Note 1 — Chapter I

O Capitão João Gonçalvez da Camera, a gentleman of the household of the then Infante, and nicknamed Zargo, or the one-eyed—he lost the other at the siege of Tangiers; but others say that Zargo was the name of a Moor whom he made captive—was sent in 1418 by his lord, O Conquistador, the Virgin Prince Henry, son of Don John (first of the name, and second king) by Philippa, grandchild of Edward III. of England, to examine the West African coast. Returning to Porto Santo, he was informed by the settlers, whom he had previously left there under the first Donatorio, or Donee, Bartholomew Perestrello, or Palestrello, that it was ‘fama publica’ that in one particular direction the sea was ever overhung with a thick impenetrable darkness, ‘huma grande sombra,’ or as De Barros has it, ‘hum negrum tal e tam medonho e perpetuo que henhum se atrevia a chegar a elle,’ denoting, according to the Jesuit Cordeyro, an abyss, and guarded by a perpetual smoke and strange noises, which seemed to issue from the mouth of hell. Zargo was encouraged to explore it by observing that the blackness in question disappeared during the changes of the moon. The crew, excepting the pilot, were so frightened that they repeatedly begged to be allowed to return. Queer times when explorers could be frightened by a fog! Zargo landed in Madeira 2nd July, 1419, the day of Santa Isabel.