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.
CAP. LXX.--_Of the theft which was done to us when the baggage
was moved, and of the provisions which the Prester sent us, and
of the conversation the friar had with 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.
CAP. LXXI.--_How the Prester moved away with his court, and how
the friar told the ambassador to trade if he wished; and how the
ambassador went to the court._
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.
CAP. LXXII.--_Of the Franks who are in the country of the
Prester, and how they arrived here, and how they advised us to
give the pepper and goods which we brought._
Because many times I mention Franks, I wish to say that when Lopo
Soarez, captain-major and governor, went from India and came to Jiddah
with a large fleet, in which I also was, there were in the said place
of Jiddah sixty Christian men captives of the Turks. These Christians
were of many nations. These who are at the court say that they were
all waiting for the favour of God and the entry of the Portuguese into
Jiddah to join with them; and, because the fleet of Lopo Soarez did
not make the land, they remained there. A few days after that, sixteen
of these white men, with as many other Abyssinians of this country of
the Prester, who were also there prisoners, stole two brigantines,
and fled to go in search of the said fleet. Not being able to fetch
Camaran, they made Masua, which is close to Arquico, the country of the
Prester. They landed at the said port and abandoned the brigantines,
and went to the court of the Prester, where they were doing them great
honour, more than to us up to the present time, and they had given them
lands, and vassals who provide them with food. These are the Franks,
and most men of these nationalities are Genoese, two Catalans, one of
Scios,[147] another a Basque, another a German; all these say that they
have already been in Portugal, and they speak Portuguese and Castilian
very well. They call us also Franks, and all other white people, that
is to say, Syrians, which is Chaldea and Jerusalem; and the people of
Cairo they call Gabetes.[148] On Sunday, the 29th of October, there
came to us two of the said Franks, saying that they came in consequence
of an agreement amongst themselves with respect to what they had heard
say about us, namely, that the people of the court said that the pepper
and all the goods that we brought belonged to the Prester John, and
that the captain-major had sent it to him, and that since we would not
give it him, so we should not find favour with him: and they were of
opinion that it would be well to give this pepper that we had brought
and all the other goods, because otherwise we should not have leave to
return, because this was their custom, never to allow any one to return
who came to their kingdoms: and that they would sooner have pieces and
stuffs than cities or kingdoms: and that this was their opinion. Upon
this we held council, and, with the opinion of the ambassador and of
ourselves, we all agreed to give to the Prester four out of the five
bales of pepper that we still had, and to keep one for our expenses. We
also decided to send him four chests covered with hide,[149] which were
among the company, in which came clothes, and this because we thought
that he would be pleased with them, and that we should obtain favour.
Then, on Monday, the 30th of October, the Franks came to us very early
with many mules and men-servants of theirs to carry our baggage. The
ambassador, with all of us, determined to send the said present of
pepper and chests, and that I, with the clerk and factor, should convey
it, and that the ambassador, with the other people, should go later
in the afternoon. We set out with the said pepper and chests, and
going along the road we met a messenger, who said he was bringing us
the words of the Prester; and he dismounted to give them to us, and
we dismounted to receive them, because such is their custom to give
the King’s words on foot, and for them to be heard on foot. He told
us that the Prester John ordered that we should come at once to the
camp. We said that the ambassador was coming presently after us, and
that he should return with us in order to give us the means of being
able to present a service which we were conveying to his highness. He
said he would do so, and moreover asked what we would give him for
himself; because this is their custom always to beg. We contented him
with words, with the intention of giving him nothing. He conducted us
before a great enclosure of a high hedge, within which were many tents
pitched, and a large long house of one storey thatched with straw, in
which they said the Prester sometimes remained, and this man said that
he was there. Before the entrance of this hedge there were a very great
many people, and these likewise said that the Prester was there. We
dismounted a space further off (according to their custom) and thence
we sent to say that we wished to present a service to his highness.
There came to us an honourable man saying, almost with ill-humour, how
was it the ambassador had not come. We answered him that it was because
he had not got mules or people to carry his goods, and that now he
would come because the Franks had gone for him. We asked this man to
tell us how we could present this pepper and chests to his highness;
he told us not to take care for anything, that anyhow the ambassador
should come, and when he had come and when he was summoned he would
take the present. This man then ordered us to be shown where our tent
should be pitched when he came, and the ambassador delayed very little.
CAP. LXXIII.--_How they told the ambassador that the grandees of
the court were counselling the Prester not to let him return,
and how he ordered him to change his tent, and asked for a
cross, and how he sent to summon the ambassador._
This day we learned that the Prester was not within this hedge
enclosure, and that he was not in the tents nor in the houses that were
there, and that he was higher up in other tents which could be seen
from there on a hill, and which was about half a league from these
tents. We did not see or hear anything more this day; we only pitched
our tent in the place which they had assigned to us, which was not very
far from the hedge enclosure on the right hand side. The Franks who
were at the court came to our tent, and they told us that the grandees
of the court were opposed to us, and that the friar was putting it into
their heads to counsel the Prester not to allow us to return, nor to
go out of his kingdoms, because we spoke ill of the country, and that
we should speak more evil of it if we went out of it: and that it had
always been the custom of this kingdom not to allow foreigners who came
to it to go away. We had suspicions of this from what we had heard, and
what these had told us; and from what we knew already of Joam Gomez
and Joane, a Portuguese priest, who had come here, sent by Tristan de
Acunha, in the company of a Moor, who is still alive, and dwells in
Manadeley. And they did not suffer these Portuguese to depart, because
they said it would cause their death if they went away. And so one
Pero de Covilhan, also a Portuguese, who went away from Portugal forty
years ago, by order of the King, Don Joam, may he be in holy glory, and
he has been in this country for thirty and odd years. There is also
a Venetian whom they call Macoreo in this country, and who says his
name is Nicolas Brancaliam; it is thirty-three years since he came
to this country. Also one Thomas Gradani, who has been here fifteen
years, without any of them being allowed to go away. These go about
the court, and there were others who died, without being allowed to
depart. They say, for their excuse, that whoever comes to seek us,
has need of us, and it is not in reason that they should go away, nor
that we should let them go. We did not now find this Pero de Covilham
at court, and they tell us that he is in his house close to the rocky
gates which we passed. On Tuesday, the last day of October, the Prester
John came from the tents above, where he was staying, to the enclosure
tents and house where we were. When he passed he saw our tent standing
not very far from his, and he at once sent a man to the ambassador
to tell him to order his tent to be moved, as the place where it was
sickly. We were on the spot which they had assigned to us the day
before. The ambassador said in answer, that he had not got anyone to
shift his tent or his baggage, and that people should come to shift it
to wherever his highness commanded. This day, in the evening, there
came a message from the Prester asking whether the ambassador had, or
whether any of his suite had, a gold or silver cross, to send it to
him to see it. The ambassador said that he had not got one, neither
was there one in his company, and that one he wore he had given to the
Barnegais; and with this the page went away. He returned immediately
saying that we should send any we had got. We sent one of mine of wood,
with a crucifix painted on it,(or perhaps, “a painted crucifix on it”)
which I always carried in my hand on the road, after the custom of the
country. He sent it back at once saying that he rejoiced much that we
were Christians. The ambassador then ordered word to be sent to Prester
John by the page who brought back the cross, that he still had for
the expenses of himself and his company a little pepper, and that he
wished to give it to his highness, and also four chests for keeping
clothes, and that when he sent they could take to him this pepper and
the chests. Then the page went with this message, and returned at
once, saying that the King did not want the pepper nor the chests, and
that he had already given the cloths which they had presented to him
to the churches, and most of the pepper to the poor, and also that
he had been told that the captain-major of India had given to the
churches all the stuffs which the King of Portugal had sent for him.
The ambassador answered that whoever had told him such a tale had not
told him the truth, that all the things were still together, and that
the servants of Matheus must have told that story that the cloths were
given to the churches. And because I knew all that had happened with
regard to the cloths which the King of Portugal sent to his highness,
I answered: That it was true that in order that these cloths which the
King had sent should not be damaged, and also to serve God and honour
the churches, I had assisted to hang them up in the principal church
of Cochym, which is that of Holy Cross, on the principal feast days;
and that when the feasts were ended, I had helped to take them down,
fold them and put them by, and this had been done to serve God and
honour the feasts, and also that the cloths might not be injured and
eaten by moths: and on this account they might have told him that they
had been given away to the churches, but such was not the truth. When
this answer had gone, another messenger arrived to say that the Prester
ordered that the ambassador should come there at once with all his
company and people (this might be about three hours after sunset). We
all began quickly to dress ourselves in our good clothes to go whither
we were summoned. When we were dressed, another message came that we
were not to go: so we all remained like the peacock when he makes a
wheel and is gay, and when he looks at his feet[150] becomes sad: as
pleased as we were at going, so sad were we at remaining.
CAP. LXXIV.--_How the ambassador having been summoned by the
Prester, he did not hear him in person._