Of the things that happened to John Fernandez.
That we may assist in the knowledge of these matters, let us relate in
this place the hap of John Fernandez[N180] in this land during those
seven months in which he stayed there in the service of the Lord Infant,
as you have already heard. Now he, remaining there in the power of the
relations of that Moor whom Antam Gonçalvez brought to this land, was
conducted by them with his garments and biscuit and some corn that was
left to him, and also his wearing apparel; and these things were all
taken from him against his will, and he was only given a bournous like
each of the other Moors wore. And the men with whom he thus remained
were shepherds, and they departed to their country with their sheep, and
he went with them.[N181] And he reported that this country is all sandy,
without any grass, except in the riverine lands or low-lying parts,
where there is some grass from which the herds obtain their poor
nutriment; but there are hills and mountains all of sand.[N182] And this
land runneth from Tagazza[CA][N183] as far as the land of the Negroes,
and it joineth with the Mediterranean Sea at the extremity of the
kingdom of Tunis and Momdebarque. And from there all the land is like
this I have described, even from the Mediterranean Sea as far as the
Negroes and Alexandria, all peopled by shepherd folk in greater or
smaller numbers, according as they find pasturage for their flocks; and
there are no trees in it save small ones, such as the fig-tree of
Hell[CB] or the thorn, and in some places there are palms.[N184] And all
the water[N185] is from wells, for there are no running streams, save in
a very few spots, and the breadth of this land will be three thousand
leagues and its length a thousand, and there is no noble place in it
save Alexandria and Cairo.
[Footnote CA: In text "Tagaoz."]
[Footnote CB: The _Palma Christi_.]
Now the characters in which they write[N186] and the language which they
speak are not like those of the other Moors, but are clean different;
yet they are all of the sect of Mohammed, and are called Arabs[CC] and
Azanegues and Berbers.[N187] And they all go in the manner I have
already said, to wit, in tents with their herds, wherever it pleaseth
them, without any rule or governance or law, for each goeth as he
willeth and doeth what pleaseth him in so far as he hath power. They
make war with the Negroes more by thieving than by force, for they have
not so great strength as these last.[N188] And to their land come some
Moors and they sell them of those Negroes whom they have kidnapped, or
else they take them to Momdebarque, which is beyond the kingdom of
Tunis, to sell[N189] to the Christian merchants who go there, and they
give them these slaves in exchange for bread and some other things, just
as they do now at the Rio do Ouro, as will be related further on. And
'tis well for you to know that in all the land of Africa which
stretcheth from Egypt to the West, the Moors have no other kingdom than
the kingdom of Fez, in the which lieth that of Marocco and of Tafilet;
and the kingdom of Tunis, in which is that of Tlemcen[CD] and of Bugia;
and all the rest of the country is possessed by these Arabs and
Azanegues, who are shepherds on horseback and foot, and who travel over
the plains as I have already related. And it is said that in the land of
the Negroes there is another kingdom called Melli, but this is not
certain;[N190] for they bring the Negroes from that kingdom, and sell
them like the others, whereas 'tis manifest that if they were Moors they
would not sell them so.
[Footnote CC: In text "Alarves."]
[Footnote CD: In text "Tremecam."]
And returning to the hap of John Fernandez, who went off thus with those
shepherds; He reported that, as he journeyed with them over those sands
he oftentimes had not sufficient milk. And it fell out one day that two
horsemen passed by there who were journeying in the direction of that
Ahude Meymam, of whom we have already spoken before, and they asked this
John Fernandez if he wished to go to the place where that Moor lived?
"Well it pleaseth me," answered John Fernandez, "for I have heard that
he is a noble man, and I would fain go to see and know him." So then the
others placed him on a camel and they began to journey in the direction
where they thought the Moor was, and they travelled so far that the
water they were carrying fell very low, on which account they went three
days without drinking. And he saith that they know not the place where
any people dwell save by keeping their eyes on the heavens,[N191] and
where they see crows and _hussos francos_,[N192] they judge there are
people, for in all that country there is no fixed road save those that
go by the sea coast. And that John Fernandez said that those Moors with
whom he travelled guided themselves by the winds alone, as is done on
the sea, and by those birds which we have already mentioned. And they
journeyed so far through that land, enduring their thirst, until they
reached the place where was that Ahude Meymam with his sons and with
others who accompanied him, in number as many as one hundred and fifty
men. And to him John Fernandez made his reverence, and the Moor received
him right well, and ordered him to be supplied with the food on which he
supported himself, to wit, milk, so that at the time he was picked up by
the caravels he was well nourished and of a good colour. He reported
that the heats of that land are very great, and so is the dust of those
sands, and the men on foot many, and therefore few on horseback, for the
remainder who are not such as to travel on foot go on camels, of which
latter some are white and make fifty leagues[N193] in the day. And there
is a great sufficiency of these camels, not of the white in particular,
but of all colours, and there are also many flocks and herds, though the
pastures be so few, as we have already noted. And he further saith that
they have captive Negroes, and that the men of rank possess abundant
gold, which they bring from that land where the Negroes live; and that
there are in that land many ostriches[CE] and deer, and gazelles and
partridges and hares, and that the swallows which depart hence[CF] in
the summer go and winter there on those sands, and I believe this is on
account of the heat; and other small birds go there as well, but he
saith that the storks pass over to the land of the Negroes, where they
abide through the winter.
[Footnote CE: In text "Emas."]
[Footnote CF: Portugal.]