ent places that the army is to march that way on such
a day, and that they are assessed such a quantity of bread, beer, and
cows. The peasants are very exact in supplying their quota, being
obliged to pay double the value in case of failure; and very often when
they have produced their full share, they are told that they have been
deficient, and condemned to buy their peace with a large fine.

When the providore has received these contributions, he divides them
according to the number of persons, and the want they are in: the
proportion they observe in this distribution is twenty pots of beer, ten
of mead, and one cow to a hundred loaves. The chief officers and persons
of note carry their own provisions with them, which I did too, though I
afterwards found the precaution unnecessary, for I had often two or three
cows more than I wanted, which I bestowed on those whose allowance fell
short.

The Abyssins are not only obliged to maintain the troops in their march,
but to repair the roads, to clear them, especially in the forests, of
brambles and thorns, and by all means possible to facilitate the passage
of the army. They are, by long custom, extremely ready at encamping. As
soon as they come to a place they think convenient to halt at, the
officer that commands the vanguard marks out with his pike the place for
the King's or viceroy's tent: every one knows his rank, and how much
ground he shall take up; so the camp is formed in an instant.

CHAPTER VII

They discover the relics. Their apprehension of the Galles. The author
converts a criminal, and procures his pardon.

We took with us an old Moor, so enfeebled with age that they were forced
to carry him: he had seen, as I have said, the sufferings and death of
Don Christopher de Gama; and a Christian, who had often heard all those
passages related to his father, and knew the place where the uncle and
nephew of Mahomet were buried, and where they interred one quarter of the
Portuguese martyr. We often examined these two men, and always apart;
they agreed in every circumstance of their relations, and confirmed us in
our belief of them by leading us to the place where we took up the uncle
and nephew of Mahomet, as they had described. With no small labour we
removed the heap of stones which the Moors, according to their custom,
had thrown upon the body, and discovered the treasure we came in search
of. Not many paces off was the fountain where they had thr