73r

INcominciando dal meridionale
Litto del mare in su la strecta bocha
Che miglia sedece e largo il canale
E d'ogni parte monti e rocha
Sta la cita de seta la qual sale
Sei giorni a greco di sopra a manrocha
Ed altretanto e dirimpecto ad epsa
Per meço de la gran cita di fessa

¶ Di soto a seta forsi a mille miglia
Giu par quel litto s'a pocha notitia
D'andarvi l'uno l'altro se consiglia
Ne per dilecto ne per avaritia
E gia ne furno che per maraviglia
Volgion passar piu ultra e con tristitia
Di lor e di lor gente far tal gita
Che mai poi non si seppe di lor vita

¶ In queste mille miglia di marina
Verso libecio trovi prima arcilla
E poi larachale asai vicina
Sala poi siegue che una bona villa
Un fiume che al lato li confina
Che dal monte athalante si distilla
Per meço fessa passa e cencinquanta
Miglia in sin la -e- da setta altretanta

[initial: Opening initial /I/, 4 lines, in blue with red pen flourishing heightened in yellow.]

[image, right margin and bas de page: Coastal map of north-western Africa and part of south-west Spain. Ocean painted aquamarine with wave pattern in grey. At top, two small islands, both painted red. In right margin, across from ¶ 1–¶ 2: a fortified city in reddish-brown with blue roofs; below this, a tower in reddish-brown with a blue-and-white striped dome. Bas de page, curving up towards the right margin, a chain of larger islands—the seven islands of the Canaries—painted (left to right): yellow, pinkish-red, blue, red, grey, grey-green, and white with a red cross (i.e. cross of St George), the last of these surrounded by five tiny islets in red. City names, in red ink, from top of page downwards: (label: Sibilia), (label: Cades), (label: Setta), (label: Arcilla), (label: laracha), (label: sala), (label: fessa), (label: niffe), (label: giamor), (label: marocha), (label: saffi), (label: gaziolla), (label: messa). Bas de page, also in red ink, on the waters adjacent to the Canaries: (label: camariam).]

[Book IV]

If we begin on the southern
shore of the sea ^{1Mediterranean Sea}, at the narrow mouth
where the channel is sixteen miles wide^2Gibraltar
with mountains and rocks on every side,
we find the city of Ceuta ^3Setta.
It is six days' travel to the northeast of Marrakesh ^{4Marrakesh is referred to, in the text, as 'manrocha' (i.e., Morocco), a term that applies to the region as well as the city; but here, the city is meant}.
And at the same distance from each,
midway between the two, is the great city of Fez.

Below Ceuta^{5That is, along the western coast of Africa beyond Gibraltar, which would be below Ceuta on a contemporary map oriented with east at the top.}, for maybe a thousand miles
along that shore, little is known:
going that way is seldom advised for anyone
either for pleasure or for profit.
There have already been some who, out of curiosity,
wished to travel further, but tragically
they and their companions ventured so far
that nothing was ever again known about their lives.

Along this thousand miles of coastline
to the southwest one finds first Arzilla^{6Asila, Morocco}
and then Laraccia^{7al-ʿArāʾish or Larache} quite nearby.
Salla^{8Salè, Rabat} then follows, which is a good town;
the river that borders it on one side
and springs from the Atlas mountains
passes through Fez. That takes a hundred fifty
miles, and it is the same distance from Ceuta.

INcominciando dal meridionale
Litto del mare in su la strecta bocha
Che miglia sedece e largo il canale
E d'ogni parte monti e rocha
Sta la cita de seta la qual sale
Sei giorni a greco di sopra a manrocha
Ed altretanto e dirimpecto ad epsa
Per meço de la gran cita di fessa

¶ Di soto a seta forsi a mille miglia
Giu par quel litto s'a pocha notitia
D'andarvi l'uno l'altro se consiglia
Ne per dilecto ne per avaritia
E gia ne furno che per maraviglia
Volgion passar piu ultra e con tristitia
Di lor e di lor gente far tal gita
Che mai poi non si seppe di lor vita

¶ In queste mille miglia di marina
Verso libecio trovi prima arcilla
E poi larachale asai vicina
Sala poi siegue che una bona villa
Un fiume che al lato li confina
Che dal monte athalante si distilla
Per meço fessa passa e cencinquanta
Miglia in sin la -e- da setta altretanta

[initial: Opening initial /I/, 4 lines, in blue with red pen flourishing heightened in yellow.]

[image, right margin and bas de page: Coastal map of north-western Africa and part of south-west Spain. Ocean painted aquamarine with wave pattern in grey. At top, two small islands, both painted red. In right margin, across from ¶ 1–¶ 2: a fortified city in reddish-brown with blue roofs; below this, a tower in reddish-brown with a blue-and-white striped dome. Bas de page, curving up towards the right margin, a chain of larger islands—the seven islands of the Canaries—painted (left to right): yellow, pinkish-red, blue, red, grey, grey-green, and white with a red cross (i.e. cross of St George), the last of these surrounded by five tiny islets in red. City names, in red ink, from top of page downwards: (label: Sibilia), (label: Cades), (label: Setta), (label: Arcilla), (label: laracha), (label: sala), (label: fessa), (label: niffe), (label: giamor), (label: marocha), (label: saffi), (label: gaziolla), (label: messa). Bas de page, also in red ink, on the waters adjacent to the Canaries: (label: camariam).]

[Book IV]

If we begin on the southern
shore of the sea ^{1Mediterranean Sea}, at the narrow mouth
where the channel is sixteen miles wide^2Gibraltar
with mountains and rocks on every side,
we find the city of Ceuta ^3Setta.
It is six days' travel to the northeast of Marrakesh ^{4Marrakesh is referred to, in the text, as 'manrocha' (i.e., Morocco), a term that applies to the region as well as the city; but here, the city is meant}.
And at the same distance from each,
midway between the two, is the great city of Fez.

Below Ceuta^{5That is, along the western coast of Africa beyond Gibraltar, which would be below Ceuta on a contemporary map oriented with east at the top.}, for maybe a thousand miles
along that shore, little is known:
going that way is seldom advised for anyone
either for pleasure or for profit.
There have already been some who, out of curiosity,
wished to travel further, but tragically
they and their companions ventured so far
that nothing was ever again known about their lives.

Along this thousand miles of coastline
to the southwest one finds first Arzilla^{6Asila, Morocco}
and then Laraccia^{7al-ʿArāʾish or Larache} quite nearby.
Salla^{8Salè, Rabat} then follows, which is a good town;
the river that borders it on one side
and springs from the Atlas mountains
passes through Fez. That takes a hundred fifty
miles, and it is the same distance from Ceuta.