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The Discoveries of Prince Henry the Navigator: and Their Results
The Discoveries of Prince Henry the Navigator and Their Results Author:Richard Henry Major Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VIII. THE TAWNY MOORS AN1) THE NEGHOJSS. 1441—1448. In 1441 the affairs of the kingdom becoming somewhat tranquilized, Antam Gonsalves, the prin... more »ce's master of the wardrobe, was sent out in command of a small ship, but solely with the order to bring homo skins and oil of seacalves, for as he was but young, the prince put less charge upon him than upon his predecessors. When he had taken in his cargo, Gonsalves proposed to continue the voyage, in the hope of being the first to take captives to present to the prince. He took nine sailors inland and succeeded in capturing two natives, but as he was about to set sail on the following day, there arrived an armed caravel, commanded by Nufio Tristam, a young knight who had come out with a special command from the prince to pass as far as he could beyond the port of Gallee, and to endeavour by all means to make some captures. He had brought with him a Moor, to act as interpreter, but it turned out that the language of the captives was entirely different. The small capture made by Gonsalves by no means contented Nufio Tristam, and the two agreed to set out together in search, with men selected from their respective crews, and after a sharp contest, they took ten natives, one of whom was a chief.When the conflict was over, at the unanimous request of his companions, Gonsalves was knighted by Tristam, in spite of his modestly disclaiming his right to such honour. Hence the place was named the " Porto do Cavalleiro," or Port of the Knight. The chief alone among the captives understood the Moorish language, and was able to converse with the interpreter. The rest spoke the language of the Azanegues, or Tawny Moors. Hoping to treat for the ransom of some of the prisoners, the interpreter went on shore with one of the female...« less