and Tigrimahom and the gentlemen of their company, Prester John sent
fifteen thousand with a gentleman of the title of Adrugaz, already
mentioned several times in this book, to go immediately to the Kingdom
of Adea and establish the King in peace in his kingdom, and the Queen
of Adea was to go more at leisure. The Queen and the Adrugaz set out
immediately, and they said that they had more than a month’s journey
through the Prester’s country before reaching the Kingdom of Adea.
When this Queen had departed, on the following day the King ordered
the arrest of the Betudete who had brought the gibri of Gojame. He
also ordered that the other Betudete, who was named Canha, should be
arrested, and so he ordered with respect to Tigrimahom. They were all
made prisoners in one day, and early in the morning he set out and all
the Court with him, and we in our turn: the Prester’s ambassador and
I were at a river feeding the mules, and there passed by this Betudete
who brought the gibri, and he said to me “Abba baraqua,” which means
“Father give me a blessing.” I answered “Izi baraqua,” which means
“God bless you.” This Betudete was accompanied by fifteen gentlemen
on mules, and we mounted and went on in his company. As soon as I
approached him he took my hand and kissed it, and again asked for
my blessing, saying, “What do you think of this; do they thus make
prisoners of great men in your country?” I replied that in my country,
if great lords were arrested for small matters or for the anger of the
King, they gave them their own houses for prisons, and if it was for
great things they were prisoners in large castles and prisons. He,
with tears which ran down the whole of his face, again said to me:
“Father, pray to God for me, for I shall die of this.” And I continued
encouraging and consoling him to the best of my ability until in the
afternoon he separated from us, and all those who came with him, both
on mules and on foot, were none of them his men. On the following day
we again met, and he began again with me as the day before, and I with
him; he always begging me to pray to God for him, as he would die in
that prison. And the restraint under which he was consisted of a very
slender chain a fathom long, just like a chain for holding dogs, and a
small thin ring at the wrist, and he carried the chain itself in his
hand, and those who accompanied him were all guards. We arrived one
Thursday where the king’s tents were pitched, and they say that that
night Prester John ordered that they should bring to him the Betudete,
and those who guarded him brought him; and two of the Betudete’s sons
were that night in his company. When he was before the door of the
tent, the Prester from within sent pages to bring the Betudete behind
the tent, as he wished to speak to him in person, and the guards and
his sons were to wait, withdrawn a little from the door of the tent.
There they waited until morning, when the Prester travelled, and all
of us with him, without there being any news of the Betudete, whether
he was dead or alive; nor what had become of him. The two sons who
went with him to the door of the tent, and three who had remained at
home, all grown men and great gentlemen, and good knights (according
to report), made great lamentation with all their servants and those
of their father, for he had a household like that of a great king.
Then the Prester ordered that the Betudete’s sons should travel alone,
without their servants or those of their father, and so it was. I
saw them all five travelling without a groom or anybody; stripped
from the waist upwards, and without their black fleecy sheep skins on
their shoulders, and from the waist downwards they had black cloths,
and their mules were covered with black. Their people and those of
their father travelled separately, and in mourning, and all on foot,
with their mules saddled in front of them. On the following Tuesday
we came to stop at the entrance of the Kingdom of Oyja, and here were
preparations[241] to celebrate the feast of the Kings,[242] which they
name _tabuquete_, and they celebrate baptism, as has been related
above. Here these sons of the Betudete, as soon as it is morning, go
from house to house, that is, to the houses or tents of the great men,
as others are used to do, to search for news of their father, if he
is alive or dead, or what had become of him, or what was expected to
happen to him. They did not find any news until the end of fifteen
days, when those came who had carried him to the Kingdom of Fatiguar,
to a mountain which they say is at the edge of the Kingdom of Adel,
and which is very high, and deep in the middle, and it has only one
entrance; and they say that inside this mountain there are great herds
of cows, and that anyone who newly enters there does not last more
than four or five days, and soon dies of fevers; and that they had left
him there without any person to serve him except the Moors, who would
keep him there till he died. With this news the lamentation was greater
than at first. Then they began to say through the Court that the
Prester had given him this death because he had to do with his mother;
and such had been the report when she was alive; and they say that he
had a son of her; also that the Prester did not choose to kill him in
the lifetime of his mother that she might not be more defamed than was
already the case. As this began to be muttered about, proclamations
were soon made throughout the Court that no one was to speak of the
Betudete under pain of death. This report soon died out, and three
months later, when we were near the sea in the country of Tigrimahom,
there was news that the Betudete had not died, and that his sons, with
the aid of the King of Adel, had rescued him, and that from Adel they
were making much war upon the Prester. In these countries proclamations
were made that no one was to speak of the Betudete, and they ceased.
Then fresh news arose that the Prester had ordered the beheading of
twenty Moors who guarded the Betudete, and of two of his own servants,
because they had spoken to him, and the Moors because they had given
them an opportunity for so doing; and this we learned was the truth. It
was also said that the Prester wished to pardon him since God had given
him life for so long a time in such a dangerous place, and because he
missed him, for he was a man of great mind and a warrior.
CAP. CXIX.--_How the Tigrimahom was killed, and the other
Betudete deposed, also Abdenago from his lordship, and the
ambassador[243] was provided for, and Prester John went in
person to the Kingdom of Adea._
As soon as we had arrived at the place where we were to keep the feast
of the kings or _tabuquete_, before it was reported where the
Betudete was, on the next night Prester John ordered the Tigrimahom to
be taken away, neither was it then known where he had been taken to.
The following day they sent to take away all that he had got in his
tents, and for three days they did not cease to take away, and count
and deliver up common silks, and camlets and good cloths of India. We
found ourselves there six white men, that is to say, I, and another
Portuguese, and four Genoese, and to each of us the Prester ordered
to be given six cloths, that is, three camlets and three pieces of
Indian stuffs. Many days did not pass before it was said that Prester
John had ordered the Tigrimahom to be taken to the Kingdom of Damute
to a very high mountain, which had only one entrance, and that one
was artificial, and above it was uninhabited and very cold, and that
there they sent men who were to die. And where we heard in the country
of Tigrimahom news that the Betudete had escaped, that was untrue;
but we found there certain news that the Tigrimahom had died in the
said mountain, and had died of hunger and cold. In those days when
we were at the Court, the other Betudete, who had been arrested, was
deposed from his office, and Arraz Anubiata, who was Barnagais, was
made Betudete. And they made Balgada Robel Tigrimahom, he who came
with thirty well-equipped horses. There was a great rumour and talk
at the Court about the death of Queen Helena. They said that since
she had died all of them would die great and small, and that while
she lived, all lived and were defended and protected; and she was the
father and mother of all, and if the king took this road, his kingdoms
would become deserts. When the _tabuquete_ or baptism was ended,
without the ambassador or I making further requests as to our claims,
because we did not venture on account of the great affairs which we saw
going on, the Prester sent to call us, and took away from Abdenago,
our adversary, the great lordship which he held, and he bestowed on
his ambassador both the land which we were claiming and that lordship
which he had taken away, and so he dismissed us well satisfied. Before
our departure a message arrived from the Adrugaz that they had gone
with the Queen of Adea to the assistance of her husband, and that the
people would not obey him, and wherever he went all ran away and took
refuge in the mountains, and that His Highness should send more men.
His Highness determined to go there in person, and to take the queen
his wife to a place where we had already been with him, which is in
the Kingdom of Orgabija, on the edge of the said Kingdom of Adea, and
there to leave the queen and his children and all the Court. So he did,
and there went with him some Portuguese, namely, Jorge d’Abreu, Diogo
Fernandez, Afonso Mendes, and Alvarenga, and five or six Genoese. When
they returned they said that as soon as the Prester had entered the
Kingdom of Adea all the people came in, obeying him as their sovereign,
and withal he did not desist from going forward to very near Magadoxo;
and they said that it was a very fruitful kingdom, very wooded, so
much so that they could not travel without cutting trees and making
roads. They also said there were there plenty of provisions, and great
breeding of herds, and many and very large animals of different sorts.
They say that there is in this kingdom a great lake like a sea, which
cannot be seen across from side to side, and they say there is in
it an island, in which in a former time a Prester John had ordered
a monastery to be built, and had put in it many friars, although it
was a country of Moors. Pero de Covilham related this, and now these
Portuguese and Genoese who went there say that the friars of that
monastery nearly all died of fevers, and some few remained in another
small monastery out of the island, and near the lake, and so they found
them. And that on this occasion Prester John ordered many monasteries
and churches to be built, and left there many priests and friars, and
many laymen to inhabit and dwell in that kingdom. When the kingdom was
pacified they came back to where they had left the Court. They say that
this kingdom pays tribute of cows in great number, and which we saw at
the Court. They say that they come from there as large as great horses,
and white as snow and without horns, with large hanging ears.
CAP. CXX.--_Of the manner in which the Prester encamps with his
Court._
The method which is followed in encamping the Court of the Prester.
It is always encamped on a plain, for otherwise they would not find
room, and the Prester’s tents are pitched on the highest ground of
the plain, if there is any. The back of the tents is always placed to
the east and the doors to the west; four or five tents are pitched
together; all belong to the Prester, and they surround them all with
curtains, which they call _mandilate_; these are woven like a
chess-board, half white and half black. If he is going to remain
several days they surround these tents with a large fence, which will
make a circumference of half a league. They say that they make in this
enclosure twelve gates; the principal one is to the West, and apart
from it, at a good distance, are two gates, each on its own side,
and one of these serves for the church of St. Mary, which is to the
north, and the other serves for the church of Holy Cross, which is to
the south. Beyond these gates which serve for these churches, almost
at a distance equal to what there is between them and the principal
entrance, are two other gates on each side, and that which is to the
south serves for the tents of the queen mother of the Prester, and that
which is to the north serves for the pages’ quarters. There are guards
at all these gates, but I did not get behind to see, for they let no
one pass there; only they say that in the whole there are twelve gates,
and I know for certain that there is one gate at the back, because
it serves for the kitchen pages; for I saw it from a distance, how
the pages brought and carried the viands. These gates are made when
the tents are surrounded by a fence, and when they are not enclosed,
there will only be the tents surrounded by curtains, which they call
_mandilate_, as has been said. Behind the tents, quite a crossbow
shot or more, are pitched the tents for the kitchens and the cooks,
divided into two parts, because there are the cooks of the right hand
and of the left hand. When the food comes from these kitchens, it is
in this manner (according as I saw it in a district called Orgebeia,
from being on some hills close to the kitchens, for in other parts
the tents were pitched on such level ground that there was no means
of seeing). They came with a large canopy of tafetan, as it seemed,
red and blue, of six pieces in length. This canopy was raised like a
pallium on canes, which in this country are very good, and they make
with them the shafts of lances. Under this pallium came other pages
who carried viands in large trays which were made like trenchers for
cleaning wheat in, except that they are very large, and in each they
brought many little round dishes[244] of black earthenware, in which
were the meats of their fowls and small birds, and many other things,
and white food, which are made more of milk than of anything else; and
also little pipkins, black like the dishes, with many other dainties
and broths of different kinds. These viands that I speak of which came
in these trays, I do not say that I saw them when they brought them,
because they were far off from where I stood; but I saw them when they
sent them to us, for they came in the same trays as they came from the
kitchens and without the canopy, and the little pipkins were still
covered with their lids, and closed with dough; and the trays which
they sent us came full without showing that they had been moved; and
for this I say that so they come from the kitchens. All these victuals
in which spices of ginger or pepper can be put, they put so much in
them, that we could not eat them from their much burning. Among these
tents of the kitchens and cooks, or almost behind them, is the Church
of St. Andrew, and it is called the cooks’ church. In this part of the
camp where the kitchens are, and behind them, nobody goes.
CAP. CXXI.--_Of the tent of justice and method of it, and how
they hear the parties._
In front of the gates of the tents or fence, if there is one, there
is always a space of quite two crossbow shots, and a long tent is
always pitched there, which they call _cacalla_; this is the
court of justice or tribunal. Nobody passes on a mule or on horseback
between the tent of the tribunal and the Prester’s tents; this is
from reverence for the king and his justice, and all dismount. This
I know, because they fined us there because we entered on mules, and
we were excused as foreigners, and warned that this should not happen
to us again. Inside this tent of _cacalla_ no one abides, only
there are in it thirteen plain[245] chairs of iron and leather, and
one of these is very high, it would reach to the breast of a man, and
the other twelve are like ours that we usually set at a table. These
chairs are brought out every day, and are placed six on one side and
six on the other, and the tall one like the cross table of a friars’
refectory. The commissioners[246] or judges who hear the parties do not
sit in them, these chairs are only for ceremony, and they sit on the
ground and on the grass if there is any,[247] as many on one side as
on the other. There they hear the parties who are litigating, each one
of his own jurisdiction, because as I said that the cooks are divided
into those of the right hand and those of the left hand, so they are
all. The hearing is conducted in this manner. The plaintiff brings his
action and says as much as he pleases without anyone speaking, and
the accused answers and says as much as he pleases, without anyone
hindering him. When he has finished, the plaintiff brings his reply
(if he wishes it), and the accused also with his reply if he chooses,
without anyone disturbing them. When they have finished their arguments
by themselves or by their representatives, there is there a man
standing, who is like a porter, and he repeats all that these parties
have said, and having finished relating it all, he then says which of
the parties spoke best in his opinion, and which of them has justice
on his side. Then one of those who are sitting like commissioners, the
one nearest the end, does like the porter, that is, he relates all that
the parties had said, and then says which he thinks has justice. And in
this manner follow all those who are sitting. They rise to their feet
when they speak, and then it comes to the turn of the Chief Justice,
who has been attentive to what has been said by the others and to their
opinion; and so he gives his sentence if there is no proof required. If
there is to be proof, they give a delay according to the distance, and
all verbally, without writing anything. There are other things which
the Betudetes and Ajazes hear, and they hear them standing because they
are in front of the Prester’s tent, between this _cacalla_ and
his tent, and as they hear the party or parties, so they go at once to
the Prester with what has been said; they do not enter his tent, but
only inside the _mandilate_ or curtain, and from there make their
speech, and so return to the parties with the decision of the Prester:
and sometimes they spend a whole day with these goings and comings,
according as the facts and suits may be.
CAP. CXXII.--_Which speaks of the manner of the prison._
In front of this tent or house of justice which is named
_cacalla_, at a good distance from both parts, both that of the
right and left hand, there are two tents or houses like prisons,
with chains, which are called _manguez bete_, in which are the
prisoners of each of the parts, both of the left and right hand, and
they are guarded and bound in this way: according to the act and suit
so is the imprisonment and also the guards. The prisoner gives food
to the guards who keep him, and pays them for their time as long as
he is imprisoned, and whoever has chains or fetters on the feet, when
they order him to come before the tent of the Prester where they hear
the prisoners, those guards who keep him carry him in their arms; two
give each other their arms, and the prisoner goes sitting on their
arms with his hands on their heads, and the other guards all round
with their weapons. So they go and come. There is here another kind
of imprisonment. If I require that a man be arrested, I am obliged to
give him food as long as I accuse him, and also to the guards who keep
him; and this I know because it happened to some of us Portuguese, who
asked for an arrest for some mules which they had been robbed of, and
because they did not send to give food to the prisoners and guards,
they in turn required that they should be set free. And of another
Genoese, I know by seeing it, that they stole a mule of his, and the
thief confessed that he had stolen it, and that it was no longer in his
possession, nor had he anything with which to pay for it. They adjudged
him to be a slave, and the Genoese seeing that he was a powerful man,
who could rob or kill him, sent to the devil both the mule and the
slave.
CAP. CXXIII.--_Where the dwellings of the Chief Justices are
situated, and the site of the market place, and who are the
merchants and hucksters._
In front of these tents of the prison there is great traffic, and in a
straight line from them are the tents of the two Chief Justices, each
one on its own side, and between them is a church, which is called
the Church of the Justices. In front of this church are the lions,
a considerable distance away from the church, and they are four in
number, and they always bring them wherever Prester John goes. After
another large space from the lions there is another church; it is
called the Market Church, that is of the Christians who sell in it,
because the greater part of the sellers are Moors; and the principal
merchants of stuffs and large goods are Moors, and the Christians
sell low priced things, such as bread, wine, flour and meat; and the
Moors can sell nothing to eat because in this country they do not eat
anything which the Moors make, nor meat which they kill. This market
must be in front of the tent of Prester John, but not in a place where
it can be seen from the door, and sometimes it happens that the plain
is so great and without break of level ground[248] that the market is
very far off; and the least distance at which the market can be placed
is half a league, and at times nearly a league, or even more. Although
the court changes its place as often as it chooses, they always follow
this mode of encampment. From the king’s tent to this market all is
open space in the middle, that is, there is no tent in it, only the
two churches, that is, that of the justices and lions, and that of the
market; and these churches and lions are a long way off from other
tents.
CAP. CXXIV.--_How the lords and gentlemen and all other people
pitch their tents, according to their regulations._
Near to the two churches which are near the tent of the Prester, but
in the outer part, are two tents for each church, one very clean and
good, in which they keep the church furniture, the other a smoky tent,
in which they make the corban or host; all the churches are in this
manner. In front of these churches next come other large long tents of
high pitch;[249] these are called _Balagamija_, in which they keep
the stuffs and treasures of the Prester, and these on both sides are
all of brocade, as has been said; and these tents of _Balagamija_
are always guarded, and the captains and factors of them are eunuchs.
In front of these tents of the wardrobe, on either side, are the tents
of the pages, and further on are the tents of the Ajazes, who occupy a
space like a town, with their tents and those of their people; further
in front and further off are the tents of the Betudetes, and each one
occupies as much as a town or city; these lie almost outside like
guards. On the right hand, also outside like a guard, are the quarters
of the Abima, which by themselves form a district town; and many
foreigners come to his quarters, because they receive from him favour
and protection. The Cabeata is more to the inside than the Abima, and
they said that his quarters, that is, those of his office, were close
to the church of St. Mary, because this office always goes to a friar;
and because he is a priest and has a wife he cannot be close to the
church, and they gave him quarters close to the Abima. Returning more
to the inside, follow gentlemen in their places, and after them come
other respectable people, and after these come people like winesellers,
bakers who sell and supply food, and also there are women. At the end
of these, and now near to the market, are the quarters of the smiths
on both sides[250], and each set of smiths form a large village. Men
who come from outside to buy and sell and do business encamp further
off, and they greatly extend the camp, which always occupies two large
leagues.
CAP. CXXV.--_Of the manner in which the lords and gentlemen come
to the Court, and go about it, and depart from it._
The mode which the lords and gentlemen follow in coming to or going
away from the Court is this, namely: no great lord of lands, if he is
in them, can come out of them, nor set out for the Court by any means
without being summoned by the Prester; and being summoned he cannot
omit coming for any cause. And when he sets out from the land of which
he is the lord, he does not leave in it either wife or children or any
property, because he goes away with the expectation of never returning,
since, as has been said before, the Prester gives when he pleases, and
takes away when he pleases; and if he happens to take it away, from
that moment they take from him whatever they find belonging to him in
the lordship; that is to say, the lord who comes to succeed him in his
place. For this reason they carry everything away with them without
leaving anything, or at least without putting it in another lordship.
When a lord approaches near the Court with great show he takes up
quarters at least a league from the Court, and there he often remains
a month or two months without moving from there; and they treat them
as if they were forgotten as long as the Prester chooses. They do
not however desist whilst thus forgotten from entering the Court and
speaking to other lords, but not with an array, nor with clothes, but
with two or three men, and stripped from the waist upwards, and with
a sheep skin over their shoulders; and so they return to their tents
until they have permission to enter. When they get this permission,
they enter with great array, and sounding kettledrums, and encamp in
their station, which is already ordained for each. When he encamps he
still does not appear clothed as he made his entry, but walks about
as before his entry, naked from the waist upwards, although at his
entry he came clothed and with pomp. Then they say generally: Such a
one is not yet in the favour of the sovereign, for he still goes about
stripped. As soon as he had any speech of the Prester, he at once comes
out dressed, and then they say: Such a one is in the king’s favour.
Then it is divulged and said why he was summoned, and sometimes and
frequently they return to their lordships, and at others not. If they
return to them they are despatched more quickly; and if they are taken
from them, they let them go five, six, and seven years without going
away from the Court. By no manner of means can they go from the Court
without permission, so obedient are they, and so much do they fear
their king; and much as they used to be accompanied by many, so now
are they neglected, and they go about on a mule with two or three men,
because the many who used to accompany them belonged to the lordships
that have been taken from them, and they transfer themselves to the new
lord; and this we used to see every day.
CAP. CXXVI.--_How those who go to and come from the wars
approach the Prester more closely, and of the maintenance they
get._
If such gentlemen are summoned for wars, as we saw happen many times,
their entry is not delayed, but they come in at once. As they come with
a body of men, so they enter from their march. With regard to these,
they do not observe what I mentioned, that people do not enter between
the _cacalla_ and king’s tent on mules or on horseback. These who
come for wars come up to the king’s tents, and show themselves off
close to them, and they skirmish and sport and show their method of
warfare, as they think best to please the king. This we saw an infinite
number of times. These men who go thus to the wars do not remain two
days at the Court, because their ordinances are to call a hundred
thousand men, if they want as many, to assemble in two days, so as they
arrive they are sent off. Because here there is no pay to be given, and
every man brings with him what he is to eat, which consists of flour of
parched barley, and that is a good food, and parched peas or millet.
This is their maintenance for the wars, and the cows, they find them
where they go; and if it is the season of ...[251] wheat, that is the
principal provision for war of those people.
CAP. CXXVII.--_Of the manner in which they carry the Prester’s
property when he travels, and of the brocades and silks which he
sent to Jerusalem, and of the great treasury._