[Footnote 13:  In lat. 23 deg. 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 farther inquiry, a man 90 years of age was found, who had known the Portuguese that were cast away there, and could still remember a few detached words of their language.