which they know nothing
but by hearsay. These Azenhaji have an odd custom of wearing a
handkerchief round their heads, a part of which is brought down so as to
cover their eyes, and even their nose and mouth; for they reckon the
mouth an unclean part, because it is constantly belching and has a bad
smell, and ought therefore to be kept out of sight; even comparing it to
the posteriors, and thinking that both ought alike to be concealed. On
this account they never let their mouths be seen except when eating, as I
have often had occasion to observe. They have no lords among them, but
the rich men are respected somewhat more than the rest. They are of
ordinary stature, and very lean, wearing their black hair frizzled over
their shoulders like the Germans, and grease it daily with fish oil,
which gives them a nasty smell; yet they consider this as modish. They
are extremely poor, egregious liars, the greatest thieves in the world,
and very treacherous. They have never heard of any Christians except the
Portuguese, with whom they had war for thirteen or fourteen years, in
which many of them were carried off as slaves, as has been already
mentioned. Many of these people informed me, that, when they first saw
ships under sail, which had never been beheld by any of their ancestors,
they took them for large birds with white wings, that had come from
foreign parts; and when the sails were furled, they conjectured, from
their length, and swimming on the water, that they must be great fish.
Others again believed that they were spirits, who wandered about by night;
because they were seen at anchor in the evening at one place, and would
be seen next morning 100 miles off, either proceeding along the coast to
the southwards, or put back, according as the wind changed, or the
caravels might happen to steer. They could not conceive how human beings
could travel more in one night than they were able to perform themselves
in three days; by which they were confirmed in the notion of the ships
being spirits. All this was certified to me by many of the Azanhaji who
were slaves in Portugal, as well as by the Portuguese mariners who had
frequented the coast in their caravels.

About six days journey by land from Hoden, there is a place called
Teggazza[5], which in our language signifies a chest or bag of gold. In
this place large quantities of salt are dug up every year, and carried by
caravans on camels to _Tombucto_ and thence to the empire