They Here Learned
Many Things Respecting The Indies, And Of The Trade From The Red Sea To
Calicut; And, Going From Toro To A Place On The Coast Of Ethiopia, They
Went To The Port Of Aden.
The travellers here separated, Alonso de Payva
passing over to the emperor of Ethiopia, erroneously called Presbyter
John:
For he, of whom Marco Polo speaks, under that title, as governing
all the Indies, and whose country joins with the great khan of Kathay,
was vanquished and slain in a battle by that sovereign; at which time his
kingdom was put an end to, and no one of that race or title has since
reigned. Yet Alonso de Payva actually believed that the emperor of
Ethiopia was Presbyter John, having learnt that he was a Christian king
over a Christian nation, as shall be more particularly declared hereafter.
At their separation they agreed to meet again at Cairo, when each had
executed his part of the royal orders.
Pedro de Covillian sailed from Aden for the Indies, in a ship belonging
to the Moors of Cananor, and went to Calicut and the island of Goa, where
he acquired complete information respecting the spices of India, the
commodities which come from other places, and the towns of the Indies;
the names of all which he inserted, but ill written, in his chart. From
India he went to Sofala, where he procured information respecting the
great island of St Lawrence, called the Island of the Moon by the Moors.
Observing that the natives of Sofala were black, like those of Guinea, he
concluded, that all the coast between was under subjection to the Negroes,
and consequently that navigation was practicable from Guinea to Sofala,
and thence to the Indies.
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