Vasco da Gama, the famous discoverer, is the betrothed lover of a maiden
named Inez, the daughter of Don Diego, a Portuguese grandee. When the
opera opens he is still at sea, and has not been heard of for years. Don
Pedro, the President of the Council, takes advantage of his absence to
press his own suit for the hand of Inez, and obtains the King's sanction
to his marriage on the ground that Vasco must have been lost at sea. At
this moment the long-lost hero returns, accompanied by two swarthy
slaves, Selika and Nelusko, whom he has brought home from a distant isle
in the Indian Ocean. He recounts the wonders of the place, and entreats
the government to send out a pioneer expedition to win an empire across
the sea. His suggestions are rejected, and he himself, through the
machinations of Don Pedro, is cast into prison. There he is tended by
Selika, who loves her gentle captor passionately, and has need of all
her regal authority--for in the distant island she was a queen--to
prevent the jealous Nelusko from slaying him in his sleep. Inez now
comes to the prison to announce to Vasco that she has purchased his
liberty at the price of giving her hand to Don Pedro. In the next act,
Don Pedro, who has stolen a march on Vasco, is on his way to the African
island, taking with him Inez and Selika. The steering of the vessel is
entrusted to Nelusko. Vasco da Gama, who has fitted out a vessel at his
own expense, overtakes Don Pedro in mid-ocean, and generously warns his
rival of the treachery of Nelusko, who is steering the vessel upon the
rocks of his native shore.
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