They told me the King lived in Kukia, and was lord of all the
mines on the right side of the river of Cantor, and that he had before
the door of his palace a mass of gold just as it was taken from the
earth, so large that twenty men could hardly move it, and that the King
always fastened his horse to it and kept it as a curiosity on account of
its size and purity. The nobles of his Court wore in their nostrils and
ears ornaments of gold.
"The parts to the East were full of gold mines, but the men who went
into the pits to get gold did not live long, because of the foul air.
The gold sand was given to women to wash the gold from it.
"I enquired the road from Cantor to Kukia and was told the road ran
eastward; where was great abundance of gold; as I can well believe, for
I saw the negroes who went by those roads laden with it.
"While I was thus trafficking with these negroes of Cantor, my men
became worn out with the heat and so we returned towards the ocean.
After I had gone down the river fifty leagues, they told me of a great
chief living on the South side, who wished to speak with me.
"We met in a great wood on the bank, and he brought with him a vast
throng of people armed with poisoned arrows, assegais, swords and
shields.
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