Note 444 — III The Sixteenth Century [1502-80] (continued 2)

Mais trabalhamos no substancial da historia que no ampliar as miudezas que enfadam e não deleitam (I. vii. 8). Cf. I. v. 10 (1778 ed., p. 465); III. ix. 9 (p. 426); III. x. 5 (p. 489). Yet the vivid light thrown by the details recorded in other writers, such as the ‘bushel of sapphires’ sent to Albuquerque by one of the native kings, or the open boat drifting with a few Portuguese long dead and a heap of silver beside them, is of undeniable value. Goes inserts details, but is too late a writer to do so without apology, like Corrêa and Lopez de Castanheda: pode parecer a algũa pessoa [e. g. his friend Barros] que em historia grave nam eram necessarias estas miudezas (Cron. do Pr. D. Joam, cap. cii).