_ 35 _ and cotton, with many coloured stripes, of fine quality and workmanship. They all wear toucas on their heads, with piping of embroidered silk with a golden thread. They are merchants and trade with white Moors, four of whose ships were here in this harbour bringing gold, silver, cloth, cloves, pepper, ginger, silver rings, as well as many pearls, precious stones and rubies. The natives of this country also trade in these articles. According to what they said, we understood that the Moors brought all these things, apart from the gold, by caravan. Moreover, further on, where we were heading, there was an endless supply of them. Indeed, there were so many stones, pearls and spices that there was no need to buy them as they could be collected by the basketful. We learned all this through a sailor whom the captain-major brought with him. He had been a Moorish captive and therefore understood those that we met here. These Moors also told us that on the route that we were following we would encounter many shallows and we would also come across many cities along the coast. We would also find an island, half of whose inhabitants were Christians, the other half Moors. These were at war with each other. There were also many riches on that island.
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