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Fra Nicolo: Aviso di Fra Nicolo infrascripto da San Michiel di Murano (15th century) Information from Brother Nicholas, a friar of San Michele, Murano, given in writing.
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Taken from: Ethiopian Itineraries, Circa 1400-1524 By Osbert Guy Stanhope, Crawford, Alessandro Zorzi.
The text came to us through a mss of Alessandro Zorzi of 1528

INFORMATION FROM BROTHER NICHOLAS, A FRIAR OF SAN MICHELE, MURANO, GIVEN IN WRITING

Diab is a great province; that part of it called Sachra, i.e. Manna, abounds in every good thing, viz., much gold; that province was acquired in 1430 by Presta Jane, and the chief city of that region is called Mogodis (1) (and to that province there now resort sundry Portuguese that (traffic?) between the Cape of Good Hope and Zefala). It is said that Presta Janni has more than 120 kingdoms, of which more than 60 speak different tongues; and 72 of these kingdoms are powerful; the others are of little account. His kingdom of Saba or Sadai is a great city.

The province of Benicilep is inhabited by very brave tribes and they are mighty peoples; their faces are doggish and they were never subdued by the Romans. (3)

In 1420 a ship made a passage from India on the route of the islands of men and women above the Cape of Diab towards the west for 40 days for about 2000 miles; it returned in 70 days to the said cape, where on shore they found a very great bird with a great egg. They said it was so great as seems fabulous to relate, which (story) is not likely to be true because up to now the Portuguese have not seen any such thing. (2)

Note that the Abyssinians say they hold more land above the source of the Nile than below it, that is to say, in our direction. And they say they have greater rivers than the Nile which amongst us is so famed for its greatness, and many rivers join it and make it great; whence he says that in their winter time, which is in May and June, by reason of the great rains these rivers rise much and increase the said Nile so that it rises marvellously.

Note: several authors think that it is from this manuscript that (partly) Fra Mauro got his inspiration to make his African section of his world map.

(1) I give the text of Al-Dimashqi (1325) Nukhbat ad-dahr (Wonders of the world) P215-216to compare it with this short paragraph.

The islands of Diba (Laccadive and the Maldive) are a coherent group, with Arab people; the biggest island is called Diba or Diab, it is 400 miles in circumference, you find there the banana tree, sugar cane, the coconut tree and the cassier. It is a halting place for the ships going to Kish, Hormuz, India, Yemen. Magadoxo on the Zanguebar and Abyssinie.: Here with making the island of Diab big and connect it with East Africa; we see the beginning of the error that finally led Fra Mauro to add a big island of Diab in the south east of Africa and put on it the most important East African towns.

(2)I give the text of Fra Mauro (1459):

About the year of Our Lord 1420 a ship, what is called an Indian junk (Zoncho de India) on a crossing of the sea of India towards the island of Men and Women, was driven by a storm beyond the Cape of Diap (Cavo de Diab) (the most southern point on the map), through the green Islands, (in Arab literature this is Zanzibar and Pemba), out into the Sea of Darkness on their way west and southwest, in the direction of Algarve. Nothing but air and water was seen for forty days and by they reckoning they ran 2,000 miles and fortune deserted them. When the stress of the weather had subsided they made the return to the said Cavo de Diab in seventy days and drawing near to the shore to supply their wants the sailors saw the egg of a bird called roc, the egg being as big as a seven gallon cask, and the size of a bird is such that from the point of one wing to another was sixty paces and it can quite easily lift an elephant or any other animal. It does great damage to the inhabitants and is very fast in its flight.

(3) the dog-headed people: In the article: Islamic Archaeology in the Comoros; The Swahili and the Rock Crystal Trade with the Abbasid and Fatimid Caliphates by Stephane Pradines; Pradines argues that the dog-headed people often mentioned in Arab sources are the lemurs from Madagascar.