_ 111 _ Item: The men of these lands have skin of a russet colour and are well-made and of the Mahommodan sect and speak like Moors, and their clothing is made of cloth of linen or of cotton, very finely woven with many coloured stripes, rich and embroidered, and they all wear coifs with silk ornaments and embroidered with gold thread, and they are merchants trading with white Moors who had at this place four ships laden with gold, silver, and cloth, and cloves, pepper, ginger, and silver rings, with many pearls, seed-pearl, and rubies, all these things being used by the peoples of these lands. From What they said, it seemed to us that all these things were brought here by carts and that they were all brought by the Moors save the gold, and that farther along, where we were going, there was much of it, and that the precious stones, seed-pearl and spices where there in quantities that there was no need to trade for them, only gather them in baskets. All these things were understood by a sailor the captain-major had with him and who had been a captive of the Moors and therefore understood those whom we found here. The Moors told us further- more that there were many banks on the course we were sailing. And that we would find many cities along the coast and that we would sight an
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