This point of Gama's progress is also
interesting and important in another respect, for we are here approaching a
junction with the discoveries of the Arabians, the Egyptians, the Greeks,
and the Romans.
At this place Gama remained till the 24th of February, repairing his ships
and recruiting his men. On the 1st of March, he arrived off Mozambique;
here evidences of a circumnavigation with India were strong and numerous.
The sovereign of Mozambique ruled over all the country from Sofala to
Melinda. The vessels, which were fitted out entirely for coasting voyages,
were large, undecked, the seams fastened with cords made of the cocoa
fibres, and the timbers in the same manner. Gama, in going on board some of
the largest of those, found that they were equipped with charts and
compasses, and what are called aest harlab, probably the sea astrolabe,
already discovered. At the town of Mozambique, the Moorish merchants from
the Red Sea and India, met and exchanged the gold of Sofala for their
commodities, and in its warehouses, which, though meanly built, were
numerous, pepper, ginger, cottons, silver, pearls, rubies, velvet, and
other Indian articles were exposed to sale. At Mombaca, the next place to
which Gama sailed, all the commodities of India were found, and likewise
the citron, lemon, and orange; the houses were built of stone, and the
inhabitants, chiefly Mahomedans, seemed to have acquired wealth by
commerce, as they lived in great splendour and luxury.
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