The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XVI, No. 6 [‎354r] (60/232)

THE VOYAGES OF DIOGO CAO AND BARTHOLOMEU DIAS, 1482-88. 633
The Second Voyage of Diogo Cao, 1485—6.
The materials for writing a history of CSo’s second expedition are
even less complete than those available for the first. There are the
padrSo of Cape Cross with its inscription, an important legend on the
chart of Martellus Germanus, and the narrative of Martin Behaim,
who claims to have commanded one of the vessels. Apart from these,
we are dependent upon the accounts given by Euy de Pina and Joao de
Barros, for none of the later historians seem to have had access to
original sources.
The narrative of Behaim, as gathered from the legends on his famous
globe, and a paragraph in Schedel’s ‘Liber Chronicorum,’ printed at
Nurnberg in 1493, during Behaim’s presence in that town, is as follows
In 1484 King John sent two vessels to the south, one being commanded
bf D. Cao, the other by Martin Behaim. They carried, in addition to
goods for barter, eighteen horses with splendid harness, intended as
presents for Moorish (i.e. Negro) kings. They traded with the Jolof
and on the Gambia; visited King Furfur’s land," 1200 German leagues
from Lisbon, where the Portugal pepper grows, and came to a country
where they found cinnamon. They also discovered Prince’s island, S.
Thome and Martin (Behaim’s!) islands (i.e. Annobom). On January
18 they set up a column on Monte Negro (Oao’s third pillar in lo 40 ).
Having sailed 2300 leagues, they set up another pillar on Cape Ledo.t
They were again with their king after an absence of 19 (16 or 26)
months,f having lost many men from the heat, and bringing pepper,
grains of paradise, and many other things in proof of the discoveries they
had made.
We have elsewhere § considered the trust-worthiness of this account
of Cao’s expedition, and arrived at the opinion that Behaim did not
accompany Cao, but may have been on the Guinea coast with an expedi
tion such as that of Joao Alfonso d’Aveiro.
Far more useful for our purpose is the pillar which formerly stood
hillock, and surmounted by a cross azure. Crest: the two columns crossed^and tied
with a ribbon vert. Our illustration is taken from the ‘ Thesouro de Nobreza, of Fran
cisco Coelho, 1575, as published by Luciano Cordeiro. , , .. .
* Kin" Furfur’s land is clearly Benin, whence d’Aveiro, in 1486, brought the first
Guinea pepper to Portugal. Behaim’s cinnamon must have grown in Ptolemy s
apocryphal Cinnamoniphera Regio. ...
f 2300 leagues on Behaim’s globe actually carry us to a Cape Ledo, which critics
may be forgiven for identifying with Dias’ furthest. *.
x Nineteen months on the globe, 16 in the German, 26 in the Latin version o
chronicle. .
§ Ravenstein, ‘ Martim de Bohemia’ (Lisbon (Ferin), 1900), pp. 2 o-do.