Cap. lxxxv.—Of the sudden start which Prester John made for another place, and of the way in which they dealt with the ambassador respecting his baggage, and of the discord there was, and of the visit the Prester sent.
On Monday, the 25th of the said month, in the morning, they told us that Prester John was going away to another place (as in fact he did go), and it was in this wise. He mounted a horse and set out with two pages, and no other people; he passed in sight of our tent, caracoling with his horse. There was a great tumult in our quarter, and cries of: the Negus is gone, the Negus is gone, and this throughout all the district: everybody started off after him as hurriedly as he could. Before his departure orders were given to give us fifty mules to carry flour and wine, and of these they did not give more than thirty-five for the said flour and wine, and the fifteen to carry our baggage, and also they sent us certain slaves. Of these fifteen mules and slaves, the ambassador took what he wanted, saying that all was his. We were put in charge of an honourable gentleman named Ajaze Rafael. Ajaze is a title of lordship, Rafael is his name: this person was a priest, and another great captain was told to watch over us. They said that they would send and give us two cows each day.
On Tuesday we set out on our journey after the court, we may have gone quite four leagues, and we did not reach the place where the Prester was. On Wednesday we travelled and reached the court, and we took up our quarters in a large plain close to a river, which might be half a league from the King’s tent. When we were settled there came to us an honourable friar, who is the second of those of Prester John, and he is the head and captain over the scribes of Prester John, that is of the scribes of the Church characters. This man is Nebret of the friars of Aquaxum, and he told the ambassador that his lord sent him to learn how we had come, and how we were, and he also told us that they would give us everything that he ordered to be given us. The ambassador answered that he kissed His Highness’s hands for this visit, and that we had come very well, and that they had given him all the things which His Highness had ordered. Upon this Jorge d’Abreu said that he should not say that, for that they had not given all the mules, and those that they had given were one-eyed or blind, and the slaves were old and worth nothing, and that such as they were everything was for the ambassador, that he had taken it without giving anything to any one. The ambassador replied that he should not say so, that all the mules and slaves and other things were perfect. Jorge d’Abreu answered: If they gave perfect mules and slaves and other things, you have got them, and to you they give mules and horses, and to the others they give nothing, henceforward it must not be so. All this passed before the friar who had come to pay a visit; and when he went, the ambassador said to Jorge d’Abreu: For God’s sake do not let us cause discontent, let us make ready for our journey, for there are mules in abundance, some have been given us, and others will be given. After this they got into such discussions that they took to swords and lances, and I with my crozier in the midst making peace, for these acts seemed to me evil. There were a good number of blows and thrusts, but there was only one small wound, which was given to Jorge d’Abreu; and the said Jorge d’Abreu and Lopo da Gama went out of the tent, and the rest remained within it.
Cap. lxxxvi.—How the Prester was informed of the quarrels of the Portuguese, and entreated them to be friends, and what more passed, and of the wrestling match and the baptism we did here.
The friar who came to pay a visit and who came at the beginning of these quarrels made mention of them to the Prester, and afterwards on Friday morning there came a message from Prester John to say that the mules and slaves that he had ordered to be given to carry our baggage, he had not ordered them to be given up to us, but that we should give them in charge to an azmate who had to conduct us, and that we should now give in charge to him the mules and slaves, and he would have charge of them, and of conveying our baggage, and that he well knew that neither the ambassador, nor those that came with him, were merchants to undertake to convey baggage or goods, nor to load it or carry it, and that if they gave over the mules and slaves to the person he sent, the ambassador and his people would not have any other trouble than to travel, and that the azmate would take care to have our baggage carried. Then they gave over the mules and slaves to the person sent by the Prester. When this was done, the Prester sent for the ambassador and all of us, and we went at once. The first message that came from within was to say: why do you quarrel; and that he entreated us to be friends. The ambassador answered that this was not the first time, because these two men, that is, Lopo da Gama and Jorge d’Abreu were much opposed to him and to the service of the King of Portugal, for which he came, and that he begged His Highness to order them to keep apart from his tent and company. Whilst this answer was going, there came another message to beg that we would be good friends. The ambassador sent word that he was not going to be his friend, nor should he go in his company: and many other things passed. During this they told us to sit in a green field of long grass; and we having sat down in a great heat, we arose with great cold, because the stay there was from ten o’clock until night: and in like manner Jorge d’Abreu and Lopo da Gama were called there. So messages came and went to them, as to us, and what they were I do not know, because we were very far from one another. It was already quite dark and very cold as we were without food, and the ambassador sent word to the Prester to give us leave, for it was not usual to keep such persons day and night without necessity, and without food in the cold fields. Then they gave us leave and we came to our tent, and Jorge d’Abreu and Lopo da Gama went by order of the Prester to the quarters of the great Betudete. A message was sent after us to the ambassador asking him not to take ill the stay in the field, that he had done it in order to hear both sides, and that his desire was not to annoy him, but to give him satisfaction and send him away with joy: he also sent to ask if he had here any good wrestlers; the ambassador, however, excused himself as it was night. When we were in the tent there came large presents of bread and wine and meat, and messages repeating that we should not be angry at the delay they had made.
On Sunday, the 2nd day of December, of the said year 1520, in the afternoon, our Portuguese painter, named Lazaro d’Andrade, was standing near the King’s tent, and was invited to wrestle, and he wrestled; and in the beginning of it they broke one of his legs. After this breakage, Prester John gave him a dress of rich brocade, and they brought him to our tent on men’s shoulders. On Monday, the next day, Prester John sent to ask the ambassador if he had other wrestlers to send them to wrestle with his, and as it seemed to the ambassador that there were here others who were invited for this purpose, who might go and avenge the painter, he sent there two chosen wrestlers, namely a servant of the ambassador named Estevan Palharte, and one Ayras Diz, who came with the clerk of the embassy. When they were at the wrestling, Ayras Diz entered first to wrestle with the man who broke the painter’s leg, and he broke his arm, so he at once returned to our tent with his broken arm. Estevan Palharte did not wrestle, because he found himself alone and was afraid. This wrestler who broke a leg and an arm is a page of the Prester, and is named Gabmaria, which means servant of St. Mary, and he had been a Moor; he is a strong broad shouldered man, and they say he is a man who is cunning with his hands, in working silk and gold, and making fringes,[171] tassels, and cloths. This day there came a message to the Prester from his Betudete who was in the war, saying that he was sending to him thence much gold and slaves, and the heads of some great men who had been killed there, and that he had had a great victory over the enemy. Whilst we were in this plain and district of the Prester, there were some Franks in their tents, and the wife of one of them named mestre Pedro Cordoeiro, a Genoese, happened to be delivered, and when the child was eight days old, he requested me to baptize it. As it was a child born in the country and at court, and so few days old, for they do not baptize male children except after forty days, I was not willing to baptize it without letting Prester John know of it, because the many others that I had baptized were our slaves of ten and twelve years of age. I went to the tent of the Prester and sent to tell him how they required of me baptism according to our custom, and that His Highness should give his orders what I was to do. A message came at once that I was to baptize it and give it all the sacraments as is done in Frankland and in the Roman Church, and to allow to come to the baptism and sacraments as many of the people of the country as wished to be present: and he ordered oil to be given me. I celebrated this baptism on the 10th of December, there came to it many people of the most honourable and principal people at Court. At this baptism we held a cross uplifted, because such is their custom. I officiated as slowly as I was able. The people who were present were astonished, according to their gestures and what was said by the Franks and our interpreters who understood them; and the Court people said that this office was ordained by God, and they went away as much comforted as if they had eaten good viands, and they very much praised our offices both baptism and mass, because we officiated very deliberately, and they seemed to them more perfect than their own.
Cap. lxxxvii.—Of the number of men, horse and foot, who go with the Prester when he travels.
We departed from this place, turning back by the road by which we had come. The people who continually go on the road with the Court is a thing scarcely credible: for certainly the distance between each place of encampment is three or four leagues, and the people are so many and so close together that they look like a procession of Corpus Domini in a great city, without diminution in any part of the road. The people are of this kind; the tenth part of them may be well-dressed people, and the nine parts common people, both men and women, young people, and poor, some of them clothed in skins, others in poor stuffs, and all these common people carry with them their property, which all consists of pots for making wine, and porringers for drinking. If they move short distances, these poor people carry with them their poor dwellings, made and thatched as they had them; and if they go further they carry the wood of them, which are some poles. The rich bring very good tents. I do not speak of the great lords and great gentlemen, because each of these moves a city or a good town of tents, and loads, and muleteers, a matter without number or reckoning. I do not know what to say of those on foot. We Portuguese and the Franks often talked of these mules, because in the winter that is coming, as is reported, for many lords go to pass the winter at their lands, the Court cannot move with less than fifty thousand mules, and from that upwards, the number may reach a hundred thousand. There are very few horses, and the led mules are twice or thrice as many as the others, these are not reckoned in the number of mules. Of the horses many are very handsome, and as they are not shod, they soon founder, so they do not travel upon them: neither do I reckon these, therefore I say very few horses. If the Prester travels far, the villages remain full of foundered horses, and afterwards they take them away at leisure. I do not reckon the mules with packs; the male mules serve as well for the saddle as the female; they serve in one manner only, those that are saddle mules for the saddle, and the pack mules for packs. There are also a quantity of ponies[172] for packs, but they founder like the horses. There are many asses which serve better than the ponies, and many pack oxen, and in many districts camels which carry large loads, these in the flat lands.