ABSTRACT

The morning before we arrived where the petty king was, some of his servants appeared with five mules and a message brought by a Muslim authorized by his king, in which he welcomed us and sent us other greetings and said that those five mules were to carry five of the most important Fathers, which included all of us who were there since the other two were lay brothers. After we had given our reply and accepted the gift, all of which was given for the purpose of creating more reasons for his deserving the gift he was expecting and wages for the messengers, because all of them were out for profit, we mounted the mules and travelled a distance of two leagues, still through uncultivated, scrubby terrain where all the ground appeared to be moving because it was covered with locusts, so thick that nothing else could be seen, a very common plague in that land. They did not fly because they were not yet fully grown, and those of the preceding year had laid their eggs there, covering the ground with so bad a type of seed from which soon came clouds of that plague which destroy whole provinces, as I shall later relate. For the last half a league we followed a river upward to where the king had his court. The river was wide and ran in the winter between the mountains which surrounded it. When we were there it had only an abundance of white pebbles. 1 By digging anywhere, however, one found water, as we later experienced. The king had his palaces at the foot of a small hill among several thorn bushes and wild trees. They consisted of four or five small shelters and fifteen or twenty thatched huts, two or three of which were the king's and the others belonged to his mother, brothers and some of his more honoured servants. The pomp and decoration of the houses were consistent with the material of which they were made. The houses were, however, wretchedly and barbarously scattered about. 2

After dismounting the mules at a musket-shot's distance from the royal residence under some jujube and other trees with which the

riverbed and its banks were well covered and shaded, we went to visit the king who received us in a thatched hut or little round house, of which the walls were of sticks and clay and the roof of straw. Fifty people could fit in it seated on the ground. In one part was the royal throne, a platform made of stone and earth covered with a carpet and two velvet cushions. In another part was his horse with all the harness and items appropriate to a stable, since it is the custom of these people to have their horses or mule right in their homes and in their sight. This is true of the king as well as his subjects. After we had entered the royal hall, which was as I have described, we sat down on the ground with our legs crossed awaiting the coming of His Highness who was not very long in coming after the prior entrance of the ordinary pages and messengers, one with a gourd of mead, 1 another with the china to drink from, another with the tobacco pipe which was a coconut shell full of water in the mouth of which was the bowl of the pipe with fire and tobacco and a silver tube through which one smoked, filtering the smoke through the water so that it would be more refined and mild.2 There followed some more honoured servants. After them came the king, well dressed in silken cabaias, a turban on his head, with some jewels for adornment, in particular two amulets of finely wrought gold which came down over his temples. He had a small lance in his hand by way of a sceptre. A small velvet-covered chair was in front for him to sit on. Behind him came his officers, such as his major-domo, comptroller, captain, etc. We rose to pay our respects to him, and, when they were seated, we went up to kiss his hand, grasping it and kissing our own and he his, whereupon we returned to our places. Everyone was silent, as is the custom, for about eight minutes, during which time the king, we ourselves and the others present were observing all that could be seen of persons, clothing, etc. The period of silence was ended by the king, who gave the signal to talk by saying to the interpreter that we were welcome, that he had been expecting us for days because of the information he had received from the Emperor, his father (a term and name they use to show love and good will with a suggestion of filial devotion to persons to whom they profess obedience), to the effect that we had crossed the sea and other things of this sort, and, in conclusion, that we should be as unworried and free of fear as if we were in our own homelands since his lands belonged to the Emperor, who loved us so much and recommended us so highly. We responded in the same tenor, replying satisfactorily to everything he had said and

showing gratetulness for the good will and kindliness he offered us. With little more than what I have related, that day's visit came to an end. The servants who had taken the mules came after us asking for their wages, customary for such service. It is necessary to pay them for this. They do not have the patience to delay for long any possible occasions for personal gain. They soon advised us to prepare the present for the king, which gave us an excellent means of determining the extent ofhis greed. Furt told us that on the occasion of the first meetings it was necessary to bring some small present, keeping the major part of what we had for the large present, informing us in this way that we had to give both a large present and a small one. The small present we brought consisted of two pieces of fine Indian cotton, a few porcelain objects and trinkets from China with other trifles of this kind. The king refused to accept them because they were not enough, an example of the courtesy they display on such occasions. We tried to do better with the large one, making it to Furt' s liking. Furt wanted to see everything in order to augment the gift to what seemed appropriate to him. It consisted of a small carpet, 1 pieces of a thin, cotton cloth from India 2 and other fine materials from India, pieces of cloth from China, not of silk, all of which came to twenty pieces in all, and was probably worth almost a hundred cruzados. After he had counted it all up, the wicked old man went off to prepare for our entrance or to advise the king to accept nothing in order to shock us into giving more. Since I was the most experienced in this sort of thing, I was the one to present the gift along with a few of our party who carried it. Arriving at the same room as before and finding the king there who was already expecting me, I proffered my usual polite remarks and then, ordering the pieces to be uncovered, presented them to him on behalf of all of us. I explained how limited our means were because of our condition as members of a religious order and the vows of poverty we had taken. I told him that, nevertheless, he was due all the courtesy required by his royal position and that in order to show him all the courtesy in our power, I was bringing him, in the name of all of us, those tokens of our good will. I said that, although they were not commensurate with his greatness (it is certainly true that I thought I was greatly exaggerating as far as he was concerned), it was all that was within our power in a land so foreign to us. They were destined for him, however, if he would look upon them with benevolence as a kindness to us. To all this, as I was making a thousand

compliments and expressions ofhumility, the king kept silent, showing displeasure as he turned his head this way and that in the manner of one who was insulted by what was being brought to him. He replied to me that, although he appreciated our intentions, he was not accepting their concrete results in that present since it was not commensurate with his person or with what he expected from us, and he motioned with his hand for it to be taken from his presence just as I had brought it. Although I tried to persist in excuses, he did not change countenance, whereupon I also became angry and, now with greater daring caused by the meanness, greed and rudeness of the petty king, I told the servants to carry the present away with the intention of subtracting some from it, as I did, because I knew that he would ask for it again. Those present were not pleased on seeing my resolve, and, so as not to spoil the gift-giving ceremony completely, Furt came after me excusing the king and blaming us for bringing him so little; whereupon we turned on him, telling him that all of it was brought by his order and nothing was lacking from what he had ordered to be given and that, in any case, we did not have any other things, any greater in quantity or quality, so that, since the king did not want the gift, we would use it for expenses on our travels. Meanwhile, I had already removed three of the twenty pieces we had presented. However, since all of this was nothing more than a series of tricks dictated by greed on the part of all of them, Furt insisted that we increase the gift with something else, and no matter how much he insisted, he had no success with us because we were perfectly aware that if we were to increase the gift, it would have the same result and reception as the first one. Seeing this, the wicked old man ordered the present to be brought there again. He counted the pieces and finding three fewer than before, asked that they be restored. After some arguing back and forth concerning the restitution, we finally did it, and on the next day we went to give the same gift, but now certain that it would be accepted, as indeed it was, but with the same attitude as before. To the mother and brothers and principal courtiers we gave our less substantial gifts, which were, however, better received. We even gave gifts to the king's musicians, who one morning appeared to us with their musical instruments which were similar to contra basses. 1 They sang so insipidly and out of tune that they provided more annoyance than amusement. At the end of two hours or more they asked for the reward for their efforts, which we would have been more willing to give them before hearing them,

sincewewouldnothavesufferedtosuchanextent,ratherthanasa rewardfortheirplaying.Theirrequestandhopewereforthemoment frustratedand,althoughtheywantedtoforceuslegallytopaythem, theprivilegesofforeignersignorantofsuchcustoms,tosaynothing ofournothavinginvitedthemtoperform,excusedusfromany obligationtopay.Wedid,however,givethemsomethingwhenthey acknowledgeditasakindnessonourpartandnotasalegaldebtas theyhadwantedit.