Here, too, I was told, there is gold in plenty and caravans
of camels cross over there with goods from Carthage, Tunis, Fez, Cairo
and all the land of the Saracens. These are exchanged for gold, which
comes from the mines on the other side of Sierra Leone. They said that
range ran southwards, which pleased me very greatly, because all the
rivers coming from thence, as far as could be known, ran westward, but
they told me that other very large rivers ran eastward from the other
side of the ridge.
"There was also, they said, East of these mountains, a great lake,
narrow and long, on which sailed canoes like ships. The people on the
opposite sides of this lake were always at war; and those on the eastern
side were white. When I asked who ruled in those parts, they answered
that one chief was a negro, but towards the East was a greater lord who
had conquered the negroes a short time before.
"A Saracen told me he had been all through that land and had been
present at the fighting, and when I told this to the Prince, he said
that a merchant in Oran had written him two months before about this
very war, and that he believed it.
"Such were the things told me by the negroes at Cantor; I asked them
about the road to the gold country, and who were the lords of that
country.
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