_ 32 _ After we had been two or three days in that country, two of their chiefs came to see us. These were so disdainful that they did not appreciate anything they were given. One of them wore a touca (cap) on his head with some piping embroidered with silk and the other wore a green satin hood. Moreover, according to what they indicated by gestures, there was a youth in their company who had come from a country far from there. He claimed to have seen large ships like those that brought us. We were very pleased with these good omens because it seemed to us we were approaching the place we were looking for. These noblemen had some shelters made of foliage built along the riverbank, where they stayed for about seven days. Each day they sent people to the ships to barter cloth that bore marks of red ochre. When they tired of this they left in the almadias to go up-river. We spent thirty-two days in this river, during which time we took on water, careened the ships and repaired the mast of the S. Rafael. Here many men fell sick. Their hands and feet swelled and their gums covered their teeth to such an extent that they were unable to eat. And we placed a padrão there, on which we put the name S. Rafael, because it had been transported in that ship and we called the river the River of Good Signs [Cuama/Quelimane].
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