58 DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 
princes. But when, in their indefatigable search 
after Prester John, they ventured deeper into the 
interior, they did not always experience equal cour- 
tesy. From the fortress of Mina, on the Gold 
Coast, a message was sent to a very powerful Moor- 
ish prince called Mohammed, sovereign of a coun- 
try which is not named, but which is said to lie in 
the parallel of Cape Palmas, about a hundred and 
forty leagues in the interior. This prince, in re- 
ply to the compliments of the Portuguese monarch, 
replied, that he had never heard of any powerful 
kings in the world except four ; which were, the 
King of Cairo, the King of Alimaem, the King of 
Baldac, and the King of Tucurol. He added, 
that of the Jour thousand, Jour hundred, and Jour 
kings, of which he was the lineal descendant, not 
one had ever received or sent an embassy to any 
Christian prince ; and that he had no intention to 
introduce an innovation in that respect. The am- 
bassadors, upon this answer, lost no time in taking 
their departure. 
Nothing, however, could damp the zeal of the 
Portuguese monarch, to discover the habitation of 
Prester John. He sent a body into the interior 
from Arguin to form a factory at Huadem (Ho- 
dem), distant about seventy leagues from the coast. 
They were directed to make diligent inquiry of 
the Brabariis (Bambarrans), and Ludaias (inhabi- 
tants of Ludamar), whether they could give any 
