ach of which can be carried by three men, and
in which they fish and go from place to place on the river.

The boundaries of the kingdom of Senegal are the ocean on the west, the
land of Gambra on the south, the inland Blackman's country on the east,
and on the north the River Niger (Senegal), which, "as I have said
before, divides the Azaneguys from the First Kingdom of the Negroes. And
the said river," concludes Cadamosto, "five years before my coming, had
been explored by the Portuguese, who hoped to open up a great commerce
in those parts. So that every year from that time their ships had been
off that coast to trade."

Cadamosto determined to push farther up the river than any had done
before, and so to come to the land of Budomel, one of the great negro
princes and kingdoms, for it was the name both of place and person. When
he came there he found an "Emperor so honest that he might have been an
example to any Christian," who exchanged his horses, wool-fells, and
linen goods for the strangers' merchandise and slaves, with deeds as
honourable as his words. Our adventurer was so taken with "Lord Budomel"
that he gladly went with him two hundred and fifty miles up country, on
his promising a supply of negro slaves, black but comely, and none of
them more than twelve years old.

On this adventurous journey, of which we are next given a full account,
Cadamosto is taken charge of by Bisboror, the Prince's nephew, "through
whom I saw many things worth noting." The Venetian was not anxious to
put off to sea, as the weather was very rough, so rough indeed that no
boat could venture off from the bank at the river's mouth to where the
ships lay, and the captain had to send word to his crews by negro
swimmers, who could pass any surf, "for that they excel all other living
men in the water and under it, for they can dive an hour without
rising."

It is not worth while to follow Cadamosto in all his long account of
what he saw and heard of negro life in the course of this journey; it is
as unsavoury as it is commonplace. He repeats very much of what he has
said before about the Azaneguys, of their servility to their Princes,
"who are to them as mortal Gods"; of the everlasting progresses and
wanderings of those Princes round their kingdoms, from kraal to kraal,
living on the stores each wife has provided; of the kraals themselves,
no towns or castles, as people at home might think, says Cadamosto, but
merely collections of