_ 104 _ us as much as if it had been Portugal, because we hoped, with God's help, to recuperate there as we had done on a previous occasion. On Thursday, 2 January 1499, because we were already close to land and it was night, we sailed out to sea and lay to. When morning came we made for land to find out where Our Lord had cast us, because there was no longer any pilot or man who knew how to map the ship's position so as to determine where we were. Some said that we could not be anywhere except among some islands that were about three hundred leagues from the mainland, off Mozambique. This was because a Moor whom we had captured in Mozambique, told us that these islands were very unhealthy and that even those who lived there were afflicted by the illness that we had. And we found ourselves before a very large city with two-storey buildings. In the centre of the town there were spacious squares. Around the city, which faced directly out to sea, there were four towers. It belonged to the Moors and was called Mogadishu. When we moved forward and came close to it, we fired off many bombards. We continued on our route along the coast, with a fair following wind, sailing by day and laying to by
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