A Voyage to Abyssinia | Page 8

killed by the inhabitants, and to discover a way, I should

either return, or send back the Abyssin or Portuguese. Having fixed
upon this, I hired a little bark to Jubo, a place about forty leagues
distant from Pate, on board which I put some provisions, together with
my sacerdotal vestments, and all that was necessary for saying mass: in
this vessel we reached the coast, which we found inhabited by several
nations: each nation is subject to its own king; these petty monarchies
are so numerous, that I counted at least ten in less than four leagues.

Chapter II

The author lands: The difficulty of his journey. An account of the
Galles, and of the author's reception at the king's tent; Their manner of
swearing, and of letting blood. The author returns to the Indies, and
finds the patriarch of Aethiopia.
On this coast we landed, with an intention of travelling on foot to Jubo,
a journey of much greater length and difficulty than we imagined. We
durst not go far from our bark, and therefore were obliged to a toilsome
march along the windings of the shore, sometimes clambering up rocks,
and sometimes wading through the sands, so that we were every
moment in the utmost danger of falling from the one, or sinking in the
other. Our lodging was either in the rocks or on the sands, and even that
incommoded by continual apprehensions of being devoured by lions
and tigers. Amidst all these calamities our provisions failed us; we had
little hopes of a supply, for we found neither villages, houses, nor any
trace of a human creature; and had miserably perished by thirst and
hunger had we not met with some fishermen's boats, who exchanged
their fish for tobacco.
Through all these fatigues we at length came to Jubo, a kingdom of
considerable extent, situated almost under the line, and tributary to the
Portuguese, who carry on a trade here for ivory and other commodities.
This region so abounds with elephants, that though the teeth of the
male only are valuable, they load several ships with ivory every year.
All this coast is much infested with ravenous beasts, monkeys, and
serpents, of which last here are some seven feet in length, and thicker
than an ordinary man; in the head of this serpent is found a stone about

the bigness of an egg, resembling bezoar, and of great efficacy, as it is
said, against all kinds of poison. I stayed here some time to inform
myself whether I might, by pursuing this road, reach Abyssinia; and
could get no other intelligence but that two thousand Galles (the same
people who inhabited Melinda) had encamped about three leagues from
Jubo; that they had been induced to fix in that place by the plenty of
provisions they found there. These Galles lay everything where they
come in ruin, putting all to the sword without distinction of age or sex;
which barbarities, though their numbers are not great, have spread the
terror of them over all the country. They choose a king, whom they call
Lubo: every eighth year they carry their wives with them, and expose
their children without any tenderness in the woods, it being prohibited,
on pain of death, to take any care of those which are born in the camp.
This is their way of living when they are in arms, but afterwards when
they settle at home they breed up their children. They feed upon raw
cow's flesh; when they kill a cow, they keep the blood to rub their
bodies with, and wear the guts about their necks for ornaments, which
they afterwards give to their wives.
Several of these Galles came to see me, and as it seemed they had never
beheld a white man before, they gazed on me with amazement; so
strong was their curiosity that they even pulled off my shoes and
stockings, that they might be satisfied whether all my body was of the
same colour with my face. I could remark, that after they had observed
me some time, they discovered some aversion from a white; however,
seeing me pull out my handkerchief, they asked me for it with a great
deal of eagerness; I cut it into several pieces that I might satisfy them
all, and distributed it amongst them; they bound them about their heads,
but gave me to understand that they should have liked them better if
they had been red: after this we were seldom without their company,
which gave occasion to an accident, which though it seemed to threaten
some danger at first, turned afterwards to our advantage.
As these people were continually teasing us, our Portuguese one day
threatened in jest to kill one of them. The black ran in