_ 94 _ fifteenth of that month, we went to some islands that were about two leagues from the mainland. There we launched a longboat and placed a padrão on one of the islands, to which we gave the name of the Santa Maria pillar. This was because the king had told the captain that we could erect three pillars. One was given the name S. Rafael and the other the S. Gabriel. The third was the Santa Maria. We thus ended up placing all three, the first, the S. Rafael, we put in the river of Good Signs; the second, the S. Gabriel, in Calicut; and the last we named the Santa Maria. Here again many boats came to the ships with fish, and the captain gave them plenty of shirts and made them very welcome. He asked them if they would like to have a padrão that he wished to erect on that island. They replied that they would be delighted and that if we put it there, then it would be a confirmation that we were Christians like them. The padrão was thus placed there with a great show of friendship. That night, with wind from the land, we hoisted sail and continued on our journey. The following Thursday, the twentieth of that month, we came across a beautiful hilly country with a good climate, which had six small islands near it. We anchored there close in-shore and we launched the longboat, because he needed to take on sufficient water
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