[Cortar & Editat] Artigo - BOXER, C.R - Portuguese Roteiros, 1500-1700_removed

PORTUGUESE ROTEIROS, I 500-I700 I 8 5
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proved reprint of the I 68 I edition together with the Arte de
Na'Vegar which was included therein. This last edition was
frequently reprinted throughout the eighteenth century and
even into the nineteenth, but these later versions fall outside
the scope of our article.
It is not worth while to quote extensive passages from these
old Portuguese Roteiros, for many of the best amongst them are
readily accessible in the inimitable contemporary translations of
Jan Huyghen van Linschoten; readers of that work will agree
that they are models in their descriptions of the coasts visited
and of their geographical situation; in their records of the
different compass readings obtained, and of the magnetic variation;
of the physical and natural features of the lands, bays,
ports and anchorages visited; in their observations of meteorological
and oceanographic phenomena, as well as of the prevailing
winds and currents, and consequently of the various
courses recommended for different seasons of the year 1 • Small
wonder that Richard Hawkins-a contemporary Englishman
and a competent judge-noted in his Observations 2 of r622
that:
In this poynt of Steeridge, the Spaniards and Portingalls doe exceede all that
I have seene, I meane for their care, which is chiefest in Navigation. And I wish
in this, and in all their workes of Discipline and reformation, we should follow
their examples .... In every Ship of moment, vpon the halfe decke, or quarter
decke, they haue a chayre, or seat; out of which whilst they Navigate, the Pilot, or
his Adiutants (which are the same officers which in our Shippes we terme, the
Master and his Mates) never depart, day nor night, from the sight of the Compasse;
and haue another before them; whereby they see what they doe, and are ever
witnesses of the good or bad Steeridge of all men that do take the Helme ....
Enough has been written in this article to show the importance,
scope and interest of the recent Lisbon exhibition, which
certainly achieved its purpose in arousing fresh interest in the
pioneer part played by Portugal in the advancement of nautical
I For further details concerning all the Roteiros and other books quoted in
this article, see the Bibliografia dos Roteiros Portugueses ate ao anode 1700 printed
in the Arquivo Historico da Marinha, Lis boa, 1934-, which also contains an account
of Commander Fontoura da Costa's lecture, Este Livro he de rotear ..., on which
this article is based.
2 Cf. Observations, p. 57. Argonaut Press edition by J. A. Williamson.
London, 1933·