Full download ebooks at https://ebookgrade.

com

Little Dictionary of Fashion A Guide to Dress

Sense for Every Woman The Christian Dior

For dowload this book click link below

https://ebookgrade.com/product/little-dictionary-of-fashion-
a-guide-to-dress-sense-for-every-woman-the-christian-dior/

OR CLICK BUTTON

DOWLOAD NOW
More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...

Basic Economics A Common Sense Guide to the Economy

https://ebookgrade.com/product/basic-economics-a-common-sense-
guide-to-the-economy/

Mood Guide to Fabric and Fashion The

https://ebookgrade.com/product/mood-guide-to-fabric-and-fashion-
the/

Christian Worldview A Student's Guide

https://ebookgrade.com/product/christian-worldview-a-students-
guide/

Little History of the World A

https://ebookgrade.com/product/little-history-of-the-world-a/
How To Be A 3% Man Winning The Heart Of The Woman Of
Your Dreams

https://ebookgrade.com/product/how-to-be-a-3-man-winning-the-
heart-of-the-woman-of-your-dreams/

Woman Warrior Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts The

https://ebookgrade.com/product/woman-warrior-memoirs-of-a-
girlhood-among-ghosts-the/

Sense of Style The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing

in the 21st Century The

https://ebookgrade.com/product/sense-of-style-the-thinking-
persons-guide-to-writing-in-the-21st-century-the/

Writing for the Fashion Business

https://ebookgrade.com/product/writing-for-the-fashion-business/
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
that neither ought we to blame him; and that if we did any justice
upon him, they would hold us to be cruel men without mercy; and
that if we let him go and sent him to his country, the Prester would
consider that as good. All those that were there said the same; and
the ambassador said that was not his opinion, but that he should
take him as his slave; as in effect he did, and ordered him to be
loaded with chains, and he kept him thus ten days; and the Moor
escaped with all the chains that he wore.

Cap. cvii.—How two great gentlemen from the Court came to us to

make friendship between us, and committed us to the captain-
major.
When we left this town of Manadeley, on the way to Barua, as
has been said, we travelled through many countries, and Abdenago
with us, as he had been ordered to do, and the friar with Jorge
d’Abreu. We arrived at a district which is named Abacinete, a large
town, and captaincy of people who were not tender hearted, for
here at times they wished to throw stones at us, and in effect they
did do so. This town is at one end of the kingdom of Tigray. When
we were in our quarters there came to us two great lords of the
Court, one of them was the Adrugaz, to whom we were at first
entrusted at Court, as has been said already many times in this
book; and the other was by title the Grageta, and by name Arraz
Ambiata, who later was Barnagais, and was Betudete. When they
came to us they at once spoke of how Prester John had remained
much discontented because the ambassador would not be friendly
with Jorge d’Abreu before His Highness, when he begged it of him;
and that which had not been done, he now sent to entreat that it
should be done, and that they should become friends, and not keep
apart before the captain-major, as it appeared to be a very unseemly
thing; and also the others who had fought on the road, that they
should be friends. Then we made them become friends and meet
together. Upon this the said lords gave to each of us his mule as the
Prester had ordered. They further said that they had come to
present us before the captain-major, and also to see and visit him in
the name of Prester John, inasmuch as the Barnagais, who was lord
of this country, and other lords, had remained at the Court. When
friendship had been established, and the said mules had been given,
we all travelled, returning as far as Barua, where we remained until
the time of the monsoon had passed, during which they[201] were to
come for us. When the time had passed, Don Rodrigo the
ambassador did not choose to order any provisions to be given to
Jorge d’Abreu, nor to those who were with him. And one day that he
sent to ask it of him by Joan Fernandez, who wounded the factor,
the ambassador wished to have him beaten, but he ran away. Upon
this Jorge d’Abreu sent to ask me to come to a church, and there he
told me to tell the ambassador to order provisions to be given for
him, and those that were with him. I told him, and soon after
returned with the answer that the ambassador said that he would
give them to him, but that for those who were with him he would
give nothing, as they were traitors to the service of the King of
Portugal. Jorge d’Abreu answered, that for himself he did not want
it, but for those who were with him, and that if he did not choose to
give it that he would take it, and so we separated. Jorge d’Abreu
went to the Adrugaz and Grageta to make a complaint to them. At
this, those lords sent to call us, and they called all of us, and not to
their houses which were large and good, but to a field in front of a
church. When we were all assembled, the Adrugaz made a speech to
the ambassador, asking why he treated his countrymen so ill, and
saying that since he did not give them of that which was given for
them, he would sell the horse and mules to maintain them, and this
was not usual among grandees, and that he should consider how
much displeasure Prester John would feel at his so ill treating his
company; and that if he would treat them in another way, he himself
would be treated differently, and would be more pleased than he
was; and he entreated him to give them their own, and not break
the friendship which he had already promised to keep with Jorge
d’Abreu. The ambassador replied that he was not going to give it
him, and they were traitors to the service of the King of Portugal for
which he came. Jorge d’Abreu said that if he did not order it to be
given him that he would take it: and so we arose all of us in a bad
humour, and each one went to his quarters. As it seemed likely to
the factor that Jorge d’Abreu would attack him and take his goods,
because he had said that he would take it if a provision was not
given him, he went to sleep at the ambassador’s quarters, which
were some houses of a gentleman, good and strong according as
they are in this country. Whilst we, the clerk of the embassy, and my
nephew and I, were lying in bed, late in the night we heard shouts
of, “Come this way, go that way”, and then musket shots; and
running up, the clerk and I (my nephew remained behind as his eyes
were suffering), we saw them knocking down the houses with rams,
and firing musket shots, and it seemed to us that those that were
inside must be dead, so great was the noise. So we went running to
the houses of the Barnagais, where the said lords were lodging, to
tell them to come to our assistance; and because the houses had
two doors, one at each end, as we entered by one door, the
ambassador and his companions entered by the other, and they
were bringing with them the crown and letters of Prester John, and
what goods they could, and one of the ambassador’s men came
wounded by a musket shot in the knee, which made four or five
wounds, as they had given others besides that with the bullet.[202]
The ambassador and his men had gone out by a back door which
the house had, and which the others did not know of. These lords
then sent at once to arrest all the others, and the clerk and I went
with the people that the lords sent on this errand. We found them
still occupied in knocking down the house, thinking that they had
caught the people inside. Here they began to ill-treat them with
thumps and cudgelling, for they had no more powder, nor withal to
defend themselves, and they were all carried off before these
noblemen. They were further ill-treated, and it was ordered that
they should be taken to another town near this named Gazeleanza,
where they were to remain without going out, and they set guards
to keep them. Many days passed after this, and because they could
not see them,[203] and also because it is the custom of this country
that no grandee can leave the Court without licence, nor go to the
Court without being summoned to it; these lords, Adrugaz and
Grageta, did not know what to do with us, and did not dare to leave
us nor to take us away, nor to return themselves, neither could they
make peace between us, and at length they took counsel and
decided to send us back to the Court, and expose themselves to any
punishment which he might please to give them for this.

Cap. cviii.—How they took us on the road to the Court, and how they
brought us back to this country.

These noblemen, seeing that the time had gone by for them[204]
to come for us, and also that there could be no peace between us,
as has been said, took the determination to send us back, and we
began to travel, we and the Franks who were coming with us. On
arriving at the town of Abacinen, before mentioned, the first town,
at once the people put themselves on guard not to receive us, and
so many friars came down from a mountain that they seemed like
sheep, and all brought bows and their weapons, and it was like a
field battle, and there were wounded on both sides. Nevertheless,
the field remained in our possession, and we took up our quarters in
the town: and those of the place on the mountain, and the men
belonging to these lords treated the town like a town of Moors, and
plundered everything, both wheat and barley, fowls, capon, sheep,
and household furniture, and whatever they found. From this place
we departed and travelled our journey in parties, that is to say,
Jorge d’Abreu and those that were with him and the friar together,
and we with the ambassador and his people, and the Adrugaz and
Grageta. Thus we travelled till we reached Manadeley, where they
wounded our men, and here we found the Moor who ran away from
the ambassador, and yet he was but little afraid of him. When we
had passed this town about half a league, we met the Barnagais,
who came from the Court and brought a message for the noblemen
and for us what we were to do. We all placed ourselves in a tilled
field at the foot of a big tree, as many as there was room for there.
These noblemen were much reproved by the Barnagais for having
brought us without leave, and he also bawled a good deal at the
ambassador and at Jorge d’Abreu: and he told the ambassador at
once to give up to him the crown of the Prester, and the letters
which he was carrying for the King of Portugal and the captain-
major. Between the ambassador and Jorge d’Abreu some very ugly
words passed. Then the Barnagais told the others to continue on
their way to the Court, and there they would have their punishment.
He then gave us captains to conduct us separately as we came. So
we travelled with him as far as his lands, through the heavy rain
which now fell. Those who went with the ambassador’s party he
took with him to the town of Barua, where the quarrel happened,
which is the chief town of his kingdom, and he put Jorge d’Abreu
and his company in Barra, which is the chief town of the captaincy of
Ceivel, all belonging to the Barnagais. The Barnagais himself settled
in the town of Barra, and he said that he did it in order not to be
annoyed by the ambassador: and the distance from one town to the
other may be three leagues and a half or four. At this time we were
very ill provided with all things; Jorge d’Abreu and his companions
were better provided than we were: and our hunting and fishing was
of great advantage to us, for we had a river and hunting ground.

Cap. cix.—In what time and day Lent begins in the country of Prester
John, and of the great fast and abstinence of the friars, and how
at night they put themselves in the tank.
In this country of Prester John Lent begins on Monday of
Sexagesima, which is ten days before our Lent, and after the day of
the Purification they observe three days of severe fast, generally,
clergy, friars, and laymen. They say that they observe the fast of the
city of Niniveh, and they assert that there are many friars here who
in these three days do not eat more than once, and do not eat bread
but only herbs, and they also say that most of the women do not
give milk to their children more than once a day. The general fast of
Lent is almost bread and water, because even though they should
wish to eat fish, in that country they have not got it. In the sea and
in the fresh water, where there are rivers, there is much fish, and yet
here there is very little skill in catching them, although some little,
but not much, is caught for the great gentlemen. The general food
during Lent is bread: at this time there are no vegetables here, for
they have not got them except when it rains, from their want of skill,
because there is plenty of water for gardens and orchards and other
good works, if they would choose to make them. In most of the
monasteries the friars have got some cabbages like the kind called
“orto”, which they keep taking the leaves off (this all through the
year), and they eat them. In the districts where there are grapes
and peaches, these come in Lent, because they begin in February
and finish at the end of April, so that those who have them have
something to eat. What they generally eat is cardamine seed, which
they call canfa, and they make with it a sauce and call it tebba, and
they soak their bread in it, and it is very hot. They do the same with
linseed, which they also eat in sauce, and call it tebba; and so they
prepare mustard and call it cenafiche. These three sauces are the
general food of Lent: and they do not eat milk or butter, nor drink
wine of grapes or honey. The general drink is a beverage made of
barley, which they call çanha, and they also make it of Indian
corn[205] and of another grain called guza;[206] they also make it of
darnel. They do not drink this when it is fresh because it brings a
man to the ground, and when it is cold and settled, this is the best
drink here. There are many friars who do not eat bread in Lent, and
others in the whole year, and others who in all their lives do not eat
it, and I will relate what I saw of this. When the ambassador and I
were going on the road to the court, in a district which is called
Janamora, a friar came to us to go in security from the robbers: and
he travelled with us for more than a month, and because he was a
friar I kept him near me. This friar brought with him six or seven
novices who were going to be ordained, and he carried four large
books to sell: he carried the books on a mule. He lodged with me in
my tent, and the first day at night I called him to eat, as it was his
supper hour; he excused himself, that he did not want to eat; upon
this, the novices came with water-cresses,[207] and they gave them
a boiling without salt or oil, or anything else, and they ate those
cresses without any other addition. I asked the novices about this,
and they told me they never ate bread. And because I had often
heard say that there were many friars here who did not eat bread,
and I doubted this, I watched this friar and looked after him night
and day: the whole day he was close to me like my groom, and at
night he slept near me on the ground in his habit as he wore it by
day; and always, in all this time that this friar was with me, I never
saw him eat anything but herbs, that is to say, water-cresses,
mallows, water-parsley, where they found them, nettles, and if we
passed near any monastery, he sent there to find a cabbage, and
not finding herbs, the novices brought him lentils in a gourd of water
newly grown with the sprout just out; he ate of those, and I ate
them, and it is the coldest food in the world. This friar travelled with
us more than a month, and at the court he was in our company
three weeks without eating anything except what has been
mentioned. Later, I saw this friar in the town of Aquaxumo, where
Prester John sent us to for eight months: as soon as he knew that I
was there, he came to see me and brought me a few lemons; he
was wearing a habit of leather without sleeves, and his arms were
bare; and we embraced. I succeeded in putting my hand under his
arm, and I found that he was girt with an iron girdle four fingers
broad, and I took the friar by the hand and brought him into my
room; and I showed that to Pero Lopez, my nephew, and besides we
also found that this girdle was lined[208] on both edges on the side
towards the skin with points of the size of those of a saw for sawing
wood, not sharpened (and all this out of Lent). This friar considered
himself aggrieved by this, and he never visited me again, and on my
account he went away from that town: later I saw many of these.
We also heard tell of many friars here, who, during the whole of
Lent, did not sit down, and always remained on foot. I heard that
there was one in that condition at a distance of two leagues from
where we were in a grotto. As it was Lent, I rode and went to see
him, I and others, and we found him standing in a tabernacle of wall
the size of himself. This tabernacle was made like a box without a
covering, much plastered with clay and dung: and this tabernacle
was already old, and others had been there before; and where the
hips reached there was a ledge,[209] and the walls were thinner by
three inches; and where the elbows reached, for each of them there
was another such recess; and in front was a stand in the wall with a
book. This friar was clothed with a haircloth woven with the hair of
oxtails, and underneath it he had another such iron girdle as that of
Aquaxumo. He showed it us of his own will, without our asking him,
or knowing that he had got it. In another grotto near this one lodged
two friars, young boys who supplied him with food of herbs. These
grottoes had been long used for these purposes,[210] because there
were tombs in them. This friar became much our friend after this
visit, and came to see us often after Lent.
In the town of Barua, during another Lent, we saw two friars in
the outer part of the church of that town, in similar tabernacles, one
on one side, and the other on the other. They ate the same kind of
herbs and sprouted lentils. I used to visit them frequently, and they
showed that they rejoiced much at my visitation: and if any day I did
not go to visit them, they sent to visit me. These were in their
habits; I do not know whether they wore a haircloth or a girdle
underneath. I asked if they went outside from there; they told me
how they visited one another, and yet they did not sit down; and one
of them, the one who showed most friendship towards me, said that
he was a relation of Prester John. They remained in this abstinence
until Easter; and came out at the mass of the resurrection. We also
heard that on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent many slept in
water up to their necks; and we could not believe it: when we were
in Aquaxumo, we heard that we might see this in a great tank,
which I have already mentioned when I spoke of this place, and that
there was a great function there during Lent. Joam Escolar, clerk of
the embassy, and Pero Lopez, my nephew, went one night to this
tank, and they came back amazed at the multitude of people who
were there, all in the water up to the neck. These were canons and
wives of canons, and friars and nuns, because there are here many
of all orders, as has been said. Hearing of this wonder on Thursday,
I went in the morning to this tank to see how they were: and I
found the tank full of stone resting-places along the edge, where it
was shallow a stone, and as it increased in depth so the stones
increased one above the other, as they sit upon them with the water
up to their necks. As they told me that in this place and in the
neighbourhood there are at this season hard frosts and cold at night,
and after this, seeing Pero de Covilham at a place called Dara, I told
him what I had seen. He told me that since he had seen it he had
not any doubt about it, and that I should know that this was general
in all the country of Prester John, and that here there were many
who not only did not eat bread amongst people, but who abode in
the large forests, and in the greatest depths and heights of the
mountains, where they find any water, and where living people
never come. Close to this Dara are some ravines of very great depth,
like those before mentioned, and these are without inhabitants in
the plains or flat ground. A great river falls into these ravines, and so
great is the fall, that the water becomes broken up in the air, and
when it reaches the bottom it seems rather a mist than water. Pero
de Covilham showed to me in that ravine a grotto, which was
scarcely perceptible, and he told me that a friar abode there who
was esteemed as a saint, and below this grotto there seemed to be
a garden, because something green showed. And on one of the
slopes of this ravine he showed me a long way off where had died a
white man, who was unknown, and who had lived fully twenty years
in that solitude, in another grotto, and they did not know the time of
his death, only not perceiving him on the mountain, they went to
look at his abode or grotto, and they found it closed up from inside
with a good wall, so that no one could enter it or come out of it.
They informed Prester John of it, and he ordered that this grotto
should not be opened.
 Cap. cx.—Of the fast of Lent in the country of Prester John, and of the
office of Palms and of the Holy Week.
The general fast of Lent for most of the friars and nuns, and also
some of the clergy, is to eat every second day and always at night.
Sundays are not fast days. Some old women also, who are in a way
withdrawn from the world, keep this fast; and they say that Queen
Helena fasted every day in the whole year, and only ate the said
three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. In the
kingdoms of Tigray, which are those of the Barnagais and
Tigrimahom, the people in general during Lent eat meat on
Saturdays and Sundays, and in these two days of Lent they kill more
cows than in all the year, and more if they should marry their first or
second wife on the Thursday before Shrove Tuesday; and they marry
on that day because they hold that after marriage they may eat
meat for two months, in whatever time of the year it may be, and so
those who marry in these two kingdoms eat meat and drink wine,
and eat butter all through Lent. I saw this in the kingdom of
Barnagais, and heard of it in that of Tigrimahom; and because I say,
or a second wife, let it not be supposed, or let it appear that all have
more than one wife, because generally they have one as has been
said; and whoever has plenty to live upon has two or three, and
they are not prohibited to them by the secular justice, but only by
the Church, which casts them out, and they are not capable of any
benefit, as has been said. I have seen with my eyes, on the above-
mentioned Thursday, married men, friends of mine, who brought
other wives to their houses, and used and enjoyed this evil privilege.
In this district was the commencement of Christianity, and in all the
other kingdoms they hold these to be very bad Christians for this
bad custom of theirs. In all the rest of the country and other
kingdoms and lordships the fast is kept throughout Lent by great
and small, men and women, boys and girls, without any breach, and
they do almost the same at Advent. On Palm Sunday they celebrate
their office in this manner. They begin their matins a little after
midnight, and keep up their singing and dancing with all their
images and pictures uncovered until it is quite daylight: and at the
hour of prime they take the branches which each holds in his hand
into the church or to the principal door, because neither women nor
laymen come inside. The clergy then enter the church with the
boughs, and there sing a great deal and very hurriedly, and they
come out with the cross and with the palms, and give to each
person his branch, and then they make a procession round the
church, with the palms in their hands, and returning to the principal
entrance, there go inside the church six or seven, as we go in, and
they close the door, and he who has to say mass remains with the
cross in his hand; they also sing both inside and outside, as we do;
that is to say, in that manner, for their language is not ours, and
they say mass according to their custom, and give the communion
to all. In holy week mass is not said, except on Thursday and
Saturday. It is usual to give salutations among one another,
principally the grandees, when they meet once in the day to kiss one
another on the shoulders, both together on the right shoulder, and
the other remains on the left hand side; and during holy week they
do not give this salutation of peace to those they meet, nor do they
speak, but pass one another as if they were dumb, and without
raising the eyes. And a man of fashion does not dress in this week in
white clothes, all go dressed in black or blue. They abstain during
this week from all work, and every day they celebrate long offices in
the churches (but not with tapers, as we do). On Thursday, at hour
of vespers, they perform mandato[211]; that is to say, the office of
washing feet, and all the people assemble in the church, and the
superior of the church sits on a three-legged stool, with a towel girt
round him, and a large basin of water before him, and beginning by
washing the feet of the clergy, ends with all of them. When this is
finished they begin their chaunt, and they chaunt all the night, and
the clergy, friars, and zagonais do not go out of the church any
more, and do not eat or drink till Saturday after mass. On Friday at
midday they very much decorate the church with hangings,
according to their circumstances, because some of them are hung
with brocades, coarse brocade, and crimson, and others with
whatever they have got, or are able to get. They put their hangings
principally before the chief entrance, because that is the station of
the people: and before the door they put on the hangings a paper
crucifix, that is to say, a print,[212] and above it a small curtain, with
which it is covered. They sing all night, and all day they read the
passion; when that is concluded, they draw the curtain from off the
crucifix, and when it is uncovered they all cast themselves on the
ground, and prostrate themselves, and give one another buffets, and
they knock their heads against the walls, and also strike themselves
with buffets and thumps. This lamentation lasts quite two hours.
When this is over, two priests go to each door of the circuit which
leads to the churchyard, and in all the churches there are three
doors; at each door are two priests, one on each side, and each has
in his hand a small scourge with five straps, and all, as many as
were standing before the principal church door, go out through these
doors stripped from the waist upwards. Passing through them they
stoop, and those who stand with the scourges keep striking them as
long as they are still. Some pass quickly, and receive few strokes;
others wait, and receive many. Old men and old women will remain
half an hour, until the blood runs, and then they sleep in the circuit
of the church, and when it is midnight they begin their mass, and all
receive the communion. On Easter at midnight they begin their
matins, and before morning make a procession. When dawn breaks
they say mass, and keep all this week until Monday of the Sunday
after Easter,[213] so they make sixteen days of observance, that is,
from Saturday before Palm Sunday to the Monday after Sunday after
Easter.[214]
 Cap. cxi.—How we kept a Lent at the Court of the Prester, and we kept
it in the country of Gorage, and they ordered us to say mass, and
how we did not say it.
We happened to keep a Lent at the Court of Prester John, which
we kept at the extremity of a country of pagans, who are named
Gorages, a people (as they say) who are very bad, and of these
there are no slaves, because they say that they sooner allow
themselves to die, or kill themselves than serve Christians. This
district in which the Court was situated is outside of the Gorages. As
it appears, and as the Abyssinians say, these Gorages dwell
underground. All the Court and we were encamped above a great
river, which ran through great ravines, and on each side was a plain
like that of Çarnache dos alhos[215] in Portugal; and in all parts of
the river there were an infinite number of dwellings placed in the
cliffs, one above the other, and some of them very high, which had
no more door than the mouth of a large vat, through which a man
could easily pass, and above these doors, an iron in the stone to
which they fastened cords so as by them to know the house; and so
they kept them now because in these dwellings many of the lower
people of the Court were lodging, and they said that they were so
large inside that twenty or thirty persons could find room inside with
their baggage. And there was on this river a very strong town,
which, on the side towards the river, was a very high scarped rock,
and on the side towards the land a very high cave, which had fifteen
fathoms in height, and six in width, and on both sides it stood over
the river, and inside this cave on both sides there were everywhere
dwellings like the above-mentioned; and inside the circuit were small
houses of walls and thatched in which Christians now live, and they
have in it a very good church. The entrance to this town is of stone,
and low, with many turns, so that it seems that neither mules nor
cows could enter there; yet they enter into a large portion of it, for
the space of the third of a league. Up the stream there is a great
rock scarped from top to bottom, and quite at the top it is level.
There is nearly in the middle of this rock a monastery of our Lady,
and they say that there was the palace of the king of that country
and kingdom of Gorages. This rock faces to the rising sun, and they
ascend to this monastery by a movable ladder of wood: and they say
that they raise it every night from fear of the Gorages, when the
Court is not here. After that[216] the ascent is by stone steps to the
left hand, and a corridor runs past fifteen cells for friars, all which
have windows over the water, and very high; further on are their
pantries and refectory, and store rooms for provisions. Turning to the
right hand by a dark path a man reaches broad daylight, and the
principal door of the monastery, which is not made of the rock itself,
only it seems that in ancient times it was a great hall, and the form
is of a church with screens:[217] it is very light and spacious,
because it has many windows over the river, and there are few
friars. Many people of the Court used to come here to receive the
communion, as they have much devotion for this house and its
friars, because they say that they lead good lives, and suffer much
injury from the bad neighbours they have. As the people of the
Court and the Court are encamped in such a situation that the left
wing, which belongs to the great Betudete, is towards these
Gorages, there were few days that it was not said: “Last night the
Gorages killed fifteen or twenty persons of the people of the great
Betudete;” and they took no measures for this, because it was Lent,
and on account of the rigid fast no one fights from the debility and
weakness of their bodies, for the fast must not on any account be
broken. During holy week, near to Easter, Prester John sent to tell us
to be ready to say mass near his tent as he wished to hear it. I sent
to tell him that I was ready, and that we were all ready, but that we
had no tent, as one that they had given us had become rotten with
the rains, and was quite worn out. He sent to say that he would give
a tent and order it to be pitched, and also would send to call us for
us to be ready and come with all our arrangements. When it was a
little past midnight he sent to call us, and we went at once, and they
conducted us before the king’s door, which we found in this state. A
great part of the fence enclosure was broken and removed, from the
great tent of the Prester as far as the church of Holy Cross, and on
each side facing one another were more than six thousand lighted
candles in very good array, and the length of the lines might be a
musket shot, and from face to face of those who held the candles
the distance might be fully two games of ball, one in front of the
other, and it was all smooth ground. There were more than five
thousand persons behind these who held the candles, and those of
the candles remained like a wall,[218] and they could not be broken
because they had before them canes fastened together, and they
held the candles upon them in array. Before the tent of the Prester
four gentlemen were riding and caracolling their horses; and they
placed us near them. Upon this Prester John came out of the tent
upon a black[219] mule like a raven, the size of a large horse, which
the Prester holds in great estimation, and this mule always travels
when the Prester travels, and if he does not ride upon it he goes on
a litter. And he came out in this manner, namely, in a cloak[220] of
brocade which almost reached to the ground, and the mule was also
caparisoned and covered over; the Prester had his crown on his
head and a cross in his hand, and there were on each side two
horses with their haunches almost in a line with the head of the
mule, but not near, for they went a good distance apart; these
horses were so caparisoned and adorned and covered with brocade,
that with the light it seemed that they were sewn up in gold; and
they had great diadems on their heads, which descended to the bits,
and large plumes set in the diadems. As soon as the Prester came
out, the four who before that were caracolling their horses between
the candles went out, and did not show here again; and when
Prester John passed, those who had come to call us placed us
behind him, without any one else coming there or passing before the
candles, only twenty or thirty gentlemen who went on foot a good
bit in front of the Prester. Thus we arrived at the church of Holy
Cross, where the Prester went to hear the office of the resurrection,
and here he dismounted and entered the church, and at once went
inside his curtain, and we remained at the door. Soon after, an
immense number of clergy came out from inside, and a great many
more joined them who were outside, for there was not room for
them in the church, and a great procession was ordered, and they
put us at the head of it, with the most honoured dignities of the
church, so we walked until the procession returned to the church;
and as many as it would hold entered it, and the rest remained in
the plain, and they bade us enter, and we were near the curtain till
mass was finished. When they were going to give the communion
Prester John sent to say that we should go and make ready to say
our mass, as the tent was pitched for us, and that he was coming
soon. We went with those who had called us and always had
accompanied us, and they conducted us to a black tent close to that
of the Prester, and we, seeing the black tent, said: “They have
pitched this tent for us as a mockery.” Then the ambassador said:
“Padre, you will do well not to say mass, because this is done to put
us to the proof.” I answered him: “Neither do I wish to say it, let us
go to our tents:” and this was when dawn was breaking. We went to
our tents, which were in the grove close to the river. Then there
came two pages in a great hurry over the rocks to call us, and they
called us with anger. We were discussing about not going; however,
we went and arrived at Prester John’s tent as the sun was rising. At
once there came a message from inside, asking, Why we had
omitted to say mass on so great a feast? I answered, that I did not
choose to say mass on account of the great affront which had been
offered—not to us, but to God and his holy resurrection, as they had
pitched a black tent for us to say mass in, such as they do not pitch,
except for horses and vagabonds.[221] They returned with another
message, asking what tent they were to pitch. I answered that, it
must be a white one, to represent the splendour of the resurrection,
and the purity of Our Lady, and that a red one might well do, as it
would represent the blood which Christ shed for us, and that which
the apostles and martyrs had shed for him. With this they went
away and returned, saying, that we should send and tell him who
were the persons who had pitched the tent, and we should see the
justice which he would order to be done. We replied that we did not
know who had pitched the tent, neither did we ask him to do justice
on any one, as this had not been done to us, but to God, and it
grieved us more than any one else, because we could not say mass
on so great a feast. They then returned, asking that we should have
patience, and that he would punish those who had pitched the tent,
and that we should go to it, since it was not to say mass, but to
dine. We held council whether we should go to it or not, however we
went, and they sent us a very good meal of many good viands, and
good wines, among which were grape wines of good flavour, and
very red. Pero de Covilham was with us during all that passed that
night and day, and he told us at the dinner that he felt such great
pleasure such as he had never felt in this country, nor had expected
to feel, that we had not said mass in this tent, and at the answer
which we had given; and that all this had only been in order to test
the estimation we had for the things belonging to God and the
Church, and that now they would hold us in esteem as good
Christians. All this Lent we were very well provided with food and
drink, and plenty of grapes and peaches which there are in this
district. At the end of the dinner there came to us the old priest who
performed the baptism, and he said that Prester John sent him to
say that since to-day we did not say mass, that we should anyhow
say it next Sunday, and that he would order a good tent to be given,
and that we should celebrate offices after our fashion and usage for
the soul of his mother, who had died a year ago, and that they
would then do her teskar, that is to say, memorial service. All this we
did according to our custom.

Cap. cxii.—How Don Luis de Meneses wrote to the ambassador to

depart, and how they did not find him at Court, and how the King
Don Manuel had died.
Sunday, the octave of Easter, when they told us to say mass, was
the 15th of April. We said the office and mass for the mother of the
Prester John. We went very early and found a large new white tent
pitched, with its curtains of silk hung in the middle according to their
usage, and very near to his tent. The friar who is now going as
ambassador with other clergy is here, and we at once sung a
nocturn for the deceased and said mass. Before the mass was
finished there arrived two packets of letters which Don Luis de
Meneses sent to us; he had come for us and was remaining at
Masua. The packets had come by different roads and both
messengers arrived together. There came in these packets letters to
Prester John begging him to send us at once. Having seen our
letters we found in them that we should set out at once and come to
him to Masua by the 15th of April, as he could not wait longer: both
because the monsoon did not allow of it, and because he was
required in India. These fifteen days had finished this day when the
letters were given to us: and in them came the news how the King
Don Manuel had died. On this account we were all half dead, and we
at once held council as to whether we should be silent about it, or
should tell it: it was agreed that we ought not to keep it secret,
because the Prester knew the news of India more quickly than we
did, by the Moorish merchants who were continually coming from
there: and that it was better that he should learn it from us than
from others. As it is their custom in mourning to shave the head with
a razor, and not the beard, and to dress in black clothes, we began
to shave each other’s heads, and to dress in mourning. During this
our food came, and those who brought it seeing the work we were
engaged in, set the food down on the ground and without speaking
returned and told it to the Prester. He at once sent two friars to
know what had happened to us. The ambassador said that someone
should answer the friars, as he could not for weeping. I declared to
them what was the matter, according to the usage of the country,
and with their words, saying: “Tell His Highness that the stars and
the moon have fallen, and the sun has grown dark and lost its
brightness, and we have no one to cover or protect us; we have
neither father nor mother to care for us, except God, who is the
Father of all: the King Don Manuel our Sovereign has departed from
the life of this world, and we remain orphans and unprotected.” We
commenced our lamentation, and the friars went away. In that hour
proclamations were made that all the shops should be shut where
bread and wine and other merchandise were sold, and also that all
the offices should be closed; and this shutting up lasted three days,
during which no tent was opened. At the end of three days he sent
to call us, and the first word he spoke was: “Who inherits the
kingdoms of the King my father?” The ambassador said, “The Prince
Don Joam his son.” Hearing this he said “Atesia, atesia”, that is to
say, “Do not be afraid, for you are in a country of Christians, and as
the father was good the son will be good, and I will write to him.”
Then we explained to him how they were waiting for us at the sea,
and that also they wrote to his Highness to say that we begged his
leave to go away, and that now we did not seem to be doing
well[222] in his country. He told us to go and eat, and that next day
they would commence despatching us, and that we should translate
the letters which came for him into his language. And as we already
knew the nature of his despatching, on the Sunday that they gave
us the letters, we at once despatched Aires Diaz, a Portuguese of
our company, and with him an Abyssinian, to go with our letters to
the said Don Luis de Meneses; and on the following day we took the
letters to the Prester in his language, and he at once departed to
another place with his Court, and we with him. As we were travelling
on the road they asked me who was carrying for me the church tent.
I replied that the tent was not mine, and that I had not the care of
it, that we had said our mass, and the tent had remained as we
found it. They told me that I had done wrong, that the Prester did
not take back anything he had given, and that the tent with its
curtains was worth more than a hundred ounces of gold, and that if
Prester John ordered mass to be said, and that we told him that we
had got no tent, he would be angry. Withal we travelled three days,
and as soon as we took up quarters we requested our leave and to
be despatched. They told us not to have any fear, that he had
already ordered his measures. With all our importuning he ordered
that Joan Gonzalvez our factor should go with his and our letters on
the way to the sea, and he at the same time gave him a very good
mule and rich dresses and ten ounces of gold. He ordered that he
should go at once, and he set out immediately with two servants of
the Prester. We remained, and however much we importuned the
Prester and made requests to him, he kept us waiting yet a month
and a half, and at the end of that time he gave us rich dresses, and
to four of us he gave gold chains with their crosses, and to each he
gave a mule, and to me he gave a mule from his own stables, the
pace of which was flying; and he gave for all of us eighty ounces of
gold and a hundred loaves for the road, and he gave us his blessing.
We did not travel long before we got a message from our people
whom we had sent to the sea, that Don Luis had been gone a long
time; and we knew well that we should not find him because the
monsoon did not allow of it; nevertheless, we arrived, and we found
much pepper and cloths which he left for our maintenance, and
letters for us and for the Prester. Then there was a council among us
what we should do with that pepper: and although the opinion of
some was that we should take up quarters and eat it, since Don Luis
in his letters ordered that in no way should we go away from the sea
coast, because next year at all events they would come for us,
others thought that only one or two of us should go to the Court to
take the letters to the Prester, and to ask him for justice for the
death of four men who had been killed at Arquiquo. And with this
opinion of most of us it was agreed amongst us that we should send
half the pepper to Prester John and the other half should remain for
our maintenance, and that the factor and I should carry it; and I was
to go to read to him the letters and have them translated into his
language; and this having been settled in one day that the departure
should be next morning. On that morning the ambassador came to
me, saying, “Padre, I wish to give you another companion to go with
you to the Court.” When I said, “Let it be as you command”, he
replied to me: “Should you be pleased with my company, it is I that
intend to go with you, and we will take all the pepper.” And because
I opposed him, saying that nothing would remain for the other
people to expend, he said that still he would go and carry all the
pepper. He did this expecting great favours and to obtain them all
himself. So the ambassador did not choose but to carry all the
pepper to the Prester; and we set out at once. I went only to carry
the letters to the Prester and to translate them into his language. We
set out for the Court on the 1st day of September, and we travelled
at a slow pace, with mules and loads; and we reached the Court at
the end of November, and found the Prester in a Kingdom which is
named Fatiguar, which is on the edge of the Kingdom of Adel, to
which kingdom and sovereignty belong Barbora and Zeila; and the
king is great and powerful. They say that he is esteemed and looked
upon as a saint among the Moorish Kings because he continually
makes war upon the Christians; they also say that he receives
supplies from the King of Arabia and the Sheikh of Mekkah, and from
other Moorish Kings and lords he receives horses and weapons for
this purpose; and that he sends every year large offerings to Mekkah
of many Abyssinian slaves that he captures in the wars: and also he
makes presents of those slaves to the King of Arabia and to other
princes. Now with respect to the place or plain where we reached
the Prester and where we found him, it is as they say one day’s
journey from the first market town in the Kingdom of Adel; and
there are eight days’ journey from that market to Zeila. This
kingdom of Fatiguar, what we saw of it, both on entering and leaving
it, is all more plain than mountain, that is to say there are small and
low hills all made use of for much tillage of wheat and barley; and
also much cultivated ground and fields, also sown with the above-
mentioned grain; there is also great breeding of all cattle, cows,
sheep, goats, small mares and mules bred from she-asses. There is
a great view of this country, and it seems like a great hill, not a
mountain nor of rocky cliffs, but all wooded and cultivated land.
They say that there are many monasteries and churches in it, and
that it is a very rich country. There is on the highest part of it a lake
of an extent of four leagues, from which there came to the Court an
infinite quantity of fish, and oranges, lemons, and citrons, and
Indian figs. Pero de Covilham told me that this hill was of a
circumference of eight days’ journey round its foot; and he also
made the conjecture of the size of the lake at four leagues. When
the Court left this plain in which we were, we travelled two days and
a half until we reached the foot of the hill, and having approached
near, it seemed much higher and more fruitful, as it was said to be.
There come forth from it many streams, which contain much fish.
We travelled across the foot of this hill a day and a half, and then
left the hill and kingdom of Fatiguar, and entered that of Xoa; where
we presented the pepper and the letters translated into Abyssinian,
and we got no answer whatever. Prester John was going this road to
make some partition of lands between himself and his sisters, that is
to say, two who were sisters both of father and mother, because his
father had five wives. And these partitions were of the lands and
property which had remained after the death of his mother. Here we
remained four days, and in these they sorted the lands, which were
divided into three parts, which Pero de Covilham said were lands of
more than ten days’ journey. And the Prester gave to each of his
sisters her share, and one part for himself, and he then ordered his
part to be divided into two, and he gave them to his two infant
daughters; and cows, mares, sheep, and goats which covered the
hills and fields and valleys, all were in the same partition, and they
were divided in the same way as the lands. The Prester would not
travel from this place and go to other partitions, as the lands were
many and far apart, and he gave orders that they should be divided
like these, and that his share should be divided between his
daughters. We heard say that the gold and silk of this division was
uncounted; and as to the silks, they said that the Prester ordered
that his share should be given to the churches and monasteries
which were situated in the lands which had belonged to his mother.
We travelled to the town of Dara, where Pero de Covilham showed
me the thickets in which the friars led a rigid life, and the white man
died in the grotto which they found walled up.[223]

Cap. cxiii.—Ofthe battle which the Prester had with the King of Adel,
and how he defeated Captain Mahomed.
I return to the relation of what I heard of the Kingdom of Adel
and of a great captain there was in it, and of the death which he
died (and this I heard from many and above all from Pero de
Covilham). It was most certain that there was in this Kingdom of
Adel a great Moorish captain who was named Mahfudi,[224] whom
the people of this Court still sing of when they travel. They say that
this captain entered the lands of the Prester during every Lent for
twenty-five years, because during Lent the great fast breaks the
people’s strength and they are not able to fight. He entered so far
into them that many times he reached to a distance of twenty
leagues. One year he would enter the kingdom of Amara or of Xoa,
another the kingdom of Fatiguar, and he entered sometimes at one
place sometimes at another. He began to make these incursions in
the lifetime of King Alexander, who was uncle of this king, and he
continued them during twelve years of his life; and because he died
without children, Nahum his brother, the father of this king,
succeeded him, and Mahfud did the same during his time. This
David who now reigns, commenced to reign at the age of twelve
years, and until he was seventeen years old Mahfud did not cease
these incursions and warfare during Lent. They say that he made
such great incursions and forays that in one he carried off captive
nineteen[225] Abyssinians, and that he sent them all as an offering
to the house of Mekkah, and as presents to the Moorish kings: and
they say that there they become great Moors, because they escape
from the great severity of the fast, and enter into the abundance
and luxury of the Moors. He also carried off a great multitude of all
sorts of flocks. On the twenty-fourth year of his incursions, on his
entry into the kingdom of Fatiguar all the people fled and took
refuge in the before-mentioned hill, and Mahfud followed them; and
they say that he entered the hill and burned all the churches and
monasteries there. I have before related that in all the countries of
the Prester there are chavas, who are men-at-arms, because in
these kingdoms the cultivators do not go to the wars, and that there
were in these kingdoms many chavas, and those who took refuge on
the hill were cultivators and chavas, that is, men-at-arms who had
fled. Mahfud took them all prisoners, and he ordered the cultivators
to be separated from the men-at-arms, and he ordered the
cultivators to go in peace, and to sow for next year much wheat and
barley against he came, so that he and his people might find enough
to eat for themselves and their horses. And he said to the men-at-
arms: “Knaves who eat the king’s bread, and guard his lands so ill,
all of you to the sword;” and he ordered fifteen men-at-arms to be
killed; and returned with a great troop, and without any opposition
whatever. Prester John being greatly vexed at this, principally at the
burning of the monasteries and churches, ordered spies to go into
the kingdom of Adel to learn in what part this Mafude would
determine to enter. And he learned how the king of Adel would enter
in person, and Mahfud with him, and great forces, and that they
would enter this same kingdom of Fatiguar and that they were
coming out of Lent in the time when the wheat and barley were
young to destroy them all, and during Lent would go to another
part. On knowing this, Prester John determined to wait for them on
the road, and they say that he was much opposed by all his people
and by the grandees of the Court, who said that he was a youth of
seventeen and that it was not well that he should go to such a war,
and that the Betudetes and captains of his kingdoms were sufficient
there. They say that he said that he needs must go in person to
avenge the injuries which had been done to his uncle Alexander and
to his father Nahum, and to himself for six years, and that he trusted
in God to avenge it all. So he set out with his people and Court
without ordering men to come from distant lands, so as not to be
heard of; and they say that he travelled day and night, and one
night before dawn he went and pitched his camp over where the
first fair of the kingdom of Adel is held, one day’s journey from
where we found the Prester when we brought him the pepper. They
say there is here a great pass which the King of Adel had passed the
day before, and he was encamped about the distance of half a
league in the Prester’s country, and off the road: and the Prester
was encamped in the country of Adel. When it was clear daylight
they saw each other, and they say that as soon as Mahfud saw the
camp of the Prester, and saw the red tents which are only pitched
for great festivals or receptions, he said to the King of Adel, “Sire,
the Negus of Ethiopia is here in person, to-day is the day of our
deaths, do what you can to save yourself, for I shall die here.” They
say that the king escaped with four horsemen, and of these four one
was the son of a Betudete, who was with the King of Adel, and is
now with the Prester in his Court, because here they think nothing
of joining the Moors and becoming Moors, and if they wish to return,
they get baptised again, and remain pardoned and Christians as
before. This one gave the account of what took place among them.
As soon as the King of Adel had put himself in safety, which was
very early in the morning, Prester John, as they relate, who did not
know of the king’s flight, ordered that all should receive the
communion and commend themselves to God, and get their
breakfasts, and make ready: and at the hour of tierce they began to
set their battle array, and go out to fight with the Moors, leaving
their tents pitched. They say that as soon as the Moors saw them in
motion, Mahfud came out to speak to the Christians, asking if there
was among them any knight who was willing to fight with him to the
death. A friar of the name of Gabri-Andreas came forth for this
purpose, and he killed Mahfud, and cut off his head. He is still alive
and is a man who is much honoured at the Court. There was then a
general onset on the Moors, who had nowhere to escape, because
the Prester’s tents were pitched opposite the principal pass, and the
other pass which was further off, by which the king had fled, was
already taken possession of. When the Moors were routed and killed,
Prester John returned to his tents to rest, and the following day he
marched into the kingdom of Adel until he arrived at a rich palace of
the King of Adel, which he found without any inhabitant. The Prester
came up to the doors of this palace and with his lance struck the
doors three times, and he did not choose that anyone else should
strike them, nor enter nor approach them, that it might not be said
that he went to plunder, and that if he had found the king there, or
many other people, he would have been the first to enter in person,
because he was going in fair and open warfare; and since he found
nobody, nobody should enter. So they turned back again. This battle
was in the month of July and they asserted that it was on the same
day that Lopo Soarez destroyed and burned Zeila,[226] at which
destruction I was present: and the Moors who were taken prisoners
there said that the chief captain of Zeila was with the King of Adel in
wars with the Negus of Ethiopia. Several times the Prester ordered
us to be shewn four or five bundles of short swords with silver hilts,
not very well made, saying that they had taken all those and others
in the war with the Sultan of Adel, and also the tent which he gave
us of common brocade and Mekka velvet was taken in that war, and
belonged to the king himself, and on that account he had sent to tell
us to bless it before saying mass in it, in case the Moor had sinned in
it. The head of Mahfud was going about the Court of the Prester
more than three years before that passed in our going or arrival in
it; and every Saturday and Sunday and days of observance, the
common people and boys and girls made great festivity with it, and
at this day it is about the Court, and it seems to me that it will be
there for ever, so enamoured are they of it. Gabri-Andreas (as I have
said) is a friar and a very honourable person, and a gentleman of
great revenues, and (according to fame) he is very eloquent, and is
a friend of the Portuguese, and he understands Church matters well,
and enjoyed talking about them. He has not got more than half his
tongue, and the end cut off, because King Nahum ordered it to be
cut off because he talked a great deal.

Cap. cxiv.—How the Prester sent us a map of the world which we had
brought him, for us to translate the writing into Abyssinian, and
what more passed, and of the letters for the Pope.
While we were at the town of Dara, Prester John sent us a map
of the world, which we had brought to him four years ago, and
which Diogo Lopez de Sequeira had sent him, with a message that if
the letters on the map said what the countries were that we should
put his letters at the foot of them that he might know what these
countries were. We at once set to work, the friar who is going to
Portugal and I, he wrote and I read, and beneath our writing he
placed theirs. And because our Portugal is mixed with Castile in a
small space, and Seville is very near Lisbon and near to Corunna, I
put Seville for Spain,[227] and Lisbon for Portugal, and Corunna for
Galicia. When the whole of the map was finished and nothing
remained they took it away. The following day he sent to call the
ambassador and all of us that were with him, and immediately in the
first conversation he sent to say that the King of Portugal and the
King of Castile were sovereigns of few lands, and that the King of
Portugal would not be strong enough to defend the Red Sea from
the power of the Turks and Rumys; and that it would be well if he
was to write to the King of Spain that he should order a fortress to
be built in Zeila, and the King of Portugal should order one to be
built in Masua, and the King of France order one to be made in
Suaquem; and all three, with the forces of the Prester, would be able
to guard the Red Sea and take Jiddah and Mekkah and Cairo, and
the holy house, and go through all the countries they chose. The
ambassador replied to this that His Highness was deceived or ill
informed, and if any one had told him so, that he had not told him
the truth; and that if he judged of it by looking at the map of the
world, that he would not acquire a right knowledge of the countries,
because Portugal and Spain are in the map of the world as things
that are well known, and not as things requiring to be known: and
that he should look in the map how the cities and castles and
monasteries were, and also how Venice, Jerusalem, and Rome were,
like things well-known and in small spaces, and let him look at his
Ethiopia, how it was an unknown thing, very large and much spread
out, full of mountains, and lions and elephants and many other
animals, and also many mountain ridges, without the map showing
any city, town, or castle; His Highness should know that the King of
Portugal, by means of his captains, was powerful enough to defend
and guard the Red Sea against all the power of the great Sultan and
of the great Turk, and to make war upon them even to the holy
house; and that he had made greater conquests in the parts of
Africa with the King of Fez and Morocco, and many other kings,
subjugating all the Indies and making all their kings his tributary
subjects, as His Highness well knew from the adversaries of the King
of Portugal, who were the Moorish merchants from India trading at
his Court. To this there did not come any answer, and there was
another question, and he dismissed us, sending to us plenty to eat
and drink; and so he did every day whilst we went with the Court.
 Four or five days after the map of the world, the Prester sent to
call us, and he sent to say that he wished to write to the Pope of
Rome, whom they name Rumea Negus lique papaz: which means
the King of Rome and Head of the Popes: and he desired that I
should write the beginning of the letter, because they were not
accustomed to write, and did not know how to write to the Pope.
Don Rodrigo the ambassador answered that we had not come to
write, nor was there any one among us who could write to the Pope.
I said that I would tell him the beginning, and after that they could
continue with whatever he had in his heart to write or to request.
There came a message that we should go and dine, and afterwards
come back, the friar and I, and that I should bring all my books to
prepare the letters; and so we did. When we came we found all
those whom they hold to be most learned, assembled together with
many books; and they at once asked me for my books. I replied that
books were not necessary, but only to know the intentions of His
Highness, and by that we should be ruled. Then a man who was the
principal one there in rank and learning, and whose title is Abuquer,
which means chief chaplain, told the Prester’s intention to the friar,
and he told it to me. Then I set to writing and shortly made a small
beginning, which was at once taken in my handwriting to His
Highness, and was brought back at once, and in that hour we put it
into their language and sent it back again. There was no delay with
it, for the page came back at once, saying that the king was much
pleased with the writing, and amazed because it had not been taken
out of books: and he ordered that it should at once be written in
clean writing and in two letters; and he ordered that his learned
priests should study in their books the most they could to search for
what more could be put in the letters.[228] When the friar and I were
coming to our tents, the ambassador came out and said to me:
“Padre, I regret very much what I said to-day to Prester John that
there was no one among us who knew how to write to the Pope,
because he will hold us for men of little knowledge, I entreat of you
to put all your efforts in this, and do for him all you know.” I
answered him, “that whether it was strong or weak, it was done to
the best of my knowledge, and that he would see here what I had
done”. As soon as he saw it he rejoiced much (according to what he
showed), and the minute[229] of the letter which I drew up goes in a
separate letter and is smaller; it begins “Blessed Holy Father”.[228]
They employed three days in preparing the other letter, and they
spent fifteen days in making a small gold cross, which weighs a
hundred cruzados, and which is also going to the Pope.

Cap. cxv.—How in the letters of Don Luis it was said that we should
require justice for certain men of his who had been killed, and
the Prester sent there the Chief Justice of the Court, and
Zagazabo in company of Don Rodrigo to Portugal.
In the letters which Don Luis de Meneses sent to Prester John,
he made a complaint and required justice for four Portuguese whom
the Moors had killed in the town of Arquiquo, a port of the Red Sea
and in his country; which justice and vengeance he had not chosen
to execute or take by himself, because it was in the Prester’s
country, and that he desired to serve His Highness and not annoy
him. We had asked this justice many times, and had for answer that
he regretted very much that the captain-major Don Luis had not
taken vengeance, and killed all the Moors that were in the town of
Arquiquo, and that he valued more one Portuguese than all the
Moors and negroes that were in his country: and that since he (Don
Luis) did not choose to take vengeance himself, that he would order
justice to be done: and he ordered the Chief Justice of his Court to
come before us in front of his tent, and he sent to tell him by the
Cabeata that he was to go with us to the sea, and to take prisoners
all the Moors, Turks, Rumys, and Christians, whom he should
discover to have been in the town of Arquiquo at the time that they
killed these men of Don Luis de Meneses. And those that he found
guilty of the said death, or in not having arrested those who had
killed, and who had raised the brawl, he was to give them up to any
captain-major who came from Portugal, and he might kill them or do
justice as he pleased; killing, beheading, or taking them as captives,
either Christians or Moors, Turks and Roumys; but that the
Portuguese were not to complain any more of this justice, but to
take it for themselves. In this town, and in these days, Prester John
determined to send an ambassador to Portugal, for up to this time
he was not sending any one. He sent to call the ambassador and
me, and he said, that he had determined to send a person with us to
the King of Portugal, in order that his desires might have effect
quicker, his representative being there; and he asked if we thought
that Zagazabo would be sufficient for this journey, inasmuch as he
could speak our language, and had already been to our countries.
We answered that Zagazabo was quite sufficient for this journey, and
for being the envoy of His Highness, because he was a man who got
on well with us, and we with him, and that he had no need of an
interpreter: and that now His Highness was doing what he ought to
do, because on his return he would give more belief to what his own
countrymen saw and heard of foreigners, than to what foreigners
said of themselves. They then decided that we should have him for
our companion. The following day he sent us dresses, and thirty
ouquias[230] of gold, and a hundred loaves for the road. Still we
waited a great deal later, and the cause (according to what the
ambassador himself told us later) was because the determination of
Prester John was tardy, this detention was necessary as the
ambassador was not yet despatched, until he had given him the
things which he had to carry for his journey and himself, that is to
say, clothes and gold for his expenses. Also we waited for the Chief
Justice who had to go with us, as has been said. After all we set out
without them, saying that we would go on at a slow pace: this was
because we had often seen his despatch. So we went away and they
caught us up on the road, each in their turn, and we travelled until
we reached Barua, which is near the sea, where our quarters were,
which is the chief town of the country of the Barnagais. We did not
find any news of the Portuguese coming to the port, and we all
waited together until the monsoon had passed. During this time the
Chief Justice arrested three or four gentlemen, and one Xumagali