[BZ] The word Spain is here used to designate the whole Peninsula, as was usual at that time.
CHAPTER LXXVI.
How the Author beginneth to speak of the manner of that land.
It is well that we should here leave these matters at rest for a space and treat of the limits of those lands through the which our people journeyed in the labours of which we have spoken, in order that you may have an understanding of the delusion in which our forefathers ever lived who were affrighted to pass that Cape for fear of those things of which we have told in the beginning of this book; and also that you may see how great praise our Prince deserveth, by bringing their doubts before the presence not only of us who are now living, but also of all others who will be born in the time to come. And because one of the things which they alleged to be a hindrance to the passage into these lands consisted of the very strong currents that were there, on account of which it was impossible for any ship to navigate those seas, you now have a clear knowledge of their former error in that you have seen vessels come and go as free from danger as in any part of the other seas. They further alleged that the lands were all sandy and without any inhabitants, and true it is that in the matter of the sands they were not altogether deceived, but these were not so great as they thought; while as to the inhabitants, you have clearly seen the contrary to be the fact, since you witness the dwellers in those parts each day before your eyes, although their inhabited places are chiefly villages and very few towns. For from the Cape of Bojador to the kingdom of Tunis there will not be in the whole, what with towns and places fortified for defence, as many as fifty. They were no less at fault as regards the depth of the sea, for they had it marked on their charts that the shores were so shallow that at the distance of a league from the land there was only a fathom of water; but this was found not to be so, for the ships have had and have sufficient depth for their management, except for certain shoals; and thus dwellings[[173]] were made that exist on certain sandbanks, as you will find now in the navigating charts[[174]] which the Infant caused to be prepared.
In the land of the Negroes there is no walled place save that which they call Oadem,[[175]] nor are there any settlements except some by the water's edge, of straw houses, the which were emptied of their dwellers by those that went there in the ships of this land. True it is that the whole land is generally peopled, but their mode of living is only in tents and carts,[[176]] such as we use here when our princes do happen to go upon a warlike march; and those who were captured there gave testimony of this, and also John Fernandez, of whom we have already spoken, related much concerning the same. All their principal study and toil is in guarding their flocks, to wit, cows and sheep and goats and camels, and they change their camp almost every day, for the longest they can rest in one spot will be eight days. And some of their chief men possess tame mares, of which they breed horses, though very few.
Their food consisteth for the great part of milk, and sometimes a little meat and the seeds of wild herbs that they gather in those mountains, and some who have been there have said that these herbs (but of them there are few)[[177]] seem to be the millet of that land. Also they eat wheat when they can obtain it, in the same way that we in this land eat confetti.[[178]] And for many months of the year they and their horses and dogs maintain themselves by no other thing except the drinking of milk. And those that live by the sea shore eat nothing save fish, and all for the most part without either bread or anything else, except the water that they drink, and they generally eat their fish raw and dried. Their clothing consisteth of a skin vest and breeches of the same, but some of the more honourable wear bournouses; and some pre-eminent men, who are almost above all the others, have good garments, like the other Moors, and good horses and good saddles, and good stirrups, but these are very few.
The women wear bournouses which are like mantles, with the which they only cover their faces, and by that they think they have covered all their shame, for they leave their bodies quite naked. "For sure," saith he who compiled this history, "this is one of the things by the which one may discern their great bestiality,[[179]] for if they had some particle of reason they would follow nature, and cover those parts only which by its shewing ought to be covered, for we see how naturally in each one of these shameful parts it placeth a circle of hair in proof that it wished to hide them; and also some naturalists hold that if those hairs be let alone, they will grow so much as to hide all the parts of your shame." And the wives of the most honourable men wear rings of gold in their nostrils and ears, as well as other jewels.
CHAPTER LXXVII.
Of the things that happened to John Fernandez.
That we may assist in the knowledge of these matters, let us relate in this place the hap of John Fernandez[[180]] in this land during those seven months in which he stayed there in the service of the Lord Infant, as you have already heard. Now he, remaining there in the power of the relations of that Moor whom Antam Gonçalvez brought to this land, was conducted by them with his garments and biscuit and some corn that was left to him, and also his wearing apparel; and these things were all taken from him against his will, and he was only given a bournous like each of the other Moors wore. And the men with whom he thus remained were shepherds, and they departed to their country with their sheep, and he went with them.[[181]] And he reported that this country is all sandy, without any grass, except in the riverine lands or low-lying parts, where there is some grass from which the herds obtain their poor nutriment; but there are hills and mountains all of sand.[[182]] And this land runneth from Tagazza[[CA]][[183]] as far as the land of the Negroes, and it joineth with the Mediterranean Sea at the extremity of the kingdom of Tunis and Momdebarque. And from there all the land is like this I have described, even from the Mediterranean Sea as far as the Negroes and Alexandria, all peopled by shepherd folk in greater or smaller numbers, according as they find pasturage for their flocks; and there are no trees in it save small ones, such as the fig-tree of Hell[[CB]] or the thorn, and in some places there are palms.[[184]] And all the water[[185]] is from wells, for there are no running streams, save in a very few spots, and the breadth of this land will be three thousand leagues and its length a thousand, and there is no noble place in it save Alexandria and Cairo.
Now the characters in which they write[[186]] and the language which they speak are not like those of the other Moors, but are clean different; yet they are all of the sect of Mohammed, and are called Arabs[[CC]] and Azanegues and Berbers.[[187]] And they all go in the manner I have already said, to wit, in tents with their herds, wherever it pleaseth them, without any rule or governance or law, for each goeth as he willeth and doeth what pleaseth him in so far as he hath power. They make war with the Negroes more by thieving than by force, for they have not so great strength as these last.[[188]] And to their land come some Moors and they sell them of those Negroes whom they have kidnapped, or else they take them to Momdebarque, which is beyond the kingdom of Tunis, to sell[[189]] to the Christian merchants who go there, and they give them these slaves in exchange for bread and some other things, just as they do now at the Rio do Ouro, as will be related further on. And 'tis well for you to know that in all the land of Africa which stretcheth from Egypt to the West, the Moors have no other kingdom than the kingdom of Fez, in the which lieth that of Marocco and of Tafilet; and the kingdom of Tunis, in which is that of Tlemcen[[CD]] and of Bugia; and all the rest of the country is possessed by these Arabs and Azanegues, who are shepherds on horseback and foot, and who travel over the plains as I have already related. And it is said that in the land of the Negroes there is another kingdom called Melli, but this is not certain;[[190]] for they bring the Negroes from that kingdom, and sell them like the others, whereas 'tis manifest that if they were Moors they would not sell them so.
And returning to the hap of John Fernandez, who went off thus with those shepherds; He reported that, as he journeyed with them over those sands he oftentimes had not sufficient milk. And it fell out one day that two horsemen passed by there who were journeying in the direction of that Ahude Meymam, of whom we have already spoken before, and they asked this John Fernandez if he wished to go to the place where that Moor lived? "Well it pleaseth me," answered John Fernandez, "for I have heard that he is a noble man, and I would fain go to see and know him." So then the others placed him on a camel and they began to journey in the direction where they thought the Moor was, and they travelled so far that the water they were carrying fell very low, on which account they went three days without drinking. And he saith that they know not the place where any people dwell save by keeping their eyes on the heavens,[[191]] and where they see crows and hussos francos,[[192]] they judge there are people, for in all that country there is no fixed road save those that go by the sea coast. And that John Fernandez said that those Moors with whom he travelled guided themselves by the winds alone, as is done on the sea, and by those birds which we have already mentioned. And they journeyed so far through that land, enduring their thirst, until they reached the place where was that Ahude Meymam with his sons and with others who accompanied him, in number as many as one hundred and fifty men. And to him John Fernandez made his reverence, and the Moor received him right well, and ordered him to be supplied with the food on which he supported himself, to wit, milk, so that at the time he was picked up by the caravels he was well nourished and of a good colour. He reported that the heats of that land are very great, and so is the dust of those sands, and the men on foot many, and therefore few on horseback, for the remainder who are not such as to travel on foot go on camels, of which latter some are white and make fifty leagues[[193]] in the day. And there is a great sufficiency of these camels, not of the white in particular, but of all colours, and there are also many flocks and herds, though the pastures be so few, as we have already noted. And he further saith that they have captive Negroes, and that the men of rank possess abundant gold, which they bring from that land where the Negroes live; and that there are in that land many ostriches[[CE]] and deer, and gazelles and partridges and hares, and that the swallows which depart hence[[CF]] in the summer go and winter there on those sands, and I believe this is on account of the heat; and other small birds go there as well, but he saith that the storks pass over to the land of the Negroes, where they abide through the winter.