you ordered archbishops and bishops to be summoned in the name of
Matheus, for the sake of this I am very joyful and satisfied, and
give many thanks to God: and not I alone, but all my people are very
joyful. When I enquired, they told me how Matheus had died as soon as
he entered my countries, at the monastery of Bisan. I did not send him,
but Queen Helena sent him who governed me as my mother, because at that
time I was eleven years of age: for I remained of that age at the
death of my father, when I succeeded to the crown of my kingdoms, and
the Queen Helena governed for me. Matheus was a merchant, and changed
his name because he was named Abraham, and he called himself Matheus:
and going through the country of the infidels with his merchandise
to pass as a merchant, he reached Dabul,[280] and the Moors learned
that he was a Christian, and they took him and put him in a prison.
He, seeing himself a prisoner, sent a message to your captain-major,
complaining and saying that he was arrested without justice, and he
sent to say that he was my ambassador, and that the King of Ethiopia
sent him to the King of Portugal, and that he should come and deliver
him from that place. When your captain-major heard this word, and
heard that he was a Christian; and that the King of Ethiopia sent
him, and that he was confined in prison, and robbed of what he had,
for all this he had sent to tell him; your captain hearing these
words, and his heart being very strong in the love of the faith, he
had great anger, and sent ships and people in great strength to kill
those who kept him a prisoner, and they asked of all how the case was,
and for what reason, and they told him. And he said to Matheus: ‘Tell
me the embassage of the King of Ethiopia which you carry to the King
of Portugal’, and when he said these words, they let him go. And he
reached you, king, and said: ‘I bring here a cross of Jesus Christ’,
and he gave you the cross. Also he said many other words of himself,
and others as to what you, king, inquired of him, and he replied. And
for what he told you, you honoured him and made him great in many
things; as was said by the letters which he brought. And before he
arrived here, he died in the monastery of Bisam; and others who came
with him, men of Portugal, came here and gave the letters of this
embassy. When I saw the letter I gave thanks to God, and thanked Him
for their coming and embassy. I am very joyful on account of you and
your peoples, and I was very joyful when I saw the crosses on their
heads and breasts, and also in their hands. When I asked about the
faith, I found it proved that you were Christians, and I saw people who
had never come to me, and who told me how they had found the way and
country of Ethiopia, because as yet it had not been found, and I felt
vexation. And when they were as though despairing of finding it, and
wished to return to the seas of India, fearing the storms and fatigues,
at night they miraculously saw a red cross in the sky over the lands
of Ethiopia, and it was adored by all, both by the lords and by the
mariners. By this they knew that their navigation was directed by God,
and I was extremely amazed at this. Certainly this signal and word
came by the will of God, and it was not from the devil; but it was for
you to send here an embassy to me, of your embassage to me. This was
first prophesied by the prophet in the life and passion of St. Victor
in the book of the Holy Fathers, that a Frank King should meet with a
King of Ethiopia, and that they should give each other peace, and I
did not know if this would be in my days and time or in another. God
knew it for certain, praised be His name, who brought me your embassy,
in order that I might send to you as to my father and friend, and we
are united in one faith. Before this I had not seen any embassy from
a Christian king, and now you are near to me, before all were Pagans
and Moors, dirty sons of Mahomed, and others are slaves who do not
know God; and others pay reverence to sticks and to fire, and others
to the sun, and others to serpents: and there are great differences.
I was never at peace nor did I rest, because they would not believe
the truth, and I always preached the faith, and now in my time I am at
rest: God gives me rest from these our enemies; and in all my borders
when I go to meet the Moors, they cannot set their faces straight, nor
turn their face to us. When I send the camps to war, my captains obtain
the victory over the enemies, and so I have victory; and God does not
weary me with His favour, as the Psalter says. God rejoices at your
power, the King and many rejoice at your safety, and that which the
will desires, that He grants if just petition is made to Him, each one
saying this for himself. We owe not only praise but thanks to God. To
you, father, God has given the world, and has given you the country of
the Gentiles for ever; and the countries of other people, which are
your countries, as far as the beginning of Ethiopia: and God has placed
in my hands many worlds, and for the sake of this I give many thanks to
God. And I speak of your great power, hoping that your sons who are to
come will be in the knowledge of the truth; and I and you will be very
joyful on account of His goodness, because He has given us everything.
And now do you not cease to make your prayer until God gives into your
hands the holy house of Jerusalem, which is in the hands of rebels
against Christ, and they are Moors, and pagans, and heretics. When
this shall be attained, who will be greater than you, for there will
be no other name, but only yours alone: and in this I have thought
and kept it, as a good messenger, and the guards that are given him
are the messengers of Jesus Christ. When you do this you will have
your fill of the praise of men. I heard how you sent your ambassadors
with Abraham who changed his name for Matheus, and who brought me your
words. These ambassadors who came with Abraham, three died and did not
come to me, and the great captain head of the captains came as far as
Masua, and saw the Barnagais (who is a king subject to me), and he sent
ambassadors, and I rejoiced greatly at hearing your good news; and of
all the treasures in the world, your name is better than all rich and
precious stones. I heard you with great satisfaction. Let us leave this
and go and seek something else to take up. I would give two hundred
millions[281] of gold and we will meet with friendship, and if you will
choose to do this according to my desire, why is it not in me to send
an ambassador of peace with a similar embassage; and you first sent
one to me to seek me with truth, to fulfil the words of Jesus Christ
as he said it. And by this you will see how I am disposed for this,
as did the Apostles of Jesus Christ, who all were of one heart and
one will; so you have made me very joyful. The one only God keep and
sustain you my father, King Manuel, the one only God of the heavens,
whose substance is ever, without being younger or older. The embassy
which your great captain sent by your order, they were good those who
brought it. When they came to me, I received them with honour, and Don
Rodrigo de Lima came as the head of it, and I did good to him as he was
the head. And Padre Francisco Alvarez, who came with your embassy, and
came to my person, and I showed him much favour and affection, because
I found him a just man and very truthful in speech, and in all matters
which concern the faith: do you increase him, and make him master and
converter of Masua, and Dalaqua and Zeila, and all the islands of
the Red Sea, because they are on the borders of our countries; and
we granted to him and gave into his hand a cross and crozier in sign
of his lordship, and do you order to be given to him so that he may
be bishop of the said countries and islands, and this because he is
deserving and sufficient and capable for this. And you, may God do you
much good, that you may be very strong and not grow weak before your
enemies, and cause them to fall down at your feet. May God prolong
your life, and give you a part in the kingdom of heaven, and a good
abode, such as I wish for for myself. And I have heard good things
with my ears, and did not see them with my eyes, and now my eyes have
seen that which they never thought to see. May God do you good, as for
the best of those He loves: may your part be on the tree of life, and
your dwellings like the dwellings of the saints. Amen. Also I send you
my embassage through Licacanate, who will tell you what I want: and
I send Padre Francisco Alvarez to the Pope with my obedience, which
is a direct matter for me. Also do you command, as a father commands
his little son, and I will do it when you send me ambassadors. Do you
always write to me that we may assist one another. On the arrival of
those that you sent to Masua, and also of those who may come in future,
both to Masua and Dalaqua and the other ports, I will do what you
have commanded, because thus I desire that we should both assist one
another: and as your people will be there, I shall be there, because
there are my lands: there are no Christians and churches there, and
all are Moors and Pagans. I am pleased that your people should settle
there at the extremities of my countries; for the sake of this do you
accomplish what you have at first begun. Send me masters who can make
figures of gold and silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead, and send
me lead for the churches: and masters of form to make books of our
characters; and masters of gilding with gold leaf, and of making gold
leaf; and this soon, and let them come to remain with me here and in my
favour. And when they may wish to return at their desire, I will not
detain them, and this I swear by Jesus Christ, Son of the living God.
And do you send me this without holding yourself as under obligation. I
send this to you knowing your virtue and goodness, because I know how
well you love me, and also you did good to Abraham. For the sake of
this I take courage to make requests to you, and do not hold this to be
shameful, for I will repay it. Because when a son asks of his father,
he cannot say him nay, and you are my father, and I your son: and we
are close together as the stones in a wall, and also we are both joined
in heart in the love of Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the world. He,
Jesus Christ, and also all those who are with Him are joined together
like stones well bound together in a wall.”
CAP. VIII.--_Translation of the letter of Prester John to the
King Don Joam our Sovereign._
“In the name of God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth,
and also of all things made by Him, visible and invisible. In the name
of God the Son, will and counsel and prophet of the Father. In the name
of God the Holy Ghost, Paraclete, living God equal to the Father and to
the Son, who spoke by the mouth of the prophet, inspiring the apostles
so that they should give praise to the Trinity in heaven, in earth, in
the sea, and in the depth for ever. Amen.
“I, Incense of the Virgin, King of Ethiopia, send you this letter and
embassy, the son of Nahum, son of the King of the hand of Maria, son
of the King of the seed of Jacob, these are those who were born of
the house of David and Solomon, who were Kings in Jerusalem. May this
reach the King Don Joam, King of Portugal, son of the King Don Manuel.
Peace be with you, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
for ever. When they gave us news of the power of the King your father,
how he broke the power of the Moors, sons of Mahomed, I gave thanks
and praise to the Lord God for the raising up and greatness and crown
of salvation in the house of Christendom. I also greatly rejoiced when
the speech of your embassy reached me, which came to make affection
and friendship and acquaintance between the King and me; in order to
tear out and cast forth the bad Moors, Jews, and Pagans from his and
my kingdoms. And being in this pleasure, I heard news that the King
your father had died before we had despatched his ambassadors from
my kingdoms, on which account my pleasure was turned into grief, and
regrets were increased in my heart when I remembered the passing away
of his life; and all the great men of my court grew sad, and wept along
with me; also all the clergy carried their weeping and lamentation to
the monasteries; and as much pleasure as they had felt at the first
news, so much grief had they with the second. Sir brother, from the
beginning of my kingdoms until now no ambassador had come from the
Christian kings and kingdoms of Portugal; only we heard of the dangers
of those who go of their own desire to those parts in pilgrimage to
Jerusalem and Rome, and they are scattered about those kingdoms and
countries and provinces, and I never had any certain information,
only in the lifetime of the King your father, who sent his captains
and gentlemen with many people and priests and deacons, who brought
all things necessary for saying mass, and on that account I was very
joyful, and ordered them to be received, and received them with great
honour. Then I despatched them, pleased and contented, with much honour
and peace. And after that they reached the seaport which is at the
extremity of my kingdoms in the Red Sea, they did not find there the
great captain whom your father had sent there, nor did he wait, as he
had sent to tell me. And as it is your custom to make a captain-major
every three years, he could not wait or come, as another captain-major
came in that time, and for this reason the ambassadors of the King your
father, who had come to me, were detained. I have sent them to you,
those that I sent to your and my father, to give you my embassage;
and that which I send to the Pope, Sir king and brother, fulfil the
friendship and affection which the King your father opened between
us, and always send me your embassies, which I much desire as from a
brother, and such is reason, since we are Christians, for the Moors,
who are vile and bad, concert together in their sect; and now I do not
wish for ambassadors from the kings of Egypt, nor from other kings who
used to send them, but only from your highness, which I much desire,
because the Moorish kings do not hold me as a friend on account of the
faith, but only on account of their trade and merchandise, from which
much profit accrues to them, and they take away from my kingdoms much
gold, of which they are great friends, and of me little; and their
pleasures do not rejoice me, only I trade with them because it was
the custom of my predecessors. And if I omit to make war upon them,
and to destroy them, it is in order not to destroy the holy house of
Jerusalem, in which is the tomb of Jesus Christ, which God has left
in the possession of the vile Moors; and so they destroyed all the
churches which are in the land of Egypt and Syria; and for this reason
I omit destroying them. For which I feel my heart sufficiently angry
and sad; and from not having near me any Christian king to assist me
and rejoice my heart. And I, Sir brother, am not pleased with the
kings of Frankland, who, being Christian, are not of one heart, and
are always fighting with one another. If I had a Christian king for a
neighbour, I would never separate from him for an hour. As to this, I
do not know what to say nor what to do, since these are things which
God ordains. Sir king and brother, always send me your embassy and
write to me, because, seeing your letters it seems to me that I see
your face, for much more love exists between those who are distant than
between those that are near, on account of the desires they feel, as in
my case, who do not see your treasures and love you well always in my
heart. As our Lord Jesus Christ says in the gospel: ‘Where the treasure
is, there is thy heart.’ Thus my heart is for you, and you are my
treasure; and do you make me your treasure, and join your heart to
mine. Sir brother, keep this word, for you know a great deal, and also
I dare to say that you know more than your father, and for this which
I thus know, I give thanks to God, and leave sadness and take pleasure
and say, ‘Blessed be the learned son of great understanding of the King
Don Manuel, who has sat on the seat of his kingdoms.’ Look, Sir, and do
not weary against the Moors and Pagans, for, with the help of the Lord
God, you will destroy them; do not say that you have less forces than
your father, because they are many, and God will assist you. I have
got men, gold and provisions like the sands of the sea and the stars
of heaven. Both of us together we will destroy all the Moorish State.
Neither do I want anything from you except people to set in order and
arm our people, and you are an entire man. The King Solomon reigned
at twelve years, and had great strength and had more knowledge than
his father. I also, when my father Nahum died, was left very little,
and succeeded to his seat, and God gave me greater forces than to my
father, and I have got all the people of my kingdoms and districts
under my hand, and I am at rest. For this let us together give thanks
to God for such great favour. Sir brother, hear another word now,
I want you to send me men, artificers to make images, and printed
books, and to make swords and arms of all sorts for fighting; and also
masons and carpenters, and men who make medicines, and physicians, and
surgeons to cure illnesses; also artificers to beat gold and place it,
and goldsmiths and silversmiths, and men who know how to extract gold
and silver and also copper from the veins, and men who can make sheet
lead and earthenware; and masters of any trades which are necessary in
these kingdoms, also gunsmiths. Assist me in this which I beg of you,
as a brother does to a brother, and God will assist you, and save you
from evil things. Our Lord receive your prayers and petitions, as He
received the holy sacrifices in their time. First, the sacrifice of
Abel, and of Noah when he was in the ark, and of Abraham when he was
in the land of Midian, and of Isaac when he went away from the Cave
of the Oath, and of Jacob in the house of Bethlehem, and of Moses in
Egypt, and of Aaron on the mountain, and of Jasom, son of Hu, and
of Galgala, and of Gideon on the shore, and of Manoe and his wife,
and of Samson when he was thirsty in the dry land, and of Jepthah in
the battle, and of Baron and Debora when she went against Sisera the
captain on Mount Thabor, and of Samuel and Rama the prophet, and of
David on the threshing floor, and of Arbana, and of Solomon in the city
of Gabon, and of Elias on Mount Carmel, when he raised up the dead son
of the widow, and of Rica at the well, and of Josaphat in the battle,
and of Manasse after he sinned and returned to God, and of Josias
_bepaca_ after he turned, and of Daniel in the lions’ den, and of
Jonas in the belly of the fish, and of the three companions, Sidrach,
Misaac, and Abdenago in the fiery furnace, and of Anna, within the tent
of the altar, and of Nehemiah who made the walls with Zorobabel, and of
Matatias with his sons upon a quarter of the world, and of Esau upon
the blessing. So, Sir, God will receive your sacrifices and prayers,
and will assist you to go forward against evil adversaries in all times
and all days. Peace be with you, and I embrace you with the embrace of
holiness, and so I embrace those of your holy council of the kingdom of
Portugal, and the archbishops, bishops, priests, and deacons, men and
women. The grace of God, and the blessing of Our Lady, Mother of God,
be with you and with all. Amen.”
CAP. IX.--_Of certain questions which the Archbishop of Braga
put to Francisco Alvarez, and the answers which he gave._
While we were at the Court in the city of Coimbra, no long time elapsed
before the King, our sovereign, departed with his Court to Almeirim,
where on some occasions I reminded his Highness about sending me to
carry out the journey which I had promised and sworn to Prester John
to make, namely, to carry his letters and a cross of gold and his
obedience to the Holy Father in Rome. His Highness told me that he was
fully mindful of this, but that the roads did not give an opportunity
for this, on account of the wars with France. From Almeirim His
Highness departed with his Court for the city of Lisbon, where, in the
manner above mentioned, I reminded His Highness of my despatch to Rome.
He gave me the same answer as before. Upon this, Bras Neto was named
ambassador; it was not said to what place. He, Bras Neto, begged me to
ask the King to send me with him. I begged of the King the favour to
send me with Bras Neto, since he was going to Rome. His Highness told
me that Bras Neto was going to the emperor and not to Rome, and that he
well remembered about sending me, but that I could not go except when
Don Martinho went, and that he would soon despatch him. At this time a
benefice becoming vacant in the archbishopric of Braga, His Highness
did me the favour to bestow it on me, and, with his presentation, sent
me to the archbishop, for him to confirm me in it. Whilst I was with
his lordship, he never ceased asking me about the affairs of Prester
John. I answered him truly, as I knew them very well, and his lordship
ordered everything to be written down, and the questions and answers
are the following:
Questions which Senhor Don Diogo de Sousa, archbishop of Braga, put to
Francisco Alvarez, chaplain of the king our sovereign, respecting some
particulars of the country of Prester John, beyond those which the said
Francisco Alvarez has written in his book; the said Francisco Alvarez
having gone to the said Prester in the company of Don Rodrigo de Lima,
who went as ambassador to the said Prester, on account of the death of
Duarte Galvam, who was sent there by the King Don Manuel, may he be
in holy glory; which persons reached the port of Masua, an island in
the Red Sea, close to the town of Arquico, country of the Prester, on
the 27th day of April 1520, and they passed six[282] years in the said
country and lordships of the Prester, and they returned to embark at
the said port of Masua, close to Arquico, in the year 1526 on the 28th
day of April; and the said Francisco Alvarez came to this city of Braga
to be confirmed in the benefice which the King our sovereign gave him.
He remained in it some days, and the said Francisco Alvarez reached
this city of Braga on the 30th July, of the year 1529.
He said that usually the people do not eat only once a day, and this at
night, and that the monks and clergy fast strictly during Lent, so that
many only eat three times in the week, namely, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and
Saturdays, that they do not drink wine of grapes nor of honey, and that
they drink other beverages which are made of other vegetables.
In Lent they eat neither meat not milk, nor eggs nor butter, even
though they are near dying, they eat vegetables and some few fruits
which are in the country. All the men and women, great and small,
fast all the Wednesdays and Fridays in the year; this is not to be
understood from Christmas to the Purification of Our Lady, nor from
Easter to Trinity, when there is no fast. Friars, priests, gentlemen
and noblemen, fast all the week excepting Saturday and Sunday.
He said that no men died at the hands of justice, that they flogged
many, and put out the eyes of some, and of others they cut off a foot
or a hand, according to the quality of the crime; but that he had seen
a man burned because he was found to have committed two robberies in a
church.
That the Pope or Patriarch of the country of Prester John is called
Abima, which means father, and that there is nobody else in all the
kingdoms and lordships of the Prester who confers orders except him.
The Prester John is called Acegue,[283] which means emperor, and he is
called Neguz, which means king.
There is no manner of physic, only they apply fire; in some sickness
they use cupping without fire, and for headaches, they bleed on the
head with a knife placed on the vein, and they strike it with a stick
so that it should draw blood, and also they take some herbs as a
beverage to cure themselves.
In all the country there is no town which exceeds one thousand six
hundred inhabitants, and of these there are few, and there are no
walled towns or castles, but villages without number. The houses
generally, or most of them, are round, and all of one story, covered
with terraces or thatch, and courtyards round them. People generally
sleep on ox-hides, others on beds made of straps of the same hides;
no kind of table. They eat in flat trenchers, like trays of great
width, without napkins or tablecloths. They have basins of very black
earthenware like jet, and pipkins of the same clay for drinking water
and wine. Many eat raw meat, and others eat it roasted on the ashes,
others roasted over woodfire, and others over cowdung where there is no
wood. There is much wax there, and tapers and candles; they do not make
candles of tallow. There is no oil there except a kind which they call
_hena_, and which is made from some herbs like Mayweed;[284] it
has no taste, and is beautiful as gold. There is no fish there except
very little from the rivers; from the sea none.
There are no monasteries except of St. Anthony, and not of any other
order, as some friars say who come from there.
The gentlemen, monks, canons, and priests are clothed; most of the
other people are bare from the waist upwards, and a sheepskin on the
shoulders, with the front and hind feet tied together.
Most of the monasteries are situated on high mountains, or in great
ravines; they have large revenues and jurisdiction. In many monasteries
they do not eat meat all the year, and fish very few times, as they
have not got it in the country. The services of these monasteries are
psalms and prose, and so it is done in the churches of the canons.
Every church has two curtains, one on this side of the altar with
little bells, and no one but priests enter inside this curtain; and
another curtain in the middle of the church. And no one but persons in
orders enter the church, and many gentlemen and honourable persons are
ordained in order to enter the church. They go to the door of all the
churches and monasteries to read the epistles and gospels, and they say
them rapidly, and there they give the communion to the people.
The priests consecrate at the altar, and do not show the sacrament.
When the priest who says mass comes to take the communion, he takes a
particle from the top, and the other two large parts he leaves for the
communion of the people. All the people who come to the church have to
receive the communion every day, or else not come to church. When the
communion is ended, they give them a little blessed water with which
they wash their mouths.
Nobody sits down in the church, nor do they enter it shod; they do not
hem or spit, nor do they let any dog or other animal come into the
church. They confess standing, and so receive absolution. They pray
in the churches of the canons as in those of the friars. Friars do not
marry, canons and priests do so. When the canons live together in the
circuit they eat in their houses, and the friars eat in community. The
chiefs of these churches are called Licacanate. The wives of the canons
have houses outside of the circuit, where they go to live with them:
the son of a canon remains a canon, and the son of a priest not, except
he chooses later to become one. No tithes are paid to any church,
they live on the large properties which the churches and monasteries
possess. Complaints against the clergy are dealt with before the
secular justice.
The vestment is made like a shirt, and the stole with a hole in the
middle, and put over the head; they have no maniple, nor amice, nor
girdle; priests and friars all have their heads shaved, and the beards
not. The friars say mass with their hats on their heads, and the
priests with their heads bare.
In no church is more than one mass said, and no mass is said for
alms, not even for the dead. When any person dies, the priests come
with cross and holy water and incense, and recite certain prayers for
him, and carry him off to burial very hurriedly: next day they bring
offerings: the churchyards are all closed, so that nothing can enter
them.
Prester John has no determined place of abode, he always goes about the
country in tents, and he will always have in his camp five or six tents
among good and common ones: and there will always be at Court of people
for the horses and mules from fifty thousand upwards.
The kitchen of Prester John is a good crossbow shot behind his
quarters, and they bring his food in this manner: all that he has to
eat comes in porringers and dishes of very black earthenware on wooden
trays, and pages bring them, and above the pages come a pallium of
silk, which covers them so that these viands come with reverence.
There are many royal farms belonging to the Prester, in which a great
quantity of bread is gathered, which is given to honourable persons,
and the poor, and to poor monasteries and churches, without Prester
John making any profit of the produce and revenue of these farms, but
only alms.
In all the country there is much bread, wheat and barley; in other
lands there is more millet than wheat or barley, in these, and where
wheat and barley, there is much taff and dagusha (seeds not known to
us), pulse, beans, pease, and all vegetables; and in other lands all
sorts of grain and vegetables in great quantity and abundance. There
are many water springs, but no fountains made of stone. In the town of
Aquaxumo, where the Queens Saba and Candacia were, there are many wells
and tanks made with good masonry.
In the town of Aquaxumo there are images very well made, and figures of
lions and dogs, and oxen, and other antiquities made of stone. In this
town Queen Candacia became a Christian by the advice of her eunuch,
whom St. Philip baptized by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
In all this country there is no bridge of stone or of wood; in no part
of the kingdoms or lordships of Prester John are there Jews. There are
infinite quantities of sugar canes, and they do not know how to make
it; grapes and peaches are ripe in the month of February and end in
April: there are many oranges, lemons and citrons, and few pot herbs,
because they do not plant them.
Animals, namely lions, ounces, tigers, wolves, deer, antas,[285] wild
cows, foxes, lynxes,[286] wild boars, porcupines, civet cats, roedeer,
gazelles, elephants, and other animals not known to us, of which the
country is full, except two which I never saw there, namely bears and
rabbits.
Birds, partridges of three kinds, like ours, other fowls which
we call of Guinea, there they are called zegra, quails, pigeons,
turtles, hawks, falcons, kites, eagles, thrushes, sparrows, swallows,
nightingales, larks, wild ducks, of different kinds,[287] and other
waterfowl, herons, cranes, _hemas_, and all other birds that may
be in the world, and not known to us; and there are all in this country
except magpies and cuckoos, which I never saw, nor heard of their being
there.
There are so many apes, that in the kingdom of the Barnagais, in a town
which is named Ceroel, at the time the harvest is ripe, they pursue
them till they make them pass a mountain; and they keep guard over them
in a pass by day, because at night they do not move about, and they
give a certain provision to two men who keep guard over them until the
corn is gathered in, when they let them loose, or leave off keeping
watch over them.
There is much basil in the thickets, and there are none of our trees
except cypresses, plumtrees, and willows by the rivers; there are no
melons, cucumbers, nor horseradish.
In the country there is no gold or silver money, and purchases are
made by exchange of one thing for another, principally salt, which is
current throughout the country as money.
There is linen there, but it gives no fibre, and no stuff is made with
it; there is much cotton, and stuff made of it; there is much coloured
cloth, and there is a very cold country where they wear serge.
The churches there are well built, but the walls are not well wrought,
and they do not place anything upon them; they pitch [the roof] upon
props, which reach from the ground upwards.
In the country there is gold, silver, copper and tin, but they do not
know how to get it out of the mines.
There are many lepers in this country, and they do not live separated
from the people, they live all together; there are many people who, out
of their devotion, wash them, and tend their sores with their hands.
There is a great quantity of honey in all the country, and the bees
are not in hives, but inside the houses, where the cultivators live,
clinging to the walls on the inside, where they have a mode of egress
outside, and also inside they surround the house: but they do not on
this account desist from dwelling in the house, because the bees go
outside. There are a great number of these swarms of bees, chiefly in
the monasteries, there are also many in the woods and mountains, and
the men put hives near the trees and fill them with bees, and bring
them in them to the houses.