IN NOMINE DN̄I, AMEN.
IN THIS PART IS RELATED THE JOURNEY WHICH WAS MADE FROM THE COUNTRY OF THE PRESTER JOHN TO PORTUGAL.
Cap. i.—Of how we departed from the port and island of Masua until arriving at Ormuz.
On the 28th day of April, of 1526, we set sail, the whole fleet together; it consisted of five sail, namely three royal galloons and two carvels. We reached the island of Camaran the 1st day of May, and there the wind wearied us. We were there three days, and whilst waiting I remembered how we had there buried Duarte Galvam, the ambassador to Prester John, who was sent by the king our sovereign. I was present at his decease, and I went to his burial, and with the licentiate Pero Gomez Teixeira, who was then judge, we marked the grave, so that if at any time any of his relations or friends came, they might know it, to remove his remains to a country of Christians if they chose. And I went with a slave of mine to where we had left him buried, and I ordered him to be dug up, and to dispose all his bones in order; but we did not find more than three teeth, and I put them in a small box, and we brought his remains to the galloon St. Leon, in which I went, without anyone knowing of it except one Gaspar de Saa, factor of the said fleet, and who was of his household. As soon as we had got the said remains on board the galloon, the wind changed to a stern wind, and that hour we set sail, and this factor said to me: “Certainly, as Duarte Galvam was a good man and ended his days in the service of God, so God gives us a good wind for him.” And we had the same wind till the 10th of May, when we were opposite Aden, and already in the open sea,[266] and the winter weather from India was facing us, and we facing it. The storm was so great that the second night we passed in it, what with the great darkness and high wind, we lost one another and were separated without seeing each other again, or knowing what course each ship was making. This galloon St. Leon, in which I went, had a large boat made fast astern with three ropes, and in it was a ship boy, a Frenchman by nation, who steered it. In the fourth night that we passed in this storm, the sea was so wild and high that we all thought we should be lost; and at midnight a little more or less, all three ropes of the boat broke, and the galloon gave so many and so great lurches, that we thought we should go to the bottom of the sea. The master of the galloon sounded his whistle and gave out a Paternoster through the ship to all hands[267] for the soul of the ship boy who was in the boat. On the following day an auction was held, that is, a valuation and sale of the pieces and things which the ship boy had with him, and with them and a slave of his a hundred and twenty pardaos[268] were made. We sailed with this storm[269] until we got to the strait of Ormuz, and on the 28th of May we reached the port of Mazquate, which belongs to the Kingdom of Ormuz, and pays tribute to the King of Portugal our sovereign. There we found one of the carvels of our convoy and fleet, which gave an account of the storm which it had passed, and three days after that the other carvel, companion of the first, arrived; and the same day a galloon arrived, and each related the storms. Ten days after our arrival at this port of Mazquate, they saw tacking about on the sea the galloon Sam Donis, the flagship of the fleet, and she could not fetch the port: two Portuguese fustas, which guarded the strait of the port of Mazquate, went out to her, and as soon as they reached the galloon they turned back, and with great haste they took provisions and water to succour the galloon and her crew, who were lost with hunger and thirst, more with thirst than hunger. The fustas passed the night there; and next day, in the early morning, all our boats and the town boats set out from the town to fetch the galloon, and they did bring her and arrived with her in the port in the afternoon. Here they related the great straits and danger in which they found themselves, saying that they had run before the storm which caught them at the entrance of the strait,[270] and they went as far as the bay of Cambay, from which they could not come out: and the Lord was pleased that the storm should not cease, by which the sea was secure from enemies. They also said that for three days they had not eaten, from being short of water. They spoke of the great virtue and compassion of Hector da Silveira, captain-major of this fleet, and they said that he was the first to leave off drinking, and that with tears in his eyes and a little water in his hand he went about distributing it among the sick: and after the time that they found themselves in these straits, he did not any more sleep in nor enter his cabin, that it might not be supposed that he went to fill himself with water and left the crews to suffer. So they said it was true that on the day when they sighted land and we succoured them, there was not a single drop of water in the galloon, nor had either the sound or the sick tasted it: and that they had sight that day miraculously of the land and port, and we of them; because they already despaired of their lives. I heard this from the ambassadors, Don Rodrigo de Lima who went to the Prester John, and Alicacanate, the ambassador of the Prester, who is going to Portugal; and generally all said it who were in the galloon. All the people landed to refresh themselves and recover from the fatigue of the sea. We were few days in this port of Mazquate, and from there our fleet sailed together, God be praised, and with us certain fustas of those which guard this port and strait. We went to the city of Ormuz, a fortress of the king our sovereign, and found there Lopo Vaz de Sampayo, captain-major and governor of the Indies for his Highness. When we reached the port, all the gentlemen and captains of the ships, carvels, galleys, and fustas, and all the other people, both of the fortress and of the fleet and company of the captain-major, came out to receive us on the beach; and the captain-major was on the beach in front of the fortress, and there they gave us our welcome. Then we went together to the church which is inside the fort, and the captain-major came down there to embrace the ambassadors, and me with them, and some others of our embassy. Then we went each to his quarters. The following day we all came to hear mass and to speak to the captain-major, and to give him a letter from Prester John, which we had brought for Diogo Lopez de Sequeira, who had been captain-major and governor of the Indies, and who took us to the country of the Prester: and we gave the letter to Lopo Yaz de Sampayo, as he had succeeded to the said charge. Besides, we gave him a silk robe with five gold plates before and other five behind, and one on each shoulder, which in all made twelve. Each one was the size of the palm of the hand, and Prester John sent it to Diogo Lopez. The governor, Lopo Vaz de Sampayo, gave the favour of two hundred pardaos to Don Rodrigo de Lima, the ambassador who had gone to the Prester, and another two hundred to the Prester’s ambassador, and to me he gave the favour of a hundred pardaos. Hector da Silveira remained few days at Ormuz, and soon returned with his fleet to wait for the ships which come from Jiddah to Dio, and come out with the monsoon with which we came, and they pass the winter at Aden, and with the first wind make their voyage; and we remained until being certain that the winter had passed.
Cap. ii.—Of the translation of the letter which Prester John sent to Diogo Lopez, and which was given to Lopo Vaz de Sampayo.
“In the name of God the Father, Who always was, to Whom no beginning is found. In the name of the Son, one only, who is like Him without being seen, light of the stars from the beginning, before the foundations of the ocean were founded. In another time He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin without seed of man, or marriage. So was the knowledge of His office, in the name of the Paraclete, spirit of holiness, who knows all secrets, where He was first in the heights of heaven, which is sustained without props or supports, and extended the earth, without its being from the beginning, nor was it known nor created from the east to the west, and from north to south; neither is He the first nor the second, but the Trinity joined together in one Creator of all things for ever, with one sole counsel and one sole word for ever and ever. Amen.
“The king of the great and very high city of Ethiopia sends this writing and embassage: the king incense of the Virgin, whose name is his by baptism: now that he has become king he is named David, the head of his kingdoms, loved of God, prop of the faith, a relation of the lineage of Judah, son of David, son of Solomon, son of the column of Sion, son of the seed of Jacob, son of the hand of Mary, son of Nahum in the flesh.
“This goes to Diogo Lopez de Sequeira, captain-major of the Indies.
“I have heard of you that you are under the king, and that you are a conqueror in all the things which are committed to you, and have no fear of the forces of the numerous Moors, and mounted on a horse you do not fear storms, and you go armed with faith; neither are you one who is conquered by concealed things, and you go armed with the truth of the Gospel, and so you sustain yourself on the edge of the banner of the cross: and for ever thanks be to God for the said faith which procured us our joy, for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of the coming to us which you have come, and have announced your good embassy of your sovereign king Don Manuel; and with your present and peace, which you accomplished with so much fatigue in the ships, and upon the sea, with great winds and storms both by sea and land, coming to kill the Moors and Pagans by such distant journeys; and your ships are steered and directed wherever you wish, which is a miraculous thing: and we are amazed at your having gone for two years, at sea and in war, and with so much fatigue, without resting either day or night. That which it is usual to do, is done by day, and by day merchandise is bought and sold, and travelling is done; the night is for men to sleep and rest themselves, as the Scripture says. The day is for men to do their business from the morning till night. And the lion’s cub only scratches the earth and seeks[271] and prays to God that it may find food; and when the sun rises it returns to its den. And the customs of men are like those of animals: the animals exist from the beginning of the world, and you were not conquered by not sleeping at night, nor by day with the sun, from love of the true faith, as St. Paul says. Who will it be that will contradict these words. Sickness or suffering, hunger or cruelty, knife or sword, fatigue or anything else, cannot part us from the faith of Christ, in which we truly believe in death and in life. The great lords and rich men, when they are sent with an embassage of that which was good by day, it is a very deep thing; there is not one who can separate us from Jesus Christ. The apostle moreover says: Blessed is the man who is humble and endures good and evil, and in conclusion deserves to take the crown of life, and God promised him that which was his desire. There are some men who desire to attempt and care for one thing, God chooses another. God does not select a man for bad things. Now may God fulfil your desire, and give you safety, and bring you to the King Don Manuel your sovereign; and those whom you have conquered, carry them before you, with their spoils, that is of the Pagans who are not in the faith of Jesus Christ. May this be for good; and your men-at-arms may they be blessed, like you; because they are martyrs for Jesus Christ, who die for his holy name of cold and heat, with labours and fatigues; and you and they, may God conduct you with health and peace to see the face of your sovereign King Don Manuel. I heard, Sir, and I had heard what you had told us, how you arrived at our country, and there was great joy as when one takes a large booty; and when they told me that you had gone away, there was great sadness. After that, when they told me that your ambassador was coming, and of your good will up to this day, I am in great pleasure, and blessed be the name of God the Father, one only God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world. And they came to me, and I heard your reputation from afar; and now may God maintain you that you have made friendship with me. May your goodness now be fulfilled in that which I desire, and do you send me masters of working gold and silver, of making swords, and weapons of iron and helmets, and masons to make houses, and masters to make vineyards and gardens, and all other masters that are necessary, and of the best arts that are named, and to make lead to cover churches, and to make earthen tiles in our country, so that we may not cover our houses with thatch: of this we have great necessity, and we are very sad at not possessing them. I have built a very large church which is named Trinity, in which I have buried my father, whose soul may it be in God’s keeping; and your ambassadors will tell you how good its walls are, and I wished to cover it in great haste, because it is covered with thatch. I tell you this for the love of God to send me the total of these masters, which is ten of each art. On account of this your masters will neither be diminished nor increased. As long as they like to remain they may remain, and if they should wish to return I will pay them their work, and I will let them go in peace. And now hear another word: I send you there those Franks who were here, and who were going about as Moors in the country of Cairo; I made Christians of them, and they will show the road to Zeila and Aden, and Mekkah, and Masua, as they know it well. On this account let your heart be glad, and I rejoice at that which is in your desire, and I write to you for the sake of the embassage which you sent, which says that you wish to build a church and a fort in the island of Masua, and you ask me for leave to do it: I give you permission to make a church and a castle in Masua and in Dalaqua, and to put priests in the churches, and strong men to guard the castles, from fear of the Moors, dirty sons of Mahomed. Do this quickly before you go to India, and do not give yourselves leisure in this, nor go to India until you have made a church and a castle. For all this we will praise you, I and the King Don Manuel your sovereign, because God has been pleased that we should love one another. And make a market where they buy and sell merchandise, and do not allow Moors to buy and sell, but Christians. And if you wish that Moors should buy and sell there, let it be as you please and with your license. And after you have done this in Masua, come to Zeila and make there a church and castle, as I said before. This town of Zeila is a port of much provisions for Aden and all parts of Arabia, and many other countries and kingdoms; and those kingdoms and lands have no other favour except what comes to them from Zeila. When this is done which I send you word to do, you will have the kingdom of Aden in your hand, and all Arabia, and many other countries and kingdoms, without war nor death of people, because you will take all their provisions and they will be starved. When you wish to make war upon the Moors, send and tell me, and what you want or have need of; and I will send you horsemen and archers, and I will be with you, and we will defeat the Moors and Pagans justly for the faith, I and you. When you wish to go to India, leave Don Rodrigo de Lima as captain of Masua, and let not your ambassadors omit to go and come whenever there is anything suspicious there. These who now are going are the first who came here; the ambassadors of your embassage are great and good, and they love one another well in spite of their faults; and do to them much good for the sake of their goodness, especially to Don Rodrigo de Lima, who is very good, excepting his faults, and that he does not speak much with his lips, and he is remarkable for making himself good, better than all, and he is a servant to be trusted; do good to him, and he is a servant of the blessing. To Padre Francisco give twice as many thanks, because he is a holy man, honest, and of good conscience for the love of God: I know his disposition, and I gave him a cross and a staff of his lordship into his hand: this is a sign of his lordship, and he is an abbot in our country: and do you increase him and make him lord of Masua and Zeila and all the isles of the Red Sea, and of the extremities of our countries, because he is sufficient for, and deserving of such an office. Also, with regard to Joam Escolar the clerk, I have complied with his desire and wishes, because he is always at the king’s service, do to him as may be best for him, because he is a man of very good condition, and he laboured much in the writing of this, and in things which had to be done. To the rest of the embassy do them good, from the small to the great, according to what each is, and give them their reward. Our Lord give you his peace for the service of virtue, and do good to you and to all that are with you. Do good to them, and may the Lord illuminate you and them with his grace. May God assist our brothers, those who love one another well, and all those who persist in it; God is with them, and may He be with you and succour you in all cases; and may your feet be together on the road, and keep you from the evil eye, and keep you from the waves of the sea, and your ships from the storms, and you in life in all times without any sickness, and keep you in all hours of the day and night, in winter and summer, in secula seculorum, amen. I send you my blessing, but not by this letter only, as I am accustomed so to send it; and I excuse myself in this, and remember you, and that in all the houses of Christians and churches which were built by our ancestors, the prayer which we make says thus: “We will pray for that which we want of the Lord God and Jesus Christ his Son for those who come in pilgrimage, our brothers, and those also who have come this pilgrimage by sea or rivers or lakes or difficult roads, wherever it may be. To Thee they belong; God bring them and conduct them in safety with a smooth sea: the Lord sustain them all.” So the deacons say, praying for the priests, and in another part the priests say: “God be with you, because He is with all, and we ask for that which He has for good, and we ask for those who are brothers in dangers, and they are so now, and they come in pilgrimage a straight road with those of the road which they desire, and that we may soon find what we desire, may the Lord give it us.” The deacon says, and all the people say: “Lord God have mercy upon us.” So says the third priest: “May God bring them in safety on a smooth sea, and bring them to their relations with pleasure and peace which they desire, and may they see pleasure by His Son Jesus Christ. May He be with you, and you with Him, and with the Holy Spirit, which is eternal glory, now and for ever in secula seculorum, amen.”
“So, as I say, prayer is made in all the churches and hours of the offices, with incense, not for you alone, but for all of us, that He may be with us in pilgrimage, and that this pilgrimage should not come to us, but over the sea inside our country as in yours; for the sake of this do you make prayer in this office so that you may be saved, and that you may be against bad men, and that bad imaginations may not enter you. And while you live, in order to defeat the Moors and Pagans, those who do not believe in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, I will send assistance to make war, and many men and provisions and gold: not only to Masua, but to Zeila and Adel, and all the countries of the infidels, defeating the sons of Mahomed, the heretics. With the assistance of the Queen St. Mary our Lady I have defeated them, and we will defeat them. You will come by sea, and we will go by land together with consultation, with the strength of the most Holy Trinity.”
Cap. iii.—Of the voyage we made from Ormuz to India, as far as Cochim.
We left Ormuz with the captain-major, Governor Lopo Vaz de Sampayo, in his fleet, because Hector da Silveira had already sailed with his galloons and fleet to wait for the Mekkah ships which had wintered at Aden, as has been said; and coming out of the strait of Ormuz, we already met the wild winter weather of India, which could be navigated without a storm, and we went to the fortress of Chaul, which belongs to the king our sovereign, a country which is very strong and flourishing, of much wheat, which comes from Cambay, and much meat of the country, namely, cows, rams, fowls, fish, an infinite quantity of shad fish, and very good, and the rest remain in the canals, (where the ship sunk with Don Lorenzo d’Almeida, a great knight, son of the Viceroy Don Francisco d’Almeida), many Indian figs, large vegetable gardens and delicacies, all made by the Portuguese. Many days did not pass but what Hector da Silveira, who was waiting with his fleet for the Mekkah ships, came and brought three ships as prizes, very large and rich, with much gold, because as yet they did not bring merchandize, and they came for it to India. All the Moors that they captured in them (and the fortress was full of them), those that were young and able for the galleys, all were taken for the king our sovereign for his galleys, and they were taken at a price of ten cruzados each, for such is his regulation. And the other old men or who were not able, they gave them also for ten cruzados to whoever wanted them for ransom, or to make use of them. Among these that were taken in the prizes came many Jews, among whom was an old Jew who had done honour and given hospitality in his house to some Portuguese who had been lost in the kingdom of Fartaque,[272] they went about the country like desperate men, asking the way to Ormuz, and God brought them to the house of this Jew. The Jew took them in and gave them food and drink and stuffs to cover themselves with, and some money for the road. The Lord was pleased that this benefaction of his should not pass without a reward. One of the men to whom the Jew did this good happened to be here, and to know him in a prison where he was lying with others; and he was a man who was poor enough, a native of Viseu: compassion and virtue worked in him, and remembering what he had received from the Jew, he went to the captain-major and told him that the Jew had done much good to him and to other Portuguese, in the kingdom of Fartaque, and had given them their lives, and that he was now a captive with the Moors that Hector da Silveira had taken in the prizes, and that he was very old and not fit for the galleys, and that he himself had no money with which to buy him, and that he entreated his lordship to give this Jew to him on account of his pay for ten cruzados, as they gave for the others. The captain-major sent for the Jew and told him to look and see if he knew any men of those who stood there. Looking at all of them, he pointed out the one who had been in his house, and to whom and to others he had done good. Then the captain-major granted this Jew to that poor man for the good which he had done to him and to the Moors who went with him in that voyage and storm, in which they had come to his house. This man took the Jew by the hand, and went with him among the Portuguese relating the benefit which he had received from him, as also other Portuguese who were not present, and he collected fifty pardaos of alms for him. All Christians, Moors, and Jews said publicly that no other good act received thanks, and that there was no other recompense except for what was done to the Portuguese; and so they would do good to them when they fell in with them in their own countries. We sailed from here and arrived at the city of Goa on Saturday, the 25th of November, the vigil of St. Catherine; and because this city was taken from the Moors and Gentiles on St. Catherine’s day, on the Sunday,[273] which was St. Catherine’s day, they made a very great and solemn procession, with all the plays and festivities which are customary in Portugal on the day of Corpus Christi. Prester John’s ambassador and certain friars who came with him from his country said that here they completed their belief and knowledge that we were Christians since we made so solemn a procession. We did not remain in this city more than three days. Prester John’s ambassador left in this city of Goa four slaves, namely, two to be taught to be painters, and two others to be trumpeters, and the captain-major ordered maintenance to be given them and that they should be taught. We sailed for Cananor and remained there six days; the ambassador and the friars there also rejoiced at seeing the chapel of Jacob, which Matheus had ordered to be built, and the honoured bell which lies over his tomb. From the fortress and town of Cananor we sailed by this sea on the way to Cochim: on reaching it we found Antonio Galvam, son of Duarte Galvam, the ambassador who was going to Prester John and who died in Camaran, whose remains I was bringing with me. I sent word to his son how I was bringing them: he rejoiced much and begged me not to bring them on shore, because he wished to come for them with a procession; which he did with all the clergy and friars of the city, and the confraternities with all their tapers. He ordered an honourable memorial service to be performed in the monastery of St. Anthony, with offerings of sacks of wheat and barrels of wine. And because the seamen would hesitate about carrying dead bodies in the ship,[274] they made a small recess on the Gospel side, close to the high altar, so that it should seem that the box in which the remains were was put in there, and when the people had gone they closed the recess and the box remained outside. As Antonio Galvam was captain of a ship which was going to Portugal, he had the box with his father’s remains taken to his ship. All the time that we remained at Cochim was spent in loading three ships and getting ready the people who were to go. Each ship, when it had got its cargo of pepper and cloves, sailed for Cananor, which is thirty leagues from Cochim, to take in ginger and provisions of biscuit and fish, and also palm wine and gunpowder. All the three ships assembled at Cananor in the beginning of January, and one of the three ships sailed at once.
Cap. iv.—Of the voyage we made from Cananor to Lisbon, and of what happened to us by the way.
The ship which first reached Cananor of those which loaded in Cochim, the captain of which was Tristan Vaz da Veiga, in which went the ambassadors Don Rodrigo de Lima and Licacanate, ambassador of the Prester, first took what was necessary in that fortress, namely, ginger, biscuit, arrak, fish, and she sailed on the 4th of January of 1527 for Portugal. The ship of which Antonio Galvam was captain, and in which I went on account of his friendship, arrived at port after the first which had already sailed, so they at once equipped us, and we sailed on the 18th of January for Portugal; and according to what they told us, the ship which had remained in the port of Cananor, taking in what it had to take sailed fifteen days after us, which was twenty-nine days after the departure of the first ship, which went out of port before us. Each ship made its course full speed as God might assist them, without first talking of waiting for one another. On the morning of the 2nd of April the look-out man of our ship, who slept in the top, began to say, “There is a ship a-head of us a distance of two leagues”. All those who still slept arose, and with those who were already up we placed ourselves in the castles to look with much amazement what ship it might be, because we were very far out in the middle of the sea. When it was clear day they knew that she was Portuguese, and one from India. Upon this the look-out man said he saw a ship astern of us. The ship which went in front having knowledge of us, as we had of her, began to wait until we approached and saluted her, and she us. Then the ship which came astern was well in sight, and the two ships agreed to wait for her, and towards night she reached us. There was much pleasure among the crews of the three ships, asking one another how they had fared, and asking the foremost ships if anything had happened to them, or how they had not sailed faster. They said, or we said, that we had sailed as much as we had been able, without anything happening to us by the way; and all in good health, God be praised. Here we went in convoy, and sailed together for three days. And because the ship named Sta. Maria do Espinheiro, Captain Antonio Galvam, in which I went, heeled over a great deal, and did not sail as fast as the others, one day early in the morning one of the ships was a long way off, and the other waited for us to speak us. When we reached her and saluted her, she said that the other ship which had gone a-head, and she, asked our pardon, but they could not wait for us, because they saw our ship heel so much that it seemed to them that we could not go to Portugal. We remained very disconsolate, and they went on their course. We made our course for the island of St. Helena to take in water there. The two ships which had left us fetched the said island, and we on Easter Sunday, which was the 21st of April 1527 ran by the island in the night which ended on Monday. And as at midnight, a little more or less, there came a heavy shower, some said that then we ran by the island, because the shower came from the land; others said that it was still a-head of us. We remained some days in this doubt, until we saw signs that we were beyond the island, and we ran very short of water; already we did not boil anything from want of water. Here the Lord succoured us with his mercy, giving us three days and three nights heavy rain, during which much good water was taken. They took thirty pipes of water for the ship, and for me they took three, and so also each one took what he wanted in whatever he had got, and we remained with abundance of water. From this time forward we made our usual meals. When we were near the island of Terceira we sighted a ship, and we feared much, thinking that she might be French. This ship fell off from the island to seaward, and we got as close in shore as we could; and then they sighted from our top a canoe[275] in which were men castaway, and they launched another canoe from our ship, which they had brought from India, and some seamen and shipboys went to it and took the canoe and nine persons that were in it, namely, five white men and four slaves, who were half dead; for the canoe had capsized with them because it is long and narrow and all of one piece of timber. They placed all these men thrown one upon another as they could not move, and had all been overflowed with water. On reaching the ship they seemed more dead than alive. They at once stripped them and put on them dry clothes, and some of them in beds, others by the fire, and some spoke three hours after that, others four hours, and others next day. Next day at dawn we made the port of the island Terceira, where we found caravels which were waiting for ships, and also alarmed at the ships which appeared at sea, thinking they were French, as they ran by the island, and were thinking of going to them. Upon this, the men whom we had picked up, and who were now somewhat in their senses and wits, said that those were the Portuguese ships which came from India and had separated from our company, and that they had sent them in the canoe to buy some fowls at an island where they were cheap, and the canoe had capsized with them, and they did not know what had become of the ships. After we had been five days at anchor in the port, the said two ships reached the port, and they told how they had run by so much that they could not make the island, and if it had not been on account of the king our sovereign, and fear of the French, they would have made their course for Portugal. They gave great thanks to God for saving their men and slaves, and also for our coming, swearing that they had left us for lost on account of our ship heeling so much, and they entreated us for the love of God to pardon them. They also told us that on Saturday, vigil of Easter, they made the island of St. Helena, and we told them that on the night of Easter Sunday, dawning on Monday, we had run by it with a shower. They also said that it rained there that night. We remained at Terceira eighteen days waiting for a carvel which was at the mine, and ships from the islands of St. Thomas and Cape Verde and from Brazil, for such was the regulation. The carvels that we waited for had to go together with the fleet that it might be secure from the French, and though this island is the mother of wheat it was very dear: and this was caused by its raining every day and not allowing of reaping, and still less carrying what was reaped. As soon as we reached this island they at once sent a carvel with a message and news of our arrival to the king our sovereign. When the ships that we were waiting for had assembled, we made our course for Lisbon, and one morning that we sighted Portugal and were not very far from land, we were still three days without being able to fetch the port, and with fear of running by it, and going to Gallicia. The Lord was pleased that on the 24th of July, which was the vigil of St. James, we entered the bar of Lisbon, and before we reached it, at Cascaes a carvel came out with a message from the king, saying, that His Highness ordered that those who came with the embassy of the Prester John were not to land in Lisbon, because it was prevented by the pestilence. In this carvel there came a servant of the king, who was to provide us with boats at Santarem, and pay expenses as far as Coimbra where His Highness was. This day we entered and anchored in front of the city of Lisbon, which gave us much pleasure.
Cap. v.—Of the journey we made from Lisbon to Coimbra, and how we remained at Çarnache.
As soon as we anchored in the Lisbon river, in front of the bulwark of the palace of the King our Sovereign, that day, the vigil of St. James, the king’s servant caused boats to come alongside to take us, all those belonging to the embassy, and convey us to Santarem, and also boats to take our goods with care to the India House. And because I and my nephew we had there a brother of his, also my nephew, who was representative of the monastery of Santos o Novo, which was outside in the parish of Sta. Maria dos Olivaes, he, learning our arrival, came on board, and we entrusted to him to keep for us some baggage which had not got to go to the India House, namely, bed clothes, both that on which we slept at sea, and also new and clean bedding, and dresses of silk, many new shirts, table napkins, head dresses, and all other small articles; and he collected it all within the enclosure of the monastery of Santos, of which he was the representative, in order to come next day with carts and take it all to his house. And we went on our road in the boats which had been assigned to us. On the following night that the said goods remained there, they took away all that was good and select, and left the old and worn, and even with that I and my nephew received a loss of more than fifty cruzados. We did not learn this till many days later, when they told me at Coimbra that a letter of excommunication had been published for my goods. We went this time in the boats to Santarem, and there the king’s servant provided us very good lodgings; he lodged me and the Prester’s ambassador in Alfange, and Don Rodrigo lodged in Marvila, in houses which had belonged to his father. We remained six days in this town, during which we dressed ourselves after the fashion of Portugal, and we bought mules and what we required because we came battered by the sea. One day we departed from Santarem at ten o’clock, in the greatest heat I ever saw, and in order to lodge separately, so we started in a straggling way, the king’s servant and I went together, and the Prester’s ambassador and the clerk of the embassy and his friars and servants in a party by themselves, and Don Rodrigo de Lima with his servants and slaves in another party. Don Rodrigo brought with him two Moorish pilots, who had been captured in the ships which Hector da Silveira took, as was said before in chapter III, who were sent to the King our Sovereign. And he dressed them in skin jackets, shirts, trousers, shoes, and caps, to present them to the king. The Prester’s ambassador, with his company, went in the narrow path half dead with heat. The king’s servant took me out of the town, and we went to stop at Ponte d’Almonda, where I expected my death from the heat. The Lord was pleased that I should find a lodging with much cold water, and a very good host, who when he saw me thus, began to encourage me and to give me cucumbers and cool wine, with which he cooled me and drew out the heat. Upon this, Don Rodrigo arrived galloping on a horse, shouting and saying, “For the sake of God let them run to me with beasts, for the Moorish pilots of the king and my slaves have remained half dead of heat.” There were there some muleteers, who at once went in haste with four beasts and Don Rodrigo with them, and they brought the said Moors and slaves, and they came in such a state that one of these Moors never returned to his senses. It did not profit him to anoint him with verjuice,[276] and many other remedies which they applied to him, he died at midnight; and the fever never left the other Moor until he died. We said with regard to this that they were suffocated with the clothes which they were not used to. We who were used to them passed a sufficiently bad time of it. After this the consequence was the suspicion that arose here whether we had entered Lisbon, and we all went to take oath, going before the king’s servant who conducted us, or ordered us to be brought. We gave our testimony that we were in good health and very sound, and from a very wholesome country: and that we had not entered Lisbon nor any other infected[277] country, but that we thought that these Moors, although they belonged to hot countries with great heats, had not the custom of going clothed, but wore only a cloth round them from the waist downwards, and above that their skins to the sun, and so it seemed to us they had been suffocated in their clothes. Several days later we learned that that day had been pestiferous, and that many people had died on it of heat; as for instance, a woman, an inhabitant of the monastery das Celas, in the olive gardens of Coimbra; coming from the Campo do Bollan, with other women, from washing her linen, she died of the heat at the entrance of the oliveyards, at a place named Fontoura. And a friar of Conception da Veiro, who was a native of Coimbra, going with another friar as was his custom from Botan, which is two leagues from Coimbra, to Penacova, which is four leagues from the same city, died close to a village which is named Gavinhos, of the heat, though he was a young man not more than twenty-four years old. The night that the first Moor died we went on to Golegan, which was a league from there, and thence further on from fear of the heat, and on account of the other Moor that we carried, who was sick, we travelled very little. From Golegan we went to sleep at Tomar, and from there to Alnayazare, and from there to Ansiam. Here the king’s servant separated from us and went to Coimbra; and we made our journey, and on arriving at Çarnache we found a message from the king, bidding us take up our quarters there, and remain there till His Highness sent for us. In our opinion, this was on account of what his servant told him of the Moor who had died with us: and in order to allay the suspicion and doubt about his death. We remained there twenty-eight days. When these were ended the King our Sovereign sent to call Don Rodrigo and me, and we went to kiss his hand, and give an account of those things as to which he questioned us; and he ordered, that two days after that day we should get ready to go all of us to the city.
Cap. vi.—How we departed from Çarnache on the way to Coimbra, and the reception that was made, and how the embassage was given, and of the welcome which the King our Sovereign gave us.
When we had now been thirty days in Çarnache, well provided with what we required by order of the king, through his servant who accompanied us, one day very early in the morning there came to us Diogo Lopez de Sequeira, chief officer of the household[278] of His Highness, and who when he was captain-major had taken us to the country of Prester John, and looked upon this embassy as a thing of his own, and done by his hand: he came to embrace the ambassador, and the Prester’s ambassador, and all of us separately, saying that the king had bid him come here, and that we were to eat heartily, and set out and go with him by the field road, because all the Court was coming to receive us. Diogo Lopez de Sequeira had ordered dinner to be prepared here, without our knowing of it. We all dined with him, and very early, except the Prester’s ambassador, who said he was not very well. Dinner over we got ready and set out. On reaching a place called d’Antanhol (which is a league from the city), we found there many people of the Court, who came there to meet us or receive us. From this place to San Martinho, which is half a league from the city, we found the roads full of all the Bishops and Counts and gentlemen that were at the Court. They conducted us by the quarter of Rapoula, and we entered by a street which is called Figueira velha, and thence by the gate of the monastery of Santa Cruz; and by another street named rua de Coruche, and by the road passing the gate of Almidina,[279] by the street das Fangas, the street of Sam Christovam, and by the Cathedral See, house of Our Lady, until we arrived at the palace of His Highness. The Marquis of Vilareal led the ambassador of Prester John by the hand until he kissed the hands of the King and Queen our Sovereigns, and of the Cardinal and the Princes, and all of us likewise kissed them. The king asked the ambassador how he had left Prester John his Sovereign, if he was in health, and likewise the Queen his wife, and his children. The ambassador answered, that all had remained in good health, and very desirous to learn and hear good news of His Highness, and of the Queen, and his brothers. The King our Sovereign said, that he received very great pleasure by this visitation and embassage, and he hoped that by it great service would be rendered to the Lord God, and to them as brothers much honour. His Highness, moreover, asked the ambassador how he had been by sea and land, and if he had been well provided for and welcomed since he had been in his dominions, fortresses, and ships, and also since he had come to his kingdoms. The ambassador replied, that the blessing of His Highness was so great, that whoever was comprised in it was in the grace of God. The king said to him that he had arrived tired, and that he should go in peace to his lodging, and all of us in company with him, and that we should rest ourselves; and His Highness would send to call us in order that we might give complete news of Prester John. Then we went away and mounted, and even many bishops and lords and gentlemen returned to accompany us, that is the Prester’s ambassador and all of us, as we had come, as far as the monastery of St. Dominic, where they gave him his quarters. Two days after that the Bishops and Dean of the Chapel and some chaplains came to seek the Prester’s ambassador and us who came with him, and we all went to the palace. The Prester’s ambassador presented to the King our Sovereign a crown of gold and silver, with the sides two palms high, and not very rich, which the Prester sent him; and two letters folded like books on parchment, each written in three languages, namely, Abyssinian, Arabic, and Portuguese, and two of each language, because they came thus in two little bags—they were made for Don Manuel, may he be in holy glory—and another little bag for the King our Sovereign. Licacanate, the ambassador of Prester John, then said to the king: “The King David, my Sovereign, sent this crown with these letters to the king your father, may he be in holy glory; and he sent to tell him that a crown never went from son to father, but that it comes from father to son, and that by the sign of this crown he, King David, was known, loved, feared, and obeyed in his kingdoms and lordships; and being a son he sent to the king his father this crown, in order that he might be assured that his kingdoms, lordships, and peoples were for whatever His Highness might command; and when he was certain that the king his father had died, he said, the crown and letters which he was sending to his father Don Manuel, are going to my brother the King Don Joan, with other letters which I will write to him”: and thus he presented to him the said crown and letters. And he gave all into the hands of His Highness. His Highness gave the crown and letters to Antonio Carneiro his secretary: and as His Highness was very gay and showed that he rejoiced much with this embassy, the said ambassador Licacanate and I presented to His Highness two little bags of brocade with letters inside, and a small cross of gold, which he sent to the Holy Father of Rome, telling His Highness how the Prester had ordered that these letters and cross should be delivered to His Highness, and should be given by the hand of His Highness to me, Francisco Alvarez, to take them to His Holiness. These His Highness took in his hands, letters and cross, and kissed them and gave them to his secretary Antonio Carneiro, saying, that he gave great thanks to the Lord that for the intercession of the King his sovereign and father such service was done to the Lord God; and that he trusted in the Lord to complete it very soon. He sent us away to our quarters very happy. And as up to this time we all ate as we travelled, the king ordered a regular maintenance and animals for riding to be given to the ambassador, namely, three mules, one for him, and two for two friars who came with him; and two cruzados each day for his table, that is, sixty cruzados a month, and one testoon every day for fodder for the mules; and a rich bed and bedding for him to sleep on, silver vessels for his table, napkins, and all that was necessary for him, and a steward, by name Francisco Piriz, to take charge of the silver, bed and tapestry, for he ordered everything to be given him. He also gave him one Francisco de Lemos, a gentleman of His Highness’s guard, as Arabic interpreter to speak for him, and to receive his maintenance, and do what might be necessary for him.
Cap. vii.—Of the translation of the letter which the Prester sent to Don Manuel.
“In the name of God the Father, as always was, in Whom we find no beginning. In the name of God the Son, one only, who is like Him without being seen: light of the stars, from the first before the foundations of the ocean sea were founded: who in former time was conceived in the womb of the Virgin without seed of man, or making of marriage: so was the knowledge of His office. In the name of the Paraclete, spirit of holiness, who knows all secrets, where He was first in the heights of heaven, which is sustained without props or supports, and extended the earth, without its being from the beginning, nor was it known nor created from the east to the west, and from the north to the south; neither is the first nor the second, but the Trinity joined together in one Creator of all things, for ever by one sole counsel and one word for ever and ever. Amen.
“This writing and embassage is sent by the Incense of the Virgin, for that is his name by baptism, and when he became king he was named King David, the head of his kingdoms, beloved of God, prop of the faith, a relation of the lineage of Judah, son of David, son of Solomon, son of the column of Sion, son of the seed of Jacob, son of the hand of Mary, son of Nahum in the flesh; emperor of the high Ethiopia, and of great kingdoms, lordships, and lands, King of Xoa, of Cafate, of Fatiguar, of Angote, of Barua, of Baliganje, of Adea, and of Vangue, King of Gojame, of Amara, of Bagamidri, of Dambea, and of Vague, and of Tigrimahom, and of Sabaim, where was the Queen Saba, and of Barnagais, lord as far as Egypt. This letter goes to the very powerful and most excellent King Don Manuel, who always conquers, and who lives in the love of God, and firm in the Catholic faith, son of Peter and Paul, King of Portugal and the Algarves, a friend of the Christians, an enemy of the Moors and Gentiles; Lord of Africa and Guinea, and of the mountains and island of the moon, and of the Red Sea, and of Arabia, Persia, and Ormuz, and of the great Indies, and of all its towns and islands; Judge and conqueror of the Moors, and strong Pagans, lord of the Moors and very high lands. Peace be with you King Manuel, strong in the faith, assisted by our Lord Jesus Christ to kill the Moors, and without lance or buckler you drive and cast them out like dogs. Peace be with your wife, the friend of Jesus Christ, the servant of our Lady the Virgin, mother of the Saviour of the world. Peace be with your sons at this hour, as to the flowers and fresh lily at your table. Peace to your daughters, who are provided with clothes like good palaces. Peace be with your relations, seed of the saints, as the Scriptures say, the sons of the Saints are blessed and great in graces in their house. Peace to those of your council and offices, and to the lords of your jurisdiction. Peace to your great captains of the camps and frontiers of strong places. Peace to all your people and populations who are in Christ. Peace to your great cities, and to all those that are within them who are not Jews or Moors, only to those who are Christians. Peace to all the parishes which are in Christ, and to your faithful grandees. Amen.
“I heard say, king and my father, that when it reached your knowledge, you ordered archbishops and bishops to be summoned in the name of Matheus, for the sake of this I am very joyful and satisfied, and give many thanks to God: and not I alone, but all my people are very joyful. When I enquired, they told me how Matheus had died as soon as he entered my countries, at the monastery of Bisan. I did not send him, but Queen Helena sent him who governed me as my mother, because at that time I was eleven years of age: for I remained of that age at the death of my father, when I succeeded to the crown of my kingdoms, and the Queen Helena governed for me. Matheus was a merchant, and changed his name because he was named Abraham, and he called himself Matheus: and going through the country of the infidels with his merchandise to pass as a merchant, he reached Dabul,[280] and the Moors learned that he was a Christian, and they took him and put him in a prison. He, seeing himself a prisoner, sent a message to your captain-major, complaining and saying that he was arrested without justice, and he sent to say that he was my ambassador, and that the King of Ethiopia sent him to the King of Portugal, and that he should come and deliver him from that place. When your captain-major heard this word, and heard that he was a Christian; and that the King of Ethiopia sent him, and that he was confined in prison, and robbed of what he had, for all this he had sent to tell him; your captain hearing these words, and his heart being very strong in the love of the faith, he had great anger, and sent ships and people in great strength to kill those who kept him a prisoner, and they asked of all how the case was, and for what reason, and they told him. And he said to Matheus: ‘Tell me the embassage of the King of Ethiopia which you carry to the King of Portugal’, and when he said these words, they let him go. And he reached you, king, and said: ‘I bring here a cross of Jesus Christ’, and he gave you the cross. Also he said many other words of himself, and others as to what you, king, inquired of him, and he replied. And for what he told you, you honoured him and made him great in many things; as was said by the letters which he brought. And before he arrived here, he died in the monastery of Bisam; and others who came with him, men of Portugal, came here and gave the letters of this embassy. When I saw the letter I gave thanks to God, and thanked Him for their coming and embassy. I am very joyful on account of you and your peoples, and I was very joyful when I saw the crosses on their heads and breasts, and also in their hands. When I asked about the faith, I found it proved that you were Christians, and I saw people who had never come to me, and who told me how they had found the way and country of Ethiopia, because as yet it had not been found, and I felt vexation. And when they were as though despairing of finding it, and wished to return to the seas of India, fearing the storms and fatigues, at night they miraculously saw a red cross in the sky over the lands of Ethiopia, and it was adored by all, both by the lords and by the mariners. By this they knew that their navigation was directed by God, and I was extremely amazed at this. Certainly this signal and word came by the will of God, and it was not from the devil; but it was for you to send here an embassy to me, of your embassage to me. This was first prophesied by the prophet in the life and passion of St. Victor in the book of the Holy Fathers, that a Frank King should meet with a King of Ethiopia, and that they should give each other peace, and I did not know if this would be in my days and time or in another. God knew it for certain, praised be His name, who brought me your embassy, in order that I might send to you as to my father and friend, and we are united in one faith. Before this I had not seen any embassy from a Christian king, and now you are near to me, before all were Pagans and Moors, dirty sons of Mahomed, and others are slaves who do not know God; and others pay reverence to sticks and to fire, and others to the sun, and others to serpents: and there are great differences. I was never at peace nor did I rest, because they would not believe the truth, and I always preached the faith, and now in my time I am at rest: God gives me rest from these our enemies; and in all my borders when I go to meet the Moors, they cannot set their faces straight, nor turn their face to us. When I send the camps to war, my captains obtain the victory over the enemies, and so I have victory; and God does not weary me with His favour, as the Psalter says. God rejoices at your power, the King and many rejoice at your safety, and that which the will desires, that He grants if just petition is made to Him, each one saying this for himself. We owe not only praise but thanks to God. To you, father, God has given the world, and has given you the country of the Gentiles for ever; and the countries of other people, which are your countries, as far as the beginning of Ethiopia: and God has placed in my hands many worlds, and for the sake of this I give many thanks to God. And I speak of your great power, hoping that your sons who are to come will be in the knowledge of the truth; and I and you will be very joyful on account of His goodness, because He has given us everything. And now do you not cease to make your prayer until God gives into your hands the holy house of Jerusalem, which is in the hands of rebels against Christ, and they are Moors, and pagans, and heretics. When this shall be attained, who will be greater than you, for there will be no other name, but only yours alone: and in this I have thought and kept it, as a good messenger, and the guards that are given him are the messengers of Jesus Christ. When you do this you will have your fill of the praise of men. I heard how you sent your ambassadors with Abraham who changed his name for Matheus, and who brought me your words. These ambassadors who came with Abraham, three died and did not come to me, and the great captain head of the captains came as far as Masua, and saw the Barnagais (who is a king subject to me), and he sent ambassadors, and I rejoiced greatly at hearing your good news; and of all the treasures in the world, your name is better than all rich and precious stones. I heard you with great satisfaction. Let us leave this and go and seek something else to take up. I would give two hundred millions[281] of gold and we will meet with friendship, and if you will choose to do this according to my desire, why is it not in me to send an ambassador of peace with a similar embassage; and you first sent one to me to seek me with truth, to fulfil the words of Jesus Christ as he said it. And by this you will see how I am disposed for this, as did the Apostles of Jesus Christ, who all were of one heart and one will; so you have made me very joyful. The one only God keep and sustain you my father, King Manuel, the one only God of the heavens, whose substance is ever, without being younger or older. The embassy which your great captain sent by your order, they were good those who brought it. When they came to me, I received them with honour, and Don Rodrigo de Lima came as the head of it, and I did good to him as he was the head. And Padre Francisco Alvarez, who came with your embassy, and came to my person, and I showed him much favour and affection, because I found him a just man and very truthful in speech, and in all matters which concern the faith: do you increase him, and make him master and converter of Masua, and Dalaqua and Zeila, and all the islands of the Red Sea, because they are on the borders of our countries; and we granted to him and gave into his hand a cross and crozier in sign of his lordship, and do you order to be given to him so that he may be bishop of the said countries and islands, and this because he is deserving and sufficient and capable for this. And you, may God do you much good, that you may be very strong and not grow weak before your enemies, and cause them to fall down at your feet. May God prolong your life, and give you a part in the kingdom of heaven, and a good abode, such as I wish for for myself. And I have heard good things with my ears, and did not see them with my eyes, and now my eyes have seen that which they never thought to see. May God do you good, as for the best of those He loves: may your part be on the tree of life, and your dwellings like the dwellings of the saints. Amen. Also I send you my embassage through Licacanate, who will tell you what I want: and I send Padre Francisco Alvarez to the Pope with my obedience, which is a direct matter for me. Also do you command, as a father commands his little son, and I will do it when you send me ambassadors. Do you always write to me that we may assist one another. On the arrival of those that you sent to Masua, and also of those who may come in future, both to Masua and Dalaqua and the other ports, I will do what you have commanded, because thus I desire that we should both assist one another: and as your people will be there, I shall be there, because there are my lands: there are no Christians and churches there, and all are Moors and Pagans. I am pleased that your people should settle there at the extremities of my countries; for the sake of this do you accomplish what you have at first begun. Send me masters who can make figures of gold and silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead, and send me lead for the churches: and masters of form to make books of our characters; and masters of gilding with gold leaf, and of making gold leaf; and this soon, and let them come to remain with me here and in my favour. And when they may wish to return at their desire, I will not detain them, and this I swear by Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. And do you send me this without holding yourself as under obligation. I send this to you knowing your virtue and goodness, because I know how well you love me, and also you did good to Abraham. For the sake of this I take courage to make requests to you, and do not hold this to be shameful, for I will repay it. Because when a son asks of his father, he cannot say him nay, and you are my father, and I your son: and we are close together as the stones in a wall, and also we are both joined in heart in the love of Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the world. He, Jesus Christ, and also all those who are with Him are joined together like stones well bound together in a wall.”
Cap. viii.—Translation of the letter of Prester John to the King Don Joam our Sovereign.
“In the name of God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and also of all things made by Him, visible and invisible. In the name of God the Son, will and counsel and prophet of the Father. In the name of God the Holy Ghost, Paraclete, living God equal to the Father and to the Son, who spoke by the mouth of the prophet, inspiring the apostles so that they should give praise to the Trinity in heaven, in earth, in the sea, and in the depth for ever. Amen.
“I, Incense of the Virgin, King of Ethiopia, send you this letter and embassy, the son of Nahum, son of the King of the hand of Maria, son of the King of the seed of Jacob, these are those who were born of the house of David and Solomon, who were Kings in Jerusalem. May this reach the King Don Joam, King of Portugal, son of the King Don Manuel. Peace be with you, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you for ever. When they gave us news of the power of the King your father, how he broke the power of the Moors, sons of Mahomed, I gave thanks and praise to the Lord God for the raising up and greatness and crown of salvation in the house of Christendom. I also greatly rejoiced when the speech of your embassy reached me, which came to make affection and friendship and acquaintance between the King and me; in order to tear out and cast forth the bad Moors, Jews, and Pagans from his and my kingdoms. And being in this pleasure, I heard news that the King your father had died before we had despatched his ambassadors from my kingdoms, on which account my pleasure was turned into grief, and regrets were increased in my heart when I remembered the passing away of his life; and all the great men of my court grew sad, and wept along with me; also all the clergy carried their weeping and lamentation to the monasteries; and as much pleasure as they had felt at the first news, so much grief had they with the second. Sir brother, from the beginning of my kingdoms until now no ambassador had come from the Christian kings and kingdoms of Portugal; only we heard of the dangers of those who go of their own desire to those parts in pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Rome, and they are scattered about those kingdoms and countries and provinces, and I never had any certain information, only in the lifetime of the King your father, who sent his captains and gentlemen with many people and priests and deacons, who brought all things necessary for saying mass, and on that account I was very joyful, and ordered them to be received, and received them with great honour. Then I despatched them, pleased and contented, with much honour and peace. And after that they reached the seaport which is at the extremity of my kingdoms in the Red Sea, they did not find there the great captain whom your father had sent there, nor did he wait, as he had sent to tell me. And as it is your custom to make a captain-major every three years, he could not wait or come, as another captain-major came in that time, and for this reason the ambassadors of the King your father, who had come to me, were detained. I have sent them to you, those that I sent to your and my father, to give you my embassage; and that which I send to the Pope, Sir king and brother, fulfil the friendship and affection which the King your father opened between us, and always send me your embassies, which I much desire as from a brother, and such is reason, since we are Christians, for the Moors, who are vile and bad, concert together in their sect; and now I do not wish for ambassadors from the kings of Egypt, nor from other kings who used to send them, but only from your highness, which I much desire, because the Moorish kings do not hold me as a friend on account of the faith, but only on account of their trade and merchandise, from which much profit accrues to them, and they take away from my kingdoms much gold, of which they are great friends, and of me little; and their pleasures do not rejoice me, only I trade with them because it was the custom of my predecessors. And if I omit to make war upon them, and to destroy them, it is in order not to destroy the holy house of Jerusalem, in which is the tomb of Jesus Christ, which God has left in the possession of the vile Moors; and so they destroyed all the churches which are in the land of Egypt and Syria; and for this reason I omit destroying them. For which I feel my heart sufficiently angry and sad; and from not having near me any Christian king to assist me and rejoice my heart. And I, Sir brother, am not pleased with the kings of Frankland, who, being Christian, are not of one heart, and are always fighting with one another. If I had a Christian king for a neighbour, I would never separate from him for an hour. As to this, I do not know what to say nor what to do, since these are things which God ordains. Sir king and brother, always send me your embassy and write to me, because, seeing your letters it seems to me that I see your face, for much more love exists between those who are distant than between those that are near, on account of the desires they feel, as in my case, who do not see your treasures and love you well always in my heart. As our Lord Jesus Christ says in the gospel: ‘Where the treasure is, there is thy heart.’ Thus my heart is for you, and you are my treasure; and do you make me your treasure, and join your heart to mine. Sir brother, keep this word, for you know a great deal, and also I dare to say that you know more than your father, and for this which I thus know, I give thanks to God, and leave sadness and take pleasure and say, ‘Blessed be the learned son of great understanding of the King Don Manuel, who has sat on the seat of his kingdoms.’ Look, Sir, and do not weary against the Moors and Pagans, for, with the help of the Lord God, you will destroy them; do not say that you have less forces than your father, because they are many, and God will assist you. I have got men, gold and provisions like the sands of the sea and the stars of heaven. Both of us together we will destroy all the Moorish State. Neither do I want anything from you except people to set in order and arm our people, and you are an entire man. The King Solomon reigned at twelve years, and had great strength and had more knowledge than his father. I also, when my father Nahum died, was left very little, and succeeded to his seat, and God gave me greater forces than to my father, and I have got all the people of my kingdoms and districts under my hand, and I am at rest. For this let us together give thanks to God for such great favour. Sir brother, hear another word now, I want you to send me men, artificers to make images, and printed books, and to make swords and arms of all sorts for fighting; and also masons and carpenters, and men who make medicines, and physicians, and surgeons to cure illnesses; also artificers to beat gold and place it, and goldsmiths and silversmiths, and men who know how to extract gold and silver and also copper from the veins, and men who can make sheet lead and earthenware; and masters of any trades which are necessary in these kingdoms, also gunsmiths. Assist me in this which I beg of you, as a brother does to a brother, and God will assist you, and save you from evil things. Our Lord receive your prayers and petitions, as He received the holy sacrifices in their time. First, the sacrifice of Abel, and of Noah when he was in the ark, and of Abraham when he was in the land of Midian, and of Isaac when he went away from the Cave of the Oath, and of Jacob in the house of Bethlehem, and of Moses in Egypt, and of Aaron on the mountain, and of Jasom, son of Hu, and of Galgala, and of Gideon on the shore, and of Manoe and his wife, and of Samson when he was thirsty in the dry land, and of Jepthah in the battle, and of Baron and Debora when she went against Sisera the captain on Mount Thabor, and of Samuel and Rama the prophet, and of David on the threshing floor, and of Arbana, and of Solomon in the city of Gabon, and of Elias on Mount Carmel, when he raised up the dead son of the widow, and of Rica at the well, and of Josaphat in the battle, and of Manasse after he sinned and returned to God, and of Josias bepaca after he turned, and of Daniel in the lions’ den, and of Jonas in the belly of the fish, and of the three companions, Sidrach, Misaac, and Abdenago in the fiery furnace, and of Anna, within the tent of the altar, and of Nehemiah who made the walls with Zorobabel, and of Matatias with his sons upon a quarter of the world, and of Esau upon the blessing. So, Sir, God will receive your sacrifices and prayers, and will assist you to go forward against evil adversaries in all times and all days. Peace be with you, and I embrace you with the embrace of holiness, and so I embrace those of your holy council of the kingdom of Portugal, and the archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, men and women. The grace of God, and the blessing of Our Lady, Mother of God, be with you and with all. Amen.”
Cap. ix.—Of certain questions which the Archbishop of Braga put to Francisco Alvarez, and the answers which he gave.
While we were at the Court in the city of Coimbra, no long time elapsed before the King, our sovereign, departed with his Court to Almeirim, where on some occasions I reminded his Highness about sending me to carry out the journey which I had promised and sworn to Prester John to make, namely, to carry his letters and a cross of gold and his obedience to the Holy Father in Rome. His Highness told me that he was fully mindful of this, but that the roads did not give an opportunity for this, on account of the wars with France. From Almeirim His Highness departed with his Court for the city of Lisbon, where, in the manner above mentioned, I reminded His Highness of my despatch to Rome. He gave me the same answer as before. Upon this, Bras Neto was named ambassador; it was not said to what place. He, Bras Neto, begged me to ask the King to send me with him. I begged of the King the favour to send me with Bras Neto, since he was going to Rome. His Highness told me that Bras Neto was going to the emperor and not to Rome, and that he well remembered about sending me, but that I could not go except when Don Martinho went, and that he would soon despatch him. At this time a benefice becoming vacant in the archbishopric of Braga, His Highness did me the favour to bestow it on me, and, with his presentation, sent me to the archbishop, for him to confirm me in it. Whilst I was with his lordship, he never ceased asking me about the affairs of Prester John. I answered him truly, as I knew them very well, and his lordship ordered everything to be written down, and the questions and answers are the following:
Questions which Senhor Don Diogo de Sousa, archbishop of Braga, put to Francisco Alvarez, chaplain of the king our sovereign, respecting some particulars of the country of Prester John, beyond those which the said Francisco Alvarez has written in his book; the said Francisco Alvarez having gone to the said Prester in the company of Don Rodrigo de Lima, who went as ambassador to the said Prester, on account of the death of Duarte Galvam, who was sent there by the King Don Manuel, may he be in holy glory; which persons reached the port of Masua, an island in the Red Sea, close to the town of Arquico, country of the Prester, on the 27th day of April 1520, and they passed six[282] years in the said country and lordships of the Prester, and they returned to embark at the said port of Masua, close to Arquico, in the year 1526 on the 28th day of April; and the said Francisco Alvarez came to this city of Braga to be confirmed in the benefice which the King our sovereign gave him. He remained in it some days, and the said Francisco Alvarez reached this city of Braga on the 30th July, of the year 1529.
He said that usually the people do not eat only once a day, and this at night, and that the monks and clergy fast strictly during Lent, so that many only eat three times in the week, namely, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, that they do not drink wine of grapes nor of honey, and that they drink other beverages which are made of other vegetables.
In Lent they eat neither meat not milk, nor eggs nor butter, even though they are near dying, they eat vegetables and some few fruits which are in the country. All the men and women, great and small, fast all the Wednesdays and Fridays in the year; this is not to be understood from Christmas to the Purification of Our Lady, nor from Easter to Trinity, when there is no fast. Friars, priests, gentlemen and noblemen, fast all the week excepting Saturday and Sunday.
He said that no men died at the hands of justice, that they flogged many, and put out the eyes of some, and of others they cut off a foot or a hand, according to the quality of the crime; but that he had seen a man burned because he was found to have committed two robberies in a church.
That the Pope or Patriarch of the country of Prester John is called Abima, which means father, and that there is nobody else in all the kingdoms and lordships of the Prester who confers orders except him.
The Prester John is called Acegue,[283] which means emperor, and he is called Neguz, which means king.
There is no manner of physic, only they apply fire; in some sickness they use cupping without fire, and for headaches, they bleed on the head with a knife placed on the vein, and they strike it with a stick so that it should draw blood, and also they take some herbs as a beverage to cure themselves.
In all the country there is no town which exceeds one thousand six hundred inhabitants, and of these there are few, and there are no walled towns or castles, but villages without number. The houses generally, or most of them, are round, and all of one story, covered with terraces or thatch, and courtyards round them. People generally sleep on ox-hides, others on beds made of straps of the same hides; no kind of table. They eat in flat trenchers, like trays of great width, without napkins or tablecloths. They have basins of very black earthenware like jet, and pipkins of the same clay for drinking water and wine. Many eat raw meat, and others eat it roasted on the ashes, others roasted over woodfire, and others over cowdung where there is no wood. There is much wax there, and tapers and candles; they do not make candles of tallow. There is no oil there except a kind which they call hena, and which is made from some herbs like Mayweed;[284] it has no taste, and is beautiful as gold. There is no fish there except very little from the rivers; from the sea none.
There are no monasteries except of St. Anthony, and not of any other order, as some friars say who come from there.
The gentlemen, monks, canons, and priests are clothed; most of the other people are bare from the waist upwards, and a sheepskin on the shoulders, with the front and hind feet tied together.
Most of the monasteries are situated on high mountains, or in great ravines; they have large revenues and jurisdiction. In many monasteries they do not eat meat all the year, and fish very few times, as they have not got it in the country. The services of these monasteries are psalms and prose, and so it is done in the churches of the canons.
Every church has two curtains, one on this side of the altar with little bells, and no one but priests enter inside this curtain; and another curtain in the middle of the church. And no one but persons in orders enter the church, and many gentlemen and honourable persons are ordained in order to enter the church. They go to the door of all the churches and monasteries to read the epistles and gospels, and they say them rapidly, and there they give the communion to the people.
The priests consecrate at the altar, and do not show the sacrament. When the priest who says mass comes to take the communion, he takes a particle from the top, and the other two large parts he leaves for the communion of the people. All the people who come to the church have to receive the communion every day, or else not come to church. When the communion is ended, they give them a little blessed water with which they wash their mouths.
Nobody sits down in the church, nor do they enter it shod; they do not hem or spit, nor do they let any dog or other animal come into the church. They confess standing, and so receive absolution. They pray in the churches of the canons as in those of the friars. Friars do not marry, canons and priests do so. When the canons live together in the circuit they eat in their houses, and the friars eat in community. The chiefs of these churches are called Licacanate. The wives of the canons have houses outside of the circuit, where they go to live with them: the son of a canon remains a canon, and the son of a priest not, except he chooses later to become one. No tithes are paid to any church, they live on the large properties which the churches and monasteries possess. Complaints against the clergy are dealt with before the secular justice.
The vestment is made like a shirt, and the stole with a hole in the middle, and put over the head; they have no maniple, nor amice, nor girdle; priests and friars all have their heads shaved, and the beards not. The friars say mass with their hats on their heads, and the priests with their heads bare.
In no church is more than one mass said, and no mass is said for alms, not even for the dead. When any person dies, the priests come with cross and holy water and incense, and recite certain prayers for him, and carry him off to burial very hurriedly: next day they bring offerings: the churchyards are all closed, so that nothing can enter them.
Prester John has no determined place of abode, he always goes about the country in tents, and he will always have in his camp five or six tents among good and common ones: and there will always be at Court of people for the horses and mules from fifty thousand upwards.
The kitchen of Prester John is a good crossbow shot behind his quarters, and they bring his food in this manner: all that he has to eat comes in porringers and dishes of very black earthenware on wooden trays, and pages bring them, and above the pages come a pallium of silk, which covers them so that these viands come with reverence.
There are many royal farms belonging to the Prester, in which a great quantity of bread is gathered, which is given to honourable persons, and the poor, and to poor monasteries and churches, without Prester John making any profit of the produce and revenue of these farms, but only alms.
In all the country there is much bread, wheat and barley; in other lands there is more millet than wheat or barley, in these, and where wheat and barley, there is much taff and dagusha (seeds not known to us), pulse, beans, pease, and all vegetables; and in other lands all sorts of grain and vegetables in great quantity and abundance. There are many water springs, but no fountains made of stone. In the town of Aquaxumo, where the Queens Saba and Candacia were, there are many wells and tanks made with good masonry.
In the town of Aquaxumo there are images very well made, and figures of lions and dogs, and oxen, and other antiquities made of stone. In this town Queen Candacia became a Christian by the advice of her eunuch, whom St. Philip baptized by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
In all this country there is no bridge of stone or of wood; in no part of the kingdoms or lordships of Prester John are there Jews. There are infinite quantities of sugar canes, and they do not know how to make it; grapes and peaches are ripe in the month of February and end in April: there are many oranges, lemons and citrons, and few pot herbs, because they do not plant them.
Animals, namely lions, ounces, tigers, wolves, deer, antas,[285] wild cows, foxes, lynxes,[286] wild boars, porcupines, civet cats, roedeer, gazelles, elephants, and other animals not known to us, of which the country is full, except two which I never saw there, namely bears and rabbits.
Birds, partridges of three kinds, like ours, other fowls which we call of Guinea, there they are called zegra, quails, pigeons, turtles, hawks, falcons, kites, eagles, thrushes, sparrows, swallows, nightingales, larks, wild ducks, of different kinds,[287] and other waterfowl, herons, cranes, hemas, and all other birds that may be in the world, and not known to us; and there are all in this country except magpies and cuckoos, which I never saw, nor heard of their being there.
There are so many apes, that in the kingdom of the Barnagais, in a town which is named Ceroel, at the time the harvest is ripe, they pursue them till they make them pass a mountain; and they keep guard over them in a pass by day, because at night they do not move about, and they give a certain provision to two men who keep guard over them until the corn is gathered in, when they let them loose, or leave off keeping watch over them.
There is much basil in the thickets, and there are none of our trees except cypresses, plumtrees, and willows by the rivers; there are no melons, cucumbers, nor horseradish.
In the country there is no gold or silver money, and purchases are made by exchange of one thing for another, principally salt, which is current throughout the country as money.
There is linen there, but it gives no fibre, and no stuff is made with it; there is much cotton, and stuff made of it; there is much coloured cloth, and there is a very cold country where they wear serge.
The churches there are well built, but the walls are not well wrought, and they do not place anything upon them; they pitch [the roof] upon props, which reach from the ground upwards.
In the country there is gold, silver, copper and tin, but they do not know how to get it out of the mines.
There are many lepers in this country, and they do not live separated from the people, they live all together; there are many people who, out of their devotion, wash them, and tend their sores with their hands.
There is a great quantity of honey in all the country, and the bees are not in hives, but inside the houses, where the cultivators live, clinging to the walls on the inside, where they have a mode of egress outside, and also inside they surround the house: but they do not on this account desist from dwelling in the house, because the bees go outside. There are a great number of these swarms of bees, chiefly in the monasteries, there are also many in the woods and mountains, and the men put hives near the trees and fill them with bees, and bring them in them to the houses.
Since no one sits in the churches, at their doors outside of them, and within the circuit, there are always a great quantity of staves with cross pieces like a ...[288] or cripple’s crutch, and each one takes his staff and leans upon it as long as he is at the offices of the church. In the churches there are many effigies painted on the walls. Effigies of our Lord and our Lady, and of the apostles and patriarchs, and prophets and angels, and in all the churches St. George. They have not got solid images. There are many books in the churches all written on parchment, because there is no paper there, and the writing and language is Tigray,[289] which is that of the first country in which Christianity began.
In this country they are not accustomed to write to one another, neither do the officers of justice write anything. All the justice that is done, and what is ordered, is by messengers and speech. I say only that I saw the property of Prester John written down on being delivered up and received.
There would be much fruit and much more tillage in the country, if the great men did not ill treat the people, for they take what they have, and they do not choose to provide more than what they require and is necessary for them.
In no part that he went about in were there butchers’ shops, except at the Court, and no person of the common people may kill a cow (even though it is his own) without leave from the lord of the country.
The people speak the truth little, even when they make oath, unless they swear by the head of the King. They much fear excommunication, and if they are ordered to do something, and that it be to their prejudice, they do it from fear of excommunication.
The oath is administered in this manner. They go to the door of the church with two priests, and they have there incense and embers, and he who has to swear puts his hands upon the church door, and one the priests tells him of the oath to speak the truth, and that if he speaks falsely, that as the lion swallows his prey in the woods, so may his soul be swallowed by the devil; and as the wheat is broken between the stones, so may his bones be ground by the devils; and he who swears, at each thing answers Amen; and as the fire burns wood, so may your soul be burned in the fire of hell and made dust. He says Amen. And this if you do not speak truth; he says Amen. And if you speak truth, may your life be prolonged with honour, and your soul in paradise with the blest. He says Amen. And this ended, he gives his testimony.
He says that the movable feasts, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, are celebrated on the same days and seasons that we celebrate them. The birth of Christ, Circumcision, Epiphany, and other feasts of saints also agree with us, and others not. The year and months begin on the 29th day of August, on which was the beheading of St. John, and the year is of twelve months, and the month of thirty days. When the year is ended, there are five days over, which they call pagomen, which means fulfilment of the year, and in the bissextile year there are six days over; so they keep with us.
He says that during all Passion week they are dressed in black or blue, and do not speak to one another for grief, saying that Judas by a kiss of peace betrayed his Lord.
Although there are in the churches effigies painted on all the walls, and also crosses, nevertheless on no cross is a crucifix painted, neither have they any of solid carving; because they say they are not deserving to see Christ crucified. All the priests, friars, and gentlemen carry crosses in their hands, both on foot and on horseback; and the laymen of the people and lower people carry crosses round their necks. Every priest and friar carries a little horn of copper with holy water, and the hosts where they arrive beg of them water and a blessing, and they give it. Before they eat they throw drops of water on the food, and also in the drinking vases.
Their arms are assagays, few swords, a few shirts of mail, long and narrow; our Portuguese say that they are not of good mail.
There are many bows and arrows, they have no feathers like ours; there are very few helmets and casques. Those that there are have come since they have had intercourse with the Portuguese. There are plenty of strong bucklers; there are no cannon, except two swivel guns which we brought them. At our departure there were fourteen muskets at Court, which they bought from the Turks who come there to trade. The Prester ordered whatever they asked to be given for them, and ordered men to be taught to shoot.
There are trumpets, but not good ones; there are many drums of copper which come from Cairo, and others of wood which have leather on both sides; there are tambourines like ours, and large cymbals which they sound. There are flutes and some instruments with chords, square like harps, which they call David moçanquo, which means the harp of David. They play these to the Prester, and not well.
In this country there are in some parts very flat lands, and in others mountainous; and altogether they are fruitful lands. There are no snowy ranges, but withal severe frosts, especially in the flat lands. In all the lands there is great breeding of cattle.
He says that he did not see the river Nile, and he reached to two days’ journey from it, and the days’ journey which they went were small ones, namely, four or five leagues, a little more or less. But some of those in his company reached its source, and they say that it rises in the Kingdom of Gojame, and its source is in great lakes, and where it rises there are islands, and thence it commences its course and goes to Egypt.
The time when the Nile rises in Egypt is (as they say) from the 15th day of September and later, and in all October; and the reason of this is, because the winter of Ethiopia begins from the middle of June to the middle of September, and on account of the great rains which take place in it without this winter ever changing, the Nile overflows in Egypt at that time.
It is the general custom of Prester John and all the people for no man on horseback to pass a church, but before they reach it they dismount, and so pass it, and lead their beasts by the bridles, and after passing they mount.
When Prester John and all his people travel, the altar and the altar stone on which mass is said, all goes on the shoulders of the priests as on a litter, and there go eight priests with each altar by turns, that is, four and four: and a priest goes in front of them with a thurible, and further in front a zagonay ringing a bell, and all the people go away from the road, and those that are on horses dismount, and show reverence to the altar stone or altar.
There is no grape wine there, more than in two houses, where it is made publicly, namely, in the house of Prester John and the house of the Patriarch Abima Marcos; and if any other is made, it is secretly. The wine with which mass is said in all the churches and monasteries is made in this manner. They take raisins which they have stored in the sacristies and they put them to soak in water for ten days, and they swell, and they let them dry, and they crush them and press them in a cloth, and with that wine which comes out they say mass.[290]
The horses, natives of the country of Prester John, are many and not good, for they are like Gallician beasts; those which come from Arabia are very good, like Moorish horses; those from Egypt are much better, very tall and big and handsome. Many lords breed horses from the mares they get from Egypt in their stables. In this manner, namely, when they are born, they do not suck the mother more than three days, and they at once put the mares to the horses[291]; and they tie up the little colts somewhat apart from the mothers, and they keep for them many milch cows, and give them their milk to drink.
DEO GRATIAS.
MAP OF PART
OF
ABYSSINIA
to illustrate the journey of FATHER FRANCISCO ALVAREZ A.D. 1520