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. It is located^*Setta, which is six days' [travel] up to the northwest from Marrakesh ^{*3Marrakesh is referred to, in the text, as 'manrocha,' corresponding to Morocco, as well to the city; here, the city}.
And the same distance, equidistant
between the two, is the great city of Fez.

Below Ceuta, for maybe a thousand miles
along that shore, little is known:
Going that way is seldom advised for anyone
Neither for pleasure nor for profit:
It has already happened that out of curiosity
some wished to travel further, and tragically,
they and their people went on such a journey
that nothing was ever again known about their life.

Along this thousand miles of coastline
to the southwest one finds first Arzilla^{*Asila, Morocco}
and then Laraccia^{*al-ʿArāʾish, Larache} quite nearby.
Sala^{*Salè, Rabat} then follows, which is a good town;
A river, which borders it on one side
and springs from Mount Atlas,
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]

Starting from the southern
shore of the sea ^{*1Mediterranean Sea}, into the narrow mouth
where the channel is sixteen miles wide^1Gibraltar
with mountains and rocks on every side:
here stands the city of Ceuta^*Setta, which is
six days' [travel] up to the northwest from Marrakesh ^{*2Marrakesh is referred to, in the text, as 'manrocha,' corresponding to Morocco, as well to the city; here, the city}.
And the same distance, equidistant
between the two, is the great city of Fez.

Below Ceuta, for maybe a thousand miles
along that shore, little is known:
Going that way is seldom advised for anyone
Neither for pleasure nor for profit:
It has already happened that out of curiosity
some wished to travel further, and tragically,
they and their people went on such a journey
that nothing was ever again known about their life.

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