion of his toils
and dangers, was not there to share the joy. As soon as he had waited on
the king, he shut himself up in a lonely house near the seaside at
Belem, from whence it was some time ere he was drawn to mingle in public
life.
During this important expedition, two years and almost two months
elapsed. Of 160 men who went out, only 55 returned. These were all
rewarded by the king. Coello was pensioned with 100 ducats a year, and
made a fidalgo, or gentleman of the king's household, a degree of
nobility in Portugal. The title of Don was annexed to the family of
Vasco de Gama. He was appointed admiral of the eastern seas, with an
annual salary of 3000 ducats, and a part of the king's arms was added to
his. Public thanksgivings to Heaven were celebrated throughout the
churches of the kingdom; while feasts, dramatic performances, and
chivalrous entertainments (or tournaments), according to the taste of
that age, demonstrated the joy of Portugal.
Pedro Alvarez Cabral was the second Portuguese admiral who sailed for
India. He entered into alliance with Trimumpara, king of Cochin, and
high priest of Malabar. (See Bk. x. p. 302.)
Gama, having left six ships for the protection of Cochin and Cananor,
had sailed for Portugal with twelve ships, laden with the riches of the
East. As soon as his departure was made known, the zamorim made great
preparations to attack Cochin--a city situated on an island, divided by
an arm of the sea from the main-land. At one part, however, this creek
was fordable at low water. The zamorim having renewed the war, at
length, by force of numbers and bribery, took the city; and the King of
Cochin, stripped of his dominions, but still faithful to the Portuguese,
fled to the island of Viopia. Francisco Albuquerque, with other
commanders, having heard of the fate of Cochin, set sail for its relief;
the garrison of the zamorim fled, and Trimumpara was restored to his
throne. Every precaution by which the passage to the island of Cochin
might be secured was now taken by Pacheco. The Portuguese took the
sacrament, and devoted themselves to death. The King of Cochin's troops
amounted only to 5000 men, while the army of the zamorim numbered
57,000, provided with brass cannon, and assisted by two Italian
engineers. Yet this immense army, laying siege to Cochin, was defeated.
Seven times the zamorim raised new armies; yet they were all vanquished
at the fords of Cochin, by the intrepidity and stratagems of Pacheco. In
the later battles the zamorim exposed himself to the greatest danger,
and was sometimes sprinkled with the blood of his slain attendants--a
circumstance mentioned in the Lusiad, bk. x. p. 304. He then had
recourse to fraud and poison; but all his attempts were baffled. At
last, in despair, he resigned his throne, and shut himself up for the
rest of his days in one of the temples.
Soon after the kingdom of Cochin was restored to prosperity Pacheco was
recalled. The King of Portugal paid the highest compliments to his
valour, and gave him the government of a possession of the crown in
Africa. But merit always has enemies: Pacheco was accused and brought to
Lisbon in irons, where he remained for a considerable time chained in a
dungeon. He was at length tried, and after a full investigation of the
charges made against him, was honourably acquitted. His services to his
country were soon forgotten, his merits were no longer thought of, and
the unfortunate Pacheco ended his days in an alms-house--a circumstance
referred to in the Lusiad, bk. x. p. 305.
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
PAGE
Subject proposed 1, 2
Invocation to the Muses of the Tagus 3
Address to Don Sebastian 3, 4
Assembly of the gods and goddesses 8
The fleet enters the Indian Ocean 13
Discovers islands there 13
Description of the natives 14
Intercourse with the ships 15, 16
The governor visits Gama 17, 18