1436.

Chapter XI is a short one, and merely tells that for three years, i.e., from 1437 to 1440, the voyages were interrupted by the affairs of the Kingdom, which required all the attention of D. Henrique. These affairs were the death of D. Duarte, and the struggle that followed between the Queen, supported by a small section of the nobles, and the Infant D. Pedro, backed by Lisbon and the people as a whole, over the question of the Regency and the education of the young King Affonso.

Chapters XII and XIII relate how Antam Gonçalvez took the first captives, and how Nuno Tristam went to Cape Branco.

In Chapter XIV Azurara dwells on the delight D. Henrique must have felt at the sight of the captives, though he opines that they themselves received the greater benefit: "for, although their bodies might be in some subjection, it were a small thing in comparison with their souls, that would now possess true liberty for evermore."

Chapter XV contains an account of the embassy sent to the Holy Father by D. Henrique to obtain "a share of the treasures of Holy Church for the salvation of the souls of those who in the labours of this conquest should meet their end." The Pope, Eugenius IV, granted a plenary indulgence, on the usual conditions, to all who took part in the war against the Moors under the banner of the Order of Christ; and D. Pedro, the Regent, made D. Henrique a present of the King's fifth to defray the heavy expenses he had incurred by the expeditions.

In Chapter XVI Antam Gonçalvez obtains the Infant's leave for another voyage, and is charged to collect information about the Indies and the land of Prester John. He receives ten negroes, in exchange for two Moors whom he had previously taken, together with some gold dust, and then returns home.

In Chapter XVII Nuno Tristam goes as far as Arguim Island and makes some captures; this in the year 1443.

Chapter XVIII begins the relation of the first expedition on a large scale, and the first that sprang from private enterprise—namely, that of Lançarote and his six caravels from Lagos. Azurara takes the opportunity to insert here a short but interesting sketch of the change that had taken place in public opinion with reference to these voyages. In the beginning, they were decried by the great not a whit less than by the populace, but the assurance of commercial profit had now converted the dispraisers, and the voyage of Lançarote gave a tangible proof of it.

The next six Chapters (XIX to XXIV) relate the doings of this expedition, which ended in the capture of two hundred and thirty-five natives.

Chapter XXV, which treats of the division of the captives at Lagos, is the most pathetic in the book, and one of the most powerful by virtue of the simple realism of the narrative.

Chapter XXVI gives a lucid summary of the after-lives of the captives, and their gradual but complete absorption into the mass of the people.

Chapter XXVII narrates the ill-fated expedition of Gonçalo de Cintra and his death near the Rio d'Ouro; while, in the next, Azurara refers the accident to the heavenly bodies, and draws a profitable lesson from it, which he divides into seven heads, for the benefit of posterity.

Chapter XXIX contains a short notice of a voyage undertaken by Antam Gonçalvez, Gomez Pirez, and Diego Affonso to the Rio d'Ouro, which had no result.

Chapter XXX deals with the voyage of Nuno Tristam, who passed the furthest point hitherto discovered, and reached a place he named Palmar. Azurara confesses himself unable to give more details about this expedition, "because Nuno Tristam was already dead at the time King Affonso ordered this Chronicle to be written"—a statement which proves that he did not rely only on documents for the facts he related, but was careful to glean as much as possible from the actors therein.

Chapter XXXI tells how Dinis Dyaz sailed straight to Guinea without once shortening sail, and how he was the first to penetrate so far, and take captives in those parts. He pushed on to Cape Verde, and, though he brought back but little spoil, he was well received by the Infant, who preferred discoveries to mere commercial profits.

Chapters XXXII to XXXVI recite the expedition of Antam Gonçalvez, Garcia Homem and Diego Affonso to Cape Branco, Arguim Island and Cape Resgate, where, besides trafficking, they took on board a squire, Joham Fernandez, who had stayed full seven months at the Rio d'Ouro, among the natives, to acquire for the Infant a knowledge of the country and its products.

Azurara refers in Chapter XXXII to Affonso Cerveira, whose history of the Portuguese discoveries on the African coast, now lost, was used by him in the compilation of this Chronicle; and in the next chapter he employs one of those rhetorical periphrases of which his other works afford many an example, though they are rather scarce in this his masterpiece in point of style.

Chapters XXXVII to XLVIII relate the doings of the first expedition from Lisbon, which was under the command of Gonçalo Pacheco, and penetrated to Guinea, or the land of the Negroes, the result being a large number of captives, seemingly the chief object it had in view.

Chapters XLIX to LXVII contain the acts of the great expedition of fourteen sail which set out from Lagos in 1445, under the leadership of Lançarote, for the purpose of punishing the Moors on the Island of Tider and avenging Gonçalo de Cintra. In all twenty-six ships left Portugal that year, being the largest number that had perhaps ever sailed down the Western side of the Dark Continent at one time.

After accomplishing their object some returned home, but others, more bold, determined to explore further South, if perchance they might find the River of Nile and the Terrestrial Paradise. Arriving at the Senegal they thought they had found the Nile of the Negroes, and went no further. A curious description of the Nile, and its power according to astronomers, forms the subject of Chapters LXI and LXII, where Azurara has collected all the learning and speculation of the Ancients and Mediævals on the question.

Chapters LXVIII to LXXV describe the doings of the remaining ships that left Portugal in 1445, and relate descents on the Canaries and the African coast, and the voyage of Zarco's caravel to Cape Mastos, the furthest point yet reached.

Chapters LXXVI and LXXVII contain valuable notes on the life of the peoples south of Cape Bojador, together with an account of the travels of Joham Fernandez, the first European to penetrate far into the interior of Africa.

In Chapter LXXVIII Azurara adds up the sum of the African voyages, and finds that up to 1446 fifty-one caravels had sailed to those parts, one of which had passed four hundred and fifty leagues beyond Cape Bojador.

Chapters LXXIX to LXXXII are taken up by a description of the Canary