CHAPTER LXXVI

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How the Author beginneth to speak of the manner of that land.

It is well that we should here leave these matters at rest for a space and treat of the limits of those lands through the which our people journeyed in the labours of which we have spoken, in order that you may have an understanding of the delusion in which our forefathers ever lived who were affrighted to pass that Cape for fear of those things of which we have told in the beginning of this book; and also that you may see how great praise our Prince deserveth, by bringing their doubts before the presence not only of us who are now living, but also of all others who will be born in the time to come. And because one of the things which they alleged to be a hindrance to the passage into these lands consisted of the very strong currents that were there, on account of which it was impossible for any ship to navigate those seas, you now have a clear knowledge of their former error in that you have seen vessels come and go as free from danger as in any part of the other seas. They further alleged that the lands were all sandy and without any inhabitants, and true it is that in the matter of the sands they were not altogether deceived, but these were not so great as they thought; while as to the inhabitants, you have clearly seen the contrary to be the fact, since you witness the dwellers in those parts each day before your eyes, although their inhabited places are chiefly villages and very few towns. For from the Cape of Bojador to the kingdom of Tunis there will not be in the whole, what with towns and places fortified for defence, as many as fifty. They were no less at fault as regards the depth of the sea, for they had it marked on their charts that the shores were so shallow that at the distance of a league from the land there was only a fathom of water; but this was found not to be so, for the ships have had and have sufficient depth for their management, except for certain shoals; and thus dwellings[N173] were made that exist on certain sandbanks, as you will find now in the navigating charts[N174] which the Infant caused to be prepared.

In the land of the Negroes there is no walled place save that which they call Oadem,[N175] nor are there any settlements except some by the water's edge, of straw houses, the which were emptied of their dwellers by those that went there in the ships of this land. True it is that the whole land is generally peopled, but their mode of living is only in tents and carts,[N176] such as we use here when our princes do happen to go upon a warlike march; and those who were captured there gave testimony of this, and also John Fernandez, of whom we have already spoken, related much concerning the same. All their principal study and toil is in guarding their flocks, to wit, cows and sheep and goats and camels, and they change their camp almost every day, for the longest they can rest in one spot will be eight days. And some of their chief men possess tame mares, of which they breed horses, though very few.

Their food consisteth for the great part of milk, and sometimes a little meat and the seeds of wild herbs that they gather in those mountains, and some who have been there have said that these herbs (but of them there are few)[N177] seem to be the millet of that land. Also they eat wheat when they can obtain it, in the same way that we in this land eat confetti.[N178] And for many months of the year they and their horses and dogs maintain themselves by no other thing except the drinking of milk. And those that live by the sea shore eat nothing save fish, and all for the most part without either bread or anything else, except the water that they drink, and they generally eat their fish raw and dried. Their clothing consisteth of a skin vest and breeches of the same, but some of the more honourable wear bournouses; and some pre-eminent men, who are almost above all the others, have good garments, like the other Moors, and good horses and good saddles, and good stirrups, but these are very few.

The women wear bournouses which are like mantles, with the which they only cover their faces, and by that they think they have covered all their shame, for they leave their bodies quite naked. "For sure," saith he who compiled this history, "this is one of the things by the which one may discern their great bestiality,[N179] for if they had some

## particle of reason they would follow nature, and cover those parts only

which by its shewing ought to be covered, for we see how naturally in each one of these shameful parts it placeth a circle of hair in proof that it wished to hide them; and also some naturalists hold that if those hairs be let alone, they will grow so much as to hide all the parts of your shame." And the wives of the most honourable men wear rings of gold in their nostrils and ears, as well as other jewels.

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