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Updated: May 23, 2025
It must not, however, be omitted to observe, that some objections may be stated against the authenticity of this history, on account of certain circumstances which do not quadrate with the time assigned for Machin's voyage by the author. From these it is obvious, either that the relation given by Alcaforado is not genuine, or that it has been interpolated.
It was translated into French and published in Paris, in 1671. The French translator had retrenched the ornaments, but scrupulously retained the facts. The story, however, is cherished in the island of Madeira, where a painting in illustration of it is still to be seen. The following is the purport of the French translation: I have not been able to procure the original of Alcaforado.
The following is the substance of the narrative, as given by Alcaforado.
No person was more capable of giving an exact account of that singular event than Alcaforado, as he was one of those who assisted in making the second discovery.
Alcaforado places the event in the reign of Edward III. of England, which began in 1327 and ended in 1378; Even supposing it to have happened in the last year of Edward, Morales must have remained forty-two years in captivity; which is not only highly improbable, but is even contrary to the sense of the historian, who supposes but a small space to have elapsed between the two events; besides, the records quoted by Galvano are said expressly to assert that Macham went himself into Africa, whence he was sent to the king of Castile.
There is a difficulty in the above narrative of Alcaforado in reconciling dates. The voyage is said to have taken place during the reign of Edward III, which commenced in 1327 and ended in 1378. Morales, to whom the English communicated their voyage, is said to have been in the service of the Portuguese, in the second discovery of Madeira, in 1418 and 1420.
But the earliest and most complete relation of this discovery was composed by Francisco Alcaforado, who was esquire to Don Henry the infant or prince of Portugal, the first great promoter of maritime discoveries, and to whom he presented his work.
No mention is made of it in Barros; he attributes the first discovery of the island to Juan Gonzalez and Tristram Vaz, who he said descried it from Porto Santo, resembling a cloud on the horizon. The abbe Provost, however, in his general history of voyages, vol. 6, seems inclined to give credit to the account of Alcaforado.
"It was composed," he observes, "at a time when the attention of the public would have exposed the least falsities; and no one was more capable than Alcaforado of giving an exact detail of this event, since he was of the number of those who assisted at the second discovery." The narrative, as originally written, was overcharged with ornaments and digressions.
This last circumstance may have been invented by the Spaniards, to give them a better title to the island of Madeira: But the former objection remains in full force, and can only be obviated by supposing that either Morales advanced a falsehood in asserting, that he had the account of this discovery from the English themselves, instead of learning it from the other slaves, among whom the tradition might have been current for many years after the event; or Alcaforado may have mistaken the report of Morales in this particular.
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