nity constrains my humanity to lament piteously the "fufferings of these people (flaves). And if the brute

animals, with their mere bestial sentiments, by a na"tural instinct, recognize the misfortunes of their like, "what must this my human nature do, seeing thus before

my eyes this wretched company, remembering that "I myself am of the generation of the fons of Adam! "The other day, which was the eighth of Auguft, very

early in the morning, by reason of the heat, the mari"ners began to bring-to their veffels, and, as they had "been commanded, to draw forth those captives to take "them out of the veffel: whom, placed together on that cc plain, it was a marvellous fight to behold, for amongst "them there were some of a reasonable degree of white"nefs, handsome and well-made; others lefs white,

resembling leopards in their colour; others as black "as Ethiopians, and fo ill-formed, as well in their faces << as their bodies, that it seemed to the beholders as if "they faw the forms of a lower hemisphere. But "what heart was that, how hard foever, which was not

pierced with forrow feeing that company: for fome "had funken cheeks, and their faces bathed in tears,

looking at each other; others were groaning very do"lorously, looking at the heights of the heavens, fixing "their eyes upon them, crying out loudly, as if they "were asking fuccour from the Father of nature; others "struck their faces with their hands, throwing them"felves on the earth; others made their lamentations "in fongs, according to the customs of their country, "which, although we could not understand their lan

<< guage, we faw correfponded well to the height of "their forrow. But now, for the increase of their "grief, came those who had the charge of the diftribu❝tion, and they began to put them apart one from the "other, in order to equalize the portions; wherefore "it was neceffary to part children and parents, husbands " and wives, and brethren from each other. Neither "in the partition of friends and relations was any law

kept, only each fell where the lot took him. O pow"erful fortune! who goest hither and thither with thy "wheels, compaffing the things of the world as it "pleaseth thee, if thou canft, place before the eyes of "this miserable nation fome knowledge of the things "that are to come after them (coufas poftumeiras) that "they may receive fome confolation in the midst of their << great fadness! and you others who have the business "of this partition, look with pity on such great misery, "and confider how can those be parted whom you "cannot difunite! Who will be able to make this

partition without great difficulty? for while they (c were placing in one part the children that faw their parents in another, they sprang up perfeveringly and "fled to them; the mothers enclosed their children in "their arms and threw themselves with them on the

ground, receiving wounds with little pity for their own "flesh so that their children might not be torn from "them! And fo, with labour and difficulty, they con"cluded the partition, for, befides the trouble they "had with the captives, the plain was full of people, as "well of the place as of the villages and neighbourhood

1444.

" around, who in that day gave reft to their hands, the "mainstay of their livelihood, only to see this novelty. "And as they looked upon these things, fome deploring, "some reasoning upon them, they made such a riotous noife, as greatly to disturb those who had the manage"ment of this diftribution. The Infante was there

upon a powerful horse, accompanied by his people, "looking out his fhare, but as a man who for his

part did not care for gain, for, of the forty-fix fouls "which fell to his fifth, he speedily made his choice, as "all his principal riches were in his contentment, confidering with great delight the falvation of those fouls " which before were loft. And certainly his thought " was not vain, for as foon as they had knowledge of our language, they readily became Chriftians; and (c I, who have made this history in this volume, have "seen in the town of Lagos young men and young "women, the fons and grandfons of thofe very captives, " born in this land, as good and as true Christians as if

they had lineally descended, since the commencement "of the law of Chrift, from those who were first bap"tized."

The good Azurara wishes that these captives might have some forefight of the things to happen after their death: I do not think it would have proved much confolation to them to have foreseen that they were almost the first of many millions to be dealt with as they had been. For, in this year, 1444, Europe may be faid to have made a

of the flave

distinct beginning in the slave trade, henceforth to Beginning spread on all fides, like the waves upon stirred trade. water, and not, like them, to become fainter and fainter as the circles widen.

In 1445, an expedition was fitted out by the prince, and the command given to Gonfalvo de Cintra, who was unsuccessful in an attack on the natives near Cape Blanco. He and fome other of the principal men of the expedition loft their lives. These were the first Portuguese who died in battle on that coast. In the fame year, the prince sent out three other vessels. The captains received orders from the Infante, Don Pedro, who was then regent of Portugal, to enter the river d'Oro, and make all endeavours to convert the natives to the faith, and even, if they should not receive baptifm, to make peace and alliance with them. This did not fucceed. Very likely the captains found negociation of this kind exceedingly tame and apparently profitless in comparison with the pleasant forays made by their predeceffors. The attempt, however, fhows much intelligence and humanity on the part of those in power in Portugal. That the inftructions were fincere is proved by the fact of this expedition returning with only one negro, gained in ransom, and a Moor who came of his own accord to fee the Christian country.

This fame year 1445, is fignalized by a great event in the progress of discovery along the African coast. Dinis Dyaz, called by Barros and the hiftorians who followed him, Dinis Fernandez, feeks employment from the Infante, and being entrusted by him with the command of a veffel, pushes boldly down the coaft, and paffes the river Sanaga (Senegal) which divides the Azenegues (whom the first discoverers always called Moors) from the negroes of Jalof. The inhabitants were much astonished at the presence of the Portuguese veffel on their coafts, and at first took it for a fish, or a bird, or a phantafm; but when in their rude boats (hollowed logs) they neared it and saw that there were men in it, judiciously concluding that it was a more dangerous thing than fish, or bird, or phantafm, they fled. Dinis Fernandez, however, captured four of them off that coast, but as his object was not flave hunting but difcoveDinis Fer- ry,* he went on till he discovered Cape Verde and then returned to his country, to be received with Cape Ver- much honour and favour by Prince Henry. These four negroes taken by Dinis Fernandez, were the first taken in their own country by the Portu

nandez dif

covers

de.

* Como feu propofito mais era descubrir terra por fervir o Infante, que trazer cativos pera feu proprio proveito.-Barros, dec. 1, lib. 1, cap. 9.