_ 79 _ have not been seen here because it is less than forty or fifty years since it established itself there. The King wrote some letters to them to be carried by me in great secrecy. Recently, another two friars have arrived from there, one a Dominican the other a Franciscan. They travelled in our ships and the Dominican, who says mass and is very learned, became ill. I do not know if they will return, but the letters are already written for them. When I arrived from Evora, I came across another Dominican here, from the same country, who told me that a companion of his died on the journey. They all go to Santiago, from there they come to seek out the King because of the fame that our victories have already brought in that part of the word. All of them concur in claiming that in the court of Prester John there are seven white men from our country. They also say that there are two ports on the Red Sea; one is a large town called Massawa; the other is Suakin. They pay tribute to Prester John. When they travelled over land, they call at these ports, which are populated by dishonest Moors. Inland from the same ports, it is all the domain of Prester John, through which one can travel safely. It is ten or twelve-days’ travel to where he normally resides.
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