with the ambassador, both Portuguese and Franks; and as soon as we
arrived near the tents, the Prester sent to ask how much carpets of
twenty palms cost in Portugal. The ambassador sent him word that he was
not a merchant, nor were those who came with him, and that he did not
know for certain what they cost. They again came to say that a carpet
of twenty ells had been brought from Cairo for four ounces of gold.
The ambassador replied that it seemed to him that in Portugal it would
cost twenty ducats. Then they came with another question, whether there
were in Portugal carpets of twenty or thirty ells? The ambassador sent
word that there were. Then they returned to ask whether, if the Prester
sent gold to the captain-major, he would send him these carpets, and
if he would send him enough to carpet the whole of that church? The
ambassador sent word that he would send him enough for a thousand such
churches. Another time he sent to ask, if they would send those carpets
if he sent the gold? They answered him that whatever His Highness sent
to ask for from the King of Portugal, or his great captain, all should
be sent him in perfection, as his Highness would see from the things
that he might have need of. He ceased about the carpets, and sent to
ask if there was anyone in Portugal who could read the Arabic character
and the Abyssinian character? They answered that all interpreters were
to be found in Portugal. He sent word that he well believed that there
would be such in Portugal, but at sea who would read those letters?
They replied that at sea there were a great many Arabs and Abyssinians
who continually sailed in the ships of the King of Portugal; and that
the Moors carried off Abyssinians from their country, and went to
sell them in Arabia and Persia, and in Egypt and India, and to the
Portuguese. And the Portuguese, whenever they took Moors prisoners,
happened to find among them many Abyssinians. At once they freed them,
and clothed and treated them very well, because they knew they were
Christians; and that we had brought here George the interpreter, whom
His Highness knew well, who had been rescued from captivity from a
Moor of Ormuz, and he could tell His Highness how he got there. The
Prester then ordered him to be asked how he went from these countries
to Ormuz. He replied that a man who was a Moor and had become Christian
deceitfully, had sold him to the Moors, and they carried him to Ormuz,
and he had remained there until the father Francisco Alvarez, who came
there, took him out of captivity, and did and still does to him many
favours: and so also to the other Abyssinians that they take from the
Moors who keep them as captives. Upon this he sent to ask if we wished
to eat: we replied that we kissed the hands of His Highness, and that
we had already eaten. Then he had us conducted to a tent which had
never been pitched till then. It was pitched behind the great church,
inside the circuit; it was a large[192] tent; above it was covered
with crosses of Christ, just like that which was over the tank the day
of the baptism. The whole of this tent was carpeted, and it was large
like a reception room, and he sent to tell us that for his sake we
should enjoy ourselves there and talk of our affairs. Whilst we were
in conversation they brought to us much to eat and drink of various
viands, among which were many fowls, or their skins, and they were
stuffed with their own meat without bones, minced and pounded with
spices: these skins of fowls had nothing wanting except the necks, and
the legs below the knees, and they had nothing broken, so that we could
not determine how or whence they had extracted the meat from inside,
or the skin from the meat. This dainty was very good. There also came
large earthen pots with boiled meats and other viands of divers kinds,
done in their fashion: what was boiled was done with much butter,
and the roast well roast. There were also many jars of wine, among
which was one very large jar of clear glass (for the others were of
black earthenware), and with this jar was a large gilt glass cup, and
another cup of silver, enamelled with four large stones which looked
like sapphires, placed in a square on this cup, which was large and
beautiful. After this repast, the Prester sent to request us to sing
and dance after our fashion, and to enjoy ourselves. Then our people
began to sing songs to a harpsichord which we had here, and afterwards
dance and country songs. There were with us certain pages and others,
and we heard others outside, as though the Prester were there, and also
those who were with us affirmed that he was there, and that nothing
indecorous ought to occur among us. For this evening they sent us
twenty-five large white candles and a candlestick of iron, and a large
tray on which to set the candlestick, and it had as many places for
holding candles as there were candles, for they sent them according to
the number. We were at this entertainment quite till midnight. Seeing
such hours we sent to ask leave to go, and they gave it us. We went to
our quarters, and the morning did not delay long, for it was very late.
CAP. CI.--_How the Prester sent to call the ambassador and those
that were with him, and of what passed in the great church._
On the following day, 18th of January, the Prester sent to call us to
go to the said church. We went, and he ordered us to be placed before
his curtains, where he was before, on the top of the steps which make a
courtyard before the principal door: and there we stood. We mounted two
rows of the steps, and there were in the church much more clergy than
the other time when the remains of his father were removed. All these
clergy did nothing but sing, dance, and jump, that is to say, leaping
upwards. When we had been a good while at this feast, he sent to ask
us if they sang like that in our country. We answered no, because our
singing was very slow and quiet, both the voice and the movement of the
body, and that they did not dance or leap. Upon this he sent to ask
whether as that was not our custom we thought theirs bad. We sent word
that the service of God, in whatever manner it was done, seemed to us
good. When this office was ended, they began to walk round the church
with twenty-five crosses, and each priest who carried a cross carried
a thurible, because they carry the cross in the left hand almost like
a staff, and the thurible in the right hand. Others carried thuribles
without crosses, and they expended incense without stint. On the steps
where we stood there were two basins of brass, very large, gilt, and
wrought with a graving tool, and full of incense, and at each turn they
took they cast off rich vestments and cloaks made according to their
custom; and also some of those who sang and danced had such vestments.
There were in this office many mitres made in their fashion. They told
us to move from the place where we stood to another side of the church,
on the side of the epistle; and in that part, at the transept door,
were the Queens, the mother and wife of the Prester, each with her
white parasol. Whilst we were in front of them, where they assigned
to us to stand, they sent to ask of what metal were the patens and
chalices in our country. We replied that they were of gold or of
silver. They came to ask why we did not make them of any other metal.
We answered that the regulations forbade their being of other metal,
because other metals are dirty and produce rust and verdigris and other
impurity. Still they came with another message to know whether we did
this from economy or if there was there much gold and silver. They
had for answer that it was done for cleanliness and to do what the
regulations ordered, and that if they did it out of economy they would
not make them of gold and silver, but would make them of tin or lead or
copper, which were metals of low price. Here we knew why the Prester
put these questions, because he had moved from his curtains inside
the church, and had come to the umbrella of his wife, which was stuck
in the cross entrance: and he also sent to ask how many chalices each
church had in Portugal? We answered that there were monasteries and
churches there which had two hundred, and no church, however poor, had
less than three or four chalices, and upwards. He sent to ask what was
the name of the church or monastery which had two hundred chalices? We
told him that many possessed that number, principally a monastery named
Batalha. He sent to ask why it was called Batalha? We said because
the King of Portugal had won a battle there, and had ordered this
monastery to be built, and the patron of it is our Lady: and because he
had a monastery in the kingdom of Amara, for that reason he asked this
question, and in this kingdom there is no other called Battle, because
in former times a Negus had there conquered certain Moorish kings, and
had built this monastery in honour of our Lady. He sent to ask how
many kings lie buried in Batalha? We told him that four lay there and
one prince, and several Infantes, and that other kings lie buried in
other rich monasteries, and cathedral sees in the kingdom of Portugal,
in splendid tombs. Upon this he sent to tell us to go and say our mass
because midday was approaching, which was the hour at which we used to
say it.
CAP. CII.--_How the ambassador and all the Franks went to visit
the Abima, and of what passed there._
On the 29th of January, the ambassador with all the Franks, both the
Portuguese and those that were here before, went to see the Abima
Marcos at his quarters, because as yet the ambassador had not spoken
to him. We found him, as I had gone to find him, in his house. The
ambassador attempted to kiss his hand, but he would not give it, and
gave him the cross which he always holds in his hand to kiss, and also
to all those that accompanied him. When the ambassador was seated, he
told the Abima how he came to visit him on behalf of the great captain
of the King of Portugal, and that he should pardon him for not having
visited him sooner, and that he had not visited him, because they had
not given him an opportunity to visit anybody. The Abima answered
that he should not be surprised at that, as it was the custom of this
Court that they did not allow any foreigner to go to the house of any
person, and that the Prester did not do this but the great people of
the Court who were bad did it; and that the Prester was a good and holy
man. The ambassador said to the Abima that the great captain sent him
to kiss his hands, and that he commended himself to him in his prayers,
and he entreated him to strengthen Prester John, so that he should
have courage to join his people with those of the King of Portugal to
destroy Mekkah, and cast out from it the Moors and the bad sect of
Mahomed. The Abima answered that he would do as much as was in his
power, and that Prester John was already encouraged not only to destroy
the house of Mekkah, but to take the holy house of Jerusalem; and so
they found it in their writings that the Franks would join with the
Abyssinians, and would destroy Mekkah and would take the holy house:
and he always had prayed to God to show him the Franks, and that God
had fulfilled it for him, and for this he gave Him great thanks; and
that here was the Portuguese Pero de Covilham, who spoke the language
between us and them; and that many times he had said to him: Cide[193]
Petrus do not be vexed, for in your days the people of your country
will come to this country and to these kingdoms: and now you have to
give thanks to the Lord. The ambassador further said to the Abima that
the King of Portugal had been informed of His Holiness by Matheus his
brother, and by other persons, and therefore he sent to entreat him to
make the Prester be strong and constant in this enterprise, as was to
be hoped from such men as they were. The Abima answered that he was not
holy, but was a poor sinner, and Matheus was not his brother, but he
had been a merchant and a friend of his, and that going on his journey
with a lie, it had been ordained by God that he should afterwards do
such great service and profitable work; and as to encouraging the
Prester, it was unnecessary, for he was so strong and strenuous in the
Christian faith, and so strenuous for the destruction of the Moorish
State, that more so he could not be; and that he, the Abima, had told
him of the greatness of the King of Portugal, and of the great name he
has in Cairo and all Alexandria, and that he ought to give many thanks
to the Lord for making him a friend and acquaintance of so great a king
as is the King of Portugal; and that the Prester had much information
about this, and was very joyful on that account: and the Abima still
trusted in God, that he should see the great captain of the King of
Portugal in the fortresses of Zeila and Masua, which would be built for
the service of God. Many other things having passed he gave us leave,
and we went away.
CAP. CIII.--_How Pero de Covilham, Portuguese, is in the country
of the Prester, and how he came there, and why he was sent._
I have sometimes spoken of Pero de Covilham, a Portuguese, who is in
this country, and have quoted him, and will not desist from quoting
him, as he is an honourable person of merit and credit, and it is
reasonable that it should be told how he came to this country, and I
will relate the cause of it, and what he told me of himself. Firstly,
I say that he is my spiritual son, and he told me in confession,
and out of it, how thirty-three years had passed that he had not
confessed, because he said in this country they do not keep the secret
of confession, and he only went to the church and there confessed his
sins to God. Besides, he related to me the beginning of his life;
first, that he was a native of the town of Covilham in the kingdoms
of Portugal, and in his youth he had gone to Castile to live with Don
Alfonso, Duke of Seville, and at the beginning of the wars between
Portugal and Castile he had come with Juan de Guzman, brother of the
said Duke of Seville, to Portugal. This Don Juan had given him to Don
Afonzo, King of Portugal, as a groom,[194] and he soon took him as
his squire, and he served in that capacity in the said wars, and went
with the king to France. When king Don Afonzo died he remained with
king Don Joan his son, whom he served as squire of the guard until
the treasons, when the king sent him to go about Castile, because he
could speak Castilian well, in order to learn who were the gentlemen
who had gone there. On his return from Castile, the King Don Joan sent
him to Barbary to buy woollen cloths[195] and to make peace with the
King of Tremezen; and returning he was again sent to Barbary, to Muley
Belagegi, he who sent the remains of the Infante Don Fernando.[196]
In this journey he carried goods of the King Don Manuel, who was then
Duke, to buy horses for him, because the King Don Joan intended to give
him an establishment, and one Pero Afonso, a veterinary, an inhabitant
of Tomar, was going to inspect the horses. On this arrival coming from
Barbary, it was ordained that one Afonso de Payva, a native of Castel
Branco, should come to these parts, and he waited for Pero de Covilham
to come together. When he came, the King spoke to him in great secrecy,
telling him that he expected a great service of him, because he had
always found him a good and faithful servant, and fortunate in his
acts and services; and this service was that he and another companion,
who was named Afonso de Payva, should both go to discover and learn
about Prester John, and where cinnamon is to be found, and the other
spices which from those parts went to Venice through the countries
of the Moors: and that already he had sent on this journey a man of
the house of Monterio, and a friar named frey Antonio, a native of
Lisbon, and that they both had arrived at Jerusalem, and that they
had returned thence, saying that it was not possible to go to those
countries without knowing Arabic, and therefore he requested Pero de
Covilham to accept this journey and to do this service with the said
Afonso de Payva. To which Pero de Covilham answered, that he regretted
that his capacity was not greater, so great was his desire to serve
His Highness, and that he accepted the journey with ready willingness.
They were despatched from Santarem on the 7th of May of 1487; King
Don Manuel, who was then Duke, was present, and gave them a map for
navigating, taken from the map of the world, and it had been made by
the Licentiate Calçadilha, who is Bishop of Viseu, and the doctor
mestre Rodrigo, inhabitant of Pedras negras, and the doctor mestre
Moyses, at that time a Jew, and this map was made in the house of Pero
d’Alcaçova; and the King gave four hundred ducats[197] for the expenses
of both of them, which he gave out of the chest of the expenses of
the garden of Almeirim, the King Don Manuel, then Duke, being present
at all this. The King Don Joan also gave him a letter of credence for
all the countries and provinces in the world, so that in case he saw
himself in danger or necessity, this letter of the King’s might succour
him:[198] and in the presence of the Duke he gave them his blessing.
Of the said four hundred ducats they took a part for their expenses,
and the rest they placed in the hands of Bartolomeu, a Florentine, for
it to be given to them in Valencia. Setting out, they travelled and
arrived at Barcelona on the day of Corpus Domini: and they changed
their route from Barcelona to Naples, and they arrived at Naples on St.
John’s day, and their journey was given them by the sons of Cosmo de
Medicis; and from there they passed to Rhodes; and he says that at this
time there were not more than two Portuguese in Rhodes, one was named
frey Gonzalo, and the other frey Fernando, and they lodged with these.
From here they passed to Alexandria in a ship of Bartolomeu de Paredes:
and in order to pass as merchants, they bought much honey, and they
arrived at Alexandria. Here both the companions fell ill of fevers;
and all their honey was taken by the Naib of Alexandria, thinking that
they were dying, and God gave them health, and they paid them at their
pleasure. Here they bought other merchandise and went to Cairo. Here
they remained until they found some Moghreby Moors of Fez and Tremecem,
who were going to Aden, and they went with them to Tor, and there they
embarked and went to Suaquem, which is on the coast of Abyssinia; and
thence they went to Aden, and because it was the time of the monsoon,
the companions separated, and Afonso de Payva went to the country of
Ethiopia, and Pero de Covilham to India, agreeing that at a certain
time they should both meet in Cairo to come and give an account of what
they had found to the King. And Pero de Covilham departed thence and
came to Cananor, and thence to Calicut, and from there he turned back
to Goa, and went to Ormuz, and returned to Tor and Cairo in search of
his companion, and he found that he was dead. Whilst he was about to
set out on the way to Portugal, he had news that there were there two
Portuguese Jews who were going about in search of him; and by great
cleverness they heard about each other, and when they had met, they
gave him letters from the King of Portugal. These Jews were named,
one, Rabbi Abraham, a native of Beja, the other, Josef, a native of
Lamego, and he was a shoemaker. This shoemaker had been in Babilonia,
and had heard news or information of the city of Ormuz, and had related
it to King Don Joan, with which news, he said, the King had been much
pleased. And Rabbi Abraham had sworn to the King that he would not
return to Portugal without seeing Ormuz with his own eyes. When the
letters had been given and read, their contents were, that if all the
things for which they had come were seen, discovered, and learned, that
they should return and welcome, and they should receive great favours:
and if all were not found and discovered, they were to send word of
what they had found, and to labour to learn the rest; and chiefly they
were to go and see and learn about the great King Prester John, and
to show the city of Ormuz to the Rabbi Abraham. Besides the letters,
these Jews made requisitions to Pero de Covilham that he should go and
learn about Prester John, and show the city of Ormuz to Rabbi Abraham.
Here he at once wrote by the shoemaker of Lamego, how he had discovered
cinnamon and pepper in the city of Calicut, and that cloves came from
beyond, but that all could be had there; and that he had been in the
cities of Cananor, Calicut, and Goa, all on the coast, and to this
they could navigate by their coast and the seas of Guinea, coming to
make the coast of Sofala, to which he had also gone, or a great island
which the Moors call the island of the moon; they say that it has three
hundred leagues of coast, and that from each of these lands one can
fetch the coast of Calicut. Having sent this message to the King by
the Jew of Lamego, Pero de Covilham went with the other Jew of Beja
to Aden, and thence to Ormuz, and left him there, and returned thence
and came to Jiddah and Mekkah and El Medina, where lies buried the
Zancarron,[199] and from thence to Mount Sinai. Having seen all well
he again embarked at Tor and went as far as outside the strait to the
city of Zeila, and thence travelled by land until he reached Prester
John, who is very near to Zeila; and he came to the Court, and gave his
letters to the King Alexander, who then reigned, and he said that he
received them with much pleasure and joy, and said that he would send
him to his country with much honour. About this time he died, and his
brother Nahum reigned, who also received him with much favour, and when
he asked leave to go he would not give it. And Nahum died, and his son
David reigned, who now reigns; and he says he also asked him for leave
and he would not give it, saying that he had not come in his time, and
his predecessors had given him lands and lordships to rule and enjoy,
and that leave he could not give him, and so the matter remained. This
Pero de Covilham is a man who knows all the languages that can be
spoken, both of Christians, Moors, and Gentiles, and who knows all the
things for which he was sent; moreover he gives an account of them as
if they were present before him.
CAP. CIV.--_How Prester John determined to write to the King and
to the Captain-major, and how he behaved with the ambassador and
with the Franks who were in his country, and of the decision as
to departure._
I return to our journey, or history of us who were in the tent in which
they gave us a banquet. From this time forward Prester John’s scribes
did not cease from writing the letters which we were to carry for the
King of Portugal and his captain-major: and they spent a long time over
them, because their usage is not to write one to another, and their
messages, communications, and embassages, are all by word of mouth.
With us they began to acquire the manner of writing, and when they
were writing, all the books of the epistles of St. Paul, of St. Peter,
and St. James were present, and those that they esteemed as the most
lettered studied them, and then began to write their letters in their
Abyssinian language, and other letters in Arabic, and also others in
our Portuguese language, which the friar who had guided us read in
Abyssinian, and Pero de Covilham turned them into Portuguese, and Joam
Escolar, the clerk of the embassy, wrote them, and I, who, by order
of the Prester, assisted in arranging the language, and it is very
laborious to translate the Abyssinian language into Portuguese: thus
the letters were made for the King our Sovereign in three languages,
Abyssinian, Arabic, and Portuguese; and likewise for the captain-major;
and all of them in duplicate, that is to say, two in Abyssinian, two in
Arabic, and two in Portuguese. And they go by two ways, that is to say,
one in Abyssinian, one in Arabic, and one in Portuguese, in one bag of
brocade, and three others of the same sort in another little bag: so
also those for the captain-major go in two little bags. These letters
are all written on sheets of parchment. On Monday, the 11th of February
of the year 1521, Prester John sent to call the ambassador and all
that were with him, and also the Franks who had come before. While we
were a good space in front of the doors of his tent, the Prester sent
to the first arrived Franks rich cloths of brocade and silk, that is
to say, damask, of which three pieces came, and besides he sent thirty
ounces of gold to be divided amongst all, and they were thirteen, so
that each had two ounces and four to be divided amongst all. We, seeing
how well they did for those Franks, who had come to them as runaways,
thought that they would do better for us, and we made sure that they
had prepared for us dresses of brocade. Messages were going and coming,
and during this his great Betudete, who is the lord of the left hand
wing, came and brought to me a cross of silver, and a crozier wrought
with inlaid work, saying that the Prester sent it to me as the title
and possession of the lordship which he had given me. Having received
the cross and crozier we again sat down. As all the messages which
went and came were about friendship between the ambassador and Jorge
d’Abreu, again another time a message returned that the ambassador
should be a friend to Jorge d’Abreu, and that we should all travel
together as we had come. The ambassador replied that he was not going
to be his friend, nor to travel where he was, but rather he begged of
His Highness to keep him at his Court two months after his departure,
because he sought to kill him. Upon this a message came that the
Prester ordered thirty mules to carry our baggage, and that eight of
these should be given for the baggage of Jorge d’Abreu, and those who
were with him; and saying, besides, that he sent thirty ounces of gold
for the ambassador, and fifty for those that accompanied him, and that
Jorge d’Abreu, and those that were with him, were to have their share
of it: and that he sent a hundred loads of flour, and as many horns
of mead for the road; and that we were to be entrusted to certain
captains, who would conduct us from one country to another as far as
the sea; that is to say, each one through his own lands: and that they
were not to annoy or injure the cultivators who were poor, for we had
told him that when we came, they destroyed the people of the country:
and these captains were to give us all that was necessary. Then we were
entrusted to the sons of the Cabeata, because we had to travel a good
deal through the lands of the Cabeata, which are of the church of the
Trinity, to which the remains of the Prester’s father were removed.
And this church had from its beginning four hundred canons, and a son
of the Cabeata is “licanete”, which means the office which Caiaphas
held when they brought Christ before him, that is to say, high priest
or judge that year. And the Cabeata is head in this church, and in the
other churches of this kingdom, which all belong to the kings, and his
title and style means head over the heads. And this head remains over
all like a bishopric.
CAP. CV.--_How the Prester sent to the ambassador thirty ounces
of gold and fifty for those that came with him, and a crown
and letters for the King of Portugal, and letters for the
Captain-major, and how we left the Court and of the road we
took._