One Day, While In The Market Purchasing Some Things By The
Direction Of Our Captain, A Certain Mameluke Knew Me
To be a Christian,
and said to me in his own language _inte mename_, which is to say,
"Whence are
You?" To this I answered that I was a Mahometan, but he
insisted that I spoke falsely, on which I swore by the head of Mahomet
that I really was. Then he desired me to go home along with him, which I
willingly did; and when there he began to speak to me in the Italian
language, affirming that he was quite certain I was not a Mahometan. He
told me that he had been some time in Genoa and Venice, and mentioned
many circumstances which convinced me that he spoke truth. On this I
freely confessed myself A Roman, but declared that I had become a
Mahometan at Babylon in Egypt, and had been there enrolled among the
Mamelukes. He seemed much pleased as this, and treated me honourably.
Being very desirous of proceeding farther in my travels, I asked him if
this city of Mecca was as famous as was reported in the world, and where
the vast abundance of pearls, precious stones, spices, and other rich
merchandise was to be seen, which was generally believed to be in that
city, wishing to know the reason why these things were not now brought
there as in former times; but to avoid all suspicion, I durst not make
any mention of the dominion acquired by the king of Portugal over the
Indian ocean and the gulfs of Persia and Mecca.
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