Chapter V: Part 5

Above this town, on a hill which overlooks much land, and far away, and which is about a mile, that is the third of a league, from the town, there are two houses under the ground, into which men do not enter without a lamp. These houses are not vaulted, but of very good straight masonry, both the walls and the upper part; the walls may be twelve ells high; the stones inside and out are set in the wall so close one to the other, that it all looks like one stone. One of these houses is much divided into chambers and granaries; in the doorways are holes for the bars and for the sockets of the doors. In one of these chambers are two very large chests, each one four ells in length, and one and a half broad, and as much in height and inside, and in the upper part on the inner side they are hollowed at the edge, as though they had lids of stone, as the chests also are of stone. (They say that these were the treasure chests of Queen Saba.) The other house, which is longer, has only got a portico and one room. From the entrance of one house to that of the other will be a distance of a game of manqual,[60] and above them is a field. There were in our company some Genoese and Catalans, who had been prisoners of the Turks, and they affirmed and swore that they had seen Troy, and the granary of Joseph in the Kingdom of Egypt, and that their buildings were very large, but that these of this town were and are, in a great manner, larger, and it seemed to us that the Prester John had sent us here, in order that we should see these edifices, and we had rejoiced at seeing them, as they are much grander than what I write. In this town, and in its plains, which are all sown in their season with all kinds of seed, when there come thunderstorms, and they are over, there do not remain in the town women or men, boys or children, who are old enough, who do not come out to look for gold among the tillage, for they say the rains lay it bare, and that they find a good deal. So they go by all the roads seeking the water-courses, and raking with sticks. Seeing this, and hearing it said how much gold they found, both in the town and in the tilled lands, I determined on making a washing-board, such as I had seen in Portugal, at Foz darouca,[61] and in Ponte de Mucela. When it was done, I began to wash earth, and set up two boards, and did not find any gold. I do not know whether I did not know how to wash, or whether I did not know it when washed, or whether there was not any here: the report was, that there was a great deal. As they say that the church of Aquaxumo is the most ancient, so likewise they hold it to be the most honoured of all Ethiopia: and the offices are well done in it. In this church there are a hundred and fifty canons, and as many friars. It has two head men, one is named _Nebrete_[62] of the canons, which means master of instruction, and the other, Nebrete of the friars. These two heads reside in the palaces which are within the great inclosure and circuit of the church; and the Nebrete of the canons lodges at the right hand, and he is the principal one, and the most honoured. He does justice for the canons and for the laity of all this country: and the Nebrete of the friars only hears and rules the friars. Both use kettledrums and trumpets. They have very large revenues, and besides their revenues they have every day a collation which they call _Maabar_[63] of bread and wine of the country, when mass is finished. The friars have this for themselves, and the canons also, and this Maabar is such, that the friars seldom eat other food than that. They have this every day except Friday of the Passion, because on that day no one eats or drinks. The canons do not make their Maabar within the circuit of the church, and are seldom there, except at fixed hours, neither is the Nebrete in his palace, except at some chance time when he goes to hear causes. This is because they are married, and live with their wives and children in their houses, which are very good and which are outside. Neither women nor laymen enter into the inclosure of this church, and they do not enter to receive the communion. On account of their being married, and that the women do not enter this circuit, they make their Maabar outside, so that their wives and children may enjoy it.

CAP. XXXIX.--_How close to Aquaxumo there are two churches on
two peaks, where lie the bodies of two saints._

Not very far from this town are two hills, one at one end and the other at the other, one to the east and the other to the west. At that which is to the west there is a good bit of ascent, and at the top there is quite half a league of a smiling plain which has some very good villages, and delightful vineyards. On this hill, towards the town of Aquaxumo, and in sight of it, there is a very handsome edifice, it is a tower of very fine masonry: and much of this tower is cast down, and with its masonry a church has been built of St. Michael, to which come many people from the town of Aquaxumo to take the communion on Saturdays and Sundays, on account of its devotion. On the hill which is to the east, on its peak there is another church which is named Abbalicanos, and this saint lies here, and they say that he was confessor of Queen Candace. This church is like an annex of the great church of Aquaxumo, and it is served by its canons. This house and church of Abbalicanos is one of great devotion amongst them, there come to it also many people from the town to hear the offices and take the communion. This church also has a large village at the foot of the hill which is its parish. Further on than this church, about a third of a league, there is a peak which is slender from its base, and appears to mount up to the sky: it is ascended by three hundred steps winding round it. On the top of it there is a very elegant small church of much devotion, which has no more than a small nave, and around it a circuit of well-wrought masonry of the height of a man’s breast, and men are afraid to look down over it. There is not more width from this wall to the church than what three men can cover together holding hands. This church has no cloister nor circuit, nor space where it could be made. This church is named Abbapantalian, and his body lies here: it possesses large revenues, and has fifty canons or debeteras, according to their names, and they have a Nebrete like those of Aquaxumo. As the church of Aquaxumo was the beginning of Christianity in Ethiopia, so this one is surrounded by the sepulchres of Saints like Braga in Portugal.

CAP. XL.--_Of the countries and lordships that are to the west
and to the north of Aquaxumo, where there is a monastery, named
Hallelujah, and of two other monasteries to the east._

In the country to the west of Aquaxumo, which is towards the Nile, there are extensive lands and lordships, as they say. And in these countries and parts is the land of Sabaim, whence the Queen Saba took her name and title, and where the black wood is found which she sent to Solomon to make inlaid work in the temple. From this town of Aquaxumo to the beginning of the country of Sabaim there are two days’ journey. This lordship is now subject to the kingdom of the Tigrimahom, and a brother-in-law of the Prester John is lord and captain of it: they say it is a great and good lordship. On the north side there lies another lordship named Torate, a country of mountainous ridges; there is a distance of four leagues to these mountains and lordship of Torate. It is on a great and high mountain, and at its foot and on the top of it is a flat space of half a league, with large trees, and a monastery with great revenues (as they say) named Hallelujah, containing many friars. They say that it bears this name, because in the commencement of Christianity in this country, when St. Mary of Syon was built in Aquaxumo, this monastery was built next. They say that they did not know then what they ought to pray or to chaunt, and that there was here a devout father who kept vigils, and commended himself to God at night, and this devout man affirmed that he heard the angels in heaven, who sung Hallelujah, and that from this the custom remained in this country that all the masses commenced with Hallelujah, and so this monastery is called by name Hallelujah. And if in that time that friar was good and devout, now, those who are here, have the reputation of being great robbers. The hill and range on which this monastery stands is entirely surrounded by dry channels, which only have water after the thunder showers for a space of two or three leagues. In another mountain in the same lordship of Torate, is another great monastery, but not so great as that of Hallelujah, and they say that it has good friars, they also say that they are not good friends with the others, because they have a bad reputation. Returning to our road, at a distance of three leagues from the town of Aquaxumo, there is another monastery on another hill, this is named St. John. Further on, a distance of two leagues, there is another monastery which is named Abbagarima. They say that this Abbagarima was king of Greece, and that he left his kingdom, and came to do penance, and there ended his life in sanctity. There is behind his chapel a cave very convenient for doing penance, and they say that he abode there. They say that this king works many miracles: we came here on the day of his feast, and there were here more than three thousand cripples, blind men and lepers. This monastery is between three peaks, almost on the side of one of them, and it seems as though it would fall into the hollow where they say he did penance. They descend into it by a ladder, and bring out of it earth like gravel, or soft stone, and they carry it away and hang it to the necks of the sick in rags. (They say that some have received health.) I asked about the revenue of this monastery, the friars told me it had a revenue of sixteen horses, and besides, some endowments of provisions. It is a small monastery of few friars and small revenues, and at the foot of it they sow much garlic; there are between the peaks, large tilled fields, and it has an infinite number of very good vineyards, they make much raisins of them: they come in very early, they begin in January and end in March.

CAP. XLI.--_How we departed from the church and houses of St.
Michael, and went to Bacinete, and from there to Maluc; and of
the monasteries which are near it._

We went away from the Church of St. Michael, with the country people who carried our baggage, and went to sleep at a town named Angueha, at a Beteneguz, which means a king’s house, as I have already said various times. And already in other towns we had halted in houses like these: no one uses them, except the lords of the country who at times hold the authority of the Prester John. They respect these houses so much that their doors are always open, and no one touches anything there, nor enters within, except when the lord is there; and when he goes away nothing remains inside except the open doors, and sleeping couches ready for use,[64] and the place for making a fire. We departed from this place with our baggage, and travelled three or four leagues, and went to sleep on a high hill, and above a large river, which is named Abacinete,[65] and so the country and lordship is named. They said that this lordship belonged to the grandmother of the Prester John; and whilst we were there it was taken away from her, because she was on bad terms with the country. This lordship lies in the kingdom of Tigrimahom, and it is a very populous country in all parts, and fertile, a country of mountains and rivers; all the towns are on heights, and away from the roads: this they do on account of the travellers, who take from them by force whatever they have. The people who carried our baggage made a great fence of thorny bushes for us, and for the mules, which was to defend us from the wild beasts; however, we neither heard nor perceived anything at night. We set out from this place, and went to sleep at a town which is named Maluche, which may be two leagues from where we had slept. This town was surrounded by very beautiful tilled fields of wheat, barley, and millet, the best and thickest we had seen yet. Close to this town is a very high mountain, not very broad at the foot, for it is as broad at the top as it is at the bottom, for it is all scarped like a wall, of sheer cliff, all bare, without any crops or verdure of anything. It makes like three divisions; two at the ends are pointed, that of the middle flat. In one of the pointed divisions, that is, ascending to the summit from the bottom, there is a monastery of Our Lady, named Abbamata. They say that they are friars leading a good life. The order of friars is all one and the same in all the dominions of Prester John. It is all of St. Anthony of the Wilderness, and from this proceeds another order, which they name _estefarruz_.[66] These hold the others as bad, and say that they burn many on account of there being many heresies among them, such as their not adoring the cross. These are the people who make the crosses which all the clergy and friars carry in their hands, and the laity at their necks, and their opinion is that we have only one cross to adore, and that it is that on which Jesus Christ suffered, and that the crosses which they make, and which other men make, are not to be adored, because they are the work of men’s hands; and there are other heresies which they say, hold, and do. Looking at this monastery where it appears in sight, it seems like a league. I wished to go there; they told me not to go, as it was a day’s journey, and that they could not go there except by clinging on with the hands, and otherwise it was not possible to go there. On the hill in the middle, which is like a table, there is another house of Our Lady, to which they say much devout visitation is made. On the other peak is a house of Holy Cross; it is a further distance of a league and a half or two leagues. On another hill, which is also scarped, like that of Abbamata, there is another monastery, which is named St. John. There is nothing on the top of this hill but the monastery and houses of the friars, without any verdure, as it appears to sight from below; and its officials live at the foot of the hill in fertile lands, and send thence what is necessary to those who live in the monastery. Already in these lands a great difference is seen from the lands left behind. In the countries and kingdom of the Barnagais, and in the commencement of that of the Tigrimahom, there are many beggars, cripples, blind men, and poor people; in this country there are not so many. The men wear different costumes; so also the women who are married or living with men. Here they wear wrapped round them dark coloured woollen stuffs, with large fringes of the same stuff, and they do not wear diadems[67] on their heads like those of the Barnagais. The girls go from bad to worse; there are women of twenty or twenty-five years old, who have the breasts coming to their waists, and their body bare and gaily covered with little beads. Some of the women of full size and age wear a sheep skin suspended to their shoulder, without its covering more than one side. In the parts of Portugal and Spain people marry for love, and on account of seeing beautiful faces, and the things inside are hidden from them; in this country they can well marry on account of seeing everything quite certain.

CAP. XLII.--_Of the animals which are in the country, and how we
turned back to where the ambassador was._

There are in this country tigers and other animals, which at night kill the cows, mules and asses, in the closed towns, which they did not do in the kingdom of the Barnagais which we had left behind. We departed from this place[68] on the 6th of August of 1520, and returned back to where we had left the ambassador, who was lodged by order of the Tigrimahom, and much to his satisfaction, with all the Portuguese who had started with him from Temei, a country in the kingdom of the Barnagais. In the said place a great lord was lodged, by order of the Tigrimahom, in order to protect and provide for the ambassador; and likewise other gentlemen were lodged in towns within sight of this, and many others who accompanied the Tigrimahom. He was lodged in a Beteneguz, and the ambassador was at the distance of a league from that place. On the day that we arrived the Tigrimahom sent to summon the ambassador; and he went at once, and all the Portuguese went with him. When we arrived at the Beteneguz where he was, they told us that he was in the church, he and his wife, to receive the Communion; and this was an hour before sunset, which is the hour for saying mass on fast days. We went towards the church, and met with him on the way. Each came on his mule, with very good state, like great gentlemen as they are; so they came accompanied by many great lords. This Tigrimahom is an old man, of a good and reverend presence: his wife came entirely covered up with blue cotton stuffs; we did not see either her face or her body, because it was all covered up. As soon as we came up to him, he asked me for a cross which I carried in my hand, and he kissed it and ordered it to be given to his wife to kiss it; she kissed it through her wrapper, and received us with a good welcome. This Tigrimahom keeps a very large household, both of men and women, and great state, in a great measure grander than the Barnagais. The ambassador and those that were with him told us that they had received great honour and hospitable reception from the Tigrimahom, both in favour and provisions. It is but a short time that this Tigrimahom has held this lordship, and as yet, he has not finished visiting all his lands which are under his orders and rule, and also those who have the title of kings, as well as the others underneath them in rank. The Prester John deposes them and appoints them whenever he pleases, with or without cause; and on this account there is no ill humour here, and if there is any it is secret, because in this period that we remained in this country I saw great lords turned out of their lordships, and others put into them, and I saw them together, and they appeared to be good friends. (God knows their hearts.) And in this country, whatever happens to them, of good fortune or of loss, they say of all of it, that God does it. These great lords, who are like kings, are all tributaries of the Prester John; those of this kingdom in horses, and those of the Barnagais in brocades, silks, and some cotton cloths; and those further on from this place (as they say) are tributaries in gold, silk, mules, cows, and plough oxen, and other things which there are at court. The lords who are beneath these, even though they hold their lordships from the hand of Prester John, pay their tribute to the other lords; and they account for all on delivering it to the Prester. The lands are so populous that the revenues cannot but be large; and these lords, even though they receive their revenues, eat at the cost of the people and the poor.

CAP. XLIII.--_How the Tigrimahom being about to travel, the
ambassador asked him to despatch him, and it was not granted to
him, and the ambassador sent him certain things, and he gave him
equipment, and we went to a monastery, where the friars gave
thanks to God._

As the Tigrimahom was about to set out for other countries we went to take leave of him, and ask him to give us a good equipment for our journey, and to this he answered us saying: that the goods which we were taking to the Prester John he would have them taken to him, and that our own goods which were our clothes, and pepper and cloths for our provisions, that we should take charge of them, and with this he dismissed us and went his way, and we went to where we were lodged. Seeing that we could not travel with so much baggage, we agreed to send again to the Tigrimahom, and Jorge D’Abreu and Mestre Joam went and took to him certain goods, that is to say, a rich dagger and a sword furnished with a velvet scabbard and gilt ends. There came a message that they should carry all our goods, and that in all his lands they should give us bread, wine, and meat to eat. As soon as this message arrived, the same day we departed, which was the 9th of August. We went to sleep at some small hamlets, fenced in like those we had passed from fear of the tigers. On the night that we slept here, when it was about two hours of the night, a little more or less, on two men of the country going outside of a yard the tigers attacked them, and wounded one of them in the leg. God protected him and we who hastened to him, because certainly they would have killed him, as they are such pestilent animals. In this country there are villages of Moors, separated from the Christians; they say that they pay much tribute to the lords of the country in gold and silk stuffs. They do not serve in the general services like the Christians; they have not got mosques, because they do not allow them to build or possess them. All these countries are great pasture lands, like those left behind, but not less of tilled land and mountain ridges (not very high), but rather undulating plains. From these small villages we went a distance of four leagues to sleep at another small village, and a little before coming to it we saw on the left hand on a high hill much green grass and woods, in which is another monastery of St. John, like the one seen before. They say that it is a monastery of many friars and much revenue. Close to the village where we halted is a church of St. George, a very well arranged building, almost in the fashion of our churches, small and vaulted, its paintings very well executed, that is, of apostles, patriarchs, prophets, Elias and Enoch. Ten priests and friars officiate in it. Up to this time we have not met with a church ruled by clergy, in which there are not friars, and in monasteries no priest. In truth the friars behave more honestly in their habits, and the priests behave as laymen, except that their lives are more honest. In the fairs priests and friars are all the same, and they are the merchants. Across this church of St. George, towards the east, at the foot of a mountain about a league from this church, there is a monastery on a river, named Paraclitos, which amongst us means Holy Ghost. There will be in it twenty or twenty-five friars, the house is very devout, and so the friars appear to be. When we came there, they gave great thanks to God for their having seen Christians of another country and language who had never come before: they showed us all their affairs. The house of the monastery is vaulted and small, and well painted, its cloisters and cells very well arranged, better than we had yet seen in this country. It has very good vegetable gardens, with many cabbages, garlic, onions, and other species of vegetables, many lemons, limes, citrons, peaches, grapes, figs, common nuts, and figs of India; many tall cypresses, and many other fruit trees and plants. After we had seen all, the friars were at their wits’ end, because it was Saturday, and they could not gather anything to give us, asking us to pardon them, and that they would give us of what they had in the house. Then they gave us dry garlic and lemons; last of all they took us to the refectory, and there gave us to eat boiled cabbage of the day before, hashed and salted, and mixed with garlic, without any other sauce, only boiled with water and salt. They gave us, besides, two rolls, one of wheat, the other of barley, and a jar of the beverage of the country, which they call _cana_, and it is made of millet. They gave it all with great good will, and we likewise received it in the same manner, giving thanks to God as they did. At a distance of two leagues from this place where we halted, there is a town named Agroo, where the Tigrimahom has a Beteneguz, to which we went on various occasions. Here there is a house of Our Lady, made in a rock, hewn and wrought with the pickaxe, very well constructed, with three naves, and their supports made of the rock itself. The principal chapel, the sacristy, and the altar, all is of the rock itself, and the principal doorway, with its supports, which could not be better if made of pieces. It has not got side doors, because both sides are of hewn rock, or of living rock. It is a beautiful thing, and to be rejoiced at to see, and hear the chaunt in it and the grand tone it gives. Mention of bells may be dispensed with, since they are all of stone, drums and cymbals generally and specially.

CAP. XLIV.--_How we went to the town of Dangugui, and Abefete,
and how Balgada Robel came to visit us, and the service which he
brought, and of the salt which is in the country._

On the 13th of August we set out from this place, where we had kept Saturday and Sunday, and went to stop at a town named Dangugui. In this town there is a well built church, its naves very well constructed upon very thick stone supports, well hewn. The patron of this church is named Quiricos, who amongst us is named Quirici.[69] The town is a very good one, situated close to a pretty river, and they say that it has the privilege that no one may enter it on horseback; but on a mule they may. From here we went to sleep at some very bad villages, and we went to sleep without supper and apart, because we were not able to do otherwise. Next day, in the morning, we set out, and went quickly to a town named Belete, where there was a Beteneguz. Whilst we were there a great gentleman arrived named Robel, and his lordship is named Balgada,[70] and so his appellation and title is Balgada Robel. He brought with him many people on horseback, and mules and horses, and led mules for state and drums. This gentleman is subject to the Tigrimahom. This gentleman sent to beg the ambassador to come and speak to him outside of the Beteneguz and of his lodgings, because he could not go to him there without the Tigrimahom’s being there; because, as I have already written, they respect these Betes very much, which remain with open doors, and no one enters them, saying that it is forbidden under pain of death for any one to enter any Beteneguz without the lord being there who rules the country in the name of the Prester John. When this message arrived, the ambassador sent to tell him that he had come a distance of five thousand leagues, and whoever wished to see him might come to his lodgings, for he was not going to go out of them. Upon this, the gentleman sent a cow and a large jar of honey, white as snow and hard as stone, and sent word that for an interview[71] with the ambassador he would come to the Beteneguz, and that by reason of foreign Christians he would be excused the penalty. On arriving close to the Bete the rain was so heavy that it suited him to enter inside, and he remained talking to the ambassador and with all of us about our coming, and of the Christianity of our countries, which are unknown to them. After that he spoke of the wars that they had with the Moors, who divided with them the countries towards the sea, and that they never ceased warring; and he gave a very good mule for a sword, and the ambassador gave him a helmet. We learned afterwards at court, on the many occasions that we there saw this gentleman, that he was a very great warrior, and was never free from wars, as they related to us, and that he was very fortunate. His lands go to the south along our road, and on the east lie towards the Red Sea, and part of them reach the road by which we were travelling; and they say it is a great lordship. There is in it the best thing there is in Ethiopia, that is the salt, which in all the country is current as money, both in the kingdoms and dominions of the Prester and in the kingdoms of the Moors and Gentiles, and they say that it goes as far as Manicongo. This salt is of stone taken from the mountain (as they say), and it comes in the shape of bricks. Each stone is a span and a half in length, and four fingers in width and three in thickness, and so it goes loaded on beasts like faggots. They say that in the place where the salt is collected a hundred and twenty or a hundred and thirty stones are worth a drachm, and the drachin (as I have already said) is worth three hundred reals, according to our account. Then, at a market which is in our road, at a town named Corcora, which is about a day’s journey from the place where the salt is got, it already is worth five or six stones less, and so it[72] goes on diminishing from market to market. When it arrives at court, six or seven stones are worth a drachm; I have seen them at five to the drachm when it was winter. The salt is very cheap where it is got, and very dear at the court, because it does not travel easily. They say that entering into Damute they get a good slave for three or four stones, and that on reaching the countries of the slaves they say they get a slave for a stone, and almost for a stone its weight in gold. We met on this road three or four hundred animals, in herds, laden with salt, and in the same way others going empty to fetch salt. They say that these belong to great lords, who all send them to make a journey each year for their expenses at court. One meets other files of twenty or thirty beasts (these are like those of muleteers); in other parts one meets men laden with salt, which they carry for themselves, and others in order to make profit from fair to fair. So it is worth and current as money, and whoever carries it finds all that he requires.

CAP. XLV.--_How we departed, and our baggage before us, and how
a captain of the Tigrimahom who conducted us was frightened by a
friar who came in search of us._

We departed from this Beteneguz to some very vile places in a mountain named Benacel; and the next day we set out, and our baggage went on in front, and we found it set down in the middle of a plain where there was much water. When we arrived, it grieved us to see our goods thus. Whilst we were thus at our wits’ end, there came up four or five men on mules, and ten or twelve men on foot with them; amongst them came a friar, and as soon as this friar came up he at once seized the captain by the head, who had charge of our baggage, and gave him buffets. We, on seeing this, all ran up to him to know for what reason he did that. The ambassador, seeing the captain covered with blood, laid hold of the friar by the breast, and was going to strike him, and I do not know whether he did strike him. I and all those who came up with him carried their arms ready, and almost at the breast of the friar. It availed him that he spoke a little Italian, because Jorge d’Abreu was there who understood it a little; and if this had not been the case, and I, who saw his hood and said that he was a friar, he would not have got off well. This matter having been pacified, the friar told how he had come by order of the Prester John to cause our luggage to be carried, and that he had been amazed at that captain, and what he had done to him he did it on account of the bad equipment which he was giving us. The ambassador answered that those buffets had not been given to the captain, but to him, since he had given them in his presence, and that he felt it much. All having been restored to peace, the friar said that he had to go forward on the road by which we had been travelling, to the house of the Balgada Robel, the gentleman we had left behind, and that from him and from his house he would bring mules and camels to carry our baggage, and that we should go and wait for him at a Beteneguz which was at a distance of half a day’s journey from this place. (This is the friar who is going as ambassador to Portugal.) We departed on our way, and went to sleep at a small village where there is a good church; its patron is Quercos. At night we thought we should have been eaten by the tigers. On the following day we went forward little more than half a league to the Beteneguz which the friar had told us of: this is at a town called Corcora, with very good houses for resting in, and a very good church. Here we remained Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, waiting for the friar. They told us that to the eastward from this place there was a large monastery named Nazareth; they say it is one of large revenues and many friars, and that there are in it abundance of grapes, peaches, and other fruits; and they brought us small nuts from it. They say that to the westward, which is towards the Nile, there are great mines of silver, and that they do not know how to get it out, nor to profit by it.

CAP. XLVI.--_How we departed from the town of Corcora, and of
the luxuriant country through which we travelled, and of another
which was rough, in which we lost one another at night, and how
the tigers fought us._

On the morning of Tuesday, seeing that the friar did not come, we commenced our journey for the space of two leagues up a river which was very pretty with verdure, and trees without fruit; on either side were very high slopes of mountains, with much tillage of wheat and barley, and beautiful wild olive trees which looked like new olive trees, because they are frequently pruned and cut to allow of wheat and barley growing. In the middle of this valley is a handsome church, house of Our Lady. It has around it small houses for the priests, and twelve cypress trees, the highest and thickest that could be mentioned, and many other trees. Close to the principal door there is a very graceful fountain, and around the church large fields (but all irrigated), which are sown all the year round with all sorts of seed, that is to say, wheat, barley, millet, grain, lentils, peas, beans, tafo, daguza,[73] and as many other vegetables as there are in the country, some sown, others green, others ripe, others reaped, and others threshed. At the head of this valley there is a very high ascent, and before sighting it there is a church which has no other population except a very few houses for the priests; it is a very dry country. In sight of it is an old wall, in which is the form of a portal, as though in former times it guarded that pass, which guards itself by the wildness of the mountain ridge, for the people of the country say that for more than twenty leagues there is not another pass from one side to the other: it fully appears to be so from the many people who flock hither. Descending this mountain by another descent, such as was the ascent, we came at last to a great plain of much extensive tillage of seed crops for all the year (like those behind), and much pasture grass. At the entrance of this plain there is a large and handsome church, its patron Quercos, accompanied by good houses for the priests, almost like an enclosed monastery, and then a Beteneguz, and a large town above it. This plain or valley is about two leagues in length, and half a league wide, and on either side very high mountain ranges. At the feet of the hills, on both sides, there are many small towns and churches in them. Among these churches there are two monasteries, one at one end, the other at the other. One is of Holy Cross, the other of St. John. Both are small, and of few friars, each has no more than ten or twelve friars. In this plain we began to change to a new feature of the country, entering a mountain range not so much high as deep. We passed part of the night separated from one another. In the party where the ambassador went there were four, and I was with them, in the other there were two, and the baggage was amongst those cliffs, as it pleased God, with one man alone. In the direction in which I was going we saw fire outside of the valleys,[74] and as it was night it seemed to be near, it was more than two leagues off. While we were going in its direction so many tigers followed us that it was a thing not to be believed, and if we approached near any bushes they came so close to us that at close quarters[75] one might have struck them with a lance. In our company there was not more than one lance, all the others carried their swords drawn, and I, who did not bear any, went in the midst of them. Following the fire we arrived close to a wood, and we said, if we enter the wood we shall be devoured by these tigers, let us turn back to the tilled land, and sleep there. So we halted on the cleanest place we found, in the middle of a ploughed field, and fastened the mules all together. The companions, of their goodness, said to me: Father do you sleep, and we will watch over the mules with drawn swords; and so they did. On the next day, at two hours after midday, we all came together again with the ambassador; and even then not all, and we came together in a town which was about two leagues from where we slept, which is called Manadel. This town is one of about a thousand inhabitants, all Moors tributary to Prester John. At one end, as if apart, there live twenty or thirty Christians, who abide here with their wives, and these Christians receive dues as toll. And because I said that the nature of the country had changed, I say that it was two months since we began to travel, and it was always winter, but in this country which we were entering, and where we lost ourselves, it was not winter; rather indeed it was a hot summer. This is one of the countries, that is to say, of the three that I named before in Chapter XXV, where it is winter in February, March, and April, and this country is named Dobaa. These lands which have the winter season changed are low lands lying beneath the mountains. The size of this country of Dobaa is five long days’ journey in length; I do not know what its width may be, because it enters far into the country of the Moors, so that I could not learn it. In this country there are very beautiful cows, which cannot be numbered or reckoned, and of the largest that can be found in the world. Before we reached this town of Manadeley, on an uncultivated mountain, we heard great shouts: we went up to the bushes and found there many Christian people, with their tents pitched, and on our asking them why they were there, they replied that they were entreating the mercy of God that He might give them water, for they were losing their flocks, and were not sowing their millet nor any other seed, with the drought. Their cry was “Zio mazera Christus”,[76] which means: “Christ God have mercy upon us.” This town of Manadeley is a town of very great trade, like a great city or seaport. Here they find all kinds of merchandise that there is in the world, and merchants of all nations, also all the languages of the Moors, from Giada, from Morocco, Fez, Bugia, Tunis, Turks, Roumys, Greeks, Moors of India, Ormuz, and Cairo, also they bring merchandise from all parts. While we were in this country the Moors, inhabitants of this town, were complaining, saying that the Prester John had by force levied upon them a thousand ouquias of gold, saying that he borrowed them to trade with, and that each year they were to give him another thousand ouquias profit, and that his own thousand should always remain alive. The natives and dwellers in the city said that if it were not for the breeding of flocks they would go away from the country. (Foreigners have nothing to do with this.) They also say that besides this if the Prester John took away from them the Tigrimahom to whom this country belonged he would give them another plunderer. So they complain that they are unable to live (according as they say). In this town a great fair is held on Tuesday of each week, of as many things as can be named, and of an infinite number of people from the neighbouring districts; and it is a fair every day in the square, for all that merchants require to do.

CAP. XLVII.--_How the friar reached us in this town, and then we
set out on our way to a town named Farso: of the crops which are
gathered in it, and of the bread they eat, and wine they drink._

While we were in this town of Manadeley, half forgetting the friar, there reached us a message that he was coming, and was bringing mules and camels to conduct us. Immediately some of us went out to receive him with joy and pleasure, having forgotten our first meeting. As soon as he arrived we at once departed, and we had not yet gone half a league, and then after another half league had been traversed we did not travel further. We went to sleep at a Beteneguz, which is in a mountain. Next day we travelled a distance of two leagues, and went to sleep at a large town of Christians, which may have near a thousand inhabitants: it is named Farso. There are more than a hundred priests and friars in the church of this town, and as many nuns: they have not got a monastery, they lodge about the town like laywomen. The friars are almost set apart in two courts, in which are a number of cottages, an unsubstantial matter, so great is the number of these friars, priests, and nuns, and the other people who are short of room. In other churches it is always the custom to give the communion before the door of the church, and these priests go and give the communion out of its place, in an open space belonging to the church, in a tent of silk which they pitch there, very well arranged, and there they carry on their solemnity of music with their drums and tambourines, and when they give the communion it is given as they do in other churches, where it is the custom to give it at the church door, and in no other place. Two nights that we slept in this town the nuns came to wash our feet, and drank of the water after they had washed them, and they washed their face with it, saying that we were holy christians of Jerusalem. At this town there is much tillage of all kinds. Here we saw plots of coriander, like those of wheat, and no less of a seed which is called _nugo_, which is like pampilhos,[77] and with their heads, after they are quite ripe and dry, they make oil. Not this time, but another that we came here, when we had more knowledge of the country, and the people of the country had more knowledge of us, I heard inhabitants of this town say that in that year they had gathered so much crops of all kinds, that if it were not for the worm, it would have been abundance for ten years. And because I was amazed, they said to me: Honoured guest, do not be amazed, because in the years that we harvest little we gather enough for three years’ plenty in the country; and if it were not for the multitude of locusts and the hail, which sometimes do great damage, we should not sow the half of what we sow, because so much remains that it cannot be believed, so it is sowing wheat, or barley, lentils, pulse, or any other seed. And we sow so much with the hope that even if each of those said plagues should come, some would be spoiled, and some would remain, and if all was spoiled the year before is in such manner abundant that we have no scarcity. This town is almost in a valley, and above it are two hills, and here we kept a Saturday and a Sunday. We used to go up to these hills in the afternoons, to see the beautiful herds of cows that were collected on the skirts of the town, and of the hills. Those of our company guessed[78] them at fifty thousand cows. I do not say a larger number, and yet the multitude there is cannot be believed. The language of this country is like that we had passed, and here begins the language of the kingdom of Angote, which is named Angutinha, and the country also. This town is the frontier of the kingdom of the Tigrimahom, as far as the Moors who are named the Dobas. After we had passed twice through this district (as I said above), there happened a good thing in it. It has two high hills, and they always have watchmen on them, because further on from this is country of the Moors. There are great plains, although wooded, and they extend quite two leagues, and then are the mountain ranges in which the Moors live. The watchmen saw the Moors come, and they emptied the place and fled away; the Moors came and plundered the provisions which they found, and took away what they could or chose. The watchmen were ashamed of having run away, and communicated with several neighbouring towns to the effect that if they saw them make signals they should come to their assistance, because they had determined to await the Moors if they should return there. These did not long delay returning, the people of the place made their signals, many people flocked to them, and came into the field against the Moors. God was pleased to assist the Christians, who killed eight hundred Moors, and of the Christians there died five. The Christians cut off the heads of all the Moors, and went and stuck them on trees half a league from there, along the great roads by which all people pass, and they sent the shields and javelins of all the dead Moors to the Prester John (this was whilst we were at court). And on our coming on our return from there we found the heads suspended to the trees along the road, as has been said: and we felt fear and disgust at passing under them. In all this country they make bread of any grain, as with wheat, barley, maize, pulse, peas, lentils, small beans, beans, linseed, and teff; they also make wine from many of these seeds: and the wine of honey is much the best of all. As the common people gave us victuals, since the friar found us, by order of the Prester John, they gave us of this bread, and as it was not of wheat, we could not eat it, also they brought it at unseasonable hours, because in all this country it is the custom to eat only once a day, and that is at night. Besides this their food is raw meat, and they make a sauce for it with cowdung, and that we did not eat: nor of the bread, unless it was of wheat, or at least of peas. Of the flesh we ordered our slaves to prepare food for us, until the friar came to adopt our custom, and to know our wishes, and endeavoured to give us fowls, mutton and beef, boiled or roasted, this done by our slaves.

CAP. XLVIII.--_How we departed from the town of Farso, well
prepared, because we had to pass the skirt of the country of the
Moors._