By sea the king sent two vessels under the command of Bartholomew Diaz, while by land he despatched, in the following year, two men acquainted with Arabic, Pedro di Covilham and Affonso de Payba.

Covilham reached Aden, and there took ship for Calicut, being the first Portuguese to sail the Indian Ocean.

He then returned to Sofala, and obtained news of the Island of the Moon, now known as Madagascar.

With this information he returned to Cairo, where he found ambassadors from Joao, two Jews, Abraham of Beja and Joseph of Lamejo.

These he sent back with the information that ships that sailed down the coast of Guinea would surely reach the end of Africa, and when they arrived in the Eastern Ocean they should ask for Sofala and the Island of the Moon.