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Encouraged by their example, Antonio Gonzalès, and Nuño Tristram, in 1441, sailed as far as Cape Blanco, "a feat," says Faria y Souza "that is generally looked upon as being little short of the labours of Hercules," and they brought back with them to Lisbon some gold-dust taken from the Rio del Ouro.
As it happens, there is a complete history of the Cervantes family from the tenth century down to the seventeenth extant under the title of "Illustrious Ancestry, Glorious Deeds, and Noble Posterity of the Famous Nuno Alfonso, Alcaide of Toledo," written in 1648 by the industrious genealogist Rodrigo Mendez Silva, who availed himself of a manuscript genealogy by Juan de Mena, the poet laureate and historiographer of John II.
No such name occurs in the best modern charts, neither is there a river of any consequence on the coast which answers to the distance. The first large river to the south of the Nuno is the Mitomba, or river of Sierra Liona, distant about 130 maritime miles. Discovery and Settlement of the Açores .
They here left two of their ships behind them, and continued on with four only, that which had formerly belonged to Nuno being one of these. They next came into a bay, in lat. 49° S. called Bahia de las Ilhas, or the Bay of Islands, where Magellan is said to have wintered with his ships, when he went to discover the straits which now bear his name.
This narrative was written by Nuno da Silva, the Portuguese pilot who accompanied Sir Francis Drake from the Cape Verd islands to Guatalco on the western coast of New Spain, and was sent from the city of Mexico to the viceroy of Portuguese India, in 1579. From thence they proceeded to the latitude of 39° S. where they anchored.
The Spanish governor received him with his accustomed courtesy, wished him every kind of prosperity, and embraced him as he left; but at the door of the castle Caesar found one of Gonzalvo's captains, Nuno Campeja by name, who arrested him as a prisoner of Ferdinand the Catholic.
The press of the battle was here; here died Gonzalo de Sies, a right valiant Portugueze, on the part of Don Garcia; but on Don Sancho's part the Count Don Nuno was sorely wounded and thrown from his horse; and Count Don Garcia Ordonez was made prisoner, and the banner of King Don Sancho was beaten down, and the King himself also.
With these two prisoners they returned to their vessel, not choosing to run any unnecessary risk, or to make any needless attack upon the natives, which was contrary to the express orders of Don Henry. When preparing next morning to set sail on their return to Portugal, another Portuguese ship arrived, which was commanded by Nuno Tristan, a gentleman of the princes household.
The victory of Aljubarrota was due perhaps even more to the grand Constable of Portugal, Dom Nuno Alvares Pereira, than to the king himself, and, like the king, the Constable commemorated the victory by founding a monastery, a great Carmelite house in Lisbon.
Yet, this river Besegue may even have been that now called Rio Grande, in which, about twenty-four leagues above its mouth, there is an island called Bissaghe. It is strange that the Rio de Nuno, close by this cape, the estuary of which is not less than seven or eight miles wide, should be here omitted; but the present voyage is very superficially narrated throughout.
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