Chapter XVII: Part 17

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.