_ 232 _ courteously requested him to ask for a present for him, appropriate to his rank. As we spent about an hour before giving it to him, another arrived, of the same description, on horseback wearing the red cap of Shah Ishmael, to whom we gave two turbans and a good amount of nutmeg for which he asked. They then left, and so did we. We travelled towards the north-west and the north. For the last three days we had been travelling towards the north-west and at times towards the northern quarter, because of the bends in the road caused by the mountains. After midday we camped in a larger place, more populated than the others, which is called Noduxan, situated to the north of the road and the north-western quarter, full of many vineyards and orchards, with very good houses built in their manner, of wattle and daub and with open spaces like our patios, open above, with shelters with arches over them on the walls of the house, and on the other four for they were eight-sided, four buildings with small closed doors, and with flights of steps up to the flat roofs on top. The houses have windows looking on to the patios. The women were more beautiful than those [we had seen before, though they were also beautiful, and like Portuguese women in the expression of their faces. The difference was that they were fairer- skinned and more
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