Note 2 — Chapter I

The two young men were named, respectively, Pero de Covilhan, and Gonsalvo de Pavia. Though accounts differ, they seem to have travelled together by Venice, Alexandria, and Cairo, to Mecca, where they separated. One of them (and here again accounts vary) went on to Aden, Cananore, Calicut, and Goa (Mr. Stanley and Mr. Major think this was Covilhan), the other to Abyssinia. It is certain that Pavia died soon afterwards, probably at Cairo; and that, by the agency of a Spanish Jew, Covilhan was able to send home word that India could be reached by sea by continuing the coasting voyage from Guinea round the Cape to Sofala. Mr. Major, therefore (p. 339), is justified in stating that to him belongs the honour of the theoretical discovery of the Cape. His report to the king, however, did not reach Portugal till shortly after Bartholomew Dias and Joam Infante had started, in August 1486. Covilhan, on his way home, went to Abyssinia, and was detained there for the rest of his life (33 years).