_How men know by the Idol_, _if the sick shall die or not_. _Of Folk of
diverse shape and marvellously disfigured_. _And of the Monks that gave
their relief to baboons_, _apes_, _and marmosets_, _and to other beasts_
FROM that isle, in going by sea toward the south, is another great isle
that is clept Dondun. In that isle be folk of diverse kinds, so that the
father eateth the son, the son the father, the husband the wife, and the
wife the husband. And if it so befall, that the father or mother or any
of their friends be sick, anon the son goeth to the priest of their law
and prayeth him to ask the idol if his father or mother or friend shall
die on that evil or not. And then the priest and the son go together
before the idol and kneel full devoutly and ask of the idol their demand.
And if the devil that is within answer that he shall live, they keep him
well; and if he say that he shall die, then the priest goeth with the
son, with the wife of him that is sick, and they put their hands upon his
mouth and stop his breath, and so they slay him. And after that, they
chop all the body in small pieces, and pray all his friends to come and
eat of him that is dead. And they send for all the minstrels of the
country and make a solemn feast. And when they have eaten the flesh,
they take the bones and bury them, and sing and make great melody. And
all those that be of his kin or pretend them to be his friends, an they
come not to that feast, they be reproved for evermore and shamed, and
make great dole, for never after shall they be holden as friends. And
they say also, that men eat their flesh for to deliver them out of pain;
for if the worms of the earth eat them the soul should suffer great pain,
as they say. And namely when the flesh is tender and meagre, then say
their friends, that they do great sin to let them have so long languor to
suffer so much pain without reason. And when they find the flesh fat,
then they say, that it is well done to send them soon to Paradise, and
that they have not suffered him too long to endure in pain.
The king of this isle is a full great lord and a mighty, and hath under
him fifty-four great isles that give tribute to him. And in everych of
these isles is a king crowned; and all be obeissant to that king. And he
hath in those isles many diverse folk.
In one of these isles be folk of great stature, as giants. And they be
hideous for to look upon. And they have but one eye, and that is in the
middle of the front. And they eat nothing but raw flesh and raw fish.
And in another isle toward the south dwell folk of foul stature and of
cursed kind that have no heads. And their eyen be in their shoulders.
And in another isle be folk that have the face all flat, all plain,
without nose and without mouth. But they have two small holes, all
round, instead of their eyes, and their mouth is plat also without lips.
And in another isle be folk of foul fashion and shape that have the lip
above the mouth so great, that when they sleep in the sun they cover all
the face with that lip.
And in another isle there be little folk, as dwarfs. And they be two so
much as the pigmies. And they have no mouth; but instead of their mouth
they have a little round hole, and when they shall eat or drink, they
take through a pipe or a pen or such a thing, and suck it in, for they
have no tongue; and therefore they speak not, but they make a manner of
hissing as an adder doth, and they make signs one to another as monks do,
by the which every of them understandeth other.
And in another isle be folk that have great ears and long, that hang down
to their knees.
And in another isle be folk that have horses’ feet. And they be strong
and mighty, and swift runners; for they take wild beasts with running,
and eat them.
And in another isle be folk that go upon their hands and their feet as
beasts. And they be all skinned and feathered, and they will leap as
lightly into trees, and from tree to tree, as it were squirrels or apes.
And in another isle be folk that be both man and woman, and they have
kind; of that one and of that other. And they have but one pap on the
one side, and on that other none. And they have members of generation of
man and woman, and they use both when they list, once that one, and
another time that other. And they get children, when they use the member
of man; and they bear children, when they use the member of woman.
And in another isle be folk that go always upon their knees full
marvellously. And at every pace that they go, it seemeth that they would
fall. And they have in every foot eight toes.
Many other diverse folk of diverse natures be there in other isles about,
of the which it were too long to tell, and therefore I pass over shortly.
From these isles, in passing by the sea ocean toward the east by many
journeys, men find a great country and a great kingdom that men clepe
Mancy. And that is in Ind the more. And it is the best land and one the
fairest that may be in all the world, and the most delectable and the
most plenteous of all goods that is in power of man. In that land dwell
many Christian men and Saracens, for it is a good country and a great.
And there be therein more than 2000 great cities and rich, without other
great towns. And there is more plenty of people there than in any other
part of Ind, for the bounty of the country. In that country is no needy
man, ne none that goeth on begging. And they be full fair folk, but they
be all pale. And the men have thin beards and few hairs, but they be
long; but unnethe hath any man passing fifty hairs in his beard, and one
hair sits here, another there, as the beard of a leopard or of a cat. In
that land be many fairer women than in any other country beyond the sea,
and therefore men clepe that land Albany, because that the folk be white.
And the chief city of that country is clept Latorin, and it is a journey
from the sea, and it is much more than Paris. In that city is a great
river bearing ships that go to all the coasts in the sea. No city of the
world is so well stored of ships as is that. And all those of the city
and of the country worship idols. In that country be double sithes more
birds than be here. There be white geese, red about the neck, and they
have a great crest as a cock’s comb upon their heads; and they be much
more there than they be here, and men buy them there all quick, right
great cheap. And there is great plenty of adders of whom men make great
feasts and eat them at great solemnities; and he that maketh there a
feast be it never so costly, an he have no adders he hath no thank for
his travail.
Many good cities there be in that country and men have great plenty and
great cheap of all wines and victuals. In that country be many churches
of religious men, and of their law. And in those churches be idols as
great as giants; and to these idols they give to eat at great festival
days in this manner. They bring before them meat all sodden, as hot as
they come from the fire, and they let the smoke go up towards the idols;
and then they say that the idols have eaten; and then the religious men
eat the meat afterwards.
In that country be white hens without feathers, but they bear white wool
as sheep do here. In that country women that be unmarried, they have
tokens on their heads like coronals to be known for unmarried. Also in
that country there be beasts taught of men to go into waters, into rivers
and into deep stanks for to take fish; the which beast is but little, and
men clepe them loirs. And when men cast them into the water, anon they
bring up great fishes, as many as men will. And if men will have more,
they cast them in again, and they bring up as many as men list to have.
And from that city passing many journeys is another city, one the
greatest of the world, that men clepe Cassay; that is to say, the ‘City
of heaven.’ That city is well a fifty mile about, and it is strongly
inhabited with people, insomuch that in one house men make ten
households. In that city be twelve principal gates; and before every
gate, a three mile or a four mile in length, is a great town or a great
city. That city sits upon a great lake on the sea as doth Venice. And
in that city be more than 12,000 bridges. And upon every bridge be
strong towers and good, in the which dwell the wardens for to keep the
city from the great Chan. And on that one part of the city runneth a
great river all along the city. And there dwell Christian men and many
merchants and other folk of diverse nations, because that the land is so
good and so plenteous. And there groweth full good wine that men clepe
Bigon, that is full mighty, and gentle in drinking. This is a city royal
where the King of Mancy was wont to dwell. And there dwell many
religious men, as it were of the Order of Friars, for they be mendicants.
From that city men go by water, solacing and disporting them, till they
come to an abbey of monks that is fast by, that be good religious men
after their faith and law. In that abbey is a great garden and a fair,
where be many trees of diverse manner of fruits. And in this garden is a
little hill full of delectable trees. In that hill and in that garden be
many diverse beasts, as of apes, marmosets, baboons and many other
diverse beasts. And every day, when the convent of this abbey hath
eaten, the almoner let bear the relief to the garden, and he smiteth on
the garden gate with a clicket of silver that he holdeth in his hand; and
anon all the beasts of the hill and of diverse places of the garden come
out a 3000, or a 4000; and they come in guise of poor men, and men give
them the relief in fair vessels of silver, clean over-gilt. And when
they have eaten, the monk smiteth eftsoons on the garden gate with the
clicket, and then anon all the beasts return again to their places that
they come from. And they say that these beasts be souls of worthy men
that resemble in likeness of those beasts that be fair, and therefore
they give them meat for the love of God; and the other beasts that be
foul, they say be souls of poor men and of rude commons. And thus they
believe, and no man may put them out of this opinion. These beasts
above-said they let take when they be young, and nourish them so with
alms, as many as they may find. And I asked them if it had not been
better to have given that relief to poor men, rather than to those
beasts. And they answered me and said, that they had no poor men amongst
them in that country; and though it had been so that poor men had been
among them, yet were it greater alms to give it to those souls that do
there their penance. Many other marvels be in that city and in the
country thereabout, that were too long to tell you.
From that city go men by the country a six journeys to another city that
men clepe Chilenfo, of the which city the walls be twenty mile about. In
that city be sixty bridges of stone, so fair that no man may see fairer.
In that city was the first siege of the King of Mancy, for it is a fair
and plenteous of all goods.
After, pass men overthwart a great river that men clepe Dalay. And that
is the greatest river of fresh water that is in the world. For there, as
it is most narrow, it is more than four mile of breadth. And then enter
men again into the land of the great Chan.
That river goeth through the land of Pigmies, where that the folk be of
little stature, that be but three span long, and they be right fair and
gentle, after their quantities, both the men and the women. And they
marry them when they be half year of age and get children. And they live
not but six year or seven at the most; and he that liveth eight year, men
hold him there right passing old. These men be the best workers of gold,
silver, cotton, silk and of all such things, of any other that be in the
world. And they have oftentimes war with the birds of the country that
they take and eat. This little folk neither labour in lands ne in vines;
but they have great men amongst them of our stature that till the land
and labour amongst the vines for them. And of those men of our stature
have they as great scorn and wonder as we would have among us of giants,
if they were amongst us. There is a good city, amongst others, where
there is dwelling great plenty of those little folk, and it is a great
city and a fair. And the men be great that dwell amongst them, but when
they get any children they be as little as the pigmies. And therefore
they be, all for the most part, all pigmies; for the nature of the land
is such. The great Chan let keep this city full well, for it is his.
And albeit, that the pigmies be little, yet they be full reasonable after
their age, and can both wit and good and malice enough.
From that city go men by the country by many cities and many towns unto a
city that men clepe Jamchay; and it is a noble city and a rich and of
great profit to the Lord, and thither go men to seek merchandise of all
manner of thing. That city is full much worth yearly to the lord of the
country. For he hath every year to rent of that city (as they of the
city say) 50,000 cumants of florins of gold: for they count there all by
cumants, and every cumant is 10,000 florins of gold. Now may men well
reckon how much that it amounteth. The king of that country is full
mighty, and yet he is under the great Chan. And the great Chan hath
under him twelve such provinces. In that country in the good towns is a
good custom: for whoso will make a feast to any of his friends, there be
certain inns in every good town, and he that will make the feast will say
to the hosteler, array for me to-morrow a good dinner for so many folk,
and telleth him the number, and deviseth him the viands; and he saith
also, thus much I will dispend and no more. And anon the hosteler
arrayeth for him so fair and so well and so honestly, that there shall
lack nothing; and it shall be done sooner and with less cost than an a
man made it in his own house.
And a five mile from that city, toward the head of the river of Dalay, is
another city that men clepe Menke. In that city is strong navy of ships.
And all be white as snow of the kind of the trees that they be made of.
And they be full great ships and fair, and well ordained, and made with
halls and chambers and other easements, as though it were on the land.
From thence go men, by many towns and many cities, through the country,
unto a city that men clepe Lanterine. And it is an eight journeys from
the city above-said. This city sits upon a fair river, great and broad,
that men clepe Caramaron. This river passeth throughout Cathay. And it
doth often-time harm, and that full great, when it is over great.