The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell Part 17

26. Joo Fernandez Vieira, 1658 to 1661.

27. Andre Vidal de Negreiros, May 10th 1661, to August, 1666.

28. Tristo da Cunha, August, 1666, to January, 1667; when the people compelled him to depart in the vessel in which he had come.

29.[513] Antonio de Araujo e Azevedo, president of the Camara of Luandu, 1667 to 1669.

30. Francisco de Tavora, August 26th, 1669, to 1676.

31. Ayres de Saldanha de Menezes e Souza, August 25th, 1676, to 1680.

32. Joo da Silva e Souza, September 11th, 1680, to 1684.

33. Luiz Lobo da Silva, September 12th, 1684, to 1688.

34. D. Joo de Lencastre, September 8th, 1688, to 1691.

35. Goncalo da Costa de Alcacova Carneiro de Menezes, November 1st, 1691, to 1694.

36. Henrique Jaques de Magalhes, November 3rd, 1694, to 1697.

37. Luiz Cezar de Menezes, November 9th, 1697, to 1700.

38. Bernardo de Tavora Souza Tavares, September 5th, 1700, to 1702.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF KONGO & ANGOLA

ill.u.s.trating their HISTORY TO THE CLOSE OF THE 17^{TH} CENTURY]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF NDONGO (ANGOLA)]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Battell tells us (p. 7) that he and Thomas Turner were transported to Angola in the same vessel (1590). Purchas conferred with Turner after he had returned to England, and obtained from him an account of his travels, he having "lived the best part of two years in Brazil" (_lib._ vi, c. 8). Elsewhere we learn that he "had also been in Angola" (see p.

71).

This apparently straightforward information is quite irreconcilable with what we are told by Knivet; for Knivet says he met Turner at Pernambuco (about 1598); that he advised him to go to Angola; that Turner acted on this advice, and "made great profit of his merchandise, for which he thanked me when we met in England." Concerning Knivet, see _post_, p.

89.

[2] This description does not, of course, apply to his "Voyage to the East Indies," but it does to his "Description of the whole Coast of Guinea, Manicongo, Angola, etc."

[3] His _Schifffarten_ was first published at Basel in 1624. On this traveller, see an _Abhandlung_ by D. G. Henning (Basel, 1900), who rather absurdly calls him the "first German scientific traveller in Africa."

[4] _Vijf verscheyde Journalen ... Amsterdam [1620]._

[5] Subsequent editions appeared in 1614, 1617, and 1626.

[6] Battell's narrative was reprinted in Astley's _New General Collection of Voyages_, vol. iii (1746), and Pinkerton's _Collection_, vol. xvi (1813). Translations or abstracts were published in the _Collections_ of Pieter van der Aa (Leiden, 1706-07); of Gottfried (Leiden, 1706-26); of Prevot (Paris, 1726-74); in the _Allgemeine Historie der Reisen_ (Leipzig, 1747-77), in the _Historische Beschrijving der Reisen_ (The Hague, 1747-67), and by Walckenaer (Paris, 1826-31).

[7] See "The Lake Region of Central Africa: a Contribution to the History of African Cartography," by E. G. Ravenstein (_Scottish Geogr.

Mag._, 1891).

[8] Among doc.u.ments, the publication of which seems desirable are Don G.

Abreu de Brito's _Summario e Descripco do Reino de Angola_, 1592; and Cadornega's _Historia_ (at least, in abstract).

[9] Abraham c.o.c.ke had been in the Brazils before this voyage, for we learn from Purchas (bk. vi, Pt. IV, London, 1625, p. 1141) that George, Earl of c.u.mberland, who had left Gravesend on June 26, 1586, with three s.h.i.+ps and a pinnace, fell in, on January 10, 1587, with a Portuguese vessel, a little short of the River Plate, and in her found "Abraham c.o.c.k, of Leigh, near London," whom he brought home with him.

[10] Pinnace: formerly applied to any small vessel, usually schooner-rigged; at present limited to a large rowing-boat carried by great s.h.i.+ps.

[11] Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands.

[12] Light-horseman: a pinnace, a rowing-boat.

[13] Vessels bound for Brazil usually cross the Equator about long. 22 W. If Captain c.o.c.k really intended to go direct to Brazil, he had no business at Cabo das Palmas. Can his voyage to S. Thome really have been, as he says, an involuntary deviation from his direct course?

[14] The island of S. Thome was discovered by the Portuguese about 1472, and received its first settlers in 1486. In the course of the sixteenth century it suffered much from the depredations of French, English, and Dutch pirates, as also (1574) from a revolt headed by the Angolares: that is, the descendants of Angolan slaves who had swum ash.o.r.e when the vessel which carried them was wrecked, in 1544, on the Sette Pedras, and had fled to the woods near. The Fortaleza de S. Sebastio was intended to defend the capital against piratical attacks. It was completed in 1575; but the Dutch, under Admiral Van der Dam, nevertheless sacked the city in 1600. Only four years before the author's arrival, in 1485, the city had been destroyed by fire.

[15] The Ilheo das Rolas (Turtle-dove Island) lies about a mile off the southern extremity of S. Thome. It is of volcanic origin, rises to a considerable height, and is densely wooded. The inhabitants (about 100) are dependent upon the rain for their drinking water, for there are no springs. The chief articles of export are cacao and coffee.

[16] That is, the Povoaco of early days, on the Bahia de Anna de Chaves, incorporated in 1535 as the Cidade de S. Thome.

[17] Cabo de Lopo Goncalves, thus named after its discoverer, Cape Lopez of our charts, in lat 0 36' S.

[18] The "dolphin" of British sailors is the _doirada_, or gilthead, of the Portuguese (_Coryphaena hippurus_), and delights to swim in the shadow of the vessel.

[19] The Ilha Grande lies in lat. 23 10' S., sixty miles to the west of Rio de Janeiro. It is about seventeen miles in length, lofty, and shelters a safe bay, surrounded with magnificent scenery.

[20] S. Salvador, on the Bahia de todos os Santos, lat. 13 S.

[21] That is, one of the "degradados" or convicts, whom it is even now customary to banish to the Colonies.

[22] The Isla de Lobos Marinos (Seal Island) lies off Maldonado Point, and forms a conspicuous landmark for vessels approaching the Rio de la Plata.

[23] The Seal (_phoca vitulina_, Linn.) and Otary (_Otaria jubata_, Desm.) have become very rare. The morse or walrus is found only in the Northern hemisphere.

[24] These south-westerly winds are known as _Pamperos_. They are more frequent in winter. In summer they blow with greater force, but generally cease sooner.

[25] Isla Verde can be no other than Flores, a small island further west than the Isla de Lobos.

[26] The Ilha de So Sebastio, in lat. 23 50' S.

[27] Espirito Santo, a town on the coast of Brazil, in lat. 20 20' S.

[28] This capture must have happened at the end of 1589, or, at latest, early in 1590, yet Thomas Knivet, who only left England with Cavendish in August 1591, gives an account of the capture of five Englishmen (Purchas iv, 1625, p. 1220) which at the first glance seems to be a different version of this very incident. Knivet professes to have been at Rio de Janeiro at the time, two months after his return from Angola in 1598. He says: "There came a small man-of-war to Great Island [Ilha Grande, 70 miles west of Rio]; the captain's name was _Abram c.o.c.ke_; he lay in wait for the s.h.i.+ps on the River of Plate, and had taken them if it had not been for five of his men that ran away with his boat that discovered his being there; for within a sevennight after he was gone three caravels came within the same road where he was. These five men were taken by a Friar who came from S. Vincent, and were brought to the river of Janeiro. I being at this time in some account with the Governor favoured them as well as I could." In the further course of his narrative Knivet names two of these five men, namely, _Richard Heixt_ and _Thomas Cooper_. _Thomas Turner_ is referred to elsewhere, but not under circ.u.mstances which would lead one to a.s.sume that he was one of the five. Battell is not mentioned at all.