1.1.8 to 1.1.9

The expedition reached Mombasa (now in Kenya) on April 7 and dropped anchor at Malindi (also now in Kenya) on April 14, where a pilot who knew the route to Calicut, on the southwest coast of India, was taken aboard. After a 23-day run across the Indian Ocean, the Ghats Mountains of India were sighted, and Calicut was reached on May 20. There da Gama erected a padrão to prove he had reached India. Welcomed by the Zamorin, the Hindu ruler, of Calicut (then the most important trading centre of southern India), he failed, however, to conclude a treaty—partly because of the hostility of Muslim merchants and partly because the trumpery presents and cheap trade goods that he had brought, while suited to the West African trade, were hardly in demand in India. After tension between da Gama's expedition and the Zamorin of Calicut increased, da Gama left at the end of August, taking with him five or six Hindus so that King Manuel might learn about their customs. He visited Anjidiv Island (near Goa) before sailing for Malindi, which he reached on Jan. 8, 1499. Unfavourable winds caused the expedition to take nearly three months crossing the Arabian Sea, and many of the crew died of scurvy. At Malindi, because of greatly reduced numbers, da Gama ordered the "São Rafael" to be burned; there he also erected a padrão. Mozambique, where he set up his last padrão, was reached on February 1. On March 20 the "São Gabriel" and "Berrio" rounded the Cape together but a month later were parted by a storm; the "Berrio" reached the Tagus River in Portugal on July 10. Da Gama, in the "São Gabriel," continued to Terceira Island in the Azores, whence he is said to have dispatched his flagship to Lisbon. He himself reached Lisbon on September 9 and made his triumphal entry nine days later, spending the interval mourning his brother Paulo, who had died on Terceira. Manuel I granted Vasco the title of dom (equivalent to the English "sir"), an annual pension of 1,000 cruzados, and estates. The second voyage.