Chapter X: Part 10

On the following day, the 20th of November, I was summoned by the Prester, and he asked me many questions, among which was that I should tell him what were the lives led by St. Jerome, St. Dominick, and St. Francis, and what sort of men they were, and what country they were natives of; because, in the letter of the captain-major, it was mentioned that the King of Portugal had established houses of these Saints in the places which he had taken; that is to say, in Manicongo, in Benim, and in the Indies. I replied to him, but not consecutively, that St. Jerome had been Patriarch of Jerusalem and a native of Greece or Slavonia; that St. Dominic was a native of Spain, of the bishopric of Osma; and St. Francis a native of Italy; and I gave a long account of their orders, as I knew of them, and also referring to the book in which I had their lives; and I spoke much to him of the great houses of these blessed Saints which there are in Frankland; and that from them had proceeded many other saints on account of the holy lives they led. He then told me through the interpreter to show him the lives of these saints, since I said that I had them. Then they put forward another question, which they had already asked me before, namely, since we were Christians and they also, how was it that there was difference between them and us who doubted of the Churches of Antioch and Constantinople and that of Rome; and that each followed its business like Rome and Antioch, and that Antioch had anciently been the head until the Council of Pope Leon, at which were three hundred and eighteen bishops? I replied that I had already before told His Highness that there was no doubt that Antioch in Greece had been the head, and that St. Peter had been for five years bishop in it, and that later for twenty-five years he had been bishop in Rome, and this would prove to be the truth by the saying of Christ which said: “Upon thee, Peter, will I found my Church”; and that St. Peter and St. Paul had suffered in Rome, and their bodies lie there, where the true Church is. To this, there was no further reply. Then they came to another matter, namely, whether we did all that the Pope commanded. I told them we did, and that so we were obliged to do by the article of our own holy faith in which we confess that we believe in the Holy Mother the Church, which is the Catholic Faith: and the Pope is the Church, and he whom he binds shall be bound, and he whom he looses shall be loosed, and not only the living, but also the dead, from the pains of Purgatory. Upon this, they answered me: That if the Pope ordered anything which the Apostles had not written, that they would break it; and if their _abima_ were to order it, that they would burn it, that is, the order. I answered them, that we observed whatever the Pope ordered, because he is the head of the Church, and as his title is Holy Father, so he orders nothing except holy things taken from the Books of the Prophets, from which the Apostles took the same, and from the text of the gospels which the four evangelists wrote; and also from those books of the Holy Mother Church, from which the holy doctors take the things which are necessary, and which lie dispersed in them, and which for simple persons are difficult to understand, if the Holy Father, with his learned men, were not to declare and teach them, because he and his learned men are illuminated by the Holy Spirit. As also the Holy Father, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Patriarchs, and other rectors of the Church are preachers and proclaimers of their holy faith, of whom the country of the Prester was greatly wanting, for if there were any learned men in his country, they are so for themselves only, and not in order to proclaim, declare, and teach others, and they should know that everything was not declared nor written in the books, but on many heads, only by figures and parables. And so wrote St. John, in the twentieth chapter of his gospel, that Jesus Christ did many signs and miracles in the presence of his disciples which are not written in the books. Still, upon this they told me that we were not bound to observe what the Pope ordered, but only the Council of Pope Leon, which was all of the Apostles. I answered them, that I knew nothing else of the Council of Pope Leon, except what I had already told them; that is, that in it it was established and ordained that Our Lady should be called Mother of God, and also that they made the great creed: and that by the Apostles we are obliged to hold and believe all the things belonging to the Church of Rome; and they taught us to believe in the Holy Mother Church, which is the Catholic Faith, which is not more than one Church, that is, the Roman, in which St. Peter is the head, and his successors in his chair succeed him in the power which Christ gave him when he said to him: “I give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” And, although in other times Constantinople was a head, it changed to Rome because there was the truth. Then came the answer that my reasoning seemed to him to be good. They came again with another question, asking why there were not in Ethiopia nor in their country and lordships as many saints and sainted women as in Italy, and that in Germany and in Greece there were many saints? I replied, that it appeared to me that in those parts there had ruled many Emperors and their lieutenants who were Pagans and cruel men, and that the Christians who had been converted to the faith of Jesus Christ were so constant in the faith, that they preferred to die for Christ rather than worship idols and follow a bad sect; and on that account it seemed to me that there were many martyrs in those parts, and so many confessors and virgins, because, seeing the constancy and fortitude of the martyrs, and hearing the many and great preachings which, since the ascension of Christ until now, there have always been in Frankland, they would always follow the true faith, and thus there were there many saints, men and women. Upon this came an answer, that what I had said was true, and that he rejoiced to hear it so clearly put; but that I should send him word if I knew how long it was since this country of Ethiopia belonged to Christians and had been converted to the faith of Jesus Christ. I sent to tell him that I did not know, but it seemed to me that it would not be a long time after the death of Christ, because this country was converted by the eunuch of Queen Candace, who was baptised and instructed in the faith by the Apostle St. Philip; and that the Apostle St. Matthew had also arrived in these parts, but that I did not know whether this country had again belonged to Gentiles or to other nations. The answer came, that only the country of Tigray, which is in Ethiopia, had been converted by this eunuch, and the rest had been won and converted by arms, as he did every day; and the first conversion of Queen Candace was ten years after the death of Christ, and since that time until now Ethiopia had always been ruled and governed by Christians, and therefore there had not been martyrs here, neither had it been necessary, and that many men and women in their kingdom led holy lives and went to Jerusalem and died saints; and he wished me to show him next day the lives of St. Jerome, St. Francis, and St. Dominic, and Quirici, whom they call Quercos, and the life of Pope Leon.

CAP. LXXXIV.--_How the lives of the said Saints were taken to
him, and how he had them translated into his language, and of
the satisfaction they felt at our mass, and how Prester John
sent for us and clothed us._

On the following day, Thursday, the 21st of the said month, Prester John sent for my _Flos Sanctorum_, telling me to send it with the lives of the before-named saints marked. I sent him the book with the lives of those saints marked, and they soon sent back the book, and with it came two friars who said that the Prester ordered them to write the name of each saint in their writing over each figure, and also the pictures of the Passion of Christ: and as to the pictures of the Passion, they were to put where and how each subject had happened, and as to the lives of the saints they put their names. Having taken away the book, it was again sent back with the friars, and a message that they were to put from what country each saint was, and where he suffered, and what life each had led; and this for all the saints in the _Flos Sanctorum_. We did what he commanded with respect to those saints, and found out where they lived, and were born, and where they died, and other particulars. On the following Friday, the said friars came with the book to extract the lives of the before-mentioned saints. We spent several days in drawing them up, as they were long, and it was a very laborious task to translate our language into theirs. Besides these lives, we compared some lives of other saints which they possessed with those of our _Flos Sanctorum_; they were those of St. Sebastian, St. Antony, and St. Baralam;[168] of this St. Baralam they had the life, but not his feast day, and they inquired of me very earnestly for his day; I found myself in sore straits, because I did not find it in any calendar, and I came upon it later in the calendar of an almanack, and when I told them the day, they at once ordered it to be put down in their books, and the day to be observed. I did not venture to go there without taking the calendar book with me, because they used to ask for the day of some saint, and wanted me to tell it to them at once off hand.

On Sunday, St. Catharine’s day,[169] Prester John sent some canons and priests of the principal clergy of his house to hear our Mass, which we used to sing on Saturdays, Sundays, and feast-days. They were there from the beginning to the end. The interpreter told us that these men said that at this office they had heard a Mass not of men but of angels; and at all that we said, there was present a Venetian painter, who said that his name was Nicolas Brancaliam, a resident in this country of more than forty years (and he knew the language of the country well); he was a very honourable person, and a great gentleman, although a painter. He was like the herald[170] of these canons and priests, and told them what was being done in the Mass, such as the “Kyrios”, the “Gloria”, the “Dominus vobiscum”, which meant “calamelos”, which means “the Lord be with you”; and so of the epistle and gospel and all other things. This man was herald, and they said that he was a friar before he came to this country. These canons and priests spread the fame of this office of Mass throughout the district, and said they never expected to see such another, and they complained of nothing else except that one priest only said the Mass, and that the communion was not given to all that were there. I gave the answer which I have before related in another chapter; it seemed to me that they were satisfied with the answer, and from this time forward many more came to our Mass.

On this Sunday, the Prester sent a very good horse to the ambassador, at which some of our company murmured, as though it grieved them. Also on this Sunday, and at such hours that we were already asleep, the Prester sent to call us. We went and entered with the formalities of other occasions, and we arrived before the first curtains; there they gave us rich garments, and they bade the ambassador enter beyond the curtains, and there they gave him his dress: then they bade us all enter (for we were now dressed) before the presence of the Prester where he was upon the platform, with the state of the former time. And then many things took place, among which the first was, that the Franks might go away in peace, and the ambassador and his company, and that one Frank of those who were here at first, and who was named Nicolas Muça, should remain, and that he would write by him; and that he had to write with letters of gold, and that he could not write immediately, so that the ambassador should go on slowly at his own pace, and the Frank would carry the letters to him. The ambassador replied that he would not go away without an answer, because thus he could not give a good account of himself, and that he would wait as long as His Highness ordered, but withal he entreated His Highness to dismiss him in good time, so that he might meet with the fleet of the captain-major in Masua. The Prester answered with his own words, that he was pleased, and asked the ambassador whether he would remain at Masua as captain. The ambassador said that his wish was to go and see the King of Portugal his sovereign, but that in this he would do whatever His Highness commanded, because the King of Portugal and his captain-major would hold that to be for his service; and with that he sent us to our tents.

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.

CAP. LXXXVIII.--_Of the churches at Court, and how they travel,
and how the altar stones are reverenced, and how Prester John
shows himself to the people each year._

Prester John rarely travels in a straight direction, nor does anyone know where he is going. This multitude of people travels along the road until they find a white tent pitched, and there they settle down each in their own places. Frequently Prester John does not come to this tent, but sleeps in the monasteries and large churches which are in the country. In the tent which is thus pitched they do not neglect to make solemn observances of instrumental music and chaunts, yet not so perfect as when the lord is there: moreover, the churches always travel with the Court, and there are thirteen of them. They travel by the straight road, although Prester John goes off the road. The altar stone or stones of all the churches are conveyed with much reverence, and are only carried by mass priests, and always four priests go with each stone, and four others outside of these to do them reverence; they carry these stones on a trestle[173] raised on men’s shoulders, and covered with rich cloths of brocade and silk. In front of each altar or stone, for all go together, walk two deacons, with thurible and cross, and another with a bell ringing it. And every man, or woman, who is going on the road, as soon as he hears the bell goes off the road, and makes room for the church; and if he is riding a mule he dismounts and lets the church go by. Also, whenever the Prester travels with his Court, four lions always go before him, these too travel by the straight road, and they go bound with strong chains, that is to say, with two chains, one behind and one before, and many men conduct them; to these also people give up the road, but it is from fear. We travelled on our road, with various halts, till the 20th of December, when we stopped at the great gullies which have the gates, where we passed in coming,[174] and there they gave us quarters in large fields, when Prester John’s tents were pitched. They at once began to make a very high platform in one of the tents for Prester John to show himself on Christmas-day, because he generally shows himself three times a year, that is, once at Christmas, another time at Easter, and another on Holy Cross day in September. They say that he makes these three exhibitions of himself because his grandfather, the father of his father, who was named Alexander, was kept by his courtiers hidden for three years when dead, and they were masters of his kingdoms and lordships: for up to that time no one of the people ever saw their king, and he was not seen except by a very few of his servants and courtiers; and at the request of the people the father of this David showed himself these three days, and so does this one. They say that if he goes to war, he goes uncovered in the sight of all, and even when travelling, as will be related further on, where we saw him.

CAP. LXXXIX.--_How Prester John sent to call me to say mass for
him on Christmas-day, and of confession and communion._

Whilst we were thus a good way off from the tents of Prester John in our tents, and our church pitched close by, we said mass every day. On the vigil of Christmas, already midday or more, Prester John sent to call me, and asked me what festival we made next day. I told him how we celebrated the birth of Christ, and he asked me what solemnity we observed. I told him the manner which we followed with respect to that, and how we said three masses. He said that they did all as we did, but that they did not say more than one mass, and of the three masses that we were used to say, he asked me to say one for him, whichever I wished. I replied that I would say whichever His Highness commanded. Then he told me to say the mass of tierce, that he would be very glad to hear it, and also the office we were accustomed to use. He ordered that our church tent should at once be brought close to his tent. It was brought and he ordered two tents to be taken away from his tent, and our church to be pitched at the principal entrance of his tent, so that there would not be more than two fathoms between the church and the tent: he also said that at cock-crow he would send to call us to come to the church, that so his priests chaunted, and that we were to do everything as we were accustomed to do in our country, as he wished to hear us. When our church tent was thus pitched we at once sung in it vespers and compline, which the Prester heard inside his tent, and I say that he heard them, because we saw him there, as it was so close as has been said. Then we went to our tents, and as soon as the cocks crew, he summoned us, and we went six of us who understood church matters and could sing well: these were, Manuel de Mares, a servant of the Marquis of Vilareal, and player on the organ, Lazaro d’Andrade, painter, a native of Lisbon,[175] Joan Escolar the clerk of the embassy, mestre Joam, Nicolas Catelam, and mestre Pedro a Genoese. I took there as many books as I had got, although they were apart from the feast, but only to make up a number, because they are much given to asking for books; and I opened them all upon the altar, and we began our matins as well as we were able, and certainly it appeared that our Lord assisted us and gave us grace. At the commencement Prester John sent twenty candles, as he thought we had few, for we had not got more than four candles. We prolonged these matins a good deal with prose, hymns and canticles which we introduced, for we could not do anything else, as we had nothing prepared and marked out, and we sought what could be best chaunted or intoned. I continued the matins in their order whilst the others sung, and in all this office as long as it lasted, Prester John never moved from the edge of his tent, which as I have said was close to the church. Two messengers never ceased coming and going to ask what we were singing, whenever they heard a change in the sound of psalms, hymns, responses, prose, or canticles. I feigned what I did not know, and told them they were books of Jeremiah, which spoke of the birth of Christ; and so of the psalms of David, and other prophets. He was pleased and praised the books. When our service, which was rather long, was finished, there came an old priest who had been and they say still is the master of Prester John, and asked us if we had finished, or why we were silent. I told him we had finished. He replied that he would have rejoiced if the service had reached to next morning, and it had seemed to him that he had been in paradise with the angels. I told him that until mass we had no other office, and that I wanted to hear the confessions of some who wished to receive the Lord’s body. Then there came another message to ask where confession was to be made: when it came I was already hearing confessions upon a drum which they had sent to strike for matins, and this old priest having come with this message, and finding me already seated and hearing confessions, lit a blazing torch and placed it in front of me as if for them to see me from the tent; and he sat down on the ground close to me with his elbow on my knees, and the penitent on the other side; and he did not rise from that place until I had heard two persons in confession, and the morning became altogether light. At the end of this, this honourable priest said: would that God were pleased that the Neguz should give me leave to remain with you for all my life, for you are holy men and do things completely. This priest went away and soon returned, saying that Prester John desired me to hear confessions, that he wished to see our mode, which they had related to him, for hearing confessions. I sent word that it was getting late for saying mass at the hour which His Highness had ordered. He sent to tell me to go on confessing, and to say mass when I chose or was able to do so, for he would not hear any other mass this day than ours. I returned again to hear confessions on the drum where he could well see me sitting dressed in my surplice, and the penitent with his hat on his head, kneeling, with as much decorum as was possible. When this confession was finished, I sent to tell him that we would say mass as it was getting late. He said that whenever we pleased, for he was not weary with seeing and hearing, and was ready to hear mass. We got ready for our procession with the cross raised up, and a picture of our Lady in our hands, and all with lighted tapers and two torches near the cross. And as we made or began our procession inside the circuit of our church tent, the Prester sent to say that he saw the procession well, but that we should make it outside the _mandilates_ of his tent, that is to say, the curtains which surround his tents, so that all the people might see it, and he sent fully four hundred tapers of white wax from his tents for us to carry lighted in our hands, beginning with the Portuguese and white men, and going on with his people as far as the tapers went. Thus we did it with as much decorum as we were able. When the procession was finished, which was very late on account of the great circuit we made, we began our aspersions of holy water, and went to sprinkle Prester John with it, which could be thrown upon him without stirring from the church: there were with him, as they said, the Queen his wife, the Queen his mother, who is Queen Helena, and the Cabeata and other courtiers. Inside our church were all the great men of the Court that there was room for, and those that could not find room stood outside, because from the altar as far as the Prester’s tent all was clear down the middle in order that His Highness might see the office of the mass. All remained thus until the end, and we gave the communion to those that had confessed, with great reverence (according to our custom) they on their knees with their napkins in their hands divided in two rows, so that they might be seen from the Prester’s tent. On ending, with the cross uplifted, we returned to sprinkle holy water on Prester John, because it is the custom of the two churches which are nearest his tents, that is the churches of our Lady and Holy Cross, to sprinkle him with holy water every day at the end of mass: and they cast this water from a distance of more than two games of ball; and they threw it in this manner. One like a deacon goes with the priest who says the mass, and carries a pitcher in his hand, and pours water into the priest’s hand, and the priest only makes a sign with his hand and the water towards the tent. We sprinkled it with hyssop in his face. The Franks and interpreters, and chiefly Pero de Covilham, who now was with us, and all who understood the language of the country, said that the people very much praised our customs and offices, and said that we did them with great devotion, and principally the communion, which was administered with great purity. The Prester also sent to say that our services seemed to him very good and very complete.

CAP. XC.--_How the Prester gave leave to go to the ambassador
and the others, and ordered me to remain alone with the
interpreter, and of the questions about Church matters, and how
we all sang compline, and how Prester John departed that night._

When all was concluded, that is to say procession, mass, and communion, the Prester desired the ambassador and all the Franks to go and dine, and that I should remain alone with one interpreter. Remaining alone, the old priest came and said that Prester John said that we observed Church matters very well, but what reason had we for allowing laymen to come into the church the same as the clergy, and that also he had heard tell that women entered it? I answered that the church of God was not closed to any Christian, and that Christ was always with arms open for every Christian who approached and came to him, and since he received them in glory in Paradise, how should we not receive them in church, which is the road to the church of Paradise. With respect to women, although in former time they did not enter into the Sanctuary,[176] the deserts of Our Lady were and are so great, that they had sufficed to make the feminine gender deserving to enter into the house of God. And as to ministering at the altar, that men in orders ministered. They came to say that my reasons seemed good to him, but he wished to know why, as I was the only priest, and he who carried the thurible was not a priest, how it was he carried it, because the incense ought to go in the hand of a priest, and of no other person? I answered that the person who served as a deacon was a _zagonay_, what they call of the gospel, and that his office was to carry the thurible. There came another message asking if we had that in a book, as our books were better than theirs, because our books contained all things. I answered that our books were very perfect, because since the time of the apostles we had always had learned men and doctors in the holy mother Church, who never did, nor now do, anything else but compile and bring together those things which are scattered about in the Holy Scriptures, both by the prophets, apostles, or evangelists, and by Jesus Christ our Saviour. They again told me that they had eighty-one books of the Old and New Testaments, had we any more? I told them we had the eighty-one books, and more than ten times eighty-one drawn from those, with many declarations and perfections. They said they well knew that we had more books than they had, on this account they desired that I should tell them of books not seen by or known to them. Thus they kept questioning me, without the two messengers ever ceasing to go and come, nor I able to sit down, but only to lean upon a staff until the hour of vespers; and if these questions and answers had to be written down, two hands of paper would not suffice, neither could memory retain them for the haste they made. Some answers went and other questions came, each in their own fashion, and in much disorder, because they were not all questions from Prester John, for some were from his mother, and others from his wife, and also from Queen Helena. I answered as God helped me, I was in such a state of weakness and hunger that I could not endure it, and instead of an answer, I sent to ask His Highness to have pity for an old man, who had neither eat nor drunk since yesterday at midday, nor had slept, and could not stand for weakness. He sent to say, that since he rejoiced to converse with me, why did not I rejoice too. I replied that old age, hunger, and weakness, did not allow of it. He sent to say that if I wished to eat he would send it to me, that he had already sent a great deal to eat to our tent, and if I wished to eat there I might go, or if I wished to eat here he would order food to be given me. I told him I wished to eat at our tent, to rest myself: then they gave me leave. While I was on the road, a page reached me half dead with running; when I heard him come, I thought it was my sins come to make me turn back. He told me the Prester sent him to beg me to send back the hat I had on my head, and to pardon him, and not be angry at having been so long without eating, and as soon as I had eaten to come back at once, as he wished to learn more things from me. On reaching our tent I was seized with a giddiness, that the sight left my eyes, and I became quite cold. An hour and a half had not passed before he sent to call me, and as it was already late, those who knew church matters went with me, and we sung compline, only because there was no place at our tent, and when compline was finished, there came a message to strike our church tent, because Prester John was going away that night, as in effect he did do, in order to pass the bad passages without anyone knowing of it. While we were lying sleeping in our tent, a little more or less than midnight, we heard a great tramping of mules and people passing close to us, and then we heard say that the Neguz was travelling; and as it seemed to us that we should be left without people, we made ready quickly; and when we arrived at the first pass, there was no remedy for it, and our people made way for us with their lances, and we travelled thus that day with lances in front and lances behind, and we in the middle, not allowing anyone to come among us; because otherwise we should never have got together again. We went and found the King’s tent pitched in the middle of the ravines in sight between the meadows, where I before related that the friar ordered the beans to be pulled out, and there slept all the people who were able to pass, and we did not sleep much, for before midnight we heard say that the Negus was travelling, and we went after him at once: and we got out of the bad passes before morning. We heard say that in this night there died in these passes, men, women and many mules, asses, ponies, and pack oxen; we found many dead. This is the pass which is named Aquia fagi, which means death to asses, by which we passed in coming. It was certain that a great lady died this night, and with her a man who led her mule by the halter, and two who went close to her, and the mule, all of them went over a rock, and were dashed to pieces before they reached the bottom: it could not be otherwise, because the cliffs are, as I before said, something incredible: and whoever sees them, they appear to him more like hell than anything else. So we made our journey without observing the octaves of Christmas, which they do not observe in this country. And I before said that the Court did not finish moving in four or five days; here they spent more than three weeks in getting through these gates, and the baggage of the Prester was more than a month passing every day.

CAP. XCI.--_How the Prester went to lodge at the church of; St.
George, and ordered it to be shown to the people of the embassy,
and after certain questions ordered me to be shown some rich
umbrellas._

On the 28th of December of 1520, we came to a place on the road where we saw a church which we had seen in coming, but did not go to it, which is named St. George. They pitched the tent of the Prester below the church, and we in our place, which was already assigned to us; and next day, very early, they sent to call us, and tell us to go to the said church. When we were there, he ordered it to be shown to us, and we saw it very well. It is a large church, with all the walls painted with pictures of subjects and very good stories, well proportioned, made by a Venetian whom I mentioned before, named Nicolas Brancaliam, and his name is on these pictures, and the people here call him Marcoreos. This church has all its outer parts which are within the covered circuit (which is like a covered cloister) hung with rich curtains, pieces of brocade from top to bottom, plush, velvet, and other rich cloths and stuffs. When we arrived within the gate of the outer circuit which is uncovered, and intended to enter the covered circuit, they ordered the curtains to be drawn, and the principal door appeared, which is all plated with plates, which at first sight looked like gold, and so they told us that it was: yet we saw that on the contrary it was all leaves gilt and silvered, and the gilding was very well applied, both to the doors and windows. In seeing these things, the Cabeata, who is a great lord, went with us to show them; the Prester was there within his curtains, and he saw us and we him when we passed before his curtains. From thence he sent to ask what we thought of that church and its paintings. We said we thought it beautiful, and that it looked entirely like something belonging to a great sovereign and king. He being pleased, sent to say that his grandfather had ordered the building of this church and was buried there; he also asked whether in our country we had churches lined with wood like that, or with what wood were they made. Our answer was that this church was very good as we had already said, but that our churches were of stone vaults, and in those that were of wood, the wood was covered with gilding and blue, and the pillars were of great pieces of marble and other splendid and valuable things. He replied that he well knew that our things were rich, great, and perfect, because we had good masters. The covered circuit of this church is erected upon thirty-six wooden pillars, very high, and as thick as the masts of galleys: they are cased with wood, and on the wood are paintings like those on the walls: so that it is a regal building, and the people of this country think well of it and reckon it as very great.