Page 13 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

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xviii INTRODUCTION.
India to Italy (see infra, p. i), he tells us, that being in
Malacca, and wishing to return to Portugal, lie resolved to
do so by way of the Philippine Isles. He therefore took
advantage of a pinnace that was being dispatched by the
captain of Malacca to warn the Spanish Governor of the
Philippines of the coming of the Dutch into that sea,1 and
accordingly left Malacca on ist May, 1600.
As the succinct account that our author gives of his
journey is translated below, I need here only mention the
chief incidents. After calling at Brunei, in Borneo,
Teixeira arrived on 22nd June at Manila. Here he
obtained from the Governor, Dom Francisco Tello de
Menezes, the necessary permit to proceed to New Spain,
and on 18th July our traveller set sail in one of a fleet of
four new ships bound for America. After a brief stay for
provisioning at the Strait of San Bernardino, the ship’s
course was set in a north-easterly direction ; and, escaping
a dreaded encounter with a Dutch fleet, but falling in with
some Spanish ships that had been sent out by the Viceroy
of Peru to look for the Hollanders, the ship with Teixeira
on board reached Acapulco on ist December. Having
rested here a few days, our author set out2 on horseback
for the city of Mexico, where he arrived at midnight on
Christmas Day. In this city Teixeira remained until
2nd May, 1601, on which day, just a year after he had
sailed from Malacca, he resumed his journey towards his
native land. Passing through La Puebla and other towns,
our traveller came to San Juan de Ulua (Vera Cruz),
1 This must mean, that the Governor was to be informed of the
departure from Holland of the fleets of Jacques Mahu and Olivier
van Noort for the Straits of Magellan, with the object of reaching the
Malayan Archipelago by way of the Philippines. How these ships
fared is related below.
2 With Teixeira’s account of this land journey may be compared
that of Dom Fernandez Navarrete, who travelled in the opposite
direction in 1647 (see Churchill’s Collection, vol. i, pp. 231-233).
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INTRODUCTION. x i x i: :
1
whence he sailed in the fleet for Spain on 31st May. :?
After being nearly wrecked in a storm off the coast of
Cuba, Teixeira’s ship put into the port of Havana,
whence she again sailed on 15th July for Spain by Florida,
Bermuda,and the Newfoundland banks; and after escaping !
from the unwelcome attentions of a corsair1 off the
coast of Algarve, the fleet cast anchor in San Lucar on
6th September. Two days later our traveller reached
Seville, and finally, by a circuitous route, arrived at Lisbon
on 8th October, 1601. it
Before leaving Malacca, Teixeira had entrusted to
friends there a considerable sum of money to be remitted
to Portugal in the usual way by the homeward ships from
India. When he reached Lisbon, however, he was dis­
appointed to learn that the money had, for some reason,
failed to arrive ; and, therefore, after waiting in vain for )'
nearly a year and a half,2 our author, much against his
inclination, made up his mind to set out for the East once <
more. Accordingly, on March 28th, 1603, he went aboard
one of the fleet of five sail leaving for India under the ]
command of Pero Furtado de Mendoza, and on October
14th arrived safely at Goa. j
Presumably Teixeira here attained the object of his
journey ; for in less than four months he was once more
homeward-bound. Weary of seafaring, and anxious to I
view fresh scenes, our traveller resolved to make a land
journey to Europe by way of the Euphrates valley.3 On 1
1 The fleet also managed to evade capture by the English ships, !
which were at this time scouring the seas in search of Spanish prizes :
(see Calendar of Slate Papers^ Domestic Series, 1601, passim).
2 Dr. Kayscrling {op. cit.) erroneously says : “ After a residence of
two years a half in Lisbon, he started on a second journey of scien­
tific research [!] to India, Persia, and other countries.”
3 Regarding this route, see Linschoten, vol. i, pp. 48-51, vol. ii,
p. 159.
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