under his elder brother Paulo da Gama and his intimate
friend Nicolas Coelho, who proved themselves worthy of their chief.
The fleet, of which the crews did not number more than 160 men, nor
the tonnage of any ship more than 120 tons, experienced terrific
storms in doubling the Cape of Good Hope, but eventually Vasco da
Gama struck the South-East coast of Africa. He met with opposition
from the rulers of Mozambique and Quiloa (Kilwa), where he first
touched, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he
suppressed an incipient mutiny among his sailors.

In April, 1498, he reached Melinda, a port situated 200 miles to the
north of Zanzibar, where he was kindly received by the ruling chief.
The passage across the Indian Ocean was well known to the navigators
of the South-East coast of Africa, for there was a considerable
amount of trade conducted between the two localities which was almost
entirely controlled by Muhammadans. At Melinda, Vasco da Gama was
able to obtain experienced pilots, and after a stay there of one
month according to most authorities, and of three months according to
Correa, Vasco da Gama pursued his way to India.

The Portuguese ships arrived off Calicut in June or August, 1498. The
powerful Hindu ruler on the Malabar coast, who was known as the
Zamorin,[1] had {25} his capital in that city. His body-guard and
most of his aristocracy consisted of Nairs and Nestorian Christians,
but all commerce was in the hands of the Muhammadan merchants. These
Muhammadans were Moplas, or descendants of Arab traders who had long
settled upon the Malabar coast. They quickly perceived that if Vasco
da Gama could make his way direct from Portugal to India other
Portuguese ships could do the same, and that then their lucrative
monopoly of the Indian trade with Europe by way of the Red Sea or the
Persian Gulf, would be at an end. They therefore intrigued with the
Hindu ministers of the Zamorin to repulse the endeavours of Vasco da
Gama to procure a cargo of Indian commodities for his ships, and it
was only after much difficulty and some danger that he was able to
take on board an inadequate amount of merchandise. On leaving Calicut
the Portuguese Admiral visited Cannanore, and he eventually reached
Melinda on his way home in January, 1499. He had a long and difficult
passage back to Europe; in the island of Terceira his beloved brother
Paulo da Gama died, and when he got safely to Lisbon at the end of
August, 14