_Of a great countrey called Lamory, where the people go all naked
& other things._
[Illustration]
FROM this countrey LII journeys is a countrey that men call Lamory,[1]
and in that lande is greate heate, and it is the custome there, that
men and women go al naked and they scorne all them that are clade, for
they say that God made Adam & Eve all naked, and that men shoulde haue
no shame of that God made, & they beleve in the same God that made
Adam & Eve and all the world, and there is no woman wedded, but women
are all common there, and they forsake no man. And they say that God
commaunded to Adam & Eve and all that come of them saying, _Crescite &
multiplicamini, & replete Terram_. That is to say in English, Encrease
& multiply and fyll the earth, and no man may say there, This is my
wife, & no woman may say, this is my husbande. And when they haue any
children they give them to whom they will of men that haue medled with
them. Also the lande is all common, for every man taketh what he
will, for that one man hath in one yere now, an other man hath another
yeare. Also all the goods, as corne, beastes and all maner thing of
that countrey are all in common. For there is nothing under locke,
and as riche is one man as an other, but they haue an evill custome
in eating of fleshe, for they eate gladlier mans fleshe than other.
Neverthelesse in that lande is abundaunce of corne, of fleshe, of
fishe, of golde of silver and all maner of goods. And thether doeth
the marchauntes bring their children for to sell, and those that are
fatte they eate them, & those that be lean, they kepe them tyll they
befatte, & then are they eaten. And besyde this yle of Lamory, is
another yle that men call Somober,[2] and is a good yle, men of that
yle do marke them in the visage with an hot yron, bothe men & women
for great nobility & to be knowen from other, for they hold themselfe
the worthiest of y^e world and they haue warre evermore with those men
that are naked that I spake of before. Also there are many other yles
and diverse maner of men, of the which it were overmuch for to speake
of all.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Footnote 1: Sumatra.]
[Footnote 2: ? Sumatra. One or other, Lamory or Somober, is
evidently this island.]