nightfall, the Prester sent to call us by a page. We got ready and
went. On reaching the door or entrance of the first enclosure of the
hedge, we found there porters who made us wait more than an hour in
great cold, with the sharp wind that was blowing. Where we stood
we saw in front of the other hedge enclosure many lighted candles,
and men held them in their hands. And as we stood thus at this
entrance, because they did not allow us to pass, our men fired off
two firelocks. There came at once a message from the Prester asking
why we had not brought from the sea many firelocks. The ambassador
answered that we had not come for war, and on that account we had not
brought arms, only three or four firelocks, which the men carried
for their amusement. Meantime there came five of the principal men,
among whom was an Adrugaz, to whom we were consigned when we arrived,
and he made us turn back. When he came up to us with a message from
the Prester, they made their accustomed courtesy, and we did so with
them, and we began to advance; and we might have walked five or six
paces, and we stood still, we and they. These five men were in front
of us in order, as in a row, and at the end of them were two men with
lighted candles in their hands on both sides. These messengers, who
thus guided us, commenced to say, each one separately: _Hunca hiale
huchia abeton_, which means: What you commanded, sire, here I
bring it. And each one said these words quite ten times, one ending
another began, and so they all went on. They continued saying this
until we heard a cry from within, said by a company, and they said
thus, in a very loud voice--louder than those outside whom we were
following: _Cafacinha_, which means, Come inside; and we walked a
little farther on. They again stood still, and we with them, and they
again said the same words as before, until from within they answered
like the first time. Of these pauses they made quite ten from the
first entrance to the second, and each time that from within they
said: _Cafacinha_ (because it was the word or permission of the
Prester), those who conducted us, and we with them, bowed our heads,
and put our hands to the ground. Passing the second entrance those
who guided us began to say another chaunt, it was this: _Capham hia
cainha afranguey abeto_, which means, The Franks whom you commanded
here, I bring them, sire. And this they said as many times as the
former words; and they waited for an answer from within, which was the
first, namely: _Cafazinha_; and so with many pauses we reached a
dais, and before it were many lighted candles which we had seen from
the first entrance, and they counted them, and there were eighty of
a side, in very good order, and that those who held them might not
get out of line they held in their hands before them some very long
canes, across them breast high, and so the candles were all in order.
The said dais was in front of the long one-storied house, which was
mentioned before. This house is set up on thick piles of cypress wood,
and the beams,[151] which are above the piles, are painted with poor
colours, and on them are planks which descend from the top to the
bottom. With regard to level it is not all well-constructed, and above
it is covered with a thatch of this country which they say lasts a
man’s life. At the entrance of this house, which is at the upper end
of the house, four curtains were suspended, and one of these which
was in the middle was of brocade, and the others of fine silk. In
front of these curtains on the ground was a large and rich carpet, and
there were two large cotton cloths, hairy like carpets, which they
call _basutos_[152] (this is their word), and the rest full of
coloured mats, for no part of the floor appeared; and also it was from
one end to the other full of lighted candles, like the others we had
seen outside. While we were quiet, from within the curtains there came
a message from the Prester John, saying, without any other preliminary,
that he had not sent Matheus to Portugal, and although he had gone
without his permission, and the King of Portugal had sent by him many
things for him, and what had become of them, and why did they not bring
them as the King of Portugal had sent them, and those things which the
captain-major of India had sent him, they had already given them? The
ambassador replied that if his highness would hear him, he would give
him an explanation of everything, and he began at once to say that
what the captain-major had sent he had already given, and besides he
had given him what he brought for his expenditure. And with respect to
what the King of Portugal had sent, on account of the death of Duarte
Galvam, the ambassador who died at Camaran, and those who were killed
at Dalaka, for one of them was the factor, interpreter, and presenter
of the articles which were sent; and on account of the winds having
been contrary, and that they could not fetch the port of Masua, and
returned to India, and the captain-major who was then in India when he
left Portugal, the King thinking that his ambassadors, Duarte Galvam
and Matheus, were already at this court of his highness, had only sent
him to the Red Sea straits to conquer Moors, and to learn about his
ambassador whom he had sent: and, therefore, they had made ready to go
to Jiddah, not being certain of being able to make the port of Masua,
as on a former occasion they had not made it, so they had not brought
the stuffs and things which the King of Portugal had sent him, which
things were in India together and preserved; and they only brought
Matheus, in order if they should be able to make any port of Abyssinia
to land him there, and afterwards send the goods which the King had
sent with his first embassage. And because rod was pleased that they
should make the port of Masua which is in his hands, although it was
in the power of the Moors, the captain-major determined to send to him
Don Rodrigo with these articles which he had already presented to him,
and he had come in company with Matheus, only for a visit, and to learn
the road for the time when an ambassador should come from the King of
Portugal, and that Matheus had died at the monastery of Bisan. In reply
to this answer, there came another question, that three had been killed
in Dalaka, and how had Matheus escaped? To this it was answered that
Matheus had escaped because he had not gone on shore from the caravel.
The ambassador still requested him as a great favour to hear him, and
he would know the truth, and that he would also give him in writing
that which the captain-major had ordered him to say verbally, besides
what was in the letter, and that from both sides he would learn the
truth respecting the King’s ambassador, and of the visit sent to him by
the captain-major. Messages went and came without any conclusion, and
so they dismissed us on the following day, and he sent us much bread
and wine and meat, and two men, who said they had to take charge of us,
and give us every day bread, wine, and meat, and all that we required.
This was forgotten, and some days we were very ill provided.
CAP. LXXV.--_How the ambassador was summoned another time, and
he took the letters he had brought, and how we asked leave to
say mass._
At night on Saturday, the 3rd day of November, the Prester John sent to
call us, and we went at night. On reaching the first door or entrance
and waiting a little; there came a message to say that we should fire
with the muskets, and that they should not carry balls, so as not to
do any mischief. A little after that they ordered us to enter, and
we advanced with pauses as on the former occasion; and on arriving
between the doors and curtains where we were before, the dais in front
of it was richly decked out, both the sides and front, with brocades,
and there were smarter people on both sides, all in a semicircle with
drawn swords in their hands, and placed as though they were about to
slash one another. There were two hundred candles lighted on each side
in a row, like those of the other day; and when we arrived messages
began at once to go and come through the Cabeata and a page who is
called’ by the name of Abdenago, who is the chief and captain of all
the pages. This man brought his messages with a drawn sword in his
hand. The first message which came was, How many we were, and how many
firelocks we had brought? And upon this came another: Who had taught
the Moors to make firelocks and bombards, and whether they fired with
them at the Portuguese, and the Portuguese at them, and who was most
afraid, the Moors or the Portuguese? Each of these questions came by
itself, and each had its answer; and as to the fear of the bombards,
since the Portuguese were strengthened in the faith of Jesus Christ,
they had no fear of the Moors; and if they had had fear they would not
have come from such a distance, and without necessity, to seek them.
With respect to making firelocks and bombards, that the Moors were
men who had knowledge and skill like any other men. They asked if the
Turks had got good bombards, the ambassador replied; that they were
as good as ours, but that we were not afraid of them, because we were
fighting for the faith of Jesus Christ, and they against it. He asked
who had taught the Turks to make bombards. The answer was given as for
the Moors, that is to say, that the Turks were men, and had the wit and
knowledge of men, perfect in all respects excepting in the faith. After
this he sent to say that they should play with sword and shield, and
the ambassador ordered two men of his suite to come out. They did it
reasonably well, and yet not as well as the ambassador desired that the
affairs of the Portuguese should be conducted: and as the Prester sent
to ask for others to come out, the ambassador proposed to Jorge d’Abreu
that they should both go out; and they went, out with their own swords
and targes,[153] and they did it very well, as was to be expected from
such men who had been brought up and trained in war and arms. At the
end of it all the ambassador sent to tell the Prester John that he had
done that to do him service, and that otherwise he would not have done
it, even though they gave him fifty thousand crowns,[154] for any other
prince, unless he were commanded to do it by the King of Portugal his
sovereign, under whose obligation he was. And he begged His Highness
to hear him, and learn what the captain-major of the King of Portugal
had ordered him to say, and to dismiss him, that he might be able to
join the fleet at the time of its arrival, so as not to cause expense
without profit. An answer came that we had now just arrived, and had
not seen even a third part of his dominions, that we should rest, and
that the captain-major would come to Masua, and he would send him a
message, and that then we should go away; and that they should make
a fortress in Masua and in Suaquem, and in Zeila, and he would send
all the provisions necessary for them, because the Turks were many and
we were few, and besides this, by having a fortress in the Red Sea,
it would be easy to make a journey to go to Jerusalem. The ambassador
answered that these were the desires of the King of Portugal, and that
he still begged of him to give him a hearing, and if he determined not
to hear him, that he would send him the captain-major’s letter, and
likewise he would send him in writing that which the captain-major
had bade him say. He ordered that all should be turned into his own
writing and language, and that they should send it all to him: and the
ambassador did so, and sent to ask him to look at it all and give him
his dismissal. After this, Prester John sent to ask that they should
sing to a musical-instrument,[155] and dance, and they did so. When the
dance was over we spoke to him and said that as we were Christians,
that they should give us leave to say mass according to our custom,
according to the Church of Rome. He immediately sent us a message that
he well knew that we were Christians, and that since the Moors who were
bad and vile said their prayers after their fashion, why should not we
follow ours, and that he would order what was necessary to be given to
us, and so he directed us to return to our lodging. When we arrived
there they followed us with three hundred large loaves and twenty-four
jars of wine; the person who had it brought said that they had given
him thirty jars, and that on the road those who carried them had
diminished them by six.
CAP. LXXVI.--_Of the questions which were put to the ambassador
by order of Prester John, and of the dress which he gave to a
page, and also whether we brought with us the means of making
wafers._
On the following Sunday there came to our tent many messages from
Prester John to the ambassador, and all were about the arms which the
King of Portugal sent him, and whether he had sent them to India. The
ambassador told him that the arms, and all the other things which the
King had sent would arrive this year which was coming, and that the
captain-major would bring them or have them sent, and that so he had
sent word and written in his letters. On this day he sent to ask if
we had brought the means of making corbam, that is to say, the host.
We answered that we had: and he desired that they should be shown to
him. I at once took to him the instruments, which were very good, and
in which was an image of the crucifix very apparent and well made. I
did not remain long, for he at once ordered them to be returned. On
this day he sent for us to go and show him how the white armour was
fitted which the captain-major had sent him; they went to fit them
where he could see it. He also sent to ask for the swords and cuirasses
which the ambassador had in his company; all was sent to him, and he
then sent to ask whether the King of Portugal would send him some
of those arms; he was told that he would send him as many as were
necessary. This day in the afternoon he sent as much bread and wine
as on the former occasion, and when it was quite night a page came to
our tent with a message, and the ambassador dressed him up entirely
as a Portuguese, with a shirt with a collar embroidered with gold, a
jacket,[156] ... a cap with gold points, silk drawers,[157] light
shoes,[158] gaiters, and shoes, and so he went away very joyfully and
those who came with him. On the following day in the morning the said
page returned with the jacket and nothing else, saying that the Prester
had scolded him for taking the said clothes, and besides that he
begged for a jacket of Portuguese cloth, upon which to put the armour:
the ambassador gave this also, and as to the jacket which the page
brought and left, the ambassador told him that the Portuguese were not
accustomed to give and take back. So he carried away the jacket, and
did not bring it back again.
CAP. LXXVII.--_How the Prester John sent to call me, the priest
Francisco Alvarez, and to take to him wafers and vestments, and
of the questions which he asked me._
Then on Monday, at the hour of vespers, the Prester sent to summon me,
Francisco Alvarez, to bring to him wafers, as he wished to see them.
I carried eleven wafers very well made (and I did not carry them in
a box, because I already knew the reverence with which they respect
them, that is to say their own which are only a roll, and these had a
very neat crucifix). I carried them in a very good porcelain, covered
over with tafeta. He saw them, and (according to what they told me) he
rejoiced greatly at seeing them, and again ordered that they should
bring the instruments in order to compare their opening with the
figure on the wafers: and also that I should show him all the other
things with which we say mass. I brought to him the full vestments,
the chalice, corporals, altar stone, and cruets. He saw all, piece by
piece, and ordered me to take it and unsew the altar stone, which was
sewn up in a clean cloth, and I unsewed half of it, and had it again
covered up. This altar stone was very smooth and square and well made
on the upper part, the lower part was little squared, and of the nature
and fashion of the stone. They returned it to me, saying that since
there were such good workmen in Portugal how had they made this thus
rough? I answered that the upper part was very well made and smooth
and square and well wrought, and that below it had a good foundation:
they still said that it was not well, that the things of God ought to
be perfect, and not imperfect. When it was night they told me to go to
the tent and to enter it. I entered, and they placed me in the middle
of the tent, which was spread with carpets for a space of two fathoms
from where the Prester John was. He then bade me dress myself as if to
say mass; and I dressed myself in his presence, first putting on my
surplice which I had brought with the vestments. When I was dressed
he asked me who had given us that habit, whether it was the apostles
or any other saints. I answered him that the church had taken it from
the passion of Jesus Christ. He told me to tell him what each of the
pieces signified. I at once commenced with the surplice, saying that it
was the habit of the clergy, and putting on the amice, I said that it
denoted the linen or cloth with which they covered the eyes of Jesus
Christ; and putting on the alb, I said that it signified the shirt
which our Lady had made for her Son, for which the knights of Pilate
had cast lots: and that the girdle signified the chastity and purity
of the priests; and that the maniple denoted a small cord with which
they tied the hands of Jesus Christ. Here the Prester spoke with his
mouth, and the interpreters told me that he said that we were good
Christians since we thus esteemed the Passion of Christ. Coming to the
stole, I told him that it signified the great cord which they fastened
to Christ’s neck when they led Him hither and thither; and the mantle
signified the vesture which they put upon Him in derision. Here he
again spoke, and the interpreters told me that he said that we were
true Christians since we had got the entire Passion. He again spoke to
the interpreters, and they said that he bade me take off the vestments,
and tell him over again what each piece denoted. On divesting myself
I commenced with the mantle and concluded with the amice, and there
remained only the surplice upon me. He told me to dress another time,
and to explain as before, and so I again explained to him, beginning
with the amice and ending with the mantle. Here he affirmed with a
very loud voice that we were Christians who possessed all the Passion
entirely; and he said to us that since I said that the Church had taken
this from the Passion of Jesus Christ, which then was this Church,
because two were at the head of Christendom, the first, Constantinople
in Greece, and then Borne in Frankland. I replied to him that here
there was only one Church, and although at the beginning Constantinople
had been the head, it had ceased to be so, because the head of the
church was where St. Peter was, by reason of what Jesus Christ had
said: Tu es Petrus, super hanc petram edificabo ecclesiam meam. And
when St. Peter was at Antioch there was the church, because there was
the head, and as he came to Borne it remained and always will be the
head. And this Church, ruled by the Holy Spirit, ordained what was
necessary for saying mass; and besides I affirmed more of this Church,
telling him that in the articles of our faith, which the apostles had
composed or declared, the apostle St. Simon said: I believe in the
Holy Catholic Church. And in the great Creed which was composed at the
Council of Vierapollos,[159] three hundred and eighteen bishops who
agreed against the heresy of Arius say: “Et unam sanctam catolicam et
apostolicam ecclesiam.” They do not say I believe in the churches, but
only in the Catholic and Apostolic Church: this is the holy Roman
Church in which is St. Peter, upon whom God founded his Church, as he
says, and St. Paul a chosen vessel, and teacher of the nations. So
it is called Catholic and Apostolic, for in it are all the apostolic
powers which God gave to St. Peter, and to all the apostles to bind and
to loose. They answered me that I gave good reason for the Church of
Rome, but they said that the Church of Constantinople was of Mark, and
that of Greece was of Joannes, Patriarch of Alexandria.[160] To this
I replied that his reasoning assisted mine, because St. Peter was the
godfather and master of St. Mark, and he had sent him to those parts:
and thus, neither Mark nor Joannes could make houses except in the name
of him who sent them, and thus their houses were members of the head
which sent them, to which all the powers were given. And after that,
not so long ago, that St. Jerome, and many other saints, separated
themselves, and ordained separation from the world with hard lives
to serve God, and that these separations they did not nor could not
carry out without authority of the apostolic Church, which is that of
Rome. How could they make churches to the prejudice of the great head,
unless they were built and made for Jesus our Lord. They agreed fully
to this, and the interpreters said that the Prester was much pleased.
Then they asked me whether the priests were married in Portugal, I told
them they were not. They also asked me whether we held to the council
of Pope Leon, which took place at Viera;[161] I answered, Yes, that I
had already spoken of it, and that there the great creed was composed.
They asked me how many bishops were with the Pope there; I said I had
already told them there were three hundred and eighteen. Then they said
that at this Council it was ordained that the clergy should marry, and
that the Council was sworn, how then did we not marry. I replied that
of this Council I knew nothing, except that in it the Creed had been
made, and it had been ordained that Our Lady should be called Mother of
God. Then they told me that many things were there ordained and sworn,
which Pope Leon had broken, and that I should tell them what these
were. I answered that I did not know of them, but it seemed to me that
if he had broken any of them, they would be such as touched the heresy
which was extensive at that time, and that he would approve those which
were necessary and profitable to the faith, and that otherwise he would
not have been approved and canonized as a saint, as he was. Again
they returned to the marriage of priests, saying that the apostles
were married. I replied to them that I had never read in a book, nor
had heard say that the apostles, after going in the company of Jesus,
had had wives, or had been married; and that although St. Peter had
a daughter, he had her of his wife before he was an apostle of Jesus
Christ; and St. John the Evangelist was at the marriage of Cana in
Galilee, where was Our Lady and Jesus Christ her son; and afterwards
St. John the Evangelist left this marriage and followed Christ our
Lord, and was a virgin: and also that I had read and heard tell that
after the death of Christ the apostles and disciples zealously preached
the faith of Jesus Christ until their deaths, and did not weary in it,
and preached chastity; and thus the Roman Church in truth established
and ordained that no priest should have a wife, so as to be more
pure in their consciences, and not take up their time with wives and
children, flocks, tillage, and property. They replied to this that
their books ordered that they should marry, and that so St. Paul had
spoken. They put a great many other questions to me whilst I was still
in my vestments, and last of all they asked me if we had the song of
the angels when Christ was born. I answered, Yes; and they asked if we
said it in the mass. I said, Yes we did. They then asked me to say the
beginning of it. I then began, “Gloria in excelsis Deo”. They told me
to say it chaunting it; I then sung two verses of it. Then they asked
if we had the Credo: I replied that I had already quoted it. Then they
asked me to say something in chaunt, and I sung two other verses. Then
they asked me to say some recited, and I said the Gloria and the Credo.
There was there an interpreter, and also the friar who guided us on
the road. This friar had been in Italy, and knew some little Latin.
The Prester asked him if he understood, and he replied that he did,
and that I had said the Gloria and Credo like them, and that the only
difference was in the language. The interpreter who was there also told
me that at each question and answer which I gave, chiefly with regard
to the portions of the vestments, the Prester said that we had got all
the matters of the Passion, and that we were Christians, as though as
yet he had doubted it. Here the Prester asked me why we did not say
mass according to our use; I told him that we did not say it because
we had not got a tent for a church. The Prester said that next morning
he would send for a tent, and would order it to be given to us, and
that we might say mass every day. Then he bade me divest myself of my
vestments, which I had worn up to this time, and to tell him again what
each piece signified. I told it him like the first time, and he gave us
our dismissal; and it was past midnight when we went away; and all the
evening was employed in what has been related, without an idle moment.
CAP. LXXVIII.--_Of the robbery which took place at the
ambassador’s, and of the complaint made respecting it to Prester
John, and how we were robbed, and how Prester John sent a tent
for a church._
This night which I thus passed with the Prester, towards morning of
the following day a great robbery of the ambassador took place in the
tent where we lodged: from it they carried off two cloaks and two rich
jerkins, seven shirts, and a cap, all good pieces, and other less
valuable pieces; and they took them all from a leather bag as large as
a trunk, in which he kept his clothes. They carried off from Manuel de
Moraes another leather bag with all that he had; and from one of the
Franks whom we found here they took seven pieces of cloth, which he
had brought the day before to be kept. They estimated the robbery done
that night at two hundred cruzados. On the morning that this happened,
the ambassador requested me and the factor and the clerk to go to the
tent of the Prester to make a complaint, and ask justice of him for
the great robbery committed against him. That night, whilst we were
close to the tent with the pages, taking this message of the complaint
we came to make, and to ask justice, since the ambassador had made
prisoner one of the thieves who committed the robbery, a woman came
crying out and demanding justice, saying that the night before the
ambassador of Portugal and his company, by means of an Arab, who knew
the language of the country, had by force robbed her of her daughter,
and taken her to the tent where they lodged, and had done what they
pleased with her, and because her son had complained of their stealing
his sister and forcing her they kept him a prisoner with the Arab who
had deceived and carried off the said girl, and they accused him of
having committed a great robbery. Thus we found ourselves waylaid and
robbed and we and the woman having been heard, one answer was given
to all, that is, that justice should be done, and that we might go in
peace.