The artist has painted the landing of Da Gama and his men at the Cape - as seen metaphorically by the Khoi. Coetzee draws on Andre Brink's The first life of Adamastor for the narrative of the painting. Adamastor, the giant spirit of the Cape of storms,appears in canto 5 of Camoes' Lusiads, the epic poem celebrating the Portuguese voyages of discovery. Brink recasts Adamastor as T'kama, a chieftan of the Khoi who encounter Da Gama and his sailors.