Sometimes The Emperor Creates A Ratz, Or Viceroy,
General Over All The Empire, Who Is Superior To All His Other
Officers.
Aethiopia produces very near the same kinds of provisions as
Portugal; though, by the extreme laziness of the inhabitants, in a
much less quantity:
However, there are some roots, herbs, and
fruits which grow there much better than in other places. What the
ancients imagined of the torrid zone being uninhabitable is so far
from being true, that this climate is very temperate: the heats,
indeed, are excessive in Congo and Monomotapa, but in Abyssinia they
enjoy a perpetual spring, more delicious and charming than that in
our country. The blacks here are not ugly like those of the
kingdoms I have spoken of, but have better features, and are not
without wit and delicacy; their apprehension is quick, and their
judgment sound. The heat of the sun, however it may contribute to
their colour, is not the only reason of it; there is some
peculiarity in the temper and constitution of their bodies, since
the same men, transported into cooler climates, produce children
very near as black as themselves.
They have here two harvests in the year, which is a sufficient
recompense for the small produce of each; one harvest they have in
the winter, which lasts through the months of July, August, and
September, the other in the spring; their trees are always green,
and it is the fault of the inhabitants that they produce so little
fruit, the soil being well adapted to all sorts, especially those
that come from the Indies.
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