O powerful fortune, that with thy wheels doest and undoest, compassing the matters of this world as pleaseth thee, do thou at last put before the eyes of that miserable race some under- standing of matters to come; that they may receive some consolation in the midst of their great sorrow. And you who are so busy in making that division of the captives, look with pity upon so much misery; and see how they cling one to the other, so that you can hardly separate them. And who could finish that parti- tion without very great toil? for as often as they had placed them in one part the sons, seeing their fathers in another, rose with great energy and rushed over to them; the mothers clasped their other children in their arms, and threw themselves flat on the ground with them; receiving blows with little pity for their own flesh, if only they might not be torn from them. And so troublously they finished the partition; for besides the toil they had with the captives, the field was quite full of people, both from the town [Lagos] and from the surrounding villages and districts, who for that day gave rest to their hands (in which la y their power to get their living) for the sole purpose of beholding this novelty. And with what they saw, while some were weeping and others separating the captives, they caused such a tumult as greatly to confuse those who directed the partition. . .

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How Dinis Diaz went to the land of the Negroes, and of the Captives that he took.

. . . [A]s the caravel was voyaging along that

sea, those on land [Africans] saw it and marvelled

much at the sight, for it seemeth they had never seen

or heard speak of the like; and some of them

supposed it to be a fish, while others thought it to be

a phantom, and others again said it might be a bird

that ran so on its journey over that sea. And after

reasoning thus concerning the novelty, four of them

were bold enough to inform themselves concerning this

doubt; and so got into a small boat made out of

one hollow tree-trunk without anything else being added thereto. . . . 

And they came a good way out

towards where the caravel was pursuing its course; a

nd those in her could not restrain themselves from

appearing on deck. But when the negroes saw that those in

the ship were men, they made haste to flee as

best they could; and though the car

avel followed after them, the want of a sufficient wind prevented their

capture. And as they [Portuguese] went further on, they

met with other boats, whose crews, seeing ours to

be men, were alarmed at the novelty of the sight; and

moved by fear they sought to flee, each and all; but

because our men had a better opportunity than before, th

ey captured four of them, and these were the first

to be taken by Christians in their

own land, and there is no chronicle or

history that relateth aught to the

contrary.

And for certain this was no small honour for our Prince [Henry], 

whose mighty power was thus

sufficient to command peoples so far from our kingdom, making booty 

among the neighbours of the land

of Egypt; and Dinis Diaz ought to share in this honour, 

for he was the first who (by his [Prince Henry’s]

command) captured Moors in that land. And now he pus

hed on till he arrived at a great cape, to which

they gave the name of Cape Verde.

On the next day, which was the 8th

of

the month of August, very early in the

morning, by reason of the heat, the

seamen began to make ready their

boats, and to take out those captives,

and carry them on shore, as they were

commanded. And these, placed all

together in that field, were a marvellous

sight; for amongst them were some

white enough, fair to look upon, and

well proportioned; others were less

white like mulattoes; others again were

as black as Ethiops, and so ugly, both in

features and in body,  he images of a

lower hemisphere. But what heart could be so hard as

not to be pierced with piteous feeling to see that

company? For some kept their heads low and their fa

ces bathed in tears, looking one upon another; others

stood groaning very dolorously, looking up to the height of heaven, 

fixing their eyes upon it, crying out

loudly, as if asking help of the Father of Nature; ot

hers struck their faces with the palms of their hands,

throwing themselves at full length upon the ground; ot

hers made their lamentations in the manner of a

dirge, after the custom of their country. And though 

we could not understand the words of their language,

the sound of it right well accorded with the measure of

their sadness. But to increase their sufferings still

more, there now arrived those who had charge of the

division of the captives, and who began to separate

one from another, in order to make an equal partition of

the fifths; and then was it needful to part fathers

from sons, husbands from wives, brother from brothe

rs. no respect was shewn either to friends or

relations, but each fell where his lot took him

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