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Page 11
"Then he groped in his shirt and brought out what I thought was a Boer
tobacco pouch made of the skin of the Swart-vet-pens or sable
antelope. It was fastened with a little strip of hide, what we call a
rimpi, and this he tried to loose, but could not. He handed it to me.
'Untie it,' he said. I did so, and extracted a bit of torn yellow
linen on which something was written in rusty letters. Inside this rag
was a paper.
"Then he went on feebly, for he was growing weak: 'The paper has all
that is on the linen. It took me years to read. Listen: my ancestor, a
political refugee from Lisbon, and one of the first Portuguese who
landed on these shores, wrote that when he was dying on those
mountains which no white foot ever pressed before or since. His name
was Jos� da Silvestra, and he lived three hundred years ago. His
slave, who waited for him on this side of the mountains, found him
dead, and brought the writing home to Delagoa. It has been in the
family ever since, but none have cared to read it, till at last I did.
And I have lost my life over it, but another may succeed, and become
the richest man in the world--the richest man in the world. Only give
it to no one, sen�r; go yourself!'
"Then he began to wander again, and in an hour it was all over.
"God rest him! he died very quietly, and I buried him deep, with big
boulders on his breast; so I do not think that the jackals can have
dug him up. And then I came away."
"Ay, but the document?" said Sir Henry, in a tone of deep interest.
"Yes, the document; what was in it?" added the captain.
"Well, gentlemen, if you like I will tell you. I have never showed it
to anybody yet except to a drunken old Portuguese trader who
translated it for me, and had forgotten all about it by the next
morning. The original rag is at my home in Durban, together with poor
Dom Jos�'s translation, but I have the English rendering in my pocket-
book, and a facsimile of the map, if it can be called a map. Here it
is."
[MAP OMITTED]
"I, Jos� da Silvestra, who am now dying of hunger in the little
cave here no snow is on the north side of the nipple of the
southernmost of the two mountains I have named Sheba's Breasts,
write this in the year 1590 with a cleft bone upon a remnant of my
raiment, my blood being the ink. If my slave should find it when
he comes, and should bring it to Delagoa, let my friend (name
illegible) bring the matter to the knowledge of the king, that he
may send an army which, if they live through the desert and the
mountains, and can overcome the brave Kukuanes and their devilish
arts, to which end many priests should be brought, will make him
the richest king since Solomon. With my own eyes I have seen the
countless diamonds stored in Solomon's treasure chamber behind the
white Death; but through the treachery of Gagool the witch-finder
I might bring nought away, scarcely my life. Let him who comes
follow the map, and climb the snow of Sheba's left breast till he
reaches the nipple, on the north side of which is the great road
Solomon made, from whence three days' journey to the King's
Palace. Let him kill Gagool. Pray for my soul. Farewell.
Jos� da Silvestra."[*]
[*] Eu Jos� da Silvestra que estou morrendo de fome n� pequena cova
onde n�o ha neve ao lado norte do bico mais ao sul das duas
montanhas que chamei scio de Sheba; escrevo isto no anno 1590;
escrevo isto com um peda�o d'�sso n' um farrapo de minha roupa e
com sangue meu por tinta; se o meu escravo d�r com isto quando
venha ao levar para Lourenzo Marquez, que o meu amigo ---------
leve a cousa ao conhecimento d' El Rei, para que possa mandar um
exercito que, se desfiler pelo deserto e pelas montonhas e mesmo
sobrepujar os bravos Kukuanes e suas artes diabolicas, pelo que se
deviam trazer muitos padres Far o Rei mais rico depois de Salom�o
Com meus proprios olhos v� os di amantes sem conto guardados nas
camaras do thesouro de Salom�o a traz da morte branca, mas pela
trai��o de Gagoal a feiticeira achadora, nada poderia levar, e
apenas a minha vida. Quem vier siga o mappa e trepe pela neve de
Sheba peito � esquerda at� chegar ao bica, do lado norte do qual
est� a grande estrada do Solom�o por elle feita, donde ha tres
dias de jornada at� ao Palacio do Rei. Mate Gagoal. Reze por minha
alma. Adeos. Jos� da Silvestra.
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