A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 7 | Page 5

several inscriptions, among which were the following.
Christophorus Neoportus Anglus Cap. and on another _Dominus
Robertus Scherleius Comes, Legatus Regis Persarum_.
[Footnote 10: It is singular that the large circular bay of Mansitare in lat.
19° 30' S. is not named, although probably meant by the river Mane in
the text.--E.]
[Footnote 11: Now called Ranoumanthe, discharging its waters into the
bay of St Vincents.--E.]
[Footnote 12: Now Port St James.--E.]
In the latitude of 25° S. they entered a port which they named St
Augustine[13] in a kingdom called Vavalinta, of which a Buque named
Diamacrinale was king, who no sooner saw the Portuguese than he
asked if these were some of the men from the other coast. This
confirmed the stories they had formerly heard respecting the
Portuguese, and they were here informed that the place at which they
dwelt was only six days sail from that place. In September they got
sight of Cape Romain or St Mary the most southern point of
Madagascar, where they spent 40 days in stormy weather, and on St
Lukes day, 18th October, they entered the port of that name in the
kingdom of Enseroe. The natives said that there were white people who
wore crosses, only at the distance of half a days journey, who had a
large town, and Randumana the king came on board the caravel, and
sent one of his subjects with a Portuguese to shew him where these
white people dwelt, but the black ran away when only half way.
[Footnote 13: In lat. 23° 30' or directly under the tropic of Capricorn, is
a bay now called St Augustine. If that in the text, the latitude 1s
erroneous a degree and a half.--E.]
Among others of the natives who came to this place to trade with the
Portuguese, was a king named Bruto Chembanga with above 500
fighting men. His sons were almost white, with long hair, wearing

gowns and breeches of cotton of several colours with silver buttons and
bracelets and several ornaments of gold, set with pearls and coral. The
territory of this king was named Matacassi, bordering on Enseroe to
the west. He said that the Portuguese were all dead, who not far from
that place had built a town of stone houses, where they worshipped the
cross, on the foot or pedestal of which were unknown characters. He
drew representations of all these things on the sand, and demanded a
high reward for his intelligence. Some of his people wore crosses, and
informed the Portuguese that there were two ships belonging to the
Hollanders in port St Lucia or Mangascafe. In a small island at this
place there was found a _square stone fort_[14], and at the foot of it the
arms of Portugal were carved on a piece of marble, with this inscription
REX PORTUGALENSIS O S.
[Footnote 14: This is unintelligible as it stands in the text. It may
possibly have been a square stone pedestal for one of the crosses of
discovery, that used to be set up by the Portuguese navigators as marks
of possession.--E.]
Many conjectures were formed to account for the signification of the
circle between the two last letters of this inscription, but nothing
satisfactory could be discovered. King Chembanga requested that a
Portuguese might be sent along with him to his residence, to treat upon
some important affairs, and left his nephew as an hostage for his safe
return. Accordingly the master, Antonio Gonzales, and one of the
priests named Pedro Freyre, were sent; who, at twelve leagues distance,
came to his residence called Fansaria, a very populous and magnificent
place. At first he treated them with much kindness, after which he grew
cold towards them, but on making him a considerable present he
became friendly, and even delivered to them his eldest son to be carried
to Goa, desiring that the two Jesuits and four other Portuguese might be
left as hostages, to whom he offered the island of Santa Cruz to live in.
These people are descended from the Moors, and call themselves
_Zelimas_; they have the alcoran in Arabic, and have faquirs who teach
them to read and write; they are circumcised, eat no bacon, and some of
them have several wives. The king said that in the time of his father a
ship of the Portuguese was cast away on this coast, from which about
100 men escaped on shore, some of whom had their wives along with
them, and the rest married there and left a numerous progeny. He

repeated several of their names, and even showed a book in Portuguese
and Latin which had belonged to them, and some maps; and concluded
by saying that there were more Portuguese on that coast, seven days
journey to the north. On