Declaration by some men of religion, of the order of Saint Anthony, about an island they saw on the 30th day of June 1638, which is in the archives of the convent of St. Anthony of the Capucins of Lisbon.
I, Brother Francisco de Jesus, President of this Convent of St. Anthony, declare that, turning up the Old Book which belongs to the archives of this province, I found there the copy of an account in the following terms.
We left Marantao (in Brazil) on the ship Our Lady of
Pents de Franca
of which Antonio de Louza, a native of
Vianna (in Portugal) was Master, bound by the favour of God
for the city of Lisbon.
On the fourth day of the voyage there arose a storm so suddenly and so violent, that it threatened us all with death, it continued for sixteen days and we found ourselves free of shipwreck on the twentieth day but not knowing our whereabouts, that was on the 30th day of June, 1638, we having set out on the 8th of that month. On that day, the sea being smooth and the air calm we saw land to the South, which appeared to us to bee a great country, and the pilot, thinking it the island of Madeira, drew near, and found it was not so, nor could he think what island it could be, unless some undiscovered one, for he had been to them all.
And they all wished to do ashore, but fear held them back. I and my companion undertook the adventure and went and asked leave of the Shipmaster, which he gave for three days, on condition that, these days being up, we would remain on the said island and he would continue his voyage, and we with all these conditions made bold on the morning of Monday and lowered the small boat into the sea.
We came ashore in a country of great grandeur and entering into a wooded part saw many trees of great size, and continuing for half a league came across a Palace, very well built, and apparantly old, and of noteworthy art, being built over arches, and in the middle of them a garden with diverse flowers, and on top a lighthouse of such strange metal, that its beam was cast for a distance of two leagues. From this Palace we were carried off by seven men of dark (?) countenances, and their words almost Portuguese, but not very clear, dressed in the style of Nazareth (a Portuguese sea port), with big beards and tall bodies, all carrying swords at the belt, and they asked us many questions, who we were, of what Kingdom, and who ruled over us.
After this they took us off to a city of great buildings, but few people, in which they all appeared to be of another world. And as soon as they saw us they took us off with great courtesy to a Palace which seemed enchanted. We entered with fear and passed various guards till we arrived at a room where was the King or Governor of that people, to whom they presented us. He appeared to us a man of great age with a venerable beard and a presence of the greatest grandeur, and what we noted was that he recognized us by our clothes (monks habit) as soon as he saw us, said we were Portuguese, which was the best of all the nations, and asked us who was our King, what was his name and from whom descended and with whom married, to which we replied as best we knew, and we told him of the events of how we arrived there. After all these questions he took us off to a Hall of great and majestic make, and this aged Majesty asked us with all attention to look upon a picture in which was painted a great army just about conquered and defeated by their enemy, and on the other side of the picture the victorious army, who by their equipment, clothes and hair seemed to be Moors, and there came out from them some Portuguese who were getting into small boats and going on board sea-going ships, which by their flags and masts appeared to be Portuguese. We left these pictures and others we wondered at and went on to another Hall in which were two statues of fine marble who seemed to be Kings, and we knew they were the progenitors of these personages. We saw there various victories of the Portuguese Kings which astonished us. And he told us to look at the ceiling of the room where we saw the city of Portugal painted in its true colours and other memorable things, and from there we went to a garden of various flowers and in the middelof it was a curious hermitage, whose door was guarded by two lions. They had made a path and allowed no one to pass or enter, except the venerable old man and those who went with him, and it had an altar, very clean with a painted reredos and an image of Our Lady of large size (?) holding in her left hand her Blessed Son and in her right a ? sword, holding it out, as it were, to give to the venerable Ancient.
We noticed that in all this city no friars or clerics were to be seen. We entered another Hall close on dinner time and they took us to another room with table set and regaled us with very savoury venison, and very good mutton, a little wine, somewhat rough and a great quantity of sweer oranges and lemons and while we ate this venerable Ancient also dined in great pomp. From the hermitage they brought the lions to the door of the Chamber where was the Royal Table. As soon as dinner was over, they went off to the hermitage, but we, thinking about our ship did not wish for more delay, and they took us off to see some streets, where we saw workshops of carpenters, tailors, and hairdressers, but few people and the houses were of black stone and old.
They were all very glad to see us in this City. And we saw six rivers of excellent water and in the middle in a Square was a fountain, and there was the five Coats of Arms of Portugal and round about them these letters (Ros-dictes de Al) and more could not be seen because they were very old. They accompanied us to the quay and with us the Majestic Old man, accompanied by thirty Knights, very well dressed men, and seventy on foot, with swords in their belts and without armour (?), and beside the King a lion, and in front of this assemblage cymbals were played and as soon as we arrived at the quay about four in the afternoon, the Kinf showed us two pictures in which we were portrayed and he asked each of us to sign them with our names, and he told us we could go away and that our portraits would remain as a memorial. And we waved with out (sic) handkerchiefs to the ship and they came with the boat and took us on board.
And when we had told all, the Master did not wish to sail that night and we remained till the next day and when we looked to the island we saw it no more. And sailing on the second day, we came to the island of Madeira where we remained four days, and there they told us that this island had never been seen.
All this we swear on the word of priests, and we affirm the truth which we, as religious men, are bound to tell.
Brother Jose de Jesus and Brother Francisco dos Marteres.
The latter died in the Convent of St Anthony in Lisbon on the 1st of July 1646 being over eighty years of age, having been defenidor (?) and is buried in No 4.
Copied in Lisbon in this Convent of St Anthony of Lisbon on the 4th of February 1805. I, Brother Francisco de Jesus, wrote it.
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Copyright © Anthony Hickson
