From the bay of St. Helena till they passed Cape Corrientes, there had been no trace of navigation,—­no symptom that the natives used the sea at all.  But after they passed this cape, they were visited by the natives in boats, the sails of which seem to have been made of the fibres of the cocoa-palm.  A much more encouraging circumstance, however, occurred:  some of the natives that came off in these boats were clothed in cotton, silk, and sattin,—­evident proofs that intercourse, either direct or indirect, was practicable, and had in fact been held between this country and India.  The language of these people was not understood; but from their signs it was inferred that they had seen ships as large as the Portuguese, and that they had come from the north.

This part of Africa lies between latitudes 19 deg. and 18 deg. south; and as Gama had the corrected chart of Covilham on board, in which Sofala was marked as the limit of his progress, and Sofala was two degrees to the south of where he then was, he must have known that he had now passed the barrier, and that the discovery was ascertained, his circumnavigation being now connected with the route of Covilham.  This point of Gama’s progress is also interesting and important in another respect, for we are here approaching a junction with the discoveries of the Arabians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans.

At this place Gama remained till the 24th of February, repairing his ships and recruiting his men.  On the 1st of March, he arrived off Mozambique; here evidences of a circumnavigation with India were strong and numerous.  The sovereign of Mozambique ruled over all the country from Sofala to Melinda.  The vessels, which were fitted out entirely for coasting voyages, were large, undecked, the seams fastened with cords made of the cocoa fibres, and the timbers in the same manner.  Gama, in going on board some of the largest of those, found that they were equipped with charts and compasses, and what are called aest harlab, probably the sea astrolabe, already discovered.  At the town of Mozambique, the Moorish merchants from the Red Sea and India, met and exchanged the gold of Sofala for their commodities, and in its warehouses, which, though meanly built, were numerous, pepper, ginger, cottons, silver, pearls, rubies, velvet, and other Indian articles were exposed to sale.  At Mombaca, the next place to which Gama sailed, all the commodities of India were found, and likewise the citron, lemon, and orange; the houses were built of stone, and the inhabitants, chiefly Mahomedans, seemed to have acquired wealth by commerce, as they lived in great splendour and luxury.