40 into the open sea. The entrance to the straits of Mecca, which is where the ships head in; is situated between this cape and cape Guardafui. Three islands lie between these capes. One is large and the two other are small ones. The bigger is called Socotra, has very high mountains and is inhabited by brown men who say they are christians. But since they have not been baptised or catechised, they are just christians in namesake. Nonetheless they have crosses on their oratories. The Moors claim that in the distant past the island belonged to the Amazons, but they were gradually joined by men. Some of this still lingers as women take control of their assets without the interference of men. They have their own language. They go about naked protecting their private parts with cotton cloths, others with skins. They have many cows, sheep and date-palms. Their diet is of milk, meat and dates. There is a lot of dragon’s blood and aloe socotrina to be found on the island. The Moors from Fartak built a fortress here, in order to subdue and convert local people to Islam. Those living around the fortress were already Moors and waited on the Fartak Moors like slaves, both the people and their property. They struggled to survive and were greatly suppressed. Yet some managed to preserve their rites as best they could. These date back to a long time. People say the the island was inhabited by christians, and gradually they lost their way because ships from christian peoples did not call in there, hence they did not have anyone to teach them. When the Moors from Fartak held the fortress, afleet from the King of Portugal arrived here. The Portuguese went ashore and captured the fortress, but not as easy as they would have liked. The Moors defended themselves more resolutely than any living man we had ever seen in these parts and they refused to surrender. Eventually they all died fighting without a single one having survived. So one can see they are great warriors and very corageous in battle. The cpatain of thefleet left behind a large number of people to defend and preserve the fort.
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