from the Cape de Verd, Gonzales Pachecos,
a wealthy officer belonging to the household of Don Henry, fitted out a
ship at his own expence, of which he gave the command to Dinisianez da
Gram, one of the princes equerries, who was accompanied by Alvaro Gil, an
essayer of the mint, and Mafaldo de Setubal. After touching at Cape
Branco, they steered along the coast for the isle of Arguin, making
descents in several places, where they made a considerable number of
captives from the Moors. At the isle _De las Garcas_ they found another
caravel, commanded by Lourenco Dias, which formed part of a considerable
squadron that had been lately fitted out from Lagos. Two days afterwards,
the admiral of that squadron, Lancarot, and nine other caravels arrived.
Gram informed Lancarot of his success in making fifty prisoners, whom he
had dearly purchased by the loss of seven of his men, who had been
murdered by the Moors. Lancarot immediately sailed for Arguin, bent on
revenge, and sacrificed the lives of eight, and the liberty of four of
the natives, to the memory of Gonzales da Cintra and the mariners of Gram.
On this occasion two of the Portuguese officers were knighted on the
newly discovered coast, which seems then to have been a fashionable
ambition among them, no doubt arising from the prevailing zeal for
maritime discovery. From Arguin Lancarot passed over to the isle of Tider,
whence the inhabitants made their escape to the adjacent continent; but
the Portuguese soon followed, and the astonished Moors fled on all sides,
after a sharp skirmish, in which a good many of them were slain, and
sixty taken prisoners.

The fleet now separated, a part returning home by way of the Canaries,
while Lancarot, with several other caravels, advanced along the coast of
Africa southwards, till he got beyond what the Moors called the Cahara,
or Sahara, of the Assenaji. This Moorish nation is mentioned by Abulfeda
as the ruling tribe in Audagost, or Agadez, and as inhabiting the
southern part of Morocco. They are therefore to be considered as the
peculiar people of the great desert and its environs, at its western
extremity on the Atlantic. The latter part of their name, _aji_, or
rather aspirated _haji_, signifies a pilgrim, and is now the appropriate
title of one who has made the great pilgrimage of Mecca. In the present
case, the name of Assenaji probably signifies the _Wanderers of the
Desert_. The Sanhaga, or Assenaji tribe, is now placed at n