OF THE CUSTOMS OF ISLES ABOUT INDIA.—OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
IDOLS AND SIMULACRES.—OF THREE KINDS OF PEPPER GROWING UPON ONE
TREE.—OF THE WELL THAT CHANGES ITS ODOUR EVERY HOUR OF THE DAY.
In India are very many different countries; and it is called India, from
a river which runs through the country called Indus. In that river they
find eels thirty feet long and more[368]. And the people that dwell near
that water are of evil colour, green and yellow. In India, and about
India, are more than five thousand inhabited islands, good and great,
besides those that are uninhabitable, and other small islands. Every
island has great plenty of cities, and towns, and people without
number[369]. For men of India have this condition of nature, that they
never go out of their own country, and therefore there is great
multitude of people; but they are not stirring or moveable, because they
are in the first climate, that is, of Saturn. And Saturn is slow, and
little moving; for he tarrieth thirty years to make his course through
the twelve signs; and the moon passes through the twelve signs in a
month. And because Saturn is so slow of motion, the people of that
country, that are under his climate, have no inclination or will to move
or stir to seek strange places. Our country is all the contrary; for we
are in the seventh climate, which is of the moon, and the moon moves
rapidly, and is a planet of progression; and for that reason it gives us
a natural will to move lightly, and to go different ways, and to seek
strange things and other diversities of the world; for the moon goes
round the earth more rapidly than any other planet.
Also men go through India by many different countries, to the great Sea
of Ocean. And afterwards men find there an island that is called
Hermes[370]; and there come merchants of Venice and Genoa, and of other
parts, to buy merchandise; but there is great heat in that district. In
that country, and in Ethiopia, and in many other countries, the
inhabitants lie all naked in rivers and waters, men and women together,
from undurn[371] of the day till it be past noon. And they lie all in
the water, except the face, for the great heat that there is. And the
women have no shame of the men, but lie all together, side by side, till
the heat is past. There may men see many foul figures assembled, and
chiefly near the good towns. In that island are ships without nails of
iron or bonds, on account of the rocks of adamants (loadstones[372]);
for they are all abundant thereabout in that sea, that it is marvellous
to speak of; and if a ship passed there that had either iron bonds or
iron nails, it would perish; for the adamant, by its nature, draws iron
to it; and so it would draw to it the ship, because of the iron, that it
should never depart from it.
From that island men go by sea to another island called Chana, where is
abundance of corn and wine; and it was wont to be a great island, and a
great and good haven, but the sea has greatly wasted it and overcome it.
The king of that country was formerly so strong and so mighty that he
held war against king Alexander. The people of that country differ in
their religious belief; for some worship the sun, some the moon, some
the fire, some trees, some serpents, or the first thing that they meet
in a morning; and some worship simulacres, and some idols. Between
simulacres and idols there is a great difference; for simulacres are
images made after the likeness of men or of women, or of the sun or of
the moon, or of any beast, or of any natural thing; and an idol is an
image made by the lewd will of man, which is not to be found among
natural things, as an image that has four heads, one of a man, another
of a horse, or of an ox, or of some other beast, that no man has seen in
nature. And they that worship simulacres worship them for some worthy
man who once existed, as Hercules and many others, that did many wonders
in their time. For they say well that they are not gods; for they know
well that there is a God of nature that made all things, who is in
heaven; but they know well that this man may not do the wonders that he
did, unless it had been by the special gift of God, and therefore they
say that he was well with God, wherefore they worship him. And so they
say of the sun; because it changes the season and gives heat and
nourishes all things upon earth; and since it is of so great profit,
they know well that that might not be, unless God loved it more than any
other thing. And because God has given it greater virtue in the world,
therefore it is right, as they say, to worship and reverence it. And so
they say of other planets, and of the fire also, because it is so
profitable. And of idols, they say also that the ox is the most holy
beast that is on earth, and most patient and more profitable than any
other; and they know well that it may not be without special grace of
God, and therefore make they their god of an ox the one part, and the
other part of a man, because man is the noblest creature on earth, and
also he hath lordship above all beasts; therefore make they the upper
half of the idol of a man, and the lower half of an ox; and so of
serpents and of other beasts, and different things that they worship,
that they meet first in a morning. And they worship also especially all
those that they have good meeting of, and when they speed well in their
journey, after their meeting, and mostly such as they have proved and
assayed by experience of long time; for they say, that that good meeting
may not come but by the grace of God; and therefore they make images
like to those things in which they have belief, to behold them and
worship them first in the morning, before they meet any contrarious
thing. And there are also some Christians who say that it is good to
meet some beasts first in the morning, and bad to meet others; and that
they have often proved that it is very unlucky to meet the hare, and
swine, and many other beasts; and the sparrow-hawk, and other ravenous
birds, when they fly after their prey, and take it before armed men, is
a good sign, and if they fail of taking their prey it is an evil sign;
and also, to such people, it is unlucky to meet ravens. There are many
people that believe in these things, and in other such, because it
happens often so to fall after their fantasies; and also there are men
enough that disbelieve in them. And since Christians have such belief,
who are instructed and taught all day by holy doctrine wherein they
should believe, it is no wonder that the Pagans, who have no good
doctrine, but only of their nature, believe more largely, on account of
their simplicity. And truly I have seen Pagans and Saracens, whom men
call augurs, that when we ride in arms in different countries
against our enemies, they would tell us, by the flight of birds, the
prognostications of things that fell after; and so they did full often,
and offered to pledge their heads that it would fall as they said. But a
man should not, therefore, put his belief in such things, but always
have full trust and belief in God our sovereign lord. The Saracens have
won and now hold this island of Chana. It contains many lions, and many
other wild beasts, with rats as great as dogs, which they take with
great mastiffs, for cats cannot take them. In this island, and many
others, they do not bury their dead; for the heat is so great, that in a
little time the flesh will consume from the bones.
From thence men go by sea towards India the Greater, to a good and fair
city called Sarche, where dwell many Christians of good faith: and there
are many monks, especially mendicants. Thence men go by sea to the land
of Lomb, in which grows the pepper, in the forest called Combar, and it
grows nowhere else in all the world; that forest extends full eighteen
days in length. In the forest are two good cities, one called Fladrine,
and the other Zinglantz, in each of which dwell many Christians and
Jews; for it is a good and rich country, but the heat is exceeding. And
you shall understand that the pepper grows like a wild vine, which is
planted close by the trees of that wood, to sustain it; the fruit hangs
like bunches of grapes, with which the tree is so laden that it seems
that it would break; and when it is ripe, it is all green like ivy
berries; and then men cut them as they do the vines, and put them upon
an oven, where they become black and crisp. There are three kinds of
pepper all on one tree; long pepper, black pepper, and white pepper. The
long pepper is called Sorbotin; the black is called Fulful; and the
white is called Bano. The long pepper comes first, when the leaf begins
to appear, and is like the catkins of hazel that come before the leaf,
and it hangs low. Next comes the black with the leaf, like clusters of
grapes, all green; and, when gathered, it becomes the white, which is
somewhat less than the black, and of that but little is brought to this
country, for they keep it for themselves, because it is better and
milder than the black. In that country are many kinds of serpents and
other vermin, in consequence of the great heat of the country and of the
pepper. And some men say that, when they will gather the pepper, they
make fires and burn thereabouts, to make the serpents and cockodrills
to fly; but this is not true. But thus they do: they anoint their hands
and feet with a juice made of snails and other things, of which the
serpents and venomous beasts hate the savour; and that makes them fly
before them, because of the smell, and then they gather in the pepper in
safety.
Toward the head of that forest is the city of Polombe, above which is a
great mountain, also called Polombe, from which the city has its name.
And at the foot of that mountain is a fair and great well, which has the
odour and savour of all spices; and at every hour of the day it changes
its odour and savour diversely; and whoever drinks three times fasting
of the water of that well is whole of all kind of sickness that he has;
and they that dwell there, and drink often of that well, never have
sickness, but appear always young. I have drunk thereof three or four
times, and methinks I still fare the better. Some men call it the Well
of Youth; for they that often drink thereof appear always young, and
live without sickness[373]. And men say that that well comes out of
Paradise, and therefore it is so virtuous. All that country grows good
ginger; and therefore merchants go thither for spicery. In that land men
worship the ox, for his simpleness and for his meekness, and for the
profit that comes of him. They say that he is the holiest beast on
earth; for they consider that whosoever is meek and patient, he is holy
and profitable, for then, they say, he hath all virtues in him. They
make the ox to labour six or seven years, and then they eat him. And the
king of the country has always an ox with him; and his keeper has every
day great fees, and keeps every day his dung and urine in two
vessels of gold, and brings it before their prelate, whom they call
archiprotopapaton, and he carries it before the king, and makes over it
a great blessing; and then the king wets his hands in what they call
gall, and anoints his forehead and breast, and afterwards he rubs
himself with the dung and urine with great reverence, to be filled with
the virtues of the ox, and made holy by the virtue of that holy thing.
And when the king has done, the lords follow his example; and after them
their ministers, and other men, if there be any left. In that country
they make idols, half man, half ox; and in those idols evil spirits
speak, and even answer to men. Before these idols men often slay their
children, and sprinkle the blood on the idols, and so they make their
sacrifice. And when any man dies in the country they burn his body in
the name of penance, to that intent that he suffer no pain in earth, by
being eaten by worms. And if his wife have no child they burn her with
him, and say that it is right that she accompany him in the other world
as she did in this. But if she have children with him, they let her live
with them, to bring them up, if she will. And if she love more to live
with her children then to die with her husband, they hold her for false
and cursed; and she shall never be loved or trusted by the people. And
if the woman die before the husband, they burn him with her, if he will;
and if he will not, no man constraineth him thereto, but he may wed
another time without blame or reproof. In that country grow many strong
vines, and the women drink wine, and men not; and the women shave their
beards, and the men not.