gold for the ambassador and fifty for us: and with them came a large
crown of gold and silver which belonged to Prester John; and its value
is not so great as its size. It was brought in a round basket lined
inside with cloth and outside with leather. This crown was presented
by Abdenagus, page and captain of the pages, and it was stated by him
that Prester John sent that crown to the King of Portugal, and to tell
him that a crown was never removed except from father to son, and that
he was his son, and he took it off his head and sent it to the King of
Portugal, who was like his father, and that he sent it as a present;
and as a crown was a precious thing, by it he presented and offered
all favour and assistance and succour of men, gold, and provisions
which might be necessary for his fortresses and fleets, and for the
wars he might please to make against the Moors in these parts, from
the Red Sea as far as the Holy House.[200] And because the dresses did
not come which we knew were already made, some of our people murmured,
and those who had brought these things heard it, and said that Prester
John was much vexed with the ambassador because two days before he had
ordered to strike and cudgel close to his tent a Portuguese who was
named Magalhāes, and who had betaken himself to Jorge d’Abreu; and that
he was also vexed because he would not be friends with Jorge d’Abreu,
and that he was despatching us with much reserve, and that we were not
to expect dresses, nor anything else, and that we should lose much for
what has been related.
On Tuesday, the 12th of February, which was our Shrove Tuesday, the
friar who had guided us came, and he brought the letters for the King
and for the captain-major, for as yet they had not been delivered to
the ambassador, nor did the Prester send an ambassador. The letters
came in this manner; before those which were for the King were in two
bags, and now they changed them into three, because there were three
of each language, and they had separated one of each language, and had
made three bags; and for the captain-major there were two bags, as
there were before, and all were of brocade. All five came placed in a
basket lined with cloth inside and with leather outside. Then he took
out the bags and showed that they were closed and sealed, and having
shown them, again put them into the basket, and sealed its fastenings,
and said to the ambassador that we might go whenever we pleased as we
were entirely despatched. The ambassador replied to the friar that he
wished to speak again to the Prester John before his departure, if
His Highness should be so pleased. The friar and those that came with
him said that the Prester had gone away that morning early, which we
knew was true, and they said that he was very discontented with the
ambassador because he so ill-treated men, and because he would not
be a friend of Jorge d’Abreu, and for other things which he kept to
himself, and that we might depart in peace, and that mestre Joam and
the painter should remain in the country; as in effect they did remain.
Seeing that we were thus despatched, we began to make ready to start
as soon as we could, and the friar came with the thirty mules they
were giving us for the journey, and with many horns in which to carry
wine for the journey. When they promised them we thought that they
would give them full of wine, and they came empty, and they said that
the Prester said that notwithstanding that they did not drink wine
during Lent, since it was our custom to drink it, that the gentlemen
who conducted us would give it to us, that so it had been ordered. With
respect to the mules, they at once set aside eight for Jorge d’Abreu
and his companions, and also his share of the horns. Upon this some of
us went to the market to buy what they wanted for the road, and on this
account we were giving up our departure till another day, as it was
already late, when so great a wind fell upon us that it broke the tent
ropes, and the whole of it came to the ground. When we saw this and how
we were left in the open, all of us that were there began to call out:
“Come, come, let us be going, since they send us, let us go in peace.”
So we set out from the Court this day, which was our Shrove Tuesday,
and went to sleep in a field a distance of a league from the Court.
There came with us and in our company Pero de Covilham, with his wife
and some of his sons, and the friar came with Jorge d’Abreu, almost
like his guard, and they took up their quarters apart from us.
On Ash Wednesday, in the morning, we commenced our journey, and while
travelling, a son of the Cabeata passed by us, who was going to give
us what was necessary in the lands of his father or of his church,
through which we had to travel several days; and there also passed
by Abdenago, the Captain of the pages, who had brought us the crown,
because when we had done with the lands of the other gentlemen, we were
to pass through his. We went to take up our quarters at the foot of a
high hill, which had upon it a church of St. Michael, and we remained
in a cultivated field, and at the end of it the above-named gentlemen
took up their quarters, and we did not know of their being there till
after we had settled ourselves. Jorge d’Abreu and the friar were in
their company, and what was necessary for our supper came from there.
Then in this second night of our journey, sin began to excite fresh
quarrels: for Joan Gonzalvez our factor began to quarrel with one Joan
Fernandez, whom he had brought, or whom the Captain-major had given
him, to be his assistant with the goods that were entrusted to him,
in such sort that they said that he struck him with a stick. When
this quarrel began we made peace again as well as we could, and the
ambassador favoured Joan Fernandez, and he left the factor and went in
company with the ambassador. The following day we travelled on our road
in parties, that is to say, Jorge d’Abreu and the friar in one party,
and we with the son of the Cabeata in another party, and we were well
provided with all that was necessary every day. When we were in the
kingdom of Angote, close to a monastery of the Abima Marcos, the lands
of the Cabeata having been left behind, and we had almost entered those
of Abdenago, sin got into the head of Joan Fernandez, and he went and
waited for the factor who was going alone with the goods, and with a
lance belonging to the ambassador, and gave him two lance thrusts,
one in the hand and another in the breast. That in the hand wounded
his fingers, and that in the breast, God was pleased that it struck
him on a rib, and did not go through it. And as we were going rather
divided, and here there were two roads, some of us were on one side,
and others on the other; and when we came together they called me to
confess him, and another man to cure him; we found him half dead; God
was pleased to give him health with the care that was taken of him.
Joan Fernandez ran away and met with the ambassador, and those who
were coming after him shouted loudly to take him prisoner, that he had
killed the factor; and he was arrested; and the factor shouted and said
that the ambassador had killed him with the favour he had shown and the
lance he had given to his servant, or the man who had been given to him
for his service. Abdenago had gone on to his lands where we expected to
go and sleep, and with these quarrels we did not go. We remained by a
great river, as its appearance showed it to be in the winter and season
of thunderstorms, for at this time it contained very little water,
and there we slept, with the said Joan Fernandez a prisoner and his
hands tied behind him. The ambassador ordered all to watch and guard
that prisoner, and he begged me to remain near the factor, and so we
lay down together with our heads on one saddle, and it seems we slept.
Meantime there was not wanting someone who let loose the prisoner, and
he ran away to Jorge d’Abreu, who was lying down in the same river bed
lower down than us. Then the ambassador’s fear became doubled. The
next day we travelled and found Abdenago, who was coming in search
of us, and we went with him and Jorge d’Abreu and the friar in their
party and by another road, all through the lands of Abdenago: so he
travelled with us through his lands and those that were not his as far
as Manadeley.
CAP. CVI.--_Of what happened in the town of Manadeley with the
Moors._
When we arrived at this town of Manadeley, a town entirely of peaceful
tributary Moors, as has been before related, we passed by this town
and went to take up our quarters at some springs beneath some large
trees; and because the people of the country do not care for water nor
shade, but only for the heights where there is sun and wind, Abdenago
passed on to a hill and sat down in a tent of his own, and we remained
at the said springs. And some of our people turned back to the town
to buy what they wanted; among them was a servant of the ambassador’s
named Estevan Palharte: and, as it appeared, he got into a quarrel
with a Moor in such a manner that the Moors broke two of his teeth,
and some of our people coming up to his assistance they took one of
them and struck him on the head with stones, so that he was brought to
our tent half dead. However, on learning this, Abdenago came up and
ordered those Moors to be made prisoners whom he found to be in fault.
And because this day it soon became night, on the following day he sent
to call us, and we went to where he was and got the Moors prisoners;
that is to say, two of them; and he bade us all sit down on the ground
and on the grass; and he also was seated on the ground with his back
leaning against his chair. Thither they brought the prisoners and he
gave them their trial, and put questions to them: and on account of
what he found against them, he ordered them at once to be stripped
and severely flogged, and to be asked from time to time: What will
you give? They began by promising one ounce of gold--two--three. They
again flogged them and asked: What will you give. At last they arrived
at giving seven ounces. This they gave soon, and this gold was given
to the two wounded men: and the two Moors were then made prisoners and
sent to Prester John. I will now at once relate what happened to them.
We travelled forward on our road as far as the town of Barua, where we
stayed on first coming from the sea, and when we had been there already
some days, there came a message from Prester John, and with the message
came one of the Moors who had been flogged, and the head of the other
Moor, and the messenger said that he had brought this message: That
the Prester had examined into the fault of those Moors, and the injury
which they had done to the Portuguese, and he had cut off the head of
the one he had found to be in fault, and he sent it to us, in order
that we might be certain of the truth, and know that it was that man;
and that as to the other he did not find him to be guilty, but he sent
him also, and if we thought that he was guilty, we should do what we
pleased with him, either kill him, or let him go free, or make him a
captive. We all held a council over this, and the ambassador asked what
we thought we ought to do with this Moor. This was what was said by
those of us who were in this matter: I spoke for all of them because
I knew their wishes; and I said that since the Prester sent to say
that he found him to be without fault, that neither ought we to blame
him; and that if we did any justice upon him, they would hold us to be
cruel men without mercy; and that if we let him go and sent him to his
country, the Prester would consider that as good. All those that were
there said the same; and the ambassador said that was not his opinion,
but that he should take him as his slave; as in effect he did, and
ordered him to be loaded with chains, and he kept him thus ten days;
and the Moor escaped with all the chains that he wore.
CAP. CVII.--_How two great gentlemen from the Court came to
us to make friendship between us, and committed us to the
captain-major._
When we left this town of Manadeley, on the way to Barua, as has been
said, we travelled through many countries, and Abdenago with us, as he
had been ordered to do, and the friar with Jorge d’Abreu. We arrived
at a district which is named Abacinete, a large town, and captaincy
of people who were not tender hearted, for here at times they wished
to throw stones at us, and in effect they did do so. This town is at
one end of the kingdom of Tigray. When we were in our quarters there
came to us two great lords of the Court, one of them was the Adrugaz,
to whom we were at first entrusted at Court, as has been said already
many times in this book; and the other was by title the Grageta, and by
name Arraz Ambiata, who later was Barnagais, and was Betudete. When
they came to us they at once spoke of how Prester John had remained
much discontented because the ambassador would not be friendly with
Jorge d’Abreu before His Highness, when he begged it of him; and that
which had not been done, he now sent to entreat that it should be done,
and that they should become friends, and not keep apart before the
captain-major, as it appeared to be a very unseemly thing; and also the
others who had fought on the road, that they should be friends. Then we
made them become friends and meet together. Upon this the said lords
gave to each of us his mule as the Prester had ordered. They further
said that they had come to present us before the captain-major, and
also to see and visit him in the name of Prester John, inasmuch as the
Barnagais, who was lord of this country, and other lords, had remained
at the Court. When friendship had been established, and the said mules
had been given, we all travelled, returning as far as Barua, where
we remained until the time of the monsoon had passed, during which
they[201] were to come for us. When the time had passed, Don Rodrigo
the ambassador did not choose to order any provisions to be given to
Jorge d’Abreu, nor to those who were with him. And one day that he
sent to ask it of him by Joan Fernandez, who wounded the factor, the
ambassador wished to have him beaten, but he ran away. Upon this Jorge
d’Abreu sent to ask me to come to a church, and there he told me to
tell the ambassador to order provisions to be given for him, and those
that were with him. I told him, and soon after returned with the answer
that the ambassador said that he would give them to him, but that for
those who were with him he would give nothing, as they were traitors
to the service of the King of Portugal. Jorge d’Abreu answered, that
for himself he did not want it, but for those who were with him, and
that if he did not choose to give it that he would take it, and so
we separated. Jorge d’Abreu went to the Adrugaz and Grageta to make
a complaint to them. At this, those lords sent to call us, and they
called all of us, and not to their houses which were large and good,
but to a field in front of a church. When we were all assembled, the
Adrugaz made a speech to the ambassador, asking why he treated his
countrymen so ill, and saying that since he did not give them of that
which was given for them, he would sell the horse and mules to maintain
them, and this was not usual among grandees, and that he should
consider how much displeasure Prester John would feel at his so ill
treating his company; and that if he would treat them in another way,
he himself would be treated differently, and would be more pleased than
he was; and he entreated him to give them their own, and not break the
friendship which he had already promised to keep with Jorge d’Abreu.
The ambassador replied that he was not going to give it him, and they
were traitors to the service of the King of Portugal for which he came.
Jorge d’Abreu said that if he did not order it to be given him that
he would take it: and so we arose all of us in a bad humour, and each
one went to his quarters. As it seemed likely to the factor that Jorge
d’Abreu would attack him and take his goods, because he had said that
he would take it if a provision was not given him, he went to sleep at
the ambassador’s quarters, which were some houses of a gentleman, good
and strong according as they are in this country. Whilst we, the clerk
of the embassy, and my nephew and I, were lying in bed, late in the
night we heard shouts of, “Come this way, go that way”, and then musket
shots; and running up, the clerk and I (my nephew remained behind as
his eyes were suffering), we saw them knocking down the houses with
rams, and firing musket shots, and it seemed to us that those that
were inside must be dead, so great was the noise. So we went running
to the houses of the Barnagais, where the said lords were lodging, to
tell them to come to our assistance; and because the houses had two
doors, one at each end, as we entered by one door, the ambassador and
his companions entered by the other, and they were bringing with them
the crown and letters of Prester John, and what goods they could, and
one of the ambassador’s men came wounded by a musket shot in the knee,
which made four or five wounds, as they had given others besides that
with the bullet.[202] The ambassador and his men had gone out by a
back door which the house had, and which the others did not know of.
These lords then sent at once to arrest all the others, and the clerk
and I went with the people that the lords sent on this errand. We
found them still occupied in knocking down the house, thinking that
they had caught the people inside. Here they began to ill-treat them
with thumps and cudgelling, for they had no more powder, nor withal to
defend themselves, and they were all carried off before these noblemen.
They were further ill-treated, and it was ordered that they should be
taken to another town near this named Gazeleanza, where they were to
remain without going out, and they set guards to keep them. Many days
passed after this, and because they could not see them,[203] and also
because it is the custom of this country that no grandee can leave
the Court without licence, nor go to the Court without being summoned
to it; these lords, Adrugaz and Grageta, did not know what to do with
us, and did not dare to leave us nor to take us away, nor to return
themselves, neither could they make peace between us, and at length
they took counsel and decided to send us back to the Court, and expose
themselves to any punishment which he might please to give them for
this.
CAP. CVIII.--_How they took us on the road to the Court, and how
they brought us back to this country._
These noblemen, seeing that the time had gone by for them[204] to come
for us, and also that there could be no peace between us, as has been
said, took the determination to send us back, and we began to travel,
we and the Franks who were coming with us. On arriving at the town of
Abacinen, before mentioned, the first town, at once the people put
themselves on guard not to receive us, and so many friars came down
from a mountain that they seemed like sheep, and all brought bows and
their weapons, and it was like a field battle, and there were wounded
on both sides. Nevertheless, the field remained in our possession,
and we took up our quarters in the town: and those of the place on
the mountain, and the men belonging to these lords treated the town
like a town of Moors, and plundered everything, both wheat and barley,
fowls, capon, sheep, and household furniture, and whatever they found.
From this place we departed and travelled our journey in parties, that
is to say, Jorge d’Abreu and those that were with him and the friar
together, and we with the ambassador and his people, and the Adrugaz
and Grageta. Thus we travelled till we reached Manadeley, where they
wounded our men, and here we found the Moor who ran away from the
ambassador, and yet he was but little afraid of him. When we had passed
this town about half a league, we met the Barnagais, who came from the
Court and brought a message for the noblemen and for us what we were
to do. We all placed ourselves in a tilled field at the foot of a big
tree, as many as there was room for there. These noblemen were much
reproved by the Barnagais for having brought us without leave, and he
also bawled a good deal at the ambassador and at Jorge d’Abreu: and he
told the ambassador at once to give up to him the crown of the Prester,
and the letters which he was carrying for the King of Portugal and the
captain-major. Between the ambassador and Jorge d’Abreu some very ugly
words passed. Then the Barnagais told the others to continue on their
way to the Court, and there they would have their punishment. He then
gave us captains to conduct us separately as we came. So we travelled
with him as far as his lands, through the heavy rain which now fell.
Those who went with the ambassador’s party he took with him to the
town of Barua, where the quarrel happened, which is the chief town of
his kingdom, and he put Jorge d’Abreu and his company in Barra, which
is the chief town of the captaincy of Ceivel, all belonging to the
Barnagais. The Barnagais himself settled in the town of Barra, and he
said that he did it in order not to be annoyed by the ambassador: and
the distance from one town to the other may be three leagues and a half
or four. At this time we were very ill provided with all things; Jorge
d’Abreu and his companions were better provided than we were: and our
hunting and fishing was of great advantage to us, for we had a river
and hunting ground.
CAP. CIX.--_In what time and day Lent begins in the country
of Prester John, and of the great fast and abstinence of the
friars, and how at night they put themselves in the tank._