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How Dinis Diaz went to the land of the Negroes, and of the Captives that he took.
. . . [A]s the caravel was voyaging along that
sea, those on land [Africans] saw it and marvelled
much at the sight, for it seemeth they had never seen
or heard speak of the like; and some of them
supposed it to be a fish, while others thought it to be
a phantom, and others again said it might be a bird
that ran so on its journey over that sea. And after
reasoning thus concerning the novelty, four of them
were bold enough to inform themselves concerning this
doubt; and so got into a small boat made out of
one hollow tree-trunk without anything else being added thereto. . . .
And they came a good way out
towards where the caravel was pursuing its course; a
nd those in her could not restrain themselves from
appearing on deck. But when the negroes saw that those in
the ship were men, they made haste to flee as
best they could; and though the car
avel followed after them, the want of a sufficient wind prevented their
capture. And as they [Portuguese] went further on, they
met with other boats, whose crews, seeing ours to
be men, were alarmed at the novelty of the sight; and
moved by fear they sought to flee, each and all; but
because our men had a better opportunity than before, th
ey captured four of them, and these were the first
to be taken by Christians in their
own land, and there is no chronicle or
history that relateth aught to the
contrary.
And for certain this was no small honour for our Prince [Henry],
whose mighty power was thus
sufficient to command peoples so far from our kingdom, making booty
among the neighbours of the land
of Egypt; and Dinis Diaz ought to share in this honour,
for he was the first who (by his [Prince Henry’s]
command) captured Moors in that land. And now he pus
hed on till he arrived at a great cape, to which
they gave the name of Cape Verde.
On the next day, which was the 8th
of
the month of August, very early in the
morning, by reason of the heat, the
seamen began to make ready their
boats, and to take out those captives,
and carry them on shore, as they were
commanded. And these, placed all
together in that field, were a marvellous
sight; for amongst them were some
white enough, fair to look upon, and
well proportioned; others were less
white like mulattoes; others again were
as black as Ethiops, and so ugly, both in
features and in body, he images of a
lower hemisphere. But what heart could be so hard as
not to be pierced with piteous feeling to see that
company? For some kept their heads low and their fa
ces bathed in tears, looking one upon another; others
stood groaning very dolorously, looking up to the height of heaven,
fixing their eyes upon it, crying out
loudly, as if asking help of the Father of Nature; ot
hers struck their faces with the palms of their hands,
throwing themselves at full length upon the ground; ot
hers made their lamentations in the manner of a
dirge, after the custom of their country. And though
we could not understand the words of their language,
the sound of it right well accorded with the measure of
their sadness. But to increase their sufferings still
more, there now arrived those who had charge of the
division of the captives, and who began to separate
one from another, in order to make an equal partition of
the fifths; and then was it needful to part fathers
from sons, husbands from wives, brother from brothe
rs. no respect was shewn either to friends or
relations, but each fell where his lot took him
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