Father Boym, Letter on Mozambique

Michal Boym
17th c. AD
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Modern Era)

Cafraria1 [...] a Patre Michaele Boym Polono Missa Mozambico
1644 Ianuar. 11

Cafraria est tractus magnus,
[There was a large tract of land in Cafraria <Africa>]

 qui et Monomotapae regnum includit,
[that encloses the kingdom of Monomotapa]

a capite BonaeSpei protensus ad Mozambicum et ad flumina, Goam versus.
[from the head of Bona Spes /Good Hope/ and extending all the way to Mozambique and to the Goa River]

Negotiatio Lusitanorumcum Cafribus tota redit ad eandem civitatem.
[All the trading expeditions of the Portuguese returned from the Africans <Cafres, lit. Kaffirs, very derogatory term, do not use colloquially> to that aforementioned city.]

 Omnes Cafres viri, feminae, pueri,nudi <capitibus>2 incedunt sine pilleis,
[All the Cafri men, women, boys came up to us, naked without any hair on their heads]

nihilominus modo iam viri a cingulo se velant ad genua,
[nevertheless, some of the men covered themselves down to their knees with a belt,]

 feminae a pectore ad talos telis depictis,
[the women from breast to heel with painted clothes]

quales Turcae vendunt Europaeis.
[like the ones the Turkish women sell to Europeans.]

 Sunt crinibus crispi,
[They have curly hair]

 feminae quoque non habent longos crines,
[also the women do not have long hair]

 esto si quando accrescunt,
[and even if they should grow it out,]

eos pectine attollant ad instar pillei sacerdotalis.
[they raise it above them with a comb almost in the fashion of priest's hair.]

Gens est servilis,
[Their race of people is subservient,]

ingeniosa subinde, mancipia sunt Lusitanorum.
[and thusly to be concluded that they have only potential as chattel for the Portuguese.]

 Emuntur pro telis dictis aut pro argento,
[They do business by promissing weapons, or through the exchange of money]

quod hic magis aestimatur, vocant patacas.
[which is valued more here, and which they call "patacas"]

Parvi Cafres pretium et cognomen habent trium aut septem,
[The little Cafres have a price and a title of 7.3 apiece]

si sunt bene compacti et maiores,
[if they are well-built and older]

 decem aut 12 scutorum.
[they are worth 10.12 coins.]

Plurimi furto sublati a suis venduntur,
[Most of them are secretly sold into our custody by their own]

alii aparentibus,
[others by their family members,]

pauci bello capti,
[a few captured in war,]

 alii damnati ad captivitatem ob milium devastatum,
[some condemned to slavery on account of wasting food,]

 alii in via deprehensi adducuntur ad Lusitanos.
[and others captured along the roadside are brought down to the Portuguese.]

 Si vero captivorum quispiam diceret coram emptore se liberum esse aut iniuste venum dari,
[If truly any of the captives should declare himself to a free man, in front of his buyer, or that he was being sold as chattel unjustly,]

 subito a nigro venditore occiditur.
[he is instantly killed by his black trader.]

 Propterea in bona fide multos liberos pro mancipii semptos habent Lusitani,
[And moreover, the Portuguese keep many free men, with good intention, who've been bought their freedom,]

quamquam multi Deus novit, quomodo comparantur.3
[although only God knows how many these men total to.]

Omnes Cafres sunt nigri coloris, sufflavi etiam reperiuntur.
[All the Cafres are black-skinned, although some tan-skinned ones have been found.]

 Cani et barbati,rufi crinibus et senes turpissimi sunt aspectus.
[And their old man have gray beards, scant hair and dirtiest of all.]

Oleo se libentissime inungunt
[They rub themselves all over as much as possible with oil]

et inde pelles eorum collucent.
[and from this, their skins are all shiny. ]

Sol capiti<bus>4 illorum, quiest intensissimi hic caloris, non nocet.
[The sun does no harm to their heads, even on the place where there is the most intense heat.]

 Reges aut regulos plures (quos fumosappellant) habent.
[Their kings and several others hold scepters , which they call fumos]

 Hi inter se bella committunt.
[These men wage war against each other.]

 Civitates, potius mappalia,rarissimas invenias.
[You will rarely if ever find cities there, even with the use of a map.]

 Ambulant catervatim et aut milium inventum,
[They walk in groups, and you can find them up to the thousands,]

quod maiora grana habet Europaeo,
[since they have greater food supply than in Europe,]

aut homines captos assos comedunt.
[and otherwise, their men eat their capitves.]

 Quaesitus a me Cafer,quis illum vendidisset,
[When one Cafer was asked by me, that is, one who had just sold another one,]

 "Cafres", respondit, "alii, qui me volebant comedere".
[He replied, 'The other Cafres, they wanted to eat me.']

"Tu vero quoties homines comedisti?".
["And did you indeed eat other men?']

"Bis", inquit, "semel caput unius, alteravice pedes alterius".
[He said, "Twice, one time, some one's head, the second time, someone else's feet.']

 Alius narravit se ter comedisse tostum5hominem.
[Another man said that he had eaten men burned alive three times.]

Ignes ingentes noctu faciunt,
[They make huge bonfires at night]

qui circum circa Mozambici apparent.
[which appear all around Mozambique.]

Rex illorum praecipuus est ad caput Bonae Spei,
[The king of these aforesaid men is the leading man of Bona Spes,]

 dicitur Maravius.
[his name is Maravio.]

6 Quando moritur, cadaver eius sollemniter ducitur ad foveam,
[When he dies, his body is led in a procession to a grave]

 eandem simul ingrediuntur concubinae,
[at the same time, his concubines go there]

consanguinei, amici, milites,
[his relatives, associates, and soldiers]

 et plane nuper ad quinque milia insignum amoris erga regem a populo obruti eadem terra periere.
[and recently up to 5,000 men were killed and buried as a tribute of love from the people.]

 Eidem regi pugnum milii et pugnum farinae (sicuti et ceteris solent facere Cafribus mortuis)alligant.7
[Fights over food supplies and grain are obligations of this king, as they are also used to causing deaths to other Cafres]

Narravit Pilotus,
[Piloto recalled]

cum ante aliquot annos ad Promunturium Bonae Spei naufraginavem reficerent
[when, several years earlier, they were recovering from shipwreck upon the promontary of Bona Spes,]

 et campanam ad gentem navis convocandam pulsarent,
[and they were ringing the ship's bell in order to make a call out to the nation,]

"concurrerunt", inquit, "infiniti ad novitatem soni Cafres
[And he said, "The Cafres are running in deep throng in the direction of that sound,]

et inter illos
proximius accessit unus,
[and one of these men came closer,]

 olim mancipium Lusitani cuiusdam.
[who was once the slave of a certain Portuguese man.]

 Lusitanice locutus dixit se nosse homines, qui essent.
[Speaking Portuguese, he said that knew who these men were.]

 Generum se regis esse,
[and that the son in law to the king was there]

 sed tempestate naviIndica quassata delatum eo,
[but that he was taken into custody, after his own ship had been shaken over by a storm]

omnibus summersis remansisse ad litus
[and that he had survived and stayed on the coast--everyone has having drowned]

derelictum et tandem a Cafribus inventum et curatum recuperasse sanitatem.
[and left behind for a while, he was finally found, and he had regained his health, now revived.]

Atque, quod
scivisset praedicere ventos, tempestates et pluvias, aestimatum et regi carum
generumque effectum.
[Also, thusly because he had known how to predict the patterns of winds, storms, and rains, and had become a son-in-law , esteemed and dear to the king.]

Quod vero vos hic agitis et vultis?
[So really what are you now doing hear, and what do you want?]

 Illi vaccas et tauros postulavere.
[Those men there demanded cows and bulls.]

 Modo pecuniam consuetam non negarent,
[They didn't refuse to take money, to which they had just acclimated,]

appromisit illa.
[he promised them these things.]

 Dederunt quadratas aeris particulas 40,
[They gave 40 pieces of bronze coin apiece,]

nam aurum hic non aestimatur ob ignorantiam.
[to be specific, he did not think to ask out of ignorance.]

Et subito 40 vaccae ab illo adductae.
[And suddenly 40 cows are lead down from this man.]

 Ipse quoque rex persuasus a suo genero venit.
[Also the king himself, came, after he was persuased by his son in law.]

 Dicebat gener Lusitanos esse suos consanguineos,
[He began to say that the Portuguese were members of his own family]

 quod ab illis aere sibi concredito probabat,
[a conclusion he began make from those men by the money that was accredited him,]

 nam in istis partibus neque uxor pecuniam credit suo marito.
[where specifically, in regions like these, a wife did not accredit money to her own husband.]

 Et campanam ipse rex saepius inspiciens atque sonum admirans
[And the king himself quite often looks around at his countryside, and grows amazed by the atmosphere of sounds,]

 collo suo appendit munitionesque Lusitanorum
[and he hangs weapons he received from the Portuguese around his neck]

pulsando illud tintinnabulum sua et suorum summa cum voluptate circumivit.
[and by hitting them he would make a strange ringing with the greatest amount of delight in these things of his.]

 Tandem tormenta admiratus et boatum illorum reveritus abiit".
[At last, when he gazed upon our seige weapons, he left terrified by their loud sounds."]

Bellum pedibus peragunt.
[They wage war on foot.]

 Arma azagalha (est simplex baculus cum ferro in fine ad instar lanceae latae),
[Their weapons include the azagalha, which is a simple rod with a iron piece at the end, kind of like a wide lance,]

 arcus (lignum recurvum tensum cerato funiculo),
[the bow, made of wood curved back tautly with a waxen rope]

sagittae ex harundine sine pennis
[arrows from shafts without feathers,]

(has enim gratia ornatus cuiuscumque avis, etiam gallinae, capitis crinibus innodant);
[you see, this is because they prefer to place these, particularly plucked from chickens, as decoration between the hair on their head]

 sagittae, inquam, ferream cuspidemin extremitate habent
[I must add, their arrows have a iron shaft at the end]

et, quia teretes, celerrime volant.
[and because they are so smoot, they fly extremely fast.]

 Aliquando veneno imbuuntur.
[They are often dipped in poison.]

 Vidi ego ad arcus alligatam radicem
[I myself saw a root tied onto the bow]

et particulam ab uno nigro accepi pro medalia.
[and I took one of them from a black man in exchange for a coin.]

 Est optima res pro vulneribus,
[It is the most useful object for the treatment of wounds,]

immo morsibus serpentium et venenosorum inservit.
[for you see, it treats against snake bites and poisonings.]



 Attrita lapide aut commansa et applicata radix <nomen radicis mitambo>8
[The root, once it is mashed down by smoothed stone and layered, is either known by the name "mitambo"]

 vel illius pulvis intra tres quattuorve dies hominem sanat a quocumque letali vulnere.
[or you should know that it powder form can cure between three to four men from any deadly wound.]

 Itaque, ut se videt Cafer traiectum sagitta aut azagalha,
[and thusly, if the Cafer finds himself struck by an arrow, or an azagalha,]

si non repente moritur,
[he does not die straightaway,]

 ipse aut circumstantes applicant radicem
[whenever either himself or others around him apply this root]

 et certissime evadit mortem.
[and most assuredly does he avoid death.] 

 Attrita lapide aut commansa et applicata radix <nomen radicis mitambo>8
[The root, once it is mashed down by smoothed stone and layered, is either known by the name "mitambo"]

 vel illius pulvis intra tres quattuorve dies hominem sanat a quocumque letali vulnere.
[or you should know that it powder form can cure between three to four men from any deadly wound.]

 Itaque, ut se videt Cafer traiectum sagitta aut azagalha,
[and thusly, if the Cafer finds himself struck by an arrow, or an azagalha,]

si non repente moritur,
[he does not die straightaway,]

 ipse aut circumstantes applicant radicem
[whenever either himself or others around him apply this root]

 et certissime evadit mortem.
[and most assuredly does he avoid death.]