How the Author beginneth to speak of the manner of that land.
It is well that we should here leave these matters at rest for a space
and treat of the limits of those lands through the which our people
journeyed in the labours of which we have spoken, in order that you may
have an understanding of the delusion in which our forefathers ever
lived who were affrighted to pass that Cape for fear of those things of
which we have told in the beginning of this book; and also that you may
see how great praise our Prince deserveth, by bringing their doubts
before the presence not only of us who are now living, but also of all
others who will be born in the time to come. And because one of the
things which they alleged to be a hindrance to the passage into these
lands consisted of the very strong currents that were there, on account
of which it was impossible for any ship to navigate those seas, you now
have a clear knowledge of their former error in that you have seen
vessels come and go as free from danger as in any part of the other
seas. They further alleged that the lands were all sandy and without any
inhabitants, and true it is that in the matter of the sands they were
not altogether deceived, but these were not so great as they thought;
while as to the inhabitants, you have clearly seen the contrary to be
the fact, since you witness the dwellers in those parts each day before
your eyes, although their inhabited places are chiefly villages and very
few towns. For from the Cape of Bojador to the kingdom of Tunis there
will not be in the whole, what with towns and places fortified for
defence, as many as fifty. They were no less at fault as regards the
depth of the sea, for they had it marked on their charts that the shores
were so shallow that at the distance of a league from the land there was
only a fathom of water; but this was found not to be so, for the ships
have had and have sufficient depth for their management, except for
certain shoals; and thus dwellings[N173] were made that exist on certain
sandbanks, as you will find now in the navigating charts[N174] which the
Infant caused to be prepared.
In the land of the Negroes there is no walled place save that which they
call Oadem,[N175] nor are there any settlements except some by the
water's edge, of straw houses, the which were emptied of their dwellers
by those that went there in the ships of this land. True it is that the
whole land is generally peopled, but their mode of living is only in
tents and carts,[N176] such as we use here when our princes do happen to
go upon a warlike march; and those who were captured there gave
testimony of this, and also John Fernandez, of whom we have already
spoken, related much concerning the same. All their principal study and
toil is in guarding their flocks, to wit, cows and sheep and goats and
camels, and they change their camp almost every day, for the longest
they can rest in one spot will be eight days. And some of their chief
men possess tame mares, of which they breed horses, though very few.
Their food consisteth for the great part of milk, and sometimes a little
meat and the seeds of wild herbs that they gather in those mountains,
and some who have been there have said that these herbs (but of them
there are few)[N177] seem to be the millet of that land. Also they eat
wheat when they can obtain it, in the same way that we in this land eat
confetti.[N178] And for many months of the year they and their horses
and dogs maintain themselves by no other thing except the drinking of
milk. And those that live by the sea shore eat nothing save fish, and
all for the most part without either bread or anything else, except the
water that they drink, and they generally eat their fish raw and dried.
Their clothing consisteth of a skin vest and breeches of the same, but
some of the more honourable wear bournouses; and some pre-eminent men,
who are almost above all the others, have good garments, like the other
Moors, and good horses and good saddles, and good stirrups, but these
are very few.
The women wear bournouses which are like mantles, with the which they
only cover their faces, and by that they think they have covered all
their shame, for they leave their bodies quite naked. "For sure," saith
he who compiled this history, "this is one of the things by the which
one may discern their great bestiality,[N179] for if they had some
particle of reason they would follow nature, and cover those parts only
which by its shewing ought to be covered, for we see how naturally in
each one of these shameful parts it placeth a circle of hair in proof
that it wished to hide them; and also some naturalists hold that if
those hairs be let alone, they will grow so much as to hide all the
parts of your shame." And the wives of the most honourable men wear
rings of gold in their nostrils and ears, as well as other jewels.