Note 56 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO

Albo (Navarrete, iv, p. 210) says that the fleet continued to coast southwest from November 29 until arriving at St. Lucy’s bay on December 13 (St. Lucy’s day). Of the coast he says: “The mountains are peaked and have many reefs about them. There are many rivers and ports in the said Brasil and San Tomé, and some six leguas down the coast there are many bays running two leguas into the land. But the coast runs northeast and southwest to Cape Frio, and has many islands and rivers. Cape Frio is a very large river.... At the entrance of the said bay is a very large bay, and at the mouth a very low island, and inside it spreads out extensively and has many ports ... and is called the bay of Santa Lucía.... In the said bay, one finds a well-disposed and numerous race, who go naked and trade for fishhooks, mirrors, and hawk’s bells with food.... We entered that place on the very day of St. Lucy, and stayed there until the day of St. John, namely, the twenty-seventh of the said month of December. On that day we went and took our course west southwest, and found seven islands. To the right of them is a bay called the bay of Los Reyes [i.e., the Kings] which has a good entrance.” The “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 1) says: “as soon as they sighted the other coast of Brazil, he steered to the south-east [sic] along the coast as far as Cabo-frio, which is in twenty-three degrees south latitude; and from this cape he steered to the west, a matter of thirty leagues, to make the Rio de Janeiro, which is in the same latitude as Cabo-frio, and they entered the said river on the day of St. Lucy, which was the 13th December, in which place they took in wood, and they remained there until the first octave of Christmas, which was the 26th of December of the same year.” Brito (Navarrete, iv, p. 306) says: “Setting sail thence [i.e., from Tenerife], the first land sighted was the cape of the shoals of Ambas. They descended the coast as far as the river called Janeiro, where they stayed 15 or 16 days.”