“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.