We return to our journey and road[117]. We went along the mountains and by a river, and above it a very pretty country, with much millet and other grains of the country, and yet they had not wheat. There was much population on the skirts of the mountains on either side of the river, and coming to the end of the valley, we left the river, and began to find a country of thickets and stones: not mountainous, but of small valleys, and other lands of much wheat, barley, and the other vegetables which the country produces. Here the kingdom of Augote ends, and the kingdom of Amara begins. Here towards the East, and in the kingdom of Amara, there is a great lake where we halted, and this lake or lagoon is quite three leagues long, and more than a league wide. This lake has in the middle a small island, on which is a monastery of St. Stephen with many friars. This monastery has many lemons, oranges, and citrons. They go to and from this monastery with a boat of reeds, with four large calabashes,[118] because they do not know how to build boats. These which I call reeds are bulrushes[119] with which they make mats in Portugal. This boat or ferrying is conducted in this manner: they take four pieces of wood and place them around those bulrushes, which are well arranged, and other four planks upon the bulrushes at right angles to the others, and they separate them well, and at each corner they place a great calabash, and so pass over on it. This lake does not run except in winter with the excess of water: they say that it pours out at two ends. There are in this lake very large animals which they call in this country gomaras;[120] they say that they are sea horses. There is also a fish, properly a conger, and it is very large. It has the ugliest head that could be described, and formed like a large toad, and the skin on its head looks like the skin of dog-fish:[121] the body is very smooth like the conger, and it is the fattest and most savoury fish that could be found in the world. This lake has large villages all round, and all of them come down to the water. It is said that there are round this lake fifteen Shumats or captaincies, all within a space of two or three leagues. There are around good lands of wheat and barley. Of these lakes we saw many in this country, and this is the largest I saw.

From here we travelled quite four leagues through bushes and muddy places, a country of much millet, and well watered. At the end of the journey and much overtired, the friar wished to take the ambassador to some very high mountains to halt and sleep. The ambassador answered him, that he had not come to go all round countries, but to travel by straight roads; and that with regard to food, that he brought enough to buy it, either with gold or silver, or pepper, and cloths of the King of Portugal, which his captain-major had given us, and that on the roads where we halted outside the towns they brought us provisions, if he, the friar, did not take them by force from those that brought them, and from fear of him they did not bring them. We remained on the road halted in the open air, and the friar with his men went up the mountain; and at midnight he sent us bread and wine. Friday we set out from the place where we slept thus, and the friar did not come nor any message from him, nor people for the baggage, When we had gone the distance of a league, a servant of the friar reached us, and said that we should not go beyond the first town which was a good one for halting at Saturday and Sunday: and this we did. As soon as we arrived at this first town, and saw that it was good, we did not wish to pass it. This town is named the Acel; it is situated on a small hill between two rivers and is good land, there were here many millet fields, and all other grain crops and wheat. It is a very good town, and they hold a great fair in it. Beyond one of the rivers there is a large town of Moors, rich with great trade of slaves, silks and all other kinds of merchandise. It is like the town of Manadeley in the territory of Tigrimahom. The Moors of this place also say that they pay to the Prester very heavy tribute like the others. Here there is great intercourse between the Christians and Moors, because the Christians and Christian women carry water to the Moors and wash their clothes. The Christian women go to the town of the Moors, which is separate and alone, from which we formed a bad opinion. We stayed Saturday and Sunday in a field at the foot of the town, where our people were all night with their lances, keeping off the tigers which fought with us energetically, that is to say, with the mules, and our people did not sleep all night. Here there were disputes between Jorge d’Abreu and the ambassador about a very small matter.

On Monday we travelled over flat country between mountains which were very populous and much cultivated, for a distance of two leagues. We ascended a very high mountain without cliffs or stones or bushes, all taken advantage of for tillage; and on the summit of this mountain we passed our midday rest, separated from one another, on account of the quarrels which had taken place in Acel, at the foot of some small bushes. From this place one could see much land at a great distance; there sat down with me ten or twelve respectable men, and the interpreter, was with us, and the talk was about the height of this mountain on which we were, and of the many countries we saw. They showed me the mountain where the princes were, and which I have mentioned before; it seemed to be three or four leagues from here: its scarped rock, like that further back, ran to such a length towards the Nile, that we could not sight the end of it. And the mountain where we were was so high that that of the princes seemed to be commanded by it. Here they related to me more fully the numerous guards and restrictions over these princes, and the great abundance they had of provisions and clothes. And because from here one could discern a very extensive view as far as the eyes could see towards the West, I asked what countries went in that direction, and if they all belonged to Prester John. They told me that for a month’s journey in that direction were the dominions of the Prester; after that, one entered mountains and deserts, and after them very wretched people, very black and very bad. In his opinion, these lasted for a distance of fifteen days’ journey, and when these were finished, there appeared white Moors of the kingdom of Tunis. (And I am not surprised, because it is from Tunis that the Kafilas come to Cairo and to this country of the Prester.) They bring white burnooses, but not good ones, and other merchandise. They also told me that on this mountain was divided the country of the millet from that of the wheat, and that further on we should not find more millet, but wheat and barley.

Here we travelled for three leagues on level roads, always on this mountain height, all through fields of wheat and thin barley. We met with another lake like the former one, although not so large, and yet it was about a league in length, and half a league in breadth. This lake has a small stream flowing out of it, and no water entering it except that from the hills when it rains. It seems to be of great depth, surrounded by strong rushes. We went to sleep in a great field of grass, where the mosquitoes were near killing us. These fields are not taken advantage of except for pasture, as they are rather marshy, and the people do not know how to draw off the water at the feet of the mountains from the tilled lands. There were many and large towns, and much tillage of wheat and barley. From here we took our road through very large valleys, and yet they had very poor cultivation of wheat and barley; some were yellow, as though dying from the water, and others which were dying of drought, and so we were confused with the perishing of these crops. We began to enter here into a country where by day there was great heat, and at night great cold. In this country ordinary men wear round them a strip of ox-hide; these ordinary persons are nearly all of them, and very few are the special ones: and the women likewise wear a cloth a little bit bigger than that of the men, and here cover what they can of what God has given them; the rest shows. The women wear their hair in two parts or in two lengths; with the one the hair comes down to the shoulders, with the other it is brought over the ears to the top of the head. They say that these lands belong to the Prester’s trumpeters. A little apart from the road there is on the right hand side a large grove at the foot of a mountain, and there there is a large church of many canons; it is said that it was built by a king who lies there. Passing through great mountain ranges this day, we went to sleep outside of all of them at the entrance of some beautiful plains. On the 26th of September in the morning we travelled through these plains a distance of a league; we arrived at a very large church, which is named Macham[122] Selasem which means the Trinity. We came later to this church with the Prester John to transfer there the bones of his father. This church is surrounded by two enclosures, one of a well built high wall, and another of palisades of strong wood. This which is of palisades is outside, and of the circumference of half a league. We were going very joyfully to see this church which the friar vaunted very much, and we slept here to carry out our desire, but we did not see it because they did not let us enter, and it was in this way. When we were a good crossbow shot from the stockade enclosure, there came to us men in great haste telling us to dismount; this we did at once, knowing that it is their custom to dismount when they are near churches, and out of reverence for this which is a great one, it appeared to us that they dismounted further off. Going on foot and arriving close to the door of the wooden enclosure, there were there a great many men who would not let us go in. Not only us, but also the friar who brought us, for they put their hands on his breast, saying that they had not leave to let us come in. It did not avail us to say that we were Christians, the tumult was so great, that it almost came to a fight. We went away from them, and mounted and went our way: and when we were already a good way from the church, they came running after us, asking us to turn back, and that they would let us enter, as they now had got leave. Then we did not choose to turn back, so this time we did not see the church or its construction. The plain in which this church stands and its situation are as follows: its enclosures are on an open hill, and all round is a plain; on one side it is a league in extent, in another direction the plain extends two leagues, in another three, and in another direction below, which is towards the south, four or five leagues: it is a wonderful country, there is not a span that is not made use of, and sown with all sorts of seed, except millet, which they have not got. This plain has fresh crops all the year round, one gathered in and another sown. At the back of this church runs a pretty river, open and without any trees, and water comes from it to irrigate a great part of the tilled lands. Other conduits of water descend from the mountains, so that these fields are all irrigated. In these plains there are many large houses standing apart, like farm houses, and there are small villages, and in them churches, because, though there is a king’s church, the cultivators are not deprived of churches.

We continued our journey through these plains, which appeared as I have described, and issuing from them, that is, from those we had seen, we entered into others still wider, and yet not so well provided with tillage: they appeared to be soaked with water like marshes;[123] there are great pastures in them, and also great lakes, and from them overflow the waters which make the marshes. There are very many herds, both cows and sheep (there are no goats here). There are very many villages distant from the road, and in all of them churches. We travelled through these plains quite ten or twelve leagues towards the East,[124] where they showed us a great church, which they said was of St. George, in which lies the grandfather of this Prester John (I will speak of it). When we were in it they said that the former kings coming from the kingdoms of the Barnagais and Tigrimahom, where their origin was, increasing their dominions in these countries of the gentiles, and coming through the kingdom of Angote to this kingdom of Amara, made a great stay and residence in it. And they made in it a great establishment of churches for their tombs, and endowed each one with large revenues. To that church which King Nahu built, the father of this Prester who now lives, he ended by giving as an endowment the whole of this kingdom, without one span remaining which does not belong to churches, and he ended by giving it to the church of Macham Selasem, and he began and his son ended. These churches of the kings do not prevent those of the cultivators, which are in infinite number. A man may travel fully fifteen days through the lands of Macham Selasem, and there is not in all this kingdom a single monastery that we saw or heard speak of, after all the number of them in the countries left behind, but all are churches of canons, and those of the cultivators of priests. This kingdom now has no lordship; it used to have its title, and it was Amara tafila, which means King of Amara, like as also Xoa tafila means King of Xoa. There was this lordship here until the remains of Nahu were removed to the church of Macham Selacem, at which the Portuguese were present; then the going and confirming the dotation to the church was concluded, and the Prester set aside the Amara tafila that there was till then, and gave the lordships to the churches, that is to say, to the ancient ones as they had held them. As his father had left them to this church of Macham Selasem, all the canons and priests of these churches and of all the others of the other kingdoms and lordships left behind, and further on, serve the Prester in all services except in wars. And the administration of justice is all one, both of canons and of priests and friars. So the friar who conducted us bore himself with one and all, as to carrying our baggage, and so they one and all obeyed him, (as has been said) and he ordered priests and friars to be flogged. Going through these great plains, when nothing else appeared in sight, it seemed to us that we were now at sea[125] and out of the mountains. We came to stay Saturday and Sunday, which was the last day of September, at a small village of Our Lady, very poor and ill kept, close to which church towards the east commence most wild mountains and deep fosses descending to the greatest abysses men ever saw; nor could their depth be believed, like as the mountains where the Israelites live are scarped from the top, so are these. Below they are of great width, in some places of four leagues, in others five, in others about three. (This in our opinion.) They say that these dykes run to the Nile, which is very far from here, and higher up we know well that they reach the country of the Moors; they say that in the parts of the Moors they are not so precipitous. At the bottom of these dykes there are many dwellings and an infinite number of apes, hairy like lions from the breast upwards.

On Monday the 1st of October 1520, we travelled on our road through level country of lakes and large pastures for a distance of three or four leagues, all along these dykes, and we went to sleep near them where we had to cross these depths. Tuesday morning we began to travel for half a league, and we arrived at some gates on a rock which divided two valleys,[126] one to the right, the other to the left hand, and so narrow near the gates that they might hold one cart and no more; with small buttresses, between which the gates shut and close from slope to slope. Going through this gate one enters at once as into a deep valley, with shale[127] on either side raised more than the height of a lance, as if the edge of the sword had made this, these slopes, and this valley. The height of these walls has a length of two games of quoits[128] of such narrowness that a man cannot go on horseback, and the mules go scraping the stirrups on both sides, and so steep that a man descends with his hands and feet, and this seems to be made artificially. Coming out of this narrow pass one travels through a loophole[129] which is about four spans wide, and from one end to the other these clefts are all shale; it is not to be believed, and I would not have believed it, if I had not seen it: and if I had not seen our mules and people pass, I would affirm that goats could not pass there in security. So we set our mules going there as if one was sending them to destruction, and we after them with hands and feet down the rock, without there being any other road. This great roughness lasts for a crossbow shot, and they call these here aqui afagi, which means death of the asses. (Here they pay dues.) We passed these gates many times, and we never passed them without finding beasts and oxen dead, which had come from below upwards and had not been able to get up the ascent. Leaving this pass, there still remains quite two leagues of road sufficiently steep and rocky, and difficult to travel over. In the middle of this descent there is a rock hollowed out at the bottom, and water falls from the top of it (there are always many beggars in this cave). Thus we descended fully two leagues until reaching a great river which is named Anecheta, which contains many fish and very large ones. From here we travelled, ascending for quite a league, until reaching a passage which sights another river, at which are other gates which now are not used; and yet the gates are there still. Those who pass these dykes and clefts come to sleep here, because they cannot go in one day from one end to the other. At this halting place[130] the friar who conducted us committed a great cruelty, as though he were not a Christian, or had done it to Moors. Because a Xuum or captain of some villages which are on a hill above the place where we were resting, did not come up so quickly with the people who lived there, he sent some men of his, and those who carried our baggage, to go and destroy for them some great bean fields which they had by the side of their houses. These men who went there brought to where we were more than a moio[131] of beans, which were their provisions in this country, because in these valleys they have nothing except millet and beans. It was a pity to see such destruction; and because we opposed him, he said that such was the justice of the country, and also each day he ordered many of those who carried our baggage to be flogged, and he took from them mules, cows, and stuffs, saying that so should be treated whoever served ill.

On Tuesday the 2nd of October we took our road through many steep rocks (as before) between which we passed very narrow and bad paths, and dangerous passes; both on one side and on the other scarped rock, a thing not to be credited. We reached the other river, a good league from where we slept; this river is great, and is named Gemaa; it also contains much fish. They say that both these rivers join together and go to the river Nile. We began to travel and ascend as great cliffs as we had descended the day before. In this ascent there will be two leagues; at the end of it are other gates, and another pass such as from aqui afagi. These gates are always shut, and all who pass through them pay dues. Neither above nor below is there any other way or passage. Outside of these gates we went to sleep at a plain which is about half a league from the gates. Already when there, nothing showed of the dykes, clefts, and cliffs which we had traversed; on the contrary, all appeared to be a plain on this side and on the further side, without there being anything in the middle, and there were five long leagues from one set of gates to the other. The kingdoms of Amara and Shoa are divided by these gates and ravines. These gates are called Badabaxa, which means new land. In these ravines and cliffs there are numerous tribes of birds, and we could not determine where they breed, nor how they could bring up their young without their fulling down from the rocks: because whoever saw it would not judge otherwise than that it was an impossible thing, according to its greatness.

On Wednesday, the 3rd of October, we travelled through plains not very far removed from the edge of the rocks and ravines, and we went to sleep on the rock itself opposite the monastery which is named Brilibanos.[132] I saw the Prester John go to this monastery three times. The first was to the burial of the head[133] of the monastery, who was named Janes, in our language Joannes, and the title of his prelacy was Ichee.[134] This Ichee of this monastery is the greatest prelate there is in these kingdoms, exclusive of the Abima Marcos, who is over all. And the Prester also went in the month in which they hold the funereal memorial which they call tescar.[135] He also went there at the end of forty days after the death of the said Ichee to choose and appoint another. They said that the deceased was a holy man, and that in life he had worked miracles, and therefore the Prester went to his burial and funereal memorial. There was among us a Portuguese, a native of Lisbon, by name Lazaro d’Andrade, who was a painter, and he lost his sight; the Prester sent to tell him to go to the tomb of this deceased man, and to wash with good faith, and that he would receive health: he went there and returned as he went. He whom they made Ichee was also held to be a man of holy life, and he had been a Moor. As he was much my friend, he related to me all his life, and told me that when he was in his sect he heard a revelation, which said to him: You are not following the path; go to the Abima Marcos, who is head of the priests of Ethiopia, and he will teach you another path. Then he came to the Abima Marcos, and related to him what he had heard, and the Abima Marcos had made him a Christian, and had taught him, and held him as a son: and therefore the Prester took this friar who had been a Moor for governor of this monastery, and he bears the name of Jacob. This Jacob also acquired the Portuguese language, and we both understood one another very well, and he wrote in his own handwriting the Gloria of the Mass, and the Creed, and Paternoster, and Ave Maria, and Apostles’ Creed, and the Salve Regina, and he knew it in Latin as well as I did. He also wrote out the Gospel of St. John, and all very well ornamented. This Jacob now remained Ichee in this monastery. Ichee means prior or abbot, and in the Tigray language, which is in the kingdoms of the Barnagais and of Tigrimahom, they say Abba for the principal father; and for the prior of the cloister who is below him, they say that there was (as I have before written) in this language a prior of the cloister who is called Gabez.[136] In the time when this happened, it was not when we were travelling, but another time when the court came here and stayed at a distance of a league and a half from the said monastery in a very large plain, because the monastery lies in the very deep ravine where we passed through the gates.

Returning to our journey; Thursday and Friday, we also travelled through plains, and not at any distance from those ravines; and we came to stop at some small houses almost under the ground. They make them in that way on account of the winds; because it is all a plain without any shelter, they also make the cattle folds underground, that the cows may be sheltered from the wind. Here there live dirty and ill clad people, they breed numerous cows, mares, mules, and fowls. Around these hamlets were the strongest and best crops of barley that we had yet seen, but there were few of them. In the tilled fields, in many places they sow three or four bushels[137] of seed in a tillage, and at the distance of a crossbow shot from there a similar quantity, and so the land is divided,[138] and all the villages had their sowed land scattered. There were not as much as six alqueires of sowing for any one cultivator or inhabitant, though the land is the best that could be mentioned, because there is no one to put it to profit. There are many birds in these plains, such as storks, wild ducks, water fowl, and birds of many kinds, because there are many lagoons, and no one knows how to catch them. This mountain is named Huaguida.

Monday, the 9th of October, we travelled through plains like the preceding ones, both of grass and tilled land, and we went to sleep at a place named Anda. Here we ate barley bread very badly made. So also we travelled on Tuesday through plains like those of the days before, and we slept close to some small villages. On Wednesday we now fell in with better land and tillage of wheat and barley, that is, crops all the year round, one gathered and another sown. This country is called Tabaguy; it is a very populous country, with large towns and great breeding of all sorts of animals. There were in this country many sick people, as of fevers, and all is left to nature, for they do not apply any other remedy, only if they have a headache they bleed the head itself: and if they have a stomach ache or pain in the back or shoulders, they apply fire, as to the beasts. For fevers they do not apply any remedy. On this Wednesday we had sight of the tents and camp of the Prester John, and we went to sleep off the road, as we were accustomed. On Thursday we travelled a short distance, and also we travelled little on Friday, and went to stay Saturday and Sunday at a small town which has a new church not yet painted, because all are painted, but not with good work. This church is named Auriata,[139] which means of the apostles, and they said that it was a king’s church. The tents are about three or four leagues from here, and from this town it is little more than half a league to the church where the Abima Marcos was lodged. On this Saturday and Sunday that we remained here there came to us three mariners, who had fled from our fleet in the port of Masua, and the friar who conducted us learning that the mariners had come to see us, was in great ill humour at it, saying, that it was not the usage of the country, when strange people came, for them to have conversation with any one before speaking to the King; and with this ill humour he returned to his tent and to his lodging. This same Saturday the friar went to see the Abigima Marcos, and brought to us from there a tray of raisins and a jar of very good grape wine. On the following Sunday one of the said mariners came again to see us, and because the friar had complained the day before of his coming, the ambassador told the mariner to go first and speak to the friar, and to tell him that he did not come for any bad purpose, but only from the great friendship that he had always had with us. The friar when he saw him ordered him to be seized and arrested, and they wanted to put him in irons if the ambassador and we had not gone to take him out of their hands, and with rough words, and above all the said friar said very complainingly that we were not to speak to any one until we had spoken to the Prester John, because such is their custom when new people arrived.

On Monday, the 17th of October, we set out, thinking that we should this day reach the court and camp, because we had gone to halt at a league from it. Then it seemed to us that they intended to take us there next day very early. While we were in this hope, there came to us a great lord, who is called by title Adugraz, which means chief major domo, he said that he was come to protect us and give us what we had need of. This gentleman told us to mount at once and come with him. We got ready, as it appeared that he was going to take us to the court: he took a turn backwards, not by the road we had come by, but he turned with us round some hills and we returned back more than a league, he telling us not to be in any ill humour, as the Prester was coming in that direction where we were going, and indeed six or seven horsemen were going in front of us on very good horses, skirmishing and amusing themselves, and a great many mules. They conducted us behind some hills, and the gentleman lodged himself in his tent, and ordered us to be lodged near him in our poor tent, such as we had brought for the journey, and ordered us to be provided with all that was necessary, and we were much put out of the way;[140] and the Prester was coming to halt near where we were. On Wednesday in the morning they brought us a large round tent, saying that the Prester John sent us that tent, and that nobody had a tent such as that except him, and the churches, and that his tent belonged to him when he was on a journey. So we remained till Friday without knowing what we were to do. The captain who guarded us and the friar warned us to look well after our goods, as there were many thieves in the country, and the Franks[141] who were in the country also told us so: they further told us that there were agents and captains of thieves, and that they paid dues of what they stole.

On Friday, the 20th of October, at the hour of tierce, the friar came to us in great haste, for the Prester John had sent to call us, and that we should bring what we had brought for him, and also all our baggage, as he wished to see it. The ambassador ordered all that to be loaded which the captain-major had sent for him, and no more. We dressed ourselves and arranged ourselves very well, God be praised; and many people came to accompany us. So we went in order from the place we started from as far as a great entrance, where we saw the tents pitched in a great plain, that is, certain white tents, and, in front of the white ones, one very large red tent pitched, which they say is set up for great feasts or receptions. In front of these pitched tents were set up two rows of arches covered with white and red cotton cloths, that is, an arch covered with red and the next with white: not covered but rolled round the arch, like a stole on the pole of a cross, and so these arches were continued to the end; there may have been quite twenty arches in each row, and in width and height they were like the small arches of a cloister. One row may have been apart from the other about the distance of a game of quoits.[142] There were many people collected together; so many that they would exceed twenty thousand persons. All these people were in a semicircle, and removed a good way off on each side; the smartest people were standing much nearer to the arches. Among these smarter people were many canons and church people with caps like mitres, but with points upwards of coloured silk stuffs, and some of them of scarlet cloth: and there were other people very well dressed. In front of these well-dressed people were four horses, that is, two on one side and two on the other, saddled and caparisoned with rich brocade coverings; what armour-plating or arms were underneath I do not know. These horses had diadems high above their ears, they came down to the bits[143] of the bridle, with large plumes on them. Below these were many other good horses saddled but not arrayed like these four, and all the heads of all of them were on a level, making a line like the people. Then, in a line behind these horses (because the crowd was much and thick), there were honourable men, who were not clothed except from the waist downwards, with many thin white cotton cloths, and crowded, standing one before the other.[144] It is the custom, before the King and before the great lords who rule, to have men who carry whips of a short stick and a long thong, and when they strike in the air they make a great noise, and make the people stand off. Of these a hundred walked before us, and with their noise a man could not be heard. The people riding horses and mules, who came with us, dismounted a long way off, and we still rode on a good distance, and then dismounted at about a crossbow-shot from the tent, or the distance of a game of mancal. Those who conducted us did us a courtesy and we to them, for we had been already taught, and this courtesy is to lower the right hand to the ground. In this space of a crossbow-shot there came to us fully sixty men like courtiers or mace-bearers, and they came half-running, because they are accustomed so to run with all the messages of the Prester. These came dressed in shirts and good silk cloths, and over their shoulders or shoulder, and below, they were covered with grey skins with much hair on them; it was said they were lion skins. These men wore above the skins collars of gold badly wrought, and other jewels and false stones, and rich pieces round their necks. They also wore girdles of silk coloured ribands, in width and weaving like horse-girths, except that they were long and had long fringes reaching to the ground. These men came as many on one side as on the other, and accompanied us as far as the first row of arches, for we did not pass these. Before we arrived at these arches, there were four captive lions where we had to pass, and in fact passed. These lions were bound with great chains. In the middle of the field, in the shade of these first arches, stood four honourable men, among whom was one of the two greatest lords that are in the court of the Prester, and who is called by title Betudete.[145] Of these there are two, one serves on the right hand, the other on the left hand. They said that he of the right hand was at war with the Moors, and he of the left hand was this one here. The other three who stood here were great men. Before these four we did as did those who conducted us. On reaching them we remained a good while without speaking to them, nor they to us. On this there came an old priest, who they say is a relation and the confessor of the Prester, with a cloak of white Indian cloth[146] of the fashion of a burnoose, and a cap like those of the others who stood apart. The title of this man is Cabeata, and he is the second person in these kingdoms. This priest came out of the said tent which would yet be two casts of quoits from the arches. Of the four men who were with us at the arches, three went half way to receive him, and the Betudete, who was the greatest lord of them, remained with us; and when the others came up he also advanced three or four steps, and so all five came to us. On reaching him, the Cabeata asked the ambassador what he wanted and where he came from. The ambassador answered that he came from India, and was bringing an embassage to the Prester John, from the captain-major and governor of the Indies for the King of Portugal. With this he returned to the Prester, and with these questions, and ceremonious courtesies, he came three times. Twice the ambassador answered him in the same manner, and the third time he said, I do not know what to say of it. The Cabeata said: Say what you want and I will tell it to the King. The ambassador replied that he would not give his embassage except to his Highness, and that he would not send to say anything except that he and his company sent to kiss his hands, and that they gave great thanks to God for having fulfilled their desires and having brought Christians together with Christians, and for their being the first. With this answer the Cabeata returned and came back directly with another message, when the above-mentioned persons went to receive him as before: and on reaching us he said that Prester John sent to say that we should deliver to him what the great captain had sent him. Then the ambassador asked us what he ought to do, and that each of us should say whatever he thought of it. We all said that we thought that he should give him what was sent. Then the ambassador delivered it to him piece by piece, and, besides, four bales of pepper which were for our own expenses. When it was received it was all carried to the tents, and all afterwards brought back to the arches where we were. And they came and stretched the tent cloths which we had given on the arches, and so with the other stuffs. Having set everything in sight of the people, they caused silence to be made, and the chief justice of the court made a speech in a very loud voice, declaring, piece by piece, all the things which the captain-major had sent to the Prester John, and that all were to give thanks to the Lord because Christians had come together with Christians, and that if there were here any whom it grieved, that they might weep, and any that rejoiced at it, that they might sing. And the great crowd of people who were near by gave a great shout as in praise of God, and it lasted a good while; and with that they dismissed us. We went to lodge at the distance of a long gunshot from the tents of the Prester, where they had already pitched the tent which they had sent us, and there we remained and also the goods which remained to us.

When our baggage came and was brought we began to see by experience the warning which was given us of thieves, because on the road they had taken by force from a servant who attended us, four tinned copper vessels, and other four of porcelain, and also other small kitchen articles, and because the servant had attempted to defend himself they had given him a great wound in one leg. The ambassador ordered him to be taken care of (of these pieces none appeared again). As soon as we were lodged the Prester John sent us three great white loaves, and many jars of mead and a cow. The messengers who brought this said that Prester John sent it, and that they would give us immediately fifty cows and as many jars of wine. The following Saturday, the 21st day, he sent us an infinite quantity of bread and wine, and many dainties of meat of various kinds, and very well arranged: and the same happened on Sunday, when, among many other dainties, he sent us a calf whole in bread, that is to say in a pie, so well dressed that we could not get tired of it. On Monday the friar came to us to say that if the ambassador would give all the pepper to the Prester John, that he would order food to be given to him and to his company, as far as Masua. And they ceased giving us food, neither did the fifty cows nor the jars of wine come. In the meantime they prohibited all the Franks who were in this country from speaking to any of us: and also they told us not to go out of our tent, that such was the custom of all those who come to this court, until they had had speech with the king not to go forth from their tents. We well knew later that such was their custom, and on account of this prohibition they kept prisoner a Portuguese, nicknamed the Sheep, who came to speak to us on the road, and one of the Franks, saying, that they came to tell us the things of the court. This Sheep ran away one night with his chains from the custody of a eunuch who guarded him, and came to our tent. Next morning they came to fetch him, but the ambassador would not give him up, but sent the factor and the interpreter to go and ask the Betudete from him, why he ordered Portuguese to be put in irons, and had them so ill-treated by slave eunuchs. The Betudete answered, saying: who had bid us come here, that Matheus had not been to Portugal by order of the Prester John, nor of Queen Helena; and that if the slave had cast irons on the Portuguese, that the Portuguese should in turn cast them on the slave, and that this was the justice of the country.

On Tuesday, 24th of October, while we were hoping that they would send to call us to speak to the Prester, he set out on a journey with his court to the place he had come from, which might be a distance of two leagues. The friar came, saying on his own part, that if he wished to go to where the King had changed his quarters, that we should buy mules on which to carry our goods; also telling the ambassador that if he wished to buy and sell that he might do so. The ambassador replied to him that they had not come to be merchants, but they came to serve God and the Kings, and to bring Christians together. Up to this time they had said that buying and selling was a very bad thing, and this they were doing to prove the intentions of our people. On the following Thursday the ambassador ordered me and Joam Gonzalvez, the interpreter, to go to the court and to speak to the Betudete and the Cabeata. We went and we told him those things which had been said by the friar to the ambassador, and the said friar went with us. We did not speak to the Cabeata, and we spoke to the Betudete in this manner. First we said that the friar had come to tell the ambassador to buy and sell, and that they gave him licence for that, and that the ambassador was much amazed at this, because neither he nor his father, nor his mother, nor ancestors bought or sold, nor had such a business; and the same was the case with the gentlemen and persons who came with him, and who had never been so accustomed: and that the ambassador and those that came with him were servants in the house and court of the King of Portugal, and that they served the Kings in honourable services and in wars, and not in merchandise; and besides the friar had told him to give all the pepper that remained to the Prester John, and that he would order food to be given him as long as we remained and until we reached the port of Masua, from which we had set out. And to this the ambassador said that it was not the custom of the Portuguese to eat and drink at the cost of the feeble and poor people, but to eat and drink, and pay with gold and silver: and because money was not current in these kingdoms, on that account the captain-major of the King of Portugal had given him, besides much gold and silver, much pepper and stuffs for their expenses, that of this pepper which he had brought for his expenditure he had already given four bales to the Prester, and the rest he kept for what has been said: and, besides, that the friar had told him that if he wished to come to the court he should buy mules for his baggage. With regard to this he sent to say that for the present he did not require mules, nor to move from where he now was, and that when he had to depart he would buy mules. To this the Betudete answered that the Prester had already ordered ten mules to be given, and had they not given them? We replied that we had not seen any such mules, only that this friar had given in the journey three tired mules to three men that came on foot. To the other matters he gave us no answer, but spoke of things that were irrelevant, as, for instance, whether the King of Portugal was married, and how many wives he had, and how many fortresses he had in India, with many other questions beside the purpose. We also told the Betudete, on the part of the ambassador, that if the Prester wished to listen to his embassage, that he should say so, and if he did not choose that to no other person would he give it; and that if he wished to have it in writing, that he would send it. To this he answered, that we should wait, and that we should soon have an answer. So we returned without any conclusion. Up to this time they had always forbidden the Franks who were about the court to speak to us, or to come to our tent; and if they came to see us, it was very secretly, and the friar was always by with us as a guard.