Chapter IV: Part 4

On the 3rd day of July of the said year, ’20, our baggage arrived at the town of Barra, where we were. We hoped to start at once, and went to speak to the Barnagais requiring him to despatch us. We met with good words from him. On the following day a gentleman from the court of Prester John arrived, and the Barnagais gave him such a reception that he forgot us. When this gentleman arrived the Barnagais went out of the town to receive him at a small hill near the houses; and there went out with him many people, and he was naked from the waist upwards. The gentleman placed himself on the highest spot above the rest, and his first words were: the King sends to salute you. At these words all went with their hand upon the ground, which is the courtesy and reverence of this country. After that, he spoke the message which he had brought, and when he had finished hearing it the Barnagais clothed himself with rich garments, and took the gentleman to his house. It is the usage of this country to hear the words which the Prester sends outside the house, and on foot, and he to whom they are sent has to be naked above the waist until they have been delivered, and if the message is one of satisfaction on the part of Prester John, as soon as it is given he at once dresses himself: if it expresses his dissatisfaction, he remains naked as when he heard it. This Barnagais is brother of the mother of Prester John. After this the ambassador, and we with him, came to speak to the Barnagais, and he sent us away saying that for the love of God we should leave him, that he was sick. When we came they did not allow us to enter, saying that he was sleeping. So much passed of this sort that the ambassador said that he ill remembered what he had sworn and promised to the Captain-major of the King of Portugal, that is to say, to assist us and order equipment to be given us for our journey, that he forgot all this, and also that he was not mindful of the friendship which they had established and sworn, since he did so little for the affairs of the King of Portugal. Neither on this account did he make any more haste, but always excused himself with his guest, and with being ill. On the 6th of July seven or eight horsemen arrived, very gaily caparisoned, these were Moors, and seemed to be honourable persons, they came from other countries, and brought many very beautiful horses, which they were bringing to pay as tribute which they owed to Prester John and the Barnagais. As the arrival of the Moors redounded to his profit, neither his guests nor his sickness impeded him. The great reception and honour which the Barnagais paid to these Moors gave us great trouble. The ambassador had told him that he wanted twelve mules, and asked him to order them to be lent: he said that he could not lend them, and that we should buy them. When we wished to buy these mules which the people of the country were selling to us, the servants of the Barnagais came and interrupted the purchase, telling the vendors not to sell them, and that if they sold them they would be punished, and the gold would be taken away from them, for in this country money is not current. This happened in such manner that the rumour of it spread throughout the country, and the people told us that even if they wished to sell to us they did not dare, from fear of the Barnagais, because he wished to sell his own mules, and therefore forbade their selling them. (He has another method with the people of his country.) In all the kingdoms of Prester John money is not current, but only gold by weight, and the principal weight is called _ouquia_,[41] and this, which is an ounce, makes in weight ten cruzados, and for change there is a half ouquia, and from twelve drachms to ten make an ouquia. This Barnagais forbade the people in his country having any other weights except his own, and they had to ask the Barnagais or his factors for the weights whenever they had to sell or receive gold, so that he had knowledge of what was in the country, and he takes it when he pleases, according to what his country people say, who must know it well.

CAP. XXIX.--_Of the church of the town of Barra, and its
ornaments, and of the fair there, and of the merchandise, and
costumes of the friars, nuns, and priests._

In this town of Barra there is a church of Our Lady, large, new, very well painted and well built, and handsomely ornamented with many brocades, crimson silks, and Mekkah velvets, and red camlets. The church in this town is served like that at Barua, only that the offices are more solemnized because the Barnagais resides here, and because here there are more clergy and an infinite number of friars. The church is managed by priests. I saw them make a procession round the church in the greater circuit, which is of the churchyard. In it there were many priests, friars, and men and women, because in this church the women receive the communion in the place where the laity do so. In that procession I saw the ornaments which I have mentioned: they must have taken quite thirty turns round the church chaunting like a litany, and sounding many drums and cymbals, as they sound them when they make a procession before the effigy of Our Lady on Sundays and feast days; and they sing and celebrate a feast; and likewise when they give the communion on feast days. They said that this procession was made in supplication to God for rain for their sowing. The bells are of stone, like those of other churches, and the bells badly made. In this town there is a great fair like that of Barua, and so likewise in all the places which are chief towns of districts, every week. The fairs consist of bartering one thing for another, as for instance, an ass for a cow, and that which is of least value gives to the other two or three measures of bread. By means of bread they buy stuffs, and with stuffs they buy mules and cows, and whatever they want, for salt, incense, pepper, myrrh, camphor, and other small articles.[42] They buy fowls and capons, and whatever they need or want to buy is all to be found at these fairs in exchange for others, for there is no current money. The principal merchants at these fairs are priests, friars, and nuns. The friars are decent in their habits, which are full, and reaching to the ground. Some wear yellow habits of coarse cotton stuff, others habits of tanned goat skins like wide breeches,[43] also yellow. The nuns also wear the same habits; the friars wear, besides, capes of the fashion of Dominican friars, of the same yellow skins or stuffs, they wear hats; and the nuns wear neither capes nor hats, but only the habit, and are shaven with a razor; and they wear a leather strap wound or fastened round the head. When they are old women they wear fillets[44] round their heads over their tonsures. These nuns are not cloistered, nor do they live together in convents, but in villages, and in the monasteries of the friars, on account of belonging to those houses and order. The order is all one, and the nuns give obedience where they receive their habits. With regard to entering churches and monasteries, the nuns do not enter except as other women do. There is a great multitude of nuns, as well as of friars; they say that some of them are very holy women, and others are not so. The priests show very little difference from the laity in their dress, because all wear a good cloth wrapped round, like smart men, and their difference is that they carry a cross in their hand, and are shaven, and the laity wear long hair. The priests also have this, that they do not cut their beard, and the laity shave below the chin and the throat. There are other priests, whom they call Debeteraas, which means canons; these belong to great churches, which are like their cathedrals or collegiate churches, and are not monasteries. These are very well dressed, and at once appear as what they are: these do not go to the fairs and markets.

CAP. XXX.--_Of the state of the Barnagais and manner of his
house, and how he ordered a proclamation to be made to go
against the Nobiis,[45] and the method of his justice._

The service of this Barnagais is very poor in state, although he is a great lord and has the title of king. As many times as we spoke to him we always found him seated on a bedstead beneath a coverlid, and himself covered with hairy cotton cloths which they name _basutos_; they are good for the country, and there are some here of a high price. Behind the sides of the bedstead, walls, without anything except four swords hung each on a pole, and two great books, also suspended on poles. In front of the bedstead, mats on the floor, upon which sit those who come; the houses rarely swept, his wife always seated on a mat near the head of the bedstead, many people always before him, the great people seated on mats. In sight of his bedstead stand four horses, one always saddled, and the others covered, not caparisoned for war, but as horses are in the stables. In these houses of his are two inclosures, and each one has its gate, and in it porters with whips in their hands, and in the one nearest to him are smarter porters. Between these gates, the inner one and the outer one, is always his Alicaxi, which means his judge, hearing causes and administering justice. If the cause is important, he hears the parties until he has determined upon it, and then he goes and relates the cause to the Barnagais, who gives the sentence: if it is a small cause, or if the parties wish it, the Alicaxi gives sentence, and the cause is concluded. Moreover, in all judgments, whether the Barnagais or the Alicaxi judges, there must be present an honourable man, whom they call by the name of his office Malaganha, who is like a tabellion or notary of Prester John, and if either of the parties wishes to appeal, he requires from this man the certifying of the cause for Prester John and his judges. All the lords of the countries of any of the kingdoms of Prester John have an Alicaxi and a Malaganha appointed by the Prester; so also have the captains subject to the Barnagais and to the other great lords. The gentlemen who are about the house of the Barnagais, and other grandees who come on business, have this manner of coming from their abodes. Whilst at the place he is living at he mounts his mule, seven, eight, or ten men on foot go before him as far as the first gate, and there he dismounts. If he is a person of greater importance, he takes seven, eight, or ten mules, or else three or four, according as the person is. So he dismounts at the first gate, and arrives at the second, after that, if they are bidden at once to enter, they go in, if not, they sit outside like beehives in the sun, without any other pastime. All these honourable persons wear sheep skins at their necks or on their shoulders, and he who wears the skin of a lion, tiger, or ounce, is more honourable. When they come before the lord they take off the skin, as we take off our caps. Whilst we were in this town of Barra on a market day, they made a solemn proclamation that the Barnagais intended to make war on the Nobiis, five or six days’ journey from the limits of his country, towards Egypt, neighbouring to the countries of Canfilla and Dafolha,[46] which are subject to the Barnagais, as I have before mentioned. These Nobiis are neither Moors, nor Jews, nor Christians. It is said that they had been Christians, and had lost their faith, and are thus without any faith. They say that there is among these Nobiis much fine gold. They said that but a short time ago they had killed a son of the Barnagais, and that he wished to go and avenge his death. I heard say that in the frontier districts of these Nobiis there were four or five hundred horsemen, very great warriors, and that it is a country very well supplied with provisions, and it cannot be otherwise because it is on this and the further side of the Nile, which they say is a very fertile country. The proclamation said that he would set out in fifty days from that time: but up to this there had been no muster nor movement of arms. This would be because in the country there are not many, and few people possess them except the Chavas, who are the men at arms. These men have javelins, bows and arrows. These great lords have a few swords, hangers, and shirts of mail (not many of them). On the occasion of this little revolt, the Barnagais asked the ambassador for swords, and the ambassador gave him his own, which he wore on the road, and which was very good, and he still persistently begged another rich sword with ornaments which he carried with him, saying he wanted it for the war he was going to make, and the ambassador not being able to excuse himself, it suited him to buy another from his companions with gilt ends and a velvet scabbard, which he gave him instead of his own. And in the house where we kept our goods, and where our Portuguese slept, which was a house without doors, on the following night they stole from them two swords and a helmet. All this would be on account of the war.

CAP. XXXI.--_How we departed from Barra to Temei, and of the
quality of the town._

Here we bought mules for our own riding, and the Barnagais gave us three camels, and with great fatigue we set out from this place, amidst heavy rains and storms, which harassed us very much; for in this time the winter was in force; it begins the 15th of June, a little sooner or later, and ends the 15th of September; whatever it takes more in one month it gives up in the other. In all this time they do not travel, and yet we were hurrying on our journey, for we did not know the usage of the country, nor the danger we were running into. So we began our journey with a part of our goods, for the rest of them remained at the said town, and our factor with it. We went and halted at a town which is named Temeisom, belonging to the district of Maiçada, and which is about four leagues from the town of Barra, from which we had set out. We got over this distance in three days on account of the severe storms; everything that we carried with us getting spoiled. In this town of Temei, where we arrived, there dwelt a Xuum of this district of Maiçada, who was first cousin of the Barnagais, a very honourable man, who used to show us great honour, and who was also a brother of the mother of Prester John. They say that there are in his Xumeta or captaincy twenty towns and no more, for this is (as they say) the smallest district and Xumeta which there is in the kingdom of the Barnagais. This town is on a high eminence (without rocks), but all tilled land and plains with small hollows: and on three sides it has a view over fourteen or fifteen leagues, but on the other, at the distance of a league, there commence great declivities which descend to a great river, and in the neighbourhood of this river appear more than a hundred large villages. It seems to me that in the world there is not so populous a country, and so abundant in crops, and breeding of infinite herds, game of all kinds and of the wildest. There is nothing here but tigers, wolves, foxes, jackals, and other game. Let not this amaze any one who hears or reads this: that there should be game in a plain country with so much population: because, as I said before, they neither kill nor are able to kill anything except some partridges, which they kill with arrows. Many other kinds of game they do not kill because they do not eat them, others because they do not know how, and have no devices for that purpose. So they breed because they do not kill them. All the game is almost tame, because it is not pursued. Without dogs we killed and carried away twenty hares with nets in an hour, and as many partridges with springes, just like piping goats to a fold, or hens to the roost: so we killed the game that we wanted.

CAP. XXXII.--_Of the multitude of locusts which are in
the country, and of the damage they do, and how we made a
procession, and the locusts died._

In these parts and in all the dominions of Prester John there is a very great plague of locusts which destroy the fresh crops in a fearful manner. Their multitude, which covers the earth and fills the air, is not to be believed; they darken the light of the sun. I say again that it is not a thing to be believed by any one who has not seen them. They are not general in all the kingdoms every year, for if they were so, the country would be a desert in consequence of the destruction they cause: but one year they are in one part, and another year in another; as if we said, speaking in Portugal and Spain, one year they are in the parts of Galicia, another in Entre Douro and Minho, in Traz os Montes, another year in Beira, another in Estremadura, another in Andalucia, another in Old Castile, and another in Aragon. Sometimes they are in two or three parts of these confines. Wherever they come the earth remains as though it had been set on fire. These locusts are like large grasshoppers, they are yellow in the wings; when they are on the way it is known a day before, not because the people see them, but because they see the sun yellow, and the earth yellow, that is, the shadow which they cast. Then the people are dismayed, saying we are lost because the Ambatas are coming, and this is their name among them. I will relate what I saw on three occasions. The first was in the town of Barua, we had then been three years in this country, and many times we had heard say, such a kingdom, such a country is destroyed by the Ambatas; while we were there, we saw this sign: the sun became yellow, and the shadow on the earth likewise, and the people were all dismayed. Next day, it was a thing not to be believed, for they spread over a width of eight leagues, according to what we learned later: and when this plague was close by, most of the priests of the town came to ask me to give them some remedy for it. I answered them that I did not know of any remedy, except to commend ourselves to God, and pray Him to drive the plague out of the country. Upon this, I went to the ambassador to tell him that it seemed to me well that we should make a procession with the people of the country, and that it might please the Lord to hear us. This seemed good to the ambassador, and next day in the morning we caused the people of the country to come together, and all the priests, and we took our altar stone, and those of the town theirs after their usage, and our cross and theirs, and singing our litany we went out from the church, all the Portuguese and the greater part of the townspeople. I told them not to go in silence, but to cry out like us, saying in their language, Zio marenos,[47] which means in our language, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon us. With this cry and litany we went through a plain of fields of wheat for the space of a third of a league to a small eminence, and there made an admonition which I had brought already written out that night with a requisition and admonition of excommunication[48] on it, that within three hours they should begin to set out on their way, and go to the sea, or to the country of the Moors, or to mountains of no profit to the Christians: and should they not do so, it called upon and invoked the birds of the air and the animals of the earth, and the stones and tempests to disperse and break and devour their bodies. For this, I commanded to catch a quantity of the locusts, and thus made this admonition to those present, in their names, and those of the absent ones, and ordered them to be let go in peace. It pleased the Lord to hear the sinners. When we were returning to the town, because their road was to the sea from whence they came, there were so many coming after us, that it seemed as though they would break our ribs and heads driving against us, such were the thumps they inflicted on us. When we arrived at the town, we found all the men, women, and children who had remained in it, placed on the top of the terraces of the houses, giving thanks to God for the manner in which the locusts went flying before us, and others coming after us. Meanwhile a great storm arose from the sea, which met them, confronting them with violent rain and hail, which lasted quite three hours. The river and streams swelled very much, and when they had ended running off, it was a wonderful thing that they measured two ells deep of their dead bodies, on the brink of the water of the great river, and likewise at the little brooks, a great multitude dead on the edges. The next day in the morning there was not a single one alive in the whole country. The people of the towns all round whence the locusts had arrived, hearing of this, came to see what had happened; some said: These Portuguese are holy, and by the power of God they have cast out the Ambatas. Others, and chiefly the priests and friars of the neighbourhood (not those of this town) said: Rather they are sorcerers, and by sorcery have cast out the Ambatas; and so they have no fear of the lions and other animals, on account of the sorceries they work. Sixteen days after this, there came to me a Xuum, that is, captain of a town, named Coiberia,[49] with men and priests and friars, to entreat us for the love of God to succour them, for they were all ruined by the Ambatas. This town is fully eight leagues and more from Barua towards the sea. They reached us at the hour of vespers. That same hour we set out, five Portuguese, and we travelled all night, and arrived an hour after sunrise. Already the people of the town were collected, and those of other towns around (in which also there were locusts), to beg us for the love of God to go there. This town is on a high hill, from which a great extent of country and many villages were in view, all yellow with locusts. The church is at the foot of the town; we went to it, and with our procession went to the town and took a turn round it, and in four directions and in four villages we made an admonition, having caught some locusts and letting them loose as we had done the other time. When the procession was ended, we went to eat, and having finished eating and gone out of the house, in all the country not a single one showed itself. The people of the country would not leave us alone, and insisted that by all means we should go to their villages, and they would give us whatever we wished for. It did not avail me to say that they were gone, and that it was not necessary. They persisted in importuning us to go and give them the blessing, as they were afraid of their returning. So the people went away in peace, and on the following day we returned to our resting-place. Here they began to affirm more strongly, that through devotion and prayer the locusts went away.

CAP. XXXIII.--_Of the damage which we saw in another country
caused by the locusts in two places._

Another time we saw the locusts in another country called Abrigima, whence the Prester ordered provisions to be given us, in the kingdom of Angote. This country is distant from Barua, from which place we were thirty days in travelling the journey. While we were in this country I went with the ambassador who came from Portugal, and five Genoese with us, towards a country named Aagao. We travelled five days through country entirely depopulated, and through maize canes as thick as canes for propping vines, it cannot be told how they were all cut and bitten, as if bitten by asses, all done by the locusts. The wheat, barley, and tafo, as though they had never been sown there, the trees without any leaves, and the tender twigs all eaten, there was no memory of grass of any sort, and if we had not been prepared with mules laden with barley and provisions for ourselves, we and the mules would have perished. This country was entirely covered with locusts without wings, and they said these were the seed of those which had been there and destroyed the country, and they said that as soon as they had wings they would at once go and seek their country. I am silent as to the multitude of these without wings, because it is not to be believed, and it is right that I should relate what more I saw in this country. I saw men, women, and children, seated horror-struck amongst these locusts. I asked them: Why do you remain there dying, why do you not kill these animals, and revenge yourselves for the damage which their parents did you, and at least the dead ones will do you no further harm. They answered that they had not the heart to resist the plague which God gave them for their sins. The people were going away from this country, and we found the roads full of men, women, and children, on foot, and some in their arms, with their little bundles on their heads, removing to a country where they might find provisions (it was a pitiful sight to see them). When we were in this lordship of Abrigima, in a town named Aquate, there came travelling thither such a multitude of locusts as cannot be told, and they began to arrive there one day about the hour of tierce, and till night they did not cease, and as they arrived they settled to rest. Next day, at the hour of prime, they began to depart, and at midday there was not one there; and not a leaf remained upon a tree. At that moment others began to arrive, and they remained like the others till next day at the same hour, and these did not leave any crop with a husk, nor a green blade. In this way they did for five days, one after the other; and the people said these were the children going in search of their fathers. They showed the way for the others who had not got wings. After these had passed we learned the width of the passage of these locusts, and saw the destruction they had caused. The breadth of this exceeded three leagues, in which there did not remain a husk or a tree, and the country did not looked burned, but much snowed with the whiteness of the sticks and dryness of the grass. God was pleased that the fruits had already been gathered in. We did not know whence they came, because they came from towards the sea of the kingdom of Dandali, which is of hostile Moors; neither did we learn where was the end of their journey.

CAP. XXXIV.--_How we arrived at Temei, and the ambassador went
in search of Tigrimahom, and sent to call us._

Let us return to our journey: two days after our arrival at this town of Temei, before our baggage arrived which had remained in Barra, the ambassador, Don Rodrigo, set out with six men riding, on his way to the Tigrimahom’s residence. He has the title of King of extensive countries, and has very great lords under his orders and rule. Don Rodrigo went to ask him to give us equipment for our journey, as soon as we should enter his lands. We remained in this town of Temei, Joam Escolar and I, and two other Portuguese: in this time the factor arrived with the baggage which had remained in Barra; and so we brought it all together in this town of Temei, where we had a very hospitable reception from the first Xuum of the district, who is a brother of the Barnagais. On the 28th July of the said year of 1520 there came a message to us from the ambassador, to go with the goods to where he was staying in the house of the Tigrimahom,[50] with the Portuguese who had accompanied him. We were still waiting two days for the people of the country to carry our goods, and then a Xuum arrived who gave us assistance (and this with heavy squalls, storms, and rains); we travelled the space of a league through plains, and then began to descend a very steep road and a very deep descent for the distance of another league, and we went to sleep within the circuit of a church from fear of the tigers, and much vexed by the storms. The following day we went through mountains, both rocky ridges and forests of trees without fruit, until we came to a very large river, which, as it was winter, we found very large for passing over: this is the river on which the town of Barua is situated, and it runs to the Nile, where[51] the kingdom of the Barnagais ends, and that of Tigrimahom begins. From where we slept to this river will be two leagues, a little more or less, and, notwithstanding the mountains and woods, all peopled.

CAP. XXXV.--_How the Tigrimahom sent a captain in search of our
goods, and of the buildings which are in the first town._

On reaching the river, the men who came with us unloaded the baggage, and from the other side of the river we heard drums and a noise of people: we asked what it was, and they said that a captain of Tigrimahom had come for us. We passed over without our goods to the other side of the river with a good deal of difficulty, on account of the strong body of water: we found a fine body of people come to fetch us; they might be five or six hundred men to carry our goods. There was at once uncertainty between the people of either side of the river. Those of the country of Tigrimahom said that they had not got to take the baggage except in their country; and those of the Barnagais, that they had no obligation except to place it on the shore close to the water in their country; and they engaged in great shouting and obstinacy upon this matter. As the water was running high, they concluded upon passing over the baggage together, in a brotherly way, so that it should not remain out of doors on one or the other bank, but that which was just should be done. As soon as the baggage had been got across, and taken up by the people of Tigrimahom, they travelled with the baggage as fast as we did with our mules. We still travelled on, this portion of the day, through mountains like those we had left behind. On this road we saw herds of wild swine; some passed of fifty hogs; partridges and other birds covered the ground and the trees. Here, also, it was said there was every kind of animals, and according to what the mountains are it could not be otherwise. This night we slept in the open air, surrounded by fires from fear of the animals. Here the people began to change, also the country and the trees, and the costume of the people. Principally here we began to enter amongst very high peaks, which appear to rise up to the sky, so high are they; the space at their feet is not extensive, and all are separate one from another, and they are in a line, and not very wide at the base. All those that can be ascended, even though there is danger in it, have chapels on them, most of them of Our Lady. On many of these peaks we saw chapels, and we could not determine by what way people could go to them. We went this day to sleep at a town between the peaks called Abafazem, in which town is a very good church of Our Lady, well built, with the middle nave raised on two sides or walls, with its windows very well constructed, and all the church vaulted.[52] We had not seen any of this fashion in this country: in Portugal, in Entre Douro, and Minho, there are monasteries of this fashion. Close to the said church is a very large and handsome tower, both for its height and the good workmanship of the walls, and for its width, it is already getting damaged, and yet it has all the look of a regal building, all of well hewn stone: we have not seen such another building. This tower is surrounded by houses, which match well with it, with both good walls and terraces above, like residences of great lords. They said that these edifices belonged to Queen Candace, and because her house where she became a christian is very near here, this would be the truth. This town, church, and country, are situated between these peaks, in very pretty fields, all irrigated by conduits of water descending from the highest peaks, artificially made with stone. The sowings which they irrigate here are wheat, barley, beans, pulse, peas, garlic, onions, garden rue, much mustard; in the water conduits, many good water cresses. In this town there are many priests, and well dressed; they seemed to be good men, and they told us that in the commencement of christianity in this country seven churches had been built, and that this was one of them: and there is much appearance of its being so, because christianity commenced very near here, that is, in the town of Aquaxumo.

CAP. XXXV.[53]--_How we departed from Bafazem, and went to the
town called Houses of St. Michael._

We departed from this town as we had come, and also the people of the country who carried our baggage (this carrying is called Elfa), and we went to sleep at another town called St. Michael. On arriving at this town they did not give us lodging, saying that the town was privileged; and on account of the rain we went to the circuit of the church, and in the outer circuit, which serves as a churchyard, we put our mules, because there was plenty of grass on account of the winter rains. In this country it is not the custom to give victuals more than once a day, and it is the custom to do that at night, in all the kingdoms and lordships of Prester John. Having arrived thus, and not having had quarters given us, so also they did not give us anything to eat, according to their custom, and we were hungry. Our factor said to me: Father let us eat. I replied, What shall we eat? He said to me, I have brought two fowls cooked, let us eat them. Our clerk and I were horrified at eating meat without bread, but nevertheless we accompanied him. After this repast we many times ate meat without bread, and bread without meat, and bread without salt, because it is not usual in the country; and bread soaked in water, and pepper, so that we forgot our first amazement. In the night they sent us food, and as we were sleeping in the cloister of the church, for greater cleanliness we went to the place where they give, or used to give, the communion. Whilst we were there with light some pigeons began to stir; as soon as we heard them we rushed to the doors, for the rest was closed, not one escaped us, nor the young pigeons which we found in the holes: and we filled a bag with them. Later we returned to halt in this town, and we were received without their bringing forward their privileges, that we might not kill the pigeons of the church, which was now again peopled with them. The difference which there is between the people of this country and that of the Barnagais, is in their clothes and dress. The men wear girt round them some small skirts, some of stuff, some of tanned leather, like large breeches, also plaited, like those of the women of our country, and their extent is not more than two spans; when they are walking it seems that they spread them out so that they cover their nakedness, but if they stoop or sit down, or if there is wind, it shows. The married women wear very little covering, and the single women, who have neither husbands nor friends, have less shame. The beads which other women wear round their necks these wear girt round their bodies, and a large quantity of beads over their private parts, and whoever can get a hawk’s bell, or a small bell, wears it there; and some of these women (not married) wear a sheep’s skin at their neck, which covers one side and not more, because they wear it loose, and only one foot and one fore foot of the sheep is tied and suspended to the neck. The[54] road which is taken in this country of the Prester as soon as one arrives from the Red sea, or comes from Egypt to Çuaquem, is at once to turn one’s back on the North, and travel to the South until arriving at the gates of Badabaje; this is because a few hours from here they go in one direction, others in another, asking where the court may be, in a straight line, or to the East or to the West, according to the country where the Prester is staying. At these passages are separated the kingdoms of Amara and Xoa, and because we went about in these countries for six years, sometimes to one part, at others to another, going out of the road and then again returning to it, according as it seemed to us that that was a better arrangement.

CAP. XXXVI.--_Which speaks of the town of Aquaxumo, and of the
gold which the Queen Saba took to Solomon for the temple, and of
a son that she had of Solomon._

Amongst these peaks where we were still going, in the parts to the West are wonderful lands and very great lordships, among which is a very good town named Aquaxumo, and it is two days’ journey from the town of St. Michael, always between these peaks. We stayed in it for eight months, by order of the Prester John. This town was the city, chamber, and abode (as they say) of the Queen Saba, who took the camels laden with gold to Solomon, when he was building the temple of Jerusalem. There is in this town a very noble church, in which we found a very great chronicle written in the language of the country, and it stated in its commencement how it had been written first in Hebrew, and afterwards put into Greek, and from Greek into Chaldee, and from Chaldee into the Abyssinian tongue, in which it now is, and it begins thus. How the Queen Sabaas hearing related the great and rich works which Solomon had begun in Jerusalem, she determined to go and see them; and she loaded certain camels with gold to give for these works. And on arriving near the city, and being about to cross a lake, which they passed by some bridges,[55] she dismounted and worshipped the beams and said: “Please God my feet shall not touch the timber on which the Saviour of the world has to hang.” And she made a circuit of the lake, and went to see Solomon, and induced him to withdraw those beams from there, and she came to the works, and offered her gifts and said: “These works are not such as they told me in richness and beauty, because their beauty and richness has no equal, so that they are greater than what was related to me, so much so that the tongues of men cannot tell their nobility and richness, and much I grieve for the small gift which I brought; I will return to my countries and lordships, and I will send whatever abounds for the works, of gold, and blackwood to inlay.” Whilst she was at Jerusalem Solomon had intercourse with her, and she became pregnant of a son, and remained at Jerusalem until she brought him forth. After she was able to travel she left her son, and returned to her country, and sent from it much gold and blackwood to inlay the works. And her son grew up to the age of seventeen years, and among the many other sons that Solomon had this one was so proud that he outraged[56] the people of Israel, and all the country of Judæa. And the people came to Solomon and said to him: “We are not able to maintain so many Kings as you have got, for all your sons are Kings, especially this one of Queen Saba; she is a greater lady than you, send him to his mother, for we are not able to maintain him.” Then Solomon sent him very honourably, giving him the officers that are usual in a King’s household (as I will relate in its place), and besides, he gave him, in order that he might rest on the road, the country of Gazaā, which is in the land of Egypt, and he made his journey to the country of his mother, where he was a very great ruler. The chronicle says that he ruled from sea to sea, and that he had sixty ships in the Indian sea. This book of chronicles is very large, and I only took from it the beginnings.

CAP. XXXVII.--_How St. Philip declared a prophecy of Isaiah
to the eunuch of Queen Candace, through which she and all her
kingdom were converted, and of the edifices of the town of
Aquaxumo._

In this town of Aquaxumo was the principal residence of the Queen Candace,[57] who was the beginning of the Christianity of this country. Her birth (as they say) was half a league from here, in a very small village, which now is entirely of blacksmiths. Her commencement of Christianity was this. According to what they say in their books the angel said to St. Philip: Rise and go towards the South, by the road which goes from Jerusalem to Gaza in the desert. St. Philip went, and met with a man who was an eunuch, and he was major-domo of the Queen Candace, ruler of Ethiopia. In the country of Gaza, which Solomon had given to his son, this man was the keeper of all the riches of the Queen, and he had been to Jerusalem and was returning to his house, and he was going on a chariot. St. Philip came up to him, and heard him sing a prophecy of Isaiah, and asked him how he understood what he was singing. He replied that he did not know, unless some other man taught him. St. Philip mounted into the chariot, and went on explaining to him that prophecy, and converted him, and baptized and instructed him in the faith. Then the Spirit snatched away St. Philip, and he remained informed. They say that here was fulfilled the prophecy which David spoke: “Ethiopia shall arise, and stretch forth her hands to God.” Thus they say they were the first Christians in the world. The eunuch at once set out very gaily on the road to Ethiopia, to the house of his mistress, and converted her and all her household, and baptized them in consequence of what he related to them. And the Queen caused all her kingdom of Buno to be baptized. This Buno is towards the east from the town of Aquaxumo, in the kingdom of the Barnagais, and it is now two lordships. In this town of Aquaxumo, where she became Christian, she built a very noble church, the first there was in Ethiopia: it is named St. Mary of Syon. They say that it is so named because its altar stone came from Sion. In this country (as they say) they have the custom always to name the churches by the altar stone, because on it is written the name of the patron saint. This stone which they have in this church, they say that the Apostles sent it from Mount Sion. This church is very large; it has five naves of a good width and of a great length, vaulted above, and all the vaults covered up, the ceiling and sides all painted. Below, the floor of the church is well worked with handsome cut stone. It has seven chapels, all with their backs to the east, and their altars well placed. It has a choir after our fashion, except that it is low, and they reach the vaulted roof with their heads; and the choir is also over a vault, and they do not use it. This church has a very large circuit, paved with flagstones like gravestones. This consists of a very high wall, and it is not covered over like those of the other churches, but it is left open. This church has a large enclosure, and it is also surrounded by another larger enclosure, like the wall of a large town or city. Within this enclosure are handsome habitations of terraced buildings, and all spout out their water by strong figures of lions and dogs of stone. Inside this large enclosure there are two palaces, one on the right hand and the other on the left, which belong to two rectors of the church; and the other houses are of canons and friars. In the large enclosure, at the gate nearest to the church, there is a large ruin, built in a square, which in other times was a house, and it has at each angle large stone pillars, squared and wrought. This house is called Ambazabete, which means house of lions. They say that in this house were the captive lions, and there are still some always, and there go before the Prester John four captive lions. Before the gate of this great enclosure there is a large court, and in it a large tree, which they call Pharaoh’s fig tree,[58] and at each end of it there are some very cool platforms of well worked masonry, merely laid down. Where they reach near the foot of the fig tree, they are injured by the roots, which raise them up. There are, on the top of these platforms, twelve stone chairs, as well made with stone as though they were of wood, with their seats and rests for the feet. They are not made out of a block of stone, but each one with pieces of of stone. They say these belong to the twelve judges who at this time serve in the court of Prester John. Outside of this enclosure there is a large assemblage of very good houses, such as there are not in the whole of Ethiopia, and very good wells of water, of wrought masonry, and also in most of the houses the before-mentioned ancient figures of lions and dogs and birds, all well made in stone. At the back of this great church is a very handsome tank of masonry, and upon this masonry are as many other chairs of stone, such as those in the enclosure of the church. This town is situated at the head of a beautiful plain, and almost between two hills, and the rest of this plain is almost all full of these old buildings, and among them many of these chairs, and high monumental stones with inscriptions. Above this town there are many stones standing up, and others on the ground, very large and beautiful, and wrought with handsome designs, among which is one raised upon another, and worked like an altar stone, except that it is of very great size, and it is set in the other as if inchased. This raised stone is sixty-four ells in length, and six wide; and the sides are three ells wide. It is very straight and well worked, made with arcades below, as far as a head made like a half moon; and the side which has this half moon is towards the south. There appear in it five nails, which do not show more on account of the rust; and they are like fives of dice in compass. And that it may not be said, How could so high a stone be measured? I have already said how it was all in arcades as far as the foot of the half moon, and these are all of one size; and we measured those we could reach to, and by those reckoned up the others, and we found sixty ells, and we gave four to the half moon, although it would be more, and so it made sixty-four ells. This very long stone, on its south side, and where the nails in the half moon are, at the height of a man, has the form of a portal carved in the stone itself, with a bolt and a lock, as if it were shut up.[59] The stone on which it is set up has an ell in thickness, and is well worked; it is placed on other large stones, and surrounded by other smaller stones, and no man can tell how much of it enters the other stone, or if it reaches to the ground. There are other stones raised above the ground, and very well worked; some of them will be quite forty ells long, and others thirty. There are more than thirty of these stones, and they have no patterns on them; most of them have large inscriptions, which the country people cannot read, neither could we read them; according to their appearance, these characters must be Hebrew. There are two of these stones, very large and beautiful, with designs of large arcades, and ornaments of good size, which are lying on the ground entire, and one of them is broken into three pieces, and each of these exceeds eighty ells, and is ten ells in width. Close to them are stones, in which these had to be, or had been let in, which were bored and very well worked.

CAP. XXXVII.--_Of the buildings which are around Aquaxumo, and
how gold is found in it, and of the Church of this town._