_ 172 _ the minutiae and the logistics of everyday life, and so able to scrutinize with confidence the labyrinth of incomplete, crumbling, torn log-books, identify the loose sheets, half sheets, and mere scraps, and reassemble separated documents, could recover other texts relating to Cabral which are as yet unknown. It is not easy, but it is possible, and I know that the illustrious Director of the Torre do Tombo, with his technical assistants, is attempting to do so. Let us hope that this enterprise is successful, for its importance is obvious and undeniable. The secrets of the foundation of India depend on the planning of the voyages undertaken before 1504, and particularly that of Cabral, which was the first commercial expedition, and the second of Vasco da Gama, who negotiated the commercial treaties of 1503. There must still be a great deal to say on these events, but there are no explicit documents. An undated letter from Gaspar da Gama to the King, which I believe to be unpublished and is not difficult to date, throws some light on the panorama of Portuguese commercial interests in the East, and refers specifically to trade with Malacca and relations between? Mocha, Ormuz and Calicut. In it the need for a policy of war is maintained, and this is what he presses on the King. However, this was not the professed
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