Note 111 — A JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF VASCO DA GAMA IN 1497-99.

On the homeward voyage, in January 1499, the S. Raphael was burnt at these shoals, which are described as lying off the town of Tamugata (Mtangata), and this enables us to fix upon the locality with much certainty. There still is a roadstead or bay called Mtangata, which “the long roll of the Indian Ocean renders a place of trembling to the coast trader” (Burton, Journal Royal Geographical Society, 1858, p. 200). A “town” of this name exists no longer, but Burton describes the ruins of what was once an extensive city near the village of Tongoni.

There are no “mountains” close to the coast corresponding to the “Serras de S. Raphael”, but the mountains of Usambara, rising 20 to 25 miles inland to an altitude of 3,500 ft., are visible in clear weather for a distance of 62 miles.

Sir John Kirk writes to me: “The baixas de S. Raphael are undoubtedly the coral reefs of Mtangata; and the Usambara mountains, with their valleys, steep precipices, and lofty summits would, especially at that season of the year, be plainly seen from the ships. There can be no doubt as to this point, as these are the only mountains that approach the coast and form so marked an object from the sea when the air is clear. They are then visible from the town of Zanzibar.”