Cadamosto's trading voyage to Budomel's country, fifty miles beyond the Senegal river, took place in 1455. Budomel has been identified as the ruler or Damel of Cayor. The account that the author gives of his visit is one of the most remarkable early accounts of the meeting of Europeans and black Africans. In this encounter there was a high level of trust arising from the mutual advantage of the exchange of horses for slaves. Cadamosto, it appears, handed over his valuable trade goods ahead of any payment by the ruler. It is clear that European traders were already being treated as honoured strangers by the African rulers, who stood to gain so much from the trade. Cadamosto has an extraordinary curiosity about African society and how it functioned, and his account shows little if any trace of the medieval legends that had previously coloured the way Europeans viewed the equatorial regions. Particularly noteworthy is his understanding of the function of polygyny, the ruler moving round the villages of his wives who were able to support him and his entourage.