The method which is followed in encamping the Court of the Prester. It is always encamped on a plain, for otherwise they would not find room, and the Prester’s tents are pitched on the highest ground of the plain, if there is any. The back of the tents is always placed to the east and the doors to the west; four or five tents are pitched together; all belong to the Prester, and they surround them all with curtains, which they call mandilate; these are woven like a chess-board, half white and half black. If he is going to remain several days they surround these tents with a large fence, which will make a circumference of half a league. They say that they make in this enclosure twelve gates; the principal one is to the West, and apart from it, at a good distance, are two gates, each on its own side, and one of these serves for the church of St. Mary, which is to the north, and the other serves for the church of Holy Cross, which is to the south. Beyond these gates which serve for these churches, almost at a distance equal to what there is between them and the principal entrance, are two other gates on each side, and that which is to the south serves for the tents of the queen mother of the Prester, and that which is to the north serves for the pages’ quarters. There are guards at all these gates, but I did not get behind to see, for they let no one pass there; only they say that in the whole there are twelve gates, and I know for certain that there is one gate at the back, because it serves for the kitchen pages; for I saw it from a distance, how the pages brought and carried the viands. These gates are made when the tents are surrounded by a fence, and when they are not enclosed, there will only be the tents surrounded by curtains, which they call mandilate, as has been said. Behind the tents, quite a crossbow shot or more, are pitched the tents for the kitchens and the cooks, divided into two parts, because there are the cooks of the right hand and of the left hand. When the food comes from these kitchens, it is in this manner (according as I saw it in a district called Orgebeia, from being on some hills close to the kitchens, for in other parts the tents were pitched on such level ground that there was no means of seeing). They came with a large canopy of tafetan, as it seemed, red and blue, of six pieces in length. This canopy was raised like a pallium on canes, which in this country are very good, and they make with them the shafts of lances. Under this pallium came other pages who carried viands in large trays which were made like trenchers for cleaning wheat in, except that they are very large, and in each they brought many little round dishes[244] of black earthenware, in which were the meats of their fowls and small birds, and many other things, and white food, which are made more of milk than of anything else; and also little pipkins, black like the dishes, with many other dainties and broths of different kinds. These viands that I speak of which came in these trays, I do not say that I saw them when they brought them, because they were far off from where I stood; but I saw them when they sent them to us, for they came in the same trays as they came from the kitchens and without the canopy, and the little pipkins were still covered with their lids, and closed with dough; and the trays which they sent us came full without showing that they had been moved; and for this I say that so they come from the kitchens. All these victuals in which spices of ginger or pepper can be put, they put so much in them, that we could not eat them from their much burning. Among these tents of the kitchens and cooks, or almost behind them, is the Church of St. Andrew, and it is called the cooks’ church. In this part of the camp where the kitchens are, and behind them, nobody goes.

In front of the gates of the tents or fence, if there is one, there is always a space of quite two crossbow shots, and a long tent is always pitched there, which they call cacalla; this is the court of justice or tribunal. Nobody passes on a mule or on horseback between the tent of the tribunal and the Prester’s tents; this is from reverence for the king and his justice, and all dismount. This I know, because they fined us there because we entered on mules, and we were excused as foreigners, and warned that this should not happen to us again. Inside this tent of cacalla no one abides, only there are in it thirteen plain[245] chairs of iron and leather, and one of these is very high, it would reach to the breast of a man, and the other twelve are like ours that we usually set at a table. These chairs are brought out every day, and are placed six on one side and six on the other, and the tall one like the cross table of a friars’ refectory. The commissioners[246] or judges who hear the parties do not sit in them, these chairs are only for ceremony, and they sit on the ground and on the grass if there is any,[247] as many on one side as on the other. There they hear the parties who are litigating, each one of his own jurisdiction, because as I said that the cooks are divided into those of the right hand and those of the left hand, so they are all. The hearing is conducted in this manner. The plaintiff brings his action and says as much as he pleases without anyone speaking, and the accused answers and says as much as he pleases, without anyone hindering him. When he has finished, the plaintiff brings his reply (if he wishes it), and the accused also with his reply if he chooses, without anyone disturbing them. When they have finished their arguments by themselves or by their representatives, there is there a man standing, who is like a porter, and he repeats all that these parties have said, and having finished relating it all, he then says which of the parties spoke best in his opinion, and which of them has justice on his side. Then one of those who are sitting like commissioners, the one nearest the end, does like the porter, that is, he relates all that the parties had said, and then says which he thinks has justice. And in this manner follow all those who are sitting. They rise to their feet when they speak, and then it comes to the turn of the Chief Justice, who has been attentive to what has been said by the others and to their opinion; and so he gives his sentence if there is no proof required. If there is to be proof, they give a delay according to the distance, and all verbally, without writing anything. There are other things which the Betudetes and Ajazes hear, and they hear them standing because they are in front of the Prester’s tent, between this cacalla and his tent, and as they hear the party or parties, so they go at once to the Prester with what has been said; they do not enter his tent, but only inside the mandilate or curtain, and from there make their speech, and so return to the parties with the decision of the Prester: and sometimes they spend a whole day with these goings and comings, according as the facts and suits may be.

In front of this tent or house of justice which is named cacalla, at a good distance from both parts, both that of the right and left hand, there are two tents or houses like prisons, with chains, which are called manguez bete, in which are the prisoners of each of the parts, both of the left and right hand, and they are guarded and bound in this way: according to the act and suit so is the imprisonment and also the guards. The prisoner gives food to the guards who keep him, and pays them for their time as long as he is imprisoned, and whoever has chains or fetters on the feet, when they order him to come before the tent of the Prester where they hear the prisoners, those guards who keep him carry him in their arms; two give each other their arms, and the prisoner goes sitting on their arms with his hands on their heads, and the other guards all round with their weapons. So they go and come. There is here another kind of imprisonment. If I require that a man be arrested, I am obliged to give him food as long as I accuse him, and also to the guards who keep him; and this I know because it happened to some of us Portuguese, who asked for an arrest for some mules which they had been robbed of, and because they did not send to give food to the prisoners and guards, they in turn required that they should be set free. And of another Genoese, I know by seeing it, that they stole a mule of his, and the thief confessed that he had stolen it, and that it was no longer in his possession, nor had he anything with which to pay for it. They adjudged him to be a slave, and the Genoese seeing that he was a powerful man, who could rob or kill him, sent to the devil both the mule and the slave.

In front of these tents of the prison there is great traffic, and in a straight line from them are the tents of the two Chief Justices, each one on its own side, and between them is a church, which is called the Church of the Justices. In front of this church are the lions, a considerable distance away from the church, and they are four in number, and they always bring them wherever Prester John goes. After another large space from the lions there is another church; it is called the Market Church, that is of the Christians who sell in it, because the greater part of the sellers are Moors; and the principal merchants of stuffs and large goods are Moors, and the Christians sell low priced things, such as bread, wine, flour and meat; and the Moors can sell nothing to eat because in this country they do not eat anything which the Moors make, nor meat which they kill. This market must be in front of the tent of Prester John, but not in a place where it can be seen from the door, and sometimes it happens that the plain is so great and without break of level ground[248] that the market is very far off; and the least distance at which the market can be placed is half a league, and at times nearly a league, or even more. Although the court changes its place as often as it chooses, they always follow this mode of encampment. From the king’s tent to this market all is open space in the middle, that is, there is no tent in it, only the two churches, that is, that of the justices and lions, and that of the market; and these churches and lions are a long way off from other tents.

Near to the two churches which are near the tent of the Prester, but in the outer part, are two tents for each church, one very clean and good, in which they keep the church furniture, the other a smoky tent, in which they make the corban or host; all the churches are in this manner. In front of these churches next come other large long tents of high pitch;[249] these are called Balagamija, in which they keep the stuffs and treasures of the Prester, and these on both sides are all of brocade, as has been said; and these tents of Balagamija are always guarded, and the captains and factors of them are eunuchs. In front of these tents of the wardrobe, on either side, are the tents of the pages, and further on are the tents of the Ajazes, who occupy a space like a town, with their tents and those of their people; further in front and further off are the tents of the Betudetes, and each one occupies as much as a town or city; these lie almost outside like guards. On the right hand, also outside like a guard, are the quarters of the Abima, which by themselves form a district town; and many foreigners come to his quarters, because they receive from him favour and protection. The Cabeata is more to the inside than the Abima, and they said that his quarters, that is, those of his office, were close to the church of St. Mary, because this office always goes to a friar; and because he is a priest and has a wife he cannot be close to the church, and they gave him quarters close to the Abima. Returning more to the inside, follow gentlemen in their places, and after them come other respectable people, and after these come people like winesellers, bakers who sell and supply food, and also there are women. At the end of these, and now near to the market, are the quarters of the smiths on both sides[250], and each set of smiths form a large village. Men who come from outside to buy and sell and do business encamp further off, and they greatly extend the camp, which always occupies two large leagues.

The mode which the lords and gentlemen follow in coming to or going away from the Court is this, namely: no great lord of lands, if he is in them, can come out of them, nor set out for the Court by any means without being summoned by the Prester; and being summoned he cannot omit coming for any cause. And when he sets out from the land of which he is the lord, he does not leave in it either wife or children or any property, because he goes away with the expectation of never returning, since, as has been said before, the Prester gives when he pleases, and takes away when he pleases; and if he happens to take it away, from that moment they take from him whatever they find belonging to him in the lordship; that is to say, the lord who comes to succeed him in his place. For this reason they carry everything away with them without leaving anything, or at least without putting it in another lordship. When a lord approaches near the Court with great show he takes up quarters at least a league from the Court, and there he often remains a month or two months without moving from there; and they treat them as if they were forgotten as long as the Prester chooses. They do not however desist whilst thus forgotten from entering the Court and speaking to other lords, but not with an array, nor with clothes, but with two or three men, and stripped from the waist upwards, and with a sheep skin over their shoulders; and so they return to their tents until they have permission to enter. When they get this permission, they enter with great array, and sounding kettledrums, and encamp in their station, which is already ordained for each. When he encamps he still does not appear clothed as he made his entry, but walks about as before his entry, naked from the waist upwards, although at his entry he came clothed and with pomp. Then they say generally: Such a one is not yet in the favour of the sovereign, for he still goes about stripped. As soon as he had any speech of the Prester, he at once comes out dressed, and then they say: Such a one is in the king’s favour. Then it is divulged and said why he was summoned, and sometimes and frequently they return to their lordships, and at others not. If they return to them they are despatched more quickly; and if they are taken from them, they let them go five, six, and seven years without going away from the Court. By no manner of means can they go from the Court without permission, so obedient are they, and so much do they fear their king; and much as they used to be accompanied by many, so now are they neglected, and they go about on a mule with two or three men, because the many who used to accompany them belonged to the lordships that have been taken from them, and they transfer themselves to the new lord; and this we used to see every day.

If such gentlemen are summoned for wars, as we saw happen many times, their entry is not delayed, but they come in at once. As they come with a body of men, so they enter from their march. With regard to these, they do not observe what I mentioned, that people do not enter between the cacalla and king’s tent on mules or on horseback. These who come for wars come up to the king’s tents, and show themselves off close to them, and they skirmish and sport and show their method of warfare, as they think best to please the king. This we saw an infinite number of times. These men who go thus to the wars do not remain two days at the Court, because their ordinances are to call a hundred thousand men, if they want as many, to assemble in two days, so as they arrive they are sent off. Because here there is no pay to be given, and every man brings with him what he is to eat, which consists of flour of parched barley, and that is a good food, and parched peas or millet. This is their maintenance for the wars, and the cows, they find them where they go; and if it is the season of ...[251] wheat, that is the principal provision for war of those people.

The manner in which Prester John travels has been before mentioned, as we saw him travel; now I will only relate how his stuffs and property travel, which are in the Balagamija, and which are beyond reckoning. All silk stuffs go in square osier baskets; they will be four spans[252] long, and two or two and a half wide, they are covered with leather of raw cowhide with the hair on; from each corner comes a chain to go over the lid, which has an iron ring in the middle through which they pass these chains, and in them a padlock. Thus these baskets go locked, and both those containing silks and those with thin Indian stuffs, and men carry them on their heads, more than five or six of them. And between a certain number of these carriers are guards. And since every year the silks and brocades increase in number, both those that are paid to him and those that he buys, and so many are not expended, neither can they carry them all on a journey, he orders every year some to be put in hollows in the earth which are arranged for that purpose. We knew of one as our road passed by there, and close to some gates which have already been mentioned, and which are named Badabaje, at the great ravines which I spoke of before. And at this hollow there are many guards, and all the merchants who pass there pay dues for toll. In the same way that the stuffs travel, the treasure also travels in smaller baskets covered with leather, and also locked like those of the stuffs, only that they have over their leather covering and chains and padlock, another cowhide put on fresh and sewn with straps of the hide, and it dries there and becomes strong. These treasure baskets are in very great quantity, and travel with numerous guards, and they say that every year he puts many of these also into hollows in the earth or in grottos, because he cannot carry the increase of each year. This hollow, which we knew of, is a league from the house of Pero de Covilham, and he used to tell us that the gold which was in this hollow was enough to buy the world, because every year a large sum was put in, and they never took it out again. As to the silks and brocades, Pero de Covilham said that they often took them out to give them to churches and monasteries, as was done three years before our arrival, when Prester John sent large offerings to Jerusalem of the silks and brocades from the grottos, on account of the multitude he possessed; and that there were many of these excavations or grottos of the same kind as that that we knew of, which is under a mountain. The ambassador who conveyed these offerings is named Abba Azerata, and now he is chief guardian of the Prester’s sisters, and they say that he took with him fifteen men, among whom were gentlemen of nagaridas, or as we should say in our language, of kettledrums,[253] and the number of their kettledrums was sixty. And I heard tell by those who went with him that they sounded them all along the road, and in the city of Cairo, as far as Jerusalem; and on their return they came in flight, because the Turk was coming against the Sultan,[254] and against his great city, through which they had to pass.

In this country many friars are accustomed to go every year in pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and also some priests. While we, Portuguese and the Franks who were in the country, were at Barua, the country and chief town of the Barnagais, a caravan of friars was prepared to make the said journey and pilgrimage as they are accustomed. There went together three hundred and thirty-six friars, and in this number entered fifteen nuns, and this about Christmas, because they depart after the day of the kings, and reach there in holy week, because they go very slowly; and they make this journey at this time because they say that the winter ends in Nubia, which is the beginning of Egypt, and that in the most part of Egypt and in Cairo it does not rain, and so at this end of the winter water is still to be found. The manner in which these friars set out was this: they came together from all parts to the said town, and when the day of kings had passed, they were entrusted by the Barnagais Dori (who then reigned) to some Moors to convey them safely. These Moors were from Suaquem and Rifa. Suaquem is at the end of the countries of the Prester, and at the entrance of Egypt, and on that account they were entrusted, and Rifa is in the middle of Egypt, and the river Nile passes through the middle of that city. These Moors were obliged to place these pilgrims in safety in the city of Cairo, and they were well known Moors, traders in the Prester’s countries, and therefore they were entrusted to them. They commenced their journey to another town, which is one march from this place (Barua), which is named Einacem; they say that it is a town and district abounding in provisions, and many monasteries; and here they finish making up the caravan. This town belongs to the lordship of Dafila, subject to the Barnagais. At the time they set out these friars travelled very slowly, for at hours of vespers they encamped in their halts,[255] and then they pitched their churches which they carried with them, and there were three churches, and they said their hours and masses, and then all received the communion. Next day at the hour of tierce they arose and began to travel; and they all went laden with their provisions, and gourds and waterskins, and their churches by turns,[256] that is to say, the tabutos or altar stones, for let me say that the tents of the churches went on camels. So each day they did not make a journey exceeding two leagues; and to see their customs I travelled for two days with these friars, and saw what I relate. In those two days we may have travelled, according to good judgment, three leagues and little more. From the town of Einacem as far as Suaquem two lords rule, namely, Dafella and Canfella, and both are subject to the Barnagais; and they say that from this town to Suaquem there are fifteen days’ march of a caravan of merchants, who travel a little more than three leagues in a day’s march. From Suaquem to Rifa there are fourteen days of the same pace of a caravan. On this road, on leaving Suaquem Egypt begins, and they say that all the country is inhabited, except for two days where there are no dwellings or water; and they say that along this road there are many churches and many Christians, who give much alms to these pilgrims, and they are subject to the Moors. They say that on this road is the monastery in which St. Antony abode, and of this order are all the friars of the Prester’s countries. And from Rifa to Cairo they say the country is very cool, always going down the river Nile (as they say) there are eight days’ journey. This caravan of friars departed before we did, and as soon as it passed Suaquem other Moors attacked them, and it seems that they were more powerful than the Moors who conducted them, and they took all the pilgrims, and killed the old men, and made captives of the young ones, and sold them; and of 348 friars there did not escape more than fifteen. These did the pilgrimage, and later I heard three of these fifteen, who related to me all their fatigues, and told me that what had happened to them was because they were great friends of the Portuguese; and in truth it is so, because they receive bad treatment from their neighbours for our sake. From Rifa to Cairo is a pleasant country for travelling, with white people, Moors, Jews, and Christians. And in Cairo they say they make their stations at Cosme, Damiano,(or the church of Saints Cosmo and Damian, martyrs united in the Calendar under 27th September.) and St. Barbara, and at the fountain which is in the garden of the balsam. They also say that from Cairo to Jerusalem there are eight days’ journey. Since this destruction of friars till now no more friars or priests have gone to Jerusalem in a caravan, and if any go, they go like concealed passengers; and those who go there and return are held to be holy men. And because the people of Jerusalem are white people, when we arrived in this country, they called us Christians of Jerusalem. There is another road from here by sea which takes less time; embarking at Masua for Mount Sinai, they go in fifteen days or less (according to the weather), and from Mount Sinai to Jerusalem they go in eight days. The Abyssinians are not much able to travel by this way, because they have not got any navigation, and they hope that our Portuguese will make this way secure, if a fortress were made in Masua by the King our Sovereign.

The countries, kingdoms and lordships which confine with the kingdoms of the Prester, as far as I could learn, are these. First, they commence at Masua, opposite the Red Sea, which is opposite to the south, then they are at the outskirts[257] of the Moorish Arabs who keep the herds of the great lords of the countries of the Barnagais, and they go about in encampments[258] of thirty or forty, with their wives and children. All these Moors have a Christian captain, and all are thieves, and they rob the poor on the roads by their power and the favour of the lords whose herds they keep. Next further on comes the kingdom of Dangalli,[259] which is a Moorish kingdom. This kingdom has a seaport which is named Belie, this is behind the gates of the Red Sea, inside to the parts of Abyssinia; and this kingdom runs on till it meets the kingdom of Adel, which is the sovereignty of Zeila and Barbora; where these two kingdoms join in the interior, which is towards the country of the Prester, there are twenty-four large lordships or captaincies, which they call Dobaas; and I have already spoken of these Dobaas above in the Chapter xlviii.

The kingdom of Adel (as they say) is a large kingdom, and it extends over the Cape of Guardafuy, and there in that part another rules subject to Adel. Among the Moors they hold this King of Adel for a saint, because he always makes war upon the Christians; and he sends of the spoils of his battles (as they say) offerings to the house of Mekkah, and to Cairo, and presents to other kings, and they send him from their parts arms and horses, and other things to assist him in his wars; and I have before related, in Chapter cxxxiii, how this king was routed and his captain Mafudy killed. This kingdom of Adel borders upon the kingdom of Fatigar and Xoa, which are kingdoms of the Prester John.

In the middle of the kingdom of Adel, more in the interior, commences the kingdom of Adea, which is of Moors, and they are peaceful and subject to the Prester: they say that this kingdom reaches to Magadaxo. In Chapter cxxix I have related how Prester John went there in person, to make peace, and made in it churches and monasteries, and left there priests and friars. This kingdom of Adea borders upon the kingdom of Oyja, which belongs to Prester John, and all these above-mentioned are towards the sea and the east.

To the middle of this kingdom of Adea, towards the west, begin some lordships of pagans which are not kingdoms, and are at the extremities of the kingdoms and lordships of the Prester. Of these lordships or captaincies the first is called Ganze, and it is a mixture of pagans and of Christians who are gradually entering it. Next after this comes another large lordship, and (as they say) in size almost a kingdom; they are pagans, little valued as slaves; they have no king, only chiefs who rule separately. This is called Gamu, it runs more towards the west. Also to the south is the kingdom called Gorage, and its inhabitants Gorages; they say they have a king; in Chapter cxi, I spoke of it. This kingdom and the lordships of Ganze and Gamu border upon the kingdoms of Oyja and Xoa, which belong to Prester John.

Going more to the west by the same extremities of the Prester’s kingdoms, and principally to the west of the kingdom of Xoa, there is a very great country and kingdom which is called Damute. The slaves of this kingdom are much esteemed by the Moors, and they do not leave them for any price; all the countries of Arabia, Persia, India, Egypt, and Greece, are full of slaves from this country, and they say they make very good Moors and great warriors. These are pagans, and among them in this kingdom there are many Christians. And I say there are some there because I saw them at the Court; there came many priests and friars and nuns, and they say that there are many monasteries and churches there, and the king’s title is King of the Pagans. From this kingdom comes most of the gold that is in the country of the Prester which can be made use of, and it is very fine. In this kingdom there are (as they say) plenty of fresh provisions of various sorts, and when we kept Lent in Gorage there came from this country much green ginger, grapes, and peaches, which in this country are found at that time, and later, in flesh days, many large sheep, and cows of great size. They say that at the extremity of these kingdoms of Damute and Gorage, towards the south, is the kingdom of the Amazons; but not as it seems to me, or as it has been told to me, or as the book of Infante Don Pedro related or relates to us, because these Amazons (if these are so) all have husbands generally throughout the year, and always at all times with them, and pass their life with their husbands. They have not got a king, but have a queen, she is not married, nor has she any special husband, but withal she does not omit having sons and daughters, and her daughter is the heir to her kingdom. They say that they are women of a very warlike disposition, and they fight riding on cows, and are great archers, and when they are little they dry up the left breast, in order not to impede drawing the arrow. They also say that there is very much gold in this kingdom of the Amazons, and that it comes from this country to the kingdom of Damute, and so it goes to many parts. They say that the husbands of these women are not warriors, and that their wives dispense them from it. They say that a great river has its source in the kingdom of Damute, and opposite to the Nile, because each one goes in its own direction, the Nile to Egypt, of this other no one of the country knows where it goes to, only it is presumed that it goes to Manicongo. They also say that they find much gold in this kingdom of Damute, I tell it as I heard it. They say that when winter comes they expect rains and storms, and without necessity they dig and till the earth that it may be soft: and the waters wash the earth and leave on the top of it the clean gold: and that they find most of this gold by night by the light, because they see it glitter. And in the town of Aquaxumo, which is in the kingdom of Tigray, I often saw it searched for in the above-mentioned manner, and they said that they found it, but not at night. This Damute borders upon Xoa, which belongs to Prester John.

Making more for the west, and almost west through this Damute, are other lordships which they call the Cafates, people who are not very dark, and large of stature. They say that they had been of the race of the Jews, but they have no books or synagogues, they are more subtle people than any that are in this country; they are pagans and great warriors, and always carry on war with the Prester. They border upon part of Xoa and Gojame, which are kingdoms of the Prester. I say this for I never reached there, and some of our people went there with the great Betudete, and afterwards the Prester in person. They said that these Cafates gave them much to do, chiefly at night, when they came to kill and plunder, and by day they took refuge in the mountains and thickets, and the mountains (as they say) consist more in ravines than in heights.

Now leaving the south and turning west, there is another kingdom of the Prester, named Gojame, of which a great part belonged to Queen Helena. They say that in this kingdom rises or issues the river Nile, which in this country they call Gion; and they say that there are in it great lakes like seas, and that there are in them marine men and women, and some report this from eyesight. I heard Pero de Covilham say that he had gone by order of Queen Helena to show how an altar should be made in a church which she had ordered to be built in this kingdom, where they buried her, and they made this altar of wood, and covered it all over with gold, and also the altar stone was of solid gold. I state what he told me, and I think he spoke the truth; and as to the altar stone, the Abima who had consecrated it, told me that it was large and of great weight and price. I always heard say while we were in the neighbourhood of this kingdom that there were numerous guards at that church, who guarded it on account of the much gold that was in it. They say that there is much gold in this kingdom also, and that it is inferior gold. I could not learn what this kingdom borders upon on the other side, only they said that there were deserts and mountains, and beyond them Jews. I do not credit it or affirm it; I speak as I heard general report, and not from persons whom I can quote.

At the end of this kingdom of Gojam begins another kingdom, which they say is the largest kingdom in the Prester’s country, and it is called Bagamidri. This they say extends along the Nile. And it cannot fail to be large as they say, because it begins at the kingdom of Gojame, and runs along the edge of the kingdoms of Amara and Angoir and Tigray of the Tigrimahom, and of the kingdom of the Barnagais: so it extends far more than two hundred leagues. Between the kingdoms of Angoir and Tigray, at the end of them are other lordships which are named Aganos, in them Christians and Pagans are intermingled. I do not know what these border upon on the other side, they must border upon this kingdom of Bagamidri. I have heard many people say that there was a mountain in this kingdom of Bagamidri which contains much silver, and that they do not know how to extract it; and that when they got any, it was in this manner, namely, where they saw any hollow or cave they filled it with wood, and set it on fire, as in a limekiln, and that this fire melted the silver and it ran in spouts, a thing not to be believed. I asked Pero de Covilham about this; he said he did not doubt that it was quite true. I tell it as I heard it, and I know that the silver is much sought after.

At the end of the kingdom of Bagamidri there are Moors who are called Bellonos, and are tributaries of Prester John for a great number of horses. Towards the north, these Bellonos border upon a people who are called Nubiis; and they say that these had been Christians and ruled from Rome. I heard from a man, a Syrian, a native of Tripoli of Syria, and his name is John of Syria (he went about with us three years in the Prester’s country, and came with us to Portugal), that he had been to this country, and that there are in it a hundred and fifty churches, which still contain crucifixes and effigies of Our Lady, and other effigies painted on the walls, and all old: and the people of this country are neither Christians, Moors, nor Jews; and that they live in the desire to become Christians. These churches are all in old ancient castles which are throughout the country; and as many castles there are, so many churches. While we were in the country of the Prester John there came six men from that country as ambassadors to the Prester himself, begging of him to send them priests and friars to teach them. He did not choose to send them; and it was said that he said to them that he had his Abima from the country of the Moors, that is to say from the Patriarch of Alexandria, who is under the rule of the Moors; how then could he give priests and friars since another gave them. And so they returned. They say that in ancient times these people had everything from Rome, and that it is a very long time ago that a bishop died, whom they had got from Rome, and on account of the wars of the Moors they could not get another, and so they lost all their clergy and their Christianity. These border upon Egypt, and they say they have much fine gold in their country. This country lies in front of Suaquem, which is close to the Red Sea. These lordships of Nubiis are on both sides of the Nile, and they say that as many castles as there are, so many captains: they have no king, but only captains. This Suaquem is the town which is at the extremity of the Prester’s country, in the beginning of Egypt, in front of these lordships, with the Moorish Bellonos in the middle. And they say that from this Suaquem along the coast of the sea towards Masua it is all wooded land. These are the frontier countries of Prester John’s kingdoms and lordships which I was able to learn, and of them I learned by hearsay, and of a few of them by sight.

I said that I would relate what I heard of the officials that Solomon gave to his son when he sent him from Jerusalem to Ethiopia to his mother the Queen Sabba. I heard say that to this day these officials or officers are alive in the families of those that came, because they go in succession from father to son. They say first that when Solomon sent his son to the Queen Sabba, his mother, he gave him officials for his house; and he gave an office from each of the twelve tribes, such as chamberlains, porters, overseers, grooms, trumpeters, chief guards, cooks, and other officials necessary for the house of a great king or lord, and that these offices are still in those families descending from them. Thus these officials honour themselves much as Israelites, and gentlemen, and our relations. All of them are in great number, because the sons of the chamberlain and their descendants, all of them are of that office; and so also the other officials all descend in the offices of their fathers and ancestors, except the pages, who usually are the sons of the great gentlemen and lords, and now they are not so. And as has been said, when the Prester sends to summon the grandees, he does not send to tell them why: and when the sons of the grandees served as pages, they used to disclose his secrets, and for this he turned them out, and the captains who are sons of Moorish or Pagan Kings whom they take in their expeditions, serve as confidential pages, and if they see them well disposed they send them to be taught without their entering inside,[260] and if they turn out discreet and good they put them inside, and they serve as pages. And the sons of the great lords serve as outside pages, and also as pages of the halter when they travel, and pages of the kitchen, and they do not enter inside, (as they say) and we saw this. All the canons that they call debeteras also say that they come from the families that came from Jerusalem with the son of Solomon, and on this account they are more honoured than all the rest of the clergy.

On the day that Prester John set out for the kingdom of Adea, the friar, his ambassador, and I, we set out on the road to that lordship which the Prester had then given him, and it was the road to where our people had remained; and we arrived on the beginning of Lent,[261] that is to say of their Lent, which is ten days earlier than ours, at the land they had given him. When he had taken possession both of that which they had newly given him, and of that which they had taken from him, we made ready to depart. These lordships, that is, the one they were taking from him, is of eighty houses,[262] and it contains two churches, and it had been given him in exchange[263] for a small monastery which he before possessed near them. The lordship which they have now given him is to be arraz of the chavas, that is head or captain of the men-at-arms, who are in the lordship of Abrigima, and these chavas are eight hundred and upwards. About mid Lent we arrived at where our people were, with a great longing that the Portuguese might come for us this Easter. When Easter passed, which was the monsoon, and nobody came, we remained sad as before: and when it was the month of July and Prester John knew that the Portuguese had not come, he sent word to his ambassador to go to Abrigima, under the rule of which are the two above-mentioned lordships, and another lord of this lordship of Abrigima is named Abive arraz, and he is a great lord with more than ten thousand vassals, and he is like all the others in all that the Prester pleases. When this message came, there came another to us that we were to go with him, and that as the fruits of the earth which they gave him were already gathered in and they could not give us what was necessary, that he had ordered us to be given at that place five hundred loads of wheat, and a hundred cows, and a hundred sheep, and that his ambassador was to give us honey for wine. We were in great doubt as to whether we should make this journey or not, because it removed us a long way from the sea, and by very much travelling we should not be able to reach the sea from that district in less than one month, and this with long marches; withal we went with the intention of not remaining there longer than until we had received all, and then returning. So we did, for in the middle of January following we departed from that land by the road to where we used to be near the sea, and without leave, neither did we wait for the ambassador, nor inform him, so that he should not embarrass us, but we went on our own footing. And the said ambassador, as soon as he knew of our departure, sent two men after us entreating us to take them with us, and to send one back with any news there might be of the Portuguese, and that when there was certain news the other should come.