Some Early Travels in Arabia Author(s): C. F.

Beckingham Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 2 (Oct., 1949), pp. 155-176 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25222334 . Accessed: 29/07/2011 14:21
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Some

Early

Travels

in Arabia
or alleged to have been of the fifteenth and the is no mention, Penetration of Arabia there

Ry c. f. RECKINGHAM are a number in Arabia of journeys made, between the middle century of which in Hogarth's account,

THERE made, of the seventeenth middle or at

least no adequate or in It. H. Riernan's Unveiling of Arabia. Many of these omissions are due to the little use they made of the Portuguese historians.1 The earliest of these journeys is one the elder Cabot is said to for his claim is a dispatch have made to Mecca. Our sole authority in London, Raimondo of the Duke of Milan's ambassador di Soncino, to dated 18th December, which Cabot said he 1497,2 according on to the talked occasions had visited Mecca and had previous and has is not the most there. This interesting spice merchants not been the most discussed of Cabot's voyages, and its authenticity at first Harrisse has come to be somewhat uncritically accepted. as on in the in the fifteenth that it the century, grounds rejected even not he and could Christians nineteenth, approach Mecca, a journey to Arabia.3 suggested that the remark might refer only to to prove that it and was concerned In a later work he accepted the journey must have taken place after 1470, when fifteen years' continuous residence at Venice enabled Cabot to acquire Venetian but before his arrival in England about 1490.4 Professor citizenship, once suggested that the information, being second J. A. Williamson
1 How to Dom Joao de Castro from Hogarth'h reference be judged little may " of The of Goa ". the Governor authority important Portuguese only pilot the Hakluyt of which the Commentaries he used was Society of Albuquerque, in the East to which a translation. of the Portuguese The histories had published he refers are has a certain Castanheda's ami preserved the relatively value since The former and Lafitau. of Malfei works unimportant included a part of had access the papers to which Maflei himself for Muffci now for a few extracts lost except copied history as an is worthless Lafitau of Jesus. of the Society in the archives considered here only

as

are mentioned and da Quadra, two, Covilha in Mecca and of the former's journey say nothing adventures. of da Quadra's reliable account the most did not know evidently * Printed It was first et Sehastien Jmn in H. Harrisse, 1882, pp. 324-0. Cabot, for 1805. in the Milan Annuario Scientifiro published 8 II. Harrisse, op. cit., p. 4*1. 4 H. his and Sebastian John Cabot, the Discoverer America, Harrisse, of North by Hogarth and Kiernan, who Son, 1890, p. 38. JHAS. OCTOBER 1949. 11

original authority. Of the travellers

156

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

but he has since repeated it hand, might be a little confused,1 as a fact in the article on and it is stated without qualification,2 Cabot in the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica? it hardly needs to be taken against original argument to Mecca in disguise have travelled since Cabot well may seriously an so Such like many other Christians. enterprise has always been as was shown inmore modern dangerous, but not always equally so, to Hurgronje. of the Turkish authorities times by the behaviour llarrisse's in Cabot's time it was much Probably a generation later, after the activities the Arabs suspect the European as a polytheist. Even if his Venetian Cabot would have less dangerous thau it became of the Portuguese had made a of traveller being spy as well

had become known, nationality had little to fear unless his faith had been suspected, and there were many Italian renegades. After all, before a European the Cape route to India had been discovered, who had was to know about the spice trade could still have learnt all there done nothing to divert it from the Moslem countries and there was therefore

no reason The why their rulers should resent his presence. a of is few later His real Varthema years revealing. experience and others character was known to some and suspected yet by where he was not in imminent danger until he reached Aden, news had been received of a recent Portuguese attack on Arab about the story. The other dilficulties are, however, " dice che altrc volte esso e stato alia Meecha," ambassador's phrase, than once. implies that Cabot said he had visited Mecca more to go there at all, If it was dangerous for a disguised Christian it would have been foolhardy for him to have gone there twice. There is no record of anyone having done so and it is hard to believe that Cabot would have even made the attempt, or, if he had really so incredible a claim. been there once, that he would have advanced to such a phrase in a second Much importance may not attach hand account, but there is a more serious objection. According to the dispatch Cabot said that the spices were brought to Mecca shipping. There

1 J. A. The Voyages 1929, p. 144. Williamson, of the Cabots, 1 J. A. The Voyages of John and Selxistian Associa Cabot (Historical Williamson, ion Pamphlet, No. 106), 1937, p. 8. " 8 The one of his Mecca that he visited says Encyclopaedia during trading mere to the which and adds Eastern is Mediterranean '*, voyages conjecture, " then the greatest mart in the world for the exchange that Mecca was irresponsibly of the goods of the East for those of the West".

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

by caravans " from distant, countries, per earavane de

157
luntani

and that lie had asked those who le speciarie," paesi sono portatc had the spices came; answered them whence brought they that they did not know, but that other caravans brought them to their homes from distant lands, and that the men who brought them remote said in their turn Cabot regions. JbheFar East, believing, from be readily obtained could therefore by sailing westwards as the trade he envisaged spice Evidently following Europe. a caravan route leading more or less due east and west across Asia from a point on the mainland and presumably opposite starting an island. Anyone to who be had knew he which Japan, at Mecca would surely have known that the talked to the merchants caravans spices had come almost the whole way by sea, and that the not distant but from from lands, Jidda, reaching Mecca had come, a or two's away. journey day There is no reason to doubt that Pero de Covilha reached Mecca and Medina. His travels were described to the Portuguese chaplain from 1D20 to 152G.1 Covilha thirty years, having The by successive emperors. of languages ledge Ethiopian
observant and sensible man,

the spices had come to them from in had inferred that the spices originated in fact, that they came from Japan and that

by Francisco who was ambassador

Alva res, the in Ethiopia there for some

been refused

living to leave the country permission use of his know much made embassy so that Alvares, an and manners,
was also his confessor, must have

had then been

who

.Besides the story is plausible who have tried to reach Christians in itself and few European to Covilha knew succeed. can better been have Mecca qualified on to He and Morocco. two missions Arabic well and had gone were chosen by the King of Afonso de Paiva, companion, routes and to search for Prester to investigate the spice Portugal at the attempt John only when former emissaries had abandoned not know Arabic. did because Jersualem Alvares, they precisely indeed, remarks that Covilha knew all languages, Christian, Moslem, of eastern he had had much and pagan. Moreover, experience his
1 F. pt. Alvarea, Verdade.ira do das TerraInfnrmneam A translation 1889. by Lonl in 1881. Society f*re..ite Joam Stanley das of AMerlry fndins, was

to know him very well. So, and Alvares specifically the narrative, who had supplied the details himself. come

there

is good reason affirms his trust

to believe in Covilha

i, rap.

publialifMl

103, 1540 and by the Ilakluyt

158 travel

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARA1UA before he went

to the Holy Cities. He and his companion to Alexandria and Cairo in the guise of merchants, and a party of Moors to Tor, Suakin, then accompanied and Aden. Here they separated, Paiva going to Ethiopia while Covilha pro ceeded to Cananor, Calicut, Goa, Sofala and Ormuz. he When first went returned he met sent to keep his rendezvous the latter had died. Covilha was about to these he wrote two Jews bringing instructions an account of what to Cairo with Paiva, he found that to leave for Portugal when from the Ring. In obedience he had so far discovered and

it to Portugal by the hand of one Jew, after which he accom to Ormuz, where back the other Covilha they parted. panied went to then Jidda, Mecca, Medina, Mount Sinai and, by way of Tor and Zeila, to Ethiopia where, so far as we know, he spent the " in passing that the Sancarrao ", that is, the are buried at Medina. This detail is of interest. bones of Muhammad, It was presumably derived from Covilha and it is a further proof of his veracity that he did not suppose that Muhammad's tomb was at that time and made at Mecca, a mistake very common by Alvares mentions Barros, Arnold Correa 2, and, as we shall see, even by Couto, Castanheda, von Harff, who claimed to have been there. In the account he wrote of his own travels 8 von HariT alleges in July, 1497, and went overland to Aden, passing on his way. This is a unique claim for a European rest of his life.1

that he left Cairo through Mecca

1 Castanhcda's add*

account of Covilha, taken from Alvares liv. I, eap. I, is evidently dee. I liv. Ill eap. 5, uses a phraso which Harms, nothing. implies that somo information as well as from his book, he obtained from Alvares porsonnlly " e assi de hum tratado, do qual Francisco desta Alvares, quo elle fez da viagem e ontras eousas 1>. Rodrigo, sonbemos estas, ombaixada, que levou daquellas to Mecca in his and Medina. Corrca the journey He does not mention partes." a confused to which Covilha account, opening according chapter gives hopelessly to Mecca, whero they separated, and Paiva went from Egypt with a pilgrim caravan on the and Paiva to India. Covilha in his third chapter Later, going to Ethiopia there is a very different Governor version. In this Covilha Lopo Xaz de Sampayo, to Ormuz, from Egypt to India, sails from Coa makes his way goes by caravan and to the lied Sea, visits Mecca, and goes to Ethiopia by way of in general events unreliable about which notoriously preceded ho says about Covilha be believed in India and what cannot is lOgypt. Correa his own arrival when he is con

tradicted by Alvares. * dee. II liv. viii cap. 1 : Couto, dec. IV liv. v eap. 3: Castanheda, Uarros, " 9. liv. IV eap. \ii: Correa, Soares," eap. I*opo * First in 1860. Tho Hakluyt has now made it accessible published Society in a readable, Mr. Malcolm and edited translation Letts. scholarly, carefully by

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA to have made deserves careful and it has not always been accepted. Von Harff, like so many The

159 story mediaeval

examination.

can sometimes, but not always, be believed. There travellers, is no reason to doubt that large portions of his book are substantially sea monsters and true, but it also contains much about Amazons, a the like. His Arabian kind of circular journey formed part of and ending in Egypt. He says that he beginning set .out from Cologne in November, went and first to Italy. 1496, to Alexandria He sailed from Venice and proceeded to Cairo and us to Mount Sinai.1 He asks believe that he then traversed the whole Arabia to Aden, sailed to Socotra and Ceylon, India and Madagascar, climbed the Mountains of the Moon and found the source of the Nile, the course of which he followed back to Cairo. to Europe He then returned through Palestine, and His later travels arc not relevant. Syria Turkey. for some confusion about dates and minor matters Except von Hartf'8 narrative is credible at least imtil his departure from Sinai for Mecca and it becomes quite credible again with his arrival to believe in his visit to in Palestine. But no one can be expected visited India or his journey down the Nile. It is enough here to say that not only does he include in this part of his book nonsense taken but he reveals gross mis from, or at least worthy of, Mandeville, of the Indian Ocean and states about the geography conceptions that the source ! of the Nile is seventy-two days' journey we from can Jerusalem If we do not assume of Eastern tour of the East

believe

in von Harff's

Arabian

direct from Egypt inserted a fictitious account of a journey that would bring him back again to a point where he could resume more or less truthful narration. If we do believe in it, we must also believe that, having reached or Aden, possibly Socotra, he returned to Egypt by a route which to pretend that he made a far longer he did not disclose, preferring so not to his genuine travels, but at the and added journey, merely same time concealed part of them. The former seems rather more can only be afforded by the details evidence likely but conclusive he gives of his journey in Arabia. about the he seems to have made a mistake To begin with,
1 Ho a Latin yoars mention** Christian since that tho monltH of St. Catherine^ ton ycara. hail not received boon a visit nearly from ton for the paRt pilgrim had gone to Sinai. Covilha It in list have

that he went

venture, to Palestine but

100 direction

SOME EAULY TRAVELS IN .AltAIUA

in which he was travelling ; it must have been south or once he had passed the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. " He speaks of travelling eastwards for four days from Tor to Negra ", that is; he does not mention wherever any change of dilection branch of the Indian and he describes the Red Sea as a westward east of south Ocean. allows taken are absurdly short. He of actual only twenty-six days travelling time between Cairo and Mecca, whereas the pilgrim caravans usually took nearly forty, to and he claims to have accomplished the journey from Mecca His estimates of the time in forty-six. remarkable. After of recognizable is place names ten towns enumerates he in Tor Arabia, leaving is the only one to which he gives a reasonable name he calls Madach, perhaps after Ptolemy. The rest The absence

Aden

of which Mecca

satisfactorily, though it is sometimes possible he may have found them. he joined Although at Tor and so presumably passed through Medina he makes no reference to it, unless its pre-Islamic name, Yathrib, of classical geographers, the lathrippa is preserved in his Trippa, which, however, he places ten days' journey beyond Mecca. to suggest where a pilgrim caravan of his visit to Mecca is very strange. Although a as he and a number of other Christian, travelling openly and Jews accompanied Christians the Hajj until it was about two and a half miles (" half a German mile ") away and well within description he was sight of the city. It is remarkable that a professing Christian should have been allowed to remain with the pilgrims after they had assumed the Ihram, or pilgrim dress, which is done at Abyar Ali, one march south of Medina, and it is stranger still that he should at all, even from the outside. a Christian took the dragoman, renegade, enormous risk of taking him into the city suitably disguised. " Mecca itself, Mr. Eldon Rutter's breathless pit ", enclosed between the barren rocky walls of a valley about half a mile wide, seemed " a very pleasant to von HarfF town surrounded by beautiful " " rare trees of a with fruit ". Beside it fine and gardens large river ran southwards to the Red Sea. There is, of course, no such river have been allowed Yet his Mameluke in the Hejaz, although more reliable travellers in Arabia anywhere have sometimes mistaken a torrent in spate for a river. At Mecca, " " beside the city but down the however, the torrent does not flow msiin street. The mosque, as high as any on he says, is "built earth ", an odd remark for one who had seen the minarets of to see Mecca His

(Mecka). Aden cannot be identified

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

161

at Medina; for the height of the Ka'ha is Cairo and the mosque some of and 50 the about wall 25 feet.1 feet surrounding only He tells us that all entered bare-headed and bare-footed ; bare headed they must have been if they were wearing the Ihram, but not The bare-footed. but necessarily instep must lie uncovered, " the pilgrim often wears sandals. east to the end They proceeded " " " of the church was. where the tomb of Muhammad Church (Kirche) is a curious word to apply to the open courtyard enclosing the Ka'ba. As for the tomb, Mr. Letts remarks that the Ka'ba at Muhammad was. All the same, not at the east end of the court this mistake long, and 33 feet broad 2; of the tomb he saw as 5 by 10 by account of Medina. the tomb of

to be with confused appears Medina and observes how common the Ka'ba yard von Harff 4 feet. and stands is about in the middle, 50 feet high,

40 feet

gives the measurements

praise better than those of Mecca. Mr. Eldon Rutter writes that the area between Medina and the " " llarra is trees in of with the shade which thickly grown palm corn and vegetables are cultivated.3 There is a watercourse which passes along the south wall and through the eastern suburbs. The is more then recently erdarged by Qait Bey, mosque, Prophet's to have impressed a visitor by its likely than the Haratn at Mecca near is Muhammad buried the south-east corner and though height. the tomb is not shown to visitors, Uurton was told that it was a marble block.4 One can only assume that von Harff had heard a description of Medina it as a description and had accepted of Mecca because, he like so many of his contemporaries in Europe, was buried that Muhammad believed there and that his tomb was the object of the Moslem pilgrimage. It is unnecessary to consider in detail the little which von Hard about the rest of his Arabian He refers to four journey. sea one at of them into the Aden, to communities large rivers, falling a of Ethiopian to town Christians, twenty-three days' travel beyond " " was spoken and Mecca where Chaldean (presumably Syriac), " a was to King of Saba who great lord of India ". subject to the
1 tildon a * 4 Ibid., Ibid., Burton, The. Holy Hotter, vnl. i, p. 21!). vol. ii, p. 207. Pilgrimage Cities of Arabia, I92H, vol. i, p. 2f>2.

In fact, this description Its surroundings deserve

seems to be a confused his

records

to Al Madinah

and Mee.eah,

1855, eh.

10.

162 The

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

rivers, except at Aden, might perhaps be explained ad torrents coming down the wadis, but the Christians and the Syriac speakers are certainly not true. Mr. Letts suggests that by the lord of India

is false. is really meant. Prester John Even so, the statement At this time South-AVest Arabia was wholly independent of Ethiopia. From Aden, von Harff sailed to Socotra (" Schoyra "). Mr. Letts " about the Socotrans have a genuine considers that his observations " and that he either did go there or acquired detailed informa ring even if we ignore the magnetic tion at Aden. However, rocks, the fight of the leviathan and the whale which he saw during his voyage, the Amazons he met and the island which had only male inhabitants, about the more sober parts yet there are still serious difficulties of his account. Less than ten years after his visit the Portuguese landed on Socotra and came to know it well. There are discrepancies of von HarIT and of Joao de Barros.1 the descriptions The former tells us that the Christians had a bishop or patriarch whom they regarded as their leader and who had to pay tribute " to the this great lord of India ". Even if India means Ethiopia to is incredible. Barros the island had been subject to According between of Qishn for twenty-six the Portuguese years when " Von Harff found the people for the most part rich ", and all were dressed in long dyed linen cloaks and blue " " turbans. This does not suggest the of Barros, gente mui bestial even whose barbarism and idleness exceeded tho sterility of their or skins. Von Hard's soil and who dressed in homespun drawing of their costume is wildly He remarks, improbable. correctly, that the islanders have their own language, and professes to give the alphabet. What this seems to be is forty-seven characters from the Sultan arrived there. the Ethiopic syllabary, very badly written and out of order. There " is no Socotri alphabet. Von HarIT states that the island is more than a hundred German miles in extent ", that is, about live hundred " " Even extent if by he means the circumference, English miles. he is badly wrong. Socotra is some 75 miles long and is, on the average, about 20 miles broad. It ismore difficult to assess the accuracy of his account of religious for not a great deal is known of the Christianity of the observances, Socotrans. who with him in that they Barros, agrees saying " practised circumcision, believed them to be do casta dos Abcxins ", that is to say, Monophysites
1 Barros,

in communion
dee. II liv.

with
3.

the Coptic Patriarch,

i cap.

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA Von Harff ascribes is quite plausible. to the Ethiopians also attributes which he practices his alleged journey down the Nile, and of these, and this priests, the circumcision We have to them when

163 certain

Christianity. seen that he did not go to Ethiopia, but information about the Ethiopian in Egypt accessible both in Church was and Jerusalem. It is significant that what he gives for the Ethiopian alphabet When is really Coptic.1 he returned to Cairo to become he found great Thodar ", and seized control an army to had assembled that the "

of Holy Communion administration are well-known features of Ethiopian

describing the marriage of in both kinds and

wishing of that

Sultan, The ruling Sultan province. send against him and von Harff accompanied this army from Cairo to Gaza by way of Bilbeis and Qatia. He gives the exact date of and it has a bearing on the truth of all this part of his departure his narrative. It appears that in the three MSS. of the von Harff

had fled to Damascus

in the possession text was family, on which the published German based, this date is given as 2nd November, 1499, but that in the " " oldest of them, which is in contemporary nuin handwriting, " " has been altered to in a later hand. As von Harff reached acht Cologne as the about The 1499, Mr. Letts accepts 1498 again in October or November, correct date. There serious difficulties are, however, von was as 1498. as even in that Harff Cairo late believing be identified from the earlier part of or the Dawadar State Secretary. The detailed chronicle to take Damascus, which was lyas shows that his attempt
occurred in the autumn of 1497, not I'198. Moreover,

"great his work-as

Thodar"

can

of Ibn in the

unsucccssfiul,

young Sultan, the son of Kathubce, but how in this year the mastery, obtained he fared later is unknown to mo." the son of Qait The Sultan, on 31st October, 1498 (15 Rain" 1 904 a.h.).2 Bey, was assassinated It is hardly conceivable that von Harff should not have known
alphabet a note, has ineluded for which this he is not responsible, in which " " as a is deseribed set of Greek uncials and as apparently badly written one or two Russian correct version letters. It is, in fact, a reasonably ineluding of the? Coptic as that a form of Z in reverse has been included alphabet, except an additional letter. a Ibn Jyas, ed. Bibliotheca Tl. iii, p. 392. Islamica, Letts 1 Mr.

latter year the Sultan himself was more or and- could not have raised an army. in his Again the disturbances that took place during his first " before he went to Sinai, von Harff says : So the

less a prisoner of description visit to Cairo,

164 of this Now

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA if he did not leave Cairo until two days later. The most 1497.1 is that he left for Gaza in November, to go to Sinai have in July of his Arabian accomplished would be credible only if we early about the time taken

reasonable

assumption since he left for the first time it follows that he must

that year,

journey in about four months. could believe his own fantastic to travel between

This

statements

Cairo and Mecca and between Mecca and Aden. is of Arabia Nearly every item, then, in von Harff's description he makes about his own movements false, nearly every statement and of Socotra and his account is incredible, of a kind unlikely to be made by anyone who had been there. inference seems to me to be The only possible at that he did not go to Arabia all, but that after visiting Sinai he returned to Cairo and left there for Palestine later in the same experiences contains mistakes there home, Vasco da Gama regained his Khineland was to change profoundly the which voyage just completed and Islam and to lead to a vast the relations between Christendom When von Harff

year.2

had

of Asiatic geography. of European knowledge con worked most for which the Portuguese was valuable to of the obtain control exclusive immensely sistently of a direct route to India, Eastern trade. The mere inauguration was to be much which proved longer than had been expected, routes through not enough to attract commerce from its accustomed to divert it and the Portuguese the Moslem countries, attempted One and rapid extension of the objects forcibly. Bahrein In the Persian Gulf they built fortresses at Ormuz and and in 'Oman. In the west, however, they failed in their come to appreciate on had Aden in 1513, and when attack they climate of and the forbidding of Ethiopia the military weakness the coasts and islands of the Red Sea, they were usually content of the Gulf them of Aden between with the

to try to enforce a seasonal blockade Cape Guardafui and Ras Fartak. Their
1 This

policy

inevitably

involved

in hostilities

from for his departure with the date given is consistent by the MSS. is forced to alter to MM). i.e. 13th Mareh, Damascus, 1408, which Mr. Letts 1 It is convenient of a fellow countryman to mention here the alleged journey went to Mecca Ho and his companion of v. Uarir, Emanuel of Augsburg. Orttel, from Cairo struck molestation. there without in 1501 and spent eight days They wero docs not inspire which to Kai>a of tho tho the Colosseum, by similarity Deutsche H. Mcisncr, confidence in their veracity. See li. Itohrichtand Pilgerreisen nach dem Heiligen Lande, 1880, p. 532.

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA the Levantine power controlling had reached the Mediterranean, and after tinued 1517, with intermittently travel became

165

the old trade routes ports where that is to say, with the Mamelukes, con the Ottoman Empire. These hostilities

the sixteenth and century throughout so much the more dangerous for Europeans. Arabian It was not, however, For one thing, although both the impossible. were recognized in the Hejaz, Mamelukes and the Ottomans and the Ottomans neither had any effective sometimes in the Yemen, in Central or South-Eastern not all the Arabia. Besides, authority Arabs were unfriendly to the Portuguese. The political alignment of the South Arabian rulers explains why some of the Portuguese werci shared the fate of the Aden commonly journeys possible. was Yemen and for most of the century under Turkish rule. As a convenient refuge for ships hoping to run the blockade, its prosperity was increased by the tactics followed by the Portuguese but would have been ruined had those tactics been wholly successful. The policy of its governors, whether Turkish or Arab, was therefore Further nearly always hostile. along the coast was the Sultanate or of {Shihr, known to the as the Kingdom of Xael, Portuguese not all the which included Xaer, Dhufar, though intervening the at least the Sultan of Shihr recognized Sometimes territory. an in enclave his at of the Pasha San'a. Forming suzerainty dominions of Qishn, Shihr from Dhufar was the Sultanate andNseparating known as the Kingdom of Caxem or Fartaque. Then, as now, it included Socotra, and seems often to have been on once the latter had relinquished friendly terms with the Portuguese, their attempt to hold the island permanently and. had shown them it was

selves content if their ships could call there for water. Beyond of Ormuz and to the Kingdom coastal 'Oman belonged Dhufar, contained several Portuguese forts. There were, therefore, a number were liable to be of places in South Arabia where the Portuguese and where they called upon for assistance by the local population if forced to land upon the coast. expect protection Arabia all the Europeans known to have penetrated Nearly invaders, during this period can be classified as being renegades, survivors in disguise taking important news to Europe, messengers could
from shipwreck, or captives. There were many renegades, but

be said to belong to the history of explora tion. As for invaders, no Portuguese army ever tried to go far into of the Red Sea, Arabia. Before they had had much experience their adventures cannot

166

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

some of their leaders, among whom was Albuquerque, toyed with plans for a raid on Mecca, but this was never so much as attempted. Even coast within the Straits of Bab el landings on the Arabian were very rare. Mandeb In 1517 Lopo Scares do Albergaria but did not attack, to and' later expeditions threatened, Jidda, the Red Sea were not much eastern concerned with its shore. In 1586, however, Ruy Goncalvcs da Camera put into a roadstead leagues from Mocha and sent spies to obtain the town, which he hoped to burn. This he did not do, but three captains with their ship's companies and sixty were were soldiers landed to procure water. The wells half a league inland and a skirmish ensued.1 information about Without the straits, along the south coast of the pen insula, was less effective at it Turkish and Arab resentment authority once to at Aden. the Portuguese enabled land a garrison assault on it in 1513 had been repulsed, but in 1547 Albuquerque's the Turks and invoked the help of 'Ali the inhabitants expelled Sheikh of Khan far, who ibn Sulaiman, in return for their assistance. the Portuguese who commanded the Portuguese contingent, into the interior, deserted his allies when but two of his men took refuge at Khanfar, offered the citadel to Dom Payo de Noronha, so far from marching the town was where some ten or twelve

attacked, were they shortly run aground joined by the crews of two ships which had deliberately when chased by Turkish galleys. They were all rescued by sea
soon after.2

towns along the From time to time the Portuguese attacked or coast sent ashore armed parties to procure water and supplies. In 1547 Dom Alvaro de Castro, sent to relieve Aden and arriving on his return voyage.3 da Ruy Goncalvcs 1586 in and short the Red Sea Camera, being returning of water, landed six leagues from Bab el Mandeb. He found the that he spent the octave of Easter there, place so well watered too late, stormed Shihr from from the Turks, who killed several though not without molestation no to hold Yet determined effort was ever made stragglers.4
1 2 dec. X Couto, Ibid., dec. VI liv. vii cap. 15, 16. liv. vi cap. 1. de Andrade, Vitla de J). Joao cap. 17. Couto by God

s J. Freyre 4 dee. X liv. vii Couto, as that provided miraculous same Arabia ".

de Castro, considered "

1651, that when

liv.

IV. water was as this

this passing

for the Israelites

through

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA permanently garrisons were not

167

any place on the south coast west of 'Oman.1 The in the forts there, cut off from the interior by mountains, likely to go far inland, but they came to know something

coastal plain. Barros remarked upon the relatively and he knew the names of several towns, dense population of'Oman 'Ali Bey's galleys from among them Nazwa and even Izki.2 When in 1581, 500 persons, Muscat Mocha were threatening including women fled four leagues inland to a fort where the children, received governor, Svho held it for a branch of the Beni Qahtan, Arab and their them with traditional hospitality protected and was to be
from

of the narrow

from his own tribesmen.3 possessions and Communication India by sea between Portugal slow and on many occasions when urgent had information
sent, a messenger, often a Jew, an Armenian, or a convert

countries, by the historians Ormuz to Iraq and then crossed the Syrian desert, but some of In 1513, when Albuquerque them traversed part of Arabia. lay a at Kamaran for favourable wind, he sent news of his waiting a soldier who was landed on exploits and projects to the King by so mainland with his the that he could pose as an legs fettered Islam, if necessary. Most through of those mentioned for the task, had This man, who volunteered escaped captive. at Azauior in but had joined the Portuguese been a Moslem, and lie the he well, delivered knew Arabic message Morocco, safely, and the King made use of him to carry back his reply.4 to use the friendship of the Sultan of Later, we hear of attempts the acting Governor of India, tried In 1581 Fernao Telles, Qislm. to send enciphered letters to King Philip by the hand of a Venetian who was to be put ashore at Qishn with a letter to the Sultan asking him to arrange for his journey as far as Suez, whence he was to make his way to Alexandria.5 Meanwhile the King had sent out a new Viceroy,
1 Thore Islam to the is a curious effect that

travelled

overland

the Moslem

in disguise went from

Dom

Francisco
in the article occupied

Mascarcnhas,
" Shihr the "

with

orders
of to

statement

the Portuguese

in the Knryelop&dia coast from Aden whole

and held it for thirty-five Muscat years. * II liv. iii cap. 2. dec. Harms, 8 dec. X liv. i eap. 12. Couto, 4 Commentaries of Albugue.rgue, pt. IV cap. !1, and P.arros, dec-. II liv. viii cap. 3. in the fleet had known Arabic that if all the others The latter remarks they would than of the hardships of his journey have been less afraid of the difficulties they at Kama ran. endured 8 dee. X liv. i cap. 8. Couto,

168

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

to report his arrival at once by every means. sent an Mascarenhas as same route the Armenian his by predecessor's messengers.1 a remarkable occasioned Shipwreck journey along the south coast of Arabia by a small party of Portuguese in 1520. In the late of of of the licet Governor that the India, Diogo year spring Jjopcs on its return from the Red Sea, encountered de Sequeira, bad weather de Sousa as it emerged from the Gulf of Aden ; the galley saved himself sank, but the commander to to die Oastanheda's it would of Jeronimo and eleven

fidalgos, saying, according since all the rest would have gentlemen. one walk

that history, be best to save the

in doing and robbed abused, attacked, that when, near Ras al Hadd,

They reached the coast two days later and set out to to hundred This 'Oman. succeeded leagues they of the whom the Arabs, despite hostility by they were of their

Barros relates clothing. secured the of a protection they no to Ormuz, they sheikh owing allegiance longer looked like men, so much had they been burnt by the sun and disfigured by the

of hunger, thirst, and their exertions.2 A pleasant story relating to a similar incident is told by Alvares when describing the return voyage of Eitor and by Castanheda da Silveira, who brought back the Portuguese from embassy took Ormuz he in 1520. three the After ; leaving prizes Ethiopia were ones to old the and the assigned young prisoners royal galleys effects Among the latter was an aged Jew who some Portuguese in the Sultanato wandering to whom he had given food, clothing, and money. of Qishn, One of them, a poor soldier from Viseu, was present and recognized his benefactor ; he told his story to the Governor and asked that, as sold for ton cruzados had once befriended each. he had not ten cruzados with which to ransom be given to him and the purchase money The Governor sent for the Jew and asked there. then him, the Jew should from his pay. deducted

if he recognized anyone He pointed out the soldier he had helped, to whom he was The soldier took the Jew about given by the Governor. telling their story and collecting alms

the Portuguese among for him.3

1

seem a to me to be textual emendation ll>id.t dee. X liv. i en p. 0. A slight " cm Caxcm at this point. The original reads: pera do alii partir pera required o Heyno. Por via de Suez esereveo etc." Tho full stop should surely dqticllo Rcy, " " " Suez not follow ". Keyno * liv. iv cap. 3. liv. V cap. .'12. BarroR, dee. Ill Cnstanhcda, * liv. VII Alvares, cap. 6. op. cit., pt. ii, cap. 3. Castanhcda,

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA Although the Turks and Arabs never secured a

169

large number of the crews of bodies, prisoners usually Portuguese individual ships, were captured from time to time. Many of them to the Pasha at were taken into the interior, often to be presented in Ethiopia with Dom The twelve Portuguese San'a. captured at once, small Cristovao da Gama when were sent to the governor One of the most notable in 1542 by the Moslems with head.1 leader's their along ever made Portuguese prisoners by the was who had his command Turks just relinquished Roque de Brito, for a passage to India, when as Captain of Malindi and was waiting in 1586. in a raid on East Africa he was captured by 'Ali Bey of Zabid, He was sent to San'a himself. He to the Turkish given by the Pasha at he had already after Sultan Constantinople been ransomed for 2,000 cruzados. Nearly sixty others were taken Most of them were well in this raid, some of whom were mestizos. died treated until and was he was defeated

as gardeners were employed at San'a by the Pasha and were the ransomed.2 When captive Jesuit gradually they were Antonio de Montserrat, brought to fathers, Pedro Paez and . this same Pasha in 1589 they found that there were still twenty-six and five Indian Christians among his prisoners, all of Portuguese had been captured on the African coast. was the Jesuit remarkable historian, Manoel prisoner Manoel and three 16'W he In de Almeida. Barnidas, companions, Damiao Oeroco, were; trying to return to Calaca, and Giuseppe and were held captive for six months by the India from Ethiopia whom Another Amir For a time they were at Khan far, which Almeida of Aden. as being so terrible a place that it was only by a miracle that they escaped with their lives. They also spent twenty days of in the prosperity at Lahej. remarks upon the decline Almeida were saw from twelve to there Aden ; for every house; he standing describes fifteen in ruins.3 There are two memorable captives journeys made by Portuguese that of Gregorio da which deserve more detailed consideration, to Iraq, and that from Medina Arabia Quadra across Northern de Montserrat, from and Antonio Pedro Paez Jesuits, best far the to San'a. Hadhramaut authority By through Marib de Goes, who had heard him for da Quadra's journey is Damiao of the
1 * s " Correa, Couto, Almeida, Martim Afonso de ttousa," cap. 51. 9.

<\vr. X

liv. vii cap. S. a alia de Ethiopia Historia

on Ahassia,

liv. I, cap.

170 describe his own

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA adventures many times. His narrative may be

summarized

as follows.

a brigantine Da Quadra commanded in the squadron of Duarte on 20th August, de Lemos which left Malindi 1509, and sailed north along the African coast. They arrived tit Mogadishu and at night, while riding at anchor, the cable of da Quadra's ship broke. on board was .asleep, the ship was carried away from the Everyone fleet by the current and when the crew awoke they did not know where Cape Guardafui and reached Zeila, and some of his com Da Quadra captured. " a were as to to sent the Zabid King of Aden ", panions present who had numerous Da Quadra learned Arabic and captives. They doubled where they were. they were

himself and his companions coloured caps. by making supported After some years a neighbouring ruler defeated the King of Aden, annexed the greater part of his kingdom, ami released da Quadra and the five other Portuguese who were still alive. Da Quadra to be a pious Moslem and accompanied tho new King pretended on a pilgrimage at Medina. to the grave of Muhammad They caravan had left. On the arrived two days after the Damascus to visit of the grandsons of wanting the shrine of pretext to to catch Muhammad in Persia he obtained up try permission and food. the caravan and was given a supply of money with in the desert until, exhausted He did not sueceed and he wandered by hunger and the heat, he resigned himself to death and knelt to God for forgiveness down praying for his sins. He then felt of a sandhill himself miraculously carried to the summit from which he saw a man and a camel. He made his way towards them and came upon a caravan which had halted for watering. He begged for food and to be a person of " " and Babylonia There the Ormuz. with was great thence treated with sanctity. he made kindness as he was assumed took him to The caravan his way to Basra and so to

received him Captain, Dom Garcia Coutinho, honour and gave him a passage to India, whence he returned to Portugal, arriving in 1520.1 is a convincing This story and can be correlated with known to the ship is likely enough. historical events. The mishap In summer the East Africa and coast there
Scnhnr

current

exceeding
1 pt. Goes,

four knots,
Chronica 64.

is very is a northerly

strong, current

sometimes past Cape

ii, cap. 20 ;

do Serenissima

Jiei D. Emanuel,

1506, (>7, pt.

iv, cap.

171 SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA " " was 'Amir the year.1 The Guardafui throughout King of Aden the last of the Tahirid dynasty whose capital ibn 'Abdul Wahhab, was at Zabid; remarked upon the large number of Varthema he had. Caps captives in the Yemen. dress are still The an important item of masculine ruler who freed da neighbouring Abu Muhammad Numaiy,

then associated Quadra was the Sharif his dominions of Mecca with Barakat in the government II; a the after had expelled time short for included Zabid Egyptians 'Amir in the summer of 1516. The pretended object of da Quadra's Kerbela, the shrine of one of Muhammad's llusain ; it was then under Persian rule. at is of himself Medina to burial the The reference Muhammad we have already seen how rarely the Portuguese perhaps significant; historians were right about this. journey was, of course, the Imam grandsons, who describes is to be found also in Castanhoda, no of the details gives journey, and in the briefly was the ordy version latter The Commmtaries of Albuquerque.2 about what he who was somewhat known to Hogarth, sceptical He seems to and peculiar story. thought was an unsupported at that da Quadra professed Christianity object that it is asserted Arabia alone.3 North he crossed and that Medina with impunity are rather unfair. The narrative These criticisms implies that his was Muhammad's made before tomb, was profession of faith, which since the sheikhs who were either not heard or not understood The incident it wry and the emotion he showed and present are said to have misunderstood As for his crossing of Arabia, to have been amazed at his piety. it is nowhere claimed that he did so alone, but merely that he set to he accompanied out alone and met with a caravan which " more it confirms the ". However, important although Babylonia in this account. of Goes, there are some inaccuracies statements after da Quadra's It alleges that on the morning ship had been the crew found that she was carried away from her moorings It is not credible that in less than one short summer opposite Aden. was for it night when the cable broke, wind and already night, to Aden. Nor a ship from Mogadishu drive should current alone is it likely that, unless driven by the current, da Quadra would Goes is much more to sail near Aden; have ventured likely to
and Cut J of Aden Pilot, p. 17, 1044. liv. K cap. 117. Commentaries, pt, iv cap. 10. n I). G. The Penetration 1904, p. 04 n. Hogarth, of Arabia, 2 Castanheda, JRAS. October 1940. 12 1 lied Sea

172

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

that he was taken at Zeila, as he might then to reach Ethiopia. of the author the Again, Commentaries that the brigantine agrees with Goes and Castanheda was in the squadron of Duarte de Lemos, but he states that when be right in saying have been trying the Portuguese attacked Aden, that is to say, in 1513, da Quadra his companions had already been prisoners for eight years. is impossible This since Duarte de Lemos was not sent to the as East until 1508. The ruler who freed them is here represented one of the of Zabid who inhabitants is said to have principal a few revolted and taken possession of the city after days on the had left Sea his Red return to India. voyage Albuquerque In fact, 'Amir ibn "Abdul Wahhab retained control of Zabid until he was expelled by Husain al Mushrif, the admiral of the Mameluke in 1516. These mistakes, do not destroy the Sultan, however, value of this chapter of the Commentaries as independent evidence of the truth of what da Quadra told Goes.1 Goes says that, after his return to Portugal, so da Quadra and impressed King Manoel by what he was able to report about Arabia and the great lake from which and, from hearsay, about Ethiopia, the Nile, the Zaire (i.e. the Congo) and other great rivers were to flow, that he was sent on an to the King of supposed embassy with to to instructions reach thence Congo, try Ethiopia by land. The King of Congo, however, refused to allow him to continue on his way and sent him back to Portugal where he found that Dom Manoel was dead. He ended his life as a friar. Capuchin Until recently the Jesuit fathers Paez and Mon tserrat were, so far as is known, the only Europeans who had reached San'a from a Hadhramaut as a for of Moor and, except mysterious person posing whom Arnaud from who had come to Marib heard, the only Europeans the east. The story of their journey is told by Almeida and in their histories of Ethiopia.2 There is no need by Paez himself
in Goes* own account. In one place ho states, as inconsistency reached Ormuz when Lojm Soarea was Governor does, that, da Quadra and in another, which in tho Commentaries agrees with a statement that he was received there hy Dom Garcia Coutinho. The latter held oflico under de Sequeira successor Dinpo of Lopo Da Quadra's Snares. Lopes (1518-1521), " is also mentioned who flunks of him as euriositato pilgrimage by Afonso Mendes diictum ". lih. IV in C. (Mendes, Expcditio Uerum Beceari, Acthiopica, cap. 8, Aethiapicarum 1 Almeida, Both Almeida Occidentales Seriptores op. cit., liv. V cap. l-fl. and Paez are included vol. 0.) inediti, Ilistoria de. Ethiopia, liv. Ill Paez, in C. Beceari, Uerum Aelhiopicarum cap. 15 21. 1 There is one

Castanhcda of India,

Seriptores

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA to recount described

173

Abyssinia Prester John.

their personal adventures in detail as they have been in in The Romance of the Portuguese by Sir Charles Rey atad by Miss Elaine in Portugal Sanceau in Search of

on their way to Ethiopia They were sailing from Muscat to Zeila was when their ship just after leaving the Kuria Muria captured Islands in February, 1590. They were disguised, but their pilot had told a friend in Muscat to that he was conveying Portuguese and to the friend had of warned the Dhufar inhabitants Zeila,1 on of be the watch for the vessel. The governor Dhufar decided to send them along avoid the coast to his master the Sultan of Shihr. They in a small boat for five days, perhaps were taken to in order

passing through the territory of the Sultan of Qishn. at the mouth of a wadi which they assumed disembarked

They to be

a great river, and travelled inland to Tarim and thence to Hainan 'Umar. Here where they were questioned by the reigning Sultan The met of the survivor band of sole another captives. they was a Burmese woman, at interview with Sultan their the interpreter a Christian, who had been captured along with eight formerly in the time of 'Ulnar's father when a ship had been Portuguese driven to Shihr by a storm. They had all been brought to Hainan ; and she had apostatized. had died in captivity the Portuguese the Jesuits were sent to the Pasha at San'a. From Hainan They were told that the Sultan would have liked to hold them to ransom himself, but that the Pasha had claimed that 'Umar was obliged to surrender any Portuguese prisoners by the terms of his vassalage to the Turks. Eve, having therefore of the The description in Hadhramaut. spent about four months as it is the earliest interest is of Paez considerable country by He was impressed known account of the interior by a European. Arabia of the the and its designation unsuitability poverty by by was at the not cultivated land of the The Felix. all; greater part suffered were and the population yielded very poor crops parts that much from hunger. Their staple crop was millet, but wheat, barley, The Jesuits left Hainan
Occident ales Inediti. An account work neither by was of thin journey was Calthasar Tellcs. Portuguese ; Paez first published was Oastilian, in IfMiO in an Montserrat

on Midsummer's

abridgment 1 Strictly Catalan.

of Almeida's speaking,

174

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

The Jesuits tasted coffee which Paez and dates were also grown. " water boiled with the rind of a fruit which they call describes as " is usually made with Bune ; as is well known, coffee in Arabia the custom the men the husk and not the bean itself. He mentions had of curling their hair and of greasing it with butter ; he thought the effect very unpleasant when the hair became dirty as it usually There is an allusion to the respect paid to Sharifs ; a Sharif did. was the only person who remained at the Sultan's audience. Paez for the death of one of 'Ulnar's daughtersf the mourning describes for a month. Twice a day women with dust in which continued their hair used to assemble on the roof of a house, form two lines Cairns and beat their breasts, lament, and embrace each other. of stones were made over the graves of the dead and those of the richest persons were adorned with cupolas. From Hainan they were taken to a fort, the last outpost to the Sultan of Shihr, where the camels were watered. belonging Then for

Ou the desert. four days and nights they rode across waterless fifth day they reached a well where they were able to rest, and on " the sixth they came to a small place called Melquis ". Here " and stones with ancient ruins of very large buildings they saw letters which the natives of the country cannot read ". Such is the earliest a to a Himyaritic inscription by European a great once it been had that They city and there. observes that if Saba had had cattle Paez that Queen many of the Queen of Sheba this is true it proves that the dominions but part of Arabia as well. included not only Ethiopia Melquis known reference were traveller. told is evidently Marib, the so-called Maidan From Marib the name there. being derived from Umm al QIs,

to country they travelled through well populated over the is twelve This San'a, taking days journey. surprisingly to Arnaud, the journey from San'a to Marib slow, for, according or fifteen days,1 and Nazlh Muaiyad and back takes fourteen al 'Azm says that the caravans from San'a San'a itself was described five days.2 by a great city when it was captured by the declined under their rule. In his time there After houses, of which 500 were Jewish. here the Jesuits were sent to Mocha,
1 T. J. Amaud Muaiyad in Journal al 2 Nazih

Paez

reach Marib in about as having been

Turks, but as having were only some 2,500 five and

passing

a half years " a small, through Ta'iz,

as Sa'fda, vol. ii, p. 105.

ser. 4, torn. 5. Asiatique, al 'Arabiya *Azm, Rila fVl Bihlad

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA well-walled before

175

At Mocha another year passed town," and Mauza'. were ransomed. neither the history However, they finally of Paez nor the letters which they both wrote from San'a to their

contain further information about the country where superiors so lived they long. to be mentioned. One last journey deserves in his Mendes, us tells that 1043 in the Jesuit father Antonio Expeditio Aethiopica,1 de Almeida at Mocha and there spent from March to September he met Mateo India. a man who described himself de Castro, Bishop of Chrysopolis He proposed that Almeida should and take in India. to chaplain and Apostolic Vicar of lend him money belonging a bill which would be paid Melo, as Joao

in exchange Almeida did not consider himself entitled to do this but gave him some money from his small personal he reached India again he discovered allowance. When that this man had been, not the but who was the himself, chaplain, Bishop a Canarese come and birth into had conflict with the by Portuguese authorities. The King had ordered him to return to Lisbon but the Bishop had taken .advantage of his Asiatic origin to travel to Rome in disguise, and so avoiding going by way of Arabia and Egypt, that the King might have been able to put in the any obstacles way of his going to Rome, had he returned to Europe by sea. Mendes his way up the coast from Mocha and even says that he made visited without By
the

to the Society by the Bishop

the

tomb the

of Muhammad.

There

seems and

to be no

reason

to disbelieve

question this time the causes

of Arabia were

story of this journey by his biographers.2 which

ceasing to

it has been

accepted to

had brought
operate.

the Portuguese
was now being

coasts

Trn.de

effectively had been infringed and their monopoly Indian Ocean had gone. Ormuz itself was
the attempt at the conversion of

more

diverted

to the sea

route

to Europe, but their in the naval supremacy lost in 1022.

for which

Above
so

all,

Ethiopia,

many

Jesuits

had sailed had The

the Negus foreigners.

to the Ret ISea, had ended in total failure in I0IW ; even secured the help of the Turks in excluding still came only part of Arabia to which Europeans

1 IS, 24. Mcndcs, op. cit.. )ih. IV cap. " " * V. ti dc Castro Mathic (-oinhaluzicr, (Heme d'histoire ccclcsiastigue, de no. 1), 1943, p. 130. T. (jUicsfpiiorc, Mathieu de Castro (Bibliothegne d'histoire fasc. 20), 1937, p. 93. ecclesiastique,

t?>m. 39, la Berne

176

SOME EARLY TRAVELS IN ARABIA

was the Yemen, of and now was the heyday fairly frequently there is well known. The story of English Mocha. enterprises The same cannot be said of the Dutch factors and their contribution to knowledge of Arabia, but that is a subject which requires to be treated in a separate article.