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Athanasius Nikitin : Travels.(1475)from Twer-in Russia
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Taken from : R.H. Mayor : India in the fifteenth century.
Note: Athnasius always uses the word Ethiopia to speak about East-Africa in general.
Dabul, a port of the vast Indian Sea. It is a very large town, the great meeting place for all nations living along the coast of India and of Ethiopia..............
We sailed from Dabul three months before the great day of the Mohammedan Lent, and were at sea a whole month, during which I saw nothing. On the following month we descried the mountains of Ethiopia, and then those on board exclaimed : God our Lord, O God, O God, king of Heavens, righteously hast Thou devoted us to destruction.
I remained five days in that country, and by the mercy of God, met with no evil, but distributed among the natives a quantity of brynetz, pepper, and bread, in order that they might not plunder the ship. From there I reached Muscat in 12 days, and there I held the sixth great holiday.
Note: sailing 12 days at a speed of 185 Km a day (as Idris estimates) will give him a starting point of close to present day Obbia is southern Somalia.