place, that he might be permitted to do so,
as no one without a willing heart could serve well. The same day the
pilots went on board the ships, one accompanying Paulo da Gama, and the
other, as also the Mozambique pilot, Vasco da Gama.

The men had cabins given them in which to live and stow their property.
Lastly the King sent off boats laden with biscuits, rice, butter,
cocoa-nuts, powdered sugar in sacks, sheep salted whole and others
alive, and fowls and vegetables in great abundance. He also accompanied
the boats alongside the ships, showing by unmistakable signs his regret
at parting with them, and saying very affectionate things while he bade
them farewell. As they hoisted in the boats the trumpets sounded, and
the crews shouted "Lord God have mercy upon us! Farewell!"

With a fair wind the next morning, the trumpets sounding and the ships
dressed in flags, the anchors were weighed, the sails hoisted, and the
crews praising God for the favours shown them, they stood out to sea.
The hardships they had endured and sickness had already carried off many
of the seamen of both ships. Of the six priests four had died. Scurvy,
although the name was unknown, had broken out during the lengthened
period they had been at sea, without the power of obtaining fresh
provisions, which could alone have cured the complaint.

After sailing on for twenty-two days, land was espied, as the pilots had
told them it would be; and a lofty mountain, off which they came, was,
they were informed, in the kingdom of Cananor. The name of the mountain
was Delielly, or The Rat, so named on account of the number of rats
frequenting the region, which prevented it being inhabited. On nearing
the land, they sailed along it until they came in sight of a large city
of thatched houses, in a bay called Cananor.

As a reward for the services they had rendered in carrying the ships
safely across the Indian Ocean, each pilot received a robe of red cloth
and ten testoons.

Standing along the coast, the ships passed close to the town of Cananor,
which, being a mean place, greatly disappointed Vasco da Gama, as he
supposed that it was Calecut; but the pilots set him right, and
conducted him twelve leagues farther on, when the anchors were dropped
off the town of Capocate, two leagues from the large city of Celecut,
situated in a bay. As they gazed towards the shore, they could see a
number of dark, nearly naked people, their only garments being c