appointed one Antonio de Noronha to be captain. In 1507, Tristan de
Acunha returned to Europe, and Alphonso de Albuquerque remained in India
with five or six ships, to keep the command of the sea. In the course of
that year or the next, Albuquerque stood over to discover the coast of
Arabia, which he explored, and doubled the Cape of Rosalgate, which is
under the tropic of Cancer.

In 1509, Diego Lopez de Sequiera went from Lisbon for India with four
ships; and stopping at the island of Madagascar was almost a year on his
voyage. Arriving at Cochin in the month of May, the viceroy gave him
another ship, in which he went to Malacca in September passing between
the islands of Nicubar and many others. He went also to Sumatra; to the
cities of Pedir and Pacem; and all along that coast to the island of
Puloreira, and the fiats of Capacia; thence he stood over to the city of
Malacca, in lat. 2° N. where the people took and slew some of his men.
After this he returned to Cochin, having discovered five hundred leagues
in this voyage. The island of Sumatra is the first land in which we knew
of mens flesh being eaten, by certain people in the mountains called
Bacas, who gild their teeth. In their opinion the flesh of the blacks is
sweeter than that of the whites. The flesh of the oxen, kine, and hens in
that country is as black as ink. A people is said to dwell in that
country, called _Daraqui-Dara_, having tails like sheep[20]. There are
likewise springs of rock oil or bitumen. In the kingdom of Pedir,
likewise, there is said to be a river of oil; which is not to be wondered
at, as we are assured there is also a well of oil in Bactria. It is
further said that there is a tree in that country, the juice of which is
a strong poison if it touch a mans blood; but if drank, it is a sovereign
antidote against poison. They have here also certain gold coins, called
drachms, brought, as they say, into their country by the Romans[21],
which seems to have some resemblance to truth, because beyond that