_ 67 _ When he was inside, the king rose and joined the captain, while we remained where we were. This must have been about sunset, and thus when the king got up, an old man who was inside on the dais, removed the couch but the silver plate remained there. When the king joined the captain, he lay down on another couch, which was covered with many pieces of cloth embroidered in gold, and asked the captain what was it that he wanted? The latter explained to him that he was the ambassador of the King of Portugal, who was the Lord of large domains and enjoyed riches of all sorts, more than any king in those parts. For the past sixty years the King's forefathers had sent ships every year to discover that region, since they knew that there were Christian kings like themselves there. Consequently, they had been given orders to discover this country, and not because they needed gold or silver, since they had so much of it that it was not necessary that this country should possess it. The captains of these ships set out and sailed for one or even two years, until they no longer had food, and if they found nothing they returned to Portugal. Now a king called Dom Manuel had ordered him to build three ships and had appointed him commander of
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