(^88) THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS
ship and its gold. King John was not pleased: "I have no desire to see
a messenger of mine ill received or made to kick his heels in ante
rooms. That would be more grievous to me than the loss of the gold."
So King John sent for Gama, "a man in whom he had confidence,
who had seen service in the fleets and in the affairs of the sea." The sea
was Portugal's great school, and not only in matters of navigation.
The next morning Gama and a hastily assembled posse were on the
quay at Setubal, where ten French ships were berthed, loading rich
merchandise. All of them were seized; their cargoes taken and placed
under seal; their men brought ashore. Nothing more was needed. The
French shipowners made petition to the king of France. The king of
France sent the caravel back and the gold, to the last ounce. And the
king of Portugal released the French ships and their cargoes, to the last
ell and cask.^5
Columbus's discovery of a new world shocked the Portuguese. Like
Sputnik to the Americans. After all, they could have had him and had
turned him down. Decades of painful, costly exploration reaching
around Africa, and here the Spanish found a new world (or maybe
Asia) on the first try. No justice. Time to get going: in July of 1497 a
small flotilla of four ships under the command of Vasco da Gama set
forth from Lisbon to follow on the aborted initiative of Bartolomeu
Dias and, rounding Africa, to find India. The voyage would take them
over 27,000 miles and over two years; and only fifty-four of the orig
inal crew of one hundred seventy returned alive.
This costly probe did not prove a commercial success. To da Gama's
astonishment, the merchants he encountered in India were Muslims and
had no intention of trading with Christian infidels; what's more, the
glass beads, trinkets, and shirts he had brought with him for barter or
sale, though eminentiy attractive to natives of the Caribbean, were near
to worthless in India, which knew the difference between trash and
precious things and made far better fabrics than Europe. So da Gama re
turned more or less empty-handed. The little he did bring back was a
prize of war; in his eagerness and desperation, he attacked and captured
a small Muslim vessel with a cargo of spices. Not a good precedent: from
that point on, the Portuguese would rely on force to establish them
selves in the Indian Ocean rather than on market competition.
Much more important, da Gama brought back news—two kinds of
news. The first: that Europeans were stronger than the natives; they
had better ships and better guns. The second: that although he had not
been able to trade, spices aplenty were to be had for prices that
nora
(Nora)
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