Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/29

 owing to an outbreak of scurvy among the crew. His ships, too, had suffered so severely, that they had to be careened and thoroughly caulked, and many of the ropes and shrouds replaced by others, to provide which the transport, as unworthy of repair, was broken up, and the best of her spars and stores appropriated to the equipment of the other vessels.

When the ships were repaired "they sailed with much satisfaction along the coast, keeping a good lookout by day and night," and at length fell in with a small native vessel, in which there was an intelligent Moor. From this man, whom the captain-major luxuriously entertained, a great deal of information was obtained as to the character and habits of the people on the coast; and, when spices were presented to him, he intimated that he knew where they could be obtained abundantly. Ultimately the Moor, who appears to have been a trader or broker in the produce of the East, agreed to conduct De Gama to Cambay of which he was a native, asserting that it was a rich country, and "the greatest kingdom in the world."

Having arrived at the island of Mozambique, which was then in the territory of the king of Quiloa, Vasco de Gama sent the Moor on shore with a scarlet cap, a string of small coral beads, and other presents, to conciliate the natives, and induce them to visit his ships. The sheikh of the district was naturally suspicious at first of the strangers, whom he took for Turks, the only white men known to him who had ships unlike the trading vessels of India. When, however, he was satisfied of their friendly intentions, he paid the