The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XVI, No. 6 [‎357r] (66/232)

THE VOYAGES OF DIOGO CAO AND BARTHOLOMEU DIAS, 1482 88 . 639
the 10th of that month King John, “in consideration of services which
he hoped to receive,” conferred upon Bartholomeu Dias, the “ P atr ° n
of the & Christovdo, a royal vessel, an annuity of 6000 reis.* We shall
see presently that ten months were allowed to elapse before the
expedition actually left the Tagus.
The account which Joao de Barros has transmitted to us of the
remarkable expedition which resulted in the discovery of the Cape ot
Good Hope t is fragmentary, and on some points undoubtedly erroneous.
Unfortunately, up till now no official report of the expedition has been
discovered; but there are a few incidental references to it, which
enable us to amplify, and in some measure to correct, the version pn
forward by the great Portuguese historian. #
Most important among these independent witnesses is a margma
note on fol. 13 of a copy of Pierre d’Ailly’s ‘Imago mundi,’ which was
the property of Christopher Columbus, and is still m the Columbine
Library at Seville. This “ note ” reads as follows : t
« Note, that in December of this year, 1488, there landed at Lisbon
Bartholomeu Didacus [Dias], the commander of three caravels, whom
the King of Portugal had sent to Guinea to seek out the land, and who
reported that he had sailed 600 leagues beyond the furthest reached
hitherto, that is, 450 leagues to the south and then 150 leagues to t e
north, as far as a cape named by him the Cape of Good Hope, which
cape we judge to be in Agisimba,§ its latitude, as determined by the
astrolabe Ancient instrument for astronomical observations. , being 45° S., and its distance from Lisbon 3100 leagues.
This voyage he [Dias] had depicted and described from league to league
upon a chart, so that he might show it to the king; at all of which
was present (in quibus omnibus interfui).
The same voyage is referred to in a second “ note ” discovered m the
margin of the ‘ Historia rerum ubique gestarum’ of Pope Pius^ll.,
printed at Venice in 1477. From this second note we learn that ‘‘one
of the captains whom the most serene King of Portugal sent for o
seek out the land in Guinea brought back word in 1488 that he ha
sailed 45° beyond the equinoctial line.” ||
Las Casas (‘Historia de las Indias,’ lib. i. c. 7) assumed these notes
to have been written by Bartholomew Columbus, whom, as t e resu
* Albano da Silveira (Annaes mar. e col., v., 1845, p. 55) first published Hie roy
rescript, since reprinted by Texeira de Arag&o (‘ Vasco da Gama,’ 3a ed. p. 4*).
t ‘ Da Asia,’Dec. I. liv. hi. c.4. ... , lvY
X For a facsimile, see ‘ Raccolta Columbiana ’ (Rome, 1892), p . • • 11 • ’
§ Agisymba. according to Marinus, was supposed to he at a distance ^ 24,600
stadia (41°) to the south of the equator. This grossly exaggerated distam^ Ptolemy
arbitrarily reduced by one-half, and on his map Agisymba lies beyond the i
of the Moon.
H See ‘ Raccolta,’ serie B, No. 6 .