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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, by John
+Mandeville
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions 
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at 
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
+       the version of the Cotton Manuscript in modern spelling
+
+
+Author: John Mandeville
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2014  [eBook #782]
+[This file was first posted on January 17, 1997]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN
+MANDEVILLE***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1900 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email
+ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+
+
+
+
+                               The Travels
+                                    of
+                           Sir John Mandeville
+
+
+                   The version of the Cotton Manuscript
+                            in modern spelling
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+            _With three narratives_, _in illustration of it_,
+        _from Hakluyt’s_ “_Navigations_, _Voyages & Discoveries_”
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                  London
+                        Macmillan and Co. Limited
+                     New York: The Macmillan Company
+                                   1900
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                 GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
+                        BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE & CO.
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
+
+
+THE Travels of Sir John Mandeville were edited anonymously in 1725, in
+the version for which a ‘Cotton’ manuscript in the British Museum is our
+only extant authority.  From 1499, when they were first printed by Wynkyn
+de Worde, the _Travels _had enjoyed great popularity in England, as in
+the rest of Europe; but the printed editions before 1725 had all followed
+an inferior translation (with an unperceived gap in the middle of it),
+which had already gained the upper hand before printing was invented.
+Another manuscript in the British Museum, belonging to the ‘Egerton’
+collection, preserves yet a third version, and this was printed for the
+first time by Mr. G. F. Warner, for the Roxburghe Club, in 1889, together
+with the original French text, and an introduction, and notes, which it
+would be difficult to over-praise.  In editing the Egerton version, Mr.
+Warner made constant reference to the Cotton manuscript, which he quoted
+in many of his critical notes.  But with this exception, no one appears
+to have looked at the manuscript since it was first printed, and
+subsequent writers have been content to take the correctness of the 1725
+text for granted, priding themselves, apparently, on the care with which
+they reproduced all the superfluous eighteenth century capitals with
+which every line is dotted.  Unluckily, the introduction of needless
+capitals was the least of the original editor’s crimes, for he omits
+words and phrases, and sometimes (a common trick with careless copyists)
+a whole sentence or clause which happens to end with the same word as its
+predecessor.  He was also a deliberate as well as a careless criminal,
+for the paragraph about the Arabic alphabet at the end of Chapter XV.
+being difficult to reproduce, he omitted it altogether, and not only
+this, but the last sentence of Chapter XVI. as well, because it contained
+a reference to it.
+
+That it has been left to the editor (who has hitherto rather avoided that
+name) of a series of popular reprints to restore whole phrases and
+sentences to the text of a famous book is not very creditable to English
+scholarship, and amounts, indeed, to a personal grievance; for to produce
+an easily readable text of an old book without a good critical edition to
+work on must always be difficult, while in the case of a work with the
+peculiar reputation of ‘Mandeville’ the difficulty is greatly increased.
+Had a critical edition existed, it would have been permissible for a
+popular text to botch the few sentences in which the tail does not agree
+with the beginning, and to correct obvious mistranslation without special
+note.  But ‘Mandeville’ has an old reputation as the ‘Father of English
+Prose,’ and when no trustworthy text is available, even a popular editor
+must be careful lest he bear false witness.  The Cotton version is,
+therefore, here reproduced, ‘warts and all,’ save in less than a dozen
+instances, where a dagger indicates that, to avoid printing nonsense, an
+obvious flaw has been corrected either from the ‘Egerton’ manuscript or
+the French text.  When a word still survives, the modern form is adopted:
+thus ‘Armenia’ and ‘soldiers’ are here printed instead of ‘Ermony’ and
+‘soudiours.’  But a new word is never substituted for an old one, and the
+reader who is unfamiliar with obsolete words, such as ‘Almayne’ (Germany)
+or ‘dere’ (harm),—there are surprisingly few for a book written five
+centuries ago,—must consult the unpretentious glossary.  Of previous
+editions, that of 1725 and the reprints of it, including those of
+Halliwell-Phillipps, profess, though they do not do so, to reproduce the
+manuscript exactly.  Thomas Wright’s edition is really a translation, and
+that issued in 1895 by Mr. Arthur Layard often comes near to being one,
+though the artist-editor has shown far more feeling for the old text than
+his too whimsical illustrations might lead one to expect.  It is hoped
+that the plan here adopted preserves as much as possible of the
+fourteenth century flavour, with the minimum of disturbance to the modern
+reader’s enjoyment.
+
+The plan of this series forbids the introduction of critical
+disquisitions, and I am thus absolved from attempting any theory as to
+how the tangled web of the authorship of the book should be unravelled.
+The simple faith of our childhood in a Sir John Mandeville, really born
+at St. Albans, who travelled, and told in an English book what he saw and
+heard, is shattered to pieces.  We now know that our Mandeville is a
+compilation, as clever and artistic as Malory’s ‘Morte d’Arthur,’ from
+the works of earlier writers, with few, if any, touches added from
+personal experience; that it was written in French, and rendered into
+Latin before it attracted the notice of a series of English translators
+(whose own accounts of the work they were translating are not to be
+trusted), and that the name Sir John Mandeville was a _nom de guerre
+_borrowed from a real knight of this name who lived in the reign of
+Edward II.  Beyond this it is difficult to unravel the knot, despite the
+ends which lie temptingly loose.  A Liège chronicler, Jean d’Outremeuse,
+tells a story of a certain Jean de Bourgogne revealing on his deathbed
+that his real name was Sir John Mandeville; and in accordance with this
+story there is authentic record of a funeral inscription to a Sir John
+Mandeville in a church at Liège.  Jean de Bourgogne had written other
+books and had been in England, which he had left in 1322 (the year in
+which “Mandeville” began his travels), being then implicated in killing a
+nobleman, just, as the real Sir John Mandeville had been implicated ten
+years before in the death of the Earl of Cornwall.  We think for a moment
+that we have an explanation of the whole mystery in imagining that Jean
+de Bourgogne (he was also called Jean à_ _la Barbe, Joannes Barbatus) had
+chosen to father his compilation on Mandeville, and eventually merged his
+own identity in that of his pseudonym.  But Jean d’Outremeuse, the
+recipient of his deathbed confidence, is a tricky witness, who may have
+had a hand in the authorship himself, and there is no clear story as yet
+forthcoming.  But the book remains, and is none the less delightful for
+the mystery which attaches to it, and little less important in the
+history of English literature as a translation than as an original work.
+For though a translation it stands as the first, or almost the first,
+attempt to bring secular subjects within the domain of English prose, and
+that is enough to make it mark an epoch.
+
+Mandeville is here reprinted rather as a source of literary pleasure than
+as a medieval contribution to geography, and it is therefore no part of
+our duty to follow Mr. Warner in tracking out the authorities to whom the
+compiler had recourse in successive chapters.  But as there was some
+space in this volume to spare, and a very pleasant method of filling it
+suggested itself, a threefold supplement is here printed, {0} which may
+be of some use even to serious students, and is certainly very good
+literature.  When Richard Hakluyt, at the end of the sixteenth century,
+was compiling his admirable work, ‘The Principall Navigations, Voiages,
+and Discoveries of the English Nation, made by sea or over land, within
+the compasse of these 1500_ _yeeres,’ he boldly overstepped the limits
+set forth on his title-page, and printed in the original Latin, with
+translations into good Elizabethan English, the narratives of three of
+the earlier travellers, all of them foreigners, from whom the compiler of
+Mandeville had drawn most freely.  “And because,” he tells us, “these
+north-eastern regions beyond Volga, by reason of the huge deserts, the
+cold climate, and the barbarous incivilitie of the people there
+inhabiting, were never yet thoroughly travelled by any of our Nation, nor
+sufficiently known unto us; I have here annexed unto the said
+Englishman’s {ix} traveils the rare and memorable journals of two friers
+who were some of the first Christians that travailed farthest that way,
+and brought home most particular intelligence of all things which they
+had seen.”  These two friars were John de Plano Carpini, sent on an
+embassy to the great Chan by Pope Innocent IV. in 1246, and William de
+Rubruquis, who travelled in the interests of Louis IX. of France in 1253.
+In the same way in his Second Part, Hakluyt adds ‘The Voyage of Frier
+Beatus Odoricus to Asia Minor, Armenia, Chaldaea, Persia, India, China,
+and other remote parts,’ Odoric being a Franciscan of Pordenone in North
+Italy, who dictated an account of his travels in 1330.  Anyone who
+compares these three narratives (more particularly Odoric’s) with
+Mandeville’s Travels will see how the compiler used his materials, and
+they have also very considerable interest of their own.
+
+As this volume of the Library of English Classics has brought with it an
+unusual editorial responsibility, I may be permitted an editor’s
+privilege in making two acknowledgments.  The first, to my friend Mr. G.
+F. Warner, my readers must share with me, for without the help of his
+splendid edition of the ‘Egerton’ version and the French text, the
+popular ‘Mandeville’ could not have been attempted.  My second
+acknowledgment is of a more personal nature.  Roxburghe Club books are
+never easy to obtain, and the few copies of the Mandeville allowed to be
+sold were priced at £20 each.  In noticing Mr. Warner’s edition in the
+‘Academy’ (from a borrowed copy), I remarked rather ruefully that the
+gratitude which students of moderate means could feel towards the Club
+for printing so valuable a work was somewhat tempered by this little
+matter of the price.  I was then helping Mr. Charles Elton with the
+catalogue of his library, and on reading my review, he wrote me a pretty
+letter to say that by the rules of the Club he was the possessor of a
+second copy, and that he thought I was the best person to give it to.
+Students who have to think a good many times before they spend £20 on a
+book do not often receive such a present from wealthy book-lovers; and at
+the risk of obtruding more of my own concerns than my rough-and-ready
+editing entitles me to do, I cannot send out this ‘Mandeville,’ within a
+few weeks of Mr. Elton’s too early death, without telling this little
+story of his kindness.
+
+                                                            A. W. POLLARD.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+THE TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE:
+CHAP.                                                             PAGE
+             THE PROLOGUE,                                           1
+         I.  To teach you the Way out of England to                  6
+             Constantinople,
+        II.  Of the Cross and the Crown of our Lord Jesu             8
+             Christ,
+       III.  Of the City of Constantinople, and of the              11
+             Faith of the Greeks,
+        IV.  Of the Way from Constantinople to Jerusalem.           16
+             Of Saint John the Evangelist.  And of the
+             Ypocras Daughter, transformed from a Woman to
+             a Dragon,
+         V.  [Of diversities in Cyprus; of the Road from            19
+             Cyprus to Jerusalem, and of the Marvel of a
+             Fosse full of Sand],
+        VI.  Of many Names of Sultans, and of the Tower of          23
+             Babylon,
+       VII.  Of the Country of Egypt; of the Bird Phoenix           30
+             of Arabia; of the City of Cairo; of the
+             Cunning to know Balm and to prove it; and of
+             the Garners of Joseph,
+      VIII.  Of the Isle of Sicily; of the way from Babylon         36
+             to the Mount Sinai; of the Church of Saint
+             Katherine and of all the marvels there,
+        IX.  Of the Desert between the Church of Saint              43
+             Catherine and Jerusalem.  Of the Dry Tree; and
+             how Roses came first into the World,
+         X.  Of the Pilgrimages in Jerusalem, and of the            49
+             Holy Places thereabout,
+        XI.  Of the Temple of our Lord.  Of the Cruelty of          54
+             King Herod.  Of the Mount Sion.  Of Probatica
+             Piscina; and of Natatorium Siloe,
+       XII.  Of the Dead Sea; and of the Flome Jordan.  Of          67
+             the Head of Saint John the Baptist; and of the
+             Usages of the Samaritans,
+      XIII.  Of the Province of Galilee, and where                  73
+             Antichrist shall be born.  Of Nazareth.  Of
+             the age of our Lady.  Of the Day of Doom.  And
+             of the customs of Jacobites, Syrians; and of
+             the usages of Georgians,
+       XIV.  Of the City of Damascus.  Of three ways to             81
+             Jerusalem; one, by land and by sea; another,
+             more by land than by sea; and the third way to
+             Jerusalem, all by land,
+        XV.  Of the Customs of Saracens, and of their Law.          88
+             And how the Soldan reasoned me, Author of this
+             Book; and of the beginning of Mohammet,
+       XVI.  Of the lands of Albania and of Libia.  Of the          96
+             wishings for watching of the Sparrow-hawk; and
+             of Noah’s ship,
+      XVII.  Of the Land of Job; and of his age.  Of the           102
+             array of men of Chaldea.  Of the land where
+             women dwell without company of men.  Of the
+             knowledge and virtues of the very diamond,
+     XVIII.  Of the customs of Isles about Ind.  Of the            108
+             difference betwixt Idols and Simulacres.  Of
+             three manner growing of Pepper upon one tree.
+             Of the Well that changeth his odour every hour
+             of the day; and that is marvel,
+       XIX.  Of the Dooms made by St. Thomas’s hand.  Of           115
+             devotion and sacrifice made to Idols there, in
+             the city of Calamye; and of the Procession in
+             going about the city,
+        XX.  Of the evil customs used in the Isle of               119
+             Lamary.  And how the earth and the sea be of
+             round form and shape, by proof of the star
+             that is clept Antarctic, that is fixed in the
+             south,
+       XXI.  Of the Palace of the King of the Isle of Java.        125
+             Of the Trees that bear meal, honey, wine, and
+             venom; and of other marvels and customs used
+             in the Isles marching thereabout,
+      XXII.  How men know by the Idol, if the sick shall           132
+             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,
+     XXIII.  Of the great Chan of Cathay.  Of the royalty          139
+             of his palace, and how he sits at meat; and of
+             the great number of officers that serve him,
+      XXIV.  Wherefore he is clept the great Chan.  Of the         145
+             Style of his Letters: and of the
+             Superscription about his great Seal and his
+             Privy Seal,
+       XXV.  Of the Governance of the great Chan’s Court,          151
+             and when he maketh solemn feasts.  Of his
+             Philosophers.  And of his array, when he
+             rideth by the country,
+      XXVI.  Of the Law and the Customs of the Tartarians          162
+             dwelling in Cathay.  And how that men do when
+             the Emperor shall die, and how he shall be
+             chosen,
+     XXVII.  Of the Realm of Tharse and the Lands and              167
+             Kingdoms towards the Septentrional Parts, in
+             coming down from the Land of Cathay,
+    XXVIII.  Of the Emperor of Persia, and of the Land of          169
+             Darkness; and of other kingdoms that belong to
+             the great Chan of Cathay, and other lands of
+             his, unto the sea of Greece,
+      XXIX.  Of the Countries and Isles that be beyond the         174
+             Land of Cathay; and of the fruits there; and
+             of twenty-two kings enclosed within the
+             mountains,
+       XXX.  Of the Royal Estate of Prester John.  And of a        178
+             rich man that made a marvellous castle and
+             cleped it Paradise; and of his subtlety,
+      XXXI.  Of the Devil’s Head in the Valley Perilous.           185
+             And of the Customs of Folk in diverse Isles
+             that be about in the Lordship of Prester John,
+     XXXII.  Of the goodness of the folk of the Isle of            192
+             Bragman.  Of King Alexander.  And wherefore
+             the Emperor of Ind is clept Prester John,
+    XXXIII.  Of the Hills of Gold that Pismires keep.  And         198
+             of the four Floods that come from Paradise
+             Terrestrial,
+     XXXIV.  Of the Customs of Kings and other that dwell          202
+             in the Isles coasting to Prester John’s Land.
+             And of the Worship that the Son doth to the
+             Father when he is dead,
+
+
+
+THE PROLOGUE
+
+
+FOR as much as the land beyond the sea, that is to say the Holy Land,
+that men call the Land of Promission or of Behest, passing all other
+lands, is the most worthy land, most excellent, and lady and sovereign of
+all other lands, and is blessed and hallowed of the precious body and
+blood of our Lord Jesu Christ; in the which land it liked him to take
+flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, to environ that holy land with his
+blessed feet; and there he would of his blessedness enombre him in the
+said blessed and glorious Virgin Mary, and become man, and work many
+miracles, and preach and teach the faith and the law of Christian men
+unto his children; and there it liked him to suffer many reprovings and
+scorns for us; and he that was king of heaven, of air, of earth, of sea
+and of all things that be contained in them, would all only be clept king
+of that land, when he said, _Rex sum Judeorum_, that is to say, ‘I am
+King of Jews’; and that land he chose before all other lands, as the best
+and most worthy land, and the most virtuous land of all the world: for it
+is the heart and the midst of all the world, witnessing the philosopher,
+that saith thus, _Virtus rerum in medio consistit_, that is to say, ‘The
+virtue of things is in the midst’; and in that land he would lead his
+life, and suffer passion and death of Jews, for us, to buy and to deliver
+us from pains of hell, and from death without end; the which was ordained
+for us, for the sin of our forme-father Adam, and for our own sins also;
+for as for himself, he had no evil deserved: for he thought never evil ne
+did evil: and he that was king of glory and of joy, might best in that
+place suffer death; because he chose in that land rather than in any
+other, there to suffer his passion and his death.  For he that will
+publish anything to make it openly known, he will make it to be cried and
+pronounced in the middle place of a town; so that the thing that is
+proclaimed and pronounced, may evenly stretch to all parts: right so, he
+that was former of all the world, would suffer for us at Jerusalem, that
+is the midst of the world; to that end and intent, that his passion and
+his death, that was published there, might be known evenly to all parts
+of the world.
+
+See now, how dear he bought man, that he made after his own image, and
+how dear he again-bought us, for the great love that he had to us, and we
+never deserved it to him.  For more precious chattel ne greater ransom ne
+might he put for us, than his blessed body, his precious blood, and his
+holy life, that he thralled for us; and all he offered for us that never
+did sin.
+
+Ah dear God!  What love had he to us his subjects, when he that never
+trespassed, would for trespassers suffer death!  Right well ought us for
+to love and worship, to dread and serve such a Lord; and to worship and
+praise such an holy land, that brought forth such fruit, through the
+which every man is saved, but it be his own default.  Well may that land
+be called delectable and a fructuous land, that was be-bled and moisted
+with the precious blood of our Lord Jesu Christ; the which is the same
+land that our Lord behight us in heritage.  And in that land he would
+die, as seised, to leave it to us, his children.
+
+Wherefore every good Christian man, that is of power, and hath whereof,
+should pain him with all his strength for to conquer our right heritage,
+and chase out all the misbelieving men.  For we be clept Christian men,
+after Christ our Father.  And if we be right children of Christ, we ought
+for to challenge the heritage, that our Father left us, and do it out of
+heathen men’s hands.  But now pride, covetise, and envy have so inflamed
+the hearts of lords of the world, that they are more busy for to
+dis-herit their neighbours, more than for to challenge or to conquer
+their right heritage before-said.  And the common people, that would put
+their bodies and their chattels, to conquer our heritage, they may not do
+it without the lords.  For a sembly of people without a chieftain, or a
+chief lord, is as a flock of sheep without a shepherd; the which
+departeth and disperpleth and wit never whither to go.  But would God,
+that the temporal lords and all worldly lords were at good accord, and
+with the common people would take this holy voyage over the sea!  Then I
+trow well, that within a little time, our right heritage before-said
+should be reconciled and put in the hands of the right heirs of Jesu
+Christ.
+
+And, for as much as it is long time passed, that there was no general
+passage ne voyage over the sea; and many men desire for to hear speak of
+the Holy Land, and have thereof great solace and comfort; I, John
+Mandeville, Knight, albeit I be not worthy, that was born in England, in
+the town of St. Albans, and passed the sea in the year of our Lord Jesu
+Christ, 1322, in the day of St. Michael; and hitherto been long time over
+the sea, and have seen and gone through many diverse lands, and many
+provinces and kingdoms and isles and have passed throughout Turkey,
+Armenia the little and the great; through Tartary, Persia, Syria, Arabia,
+Egypt the high and the low; through Lybia, Chaldea, and a great part of
+Ethiopia; through Amazonia, Ind the less and the more, a great part; and
+throughout many other Isles, that be about Ind; where dwell many diverse
+folks, and of diverse manners and laws, and of diverse shapes of men.  Of
+which lands and isles I shall speak more plainly hereafter; and I shall
+devise you of some part of things that there be, when time shall be,
+after it may best come to my mind; and specially for them, that will and
+are in purpose for to visit the Holy City of Jerusalem and the holy
+places that are thereabout.  And I shall tell the way that they shall
+hold thither.  For I have often times passed and ridden that way, with
+good company of many lords.  God be thanked!
+
+And ye shall understand, that I have put this book out of Latin into
+French, and translated it again out of French into English, that every
+man of my nation may understand it.  But lords and knights and other
+noble and worthy men that con Latin but little, and have been beyond the
+sea, know and understand, if I say truth or no, and if I err in devising,
+for forgetting or else, that they may redress it and amend it.  For
+things passed out of long time from a man’s mind or from his sight, turn
+soon into forgetting; because that mind of man ne may not be comprehended
+ne withholden, for the frailty of mankind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+         _To teach you the Way out of England to Constantinople_
+
+IN the name of God, Glorious and Almighty!
+
+He that will pass over the sea and come to land [to go to the city of
+Jerusalem, he may wend many ways, both on sea and land], after the
+country that he cometh from; [for] many of them come to one end.  But
+troweth not that I will tell you all the towns, and cities and castles
+that men shall go by; for then should I make too long a tale; but all
+only some countries and most principal steads that men shall go through
+to go the right way.
+
+First, if a man come from the west side of the world, as England,
+Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Norway, he may, if that he will, go through
+Almayne and through the kingdom of Hungary, that marcheth to the land of
+Polayne, and to the land of Pannonia, and so to Silesia.
+
+And the King of Hungary is a great lord and a mighty, and holdeth great
+lordships and much land in his hand.  For he holdeth the kingdom of
+Hungary, Sclavonia, and of Comania a great part, and of Bulgaria that men
+call the land of Bougiers, and of the realm of Russia a great part,
+whereof he hath made a duchy, that lasteth unto the land of Nyfland, and
+marcheth to Prussia.  And men go through the land of this lord, through a
+city that is clept Cypron, and by the castle of Neasburghe, and by the
+evil town, that sit toward the end of Hungary.  And there pass men the
+river of Danube.  This river of Danube is a full great river, and it
+goeth into Almayne, under the hills of Lombardy, and it receiveth into
+him forty other rivers, and it runneth through Hungary and through Greece
+and through Thrace, and it entereth into the sea, toward the east so
+rudely and so sharply, that the water of the sea is fresh and holdeth his
+sweetness twenty mile within the sea.
+
+And after, go men to Belgrade, and enter into the land of Bougiers; and
+there pass men a bridge of stone that is upon the river of Marrok.  And
+men pass through the land of Pyncemartz and come to Greece to the city of
+Nye, and to the city of Fynepape, and after to the city of Dandrenoble,
+and after to Constantinople, that was wont to be clept Bezanzon.  And
+there dwelleth commonly the Emperor of Greece.  And there is the most
+fair church and the most noble of all the world; and it is of Saint
+Sophie.  And before that church is the image of Justinian the emperor,
+covered with gold, and he sitteth upon an horse y-crowned.  And he was
+wont to hold a round apple of gold in his hand: but it is fallen out
+thereof.  And men say there, that it is a token that the emperor hath
+lost a great part of his lands and of his lordships; for he was wont to
+be Emperor of Roumania and of Greece, of all Asia the less, and of the
+land of Syria, of the land of Judea in the which is Jerusalem, and of the
+land of Egypt, of Persia, and of Arabia.  But he hath lost all but
+Greece; and that land he holds all only.  And men would many times put
+the apple into the image’s hand again, but it will not hold it.  This
+apple betokeneth the lordship that he had over all the world, that is
+round.  And the tother hand he lifteth up against the East, in token to
+menace the misdoers.  This image stands upon a pillar of marble at
+Constantinople.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+           _Of the Cross and the Crown of our Lord Jesu Christ_
+
+AT Constantinople is the cross of our Lord Jesu Christ, and his coat
+without seams, that is clept _Tunica inconsutilis_, and the sponge, and
+the reed, of the which the Jews gave our Lord eysell and gall, in the
+cross.  And there is one of the nails, that Christ was nailed with on the
+cross.
+
+And some men trow that half the cross, that Christ was done on, be in
+Cyprus, in an abbey of monks, that men call the Hill of the Holy Cross;
+but it is not so.  For that cross that is in Cyprus, is the cross, in the
+which Dismas the good thief was hanged on.  But all men know not that;
+and that is evil y-done.  For for profit of the offering, they say that
+it is the cross of our Lord Jesu Christ.
+
+And ye shall understand that the cross of our Lord was made of four
+manner of trees, as it is contained in this verse,—_In cruce fit palma_,
+_cedrus_, _cypressus_, _oliva_.  For that piece that went upright from
+the earth to the head was of cypress; and the piece that went overthwart,
+to the which his hands were nailed, was of palm; and the stock, that
+stood within the earth, in the which was made the mortise, was of cedar;
+and the table above his head, that was a foot and an half long, on the
+which the title was written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, that was of
+olive.
+
+And the Jews made the cross of these four manner of trees; for they
+trowed that our Lord Jesu Christ should have hanged on the cross, as long
+as the cross might last.  And therefore made they the foot of the cross
+of cedar; for cedar may not, in earth nor water, rot, and therefore they
+would that it should have lasted long.  For they trowed that the body of
+Christ should have stunken, they made that piece, that went from the
+earth upwards of cypress, for it is well-smelling, so that the smell of
+his body should not grieve men that went forby.  And the overthwart piece
+was of palm, for in the Old Testament it was ordained, that when one was
+overcome he should be crowned with palm; and for they trowed that they
+had the victory of Christ Jesus, therefore made they the overthwart piece
+of palm.  And the table of the title they made of olive; for olive
+betokeneth peace, as the story of Noe witnesseth; when that the culver
+brought the branch of olive, that betokened peace made between God and
+man.  And so trowed the Jews for to have peace, when Christ was dead; for
+they said that he made discord and strife amongst them.  And ye shall
+understand that our Lord was y-nailed on the cross lying, and therefore
+he suffered the more pain.
+
+And the Christian men, that dwell beyond the sea, in Greece, say that the
+tree of the cross, that we call cypress, was of that tree that Adam ate
+the apple off; and that find they written.  And they say also, that their
+scripture saith, that Adam was sick, and said to his son Seth, that he
+should go to the angel that kept Paradise, that he would send him oil of
+mercy, for to anoint with his members, that he might have health.  And
+Seth went.  But the angel would not let him come in; but said to him,
+that he might not have of the oil of mercy.  But he took him three grains
+of the same tree, that his father ate the apple off; and bade him, as
+soon as his father was dead, that he should put these three grains under
+his tongue, and grave him so: and so he did.  And of these three grains
+sprang a tree, as the angel said that it should, and bare a fruit,
+through the which fruit Adam should be saved.  And when Seth came again,
+he found his father near dead.  And when he was dead, he did with the
+grains as the angel bade him; of the which sprung three trees, of the
+which the cross was made, that bare good fruit and blessed, our Lord Jesu
+Christ; through whom, Adam and all that come of him, should be saved and
+delivered from dread of death without end, but it be their own default.
+
+This holy cross had the Jews hid in the earth, under a rock of the mount
+of Calvary; and it lay there two hundred year and more, into the time
+that St. Helen, that was mother to Constantine the Emperor of Rome.  And
+she was daughter of King Coel, born in Colchester, that was King of
+England, that was clept then Britain the more; the which the Emperor
+Constance wedded to his wife, for her beauty, and gat upon her
+Constantine, that was after Emperor of Rome, and King of England.
+
+And ye shall understand, that the cross of our Lord was eight cubits
+long, and the overthwart piece was of length three cubits and a half.
+And one part of the crown of our Lord, wherewith he was crowned, and one
+of the nails, and the spear head, and many other relics be in France, in
+the king’s chapel.  And the crown lieth in a vessel of crystal richly
+dight.  For a king of France bought these relics some time of the Jews,
+to whom the emperor had laid them in wed for a great sum of silver.
+
+And if all it be so, that men say, that this crown is of thorns, ye shall
+understand, that it was of jonkes of the sea, that is to say, rushes of
+the sea, that prick as sharply as thorns.  For I have seen and beholden
+many times that of Paris and that of Constantinople; for they were both
+one, made of rushes of the sea.  But men have departed them in two parts:
+of the which, one part is at Paris, and the other part is at
+Constantinople.  And I have one of those precious thorns, that seemeth
+like a white thorn; and that was given to me for great specially.  For
+there are many of them broken and fallen into the vessel that the crown
+lieth in; for they break for dryness when men move them to show them to
+great lords that come thither.
+
+And ye shall understand, that our Lord Jesu, in that night that he was
+taken, he was led into a garden; and there he was first examined right
+sharply; and there the Jews scorned him, and made him a crown of the
+branches of albespine, that is white thorn, that grew in that same
+garden, and set it on his head, so fast and so sore, that the blood ran
+down by many places of his visage, and of his neck, and of his shoulders.
+And therefore hath the white thorn many virtues, for he that beareth a
+branch on him thereof, no thunder ne no manner of tempest may dere him;
+nor in the house, that it is in, may no evil ghost enter nor come unto
+the place that it is in.  And in that same garden, Saint Peter denied our
+Lord thrice.
+
+Afterward was our Lord led forth before the bishops and the masters of
+the law, into another garden of Annas; and there also he was examined,
+reproved, and scorned, and crowned eft with a sweet thorn, that men
+clepeth barbarines, that grew in that garden, and that hath also many
+virtues.
+
+And afterward he was led into a garden of Caiphas, and there he was
+crowned with eglantine.
+
+And after he was led into the chamber of Pilate, and there he was
+examined and crowned.  And the Jews set him in a chair, and clad him in a
+mantle; and there made they the crown of jonkes of the sea; and there
+they kneeled to him, and scorned him, saying, _Ave_, _Rex Judeorum_! that
+is to say, ‘Hail, King of Jews!’  And of this crown, half is at Paris,
+and the other half at Constantinople.  And this crown had Christ on his
+head, when he was done upon the cross; and therefore ought men to worship
+it and hold it more worthy than any of the others.
+
+And the spear shaft hath the Emperor of Almayne; but the head is at
+Paris.  And natheles the Emperor of Constantinople saith that he hath the
+spear head; and I have often time seen it, but it is greater than that at
+Paris.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+      _Of the City of Constantinople_, _and of the Faith of Greeks_
+
+AT Constantinople lieth Saint Anne, our Lady’s mother, whom Saint Helen
+let bring from Jerusalem.  And there lieth also the body of John
+Chrisostome, that was Archbishop of Constantinople.  And there lieth also
+Saint Luke the Evangelist: for his bones were brought from Bethany, where
+he was buried.  And many other relics be there.  And there is the vessel
+of stone, as it were of marble, that men clepe enydros, that evermore
+droppeth water, and filleth himself every year, till that it go over
+above, without that that men take from within.
+
+Constantinople is a full fair city, and a good, and well walled; and it
+is three-cornered.  And there is an arm of the sea Hellespont: and some
+men call it the Mouth of Constantinople; and some men call it the Brace
+of Saint George: and that arm closeth the two parts of the city.  And
+upward to the sea, upon the water, was wont to be the great city of Troy,
+in a full fair plain: but that city was destroyed by them of Greece, and
+little appeareth thereof, because it is so long sith it was destroyed.
+
+About Greece there be many isles, as Calliste, Calcas, Oertige, Tesbria,
+Mynia, Flaxon, Melo, Carpate, and Lemnos.  And in this isle is the mount
+Athos, that passeth the clouds.  And there be many diverse languages and
+many countries, that be obedient to the emperor; that is to say,
+Turcople, Pyncynard, Comange, and many other, as Thrace and Macedonia, of
+the which Alexander was king.  In this country was Aristotle born, in a
+city that men clepe Stagyra, a little from the city of Thrace.  And at
+Stagyra lieth Aristotle; and there is an altar upon his tomb.  And there
+make men great feasts for him every year, as though he were a saint.  And
+at his altar they holden their great councils and their assemblies, and
+they hope, that through inspiration of God and of him, they shall have
+the better council.
+
+In this country be right high hills, toward the end of Macedonia.  And
+there is a great hill, that men clepe Olympus, that departeth Macedonia
+and Thrace.  And it is so high, that it passeth the clouds.  And there is
+another hill, that is clept Athos, that is so high, that the shadow of
+him reacheth to Lemne, that is an isle; and it is seventy-six mile
+between.  And above at the cop of the hill is the air so clear, that men
+may find no wind there, and therefore may no beast live there, so is the
+air dry.
+
+And men say in these countries, that philosophers some time went upon
+these hills, and held to their nose a sponge moisted with water, for to
+have air; for the air above was so dry.  And above, in the dust and in
+the powder of those hills, they wrote letters and figures with their
+fingers.  And at the year’s end they came again, and found the same
+letters and figures, the which they had written the year before, without
+any default.  And therefore it seemeth well, that these hills pass the
+clouds and join to the pure air.
+
+At Constantinople is the palace of the emperor, right fair and
+well-dight: and therein is a fair place for joustings, or for other plays
+and desports.  And it is made with stages, and hath degrees about, that
+every man may well see, and none grieve other.  And under these stages be
+stables well vaulted for the emperor’s horses; and all the pillars be of
+marble.
+
+And within the Church of Saint Sophia, an emperor sometime would have
+buried the body of his father, when he was dead.  And, as they made the
+grave, they found a body in the earth, and upon the body lay a fine plate
+of gold; and thereon was written, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, letters
+that said thus; _Jesu Christus nascetur de Virgine Maria_, _et ego credo
+in eum_; that is to say, ‘Jesu Christ shall be born of the Virgin Mary,
+and I trow in him.’  And the date when it was laid in the earth, was two
+thousand year before our Lord was born.  And yet is the plate of gold in
+the treasury of the church.  And men say, that it was Hermogenes the wise
+man.
+
+And if all it so be, that men of Greece be Christian yet they vary from
+our faith.  For they say, that the Holy Ghost may not come of the Son;
+but all only of the Father.  And they are not obedient to the Church of
+Rome, ne to the Pope.  And they say that their Patriarch hath as much
+power over the sea, as the Pope hath on this side the sea.  And therefore
+Pope John xxii. sent letters to them, how Christian faith should be all
+one; and that they should be obedient to the Pope, that is God’s Vicar on
+earth, to whom God gave his plein power for to bind and to assoil, and
+therefore they should be obedient to him.
+
+And they sent again diverse answers; and among others they said thus:
+_Potentiam tuam summam circa tuos subjectos_, _firmiter credimus_.
+_Superbiam tuam summam tolerare non possumus_.  _Avaritiam tuam summam
+satiare non intendimus_.  _Dominus tecum_; _quia Dominus nobiscum est_.
+That is to say: ‘We trow well, that thy power is great upon thy subjects.
+We may not suffer thine high pride.  We be not in purpose to fulfil thy
+great covetise.  Lord be with thee; for our Lord is with us.  Farewell.’
+And other answer might he not have of them.
+
+And also they make their sacrament of the altar of Therf bread, for our
+Lord made it of such bread, when he made his Maundy.  And on the
+Shere-Thursday make they their Therf bread, in token of the Maundy, and
+dry it at the sun, and keep it all the year, and give it to sick men,
+instead of God’s body.  And they make but one unction, when they christen
+children.  And they anoint not the sick men.  And they say that there is
+no Purgatory, and that souls shall not have neither joy ne pain till the
+day of doom.  And they say that fornication is no sin deadly, but a thing
+that is kindly, and that men and women should not wed but once, and whoso
+weddeth oftener than once, their children be bastards and gotten in sin.
+And their priests also be wedded.
+
+And they say also that usury is no deadly sin.  And they sell benefices
+of Holy Church.  And so do men in other places: God amend it when his
+will is!  And that is great sclaundre, for now is simony king crowned in
+Holy Church: God amend it for his mercy!
+
+And they say, that in Lent, men shall not fast, ne sing Mass, but on the
+Saturday and on the Sunday.  And they fast not on the Saturday, no time
+of the year, but it be Christmas Even or Easter Even.  And they suffer
+not the Latins to sing at their altars; and if they do, by any adventure,
+anon they wash the altar with holy water.  And they say that there should
+be but one Mass said at one altar upon one day.
+
+And they say also that our Lord ne ate never meat; but he made token of
+eating.  And also they say, that we sin deadly in shaving our beards, for
+the beard is token of a man, and gift of our Lord.  And they say that we
+sin deadly in eating of beasts that were forbidden in the Old Testament,
+and of the old Law, as swine, hares and other beasts, that chew not their
+cud.  And they say that we sin, when we eat flesh on the days before Ash
+Wednesday, and of that that we eat flesh the Wednesday, and eggs and
+cheese upon the Fridays.  And they accurse all those that abstain them to
+eat flesh the Saturday.
+
+Also the Emperor of Constantinople maketh the patriarch, the archbishops
+and the bishops; and giveth the dignities and the benefices of churches
+and depriveth them that be unworthy, when he findeth any cause.  And so
+is he lord both temporal and spiritual in his country.
+
+And if ye will wit of their A.B.C. what letters they be, here ye may see
+them, with the names that they clepe them there amongst them: Alpha,
+Betha, Gama, Deltha, εlonge, ε brevis, Epilmon, Thetha, Iota, Kapda,
+Lapda, Mi, Ni, Xi, ο brevis, Pi, Coph, Ro, Summa, Tau, Vi, Fy, Chi, Psi,
+Othomega, Diacosyn.
+
+And all be it that these things touch not to one way, nevertheless they
+touch to that, that I have hight you, to shew you a part of customs and
+manners, and diversities of countries.  And for this is the first country
+that is discordant in faith and in belief, and varieth from our faith, on
+this half the sea, therefore I have set it here, that ye may know the
+diversity that is between our faith and theirs.  For many men have great
+liking, to hear speak of strange things of diverse countries.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+[_Of the Way from Constantinople to Jerusalem_.]  _Of Saint John the
+Evangelist_.  _And of the Ypocras Daughter_, _transformed from a Woman to
+a Dragon_
+
+NOW return I again, for to teach you the way from Constantinople to
+Jerusalem.  He that will through Turkey, he goeth toward the city of
+Nyke, and passeth through the gate of Chienetout, and always men see
+before them the hill of Chienetout, that is right high; and it is a mile
+and an half from Nyke.
+
+And whoso will go by water, by the brace of St. George, and by the sea
+where St. Nicholas lieth, and toward many other places—first men go to an
+isle that is clept Sylo.  In that isle groweth mastick on small trees,
+and out of them cometh gum as it were of plum-trees or of cherry-trees.
+
+And after go men through the isle of Patmos; and there wrote St. John the
+Evangelist the Apocalypse.  And ye shall understand, that St. John was of
+age thirty-two year, when our Lord suffered his passion; and after his
+passion, he lived sixty-seven year, and in the hundredth year of his age
+he died.
+
+From Patmos men go unto Ephesus, a fair city and nigh to the sea.  And
+there died St. John, and was buried behind the high altar in a tomb.  And
+there is a fair church; for Christian men were wont to holden that place
+always.  And in the tomb of St. John is nought but manna, that is clept
+angels’ meat; for his body was translated into Paradise.  And Turks hold
+now all that place, and the city and the church; and all Asia the less is
+y-clept Turkey.  And ye shall understand, that St. John let make his
+grave there in his life, and laid himself therein all quick; and
+therefore some men say, that he died not, but that he resteth there till
+the day of doom.  And, forsooth, there is a great marvel; for men may see
+there the earth of the tomb apertly many times stir and move, as there
+were quick things under.
+
+And from Ephesus men go through many isles in the sea, unto the city of
+Patera, where St. Nicholas was born, and so to Martha, where he was
+chosen to be bishop; and there groweth right good wine and strong, and
+that men call wine of Martha.  And from thence go men to the isle of
+Crete, that the emperor gave sometime to [the] Genoese.
+
+And then pass men through the isles of Colcos and of Lango, of the which
+isles Ypocras was lord of.  And some men say, that in the isle of Lango
+is yet the daughter of Ypocras, in form and likeness of a great dragon,
+that is a hundred fathom of length, as men say, for I have not seen her.
+And they of the isles call her Lady of the Land.  And she lieth in an old
+castle, in a cave, and sheweth twice or thrice in the year, and she doth
+no harm to no man, but if men do her harm.  And she was thus changed and
+transformed, from a fair damosel, into likeness of a dragon, by a goddess
+that was clept Diana.  And men say, that she shall so endure in that form
+of a dragon, unto [the] time that a knight come, that is so hardy, that
+dare come to her and kiss her on the mouth; and then shall she turn again
+to her own kind, and be a woman again, but after that she shall not live
+long.
+
+And it is not long sithen, that a knight of Rhodes, that was hardy and
+doughty in arms, said that he would kiss her.  And when he was upon his
+courser, and went to the castle, and entered into the cave, the dragon
+lift up her head against him.  And when the knight saw her in that form
+so hideous and so horrible he fled away.  And the dragon bare the knight
+upon a rock, maugre his head; and from that rock, she cast him into the
+sea.  And so was lost both horse and man.
+
+And also a young man, that wist not of the dragon, went out of a ship,
+and went through the isle till that he came to the castle, and came into
+the cave, and went so long, till that he found a chamber; and there he
+saw a damosel that combed her head and looked in a mirror; and she had
+much treasure about her.  And he trowed that she had been a common woman,
+that dwelled there to receive men to folly.  And he abode, till the
+damosel saw the shadow of him in the mirror.  And she turned her toward
+him, and asked him what he would?  And he said, he would be her leman or
+paramour.  And she asked him, if that he were a knight?  And he said,
+nay.  And then she said, that he might not be her leman; but she bade him
+go again unto his fellows, and make him knight, and come again upon the
+morrow, and she should come out of the cave before him, and then come and
+kiss her on the mouth and have no dread,—for I shall do thee no manner of
+harm, albeit that thou see me in likeness of a dragon; for though thou
+see me hideous and horrible to look on, I do thee to wit that it is made
+by enchantment; for without doubt, I am none other than thou seest now, a
+woman, and therefore dread thee nought.  And if thou kiss me, thou shalt
+have all this treasure, and be my lord, and lord also of all the isle.
+
+And he departed from her and went to his fellows to ship, and let make
+him knight and came again upon the morrow for to kiss this damosel.  And
+when he saw her come out of the cave in form of a dragon, so hideous and
+so horrible, he had so great dread, that he fled again to the ship, and
+she followed him.  And when she saw that he turned not again, she began
+to cry, as a thing that had much sorrow; and then she turned again into
+her cave.  And anon the knight died.  And sithen hitherward might no
+knight see her, but that he died anon.  But when a knight cometh, that is
+so hardy to kiss her, he shall not die; but he shall turn the damosel
+into her right form and kindly shape, and he shall be lord of all the
+countries and isles abovesaid.
+
+And from thence men come to the isle of Rhodes, the which isle
+Hospitallers holden and govern; and that took they some-time from the
+emperor.  And it was wont to be clept Collos; and so call it the Turks
+yet.  And Saint Paul in his epistle writeth to them of that isle _ad
+Colossenses_.  This isle is nigh eight hundred mile long from
+Constantinople.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+[_Of diversities in Cyprus_; _of the Road from Cyprus to Jerusalem_, _and
+of the Marvel of a Fosse full of Sand_]
+
+AND from this isle of Rhodes men go to Cyprus, where be many vines, that
+first be red and after one year they become white; and those wines that
+be most white, be most clear and best of smell.
+
+And men pass by that way, by a place that was wont to be a great city,
+and a great land; and the city was clept Cathailye, the which city and
+land was lost through folly of a young man.  For he had a fair damosel,
+that he loved well to his paramour; and she died suddenly, and was done
+in a tomb of marble.  And for the great lust that he had to her, he went
+in the night unto her tomb and opened it, and went in and lay by her, and
+went his way.  And when it came to the end of nine months, there came a
+voice to him and said, Go to the tomb of that woman, and open it and
+behold what thou hast begotten on her; and if thou let to go, thou shalt
+have a great harm.  And he yede and opened the tomb, and there flew out
+an adder right hideous to see; the which as swithe flew about the city
+and the country, and soon after the city sank down.  And there be many
+perilous passages without fail.
+
+From Rhodes to Cyprus be five hundred mile and more.  But men may go to
+Cyprus, and come not at Rhodes.  Cyprus is right a good isle, and a fair
+and a great, and it hath four principal cities within him.  And there is
+an Archbishop at Nicosea, and four other bishops in that land.  And at
+Famagost is one of the principal havens of the sea that is in the world;
+and there arrive Christian men and Saracens and men of all nations.  In
+Cyprus is the Hill of the Holy Cross; and there is an abbey of monks
+black and there is the cross of Dismas the good thief, as I have said
+before.  And some men trow, that there is half the cross of our Lord; but
+it is not so, and they do evil that make men to believe so.
+
+In Cyprus lieth Saint Zenonimus, of whom men of that country make great
+solemnity.  And in the castle of Amours lieth the body of Saint-Hilarion,
+and men keep it right worshipfully.  And beside Famagost was Saint
+Barnabas the apostle born.
+
+In Cyprus men hunt with papyonns, that be like leopards, and they take
+wild beasts right well, and they be somewhat more than lions; and they
+take more sharply the beasts, and more deliver than do hounds.
+
+In Cyprus is the manner of lords and all other men all to eat on the
+earth.  For they make ditches in the earth all about in the hall, deep to
+the knee, and they do pave them; and when they will eat, they go therein
+and sit there.  And the skill is for they may be the more fresh; for that
+land is much more hotter than it is here.  And at great feasts, and for
+strangers, they set forms and tables, as men do in this country, but they
+had lever sit in the earth.
+
+From Cyprus, men go to the land of Jerusalem by the sea: and in a day and
+in a night, he that hath good wind may come to the haven of Tyre, that is
+now clept Surrye.  There was some-time a great city and a good of
+Christian men, but Saracens have destroyed it a great part; and they keep
+that haven right well, for dread of Christian men.  Men might go more
+right to that haven, and come not in Cyprus, but they go gladly to Cyprus
+to rest them on the land, or else to buy things, that they have need to
+their living.  On the sea-side men may find many rubies.  And there is
+the well of the which holy writ speaketh of, and saith, _Fons ortorum_,
+_et puteus aquarum viventium_: that is to say, ‘the well of gardens, and
+the ditch of living waters.’
+
+In this city of Tyre, said the woman to our Lord, _Beatus venter qui te
+portavit_, _et ubera que succisti_: that is to say, ‘Blessed be the body
+that thee bare, and the paps that thou suckedst.’  And there our Lord
+forgave the woman of Canaan her sins.  And before Tyre was wont to be the
+stone, on the which our Lord sat and preached, and on that stone was
+founded the Church of Saint Saviour.
+
+And eight mile from Tyre, toward the east, upon the sea, is the city of
+Sarphen, in Sarepta of Sidonians.  And there was wont for to dwell Elijah
+the prophet; and there raised he Jonas, the widow’s son, from death to
+life.  And five mile from Sarphen is the city of Sidon; of the which
+city, Dido was lady, that was Aeneas’ wife, after the destruction of
+Troy, and that founded the city of Carthage in Africa, and now is clept
+Sidonsayete.  And in the city of Tyre, reigned Agenor, the father of
+Dido.  And sixteen mile from Sidon is Beirout.  And from Beirout to
+Sardenare is three journeys and from Sardenare is five mile to Damascus.
+
+And whoso will go long time on the sea, and come nearer to Jerusalem, he
+shall go from Cyprus by sea to Port Jaffa.  For that is the next haven to
+Jerusalem; for from that haven is not but one day journey and a half to
+Jerusalem.  And the town is called Jaffa; for one of the sons of Noah
+that hight Japhet founded it, and now it is clept Joppa.  And ye shall
+understand, that it is one of the oldest towns of the world, for it was
+founded before Noah’s flood.  And yet there sheweth in the rock, there as
+the iron chains were fastened, that Andromeda, a great giant, was bounden
+with, and put in prison before Noah’s flood, of the which giant, is a rib
+of his side that is forty foot long.
+
+And whoso will arrive at the port of Tyre or of Surrye, that I have
+spoken of before, may go by land, if he will, to Jerusalem.  And men go
+from Surrye unto the city of Akon in a day.  And it was clept some-time
+Ptolemaïs.  And it was some-time a city of Christian men, full fair, but
+it is now destroyed; and it stands upon the sea.  And from Venice to
+Akon, by sea, is two thousand and four score miles of Lombardy; and from
+Calabria, or from Sicily to Akon, by sea, is a 1300 miles of Lombardy;
+and the isle of Crete is right in the midway.
+
+And beside the city of Akon, toward the sea, six score furlongs on the
+right side, toward the south, is the Hill of Carmel, where Elijah the
+prophet dwelled, and there was first the Order of Friars Carmelites
+founded.  This hill is not right great, nor full high.  And at the foot
+of this hill was some-time a good city of Christian men, that men clept
+Caiffa, for Caiaphas first founded it; but it is now all wasted.  And on
+the left side of the Hill of Carmel is a town, that men clepe Saffre, and
+that is set on another hill.  There Saint James and Saint John were born;
+and, in worship of them there is a fair church.  And from Ptolemaïs, that
+men clepe now Akon, unto a great hill, that is clept Scale of Tyre, is
+one hundred furlongs.  And beside the city of Akon runneth a little
+river, that is clept Belon.
+
+And there nigh is the Foss of Mennon that is all round; and it is one
+hundred cubits of largeness, and it is all full of gravel, shining
+bright, of the which men make fair verres and clear.  And men come from
+far, by water in ships, and by land with carts, for to fetch of that
+gravel.  And though there be never so much taken away thereof in the day,
+at morrow it is as full again as ever it was; and that is a great marvel.
+And there is evermore great wind in that foss, that stirreth evermore the
+gravel, and maketh it trouble.  And if any man do therein any manner
+metal, it turneth anon to glass.  And the glass, that is made of that
+gravel, if it be done again into the gravel, it turneth anon into gravel
+as it was first.  And therefore some men say, that it is a swallow of the
+gravelly sea.
+
+Also from Akon, above-said, go men forth four journeys to the city of
+Palestine, that was of the Philistines, that now is clept Gaza, that is a
+gay city and a rich; and it is right fair and full of folk, and it is a
+little from the sea.  And from this city brought Samson the strong the
+gates upon an high land, when he was taken in that city, and there he
+slew in a palace the king and himself, and great number of the best of
+the Philistines, the which had put out his eyen and shaved his head, and
+imprisoned him by treason of Dalida his paramour.  And therefore he made
+fall upon them a great hall, when they were at meat.
+
+And from thence go men to the city of Cesarea, and so to the Castle of
+Pilgrims, and so to Ascalon; and then to Jaffa, and so to Jerusalem.
+
+And whoso will go by land through the land of Babylon, where the soldan
+dwelleth commonly, he must get grace of him and leave to go more siker
+through those lands and countries.
+
+And for to go to the Mount of Sinai, before that men go to Jerusalem,
+they shall go from Gaza to the Castle of Daire.  And after that, men come
+out of Syria, and enter into wilderness, and there the way is full sandy;
+and that wilderness and desert lasteth eight journeys, but always men
+find good inns, and all that they need of victuals.  And men clepe that
+wilderness Achelleke.  And when a man cometh out of that desert, he
+entereth into Egypt, that men clepe Egypt-Canopac, and after other
+language, men clepe it Morsyn.  And there first men find a good town,
+that is clept Belethe; and it is at the end of the kingdom of Aleppo.
+And from thence men go to Babylon and to Cairo.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+        _Of many Names of Soldans_, _and of the Tower of Babylon_
+
+AT Babylon there is a fair church of our Lady, where she dwelled seven
+year, when she fled out of the land of Judea for dread of King Herod.
+And there lieth the body of Saint Barbara the virgin and martyr.  And
+there dwelled Joseph, when he was sold of his brethren.  And there made
+Nebuchadnezzar the king put three children into the furnace of fire, for
+they were in the right truth of belief, the which children men clept
+Anania, Azariah, Mishael, as the Psalm of _Benedicite_ saith: but
+Nebuchadnezzar clept them otherwise, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
+that is to say, God glorious, God victorious, and God over all things and
+realms: and that was for the miracle, that he saw God’s Son go with the
+children through the fire, as he said.
+
+There dwelleth the soldan in his Calahelyke (for there is commonly his
+seat) in a fair castle, strong and great, and well set upon a rock.  In
+that castle dwell alway, to keep it and to serve the soldan, more then
+6000 persons, that take all their necessaries off the soldan’s court.  I
+ought right well to know it; for I dwelled with him as soldier in his
+wars a great while against the Bedouins.  And he would have married me
+full highly to a great prince’s daughter, if I would have forsaken my law
+and my belief; but I thank God, I had no will to do it, for nothing that
+he behight me.
+
+And ye shall understand that the soldan is lord of five kingdoms, that he
+hath conquered and appropred to him by strength.  And these be the names:
+the kingdom of Canapac, that is Egypt; and the kingdom of Jerusalem,
+where that David and Solomon were kings; and the kingdom of Syria, of the
+which the city of Damascus was chief; and the kingdom of Aleppo in the
+land of Mathe; and the kingdom Arabia, that was to one of the three
+kings, that made offering to our Lord, when he was born.  And many other
+lands he holdeth in his hand.  And therewithal he holdeth caliphs, that
+is a full great thing in their language, and it is as much to say as
+king.
+
+And there were wont to be five soldans; but now there is no more but he
+of Egypt.  And the first soldan was Zarocon, that was of Media, as was
+father to Saladin that took the Caliph of Egypt and slew him, and was
+made soldan by strength.  After that was Soldan Saladin, in whose time
+the King of England, Richard the First, with many other, kept the
+passage, that Saladin ne might not pass.  After Saladin reigned his son
+Boradin, and after him his nephew.  After that, the Comanians that were
+in servage in Egypt, felt themselves that they were of great power, they
+chose them a soldan amongst them, the which made him to be clept
+Melechsalan.  And in his time entered into the country of the kings of
+France Saint Louis, and fought with him; and [the soldan] took him and
+imprisoned him; and this [soldan] was slain by his own servants.  And
+after, they chose another to be soldan, that they clept Tympieman; and he
+let deliver Saint Louis out of prison for a certain ransom.  And after,
+one of these Comanians reigned, that hight Cachas, and slew Tympieman,
+for to be soldan; and made him be clept Melechmenes.  And after another
+that had to name Bendochdare, that slew Melechmenes, for to be sultan,
+and clept himself Melechdare.  In his time entered the good King Edward
+of England into Syria, and did great harm to the Saracens.  And after,
+was this soldan empoisoned at Damascus, and his son thought to reign
+after him by heritage, and made him to be clept Melechsache; but another
+that had to name Elphy, chased him out of the country and made him
+soldan.  This man took the city of Tripoli and destroyed many of the
+Christian men, the year of grace 1289, and after was he imprisoned of
+another that would be soldan, but he was anon slain.  After that was the
+son of Elphy chosen to be soldan, and clept him Melechasseraff, and he
+took the city of Akon and chased out the Christian men; and this was also
+empoisoned, and then was his brother made soldan, and was clept
+Melechnasser.  And after, one that was clept Guytoga took him and put him
+in prison in the castle of Mountroyal, and made him soldan by strength,
+and clept him Melechadel; and he was of Tartary.  But the Comanians
+chased him out of the country, and did him much sorrow, and made one of
+themself soldan, that had to name Lachin.  And he made him to be clept
+Melechmanser, the which on a day played at the chess, and his sword lay
+beside him; and so befell, that one wrathed him, and with his own proper
+sword he was slain.  And after that, they were at great discord, for to
+make a soldan; and finally they accorded to Melechnasser, that Guytoga
+had put in prison at Mountroyal.  And this reigned long and governed so
+that his eldest son was chosen after him, Melechmader, the which his
+brother let slay privily for to have the lordship, and made him to be
+clept Melechmadabron, and he soldan when I departed from those countries.
+
+And wit ye well that the soldan may lead out of Egypt more than 20,000
+men of arms, and out of Syria, and out of Turkey and out of other
+countries that he holds, he may arrere more than 50,000.  And all those
+be at his wages, and they be always at him, without the folk of his
+country, that is without number.  And every each of them hath by year the
+mountance of six score florins; but it behoveth, that every of them hold
+three horses and a camel.  And by the cities and by towns be admirals,
+that have the governance of the people; one hath to govern four, and
+another hath to govern five, another more, and another well more.  And as
+many taketh the admiral by him alone, as all the other soldiers have
+under him; and therefore, when the soldan will advance any worthy knight,
+he maketh him an admiral.  And when it is any dearth, the knights be
+right poor, and then they sell both their horse and their harness.
+
+And the soldan hath four wives, one Christian and three Saracens, of the
+which one dwelleth at Jerusalem, and another at Damascus, and another at
+Ascalon; and when them list, they remove to other cities, and when the
+soldan will he may go to visit them.  And he hath as many paramours as
+him liketh.  For he maketh to come before him the fairest and the noblest
+of birth, and the gentlest damosels of his country, and he maketh them to
+be kept and served full honourably.  And when he will have one to lie
+with him, he maketh them all to come before him, and he beholdeth in all,
+which of them is most to his pleasure, and to her anon he sendeth or
+casteth a ring from his finger.  And then anon she shall be bathed and
+richly attired, and anointed with delicate things of sweet smell, and
+then led to the soldan’s chamber; and thus he doth as often as him list,
+when he will have any of them.
+
+And before the soldan cometh no stranger, but if he be clothed in cloth
+of gold, or of Tartary or of Camaka, in the Saracens’ guise, and as the
+Saracens use.  And it behoveth, that anon at the first sight that men see
+the soldan, be it in window or in what place else, that men kneel to him
+and kiss the earth, for that is the manner to do reverence to the soldan
+of them that speak with him.  And when that messengers of strange
+countries come before him, the meinie of the soldan, when the strangers
+speak to him, they be about the soldan with swords drawn and gisarmes and
+axes, their arms lifted up in high with those weapons for to smite upon
+them, if they say any word that is displeasance to the soldan.  And also,
+no stranger cometh before him, but that he maketh him some promise and
+grant of that the [stranger] asketh reasonably; by so it be not against
+his law.  And so do other princes beyond, for they say that no man shall
+come before no prince, but that [he be] better, and shall be more gladder
+in departing from his presence than he was at the coming before him.
+
+And understandeth, that that Babylon that I have spoken of, where that
+the sultan dwelleth, is not that great Babylon where the diversity of
+languages was first made for vengeance by the miracle of God, when the
+great Tower of Babel was begun to be made; of the which the walls were
+sixty-four furlongs of height; that is in the great desert of Arabia,
+upon the way as men go toward the kingdom of Chaldea.  But it is full
+long since that any man durst nigh to the tower; for it is all desert and
+full of dragons and great serpents, and full of diverse venomous beasts
+all about.  That tower, with the city, was of twenty-five mile in circuit
+of the walls, as they of the country say, and as men may deem by
+estimation, after that men tell of the country.
+
+And though it be clept the Tower of Babylon, yet nevertheless, there were
+ordained within many mansions and many great dwelling-places, in length
+and breadth.  And that tower contained great country in circuit, for the
+tower alone contained ten mile square.  That tower founded King Nimrod
+that was king of that country; and he was the first king of the world.
+And he let make an image in the likeness of his father, and constrained
+all his subjects for to worship it; and anon began other lords to do the
+same, and so began the idols and the simulacres first.
+
+The town and the city were full well set in a fair country and a plain
+that men clepe the country of Samar, of the which the walls of the city
+were two hundred cubits in height, and fifty cubits of deepness; and the
+river of Euphrates ran throughout the city and about the tower also.  But
+Cyrus the King of Persia took from them the river, and destroyed all the
+city and the tower also; for he departed that river in 360 small rivers,
+because that he had sworn, that he should put the river in such point,
+that a woman might well pass there, without casting off of her clothes,
+forasmuch as he had lost many worthy men that trowed to pass that river
+by swimming.
+
+And from Babylon where the soldan dwelleth, to go right between the
+Orient and the Septentrion toward the great Babylon, is forty journeys to
+pass by desert.  But it is not the great Babylon in the land and in the
+power of the said soldan, but it is in the power and the lordship of
+Persia, but he holdeth it of the great Chan, that is the greatest emperor
+and the most sovereign lord of all the parts beyond, and he is lord of
+the isles of Cathay and of many other isles and of a great part of Ind,
+and his land marcheth unto Prester John’s Land, and he holdeth so much
+land, that he knoweth not the end: and he is more mighty and greater lord
+without comparison than is the soldan: of his royal estate and of his
+might I shall speak more plenerly, when I shall speak of the land and of
+the country of Ind.
+
+Also the city of Mecca where Mohammet lieth is of the great deserts of
+Arabia; and there lieth [the] body of him full honourably in their
+temple, that the Saracens clepen Musketh.  And it is from Babylon the
+less, where the soldan dwelleth, unto Mecca above-said, into a thirty-two
+journeys.
+
+And wit well, that the realm of Arabia is a full great country, but
+therein is over-much desert.  And no man may dwell there in that desert
+for default of water, for that land is all gravelly and full of sand.
+And it is dry and no thing fruitful, because that it hath no moisture;
+and therefore is there so much desert.  And if it had rivers and wells,
+and the land also were as it is in other parts, it should be as full of
+people and as full inhabited with folk as in other places; for there is
+full great multitude of people, whereas the land is inhabited.  Arabia
+dureth from the ends of the realm of Chaldea unto the last end of Africa,
+and marcheth to the land of Idumea toward the end of Botron.  And in
+Chaldea the chief city is Bagdad.  And of Africa the chief city is
+Carthage, that Dido, that was Eneas’s wife, founded; the which Eneas was
+of the city of Troy, and after was King of Italy.
+
+Mesopotamia stretcheth also unto the deserts of Arabia, and it is a great
+country.  In this country is the city of Haran, where Abraham’s father
+dwelled, and from whence Abraham departed by commandment of the angel.
+And of that city was Ephraim, that was a great clerk and a great doctor.
+And Theophilus was of that city also, that our lady saved from our enemy.
+And Mesopotamia dureth from the river of Euphrates, unto the river of
+Tigris, for it is between those two rivers.
+
+And beyond the river of Tigris is Chaldea, that is a full great kingdom.
+In that realm, at Bagdad above-said, was wont to dwell the caliph, that
+was wont to be both as Emperor and Pope of the Arabians, so that he was
+lord spiritual and temporal; and he was successor to Mahommet, and of his
+generation.  That city of Bagdad was wont to be clept Sutis, and
+Nebuchadnezzar founded it; and there dwelled the holy prophet Daniel, and
+there he saw visions of heaven, and there he made the exposition of
+dreams.
+
+And in old time there were wont to be three caliphs, he of Arabia and of
+Chaldea dwelt in the city of Bagdad above-said; and at Cairo beside
+Babylon dwelt the Caliph of Egypt; and at Morocco, upon the West Sea,
+dwelt the Caliph of the people of Barbary and of Africans.  And now is
+there none of the caliphs, nor nought have been since the time of the
+Soldan Saladin; for from that time hither the soldan clepeth himself
+caliph, and so have the caliphs lost their name.
+
+Also witeth well, that Babylon the less, where the soldan dwelleth, and
+at the city of Cairo that is nigh beside it, be great huge cities many
+and fair; and that one sitteth nigh that other.  Babylon sitteth upon the
+river of Gyson, sometimes clept Nile, that cometh out of Paradise
+terrestrial.
+
+That river of Nile, all the year, when the sun entereth into the sign of
+Cancer, it beginneth to wax, and it waxeth always as long as the sun is
+in Cancer and in the sign of the Lion; and it waxeth in such manner, that
+it is sometimes so great, that it is twenty cubits or more of deepness,
+and then it doth great harm to the goods that be upon the land.  For then
+may no man travail to plough the lands for the great moisture, and
+therefore is there dear time in that country.  And also, when it waxeth
+little, it is dear time in that country, for default of moisture.  And
+when the sun is in the sign of Virgo, then beginneth the river for to
+wane and to decrease little and little, so that when the sun is entered
+into the sign of Libra, then they enter between these rivers.  This river
+cometh, running from Paradise terrestrial, between the deserts of Ind,
+and after it smiteth unto land, and runneth long time many great
+countries under earth.  And after it goeth out under an high hill, that
+men clepe Alothe, that is between Ind and Ethiopia the mountance of five
+months’ journeys from the entry of Ethiopia; and after it environeth all
+Ethiopia and Mauritania, and goeth all along from the land of Egypt unto
+the city of Alexandria to the end of Egypt, and there it falleth into the
+sea.  About this river be many birds and fowls, as sikonies, that they
+clepen ibes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+_Of the Country of Egypt_; _of the Bird Phoenix of Arabia_; _of the City
+of Cairo_; _of the Cunning to know Balm and to prove it_; _and of the
+Garners of Joseph_
+
+EGYPT is a long country, but it is straight, that is to say narrow, for
+they may not enlarge it toward the desert for default of water.  And the
+country is set along upon the river of Nile, by as much as that river may
+serve by floods or otherwise, that when it floweth it may spread abroad
+through the country; so is the country large of length.  For there it
+raineth not but little in that country, and for that cause they have no
+water, but if it be of that flood of that river.  And forasmuch as it ne
+raineth not in that country, but the air is alway pure and clear,
+therefore in that country be the good astronomers, for they find there no
+clouds to letten them.  Also the city of Cairo is right great and more
+huge than that of Babylon the less, and it sitteth above toward the
+desert of Syria, a little above the river above-said.
+
+In Egypt there be two parts: the height, that is toward Ethiopia, and the
+lower, that is toward Arabia.  In Egypt is the land of Rameses and the
+land of Goshen.  Egypt is a strong country, for it hath many shrewd
+havens because of the great rocks that be strong and dangerous to pass
+by.  And at Egypt, toward the east, is the Red Sea, that dureth unto the
+city of Coston; and toward the west is the country of Lybia, that is a
+full dry land and little of fruit, for it is overmuch plenty of heat, and
+that land is clept Fusthe.  And toward the part meridional is Ethiopia.
+And toward the north is the desert, that dureth unto Syria, and so is the
+country strong on all sides.  And it is well a fifteen journeys of
+length, and more than two so much of desert, and it is but two journeys
+in largeness.  And between Egypt and Nubia it hath well a twelve journeys
+of desert.  And men of Nubia be Christian, but they be black as the Moors
+for great heat of the sun.
+
+In Egypt there be five provinces: that one is Sahythe; that other
+Demeseer; another Resith, that is an isle in the Nile; another
+Alexandria; and another the land of Damietta.  That city was wont to be
+right strong, but it was twice won of the Christian men, and therefore
+after that the Saracens beat down the walls; and with the walls the tower
+thereof, the Saracens made another city more far from the sea, and clept
+it the new Damietta; so that now no man dwelleth at the rather town of
+Damietta.  At that city of Damietta is one of the havens of Egypt; and at
+Alexandria is that other.  That is a full strong city, but there is no
+water to drink, but if it come by conduit from Nile, that entereth into
+their cisterns; and whoso stopped that water from them, they might not
+endure there.  In Egypt there be but few forcelets or castles, because
+that the country is so strong of himself.
+
+At the deserts of Egypt was a worthy man, that was an holy hermit, and
+there met with him a monster (that is to say, a monster is a thing
+deformed against kind both of man or of beast or of anything else, and
+that is clept a monster).  And this monster, that met with this holy
+hermit, was as it had been a man, that had two horns trenchant on his
+forehead; and he had a body like a man unto the navel, and beneath he had
+the body like a goat.  And the hermit asked him what he was.  And the
+monster answered him, and said he was a deadly creature, such as God had
+formed, and dwelt in those deserts in purchasing his sustenance.  And
+[he] besought the hermit, that he would pray God for him, the which that
+came from heaven for to save all mankind, and was born of a maiden and
+suffered passion and death (as we well know) and by whom we live and be.
+And yet is the head with the two horns of that monster at Alexandria for
+a marvel.
+
+In Egypt is the city of Heliopolis, that is to say, the city of the Sun.
+In that city there is a temple, made round after the shape of the Temple
+of Jerusalem.  The priests of that temple have all their writings, under
+the date of the fowl that is clept phoenix; and there is none but one in
+all the world.  And he cometh to burn himself upon the altar of that
+temple at the end of five hundred year; for so long he liveth.  And at
+the five hundred years’ end, the priests array their altar honestly, and
+put thereupon spices and sulphur vif and other things that will burn
+lightly; and then the bird phoenix cometh and burneth himself to ashes.
+And the first day next after, men find in the ashes a worm; and the
+second day next after, men find a bird quick and perfect; and the third
+day next after, he flieth his way.  And so there is no more birds of that
+kind in all the world, but it alone, and truly that is a great miracle of
+God.  And men may well liken that bird unto God, because that there ne is
+no God but one; and also, that our Lord arose from death to life the
+third day.  This bird men see often-time fly in those countries; and he
+is not mickle more than an eagle.  And he hath a crest of feathers upon
+his head more great than the peacock hath; and is neck his yellow after
+colour of an oriel that is a stone well shining, and his beak is coloured
+blue as ind; and his wings be of purple colour, and his tail is barred
+overthwart with green and yellow and red.  And he is a full fair bird to
+look upon, against the sun, for he shineth full gloriously and nobly.
+
+Also in Egypt be gardens, that have trees and herbs, the which bear
+fruits seven times in the year.  And in that land men find many fair
+emeralds and enough; and therefore they be greater cheap.  Also when it
+raineth once in the summer in the land of Egypt, then is all the country
+full of great mires.  Also at Cairo, that I spake of before, sell men
+commonly both men and women of other laws as we do here beasts in the
+market.  And there is a common house in that city that is all full of
+small furnaces, and thither bring women of the town their eyren of hens,
+of geese, and or ducks for to be put into those furnaces.  And they that
+keep that house cover them with heat of horse dung, without hen, goose or
+duck or any other fowl.  And at the end of three weeks or of a month they
+come again and take their chickens and flourish them and bring them
+forth, so that all the country is full of them.  And so men do there both
+winter and summer.
+
+Also in that country and in others also, men find long apples to sell, in
+their season, and men clepe them apples of Paradise; and they be right
+sweet and of good savour.  And though ye cut them in never so many
+gobbets or parts, overthwart or endlong, evermore ye shall find in the
+midst the figure of the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesu.  But they will rot
+within eight days, and for that cause men may not carry of those apples
+to no far countries; of them men find the mountance of a hundred in a
+basket, and they have great leaves of a foot and a half of length, and
+they be convenably large.  And men find there also the apple tree of
+Adam, that have a bite at one of the sides; and there be also fig trees
+that bear no leaves, but figs upon the small branches; and men clepe them
+figs of Pharaoh.
+
+Also beside Cairo, without that city, is the field where balm groweth;
+and it cometh out on small trees, that be none higher than to a man’s
+breeks’ girdle, and they seem as wood that is of the wild vine.  And in
+that field be seven wells, that our Lord Jesu Christ made with one of his
+feet, when he went to play with other children.  That field is not so
+well closed, but that men may enter at their own list; but in that season
+that the balm is growing, men put thereto good keeping, that no man dare
+be hardy to enter.
+
+This balm groweth in no place, but only there.  And though that men bring
+of the plants, for to plant in other countries, they grow well and fair;
+but they bring forth no fructuous thing, and the leaves of balm fall not.
+And men cut the branches with a sharp flintstone, or with a sharp bone,
+when men will go to cut them; for whoso cut them with iron, it would
+destroy his virtue and his nature.
+
+And the Saracens clepe the wood _Enonch-balse_, and the fruit, the which
+is as cubebs, they clepe _Abebissam_, and the liquor that droppeth from
+the branches they clepe _Guybalse_.  And men make always that balm to be
+tilled of the Christian men, or else it would not fructify; as the
+Saracens say themselves, for it hath been often-time proved.  Men say
+also, that the balm groweth in Ind the more, in that desert where
+Alexander spake to the trees of the sun and of the moon, but I have not
+seen it; for I have not been so far above upward, because that there be
+too many perilous passages.
+
+And wit ye well, that a man ought to take good keep for to buy balm, but
+if he con know it right well, for he may right lightly be deceived.  For
+men sell a gum, that men clepe turpentine, instead of balm, and they put
+thereto a little balm for to give good odour.  And some put wax in oil of
+the wood of the fruit of balm, and say that it is balm.  And some distil
+cloves of gilofre and of spikenard of Spain and of other spices, that be
+well smelling; and the liquor that goeth out thereof they clepe it balm,
+and they think that they have balm, and they have none.  For the Saracens
+counterfeit it by subtlety of craft for to deceive the Christian men, as
+I have seen full many a time; and after them the merchants and the
+apothecaries counterfeit it eft sones, and then it is less worth, and a
+great deal worse.
+
+But if it like you, I shall shew how ye shall know and prove, to the end
+that ye shall not be deceived.  First ye shall well know, that the
+natural balm is full clear, and of citron colour and strongly smelling;
+and if it be thick, or red or black, it is sophisticate, that is to say,
+counterfeited and made like it for deceit.  And understand, that if ye
+will put a little balm in the palm of your hand against the sun, if it be
+fine and good, ye ne shall not suffer your hand against the heat of the
+sun.  Also take a little balm with the point of a knife, and touch it to
+the fire, and if it burn it is a good sign.  After take also a drop of
+balm, and put it into a dish, or in a cup with milk of a goat, and if it
+be natural balm anon it will take and beclippe the milk.  Or put a drop
+of balm in clear water in a cup of silver or in a clear basin, stir it
+well with the clear water; and if the balm be fine and of his own kind,
+the water shall never trouble; and if the balm be sophisticate, that is
+to say counterfeited, the water shall become anon trouble; and also if
+the balm be fine it shall fall to the bottom of the vessel, as though it
+were quicksilver, for the fine balm is more heavy twice than is the balm
+that is sophisticate and counterfeited.  Now I have spoken of balm.
+
+And now also I shall speak of another thing that is beyond Babylon, above
+the flood of the Nile, toward the desert between Africa and Egypt; that
+is to say, of the garners of Joseph, that he let make for to keep the
+grains for the peril of the dear years.  And they be made of stone, full
+well made of masons’ craft; of the which two be marvellously great and
+high, and the tother ne be not so great.  And every garner hath a gate
+for to enter within, a little high from the earth; for the land is wasted
+and fallen since the garners were made.  And within they be all full of
+serpents.  And above the garners without be many scriptures of diverse
+languages.  And some men say, that they be sepultures of great lords,
+that were sometime, but that is not true, for all the common rumour and
+speech is of all the people there, both far and near, that they be the
+garners of Joseph; and so find they in their scriptures, and in their
+chronicles.  On the other part, if they were sepultures, they should not
+be void within, ne they should have no gates for to enter within; for ye
+may well know, that tombs and sepultures be not made of such greatness,
+nor of such highness; wherefore it is not to believe, that they be tombs
+or sepultures.
+
+In Egypt also there be diverse languages and diverse letters, and of
+other manner and condition than there be in other parts.  As I shall
+devise you, such as they be, and the names how they clepe them, to such
+intent, that ye may know the difference of them and of others,—Athoimis,
+Bimchi, Chinok, Duram, Eni, Fin, Gomor, Heket, Janny, Karacta, Luzanin,
+Miche, Naryn, Oldach, Pilon, Qyn, Yron, Sichen, Thola, Urmron, Yph and
+Zarm, Thoit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+_Of the Isle of Sicily_; _of the way from Babylon to the Mount Sinai_;
+_of the Church of Saint Katherine and of all the marvels there_
+
+NOW will I return again, ere I proceed any further, for to declare to you
+the other ways, that draw toward Babylon, where the sultan himself
+dwelleth, that is at the entry of Egypt; for as much as many folk go
+thither first and after that to the Mount Sinai, and after return to
+Jerusalem, as I have said you here before.  For they fulfil first the
+more long pilgrimage, and after return again by the next ways, because
+that the more nigh way is the more worthy, and that is Jerusalem; for no
+other pilgrimage is not like in comparison to it.  But for to fulfil
+their pilgrimages more easily and more sikerly, men go first the longer
+way rather than the nearer way.
+
+But whoso will go to Babylon by another way, more short from the
+countries of the west that I have rehearsed before, or from other
+countries next to them—then men go by France, by Burgundy and by
+Lombardy.  It needeth not to tell you the names of the cities, nor of the
+towns that be in that way, for the way is common, and it is known of many
+nations.  And there be many havens [where] men take the sea.  Some men
+take the sea at Genoa, some at Venice, and pass by the sea Adriatic, that
+is clept the Gulf of Venice, that departeth Italy and Greece on that
+side; and some go to Naples, some to Rome, and from Rome to Brindisi and
+there they take the sea, and in many other places where that havens be.
+And men go by Tuscany, by Campania, by Calabria, by Apulia, and by the
+hills of Italy, by Corsica, by Sardinia, and by Sicily, that is a great
+isle and a good.
+
+In that isle of Sicily there is a manner of a garden, in the which be
+many diverse fruits; and the garden is always green and flourishing, all
+the seasons of the year as well in winter as in summer.  That isle holds
+in compass about 350 French miles.  And between Sicily and Italy there is
+not but a little arm of the sea, that men clepe the Farde of Messina.
+And Sicily is between the sea Adriatic and the sea of Lombardy.  And from
+Sicily into Calabria is but eight miles of Lombardy.
+
+And in Sicily there is a manner of serpent, by the which men assay and
+prove, whether their children be bastards or no, or of lawful marriage:
+for if they be born in right marriage, the serpents go about them, and do
+them no harm, and if they be born in avoutry, the serpents bite them and
+envenom them.  And thus many wedded men prove if the children be their
+own.
+
+Also in that isle is the Mount Etna, that men clepe Mount Gybelle, and
+the volcanoes that be evermore burning.  And there be seven places that
+burn and that cast out diverse flames and diverse colour: and by the
+changing of those flames, men of that country know when it shall be
+dearth or good time, or cold or hot or moist or dry, or in all other
+manners how the time shall be governed.  And from Italy unto the
+volcanoes ne is but twenty-five mile.  And men say, that the volcanoes be
+ways of hell.
+
+And whoso goeth by Pisa, if that men list to go that way, there is an arm
+of the sea, where that men go to other havens in those marches.  And then
+men pass by the isle of Greaf that is at Genoa.  And after arrive men in
+Greece at the haven of the city of Myrok, or at the haven of Valone, or
+at the city of Duras; and there is a Duke at Duras, or at other havens in
+those marches; and so men go to Constantinople.  And after go men by
+water to the isle of Crete and to the isle of Rhodes, and so to Cyprus,
+and so to Athens, and from thence to Constantinople.  To hold the more
+right way by sea, it is well a thousand eight hundred and four score mile
+of Lombardy.  And after from Cyprus men go by sea, and leave Jerusalem
+and all the country on the left hand, unto Egypt, and arrive at the city
+of Damietta, that was wont to be full strong, and it sits at the entry of
+Egypt.  And from Damietta go men to the city of Alexandria, that sits
+also upon the sea.  In that city was Saint Catherine beheaded: and there
+was Saint Mark the evangelist martyred and buried, but the Emperor Leo
+made his bones to be brought to Venice.
+
+And yet there is at Alexandria a fair church, all white without
+paintures; and so be all the other churches that were of the Christian
+men, all white within, for the Paynims and the Saracens made them white
+for to fordo the images of saints that were painted on the walls.  That
+city of Alexandria is well thirty furlongs in length, but it is but ten
+on largeness; and it is a full noble city and a fair.  At that city
+entereth the river of Nile into the sea, as I to you have said before.
+In that river men find many precious stones, and much also of lignum
+aloes; and it is a manner of wood, that cometh out of Paradise
+terrestrial, the which is good for many diverse medicines, and it is
+right dear-worth.  And from Alexandria men go to Babylon, where the
+sultan dwelleth; that sits also upon the river of Nile: and this way is
+the most short, for to go straight unto Babylon.
+
+Now shall I say you also the way, that goeth from Babylon to the Mount of
+Sinai, where Saint Catherine lieth.  He must pass by the deserts of
+Arabia, by the which deserts Moses led the people of Israel.  And then
+pass men by the well that Moses made with his hand in the deserts, when
+the people grucched; for they found nothing to drink.  And then pass men
+by the Well of Marah, of the which the water was first bitter; but the
+children of Israel put therein a tree, and anon the water was sweet and
+good for to drink.  And then go men by desert unto the vale of Elim, in
+the which vale be twelve wells; and there be seventy-two trees of palm,
+that bear the dates the which Moses found with the children of Israel.
+And from that valley is but a good journey to the Mount of Sinai.
+
+And whoso will go by another way from Babylon, then men go by the Red
+Sea, that is an arm of the sea Ocean.  And there passed Moses with the
+children of Israel, over-thwart the sea all dry, when Pharaoh the King of
+Egypt chased them.  And that sea is well a six mile of largeness in
+length; and in that sea was Pharaoh drowned and all his host that he led.
+That sea is not more red than another sea; but in some place thereof is
+the gravel red, and therefore men clepen it the Red Sea.  That sea
+runneth to the ends of Arabia and of Palestine.
+
+That sea lasteth more than a four journeys, and then go men by desert
+unto the Vale of Elim, and from thence to the Mount of Sinai.  And ye may
+well understand, that by this desert no man may go on horseback, because
+that there ne is neither meat for horse ne water to drink; and for that
+cause men pass that desert with camels.  For the camel finds alway meat
+in trees and on bushes, that he feedeth him with: and he may well fast
+from drink two days or three.  And that may no horse do.
+
+And wit well that from Babylon to the Mount Sinai is well a twelve good
+journeys, and some men make them more.  And some men hasten them and pain
+them, and therefore they make them less.  And always men find latiners to
+go with them in the countries, and further beyond, into time that men con
+the language: and it behoveth men to bear victuals with them, that shall
+dure them in those deserts, and other necessaries for to live by.
+
+And the Mount of Sinai is clept the Desert of Sin, that is for to say,
+the bush burning; because there Moses saw our Lord God many times in the
+form of fire burning upon that hill, and also in a bush burning, and
+spake to him.  And that was at the foot of the hill.  There is an abbey
+of monks, well builded and well closed with gates of iron for dread of
+the wild beasts; and the monks be Arabians or men of Greece.  And there
+[is] a great convent, and all they be as hermits, and they drink no wine,
+but if it be on principal feasts; and they be full devout men, and live
+poorly and simply with joutes and with dates, and they do great
+abstinence and penances.
+
+There is the Church of Saint Catherine, in the which be many lamps
+burning; for they have of oil of olives enough, both for to burn in their
+lamps and to eat also.  And that plenty have they by the miracle of God;
+for the ravens and the crows and the choughs and other fowls of the
+country assemble them there every year once, and fly thither as in
+pilgrimage; and everych of them bringeth a branch of the bays or of olive
+in their beaks instead of offering, and leave them there; of the which
+the monks make great plenty of oil.  And this is a great marvel.  And
+sith that fowls that have no kindly wit or reason go thither to seek that
+glorious Virgin, well more ought men then to seek her, and to worship
+her.
+
+Also behind the altar of that church is the place where Moses saw our
+Lord God in a burning bush.  And when the monks enter into that place,
+they do off both hosen and shoon or boots always, because that our Lord
+said to Moses, Do off thy hosen and thy shoon, for the place that thou
+standest on is land holy and blessed.  And the monks clepe that place
+Dozoleel, that is to say, the shadow of God.  And beside the high altar,
+three degrees of height is the fertre of alabaster, where the bones of
+Saint Catherine lie.  And the prelate of the monks sheweth the relics to
+the pilgrims, and with an instrument of silver he froteth the bones; and
+then there goeth out a little oil, as though it were a manner sweating,
+that is neither like to oil ne to balm, but it is full sweet of smell;
+and of that they give a little to the pilgrims, for there goeth out but
+little quantity of the liquor.  And after that they shew the head of
+Saint Catherine, and the cloth that she was wrapped in, that is yet all
+bloody; and in that same cloth so wrapped, the angels bare her body to
+the Mount Sinai, and there they buried her with it.  And then they shew
+the bush, that burned and wasted nought, in the which our Lord spake to
+Moses, and other relics enough.
+
+Also, when the prelate of the abbey is dead, I have understood, by
+information, that his lamp quencheth.  And when they choose another
+prelate, if he be a good man and worthy to be prelate, his lamp shall
+light with the grace of God without touching of any man.  For everych of
+them hath a lamp by himself, and by their lamps they know well when any
+of them shall die.  For when any shall die, the light beginneth to change
+and to wax dim; and if he be chosen to be prelate, and is not worthy, his
+lamp quencheth anon.  And other men have told me, that he that singeth
+the mass for the prelate that is dead—he shall find upon the altar the
+name written of him that shall be prelate chosen.  And so upon a day, I
+asked of the monks, both one and other, how this befell.  But they would
+not tell me nothing, into the time that I said that they should not hide
+the grace that God did them, but that they should publish it to make the
+people have the more devotion, and that they did sin to hide God’s
+miracle, as me seemed.  For the miracles that God hath done and yet doth
+every day, be the witness of his might and of his marvels, as David saith
+in the Psalter: _Mirabilia testimonia tua_, _Domine_, that is to say,
+‘Lord thy marvels be thy witness.’  And then they told me, both one and
+other, how it befell full many a time, but more I might not have of them.
+
+In that abbey ne entereth not no fly, ne toads ne newts, ne such foul
+venomous beasts, ne lice ne fleas, by the miracle of God, and of our
+Lady.  For there were wont to be so many such manner of filths, that the
+monks were in will to leave the place and the abbey, and were from thence
+upon the mountain above to eschew that place; and our Lady came to them
+and bade them turn again, and from thence forwards never entered such
+filth in that place amongst them, ne never shall enter hereafter.  Also,
+before the gate is the well, where Moses smote the stone, of the which
+the water came out plenteously.
+
+From that abbey men go up the mountain of Moses, by many degrees.  And
+there men find first a church of our Lady, where that she met the monks,
+when they fled away for the vermin above-said.  And more high upon that
+mountain is the chapel of Elijah the prophet; and that place they clepe
+Horeb, whereof holy writ speaketh, _Et ambulavit in fortitudine cibi
+illius usque_, _ad montem Oreb_; that is to say, ‘And he went in strength
+of that meat unto the hill of God, Horeb.’  And there nigh is the vine
+that Saint John the Evangelist planted that men clepe raisins of Staphis.
+And a little above is the chapel of Moses, and the rock where Moses fled
+to for dread when he saw our Lord face to face.  And in that rock is
+printed the form of his body, for he smote so strongly and so hard
+himself in that rock, that all his body was dolven within through the
+miracle of God.  And there beside is the place where our Lord took to
+Moses the Ten Commandments of the Law.  And there is the cave under the
+rock where Moses dwelt, when he fasted forty days and forty nights.  But
+he died in the Land of Promission, and no man knoweth where he was
+buried.  And from that mountain men pass a great valley for to go to
+another mountain, where Saint Catherine was buried of the angels of the
+Lord.  And in that valley is a church of forty martyrs, and there sing
+the monks of the abbey, often-time: and that valley is right cold.  And
+after men go up the mountain of Saint Catherine, that is more high than
+the mount of Moses; and there, where Saint Catherine was buried, is
+neither church nor chapel, nor other dwelling place, but there is an heap
+of stones about the place, where body of her, was put of the angels.
+There was wont to be a chapel, but it was cast down, and yet lie the
+stones there.  And albeit that the Collect of Saint Catherine says, that
+it is the place where our Lord betaught the Ten Commandments to Moses,
+and there, where the blessed Virgin Saint Catherine was buried, that is
+to understand in one country, or in one place bearing one name; for both
+that one and that other is clept the mount of Sinai.  But it is a great
+way from that one to that other, and a great deep valley between them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+_Of the Desert between the Church of Saint Catherine and Jerusalem_.  _Of
+the Dry Tree_; _and how Roses came first into the World_
+
+NOW, after that men have visited those holy places, then will they turn
+toward Jerusalem.  And then will they take leave of the monks, and
+recommend themselves to their prayers.  And then they give the pilgrims
+of their victuals for to pass with the deserts toward Syria.  And those
+deserts dure well a thirteen journeys.
+
+In that desert dwell many of Arabians, that men clepe Bedouins and
+Ascopards, and they be folk full of all evil conditions.  And they have
+none houses, but tents, that they make of skins of beasts, as of camels
+and of other beasts that they eat; and there beneath these they couch
+them and dwell in place where they may find water, as on the Red Sea or
+elsewhere: for in that desert is full great default of water, and
+often-time it falleth that where men find water at one time in a place it
+faileth another time; and for that skill they make none habitations
+there.  These folk that I speak of, they till not the land, and they
+labour nought; for they eat no bread, but if it be any that dwell nigh a
+good town, that go thither and eat bread sometime.  And they roast their
+flesh and their fish upon the hot stones against the sun.  And they be
+strong men and well-fighting; and there so is much multitude of that
+folk, that they be without number.  And they ne reck of nothing, ne do
+not but chase after beasts to eat them.  And they reck nothing of their
+life, and therefore they fear not the sultan, ne no other prince; but
+they dare well war with them, if they do anything that is grievance to
+them.  And they have often-times war with the sultan, and, namely, that
+time that I was with him.  And they bear but one shield and one spear,
+without other arms; and they wrap their heads and their necks with a
+great quantity of white linen cloth; and they be right felonous and foul,
+and of cursed kind.
+
+And when men pass this desert, in coming toward Jerusalem, they come to
+Bersabe (Beersheba), that was wont to be a full fair town and a
+delectable of Christian men; and yet there be some of their churches.  In
+that town dwelled Abraham the patriarch, a long time.  That town of
+Bersabe founded Bersabe (Bathsheba), the wife of Sir Uriah the Knight, on
+the which King David gat Solomen the Wise, that was king after David upon
+the twelve kindreds of Jerusalem and reigned forty year.
+
+And from thence go men to the city of Hebron, that is the mountance of
+twelve good mile.  And it was clept sometime the Vale of Mamre, and
+some-time it was clept the Vale of Tears, because that Adam wept there an
+hundred year for the death of Abel his son, that Cain slew.  Hebron was
+wont to be the principal city of the Philistines, and there dwelled some
+time the giants.  And that city was also sacerdotal, that is to say,
+sanctuary of the tribe of Judah; and it was so free, that men received
+there all manner of fugitives of other places for their evil deeds.  In
+Hebron Joshua, Caleb and their company came first to aspy, how they might
+win the land of Behest.  In Hebron reigned first king David seven year
+and a half; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three year and a half.
+
+And in Hebron be all the sepultures of the patriarchs, Adam, Abraham,
+Isaac, and of Jacob; and of their wives, Eve, Sarah and Rebecca, and of
+Leah; the which sepultures the Saracens keep full curiously, and have the
+place in great reverence for the holy fathers, the patriarchs that lie
+there.  And they suffer no Christian man to enter into that place, but if
+it be of special grace of the sultan; for they hold Christian men and
+Jews as dogs, and they say, that they should not enter into so holy
+place.  And men clepe that place, where they lie, Double Spelunk, or
+Double Cave, or Double Ditch, forasmuch as that one lieth above that
+other.  And the Saracens clepe that place in their language, _Karicarba_,
+that is to say, ‘The Place of Patriarchs.’  And the Jews clepe that place
+_Arboth_.  And in that same place was Abraham’s house, and there he sat
+and saw three persons, and worshipped but one; as holy writ saith, _Tres
+vidit et unum adoravit_, that is to say, ‘He saw three and worshipped
+one’: and of those same received Abraham the angels into his house.
+
+And right fast by that place is a cave in the rock, where Adam and Eve
+dwelled when they were put out of Paradise; and there got they their
+children.  And in that same place was Adam formed and made, after that
+some men say: (for men were wont for to clepe that place the field of
+Damascus, because that it was in the lordship of Damascus), and from
+thence was he translated into Paradise of delights, as they say; and
+after that he was driven out of Paradise he was there left.  And the same
+day that he was put in Paradise, the same day he was put out, for anon he
+sinned.  There beginneth the Vale of Hebron, that dureth nigh to
+Jerusalem.  There the angel commanded Adam that he should dwell with his
+wife Eve, of the which he gat Seth; of which tribe, that is to say
+kindred, Jesu Christ was born.
+
+In that valley is a field, where men draw out of the earth a thing that
+men clepe cambile, and they eat it instead of spices, and they bear it to
+sell.  And men may not make the hole or the cave, where it is taken out
+of the earth, so deep or so wide, but that it is, at the year’s end, full
+again up to the sides, through the grace of God.
+
+And two mile from Hebron is the grave of Lot, that was Abraham’s brother.
+
+And a little from Hebron is the mount of Mamre, of the which the valley
+taketh his name.  And there is a tree of oak, that the Saracens clepe
+_Dirpe_, that is of Abraham’s time: the which men clepe the Dry Tree.
+And they say that it hath been there since the beginning of the world,
+and was some-time green and bare leaves, unto the time that our Lord died
+on the cross, and then it dried: and so did all the trees that were then
+in the world.  And some say, by their prophecies, that a lord, a prince
+of the west side of the world, shall win the Land of Promission that is
+the Holy Land with help of Christian men, and he shall do sing a mass
+under that dry tree; and then the tree shall wax green and bear both
+fruit and leaves, and through that miracle many Saracens and Jews shall
+be turned to Christian faith: and, therefore, they do great worship
+thereto, and keep it full busily.  And, albeit so, that it be dry,
+natheles yet he beareth great virtue, for certainly he that hath a little
+thereof upon him, it healeth him of the falling evil, and his horse shall
+not be a-foundered: and many other virtues it hath; wherefore men hold it
+full precious.
+
+From Hebron men go to Bethlehem in half a day, for it is but five mile;
+and it is full fair way, by plains and woods full delectable.  Bethlehem
+is a little city, long and narrow and well walled, and in each side
+enclosed with good ditches: and it was wont to be clept Ephrata, as holy
+writ saith, _Ecce_, _audivimus eum in Ephrata_, that is to say, ‘Lo, we
+heard him in Ephrata.’  And toward the east end of the city is a full
+fair church and a gracious, and it hath many towers, pinacles and
+corners, full strong and curiously made; and within that church be
+forty-four pillars of marble, great and fair.
+
+And between the city and the church is the field _Floridus_, that is to
+say, the ‘field flourished.’  For as much as a fair maiden was blamed
+with wrong, and slandered that she had done fornication; for which cause
+she was demned to death, and to be burnt in that place, to the which she
+was led.  And, as the fire began to burn about her, she made her prayers
+to our Lord, that as wisely as she was not guilty of that sin, that he
+would help her and make it to be known to all men, of his merciful grace.
+And when she had thus said, she entered into the fire, and anon was the
+fire quenched and out; and the brands that were burning became red
+rose-trees, and the brands that were not kindled became white rose-trees,
+full of roses.  And these were the first rose-trees and roses, both white
+and red, that ever any man saw; and thus was this maiden saved by the
+grace of God.  And therefore is that field clept the field of God
+flourished, for it was full of roses.
+
+Also beside the choir of the church, at the right side, as men come
+downward sixteen degrees, is the place where our Lord was born, that is
+full well dight of marble, and full richly painted with gold, silver,
+azure and other colours.  And three paces beside is the crib of the ox
+and the ass.  And beside that is the place where the star fell, that led
+the three kings, Jaspar, Melchior and Balthazar: but men of Greece clepe
+them thus, _Galgalath_, _Malgalath_, and _Seraphie_, and the Jews clepe
+them, in this manner, in Hebrew, _Appelius_, _Amerrius_, and _Damasus_.
+These three kings offered to our Lord, gold, incense and myrrh, and they
+met together through miracle of God; for they met together in a city in
+Ind, that men clepe Cassak, that is a fifty-three journeys from
+Bethlehem; and they were at Bethlehem the thirteenth day; and that was
+the fourth day after that they had seen the star, when they met in that
+city, and thus they were in nine days from that city at Bethlehem, and
+that was great miracle.
+
+Also, under the cloister of the church, by eighteen degrees at the right
+side, is the charnel of the Innocents, where their bones lie.  And before
+the place where our Lord was born is the tomb of Saint Jerome, that was a
+priest and a cardinal, that translated the Bible and the Psalter from
+Hebrew into Latin: and without the minster is the chair that he sat in
+when he translated it.  And fast beside that church, a sixty fathom, is a
+church of Saint Nicholas, where our Lady rested her after she was lighted
+of our Lord; and forasmuch as she had too much milk in her paps, that
+grieved her, she milked them on the red stones of marble, so that the
+traces may yet be seen, in the stones, all white.
+
+And ye shall understand, that all that dwell in Bethlehem be Christian
+men.
+
+And there be fair vines about the city, and great plenty of wine, that
+the Christian men have do let make.  But the Saracens ne till not no
+vines, ne they drink no wine: for their books of their law, that Mahomet
+betoke them, which they clepe their _Al Koran_, and some clepe it
+_Mesaph_, and in another language it is clept _Harme_, and the same book
+forbiddeth them to drink wine.  For in that book, Mahomet cursed all
+those that drink wine and all them that sell it: for some men say, that
+he slew once an hermit in his drunkenness, that he loved full well; and
+therefore he cursed wine and them that drink it.  But his curse be turned
+on to his own head, as holy writ saith, _Et in virticem ipsius iniquitas
+ejus descendet_, that is for to say, ‘His wickedness shall turn and fall
+in his own head.’
+
+And also the Saracens bring forth no pigs, nor they eat no swine’s flesh,
+for they say it is brother to man, and it was forbidden by the old law;
+and they hold him all accursed that eat thereof.  Also in the land of
+Palestine and in the land of Egypt, they eat but little or none of flesh
+of veal or of beef, but if be so old, that he may no more travel for old;
+for it is forbidden, and for because they have but few of them; therefore
+they nourish them for to ere their lands.
+
+In this city of Bethlehem was David the king born; and he had sixty
+wives, and the first wife was called Michal; and also he had three
+hundred lemans.
+
+And from Bethlehem unto Jerusalem is but two mile; and in the way to
+Jerusalem half a mile from Bethlehem is a church, where the angel said to
+the shepherds of the birth of Christ.  And in that way is the tomb of
+Rachel, that was Joseph’s mother, the patriarch; and she died anon after
+that she was delivered of her son Benjamin.  And there she was buried of
+Jacob her husband, and he let set twelve great stones on her, in token
+that she had born twelve children.  In the same way, half mile from
+Jerusalem, appeared the star to the three kings.  In that way also be
+many churches of Christian men, by the which men go towards the city of
+Jerusalem.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+  _Of the Pilgrimages in Jerusalem_, _and of the Holy Places thereabout_
+
+AFTER, for to speak of Jerusalem the holy city: ye shall understand, that
+it stands full fair between hills, and there be no rivers ne wells, but
+water cometh by conduit from Hebron.  And ye shall understand, that
+Jerusalem of old time, unto the time of Melchisadech, was clept Jebus;
+and after it was clept Salem, unto the time of King David, that put these
+two names together, and clept it Jebusalem; and after that, King Solomon
+clept it Jerosolomye; and after that, men clept it Jerusalem, and so it
+is clept yet.
+
+And about Jerusalem is the kingdom of Syria.  And there beside is the
+land of Palestine, and beside it is Ascalon, and beside that is the land
+of Maritaine.  But Jerusalem is in the land of Judea, and it is clept
+Judea, for that Judas Maccabeus was king of that country; and it marcheth
+eastward to the kingdom of Arabia; on the south side to the land of
+Egypt; and on the west side to the Great Sea; on the north side, towards
+the kingdom of Syria and to the sea of Cyprus.  In Jerusalem was wont to
+be a patriarch; and archbishops and bishops about in the country.  About
+Jerusalem be these cities: Hebron, at seven mile; Jericho, at six mile;
+Beersheba, at eight mile; Ascalon, at seventeen mile; Jaffa, at sixteen
+mile; Ramath, at three mile; and Bethlehem, at two mile.  And a two mile
+from Bethlehem, toward the south, is the Church of St. Karitot, that was
+abbot there, for whom they made much dole amongst the monks when he
+should die; and yet they be in mourning in the wise that they made their
+lamentation for him the first time; and it is full great pity to behold.
+
+This country and land of Jerusalem hath been in many divers nations’
+hands, and often, therefore, hath the country suffered much tribulation
+for the sin of the people that dwell there.  For that country hath been
+in the hands of all nations; that is to say, of Jews, of Canaanites,
+Assyrians, Persians, Medes, Macedonians, of Greeks, Romans, of Christian
+men, of Saracens, Barbarians, Turks, Tartars, and of many other divers
+nations; for God will not that it be long in the hands of traitors ne of
+sinners, be they Christian or other.  And now have the heathen men held
+that land in their hands forty year and more; but they shall not hold it
+long, if God will.
+
+And ye shall understand, that when men come to Jerusalem, their first
+pilgrimage is to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where our Lord was
+buried, that is without the city on the north side; but it is now
+enclosed in with the town wall.  And there is a full fair church, all
+round, and open above, and covered with lead; and on the west side is a
+fair tower and an high for bells, strongly made.
+
+And in the midst of the church is a tabernacle, as it were a little
+house, made with a low little door, and that tabernacle is made in manner
+of half a compass, right curiously and richly made of gold and azure and
+other rich colours full nobly made.  And in the right side of that
+tabernacle is the sepulchre of our Lord; and the tabernacle is eight foot
+long, and five foot wide, and eleven foot in height.  And it is not long
+sith the sepulchre was all open, that men might kiss it and touch it; but
+for pilgrims that came thither pained them to break the stone in pieces
+or in powder, therefore the soldan hath do make a wall about the
+sepulchre that no man may touch it: but in the left side of the wall of
+the tabernacle is, well the height of a man, a great stone to the
+quantity of a man’s head, that was of the holy sepulchre; and that stone
+kiss the pilgrims that come thither.  In that tabernacle be no windows,
+but it is all made light with lamps that hang before the sepulchre.  And
+there is a lamp that hangeth before the sepulchre, that burneth light;
+and on the Good Friday it goeth out by himself, [and lighteth again by
+him self] at that hour that our Lord rose from death to life.
+
+Also within the church, at the right side, beside the choir of the
+church, is the mount of Calvary, where our Lord was put on the cross; and
+it is a rock of white colour and a little medled with red.  And the cross
+was set in a mortise in the same rock.  And on that rock dropped the
+wounds of our Lord when he was pined on the cross.  And that is clept
+Golgotha.
+
+And men go up to that Golgotha by degrees; and in the place of that
+mortise was Adam’s head found after Noah’s flood, in token that the sins
+of Adam should be bought in that same place.  And upon that rock made
+Abraham sacrifice to our Lord.  And there is an altar; and before that
+altar lie Godefray de Bouillon and Baldwin, and other Christian kings of
+Jerusalem.
+
+And there, nigh where our Lord was crucified, is this written in Greek:
+
+    † Ο θεὸς Βασιλεῦς ἡμῶν πρὸ αἰώνων εἰργάσατο σωτηρίαν ἐν μέσῳ τῆς γῆς;
+
+that is to say, in Latin,—
+
+    _Deus Rex noster ante secula operatus est salutem_, _in medio
+    terrae_;
+
+that is to say,—
+
+    _This God our King_, _before the worlds_, _hath wrought health in
+    midst of the earth_.
+
+And also on that rock, where the cross was set, is written within the
+rock these words:
+
+    † Ο ἕιδεις, ἐστί Βάσις τῆς πίστεως ὅλης τοῦ κόσμου τούτου;
+
+that is to say, in Latin,—
+
+    _Quod vides_, _est fundamentum totius fidei mundi hujus_;
+
+that is to say,—
+
+    † _That thou seest_, _is the ground of all the faith of this world_.
+
+And ye shall understand, that when our Lord was done upon the cross, he
+was thirty-three year and three months of old.  And the prophecy of David
+saith thus: _Quadraginta annis proximus fui generationi huic_; that is to
+say, ‘Forty year was I neighbour to this kindred.’  And thus should it
+seem that the prophecies were not true.  But they be both true; for in
+old time men made a year of ten months, of the which March was the first
+and December was the last.  But Gaius, that was Emperor of Rome, put
+these two months thereto, January and February, and ordained the year of
+twelve months; that is to say, 365 days, without leap year, after the
+proper course of the sun.  And therefore after counting of ten months of
+the year, he died in the fortieth year, as the prophet said.  And after
+the year of twelve months, he was of age thirty-three year and three
+months.
+
+Also, within the mount of Calvary, on the right side, is an altar, where
+the pillar lieth that our Lord Jesu was bounden to when he was scourged.
+And there beside be four pillars of stone, that always drop water; and
+some men say that they weep for our Lord’s death.  And nigh that altar is
+a place under earth forty-two degrees of deepness, where the holy cross
+was found, by the wit of Saint Helen, under a rock where the Jews had hid
+it.  And that was the very cross assayed; for they found three crosses,
+one of our Lord, and two of the two thieves; and Saint Helen proved them
+by a dead body that arose from death to life, when that it was laid on
+it, that our Lord died on.  And thereby in the wall is the place where
+the four nails of our Lord were hid: for he had two in his hands and two
+in his feet.  And, of one of these, the Emperor of Constantinople made a
+bridle to his horse to bear him in battle; and, through virtue thereof,
+he overcame his enemies, and won all the land of Asia the less, that is
+to say, Turkey, Armenia the less and the more, and from Syria to
+Jerusalem, from Arabia to Persia, from Mesopotamia to the kingdom of
+Aleppo, from Egypt the high and the low and all the other kingdoms unto
+the depth of Ethiopia, and into Ind the less that then was Christian.
+
+And there were in that time many good holy men and holy hermits, of whom
+the book of Father’s lives speaketh, and they be now in Paynims’ and
+Saracens’ hands: but when God Almighty will, right as the lands were lost
+through sin of Christian men, so shall they be won again by Christian men
+through help of God.
+
+And in midst of that church is a compass, in the which Joseph of
+Arimathea laid the body of our Lord when he had taken him down off the
+cross; and there he washed the wounds of our Lord.  And that compass, say
+men, is the midst of the world.
+
+And in the church of the sepulchre, on the north side, is the place where
+our Lord was put in prison (for he was in prison in many places); and
+there is a part of the chain that he was bounden with; and there he
+appeared first to Mary Magdalene when he was risen, and she wend that he
+had been a gardener.
+
+In the church of Saint Sepulchre was wont to be canons of the order of
+Saint Augustine, and had a prior, but the patriarch was their sovereign.
+
+And without the doors of the church, on the right side as men go upward
+eighteen grees, said our Lord to his mother, _Mulier_, _ecce Filius
+tuus_; that is to say, Woman, lo! thy Son!  And after that he said to
+John, his disciple, _Ecce mater tua_; that is to say, Lo! behold thy
+mother!  And these words he said on the cross.  And on these grees went
+our Lord when he bare the cross on his shoulder.  And under these grees
+is a chapel, and in that chapel sing priests, Indians, that is to say,
+priests of Ind, not after our law, but after theirs; and alway they make
+their sacrament of the altar, saying, _Pater Noster_ and other prayers
+therewith; with the which prayers they say the words that the sacrament
+is made of, for they ne know not the additions that many popes have made;
+but they sing with good devotion.  And there near, is the place where
+that our Lord rested him when he was weary for bearing of the cross.
+
+And ye shall understand that before the church of the sepulchre is the
+city more feeble than in any other part, for the great plain that is
+between the church and the city.  And toward the east side, without the
+walls of the city, is the vale of Jehosaphat that toucheth to the walls
+as though it were a large ditch.  And above that vale of Jehosaphat, out
+of the city, is the church of Saint Stephen where he was stoned to death.
+And there beside, is the Golden Gate, that may not be opened, by the
+which gate our Lord entered on Palm-Sunday upon an ass: and the gate
+opened against him when he would go unto the temple; and yet appear the
+steps of the ass’s feet in three places of the degrees that be of full
+hard stone.
+
+And before the church of Saint Sepulchre, toward the south, at 200 paces,
+is the great hospital of Saint John, of which the hospitallers had their
+foundation.  And within the palace of the sick men of that hospital be
+124 pillars of stone.  And in the walls of the house, without the number
+above-said, there be fifty-four pillars that bear up the house.  And from
+that hospital to go toward the east is a full fair church, that is clept
+_Nôtre Dame la Grande_.  And then is there another church right nigh,
+that is clept _Nôtre Dame de Latine_.  And there were Mary Cleophas and
+Mary Magdalene, and tore their hair when our Lord was pained in the
+cross.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+_Of the Temple of our Lord_.  _Of the Cruelty of King Herod_.  _Of the
+Mount Sion_.  _Of Probatica Piscina_; _and of Natatorium Siloe_
+
+AND from the church of the sepulchre, toward the east, at eight score
+paces, is _Templum Domini_.  It is right a fair house, and it is all
+round and high, and covered with lead.  And it is well paved with white
+marble.  But the Saracens will not suffer no Christian man ne Jews to
+come therein, for they say that none so foul sinful men should not come
+in so holy place: but I came in there and in other places there I would,
+for I had letters of the soldan with his great seal, and commonly other
+men have but his signet.  In the which letters he commanded, of his
+special grace, to all his subjects, to let me see all the places, and to
+inform me pleinly all the mysteries of every place, and to conduct me
+from city to city, if it were need, and buxomly to receive me and my
+company, and for to obey to all my requests reasonable if they were not
+greatly against the royal power and dignity of the soldan or of his law.
+And to others, that ask him grace, such as have served him, he ne giveth
+not but his signet, the which they make to be borne before them hanging
+on a spear.  And the folk of the country do great worship and reverence
+to his signet or seal, and kneel thereto as lowly as we do to _Corpus
+Domini_.  And yet men do full greater reverence to his letters; for the
+admiral and all other lords that they be shewed to, before or they
+receive them, they kneel down; and then they take them and put them on
+their heads; and after, they kiss them and then they read them, kneeling
+with great reverence; and then they offer them to do all that the bearer
+asketh.
+
+And in this _Templum Domini_ were some-time canons regulars, and they had
+an abbot to whom they were obedient; and in this temple was Charlemagne
+when that the angel brought him the prepuce of our Lord Jesus Christ of
+his circumcision; and after, King Charles let bring it to Paris into his
+chapel, and after that he let bring it to Peyteres, and after that to
+Chartres.
+
+And ye shall understand, that this is not the temple that Solomon made,
+for that temple dured not but 1102 year.  For Titus, Vespasian’s son,
+Emperor of Rome, had laid siege about Jerusalem for to discomfit the
+Jews; for they put our Lord to death, without leave of the emperor.  And,
+when he had won the city, he burnt the temple and beat it down, and all
+the city, and took the Jews and did them to death—1,100,000; and the
+others he put in prison and sold them to servage,—thirty for one penny;
+for they said they bought Jesu for thirty pennies, and he made of them
+better cheap when he gave thirty for one penny.
+
+And after that time, Julian Apostate, that was emperor, gave leave to the
+Jews to make the temple of Jerusalem, for he hated Christian men.  And
+yet he was christened, but he forsook his law, and became a renegade.
+And when the Jews had made the temple, came an earthquaking, and cast it
+down (as God would) and destroyed all that they had made.
+
+And after that, Adrian, that was Emperor of Rome, and of the lineage of
+Troy, made Jerusalem again and the temple in the same manner as Solomon
+made it.  And he would not suffer no Jews to dwell there, but only
+Christian men.  For although it were so that he was not christened, yet
+he loved Christian men more than any other nation save his own.  This
+emperor let enclose the church of Saint Sepulchre, and walled it within
+the city; that, before, was without the city, long time before.  And he
+would have changed the name of Jerusalem, and have clept it Aelia; but
+that name lasted not long.
+
+Also, ye shall understand, that the Saracens do much reverence to that
+temple, and they say, that that place is right holy.  And when they go in
+they go bare-foot, and kneel many times.  And when my fellows and I saw
+that, when we came in we did off our shoes and came in bare-foot, and
+thought that we should do as much worship and reverence thereto, as any
+of the misbelieving men should, and as great compunction in heart to
+have.
+
+This temple is sixty-four cubits of wideness, and as many in length; and
+of height it is six score cubits.  And it is within, all about, made with
+pillars of marble.  And in the middle place of the temple be many high
+stages, of fourteen degrees of height, made with good pillars all about:
+and this place the Jews call _Sancta Sanctorum_; that is to say, ‘Holy of
+Hallows.’  And, in that place, cometh no man save only their prelate,
+that maketh their sacrifice.  And the folk stand all about, in diverse
+stages, after they be of dignity or of worship, so that they all may see
+the sacrifice.  And in that temple be four entries, and the gates be of
+cypress, well made and curiously dight: and within the east gate our Lord
+said, ‘Here is Jerusalem.’  And in the north side of that temple, within
+the gate, there is a well, but it runneth nought, of the which holy writ
+speaketh of and saith, _Vidi aquam egredientem de templo_; that is to
+say, ‘I saw water come out of the temple.’
+
+And on that other side of the temple there is a rock that men clepe
+Moriach, but after it was clept Bethel, where the ark of God with relics
+of Jews were wont to be put.  That ark or hutch with the relics Titus led
+with him to Rome, when he had discomfited all the Jews.  In that ark were
+the Ten Commandments, and of Aaron’s yard, and Moses’ yard with the which
+he made the Red Sea depart, as it had been a wall, on the right side and
+on the left side, whiles that the people of Israel passed the sea
+dry-foot: and with that yard he smote the rock, and the water came out of
+it: and with that yard he did many wonders.  And therein was a vessel of
+gold full of manna, and clothing and ornaments and the tabernacle of
+Aaron, and a tabernacle square of gold with twelve precious stones, and a
+box of jasper green with four figures and eight names of our Lord, and
+seven candlesticks of gold, and twelve pots of gold, and four censers of
+gold, and an altar of gold, and four lions of gold upon the which they
+bare cherubin of gold twelve spans long, and the circle of swans of
+heaven with a tabernacle of gold and a table of silver, and two trumps of
+silver, and seven barley loaves and all the other relics that were before
+the birth of our Lord Jesu Christ.
+
+And upon that rock was Jacob sleeping when he saw the angels go up and
+down by a ladder, and he said, _Vere locus iste sanctus est_, _et ego
+ignorabam_; that is to say, ‘Forsooth this place is holy, and I wist it
+nought.’  And there an angel held Jacob still, and turned his name, and
+clept him Israel.  And in that same place David saw the angel that smote
+the folk with a sword, and put it up bloody in the sheath.  And in that
+same rock was Saint Simeon when he received our Lord into the temple.
+And in this rock he set him when the Jews would have stoned him; and a
+star came down and gave him light.  And upon that rock preached our Lord
+often-time to the people.  And out that said temple our Lord drove out
+the buyers and the sellers.  And upon that rock our Lord set him when the
+Jews would have stoned him; and the rock clave in two, and in that
+cleaving was our Lord hid, and there came down a star and gave light and
+served him with clarity.  And upon that rock sat our Lady, and learned
+her psalter.  And there our Lord forgave the woman her sins, that was
+found in avowtry.  And there was our Lord circumcised.  And there the
+angels shewed tidings to Zacharias of the birth of Saint Baptist his son.
+And there offered first Melchisadech bread and wine to our Lord, in token
+of the sacrament that was to come.  And there fell David praying to our
+Lord and to the angel that smote the people, that he would have mercy on
+him and on the people: and our Lord heard his prayer, and therefore would
+he make the temple in that place, but our Lord forbade him by an angel;
+for he had done treason when he let slay Uriah the worthy knight, for to
+have Bathsheba his wife.  And therefore, all the purveyance that he had
+ordained to make the temple with he took it Solomon his son, and he made
+it.  And he prayed our Lord, that all those that prayed to him in that
+place with good heart—that he would hear their prayer and grant it them
+if they asked it rightfully: and our Lord granted it him, and therefore
+Solomon clept that temple the Temple of Counsel and of Help of God.
+
+And without the gate of that temple is an altar where Jews were in wont
+to offer doves and turtles.  And between the temple and that altar was
+Zacharias slain.  And upon the pinnacle of that temple was our Lord
+brought for to be tempted of the enemy, the fiend.  And on the height of
+that pinnacle the Jews set Saint James, and cast him down to the earth,
+that first was Bishop of Jerusalem.  And at the entry of that temple,
+toward the west, is the gate that is clept _Porta Speciosa_.  And nigh
+beside that temple, upon the right side, is a church, covered with lead,
+that is clept Solomon’s School.
+
+And from that temple towards the south, right nigh, is the temple of
+Solomon, that is right fair and well polished.  And in that temple dwell
+the Knights of the Temple that were wont to be clept Templars; and that
+was the foundation of their order, so that there dwelled knights and in
+_Templo Domini_ canons regulars.
+
+From that temple toward the east, a six score paces, in the corner of the
+city, is the bath of our Lord; and in that bath was wont to come water
+from Paradise, and yet it droppeth.  And there beside is our Lady’s bed.
+And fast by is the temple of Saint Simeon, and without the cloister of
+the temple, toward the north, is a full fair church of Saint Anne, our
+Lady’s mother; and there was our Lady conceived; and before that church
+is a great tree that began to grow the same night.  And under that
+church, in going down by twenty-two degrees, lieth Joachim, our Lady’s
+father, in a fair tomb of stone; and there beside lay some-time Saint
+Anne, his wife; but Saint Helen let translate her to Constantinople.  And
+in that church is a well, in manner of a cistern, that is clept
+_Probatica Piscina_, that hath five entries.  Into that well angels were
+wont to come from heaven and bathe them within.  And what man, that first
+bathed him after the moving of the water, was made whole of what manner
+of sickness that he had.  And there our Lord healed a man of the palsy
+that lay thirty-eight year, and our Lord said to him, _Tolle grabatum
+tuum et ambula_, that is to say, ‘Take thy bed and go.’  And there beside
+was Pilate’s house.
+
+And fast by is King Herod’s house, that let slay the innocents.  This
+Herod was over-much cursed and cruel.  For first he let slay his wife
+that he loved right well; and for the passing love that he had to her
+when he saw her dead, he fell in a rage and out of his wit a great while;
+and sithen he came again to his wit.  And after he let slay his two sons
+that he had of that wife.  And after that he let slay another of his
+wives, and a son that he had with her.  And after that he let slay his
+own mother; and he would have slain his brother also, but he died
+suddenly.  And after that he did all the harm that he could or might.
+And after he fell into sickness; and when he felt that he should die, he
+sent after his sister and after all the lords of his land; and when they
+were come he let command them to prison.  And then he said to his sister,
+he wist well that men of the country would make no sorrow for his death;
+and therefore he made his sister swear that she should let smite off all
+the heads of the lords when he were dead; and then should all the land
+make sorrow for his death, and else, nought; and thus he made his
+testament.  But his sister fulfilled not his will.  For, as soon as he
+was dead, she delivered all the lords out of prison and let them go, each
+lord to his own, and told them all the purpose of her brother’s
+ordinance.  And so was this cursed king never made sorrow for, as he
+supposed for to have been.  And ye shall understand, that in that time
+there were three Herods, of great name and fame for their cruelty.  This
+Herod, of which I have spoken of was Herod Ascalonite; and he that let
+behead Saint John the Baptist was Herod Antipas; and he that let smite
+off Saint James’s head was Herod Agrippa, and he put Saint Peter in
+prison.
+
+Also, furthermore, in the city is the church of Saint Saviour; and there
+is the left arm of John Chrisostome, and the more part of the head of
+Saint Stephen.  And on that other side in the street, toward the south as
+men go to Mount Sion, is a church of Saint James, where he was beheaded.
+
+And from that church, a six score paces, is the Mount Sion.  And there is
+a fair church of our Lady, where she dwelled; and there she died.  And
+there was wont to be an abbot of canons regulars.  And from thence was
+she borne of the apostles unto the vale of Jehosaphat.  And there is the
+stone that the angel brought to our Lord from the mount of Sinai, and it
+is of that colour that the rock is of Saint Catherine.  And there beside
+is the gate where through our Lady went, when she was with child, when
+she went to Bethlehem.  Also at the entry of the Mount Sion is a chapel.
+And in that chapel is the stone, great and large, with the which the
+sepulchre was covered with, when Joseph of Arimathea had put our Lord
+therein; the which stone the three Marys saw turn upward when they came
+to the sepulchre the day of his resurrection, and there found an angel
+that told them of our Lord’s uprising from death to life.  And there also
+is a stone in the wall, beside the gate, of the pillar that our Lord was
+scourged at.  And there was Annas’s house, that was bishop of the Jews in
+that time.  And there was our Lord examined in the night, and scourged
+and smitten and villainous entreated.  And that same place Saint Peter
+forsook our Lord thrice or the cock crew.  And there is a part of the
+table that he made his supper on, when he made his maundy with his
+disciples, when he gave them his flesh and his blood in form of bread and
+wine.
+
+And under that chapel, thirty-two degrees, is the place where our Lord
+washed his disciples’ feet, and yet is the vessel where the water was.
+And there beside that same vessel was Saint Stephen buried.  And there is
+the altar where our Lady heard the angels sing mass.  And there appeared
+first our Lord to his disciples after his resurrection, the gates
+enclosed, and said to them, _Pax vobis_! that is to say, ‘Peace to you!’
+And on that mount appeared Christ to Saint Thomas the apostle and bade
+him assay his wounds; and then believed he first, and said, _Dominus meus
+et Deus meus_! that is to say ‘My Lord and my God!’  In the same church,
+beside the altar, were all the apostles on Whitsunday, when the Holy
+Ghost descended on them in likeness of fire.  And there made our Lord his
+pasque with his disciples.  And there slept Saint John the evangelist
+upon the breast of our Lord Jesu Christ, and saw sleeping many heavenly
+privities.
+
+Mount Sion is within the city, and it is a little higher than the other
+side of the city; and the city is stronger on that side than on that
+other side.  For at the foot of the Mount Sion is a fair castle and a
+strong that the soldan let make.  In the Mount Sion were buried King
+David and King Solomon, and many other kings, Jews of Jerusalem.  And
+there is the place where the Jews would have cast up the body of our Lady
+when the apostles bare the body to be buried in the vale of Jehosaphat.
+And there is the place where Saint Peter wept full tenderly after that he
+had forsaken our Lord.  And a stone’s cast from that chapel is another
+chapel, where our Lord was judged, for that time was there Caiaphas’s
+house.  From that chapel, to go toward the east, at seven score paces, is
+a deep cave under the rock, that is clept the Galilee of our Lord, where
+Saint Peter hid him when he had forsaken our Lord.  _Item_, between the
+Mount Sion and the Temple of Solomon is the place where our Lord raised
+the maiden in her father’s house.
+
+Under the Mount Sion, toward the vale of Jehosaphat, is a well that is
+clept _Natatorium Siloe_.  And there was our Lord washed after his
+baptism; and there made our Lord the blind man to see.  And there was
+y-buried Isaiah the prophet.  Also, straight from _Natatorium Siloe_, is
+an image, of stone and of old ancient work, that Absalom let make, and
+because thereof men clepe it the hand of Absalom.  And fast by is yet the
+tree of elder that Judas hanged himself upon, for despair that he had,
+when he sold and betrayed our Lord.  And there beside was the synagogue,
+where the bishops of Jews and the Pharisees came together and held their
+council; and there cast Judas the thirty pence before them, and said that
+he had sinned betraying our Lord.  And there nigh was the house of the
+apostles Philip and Jacob Alphei.  And on that other side of Mount Sion,
+toward the south, beyond the vale a stone’s cast, is Aceldama; that is to
+say, the field of blood, that was bought for the thirty pence, that our
+Lord was sold for.  And in that field be many tombs of Christian men, for
+there be many pilgrims graven.  And there be many oratories, chapels and
+hermitages, where hermits were wont to dwell.  And toward the east, an
+hundred paces, is the charnel of the hospital of Saint John, where men
+were wont to put the bones of dead men.
+
+Also from Jerusalem, toward the west, is a fair church, where the tree of
+the cross grew.  And two mile from thence is a fair church, where our
+Lady met with Elizabeth, when they were both with child; and Saint John
+stirred in his mother’s womb, and made reverence to his Creator that he
+saw not.  And under the altar of that church is the place where Saint
+John was born.  And from that church is a mile to the castle of Emmaus:
+and there also our Lord shewed him to two of his disciples after his
+resurrection.  Also on that other side, 200 paces from Jerusalem, is a
+church, where was wont to be the cave of the lion.  And under that
+church, at thirty degrees of deepness, were interred 12,000 martyrs, in
+the time of King Cosdroe that the lion met with, all in a night, by the
+will of God.
+
+Also from Jerusalem, two mile, is the Mount Joy, a full fair place and a
+delicious; and there lieth Samuel the prophet in a fair tomb.  And men
+clepe it Mount Joy, for it giveth joy to pilgrims’ hearts, because that
+there men see first Jerusalem.
+
+Also between Jerusalem and the mount of Olivet is the vale of Jehosaphat,
+under the walls of the city, as I have said before.  And in the midst of
+the vale is a little river that men clepe _Torrens Cedron_, and above it,
+overthwart, lay a tree (that the cross was made of) that men yede over
+on. And fast by it is a little pit in the earth, where the foot of the
+pillar is yet interred; and there was our Lord first scourged, for he was
+scourged and villainously entreated in many places.  Also in the middle
+place of the vale of Jehosaphat is the church of our Lady: and it is of
+forty-three degrees under the earth unto the sepulchre of our Lady.  And
+our Lady was of age, when she died, seventy-two year.  And beside the
+sepulchre of our Lady is an altar, where our Lord forgave Saint Peter all
+his sins.  And from thence, toward the west, under an altar, is a well
+that cometh out of the river of Paradise.  And wit well, that that church
+is full low in the earth, and some is all within the earth.  But I
+suppose well, that it was not so founded.  But for because that Jerusalem
+hath often-time been destroyed and the walls abated and beten down and
+tumbled into the vale, and that they have been so filled again and the
+ground enhanced; and for that skill is the church so low within the
+earth.  And, natheles, men say there commonly, that the earth hath so
+been cloven sith the time that our Lady was there buried; and yet men say
+there, that it waxeth and groweth every day, without doubt.  In that
+church were wont to be monks black, that had their abbot.
+
+And beside that church is a chapel, beside the rock that hight
+Gethsemane.  And there was our Lord kissed of Judas; and there was he
+taken of the Jews.  And there left our Lord his disciples, when he went
+to pray before his passion, when he prayed and said, _Pater_, _si fieri
+potest_, _transeat a me calix iste_; that is to say, ‘Father, if it may
+be, do let this chalice go from me’: and, when he came again to his
+disciples, he found them sleeping.  And in the rock within the chapel yet
+appear the fingers of our Lord’s hand, when he put them in the rock, when
+the Jews would have taken him.
+
+And from thence, a stone’s cast towards the south, is another chapel,
+where our Lord sweat drops of blood.  And there, right nigh, is the tomb
+of King Jehosaphat, of whom the vale beareth the name.  This Jehosaphat
+was king of that country, and was converted by an hermit, that was a
+worthy man and did much good.  And from thence, a bow draught towards the
+south, is the church, where Saint James and Zachariah the prophet were
+buried.
+
+And above the vale is the mount of Olivet; and it is clept so for the
+plenty of olives that grow there.  That mount is more high than the city
+of Jerusalem is; and, therefore, may men upon that mount see many of the
+streets of the city.  And between that mount and the city is not but the
+vale of Jehosaphat that is not full large.  And from that mount styed our
+Lord Jesu Christ to heaven upon Ascension Day; and yet there sheweth the
+shape of his left foot in the stone.  And there is a church where was
+wont to be an abbot and canons regulars.  And a little thence,
+twenty-eight paces, is a chapel; and therein is the stone on the which
+our Lord sat, when he preached the eight blessings and said thus: _Beau
+pauperes spiritu_: and there he taught his disciples the _Pater Noster_;
+and wrote with his finger in a stone.  And there nigh is a church of
+Saint Mary Egyptian, and there she lieth in a tomb.  And from thence
+toward the east, a three bow shot, is Bethphage, to the which our Lord
+sent Saint Peter and Saint James for to seek the ass upon Palm-Sunday,
+and rode upon that ass to Jerusalem.
+
+And in coming down from the mount of Olivet, toward the east, is a castle
+that is clept Bethany.  And there dwelt Simon leprous, and there
+harboured our Lord: and after he was baptised of the apostles and was
+clept Julian, and was made bishop; and this is the same Julian that men
+clepe to for good harbourage, for our Lord harboured with him in his
+house.  And in that house our Lord forgave Mary Magdalene her sins: there
+she washed his feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.  And
+there served Saint Martha our Lord.  There our Lord raised Lazarus from
+death to life, that was dead four days and stank, that was brother to
+Mary Magdalene and to Martha.  And there dwelt also Mary Cleophas.  That
+castle is well a mile long from Jerusalem.  Also in coming down from the
+mount of Olivet is the place where our Lord wept upon Jerusalem.  And
+there beside is the place where our Lady appeared to Saint Thomas the
+apostle after her assumption, and gave him her girdle.  And right nigh is
+the stone where our Lord often-time sat upon when he preached; and upon
+that same he shall sit at the day of doom, right as himself said.
+
+Also after the mount of Olivet is the mount of Galilee.  There assembled
+the apostles when Mary Magdalene came and told them of Christ’s uprising.
+And there, between the Mount Olivet and the Mount Galilee, is a church,
+where the angel said to our Lady of her death.
+
+Also from Bethany to Jericho was sometime a little city, but it is now
+all destroyed, and now is there but a little village.  That city took
+Joshua by miracle of God and commandment of the angel, and destroyed it,
+and cursed it and all them that bigged it again.  Of that city was
+Zaccheus the dwarf that clomb up into the sycamore tree for to see our
+Lord, because he was so little he might not see him for the people.  And
+of that city was Rahab the common woman that escaped alone with them of
+her lineage: and she often-time refreshed and fed the messengers of
+Israel, and kept them from many great perils of death; and, therefore,
+she had good reward, as holy writ saith: _Qui accipit prophetam in nomine
+meo_, _mercedem prophetae accipiet_; that is to say, ‘He that taketh a
+prophet in my name, he shall take meed of the prophet.’  And so had she.
+For she prophesied to the messengers, saying, _Novi quod Dominus tradet
+vobis terram hanc_; that is to say, ‘I wot well, that our Lord shall
+betake you this land’: and so he did.  And after, Salomon, Naasson’s son,
+wedded her, and from that time was she a worthy woman, and served God
+well.
+
+Also from Bethany go men to flom Jordan by a mountain and through desert.
+And it is nigh a day journey from Bethany, toward the east, to a great
+hill, where our Lord fasted forty days.  Upon that hill the enemy of hell
+bare our Lord and tempted him, and said, _Dic ut lapides isti panes
+fiant_; that is to say, ‘Say, that these stones be made loaves.’  In that
+place, upon the hill, was wont to be a fair church; but it is all
+destroyed, so that there is now but an hermitage, that a manner of
+Christian men hold, that be clept Georgians, for Saint George converted
+them.  Upon that hill dwelt Abraham a great while, and therefore men
+clepe it Abraham’s Garden.  And between the hill and this garden runneth
+a little brook of water that was wont to be bitter; but, by the blessing
+of Elisha the prophet, it became sweet and good to drink.  And at the
+foot of this hill, toward the plain, is a great well, that entereth into
+from Jordan.
+
+From that hill to Jericho, that I spake of before, is but a mile in going
+toward flom Jordan.  Also as men go to Jericho sat the blind man crying,
+_Jesu_, _Fili David_, _miserere mei_; that is to say, ‘Jesu, David’s Son,
+have mercy on me.’  And anon he had his sight.  Also, two mile from
+Jericho, is flome Jordan.  And, an half mile more nigh, is a fair church
+of Saint John the Baptist, where he baptised our Lord.  And there beside
+is the house of Jeremiah the prophet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+_Of the Dead Sea_; _and of the Flome Jordan_.  _Of the Head of Saint John
+the Baptist_; _and of the Usages of the Samaritans_
+
+AND from Jericho, a three mile, is the Dead Sea.  About that sea groweth
+much alum and of alkatran.  Between Jericho and that sea is the land of
+Engeddi.  And there was wont to grow the balm; but men make draw the
+branches thereof and bear them to be grafted at Babylon; and yet men
+clepe them vines of Geddi.  At a coast of that sea, as men go from
+Arabia, is the mount of the Moabites, where there is a cave, that men
+clepe Karua.  Upon that hill led Balak, the son of Beor, Balaam the
+priest for to curse the people of Israel.
+
+That Dead Sea parteth the land of Ind and of Arabia, and that sea lasteth
+from Soara unto Arabia.  The water of that sea is full bitter and salt,
+and, if the earth were made moist and wet with that water, it would never
+bear fruit.  And the earth and the land changeth often his colour.  And
+it casteth out of the water a thing that men clepe asphalt, also great
+pieces, as the greatness of an horse, every day and on all sides.  And
+from Jerusalem to that sea is 200 furlongs.  That sea is in length five
+hundred and four score furlongs, and in breadth an hundred and fifty
+furlongs; and it is clept the Dead Sea, for it runneth nought, but is
+ever unmovable.  And neither man, ne beast, ne nothing that beareth life
+in him ne may not die in that sea.  And that hath been proved many times,
+by men that have deserved to be dead that have been cast therein and left
+therein three days or four, and they ne might never die therein; for it
+receiveth no thing within him that beareth life.  And no man may drink of
+the water for bitterness.  And if a man cast iron therein, it will float
+above.  And if men cast a feather therein, it will sink to the bottom,
+and these be things against kind.
+
+And also, the cities there were lost because of sin.  And there beside
+grow trees that bear full fair apples, and fair of colour to behold; but
+whoso breaketh them or cutteth them in two, he shall find within them
+coals and cinders, in token that by wrath of God the cities and the land
+were burnt and sunken into hell.  Some men clepe that sea the lake
+Dalfetidee; some, the flome of Devils; and some the flome that is ever
+stinking.  And into that sea sunk the five cities by wrath of God; that
+is to say, Sodom, Gomorrah, Aldama, Zeboim, and Zoar, for the abominable
+sin of sodomy that reigned in them.  But Zoar, by the prayer of Lot, was
+saved and kept a great while, for it was set upon a hill; and yet sheweth
+thereof some part above the water, and men may see the walls when it is
+fair weather and clear.  In that city Lot dwelt a little while; and there
+was he made drunk of his daughters, and lay with them, and engendered of
+them Moab and Ammon.  And the cause why his daughters made him drunk and
+for to lie by him was this: because they saw no man about them, but only
+their father, and therefore they trowed that God had destroyed all the
+world as he had done the cities, as he had done before by Noah’s flood.
+And therefore they would lie by with their father for to have issue, and
+for to replenish the world again with people to restore the world again
+by them; for they trowed that there had been no more men in all the
+world; and if their father had not been drunk, he had not lain with them.
+
+And the hill above Zoar men cleped it then Edom and after men cleped it
+Seir, and after Idumea.  Also at the right side of that Dead Sea,
+dwelleth yet the wife of Lot in likeness of a salt stone; for that she
+looked behind her when the cities sunk into hell.  This Lot was Haran’s
+son, that was brother to Abraham; and Sarah, Abraham’s wife, and Milcah,
+Nahor’s wife, were sisters to the said Lot.  And the same Sarah was of
+eld four score and ten year when Isaac her son was gotten on her.  And
+Abraham had another son Ishmael that he gat upon Hagar his chamberer.
+And when Isaac his son was eight days old, Abraham his father let him be
+circumcised, and Ishmael with him that was fourteen year old: wherefore
+the Jews that come of Isaac’s line be circumcised the eighth day, and the
+Saracens that come of Ishmael’s line be circumcised when they be fourteen
+year of age.
+
+And ye shall understand, that within the Dead Sea, runneth the flom
+Jordan, and there it dieth, for it runneth no further more, and that is a
+place that is a mile from the church of Saint John the Baptist toward the
+west, a little beneath the place where that Christian men bathe them
+commonly.  And a mile from flom Jordan is the river of Jabbok, the which
+Jacob passed over when he came from Mesopotamia.  This flom Jordan is no
+great river, but it is plenteous of good fish; and it cometh out of the
+hill of Lebanon by two wells that be clept Jor and Dan, and of the two
+wells hath it the name.  And it passeth by a lake that is clept Maron.
+And after it passeth by the sea of Tiberias, and passeth under the hills
+of Gilboa; and there is a full fair vale, both on that one side and on
+that other of the same river.  And men go [on] the hills of Lebanon, all
+in length unto the desert of Pharan; and those hills part the kingdom of
+Syria and the country of Phoenicia; and upon those hills grow trees of
+cedar that be full high, and they bear long apples, and as great as a
+man’s head.
+
+And also this flom Jordan departeth the land of Galilee and the land of
+Idumea and the land of Betron, and that runneth under earth a great way
+unto a fair plain and a great that is clept Meldan in Sarmois; that is to
+say, Fair or market in their language, because that there is often fairs
+in that plain.  And there becometh the water great and large.  In that
+plain is the tomb of Job.
+
+And in that flom Jordan above-said was our Lord baptised of Saint John,
+and the voice of God the Father was heard saying: _Hic est Filius meus
+dilectus_, _etc._; that is to say, ‘This is my beloved Son, in the which
+I am well pleased; hear him!’ and the Holy Ghost alighted upon him in
+likeness of a culver; and so at his baptising was all the whole Trinity.
+
+And through that flome passed the children of Israel, all dry feet; and
+they put stones there in the middle place, in token of the miracle that
+the water withdrew him so.  Also in that flome Jordan Naaman of Syria
+bathed him, that was full rich, but he was mesell; and there anon he took
+his health.
+
+About the flome Jordan be many churches where that many Christian men
+dwelled.  And nigh thereto is the city of Ai that Joshua assailed and
+took.  Also beyond the flome Jordan is the vale of Mamre, and that is a
+full fair vale.  Also upon the hill that I spake of before, where our
+Lord fasted forty days, a two mile long from Galilee, is a fair hill and
+an high, where the enemy the fiend bare our Lord the third time to tempt
+him, and shewed him all the regions of the world and said, _Hec omnia
+tibi dabo_, _si cadens adoraveris me_; that is to say, ‘All this shall I
+give thee, if thou fall and worship me.’
+
+Also from the Dead Sea to go eastward, out of the marches of the Holy
+Land that is clept the Land of Promission, is a strong castle and a fair,
+in an hill that is clept Carak in Sarmois; that is to say, Royally.  That
+castle let make King Baldwin, that was King of France, when he had
+conquered that land, and put it into Christian men’s hands for to keep
+that country; and for that cause was it clept the Mount Royal.  And under
+it there is a town that hight Sobach, and there, all about, dwell
+Christian men, under tribute.
+
+From thence go men to Nazareth, of the which our Lord beareth the
+surname.  And from thence there is three journeys to Jerusalem: and men
+go by the province of Galilee by Ramath, by Sothim and by the high hill
+of Ephraim, where Elkanah and Hannah the mother of Samuel the prophet
+dwelled.  There was born this prophet; and, after his death, he was
+buried at Mount Joy, as I have said you before.
+
+And then go men to Shiloh, where the Ark of God with the relics were kept
+long time under Eli the prophet.  There made the people of Hebron
+sacrifice to our Lord, and they yielded up their vows.  And there spake
+God first to Samuel, and shewed him the mutation of Order of Priesthood,
+and the mystery of the Sacrament.  And right nigh, on the left side, is
+Gibeon and Ramah and Benjamin, of the which holy writ speaketh of.
+
+And after men go to Sichem, some-time clept Sichar; and that is in the
+province of Samaritans.  And there is a full fair vale and a fructuous;
+and there is a fair city and a good that men clepe Neople.  And from
+thence is a journey to Jerusalem.  And there is the well, where our Lord
+spake to the woman of Samaritan.  And there was wont to be a church, but
+it is beaten down.  Beside that well King Rehoboam let make two calves of
+gold and made them to be worshipped, and put that one at Dan and that
+other at Bethel.  And a mile from Sichar is the city of Luz; and in that
+city dwelt Abraham a certain time.  Sichem is a ten mile from Jerusalem,
+and it is clept Neople; that is for to say, the New City.  And nigh
+beside is the tomb of Joseph the son of Jacob that governed Egypt: for
+the Jews bare his bones from Egypt and buried them there, and thither go
+the Jews often-time in pilgrimage with great devotion.  In that city was
+Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, ravished, for whom her brethren slew many
+persons and did many harms to the city.  And there beside is the hill of
+Gerizim, where the Samaritans make their sacrifice: in that hill would
+Abraham have sacrificed his son Isaac.  And there beside is the vale of
+Dotaim, and there is the cistern, where Joseph, was cast in of his
+brethren, which they sold; and that is two mile from Sichar.
+
+From thence go men to Samaria that men clepe now Sebast; and that is the
+chief city of that country, and it sits between the hill of Aygnes as
+Jerusalem doth.  In that city was the sittings of the twelve tribes of
+Israel; but the city is not now so great as it was wont to be.  There was
+buried Saint John the Baptist between two prophets, Elisha and Abdon; but
+he was beheaded in the castle of Macharim beside the Dead Sea, and after
+he was translated of his disciples, and buried at Samaria.  And there let
+Julianus Apostata dig him up and let burn his bones (for he was at that
+time emperor) and let winnow the ashes in the wind.  But the finger that
+shewed our Lord, saying, _Ecce Agnus Dei_; that is to say, ‘Lo! the Lamb
+of God,’ that would never burn, but is all whole;—that finger let Saint
+Thecla, the holy virgin, be born into the hill of Sebast; and there make
+men great feast.
+
+In that place was wont to be a fair church; and many other there were;
+but they be all beaten down.  There was wont to be the head of Saint John
+Baptist, enclosed in the wall.  But the Emperor Theodosius let draw it
+out, and found it wrapped in a little cloth, all bloody; and so he let it
+to be born to Constantinople.  And yet at Constantinople is the hinder
+part of the head, and the fore part of the head, till under the chin, is
+at Rome under the church of Saint Silvester, where be nuns of an hundred
+orders: and it is yet all broilly, as though it were half-burnt, for the
+Emperor Julianus above-said, of his cursedness and malice, let burn that
+part with the other bones, and yet it sheweth; and this thing hath been
+proved both by popes and by emperors.  And the jaws beneath, that hold to
+the chin, and a part of the ashes and the platter that the head was laid
+in, when it was smitten off, is at Genoa; and the Genoese make of it
+great feast, and so do the Saracens also.  And some men say that the head
+of Saint John is at Amiens in Picardy; and other men say that it is the
+head of Saint John the Bishop.  I wot never, but God knoweth; but in what
+wise that men worship it, the blessed Saint John holds him a-paid.
+
+From this city of Sebast unto Jerusalem is twelve mile.  And between the
+hills of that country there is a well that four sithes in the year
+changeth his colour, sometime green, sometime red, sometime clear and
+sometime trouble; and men clepe that well, Job.  And the folk of that
+country, that men clepe Samaritans, were converted and baptized by the
+apostles; but they hold not well their doctrine, and always they hold
+laws by themselves, varying from Christian men, from Saracens, Jews and
+Paynims.  And the Samaritans lieve well in one God, and they say well
+that there is but only one God, that all formed, and all shall doom; and
+they hold the Bible after the letter, and they use the Psalter as the
+Jews do.  And they say that they be the right sons of God.  And among all
+other folk, they say that they be best beloved of God, and that to them
+belongeth the heritage that God behight to his beloved children.  And
+they have also diverse clothing and shape to look on than other folk
+have; for they wrap their heads in red linen cloth, in difference from
+others.  And the Saracens wrap their heads in white linen cloth; and the
+Christian men, that dwell in the country, wrap them in blue of Ind; and
+the Jews in yellow cloth.  In that country dwell many of the Jews, paying
+tribute as Christian men do.  And if ye will know the letters that the
+Jews use they be such, and the names be as they clepe them written above,
+in manner of their A. B. C.
+
+ Aleph    Beth     Gymel   Deleth     He       Vau          Zay
+
+   א        ב        ג        ד        ה        ו            ז
+ Heth     Thet     Joht     Kapho    Lampd     Mem          Num
+
+   ח        ט        י        כ        ל        מ            נ
+Sameth     Ey      Fhee     Sade     Coph     Resch     Son      Tau
+
+   ס        ע        פ        צ        ק        ר        ש        ת
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+_Of the Province of Galilee_, _and where Antichrist shall be born_.  _Of
+Nazareth_.  _Of the age of Our Lady_.  _Of the Day of Doom_.  _And of the
+customs of Jacobites_, _Syrians_; _and of the usages of Georgians_
+
+FROM this country of the Samaritans that I have spoken of before go men
+to the plains of Galilee, and men leave the hills on that one part.
+
+And Galilee is one of the provinces of the Holy Land, and in that
+province is the city of Nain—and Capernaum, and Chorazin and Bethsaida.
+In this Bethsaida was Saint Peter and Saint Andrew born.  And thence, a
+four mile, is Chorazin.  And five mile from Chorazin is the city of Kedar
+whereof the Psalter speaketh: _Et habitavi cum habitantibus Kedar_; that
+is for to say, ‘And I have dwelled with the dwelling men in Kedar.’  In
+Chorazin shall Antichrist be born, as some men say.  And other men say he
+shall be born in Babylon; for the prophet saith: _De Babilonia coluber
+exest_, _qui totum mundum devorabit_; that is to say ‘Out of Babylon
+shall come a worm that shall devour all the world.’  This Antichrist
+shall be nourished in Bethsaida, and he shall reign in Capernaum: and
+therefore saith holy writ; _Vae tibi_, _Chorazin_!  _Vae tibi_,
+_Bethsaida_!  _Vae tibi_, _Capernaum_! that is to say, ‘Woe be to thee,
+Chorazin!  Woe to thee, Bethsaida!  Woe to thee, Capernaum.’  And all
+these towns be in the land of Galilee.  And also the Cana of Galilee is
+four mile from Nazareth: of that city was Simon Chananeus and his wife
+Canee, of the which the holy evangelist speaketh of.  There did our Lord
+the first miracle at the wedding, when he turned water into wine.
+
+And in the end of Galilee, at the hills, was the Ark of God taken; and on
+that other side is the Mount Endor or Hermon.  And, thereabout, goeth the
+Brook of Torrens Kishon; and there beside, Barak, that was Abimelech’s
+son with Deborah the prophetess overcame the host of Idumea, when Sisera
+the king was slain of Jael the wife of Heber, and chased beyond the flome
+Jordan, by strength of sword, Zeeb and Zebah and Zalmunna, and there he
+slew them.  Also a five mile from Nain is the city of Jezreel that
+sometime was clept Zarim, of the which city Jezabel, the cursed queen,
+was lady and queen, that took away the vine of Naboth by her strength.
+Fast by that city is the field Megiddo, in the which the King Joram was
+slain of the King of Samaria and after was translated and buried in the
+Mount Sion.
+
+And a mile from Jezreel be the hills of Gilboa, where Saul and Jonathan,
+that were so fair, died; wherefore David cursed them, as holy writ saith:
+_Montes Gilboæ_, _nec ros nec pluvia_, _etc._; that is to say, ‘Ye hills
+of Gilboa, neither dew ne rain come upon you.’  And a mile from the hills
+of Gilboa toward the east is the city of Cyropolis, that was clept before
+Bethshan; and upon the walls of that city was the head of Saul hanged.
+
+After go men by the hill beside the plains of Galilee unto Nazareth,
+where was wont to be a great city and a fair; but now there is not but a
+little village, and houses abroad here and there.  And it is not walled.
+And it sits in a little valley, and there be hills all about.  There was
+our Lady born, but she was gotten at Jerusalem.  And because that our
+Lady was born at Nazareth, therefore bare our Lord his surname of that
+town.  There took Joseph our Lady to wife, when she was fourteen year of
+age.  And there Gabriel greeted our Lady, saying, _Ave gratia plena_,
+_Dominus tecum_! that is to say, ‘Hail, full of grace, our Lord is with
+thee!’  And this salutation was done in a place of a great altar of a
+fair church that was wont to be sometime, but it is now all down, and men
+have made a little receipt, beside a pillar of that church, to receive
+the offerings of pilgrims.  And the Saracens keep that place full dearly,
+for the profit that they have thereof.  And they be full wicked Saracens
+and cruel, and more despiteful than in any other place, and have
+destroyed all the churches.  There nigh is Gabriel’s Well, where our Lord
+was wont to bathe him, when he was young, and from that well bare he
+water often-time to his mother.  And in that well she washed often-time
+the clouts of her Son Jesu Christ.  And from Jerusalem unto thither is
+three journeys.  At Nazareth was our Lord nourished.  Nazareth is as much
+to say as, ‘Flower of the garden’; and by good skill may it be clept
+flower, for there was nourished the flower of life that was Christ Jesu.
+
+And two mile from Nazareth is the city of Sephor, by the way that goeth
+from Nazareth to Akon.  And an half mile from Nazareth is the Leap of our
+Lord.  For the Jews led him upon an high rock for to make him leap down,
+and have slain him; but Jesu passed amongst them, and leapt upon another
+rock, and yet be the steps of his feet seen in the rock, where he
+alighted.  And therefore say some men, when they dread them of thieves in
+any way, or of enemies; _Jesus autem transiens per medium illorum ibat_;
+that is to say, ‘Jesus, forsooth, passing by the midst of them, he went’:
+in token and mind, that our Lord passed through, out the Jews’ cruelty,
+and scaped safely from them, so surely may men pass the peril of
+thieves’.  And then say men two verses of the Psalter three sithes:
+_Irruat super eos formido & pavor_, _in magnitudine brachii tui_,
+_Domine_.  _Fiant immobiles_, _quasi lapis_, _donec pertranseat populus
+tuus_, _Domine_; _donec pertranseat populus tuus iste_, _quem
+possedisti_; and then may men pass without peril.
+
+And ye shall understand, that our Lady had child when she was fifteen
+year old.  And she was conversant with her son thirty-three year and
+three months.  And after the passion of our Lord she lived twenty-four
+year.
+
+Also from Nazareth men go to the Mount Tabor; and that is a four mile.
+And it is a full fair hill and well high, where was wont to be a town and
+many churches; but they be all destroyed.  But yet there is a place that
+men clepe the school of God, where he was wont to teach his disciples,
+and told them the privities of heaven.  And, at the foot of that hill,
+Melchisedech that was King of Salem, in the turning of that hill met
+Abraham in coming again from the battle, when he had slain Abimelech.
+And this Melchisedech was both king and priest of Salem that now is clept
+Jerusalem.  In that hill Tabor our Lord transfigured him before Saint
+Peter, Saint John and Saint Jame; and there they saw, ghostly, Moses and
+Elias the prophets beside them.  And therefore said Saint Peter;
+_Domine_, _bonum est nos hic esse_; _faciamus hic tria tabernacula_; that
+is to say, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; make we here three
+dwelling-places.’  And there heard they a voice of the Father that say;
+_Hic est Filius meus dilectus_, _in quo mihi bene complacui_.  And our
+Lord defended them that they should not tell that avision till that he
+were risen from death to life.
+
+In that hill and in that same place, at the day of doom, four angels with
+four trumpets shall blow and raise all men that had suffered death, sith
+that the world was formed, from death to life; and shall come in body and
+soul in judgment, before the face of our Lord in the Vale of Jehosaphat.
+And the doom shall be on Easter Day, such time as our Lord arose.  And
+the doom shall begin, such hour as our Lord descended to hell and
+despoiled it.  For at such hour shall he despoil the world and lead his
+chosen to bliss; and the other shall he condemn to perpetual pains.  And
+then shall every man have after his desert, either good or evil, but if
+the mercy of God pass his righteousness.
+
+Also a mile from Mount Tabor is the Mount Hermon; and there was the city
+of Nain.  Before the gate of that city raised our Lord the widow’s son,
+that had no more children.  Also three miles from Nazareth is the Castle
+Safra, of the which the sons of Zebedee and the sons of Alpheus were.
+Also a seven mile from Nazareth is the Mount Cain, and under that is a
+well; and beside that well Lamech, Noah’s father, slew Cain with an
+arrow.  For this Cain went through briars and bushes as a wild beast; and
+he had lived from the time of Adam his father unto the time of Noah, and
+so he lived nigh to 2000 year.  And this Lamech was all blind for eld.
+
+From Safra men go to the sea of Galilee and to the city of Tiberias, that
+sits upon the same sea.  And albeit that men clepe it a sea, yet is it
+neither sea ne arm of the sea.  For it is but a stank of fresh water that
+is in length one hundred furlongs, and of breadth forty furlongs, and
+hath within him great plenty of good fish, and runneth into flom Jordan.
+The city is not full great, but it hath good baths within him.
+
+And there, as the flome Jordan parteth from the sea of Galilee, is a
+great bridge, where men pass from the Land of Promission to the land of
+King Bashan and the land of Gennesaret, that be about the flom Jordan and
+the beginning of the sea of Tiberias.  And from thence may men go to
+Damascus, in three days, by the kingdom of Traconitis, the which kingdom
+lasteth from Mount Hermon to the sea of Galilee, or to the sea of
+Tiberias, or to the sea of Gennesaret; and all is one sea, and this the
+tank that I have told you, but it changeth thus the name for the names of
+the cities that sit beside him.
+
+Upon that sea went our Lord dry feet; and there he took up Saint Peter,
+when he began to drench within the sea, and said to him, _Modice fidei_,
+_quare dubitasti_?  And after his resurrection our Lord appeared on that
+sea to his disciples and bade them fish, and filled all the net full of
+great fishes.  In that sea rowed our Lord often-time; and there he called
+to him Saint Peter, Saint Andrew, Saint James and Saint John, the sons of
+Zebedee.
+
+In that city of Tiberias is the table upon the which our Lord ate upon
+with his disciples after his resurrection; and they knew him in breaking
+of bread, as the gospel saith: _Et cognoverunt eum in fractione panis_.
+And nigh that city of Tiberias is the hill, where our Lord fed 5000
+persons with five barley loaves and two fishes.
+
+In that city a man cast a burning dart in wrath after our Lord.  And the
+head smote into the earth and waxed green; and it growed to a great tree.
+And yet it groweth and the bark thereof is all like coals.
+
+Also in the head of that sea of Galilee, toward the septentrion is a
+strong castle and an high that hight Saphor.  And fast beside it is
+Capernaum.  Within the Land of Promission is not so strong a castle.  And
+there is a good town beneath that is clept also Saphor.  In that castle
+Saint Anne our Lady’s mother was born.  And there beneath, was Centurio’s
+house.  That country is clept the Galilee of Folk that were taken to
+tribute of Zebulon and Napthali.
+
+And in again coming from that castle, a thirty mile, is the city of Dan,
+that sometime was clept Belinas or Cesarea Philippi; that sits at the
+foot of the Mount of Lebanon, where the flome Jordan beginneth.  There
+beginneth the Land of Promission and dureth unto Beersheba in length, in
+going toward the north into the south, and it containeth well a nine
+score miles; and of breadth, that is to say, from Jericho unto Jaffa, and
+that containeth a forty mile of Lombardy, or of our country, that be also
+little miles; these be not miles of Gascony ne of the province of
+Almayne, where be great miles.  And wit ye well, that the Land of
+Promission is in Syria.  For the realm of Syria dureth from the deserts
+of Arabia unto Cilicia, and that is Armenia the great; that is to say,
+from the south to the north.  And, from the east to the west, it dureth
+from the great deserts of Arabia unto the West Sea.  But in that realm of
+Syria is the kingdom of Judea and many other provinces, as Palestine,
+Galilee, Little Cilicia, and many other.
+
+In that country and other countries beyond they have a custom, when they
+shall use war, and when men hold siege about city or castle, and they
+within dare not send out messengers with letters from lord to lord for to
+ask succour, they make their letters and bind them to the neck of a
+culver, and let the culver flee.  And the culvers be so taught, that they
+flee with those letters to the very place that men would send them to.
+For the culvers be nourished in those places where they be sent to, and
+they send them thus, for to bear their letters.  And the culvers return
+again whereas they be nourished; and so they do commonly.
+
+And ye shall understand that amongst the Saracens, one part and other,
+dwell many Christian men of many manners and diverse names.  And all be
+baptized and have diverse laws and diverse customs.  But all believe in
+God the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; but always fail they in
+some articles of our faith.  Some of these be clept Jacobites, for Saint
+James converted them and Saint John baptized them.  They say that a man
+shall make his confession only to God, and not to a man; for only to him
+should man yield him guilty of all that he hath misdone.  Ne God ordained
+not, ne never devised, ne the prophet neither, that a man should shrive
+him to another (as they say), but only to God.  As Moses writeth in the
+Bible, and as David saith in the Psalter Book; _Confitebor tibi_,
+_Domine_, _in toto corde meo_, and _Delictum meum tibi cognitum feci_,
+and _Deus meus es tu_, _& confitebor tibi_, and _Quoniam cogitatio
+hominis confitebitur tibi_, etc.  For they know all the Bible and the
+Psalter.  And therefore allege they so the letter.  But they allege not
+the authorities thus in Latin, but in their language full apertly, and
+say well, that David and other prophets say it.
+
+Natheles, Saint Augustine and Saint Gregory say thus:—Augustinus: _Qui
+scelera sua cogitat_, _& conversus fuerit_, _veniam sibi credat_.
+Gregorius: _Dominus potius mentem quam verba respicit_.  And Saint Hilary
+saith: _Longorum temporum crimina_, _in ictu oculi pereunt_, _si cordis
+nata fuerit compunctio_.  And for such authorities they say, that only to
+God shall a man knowledge his defaults, yielding himself guilty and
+crying him mercy, and behoting to him to amend himself.  And therefore,
+when they will shrive them, they take fire and set it beside them, and
+cast therein powder of frankincense; and in the smoke thereof they shrive
+them to God, and cry him mercy.  But sooth it is, that this confession
+was first and kindly.  But Saint Peter the apostle, and they that came
+after him, have ordained to make their confession to man, and by good
+reason; for they perceived well that no sickness was curable, [ne] good
+medicine to lay thereto, but if men knew the nature of the malady; and
+also no man may give convenable medicine, but if he know the quality of
+the deed.  For one sin may be greater in one man than in another, and in
+one place and in one time than in another; and therefore it behoveth him
+that he know the kind of the deed, and thereupon to give him penance.
+
+There be other, that be clept Syrians; and they hold the belief amongst
+us, and of them of Greece.  And they use all beards, as men of Greece do.
+And they make the sacrament of therf bread.  And in their language they
+use letters of Saracens.  But after the mystery of Holy Church they use
+letters of Greece.  And they make their confession, right as the
+Jacobites do.
+
+There be other, that men clepe Georgians, that Saint George converted;
+and him they worship more than any other saint, and to him they cry for
+help.  And they came out of the realm of Georgia.  These folk use crowns
+shaven.  The clerks have round crowns, and the lewd men have crowns all
+square.  And they hold Christian law, as do they of Greece; of whom I
+have spoken of before.
+
+Other there be that men clepe Christian men of Girding, for they be all
+girt above.  And there be other that men clept Nestorians.  And some
+Arians, some Nubians, some of Greece, some of Ind, and some of Prester
+John’s Land.  And all these have many articles of our faith, and to other
+they be variant.  And of their variance were too long to tell, and so I
+will leave, as for the time, without more speaking of them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+_Of the City of Damascus_.  _Of three ways to Jerusalem_; _one_, _by land
+and by sea_; _another_, _more by land than by sea_; _and the third way to
+Jerusalem_, _all by land_
+
+NOW after that I have told you some part of folk in the countries before,
+now will I turn again to my way, for to turn again on this half.  Then
+whoso will go from the land of Galilee, of that that I have spoke for, to
+come again on this half, men come again by Damascus, that is a full fair
+city and full noble, and full of all merchandises, and a three journeys
+long from the sea, and a five journeys from Jerusalem.  But upon camels,
+mules, horses, dromedaries and other beasts, men carry their merchandise
+thither.  And thither come the merchants with merchandise by sea from
+India, Persia, Chaldea, Armenia, and of many other kingdoms.
+
+This city founded Eliezer Damascus, that was yeoman and dispenser of
+Abraham before that Isaac was born.  For he thought for to have been
+Abraham’s heir, and he named the town after his surname Damascus.  And in
+that place, where Damascus was founded, Cain slew Abel his brother.  And
+beside Damascus is the Mount Seir.  In that city of Damascus there is
+great plenty of wells.  And within the city and without be many fair
+gardens and of diverse fruits.  None other city is not like in comparison
+to it of fair gardens, and of fair disports.  The city is great and full
+of people, and well walled with double walls.  And there be many
+physicians.  And Saint Paul himself was there a physician for to keep
+men’s bodies in health, before he was converted.  And after that he was
+physician of souls.  And Saint Luke the evangelist was disciple of Saint
+Paul for to learn physic, and many other; for Saint Paul held then school
+of physic.  And near beside Damascus was he converted.  And after his
+conversion ne dwelt in that city three days, without sight and without
+meat or drink; and in those three days he was ravished to heaven, and
+there he saw many privities of our Lord.
+
+And fast beside Damascus is the castle of Arkes that is both fair and
+strong.
+
+From Damascus men come again by our Lady of Sardenak, that is a five mile
+on this half Damascus.  And it sitteth upon a rock, and it is a full fair
+place; and it seemeth a castle, for there was wont to be a castle, but it
+is now a full fair church.  And there within be monks and nuns Christian.
+And there is a vault under the church, where that Christian men dwell
+also.  And they have many good vines.  And in the church, behind the high
+altar, in the wall, is a table of black wood, on the which sometime was
+depainted an image of our Lady that turneth into flesh: but now the image
+sheweth but little, but alway, by the grace of God, that table evermore
+drops oil, as it were of olive; and there is a vessel of marble under the
+table to receive the oil.  Thereof they give to pilgrims, for it heals of
+many sicknesses; and men say that, if it be kept well seven year,
+afterwards it turns into flesh and blood.  From Sardenak men come through
+the vale of Bochar, the which is a fair vale and a plenteous of all
+manner of fruit; and it is amongst hills.  And there are therein fair
+rivers and great meadows and noble pasture for beasts.  And men go by the
+mounts of Libanus, which lasts from Armenia the more towards the north
+unto Dan, the which is the end of the Land of Repromission toward the
+north, as I said before.  Their hills are right fruitful, and there are
+many fair wells and cedars and cypresses, and many other trees of divers
+kinds.  There are also many good towns toward the head of their hills,
+full of folk.
+
+Between the city of Arkez and the city of Raphane is a river, that is
+called Sabatory; for on the Saturday it runs fast, and all the week else
+it stand still and runs not, or else but fairly.  Between the foresaid
+hills also is another water that on nights freezes hard and on days is no
+frost seen thereon.  And, as men come again from those hills, is a hill
+higher than any of the other, and they call it there the High Hill.
+There is a great city and a fair, the which is called Tripoli, in the
+which are many good Christian men, yemand the same rites and customs that
+we use.  From thence men come by a city that is called Beyrout, where
+Saint George slew the dragon; and it is a good town, and a fair castle
+therein, and it is three journeys from the foresaid city of Sardenak.  At
+the one side of Beyrout sixteen mile, to come hitherward, is the city of
+Sydon.  At Beyrout enters pilgrims into the sea that will come to Cyprus,
+and they arrive at the port of Surry or of Tyre, and so they come to
+Cyprus in a little space.  Or men may come from the port of Tyre and come
+not at Cyprus, and arrive at some haven of Greece, and so come to these
+parts, as I said before.
+
+I have told you now of the way by which men go farrest and longest to
+Jerusalem, as by Babylon and Mount Sinai and many other places which ye
+heard me tell of; and also by which ways men shall turn again to the Land
+of Repromission.  Now will I tell you the rightest way and the shortest
+to Jerusalem.  For some men will not go the other; some for they have not
+spending enough, some for they have no good company, and some for they
+may not endure the long travel, some for they dread them of many perils
+of deserts, some for they will haste them homeward, desiring to see their
+wives and their children, or for some other reasonable cause that they
+have to turn soon home.  And therefore I will shew how men may pass
+tittest and in shortest time make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  A man
+that comes from the lands of the west, he goes through France, Burgoyne,
+and Lumbardy.  And so to Venice or Genoa, or some other haven, and ships
+there and wends by sea to the isle of Greff, the which pertains to the
+Genoans.
+
+And syne he arrives in Greece at Port Mirrok, or at Valoun, or at Duras,
+or at some other haven of that country, and rests him there and buys him
+victuals and ships again and sails to Cyprus and arrives there at
+Famagost and comes not at the isle of Rhodes.  Famagost is the chief
+haven of Cyprus; and there he refreshes him and purveys him of victuals,
+and then he goes to ship and comes no more on land, if he will, before he
+comes at Port Jaffa, that is the next haven to Jerusalem, for it is but a
+day journey and a half from Jerusalem, that is to say thirty-six mile.
+From the Port Jaffa men go to the city of Rames, the which is but a
+little thence; and it is a fair city and a good and mickle folk therein.
+And without that city toward the south is a kirk of our Lady, where our
+Lord shewed him to her in three clouds, the which betokened the Trinity.
+And a little thence is another city, that men call Dispolis, but it hight
+some time Lidda, a fair city and a well inhabited: there is a kirk of
+Saint George, where he was headed.  From thence men go to the castle of
+Emmaus, and so to the Mount Joy; there may pilgrims first see Jerusalem.
+At Mount Joy lies Samuel the prophet.  From thence men go to Jerusalem.
+Beside their ways is the city of Ramatha and the Mount Modyn; and thereof
+was Matathias, Judas Machabeus father, and there are the graves of the
+Machabees.  Beyond Ramatha is the town of Tekoa, whereof Amos the prophet
+was; and there is his grave.
+
+I have told you before of the holy places that are at Jerusalem and about
+it, and therefore I will speak no more of them at this time.  But I will
+turn again and shew you other ways a man may pass more by land, and
+namely for them that may not suffer the savour of the sea, but is liefer
+to go by land, if all it be the more pain.  From a man be entered into
+the sea he shall pass till one of the havens of Lumbardy, for there is
+the best making of purveyance of victuals; or he may pass to Genoa or
+Venice or some other.  And he shall pass by sea in to Greece to the Port
+Mirrok, or to Valoun or to Duras, or some other haven of that country.
+And from thence he shall go by land to Constantinople, and he shall pass
+the water that is called Brace Saint George, the which is one arm of the
+sea.  And from thence he shall by land go to Ruffynell, where a good
+castle is and a strong; and from therein he shall go to Puluual, and syne
+to the castle of Sinope, and from thence to Cappadocia, that is a great
+country, where are many great hills.  And he shall go though Turkey to
+the port of Chiutok and to the city of Nicæa, which is but seven miles
+thence.  That city won the Turks from the Emperor of Constantinople; and
+it is a fair city and well walled on the one side, and on the other side
+is a great lake and a great river, the which is called Lay.  From thence
+men go by the hills of Nairmount and by the vales of Mailbrins and strait
+fells and by the town of Ormanx or by the towns that are on Riclay and
+Stancon, the which are great rivers and noble, and so to Antioch the
+less, which is set on the river of Riclay.  And there abouts are many
+good hills and fair, and many fair woods and great plenty of wild beasts
+for to hunt at.
+
+And he that will go another way, he shall go by the plains of Romany
+coasting the Roman Sea.  On that coast is a fair castle that men call
+Florach, and it is right a strong place.  And uppermore amongst the
+mountains is a fair city, that is called Tarsus, and the city of
+Longemaath, and the city of Assere, and the city of Marmistre.  And when
+a man is passed those mountains and those fells, he goes by the city of
+Marioch and by Artoise, where is a great bridge upon the river of Ferne,
+that is called Farfar, and it is a great river bearing ships and it runs
+right fast out of the mountains to the city of Damascus.  And beside the
+city of Damascus is another great river that comes from the hills of
+Liban, which men call Abbana.  At the passing of this river Saint
+Eustace, that some-time was called Placidas, lost his wife and his two
+children.  This river runs through the plain of Archades, and so to the
+Red Sea.  From thence men go to the city of Phenice, where are hot wells
+and hot baths.  And then men go to the city of Ferne; and between Phenice
+and Ferne are ten mile.  And there are many fair woods.  And then men
+come to Antioch, which is ten mile thence.  And it is a fair city and
+well walled about with many fair towers; and it is a great city, but it
+was some-time greater than it is now.  For it was some-time two mile on
+length and on breadth other half mile.  And through the midst of that
+city ran the water of Farphar and a great bridge over it; and there was
+some-time in the walls about this city three hundred and fifty towers,
+and at each pillar of the bridge was a stone.  This is the chief city of
+the kingdom of Syria.  And ten mile from this city is the port of Saint
+Symeon; and there goes the water of Farphar into the sea.  From Antioch
+men go to a city that is called Lacuth, and then to Gebel, and then to
+Tortouse.  And there near is the land of Channel; and there is a strong
+castle that is called Maubek.  From Tortouse pass men to Tripoli by sea,
+or else by land through the straits of mountains and fells.  And there is
+a city that is called Gibilet.  From Tripoli go men to Acres; and from
+thence are two ways to Jerusalem, the one on the left half and the other
+on the right half.  By the left way men go by Damascus and by the flum
+Jordan.  By the right way men go by Maryn and by the land of Flagramy and
+near the mountains into the city of Cayphas, that some men call the
+castle of Pilgrims.  And from thence to Jerusalem are three day journey,
+in the which men shall go through Caesarea Philippi, and so to Jaffa and
+Rames and the castle of Emmaus, and so to Jerusalem.
+
+Now have I told you some ways by land and by water that men may go by to
+the Holy Land after the countries that they come from.  Nevertheless they
+come all to one end.  Yet is there another way to Jerusalem all by land,
+and pass not the sea, from France or Flanders; but that way is full long
+and perilous and of great travel, and therefore few go that way.  He that
+shall go that way, he shall go through Almayne and Prussia and so to
+Tartary.  This Tartary is holden of the great Caan of Cathay, of whom I
+think to speak afterward.  This is a full ill land and sandy and little
+fruit bearing.  For there grows no corn, ne wine, ne beans, ne peas, ne
+none other fruit convenable to man for to live with.  But there are
+beasts in great plenty: and therefore they eat but flesh without bread
+and sup the broth and they drink milk of all manner of beasts.  They eat
+hounds, cats, ratons, and all other wild beasts.  And they have no wood,
+or else little; and therefore they warm and seethe their meat with
+horse-dung and cow-dung and of other beasts, dried against the sun.  And
+princes and other eat not but once in the day, and that but little.  And
+they be right foul folk and of evil kind.  And in summer, by all the
+countries, fall many tempests and many hideous thunders and leits and
+slay much people and beasts also full often-time.  And suddenly is there
+passing heat, and suddenly also passing cold; and it is the foulest
+country and the most cursed and the poorest that men know.  And their
+prince, that governeth that country, that they clepe Batho, dwelleth at
+the city of Orda.  And truly no good man should not dwell in that
+country, for the land and the country is not worthy hounds to dwell in.
+It were a good country to sow in thistle and briars and broom and thorns
+and briars; and for no other thing is it not good.  Natheles, there is
+good land in some place, but it is pure little, as men say.
+
+I have not been in that country, nor by those ways.  But I have been at
+other lands that march to those countries, as in the land of Russia, as
+in the land of Nyflan, and in the realm of Cracow and of Letto, and in
+the realm of Daristan, and in many other places that march to the coasts.
+But I went never by that way to Jerusalem, wherefore I may not well tell
+you the manner.
+
+But, if this matter please to any worthy man that hath gone by that way,
+he may tell it if him like, to that intent, that those, that will go by
+that way and make their voyage by those coasts, may know what way is
+there.  For no man may pass by that way goodly, but in time of winter,
+for the perilous waters and wicked mareys, that be in those countries,
+that no man may pass but if it be strong frost and snow above.  For if
+the snow ne were not, men might not go upon the ice, ne horse ne car
+neither.
+
+And it is well a three journeys of such way to pass from Prussia to the
+land of Saracens habitable.  And it behoveth to the Christian men, that
+shall war against them every year, to bear their victuals with them; for
+they shall find there no good.  And then must they let carry their
+victual upon the ice with cars that have no wheels, that they clepe
+sleighs.  And as long as their victuals last they may abide there, but no
+longer; for there shall they find no wight that will sell them any
+victual or anything.  And when the spies see any Christian men come upon
+them, they run to the towns, and cry with a loud voice; _Kerra_, _Kerra_,
+_Kerra_.  And then anon they arm them and assemble them together.
+
+And ye shall understand that it freezeth more strongly in those countries
+than on this half.  And therefore hath every man stews in his house, and
+in those stews they eat and do their occupations all that they may.  For
+that is at the north parts that men clepe the Septentrional where it is
+all only cold.  For the sun is but little or none toward those countries.
+And therefore in the Septentrion, that is very north, is the land so
+cold, that no man may dwell there.  And, in the contrary, toward the
+south it is so hot, that no man ne may dwell there, because that the sun,
+when he is upon the south, casteth his beams all straight upon that part.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+_Of the Customs of Saracens_, _and of their Law_.  _And how the Soldan
+reasoned me_, _Author of this Book_; _and of the beginning of Mohammet_
+
+NOW, because that I have spoken of Saracens and of their country—now, if
+ye will know a part of their law and of their belief, I shall tell you
+after that their book that is clept _Alkaron_ telleth.  And some men
+clepe that book _Meshaf_.  And some men clepe it _Harme_, after the
+diverse languages of the country.  The which book Mohammet took them.  In
+the which book, among other things, is written, as I have often-time seen
+and read, that the good shall go to paradise, and the evil to hell; and
+that believe all Saracens.  And if a man ask them what paradise they
+mean, they say, to paradise that is a place of delights where men shall
+find all manner of fruits in all seasons, and rivers running of milk and
+honey, and of wine and of sweet water; and that they shall have fair
+houses and noble, every man after his desert, made of precious stones and
+of gold and of silver; and that every man shall have four score wives all
+maidens, and he shall have ado every day with them, and yet he shall find
+them always maidens.
+
+Also they believe and speak gladly of the Virgin Mary and of the
+Incarnation.  And they say that Mary was taught of the angel; and that
+Gabriel said to her, that she was for-chosen from the beginning of the
+world and that he shewed to her the Incarnation of Jesu Christ and that
+she conceived and bare child maiden; and that witnesseth their book.
+
+And they say also, that Jesu Christ spake as soon as he was born; and
+that he was an holy prophet and a true in word and deed, and meek and
+piteous and rightful and without any vice.
+
+And they say also, that when the angel shewed the Incarnation of Christ
+unto Mary, she was young and had great dread.  For there was then an
+enchanter in the country that dealt with witchcraft, that men clept
+Taknia, that by his enchantments could make him in likeness of an angel,
+and went often-times and lay with maidens.  And therefore Mary dreaded
+lest it had been Taknia, that came for to deceive the maidens.  And
+therefore she conjured the angel, that he should tell her if it were he
+or no.  And the angel answered and said that she should have no dread of
+him, for he was very messenger of Jesu Christ.  Also their book saith,
+that when that she had childed under a palm tree she had great shame,
+that she had a child; and she greet and said that she would that she had
+been dead.  And anon the child spake to her and comforted her, and said,
+“Mother, ne dismay thee nought, for God hath hid in thee his privities
+for the salvation of the world.”  And in other many places saith their
+_Alkaron_, that Jesu Christ spake as soon as he was born.  And that book
+saith also that Jesu was sent from God Almighty for to be mirror and
+example and token to all men.
+
+And the _Alkaron_ saith also of the day of doom how God shall come to
+doom all manner of folk.  And the good he shall draw on his side and put
+them into bliss, and the wicked he shall condemn to the pains of hell.
+And among all prophets Jesu was the most excellent and the most worthy
+next God, and that he made the gospels in the which is good doctrine and
+healthful, full of clarity and soothfastness and true preaching to them
+that believe in God.  And that he was a very prophet and more than a
+prophet, and lived without sin, and gave sight to the blind, and healed
+the lepers, and raised dead men, and styed to heaven.
+
+And when they may hold the Book of the Gospels of our Lord written and
+namely _Missus est Angelus Gabriel_, that gospel they say, those that be
+lettered, often-times in their orisons, and they kiss it and worship it
+with great devotion.
+
+They fast an whole month in the year and eat nought but by night.  And
+they keep them from their wives all that month.  But the sick men be not
+constrained to that fast.
+
+Also this book speaketh of Jews and saith that they be cursed; for they
+would not believe that Jesu Christ was come of God.  And that they lied
+falsely on Mary and on her son Jesu Christ, saying that they had
+crucified Jesu the son of Mary; for he was never crucified, as they say,
+but that God made him to sty up to him without death and without annoy.
+But he transfigured his likeness into Judas Iscariot, and him crucified
+the Jews, and weened that it had been Jesus.  But Jesus styed to heavens
+all quick.  And therefore they say, that the Christian men err and have
+no good knowledge of this, and that they believe folily and falsely that
+Jesu Christ was crucified.  And they say yet, that and he had been
+crucified, that God had done against his righteousness for to suffer Jesu
+Christ, that was innocent, to be put upon the cross without guilt.  And
+in this article they say that we fail and that the great righteousness of
+God might not suffer so great a wrong: and in this faileth their faith.
+For they knowledge well, that the works of Jesu Christ be good, and his
+words and his deeds and his doctrine by his gospels were true, and his
+miracles also true; and the blessed Virgin Mary is good, and holy maiden
+before and after the birth of Jesu Christ; and that all those that
+believe perfectly in God shall be saved.  And because that they go so
+nigh our faith, they be lightly converted to Christian law when men
+preach them and shew them distinctly the law of Jesu Christ, and when
+they tell them of the prophecies.
+
+And also they say, that they know well by the prophecies that the law of
+Mahomet shall fail, as the law of the Jews did; and that the law of
+Christian people shall last to the day of doom.  And if any man ask them
+what is their belief, they answer thus, and in this form: “We believe
+God, former of heaven and of earth, and of all other things that he made.
+And without him is nothing made.  And we believe of the day of doom, and
+that every man shall have his merit, after he hath deserved.  And, we
+believe it for sooth, all that God hath said by the mouths of his
+prophets.”
+
+Also Mahomet commanded in his _Alkaron_, that every man should have two
+wives, or three or four; but now they take unto nine, and of lemans as
+many as he may sustain.  And if any of their wives mis-bear them against
+their husband, he may cast her out of his house, and depart from her and
+take another; but he shall depart with her his goods.
+
+Also, when men speak to them of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
+Ghost, they say, that they be three persons, but not one God; for their
+_Alkaron_ speaketh not of the Trinity.  But they say well, that God hath
+speech, and else were he dumb.  And God hath also a spirit they know
+well, for else they say, he were not alive.  And when men speak to them
+of the Incarnation how that by the word of the angel God sent his wisdom
+in to earth and enombred him in the Virgin Mary, and by the word of God
+shall the dead be raised at the day of doom, they say, that it is sooth
+and that the word of God hath great strength.  And they say that whoso
+knew not the word of God he should not know God.  And they say also that
+Jesu Christ is the word of God: and so saith their _Alkaron_, where it
+saith that the angel spake to Mary and said: “Mary, God shall preach thee
+the gospel by the word of his mouth and his name shall be clept Jesu
+Christ.”
+
+And they say also, that Abraham was friend to God, and that Moses was
+familiar speaker with God, and Jesu Christ was the word and the spirit of
+God, and that Mohammet was right messenger of God.  And they say, that of
+these four, Jesu was the most worthy and the most excellent and the most
+great.  So that they have many good articles of our faith, albeit that
+they have no perfect law and faith as Christian men have; and therefore
+be they lightly converted, and namely those that understand the
+scriptures and the prophecies.  For they have the gospels and the
+prophecies and the Bible written in their language; wherefore they ken
+much of holy writ, but they understand it not but after the letter.  And
+so do the Jews, for they understand not the letter ghostly, but bodily;
+and therefore be they reproved of the wise, that ghostly understand it.
+And therefore saith Saint Paul: _Litera occidit_; _spiritus autem
+vivificat_.  Also the Saracens say, that the Jews be cursed; for they
+have befouled the law that God sent them by Moses: and the Christian be
+cursed also, as they say; for they keep not the commandments and the
+precepts of the gospel that Jesu Christ taught them.
+
+And, therefore, I shall tell you what the soldan told me upon a day in
+his chamber.  He let void out of his chamber all manner of men, lords and
+others, for he would speak with me in counsel.  And there he asked me how
+the Christian men governed them in our country.  And I said him, “Right
+well, thanked be God!”
+
+And he said me, “Truly nay!  For ye Christian ne reck right nought, how
+untruly to serve God!  Ye should give ensample to the lewd people for to
+do well, and ye give them ensample to do evil.  For the commons, upon
+festival days, when they should go to church to serve God, then go they
+to taverns, and be there in gluttony all the day and all night, and eat
+and drink as beasts that have no reason, and wit not when they have
+enough.  And also the Christian men enforce themselves in all manners
+that they may, for to fight and for to deceive that one that other.  And
+therewithal they be so proud, that they know not how to be clothed; now
+long, now short, now strait, now large, now sworded, now daggered, and in
+all manner guises.  They should be simple, meek and true, and full of
+alms-deeds, as Jesu was, in whom they trow; but they be all the contrary,
+and ever inclined to the evil, and to do evil.  And they be so covetous,
+that, for a little silver, they sell their daughters, their sisters and
+their own wives to put them to lechery.  And one withdraweth the wife of
+another, and none of them holdeth faith to another; but they defoul their
+law that Jesu Christ betook them to keep for their salvation.  And thus,
+for their sins, have they lost all this land that we hold.  For, for
+their sins, their God hath taken them into our hands, not only by
+strength of ourself, but for their sins.  For we know well, in very
+sooth, that when ye serve God, God will help you; and when he is with
+you, no man may be against you.  And that know we well by our prophecies,
+that Christian men shall win again this land out of our hands, when they
+serve God more devoutly; but as long as they be of foul and of unclean
+living (as they be now) we have no dread of them in no kind, for their
+God will not help them in no wise.”
+
+And then I asked him, how he knew the state of Christian men.  And he
+answered me, that he knew all the state of all courts of Christian kings
+and princes and the state of the commons also by his messengers that he
+sent to all lands, in manner as they were merchants of precious stones,
+of cloths of gold and of other things, for to know the manner of every
+country amongst Christian men.  And then he let clepe in all the lords
+that he made void first out of his chamber, and there he shewed me four
+that were great lords in the country, that told me of my country and of
+many other Christian countries, as well as they had been of the same
+country; and they spake French right well, and the soldan also; whereof I
+had great marvel.
+
+Alas! that it is great slander to our faith and to our law, when folk
+that be without law shall reprove us and undernim us of our sins, and
+they that should be converted to Christ and to the law of Jesu by our
+good ensamples and by our acceptable life to God, and so converted to the
+law of Jesu Christ, be, through our wickedness and evil living, far from
+us and strangers from the holy and very belief, shall thus appeal us and
+hold us for wicked livers and cursed.  And truly they say sooth, for the
+Saracens be good and faithful; for they keep entirely the commandment of
+the holy book _Alkaron_ that God sent them by his messenger Mahomet, to
+the which, as they say, Saint Gabriel the angel oftentime told the will
+of God.
+
+And ye shall understand, that Mahomet was born in Arabia, that was first
+a poor knave that kept camels, that went with merchants for merchandise.
+And so befell, that he went with the merchants into Egypt; and they were
+then Christian in those parts.  And at the deserts of Arabia, he went
+into a chapel where a hermit dwelt.  And when he entered into the chapel
+that was but a little and a low thing and had but a little door and a
+low, then the entry began to wax so great, and so large and so high as
+though it had been of a great minster or the gate of a palace.  And this
+was the first miracle, the Saracens say, that Mahomet did in his youth.
+
+After began he for to wax wise and rich.  And he was a great astronomer.
+And after, he was governor and prince of the land of Cozrodane; and he
+governed it full wisely, in such manner, that when the prince was dead,
+he took the lady to wife that hight Gadrige.  And Mahomet fell often in
+the great sickness that men call the falling evil; wherefore the lady was
+full sorry that ever she took him to husband.  But Mahomet made her to
+believe, that all times, when he fell so, Gabriel the angel came for to
+speak with him, and for the great light and brightness of the angel he
+might not sustain him from falling; and therefore the Saracens say, that
+Gabriel came often to speak with him.
+
+This Mahomet reigned in Arabia, the year of our Lord Jesu Christ 610, and
+was of the generation of Ishmael that was Abraham’s son, that he gat upon
+Hagar his chamberer.  And therefore there be Saracens that be clept
+Ishmaelites; and some Hagarenes, of Hagar.  And the other properly be
+clept Saracens, of Sarah.  And some be clept Moabites and some Ammonites,
+for the two sons of Lot, Moab and Ammon, that he begat on his daughters
+that were afterward great earthly princes.
+
+And also Mahomet loved well a good hermit that dwelled in the deserts a
+mile from Mount Sinai, in the way that men go from Arabia toward Chaldea
+and toward Ind, one day’s journey from the sea, where the merchants of
+Venice come often for merchandise.  And so often went Mahomet to this
+hermit, that all his men were wroth; for he would gladly hear this hermit
+preach and make his men wake all night.  And therefore his men thought to
+put the hermit to death.  And so it befell upon a night, that Mahomet was
+drunken of good wine, and he fell on sleep.  And his men took Mahomet’s
+sword out of his sheath, whiles he slept, and therewith they slew this
+hermit, and put his sword all bloody in his sheath again.  And at morrow,
+when he found the hermit dead, he was full sorry and wroth, and would
+have done his men to death.  But they all, with one accord, said that he
+himself had slain him, when he was drunken, and shewed him his sword all
+bloody.  And he trowed that they had said sooth.  And then he cursed the
+wine and all those that drink it.  And therefore Saracens that be devout
+drink never no wine.  But some drink it privily; for if they drunk it
+openly, they should be reproved.  But they drink good beverage and sweet
+and nourishing that is made of gallamelle and that is that men make sugar
+of, that is of right good savour, and it is good for the breast.
+
+Also it befalleth some-time, that Christian men become Saracens, either
+for poverty or for simpleness, or else for their own wickedness.  And
+therefore the archflamen or the flamen, as our archbishop or bishop, when
+he receiveth them saith thus: _La ellec olla Sila_, _Machomete rores
+alla_; that is to say, ‘There is no God but one, and Mahomet his
+messenger.’
+
+Now I have told you a part of their law and of their customs, I shall say
+you of their letters that they have, with their names and the manner of
+their figures what they be: Almoy, Bethath, Cathi, Ephoti, Delphoi,
+Fothi, Garothi, Hechum, Iotty, Kaythi, Lothum, Malach, Nabaloth, Orthi,
+Chesiri, ȝoch, Ruth, Holath, Routhi, Salathi, Thatimus, Yrthom, Aȝaȝoth,
+Arrocchi, ȝotipyn, Ichetus.  And these be the names of their a. b. c.
+Now shall ye know the figures. . . . And four letters they have more than
+other for diversity of their language and speech, forasmuch as they speak
+in their throats; and we in England have in our language and speech two
+letters more than they have in their a. b. c.; and that is Þ and ȝ, which
+be clept thorn and ȝogh.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+_Of the lands of Albania and of Libia_.  _Of the wishings for watching of
+                 the Sparrow-hawk_; _and of Noah’s ship_
+
+NOW, sith I have told you before of the Holy Land and of that country
+about, and of many ways for to go to that land and to the Mount Sinai,
+and of Babylon the more and the less, and to other places that I have
+spoken before, now is time, if it like you, for to tell you of the
+marches and isles and diverse beasts, and of diverse folk beyond these
+marches.
+
+For in those countries beyond be many diverse countries and many great
+kingdoms, that be departed by the four floods that come from paradise
+terrestrial.  For Mesopotamia and the kingdom of Chaldea and Arabia be
+between the two rivers of Tigris and of Euphrates; and the kingdom of
+Media and of Persia be between the rivers of Nile and of Tigris; and the
+kingdom of Syria, whereof I have spoken before, and Palestine and
+Phoenicia be between Euphrates and the sea Mediterranean, the which sea
+dureth in length from Morocco, upon the sea of Spain, unto the Great Sea,
+so that it lasteth beyond Constantinople 3040 miles of Lombardy.
+
+And toward the sea Ocean in Ind is the kingdom of Scythia, that is all
+closed with hills.  And after, under Scythia, and from the sea of Caspian
+unto the flom of Thainy, is Amazonia, that is the land of feminye, where
+that no man is, but only all women.  And after is Albania, a full great
+realm; and it is clept Albania, because that the folk be whiter there
+than in other marches there-about: and in that country be so great hounds
+and so strong, that they assail lions and slay them.  And then after is
+Hircania, Bactria, Hiberia and many other kingdoms.
+
+And between the Red Sea and the sea Ocean, toward the south is the
+kingdom of Ethiopia and of Lybia the higher, the which land of Lybia
+(that is to say, Lybia the low) that beginneth at the sea of Spain from
+thence where the pillars of Hercules be, and endureth unto anent Egypt
+and toward Ethiopia.  In that country of Lybia is the sea more high than
+the land, and it seemeth that it would cover the earth, and natheles yet
+it passeth not his marks.  And men see in that country a mountain to the
+which no man cometh.  In this land of Lybia whoso turneth toward the
+east, the shadow of himself is on the right side; and here, in our
+country, the shadow is on the left side.  In that sea of Lybia is no
+fish; for they may not live ne dure for the great heat of the sun,
+because that the water is evermore boiling for the great heat.  And many
+other lands there be that it were too long to tell or to number.  But of
+some parts I shall speak more plainly hereafter.
+
+Whoso will then go toward Tartary, toward Persia, toward Chaldea and
+toward Ind, he must enter the sea at Genoa or at Venice or at some other
+haven that I have told you before.  And then pass men the sea and arrive
+at Trebizond that is a good city; and it was wont to be the haven of
+Pontus.  There is the haven of Persians and of Medians and of the marches
+there beyond.  In that city lieth Saint Athanasius that was bishop of
+Alexandria, that made the psalm _Quicunque vult_.
+
+This Athanasius was a great doctor of divinity.  And, because that he
+preached and spake so deeply of divinity and of the Godhead, he was
+accused to the Pope of Rome that he was an heretic.  Wherefore the Pope
+sent after him and put him in prison.  And whiles he was in prison he
+made that psalm and sent it to the Pope, and said, that if he were an
+heretic, then was that heresy, for that, he said, was his belief.  And
+when the Pope saw it, and had examined it that it was perfect and good,
+and verily our faith and our belief, he made him to be delivered out of
+prison, and commanded that psalm to be said every day at prime; and so he
+held Athanasius a good man.  But he would never go to his bishopric
+again, because that they accused him of heresy.
+
+Trebizond was wont to be holden of the Emperor of Constantinople; but a
+great man, that he sent for to keep the country against the Turks,
+usurped the land and held it to himself, and cleped him Emperor of
+Trebizond.
+
+And from thence men go through Little Armenia.  And in that country is an
+old castle that stands upon a rock; the which is clept the castle of the
+Sparrow-hawk, that is beyond the city of Layays beside the town of
+Pharsipee, that belongeth to the lordship of Cruk, that is a rich lord
+and a good Christian man; where men find a sparrow-hawk upon a perch
+right fair and right well made, and a fair lady of faerie that keepeth
+it.  And who that will watch that sparrow-hawk seven days and seven
+nights, and, as some men say, three days and three nights, without
+company and without sleep, that fair lady shall give him, when he hath
+done, the first wish that he will wish of earthly things; and that hath
+been proved often-times.
+
+And one time befell, that a King of Armenia, that was a worthy knight and
+doughty man, and a noble princes watched that hawk some time.  And at the
+end of seven days and seven nights the lady came to him and bade him
+wish, for he had well deserved it.  And he answered that he was great
+lord enough, and well in peace, and had enough of worldly riches; and
+therefore he would wish none other thing, but the body of that fair lady,
+to have it at his will.  And she answered him, that he knew not what he
+asked, and said that he was a fool to desire that he might not have; for
+she said that he should not ask but earthly thing, for she was none
+earthly thing, but a ghostly thing.  And the king said that he ne would
+ask none other thing.  And the lady answered; “Sith that I may not
+withdraw you from your lewd corage, I shall give you without wishing, and
+to all them that shall come of you.  Sir king! ye shall have war without
+peace, and always to the nine degree, ye shall be in subjection of your
+enemies, and ye shall be needy of all goods.”  And never since, neither
+the King of Armenia nor the country were never in peace; ne they had
+never sith plenty of goods; and they have been sithen always under
+tribute of the Saracens.
+
+Also the son of a poor man watched that hawk and wished that he might
+chieve well, and to be happy to merchandise.  And the lady granted him.
+And he became the most rich and the most famous merchant that might be on
+sea or on earth.  And he became so rich that he knew not the thousand
+part of that he had.  And he was wiser in wishing than was the king.
+
+Also a knight of the Temple watched there, and wished a purse evermore
+full of gold.  And the lady granted him.  But she said him that he had
+asked the destruction of their order for the trust and the affiance of
+that purse, and for the great pride that they should have.  And so it
+was.  And therefore look he keep him well, that shall wake.  For if he
+sleep he is lost, that never man shall see him more.
+
+This is not the right way for to go to the parts that I have named
+before, but for to see the marvel that I have spoken of.  And therefore
+whoso will go right way, men go from Trebizond toward Armenia the Great
+unto a city that is clept Erzeroum, that was wont to be a good city and a
+plenteous; but the Turks have greatly wasted it.  There-about groweth no
+wine nor fruit, but little or else none.  In this land is the earth more
+high than in any other, and that maketh great cold.  And there be many
+good waters and good wells that come under earth from the flom of
+Paradise, that is clept Euphrates, that is a journey beside that city;
+and that river cometh towards Ind under earth, and resorteth into the
+land of Altazar.  And so pass men by this Armenia and enter the sea of
+Persia.
+
+From that city of Erzeroum go men to an hill that is clept Sabissocolle.
+And there beside is another hill that men clepe Ararat, but the Jews
+clepe it Taneez, where Noah’s ship rested, and yet is upon that mountain.
+And men may see it afar in clear weather.  And that mountain is well a
+seven mile high.  And some men say that they have seen and touched the
+ship, and put their fingers in the parts where the fiend went out, when
+that Noah said, _Benedicite_.  But they that say such words, say their
+will.  For a man may not go up the mountain, for great plenty of snow
+that is always on that mountain, neither summer nor winter.  So that no
+man may go up there, ne never man did, since the time of Noah, save a
+monk that, by the grace of God, brought one of the planks down, that yet
+is in the minster at the foot of the mountain.
+
+And beside is the city of Dain that Noah founded.  And fast by is the
+city of Any in the which were wont to be a thousand churches.
+
+But upon that mountain to go up, this monk had great desire.  And so upon
+a day, he went up.  And when he was upward the three part of the mountain
+he was so weary that he might no further, and so he rested him, and fell
+asleep.  And when he awoke he found himself lying at the foot of the
+mountain.  And then he prayed devoutly to God that he would vouchsafe to
+suffer him go up.  And an angel came to him, and said that he should go
+up.  And so he did.  And sith that time never none.  Wherefore men should
+not believe such words.
+
+From that mountain go men to the city of Thauriso that was wont to be
+clept Taxis, that is a full fair city and a great, and one of the best
+that is in the world for merchandise; thither come all merchants for to
+buy avoirdupois, and it is in the land of the Emperor of Persia.  And men
+say that the emperor taketh more good in that city for custom of
+merchandise than doth the richest Christian king of all his realm that
+liveth.  For the toll and the custom of his merchants is without
+estimation to be numbered.  Beside that city is a hill of salt, and of
+that salt every man taketh what he will for to salt with, to his need.
+There dwell many Christian men under tribute of Saracens.  And from that
+city, men pass by many towns and castles in going toward Ind unto the
+city of Sadonia, that is a ten journeys from Thauriso, and it is a full
+noble city and a great.  And there dwelleth the Emperor of Persia in
+summer; for the country is cold enough.  And there be good rivers bearing
+ships.
+
+After go men the way toward Ind by many journeys, and by many countries,
+unto the city that is clept Cassak, and that is a full noble city, and a
+plenteous of corns and wines and of all other goods.  This is the city
+where the three kings met together when they went to seek our Lord in
+Bethlehem to worship him and to present him with gold, incense, and
+myrrh.  And it is from that city to Bethlehem fifty-three journeys.  From
+that city men go to another city that is clept Gethe, that is a journey
+from the sea that men clepe the Gravelly Sea.  That is the best city that
+the Emperor of Persia hath in all his land.  And they clepe flesh there
+Dabago and the wine Vapa.  And the Paynims say that no Christian man may
+not long dwell ne endure with the life in that city, but die within short
+time; and no man knoweth not the cause.
+
+After go men by many cities and towns and great countries that it were
+too long to tell unto the city of Cornaa that was wont to be so great
+that the walls about hold twenty-five mile about.  The walls shew yet,
+but it is not all inhabited.  From Cornaa go men by many lands and many
+cities and towns unto the land of Job.  And there endeth the land of the
+Emperor of Persia.  And if ye will know the letters of Persians and what
+names they have, they be such as I last devised you, but not in sounding
+of their words.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+_Of the land of Job_; _and of his age_.  _Of the array of men of
+Chaldea_.  _Of the land where women dwell without company of men_.  _Of
+the knowledge and virtues of the very diamond_
+
+AFTER the departing from Cornaa, men enter into the land of Job that is a
+full fair country and a plenteous of all goods.  And men clepe that land
+the Land of Susiana.  In that land is the city of Theman.
+
+Job was a paynim, and he was Aram of Gosre, his son, and held that land
+as prince of that country.  And he was so rich that he knew not the
+hundred part of his goods.  And although he were a paynim, nevertheless
+he served well God after his law.  And our Lord took his service to his
+pleasane.  And when he fell in poverty he was seventy-eight year of age.
+And after, when God had proved his patience and that it was so great, he
+brought him again to riches and to higher estate than he was before.  And
+after that he was King of Idumea after King Esau, and when he was king he
+was clept Jobab.  And in that kingdom he lived after 170 year.  And so he
+was of age, when he died, 248 year.
+
+In that land of Job there ne is no default of no thing that is needful to
+man’s body.  There be hills, where men get great plenty of manna in
+greater abundance than in any other country.  This manna is clept bread
+of angels.  And it is a white thing that is full sweet and right
+delicious, and more sweet than honey or sugar.  And it cometh of the dew
+of heaven that falleth upon the herbs in that country.  And it congealeth
+and becometh all white and sweet.  And men put it in medicines for rich
+men to make the womb lax, and to purge evil blood.  For it cleanseth the
+blood and putteth out melancholy.  This land of Job marcheth to the
+kingdom of Chaldea.
+
+This land of Chaldea is full great.  And the language of that country is
+more great in sounding than it is in other parts of the sea.  Men pass to
+go beyond by the Tower of Babylon the Great, of the which I have told you
+before, where that all the languages were first changed.  And that is a
+four journeys from Chaldea.  In that realm be fair men, and they go full
+nobly arrayed in clothes of gold, orfrayed and apparelled with great
+pearls and precious stone’s full nobly.  And the women be right foul and
+evil arrayed.  And they go all bare-foot and clothed in evil garments
+large and wide, but they be short to the knees, and long sleeves down to
+the feet like a monk’s frock, and their sleeves be hanging about their
+shoulders.  And they be black women foul and hideous, and truly as foul
+as they be, as evil they be.
+
+In that kingdom of Chaldea, in a city that is clept Ur, dwelled Terah,
+Abraham’s father.  And there was Abraham born.  And that was in that time
+that Ninus was king of Babylon, of Arabia and of Egypt.  This Ninus made
+the city of Nineveh, the which that Noah had begun before.  And because
+that Ninus performed it, he cleped it Nineveh after his own name.  There
+lieth Tobit the prophet, of whom Holy Writ speaketh of.  And from that
+city of Ur Abraham departed, by the commandment of God, from thence,
+after the death of his father, and led with him Sarah his wife and Lot
+his brother’s son, because that he had no child.  And they went to dwell
+in the land of Canaan in a place that is clept Shechem.  And this Lot was
+he that was saved, when Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities were
+burnt and sunken down to hell, where that the Dead Sea is now, as I have
+told you before.  In that land of Chaldea they have their proper
+languages and their proper letters, such as ye may see hereafter.
+
+Beside the land of Chaldea is the land of Amazonia, that is the land of
+Feminye.  And in that realm is all women and no man; not, as some men
+say, that men may not live there, but for because that the women will not
+suffer no men amongst them to be their sovereigns.
+
+For sometime there was a king in that country.  And men married, as in
+other countries.  And so befell that the king had war with them of
+Scythia, the which king hight Colopeus, that was slain in battle, and all
+the good blood of his realm.  And when the queen and all the other noble
+ladies saw that they were all widows, and that all the royal blood was
+lost, they armed them and, as creatures out of wit, they slew all the men
+of the country that were left; for they would that all the women were
+widows as the queen and they were.  And from that time hitherwards they
+never would suffer man to dwell amongst them longer than seven days and
+seven nights; ne that no child that were male should dwell amongst them
+longer than he were nourished; and then sent to his father.  And when
+they will have any company of man then they draw them towards the lands
+marching next to them.  And then they have loves that use them; and they
+dwell with them an eight days or ten, and then go home again.  And if
+they have any knave child they keep it a certain time, and then send it
+to the father when he can go alone and eat by himself; or else they slay
+it.  And if it be a female they do away that one pap with an hot iron.
+And if it be a woman of great lineage they do away the left pap that they
+may the better bear a shield.  And if it be a woman on foot they do away
+the right pap, for to shoot with bow turkeys: for they shoot well with
+bows.
+
+In that land they have a queen that governeth all that land, and all they
+be obeissant to her.  And always they make her queen by election that is
+most worthy in arms; for they be right good warriors and orped, and wise,
+noble and worthy.  And they go oftentime in solde to help of other kings
+in their wars, for gold and silver as other soldiers do; and they
+maintain themselves right vigourously.  This land of Amazonia is an isle,
+all environed with the sea save in two places, where be two entries.  And
+beyond that water dwell the men that be their paramours and their loves,
+where they go to solace them when they will.
+
+Beside Amazonia is the land of Tarmegyte that is a great country and a
+full delectable.  And for the goodness of the country King Alexander let
+first make there the city of Alexandria, and yet he made twelve cities of
+the same name; but that city is now clept Celsite.
+
+And from that other coast of Chaldea, toward the south, is Ethiopia, a
+great country that stretcheth to the end of Egypt.  Ethiopia is departed
+in two parts principal, and that is in the east part and in the
+meridional part; the which part meridional is clept Mauritania; and the
+folk of that country be black enough and more black than in the tother
+part, and they be clept Moors.  In that part is a well, that in the day
+it is so cold, that no man may drink thereof; and in the night it is so
+hot, that no man may suffer his hand therein.  And beyond that part,
+toward the south, to pass by the sea Ocean, is a great land and a great
+country; but men may not dwell there for the fervent burning of the sun,
+so is it passing hot in that country.
+
+In Ethiopia all the rivers and all the waters be trouble, and they be
+somedeal salt for the great heat that is there.  And the folk of that
+country be lightly drunken and have but little appetite to meat.  And
+they have commonly the flux of the womb.  And they live not long.  In
+Ethiopia be many diverse folk; and Ethiope is clept Cusis.  In that
+country be folk that have but one foot, and they go so blyve that it is
+marvel.  And the foot is so large, that it shadoweth all the body against
+the sun, when they will lie and rest them.  In Ethiopia, when the
+children be young and little, they be all yellow; and, when that they wax
+of age, that yellowness turneth to be all black.  In Ethiopia is the city
+of Saba, and the land of the which one of the three kings that presented
+our Lord in Bethlehem, was king of.
+
+From Ethiopia men go into Ind by many diverse countries.  And men clepe
+the high Ind, Emlak.  And Ind is divided in three principal parts; that
+is, the more that is a full hot country; and Ind the less, that is a full
+attempre country, that stretcheth to the land of Media; and the three
+part toward the septentrion is full cold, so that, for pure cold and
+continual frost, the water becometh crystal.  And upon those rocks of
+crystal grow the good diamonds that be of trouble colour.  Yellow crystal
+draweth colour like oil.  And they be so hard, that no man may polish
+them.  And men clepe them diamonds in that country, and _Hamese_ in
+another country.  Other diamonds men find in Arabia that be not so good,
+and they be more brown and more tender.  And other diamonds also men find
+in the isle of Cyprus, that be yet more tender, and them men may well
+polish.  And in the land of Macedonia men find diamonds also.  But the
+best and the most precious be in Ind.
+
+And men find many times hard diamonds in a mass that cometh out of gold,
+when men pure it and refine it out of the mine; when men break that mass
+in small pieces, and sometime it happens that men find some as great as a
+peas and some less, and they be as hard as those of Ind.
+
+And albeit that men find good diamonds in Ind, yet nevertheless men find
+them more commonly upon the rocks in the sea and upon hills where the
+mine of gold is.  And they grow many together, one little, another great.
+And there be some of the greatness of a bean and some as great as an
+hazel nut.  And they be square and pointed of their own kind, both above
+and beneath, without working of man’s hand.  And they grow together, male
+and female.  And they be nourished with the dew of heaven.  And they
+engender commonly and bring forth small children, that multiply and grow
+all the year.  I have often-times assayed, that if a man keep them with a
+little of the rock and wet them with May-dew oft-sithes, they shall grow
+every year, and the small will wax great.  For right as the fine pearl
+congealeth and waxeth great of the dew of heaven, right so doth the very
+diamond; and right as the pearl of his own kind taketh roundness, right
+so the diamond, by virtue of God, taketh squareness.  And men shall bear
+the diamond on his left side, for it is of greater virtue then, than on
+the right side; for the strength of their growing is toward the north,
+that is the left side of the world, and the left part of man is when he
+turneth his face toward the east.
+
+And if you like to know the virtues of the diamond, (as men may find in
+_The Lapidary_ that many men know not), I shall tell you, as they beyond
+the sea say and affirm, of whom all science and all philosophy cometh
+from.  He that beareth the diamond upon him, it giveth him hardiness and
+manhood, and it keepeth the limbs of his body whole.  It giveth him
+victory of his enemies in plea and in war, if his cause be rightful.  And
+it keepeth him that beareth it in good wit.  And it keepeth him from
+strife and riot, from evil swevens from sorrows and from enchantments,
+and from fantasies and illusions of wicked spirits.  And if any cursed
+witch or enchanter would bewitch him that beareth the diamond, all that
+sorrow and mischance shall turn to himself through virtue of that stone.
+And also no wild beast dare assail the man that beareth it on him.  Also
+the diamond should be given freely, without coveting and without buying,
+and then it is of greater virtue.  And it maketh a man more strong and
+more sad against his enemies.  And it healeth him that is lunatic, and
+them that the fiend pursueth or travaileth.  And if venom or poison be
+brought in presence of the diamond, anon it beginneth to wax moist and
+for to sweat.
+
+There be also diamonds in Ind that be clept violastres, (for their colour
+is like violet, or more brown than the violets), that be full hard and
+full precious.  But yet some men love not them so well as the other; but,
+in sooth, to me, I would love them as much as the other, for I have seen
+them assayed.
+
+Also there is another manner of diamonds that be as white as crystal, but
+they be a little more trouble.  And they be good and of great virtue, and
+all they be square and pointed of their own kind.  And some be six
+squared, some four squared, and some three as nature shapeth them.  And
+therefore when great lords and knights go to seek worship in arms, they
+bear gladly the diamond upon them.
+
+I shall speak a little more of the diamonds, although I tarry my matter
+for a time, to the end, that they that know them not, be not deceived by
+gabbers that go by the country, that sell them.  For whoso will buy the
+diamond it is needful to him that he know them.  Because that men
+counterfeit them often of crystal that is yellow and of sapphires of
+citron colour that is yellow also, and of the sapphire loupe and of many
+other stones.  But I tell you these counterfeits be not so hard; and also
+the points will break lightly, and men may easily polish them.  But some
+workmen, for malice, will not polish them; to that intent, to make men
+believe that they may not be polished.  But men may assay them in this
+manner.  First shear with them or write with them in sapphires, in
+crystal or in other precious stones.  After that, men take the adamant,
+that is the shipman’s stone, that draweth the needle to him, and men lay
+the diamond upon the adamant, and lay the needle before the adamant; and,
+if the diamond be good and virtuous, the adamant draweth not the needle
+to him whiles the diamond is there present.  And this is the proof that
+they beyond the sea make.
+
+Natheles it befalleth often-time, that the good diamond loseth his virtue
+by sin, and for incontinence of him that beareth it.  And then it is
+needful to make it to recover his virtue again, or else it is of little
+value.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+_Of the customs of Isles about Ind_.  _Of the difference betwixt Idols
+and Simulacres_.  _Of three manner growing of Pepper upon one tree_.  _Of
+the Well that changeth his odour every hour of the day_; _and that is
+marvel_
+
+IN Ind be full many diverse countries.  And it is clept Ind, for a flom
+that runneth throughout the country that is clept Ind.  In that flom men
+find eels of thirty foot long and more.  And the folk that dwell nigh
+that water be of evil colour, green and yellow.
+
+In Ind and about Ind be more than 5000 isles good and great that men
+dwell in, without those that he inhabitable, and without other small
+isles.  In every isle is great plenty of cities, and of towns, and of
+folk without number.  For men of Ind have this condition of kind, that
+they never go out of their own country, and therefore is there great
+multitude of people.  But they be not stirring ne movable, because that
+they be in the first climate, that is of Saturn; and Saturn is slow and
+little moving, for he tarryeth to make his turn by the twelve signs
+thirty year.  And the moon passeth through the twelve signs in one month.
+And for because that Saturn is of so late stirring, therefore the folk of
+that country that be under his climate have of kind no will for to move
+ne stir to seek strange places.  And in our country is all the contrary;
+for we be in the seventh climate, that is of the moon.  And the moon is
+of lightly moving, and the moon is planet of way; and for that skill it
+giveth us will of kind for to move lightly and for to go divers ways, and
+to seek strange things and other diversities of the world; for the moon
+environeth the earth more hastily than any other planet.
+
+Also men go through Ind by many diverse countries to the great sea Ocean.
+And after, men find there an isle that is clept Crues.  And thither come
+merchants of Venice and Genoa, and of other marches, for to buy
+merchandises.  But there is so great heat in those marches, and namely in
+that isle, that, for the great distress of the heat, men’s ballocks hang
+down to their knees for the great dissolution of the body.  And men of
+that country, that know the manner, let bind them up, or else might they
+not live, and anoint them with ointments made therefore, to hold them up.
+
+In that country and in Ethiopia, and in many other countries, the folk
+lie all naked in rivers and waters, men and women together, from undern
+of the day till it be past the noon.  And they lie all in the water, save
+the visage, for the great heat that there is.  And the women have no
+shame of the men, but lie all together, side to side, till the heat be
+past.  There may men see many foul figure assembled, and namely nigh the
+good towns.
+
+In that isle be ships without nails of iron or bonds, for the rocks of
+the adamants, for they be all full thereabout in that sea, that it is
+marvel to speak of.  And if a ship passed by those marches that had
+either iron bonds or iron nails, anon he should be perished; for the
+adamant of his kind draweth the iron to him.  And so would it draw to him
+the ship because of the iron, that he should never depart from it, ne
+never go thence.
+
+From that isle men go by sea to another isle that is clept Chana, where
+is great plenty of corn and wine.  And it was wont to be a great isle,
+and a great haven and a good; but the sea hath greatly wasted it and
+overcome it.  The king of that country was wont to be so strong and so
+mighty that he held war against King Alexander.
+
+The folk of that country have a diverse law.  For some of them worship
+the sun, some the moon, some the fire, some trees, some serpents, or the
+first thing that they meet at morrow.  And some worship simulacres and
+some idols.  But between simulacres and idols is a great difference.  For
+simulacres be images made after likeness of men or of women, or of the
+sun, or of the moon, or of any beast, or of any kindly thing.  And idols
+is an image made of lewd will of man, that man may not find among kindly
+things, as an image that hath four heads, one of a man, another of an
+horse or of an ox, or of some other beast, that no man hath seen after
+kindly disposition.
+
+And they that worship simulacres, they worship them for some worthy man
+that was sometime, as Hercules, and many other that did many marvels in
+their time.  For they say well that they be not gods; for they know well
+that there is a God of kind that made all things, the which is in heaven.
+But they know well that this may not do the marvels that he made, but if
+it had been by the special gift of God; and therefore they say that he
+was well with God, and for because that he was so well with God,
+therefore they worship him.  And so say they of the sun, because that he
+changeth the time, and giveth heat, and nourisheth all things upon earth;
+and for it is of so great profit, they know well that that might not be,
+but that God loveth it more than any other thing, and, for that skill,
+God hath given it more great virtue in the world.  Therefore, it is good
+reason, as they say, to do it worship and reverence.  And so say they,
+and make their reasons, 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 in
+earth and most patient, and more profitable than any other.  For he doth
+good enough and he doth no evil; 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 half of a man.  Because that man is the most
+noble creature in earth, and also for he hath lordship above all beasts,
+therefore make they the halvendel of idol of a man upwards; and the
+tother half of an ox downwards, and of serpents, and of other beasts and
+diverse things, that they worship, that they meet first at morrow.
+
+And they worship also specially all those that they have good meeting of;
+and when they speed well in their journey, after their meeting, and
+namely such as they have proved and assayed by experience of long time;
+for they say that thilk good meeting ne may not come but of the grace of
+God.  And therefore they make images like to those things that they have
+belief in, for to behold them and worship them first at morning, or they
+meet any contrarious things.  And there be also some Christian men that
+say, that some beasts have good meeting, that is to say for to meet with
+them first at morrow, and some beasts wicked meeting; and that they have
+proved oft-time that the hare hath full evil meeting, and swine and many
+other beasts.  And the sparrow-hawk or other fowls of ravine, when they
+fly after their prey and take it before men of arms, it is a good sign;
+and if he fail of taking his prey, it is an evil sign.  And also to such
+folk, it is an evil meeting of ravens.
+
+In these things and in such other, there be many folk that believe;
+because it happeneth so often-time to fall after their fantasies.  And
+also there be men enough that have no belief in them.  And, sith that
+Christian men have such belief, that be informed and taught all day by
+holy doctrine, wherein they should believe, it is no marvel then, that
+the paynims, that have no good doctrine but only of their nature, believe
+more largely for their simplesse.  And truly I have seen of paynims and
+Saracens that men clepe Augurs, that, when we ride in arms in divers
+countries upon our enemies, by the flying of fowls they would tell us the
+prognostications of things that fell after; and so they did full
+oftentimes, and proffered their heads to-wedde, but if it would fall as
+they said.  But natheles, therefore should not a man put his belief in
+such things, but always have full trust and belief in God our sovereign
+Lord.
+
+This isle of Chana the Saracens have won and hold.  In that isle be many
+lions and many other wild beasts.  And there be rats in that isle as
+great as hounds here; and men take them with great mastiffs, for cats may
+not take them.  In this isle and many other men bury not no dead men, for
+the heat is there so great, that in a little time the flesh will consume
+from the bones.
+
+From thence men go by sea toward Ind the more to a city, that men clepe
+Sarche, that is a fair city and a good.  And there dwell many Christian
+men of good faith.  And there be many religious men, and namely of
+mendicants.
+
+After go men by sea to the land of Lomb.  In that land groweth the pepper
+in the forest that men clepe Combar.  And it groweth nowhere else in all
+the world, but in that forest, and that endureth well an eighteen
+journeys in length.  In the forest be two good cities; that one hight
+Fladrine and that other Zinglantz, and in every of them dwell Christian
+men and Jews, great plenty.  For it is a good country and a plentiful,
+but there is overmuch passing heat.
+
+And ye shall understand, that the pepper groweth in manner as doth a wild
+vine that is planted fast by the trees of that wood for to sustain it by,
+as doth the vine.  And the fruit thereof hangeth in manner as raisins.
+And the tree is so thick charged, that it seemeth that it would break.
+And when it is ripe it is all green, as it were ivy berries.  And then
+men cut them, as men do the vines, and then they put it upon an oven, and
+there it waxeth black and crisp.  And there is three manner of pepper all
+upon one tree; long pepper, black pepper and white pepper.  The long
+pepper men clepe _Sorbotin_, and the black pepper is clept _Fulfulle_,
+and the white pepper is clept _Bano_.  The long pepper cometh first when
+the leaf beginneth to come, and it is like the cats of hazel that cometh
+before the leaf, and it hangeth low.  And after cometh the black with the
+leaf, in manner of clusters of raisins, all green.  And when men have
+gathered it, then cometh the white that is somedeal less than the black.
+And of that men bring but little into this country; for they beyond
+withhold it for themselves, because it is better and more attempre in
+kind than the black.  And therefore is there not so great plenty as of
+the black.
+
+In that country be many manner of serpents and of other vermin for the
+great heat of the country and of the pepper.  And some men say, that when
+they will gather the pepper, they make fire, and burn about to make the
+serpents and the cockodrills to flee.  But save their grace of all that
+say so.  For if they burnt about the trees that bear, the pepper should
+be burnt, and it would dry up all the virtue, as of any other thing; and
+then they did themselves much harm, and they should never quench the
+fire.  But thus they do: they anoint their hands and their feet [with a
+juice] made of snails and of other things made therefore, of the which
+the serpents and the venomous beasts hate and dread the savour; and that
+maketh them flee before them, because of the smell, and then they gather
+it surely enough.
+
+Also toward the head of that forest is the city of Polombe.  And above
+the city is a great mountain that also is clept Polombe.  And of that
+mount the city hath his name.
+
+And at the foot of that mount is a fair well and a great, that hath odour
+and savour of all spices.  And at every hour of the day he changeth his
+odour and his savour diversely.  And whoso drinketh three times fasting
+of that water of that well he is whole of all manner sickness that he
+hath.  And they that dwell there and drink often of that well they never
+have sickness; and they seem always young.  I have drunken thereof three
+or four sithes, and yet, methinketh, I fare the better.  Some men clepe
+it the well of youth.  For they that often drink thereof seem always
+young-like, and live without sickness.  And men say, that that well
+cometh out of Paradise, and therefore it is so virtuous.
+
+By all that country groweth good ginger, and therefore thither go the
+merchants for spicery.
+
+In that land men worship the ox for his simpleness and for his meekness,
+and for the profit that cometh of him.  And they say, that he is the
+holiest beast in earth.  For them seemeth, that whosoever be 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 year or seven, and then
+they eat him.  And the king of the country hath alway an ox with him.
+And he that keepeth him hath every day great fees, and keepeth every day
+his dung and his urine in two vessels of gold, and bring it before their
+prelate that they clepe Archi-protopapaton.  And he beareth it before the
+king and maketh there over a great blessing.  And then the king wetteth
+his hands there, in that they clepe gall, and anointeth his front and his
+breast.  And after, he froteth him with the dung and with the urine with
+great reverence, for to be fullfilled of virtues of the ox and made holy
+by the virtue of that holy thing that nought is worth.  And when the king
+hath done, then do the lords; and after them their ministers and other
+men, if they may have any remenant.
+
+In that country they make idols, half man half ox.  And in those idols
+evil spirits speak and give answer to men of what is asked them.  Before
+these idols men slay their children many times, and spring the blood upon
+the idols; and so they make their sacrifice.
+
+And when any man dieth in the country they burn his body in name of
+penance; to that intent, that he suffer no pain in earth to be eaten of
+worms.  And if his wife have no child they burn her with him, and say,
+that it is reason, that she make him company in that other world as she
+did in this.  But and she have children with him, they let her live with
+them, to bring them up if she will.  And if that she love more to live
+with her children than for to die with her husband, men hold her for
+false and cursed; ne she shall never be loved ne trusted of the people.
+And if the woman die, before the husband, men burn him with her, if that
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+_Of the Dooms made by St. Thomas’s hand_.  _Of devotion and sacrifice
+made to Idols there_, _in the city of Calamye_; _and of the Procession in
+going about the city_
+
+FROM that country men pass by many marches toward a country, a ten
+journeys thence, that is clept Mabaron; and it is a great kingdom, and it
+hath many fair cities and towns.
+
+In that kingdom lieth the body of Saint Thomas the apostle in flesh and
+bone, in a fair tomb in the city of Calamye; for there he was martyred
+and buried.  And men of Assyria bare his body into Mesopotamia into the
+city of Edessa, and after, he was brought thither again.  And the arm and
+the hand that he put in our Lord’s side, when he appeared to him after
+his resurrection and said to him, _Noli esse incredulus_, _sed fidelis_,
+is yet lying in a vessel without the tomb.  And by that hand they make
+all their judgments in the country, whoso hath right or wrong.  For when
+there is any dissension between two parties, and every of them
+maintaineth his cause, and saith that his cause is rightful, and that
+other saith the contrary, then both parties write their causes in two
+bills and put them in the hand of Saint Thomas.  And anon he casteth away
+the bill of the wrong cause and holdeth still the bill with the right
+cause.  And therefore men come from far countries to have judgment of
+doubtable causes.  And other judgment use they none there.
+
+Also the church, where Saint Thomas’ lieth, is both great and fair, and
+all full of great simulacres, and those be great images that they clepe
+their gods, of the which the least is as great as two men.
+
+And, amongst these other, there is a great image more than any of the
+other, that is all covered with fine gold and precious stones and rich
+pearls; and that idol is the god of false Christians that have reneyed
+their faith.  And it sitteth in a chair of gold, full nobly arrayed, and
+he hath about his neck large girdles wrought of gold and precious stones
+and pearls.  And this church is full richly wrought and, all overgilt
+within.  And to that idol go men on pilgrimage, as commonly and with as
+great devotion as Christian men go to Saint James, or other holy
+pilgrimages.  And many folk that come from far lands to seek that idol
+for the great devotion that they have, they look never upward, but
+evermore down to the earth, for dread to see anything about them that
+should let them of their devotion.  And some there be that go on
+pilgrimage to this idol, that bear knives in their hands, that be made
+full keen and sharp; and always as they go, they smite themselves in
+their arms and in their legs and in their thighs with many hideous
+wounds; and so they shed their blood for love of that idol.  And they
+say, that he is blessed and holy, that dieth so for love of his god.  And
+other there be that lead their children for to slay, to make sacrifice to
+that idol; and after they have slain them they spring the blood upon the
+idol.  And some there be that come from far; and in going toward this
+idol, at every third pace that they go from their house, they kneel; and
+so continue till they come thither: and when they come there, they take
+incense and other aromatic things of noble smell, and cense the idol, as
+we would do here God’s precious body.  And so come folk to worship this
+idol, some from an hundred mile, and some from many more.
+
+And before the minster of this idol, is a vivary, in manner of a great
+lake, full of water.  And therein pilgrims cast gold and silver, pearls
+and precious stones without number, instead of offerings.  And when the
+minister of that church need to make any reparation of the church or of
+any of the idols, they take gold and silver, pearls and precious stones
+out of the vivary, to quit the costage of such thing as they make or
+repair; so that that nothing is faulty, but anon it shall be amended.
+And ye shall understand, that when [there be] great feasts and
+solemnities of that idol, as the dedication of the church and the
+throning of the idol, all the country about meet there together.  And
+they set this idol upon a car with great reverence, well arrayed with
+cloths of gold, of rich cloths of Tartary, of Camaka, and other precious
+cloths.  And they lead him about the city with great solemnity.  And
+before the car go first in procession all the maidens of the country, two
+and two together full ordinatly.  And after those maidens go the
+pilgrims.  And some of them fall down under the wheels of the car, and
+let the car go over them, so that they be dead anon.  And some have their
+arms or their limbs all to-broken, and some the sides.  And all this do
+they for love of their god, in great devotion.  And them thinketh that
+the more pain, and the more tribulation that they suffer for love of
+their god, the more joy they shall have in another world.  And, shortly
+to say you, they suffer so great pains, and so hard martyrdoms for love
+of their idol, that a Christian man, I trow, durst not take upon him the
+tenth part the pain for love of our Lord Jesu Christ.  And after, I say
+you, before the car, go all the minstrels of the country without number,
+with diverse instruments, and they make all the melody that they can.
+
+And when they have gone all about the city, then they return again to the
+minster, and put the idol again into his place.  And then for the love
+and in worship of that idol, and for the reverence of the feast, they
+slay themselves, a two hundred or three hundred persons, with sharp
+knives, of the which they bring the bodies before the idol.  And then
+they say that those be saints, because that they slew themselves of their
+own good will for love of their idol.  And as men here that had an holy
+saint of his kin would think that it were to them an high worship, right
+so then, thinketh there.  And as men here devoutly would write holy
+saints’ lives and their miracles, and sue for their canonizations, right
+so do they there for them that slay themselves wilfully for love of their
+idol, and say, that they be glorious martyrs and saints, and put them in
+their writings and in their litanies, and avaunt them greatly, one to
+another, of their holy kinsmen that so become saints, and say, I have
+more holy saints in my kindred, than thou in thine!
+
+And the custom also there is this, that when they that have such devotion
+and intent for to slay himself for love of his god, they send for all
+their friends, and have great plenty of minstrels; and they go before the
+idol leading him that will slay himself for such devotion between them,
+with great reverence.  And he, all naked, hath a full sharp knife in his
+hand, and he cutteth a great piece of his flesh, and casteth it in the
+face of his idol, saying his orisons, recommending him to his god.  And
+then he smiteth himself and maketh great wounds and deep, here and there,
+till he fall down dead.  And then his friends present his body to the
+idol.  And then they say, singing, Holy god! behold what thy true servant
+hath done for thee.  He hath forsaken his wife and his children and his
+riches, and all the goods of the world and his own life for the love of
+thee, and to make thee sacrifice of his flesh and of his blood.
+Wherefore, holy god, put him among thy best beloved saints in thy bliss
+of paradise, for he hath well deserved it.  And then they make a great
+fire, and burn the body.  And then everych of his friends take a quantity
+of the ashes, and keep them instead of relics, and say that it is holy
+thing.  And they have no dread of no peril whiles they have those holy
+ashes upon them.  And [they] put his name in their litanies as a saint.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+_Of the evil customs used in the Isle of Lamary_.  _And how the earth and
+the sea be of round form and shape_, _by proof of the star that is clept
+Antarctic_, _that is fixed in the south_
+
+FROM that country go men by the sea ocean, and by many divers isles and
+by many countries that were too long for to tell of.  And a fifty-two
+journeys from this land that I have spoken of, there is another land,
+that is full great, that men clepe Lamary.  In that land is full great
+heat.  And the custom there is such, that men and women go all naked.
+And they scorn when they see any strange folk going clothed.  And they
+say, that God made Adam and Eve all naked, and that no man should shame
+him to shew him such as God made him, for nothing is foul that is of
+kindly nature.  And they say, that they that be clothed be folk of
+another world, or they be folk that trow not in God.  And they say, that
+they believe in God that formed the world, and that made Adam and Eve and
+all other things.  And they wed there no wives, for all the women there
+be common and they forsake no man.  And they say they sin if they refuse
+any man; and so God commanded to Adam and Eve and to all that come of
+him, when he said, _Crescite et multiplicamini et replete terram_.  And
+therefore may no man in that country say, This is my wife; ne no woman
+may say, This my husband.  And when they have children, they may give
+them to what man they will that hath companied with them.  And also all
+the land is common; for all that a man holdeth one year, another man hath
+it another year; and every man taketh what part that him liketh.  And
+also all the goods of the land be common, corns and all other things: for
+nothing there is kept in close, ne nothing there is under lock, and every
+man there taketh what he will without any contradiction, and as rich is
+one man there as is another.
+
+But in that country there is a cursed custom, for they eat more gladly
+man’s flesh than any other flesh; and yet is that country abundant of
+flesh, of fish, of corns, of gold and silver, and of all other goods.
+Thither go merchants and bring with them children to sell to them of the
+country, and they buy them.  And if they be fat they eat them anon.  And
+if they be lean they feed them till they be fat, and then they eat them.
+And they say, that it is the best flesh and the sweetest of all the
+world.
+
+In that land, ne in many other beyond that, no man may see the Star
+Transmontane, that is clept the Star of the Sea, that is unmovable and
+that is toward the north, that we clepe the Lode-star.  But men see
+another star, the contrary to him, that is toward the south, that is
+clept Antartic.  And right as the ship-men take their advice here and
+govern them by the Lode-star, right so do ship-men beyond those parts by
+the star of the south, the which star appeareth not to us.  And this star
+that is toward the north, that we clepe the Lode-star, ne appeareth not
+to them.  For which cause men may well perceive, that the land and the
+sea be of round shape and form; for the part of the firmament sheweth in
+one country that sheweth not in another country.  And men may well prove
+by experience and subtle compassment of wit, that if a man found passages
+by ships that would go to search the world, men might go by ship all
+about the world and above and beneath.
+
+The which thing I prove thus after that I have seen.  For I have been
+toward the parts of Brabant, and beholden the Astrolabe that the star
+that is clept the Transmontane is fifty-three degrees high; and more
+further in Almayne and Bohemia it hath fifty-eight degrees; and more
+further toward the parts septentrional it is sixty-two degrees of height
+and certain minutes; for I myself have measured it by the Astrolabe.  Now
+shall ye know, that against the Transmontane is the tother star that is
+clept Antarctic, as I have said before.  And those two stars ne move
+never, and by them turneth all the firmament right as doth a wheel that
+turneth by his axle-tree.  So that those stars bear the firmament in two
+equal parts, so that it hath as much above as it hath beneath.  After
+this, I have gone toward the parts meridional, that is, toward the south,
+and I have found that in Lybia men see first the star Antarctic.  And so
+far I have gone more further in those countries, that I have found that
+star more high; so that toward the High Lybia it is eighteen degrees of
+height and certain minutes (of the which sixty minutes make a degree).
+After going by sea and by land toward this country of that I have spoken,
+and to other isles and lands beyond that country, I have found the Star
+Antarctic of thirty-three degrees of height and more minutes.  And if I
+had had company and shipping for to go more beyond, I trow well, in
+certain, that we should have seen all the roundness of the firmament all
+about.  For, as I have said to you before, the half of the firmament is
+between those two stars, the which halvendel I have seen.  And of the
+tother halvendel I have seen, toward the north under the Transmontane,
+sixty-two degrees and ten minutes, and toward the part meridional I have
+seen under the Antarctic, thirty-three degrees and sixteen minutes.  And
+then, the halvendel of the firmament in all holdeth not but nine score
+degrees.  And of those nine score, I have seen sixty-two on that one part
+and thirty-three on that other part; that be, ninety-five degrees and
+nigh the halvendel of a degree.  And so, there ne faileth but that I have
+seen all the firmament, save four score and four degrees and the
+halvendel of a degree, and that is not the fourth part of the firmament;
+for the fourth part of the roundness of the firmament holds four score
+and ten degrees, so there faileth but five degrees and an half of the
+fourth part.  And also I have seen the three parts of all the roundness
+of the firmament and more yet five degrees and a half.  By the which I
+say you certainly that men may environ all the earth of all the world, as
+well under as above, and turn again to his country, that had company and
+shipping and conduct.  And always he should find men, lands and isles, as
+well as in this country.  For ye wit well, that they that be toward the
+Antarctic, they be straight, feet against feet, of them that dwell under
+the Transmontane; also well as we and they that dwell under us be feet
+against feet.  For all the parts of sea and of land have their opposites,
+habitable trepassable, and they of this half and beyond half.
+
+And wit well, that, after that that I may perceive and comprehend, the
+lands of Prester John, Emperor of Ind, be under us.  For in going from
+Scotland or from England toward Jerusalem men go upward always.  For our
+land is in the low part of the earth toward the west, and the land of
+Prester John is in the low part of the earth toward the east.  And [they]
+have there the day when we have the night; and also, high to the
+contrary, they have the night when we have the day.  For the earth and
+the sea be of round form and shape, as I have said before; and that that
+men go upward to one coast, men go downward to another coast.
+
+Also ye have heard me say that Jerusalem is in the midst of the world.
+And that may men prove, and shew there by a spear, that is pight into the
+earth, upon the hour of midday, when it is equinox, that sheweth no
+shadow on no side.  And that it should be in the midst of the world,
+David witnesseth it in the Psalter, where he saith, _Deus operatus est
+salutem in media terrae_.  Then, they, that part from those parts of the
+west for to go toward Jerusalem, as many journeys as they go upward for
+to go thither, in as many journeys may they go from Jerusalem unto other
+confines of the superficiality of the earth beyond.  And when men go
+beyond those journeys toward Ind and to the foreign isles, all is
+environing the roundness of the earth and of the sea under our countries
+on this half.
+
+And therefore hath it befallen many times of one thing that I have heard
+counted when I was young, how a worthy man departed some-time from our
+countries for to go search the world.  And so he passed Ind and the isles
+beyond Ind, where be more than 5000 isles.  And so long he went by sea
+and land, and so environed the world by many seasons, that he found an
+isle where he heard speak his own language, calling on oxen in the
+plough, such words as men speak to beasts in his own country whereof he
+had great marvel, for he knew not how it might be.  But I say, that he
+had gone so long by land and by sea, that he had environed all the earth;
+that he was come again environing, that is to say, going about, unto his
+own marches, and if he would have passed further, till he had found his
+country and his own knowledge.  But he turned again from thence, from
+whence he was come from.  And so he lost much painful labour, as himself
+said a great while after that he was come home.  For it befell after,
+that he went into Norway.  And there tempest of the sea took him, and he
+arrived in an isle.  And, when he was in that isle, he knew well that it
+was the isle, where he had heard speak his own language before and the
+calling of oxen at the plough; and that was possible thing.
+
+But how it seemeth to simple men unlearned, that men ne may not go under
+the earth, and also that men should fall toward the heaven from under.
+But that may not be, upon less than we may fall toward heaven from the
+earth where we be.  For from what part of the earth that men dwell,
+either above or beneath, it seemeth always to them that dwell that they
+go more right than any other folk.  And right as it seemeth to us that
+they be under us, right so it seemeth to them that we be under them.  For
+if a man might fall from the earth unto the firmament, by greater, reason
+the earth and the sea that be so great and so heavy should fall to the
+firmament: but that may not be, and therefore saith our Lord God, _Non
+timeas me_, _qui suspendi terram ex nihilo_?
+
+And albeit that it be possible thing that men may so environ all the
+world, natheles, of a thousand persons, one ne might not happen to return
+into his country.  For, for the greatness of the earth and of the sea,
+men may go by a thousand and a thousand other ways, that no man could
+ready him perfectly toward the parts that he came from, but if it were by
+adventure and hap, or by the grace of God.  For the earth is full large
+and full great, and holds in roundness and about environ, by above and by
+beneath, 20425 miles, after the opinion of old wise astronomers; and
+their sayings I reprove nought.  But, after my little wit, it seemeth me,
+saving their reverence, that it is more.
+
+And for to have better understanding I say thus.  Be there imagined a
+figure that hath a great compass.  And, about the point of the great
+compass that is clept the centre, be made another little compass.  Then
+after, be the great compass devised by lines in many parts, and that all
+the lines meet at the centre.  So, that in as many parts as the great
+compass shall be departed, in as many shall be departed the little, that
+is about the centre, albeit that the spaces be less.  Now then, be the
+great compass represented for the firmament, and the little compass
+represented for the earth.  Now then, the firmament is devised by
+astronomers in twelve signs, and every sign is devised in thirty degrees;
+that is, 360 degrees that the firmament hath above.  Also, be the earth
+devised in as many parts as the firmament, and let every part answer to a
+degree of the firmament.  And wit it well, that, after the authors of
+astronomy, 700 furlongs of earth answer to a degree of the firmament, and
+those be eighty-seven miles and four furlongs.  Now be that here
+multiplied by 360 sithes, and then they be 31,500 miles every of eight
+furlongs, after miles of our country.  So much hath the earth in
+roundness and of height environ, after mine opinion and mine
+understanding.
+
+And ye shall understand, that after the opinion of old wise philosophers
+and astronomers, our country ne Ireland ne Wales ne Scotland ne Norway ne
+the other isles coasting to them ne be not in the superficiality counted
+above the earth, as it sheweth by all the books of astronomy.  For the
+superficiality of the earth is parted in seven parts for the seven
+planets, and those parts be clept climates.  And our parts be not of the
+seven climates, for they be descending toward the west †[drawing] towards
+the roundness of the world.  †And also these isles of Ind which be even
+against us be not reckoned in the climates.  For they be against us that
+be in the low country.  And the seven climates stretch them environing
+the world.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+_Of the Palace of the King of the Isle of Java_.  _Of the Trees that bear
+meal_, _honey_, _wine_, _and venom_; _and of other marvels and customs
+used in the Isles marching thereabout_
+
+BESIDE that isle that I have spoken of, there is another isle that is
+clept Sumobor.  That is a great isle, and the king thereof is right
+mighty.  The folk of that isle make them always to be marked in the
+visage with an hot iron, both men and women, for great noblesse, for to
+be known from other folk; for they hold themselves most noble and most
+worthy of all the world.  And they have war always with the folk that go
+all naked.
+
+And fast beside is another isle, that is clept Betemga, that is a good
+isle and a plenteous.  And many other isles be thereabout, where there be
+many of diverse folk, of the which it were too long to speak of all.
+
+But fast beside that isle, for to pass by sea, is a great isle and a
+great country that men clepe Java.  And it is nigh two thousand mile in
+circuit.  And the king of that country is a full great lord and a rich
+and a mighty, and hath under him seven other kings of seven other isles
+about him.  This isle is full well inhabited, and full well manned.
+There grow all manner of spicery, more plenteously than in any other
+country, as of ginger, cloves-gilofre, canell, seedwall, nutmegs and
+maces.  And wit well, that the nutmeg beareth the maces; for right as the
+nut of the hazel hath an husk without, that the nut is closed in till it
+be ripe and that after falleth out, right so it is of the nutmeg and of
+the maces.  Many other spices and many other goods grow in that isle.
+For of all things is there plenty, save only of wine.  But there is gold
+and silver, great plenty.
+
+And the king of that country hath a palace full noble and full
+marvellous, and more rich than any in the world.  For all the degrees to
+go up into halls and chambers be, one of gold, another of silver.  And
+also, the pavements of halls and chambers be all square, of gold one, and
+another of silver.  And all the walls within be covered with gold and
+silver in fine plates, and in those plates be stories and battles of
+knights enleved, and the crowns and the circles about their heads be made
+of precious stones and rich pearls and great.  And the halls and the
+chambers of the palace be all covered within with gold and silver, so
+that no man would trow the riches of that palace but he had seen it.  And
+wit well, that the king of that isle is so mighty, that he hath many
+times overcome the great Chan of Cathay in battle, that is the most great
+emperor that is under the firmament either beyond the sea or on this
+half.  For they have had often-time war between them, because that the
+great Chan would constrain him to hold his land of him; but that other at
+all times defendeth him well against him.
+
+After that isle, in going by sea, men find another isle, good and great,
+that men clepe Pathen, that is a great kingdom full of fair cities and
+full of towns.  In that land grow trees that bear meal, whereof men make
+good bread and white and of good savour; and it seemeth as it were of
+wheat, but it is not allinges of such savour.  And there be other trees
+that bear honey good and sweet, and other trees that bear venom, against
+the which there is no medicine but [one]; and that is to take their
+proper leaves and stamp them and temper them with water and then drink
+it, and else he shall die; for triacle will not avail, ne none other
+medicine.  Of this venom the Jews had let seek of one of their friends
+for to empoison all Christianity, as I have heard them say in their
+confession before their dying: but thanked be Almighty God! they failed
+of their purpose; but always they make great mortality of people.  And
+other trees there be also that bear wine of noble sentiment.  And if you
+like to hear how the meal cometh out of the trees I shall say you.  Men
+hew the trees with an hatchet, all about the foot of the tree, till that
+the bark be parted in many parts, and then cometh out thereof a thick
+liquor, the which they receive in vessels, and dry it at the heat of the
+sun; and then they have it to a mill to grind and it becometh fair meal
+and white.  And the honey and the wine and the venom be drawn out of
+other trees in the same manner, and put in vessels for to keep.
+
+In that isle is a dead sea, that is a lake that hath no ground; and if
+anything fall into that lake it shall never come up again.  In that lake
+grow reeds, that be canes, that they clepe Thaby, that be thirty fathoms
+long; and of these canes men make fair houses.  And there be other canes
+that be not so long, that grow near the land and have so long roots that
+endure well a four quarters of a furlong or more; and at the knots of
+those roots men find precious stones that have great virtues.  And he
+that beareth any of them upon him, iron ne steel may not hurt him, ne
+draw no blood upon him; and therefore, they that have those stones upon
+them fight full hardily both on sea and land, for men may not harm [them]
+on no part.  And therefore, they that know the manner, and shall fight
+with them, they shoot to them arrows and quarrels without iron or steel,
+and so they hurt them and slay them.  And also of those canes they make
+houses and ships and other things, as we have here, making houses and
+ships of oak or of any other trees.  And deem no man that I say it but
+for a trifle, for I have seen of the canes with mine own eyes, full many
+times, lying upon the river of that lake, of the which twenty of our
+fellows ne might not lift up ne bear one to the earth.
+
+After this isle men go by sea to another isle that is clept Calonak.  And
+it is a fair land and a plenteous of goods.  And the king of that country
+hath as many wives as he will.  For he maketh search all the country to
+get him the fairest maidens that may be found, and maketh them to be
+brought before him.  And he taketh one one night, and another another
+night, and so forth continually suing; so that he hath a thousand wives
+or more.  And he lieth never but one night with one of them, and another
+night with another; but if that one happen to be more lusty to his
+pleasance than another.  And therefore the king getteth full many
+children, some-time an hundred, some-time a two-hundred, and some-time
+more.  And he hath also into a 14,000 elephants or more that he maketh
+for to be brought up amongst his villains by all his towns.  For in case
+that he had any war against any other king about him, then [he] maketh
+certain men of arms for to go up into the castles of tree made for the
+war, that craftily be set upon the elephants’ backs, for to fight against
+their enemies.  And so do other kings there-about.  For the manner of war
+is not there as it is here or in other countries, ne the ordinance of war
+neither.  And men clepe the elephants _Warkes_.
+
+And in that isle there is a great marvel, more to speak of than in any
+other part of the world.  For all manner of fishes, that be there in the
+sea about them, come once in the year—each manner of diverse fishes, one
+manner of kind after other.  And they cast themselves to the sea bank of
+that isle so great plenty and multitude, that no man may unnethe see but
+fish.  And there they abide three days.  And every man of the country
+taketh of them as many as him liketh.  And after, that manner of fish
+after the third day departeth and goeth into the sea.  And after them
+come another multitude of fish of another kind and do in the same manner
+as the first did, other three days.  And after them another, till all the
+diverse manner of fishes have been there, and that men have taken of them
+that them liketh.  And no man knoweth the cause wherefore it may be.  But
+they of the country say that it is for to do reverence to their king,
+that is the most worthy king that is in the world as they say; because
+that he fulfilleth the commandment that God bade to Adam and Eve, when
+God said, _Crescite et multiplicamini et replete terram_.  And for
+because that he multiplieth so the world with children, therefore God
+sendeth him so the fishes of diverse kinds of all that be in the sea, to
+take at his will for him and all his people.  And therefore all the
+fishes of the sea come to make him homage as the most noble and excellent
+king of the world, and that is best beloved with God, as they say.  I
+know not the reason, why it is, but God knoweth; but this, me-seemeth, is
+the most marvel that ever I saw.  For this marvel is against kind and not
+with kind, that the fishes that have freedom to environ all the coasts of
+the sea at their own list, come of their own will to proffer them to the
+death, without constraining of man.  And therefore, I am siker that this
+may not be, without a great token.
+
+There be also in that country a kind of snails that be so great, that
+many persons may lodge them in their shells, as men would do in a little
+house.  And other snails there be that be full great but not so huge as
+the other.  And of these snails, and of great white worms that have black
+heads that be as great as a man’s thigh, and some less as great worms
+that men find there in woods, men make viand royal for the king and for
+other great lords.  And if a man that is married die in that country, men
+bury his wife with him all quick; for men say there, that it is reason
+that she make him company in that other world as she did in this.
+
+From that country men go by the sea ocean by an isle that is clept
+Caffolos.  Men of that country when their friends be sick they hang them
+upon trees, and say that it is better that birds, that be angels of God,
+eat them, than the foul worms of the earth.
+
+From that isle men go to another isle, where the folk be of full cursed
+kind.  For they nourish great dogs and teach them to strangle their
+friends when they be sick.  For they will not that they die of kindly
+death.  For they say, that they should suffer too great pain if they
+abide to die by themselves, as nature would.  And, when they be thus
+enstrangled, they eat their flesh instead of venison.
+
+Afterward men go by many isles by sea unto an isle that men clepe Milke.
+And there is a full cursed people.  For they delight in nothing more than
+for to fight and to slay men.  And they drink gladliest man’s blood, the
+which they clepe Dieu.  And the more men that a man may slay, the more
+worship he hath amongst them.  And if two persons be at debate and,
+peradventure, be accorded by their friends or by some of their alliance,
+it behoveth that every of them that shall be accorded drink of other’s
+blood: and else the accord ne the alliance is nought worth: ne it shall
+not be no reproof to him to break the alliance and the accord, but if
+every of them drink of others’ blood.
+
+And from that isle men go by sea, from isle to isle, unto an isle that is
+clept Tracoda, where the folk of that country be as beasts, and
+unreasonable, and dwell in caves that they make in the earth; for they
+have no wit to make them houses.  And when they see any man passing
+through their countries they hide them in their caves.  And they eat
+flesh of serpents, and they eat but little.  And they speak nought, but
+they hiss as serpents do.  And they set no price by no avoir ne riches,
+but only of a precious stone, that is amongst them, that is of sixty
+colours.  And for the name of the isle, they clepe it Tracodon.  And they
+love more that stone than anything else; and yet they know not the virtue
+thereof, but they covet it and love it only for the beauty.
+
+After that isle men go by the sea ocean, by many isles, unto an isle that
+is clept Nacumera, that is a great isle and good and fair.  And it is in
+compass about, more than a thousand mile.  And all the men and women of
+that isle have hounds’ heads, and they be clept Cynocephales.  And they
+be full reasonable and of good understanding, save that they worship an
+ox for their God.  And also every one of them beareth an ox of gold or of
+silver in his forehead, in token that they love well their God.  And they
+go all naked save a little clout, that they cover with their knees and
+their members.  They be great folk and well-fighting.  And they have a
+great targe that covereth all the body, and a spear in their hand to
+fight with.  And if they take any man in battle, anon they eat him.
+
+The king of that isle is full rich and full mighty and right devout after
+his law.  And he hath about his neck 300 pearls orient, good and great
+and knotted, as paternosters here of amber.  And in manner as we say our
+_Pater Noster_ and our _Ave Maria_, counting the _Pater Nosters_, right
+so this king saith every day devoutly 300 prayers to his God, or that he
+eat.  And he beareth also about his neck a ruby orient, noble and fine,
+that is a foot of length and five fingers large.  And, when they choose
+their king, they take him that ruby to bear in his hand; and so they lead
+him, riding all about the city.  And from thence-fromward they be all
+obeissant to him.  And that ruby he shall bear always about his neck, for
+if he had not that ruby upon him men would not hold him for king.  The
+great Chan of Cathay hath greatly coveted that ruby, but he might never
+have it for war, ne for no manner of goods.  This king is so rightful and
+of equity in his dooms, that men may go sikerly throughout all his
+country and bear with them what them list; that no man shall be hardy to
+rob them, and if he were, the king would justified anon.
+
+From this land men go to another isle that is clept Silha.  And it is
+well a 800 miles about.  In that land is full much waste, for it is full
+of serpents, of dragons and of cockodrills, that no man dare dwell there.
+These cockodrills be serpents, yellow and rayed above, and have four feet
+and short thighs, and great nails as claws or talons.  And there be some
+that have five fathoms in length, and some of six and of eight and of
+ten.  And when they go by places that be gravelly, it seemeth as though
+men had drawn a great tree through the gravelly place.  And there be also
+many wild beasts, and namely of elephants.
+
+In that isle is a great mountain.  And in mid place of the mount is a
+great lake in a full fair plain; and there is great plenty of water.  And
+they of the country say, that Adam and Eve wept upon that mount an
+hundred year, when they were driven out of Paradise, and that water, they
+say, is of their tears; for so much water they wept, that made the
+foresaid lake.  And in the bottom of that lake men find many precious
+stones and great pearls.  In that lake grow many reeds and great canes;
+and there within be many cocodrills and serpents and great water-leeches.
+And the king of that country, once every year, giveth leave to poor men
+to go into the lake to gather them precious stones and pearls, by way of
+alms, for the love of God that made Adam.  And all the year men find
+enough.  And for the vermin that is within, they anoint their arms and
+their thighs and legs with an ointment made of a thing that is clept
+lemons, that is a manner of fruit like small pease; and then have they no
+dread of no cockodrills, ne of none other venomous vermin.  This water
+runneth, flowing and ebbing, by a side of the mountain, and in that river
+men find precious stones and pearls, great plenty.  And men of that isle
+say commonly, that the serpents and the wild beasts of that country will
+not do no harm ne touch with evil no strange man that entereth into that
+country, but only to men that be born of the same country.
+
+In that country and others thereabout there be wild geese that have two
+heads.  And there be lions, all white and as great as oxen, and many
+other diverse beasts and fowls also that be not seen amongst us.
+
+And wit well, that in that country and in other isles thereabout, the sea
+is so high, that it seemeth as though it hung at the clouds, and that it
+would cover all the world.  And that is great marvel that it might be so,
+save only the will of God, that the air sustaineth it.  And therefore
+saith David in the Psalter, _Mirabiles elationes maris_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+_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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+_Of the great Chan of Cathay_.  _Of the royalty of his palace_, _and how
+he sits at meat_; _and of the great number of officers that serve him_
+
+CATHAY is a great country and a fair, noble and rich, and full of
+merchants.  Thither go merchants all years for to seek spices and all
+manner of merchandises, more commonly than in any other part.  And ye
+shall understand, that merchants that come from Genoa or from Venice or
+from Romania or other parts of Lombardy, they go by sea and by land
+eleven months or twelve, or more some-time, ere they may come to the isle
+of Cathay that is the principal region of all parts beyond; and it is of
+the great Chan.
+
+From Cathay go men toward the east by many journeys.  And then men find a
+good city between these others, that men clepe Sugarmago.  That city is
+one of the best stored of silk and other merchandises that is in the
+world.
+
+After go men yet to another old city toward the east.  And it is in the
+province of Cathay.  And beside that city the men of Tartary have let
+make another city that is dept Caydon.  And it hath twelve gates, and
+between the two gates there is always a great mile; so that the two
+cities, that is to say, the old and the new, have in circuit more than
+twenty mile.
+
+In this city is the siege of the great Chan in a full great palace and
+the most passing fair in all the world, of the which the walls be in
+circuit more than two mile.  And within the walls it is all full of other
+palaces.  And in the garden of the great palace there is a great hill,
+upon the which there is another palace; and it is the most fair and the
+most rich that any man may devise.  And all about the palace and the hill
+be many trees bearing many diverse fruits.  And all about that hill be
+ditches great and deep, and beside them be great vivaries on that one
+part and on that other.  And there is a full fair bridge to pass over the
+ditches.  And in these vivaries be so many wild geese and ganders and
+wild ducks and swans and herons that it is without number.  And all about
+these ditches and vivaries is the great garden full of wild beasts.  So
+that when the great Chan will have any disport on that, to take any of
+the wild beasts or of the fowls, he will let chase them and take them at
+the windows without going out of his chamber.
+
+This palace, where his siege is, is both great and passing fair.  And
+within the palace, in the hall, there be twenty-four pillars of fine
+gold.  And all the walls be covered within of red skins of beasts that
+men clepe panthers, that be fair beasts and well smelling; so that for
+the sweet odour of those skins no evil air may enter into the palace.
+Those skins be as red as blood, and they shine so bright against the sun,
+that unnethe no man may behold them.  And many folk worship those beasts,
+when they meet them first at morning, for their great virtue and for the
+good smell that they have.  And those skins they prize more than though
+they were plate of fine gold.
+
+And in the midst of this palace is the mountour for the great Chan, that
+is all wrought of gold and of precious stones and great pearls.  And at
+four corners of the mountour be four serpents of gold.  And all about
+there is y-made large nets of silk and gold and great pearls hanging all
+about the mountour.  And under the mountour be conduits of beverage that
+they drink in the emperor’s court.  And beside the conduits be many
+vessels of gold, by the which they that be of household drink at the
+conduit.
+
+And the hall of the palace is full nobly arrayed, and full marvellously
+attired on all parts in all things that men apparel with any hall.  And
+first, at the chief of the hall is the emperor’s throne, full high, where
+he sitteth at the meat.  And that is of fine precious stones, bordered
+all about with pured gold and precious stones, and great pearls.  And the
+grees that he goeth up to the table be of precious stones mingled with
+gold.
+
+And at the left side of the emperor’s siege is the siege of his first
+wife, one degree lower than the emperor; and it is of jasper, bordered
+with gold and precious stones.  And the siege of his second wife is also
+another siege, more lower than his first wife; and it is also of jasper,
+bordered with gold, as that other is.  And the siege of the third wife is
+also more low, by a degree, than the second wife.  For he hath always
+three wives with him, where that ever he be.
+
+And after his wives, on the same side, sit the ladies of his lineage yet
+lower, after that they be of estate.  And all those that be married have
+a counterfeit made like a man’s foot upon their heads, a cubit long, all
+wrought with great pearls, fine and orient, and above made with peacocks’
+feathers and of other shining feathers; and that stands upon their heads
+like a crest, in token that they be under man’s foot and under subjection
+of man.  And they that be unmarried have none such.
+
+And after at the right side of the emperor first sitteth his eldest son
+that shall reign after him.  And he sitteth also one degree lower than
+the emperor, in such manner of sieges as do the empresses.  And after him
+sit other great lords of his lineage, every of them a degree lower than
+the other, as they be of estate.
+
+And the emperor hath his table alone by himself, that is of gold and of
+precious stones, or of crystal bordered with gold, and full of precious
+stones or of amethysts, or of lignum aloes that cometh out of paradise,
+or of ivory bound or bordered with gold.  And every one of his wives hath
+also her table by herself.  And his eldest son and the other lords also,
+and the ladies, and all that sit with the emperor have tables alone by
+themselves, full rich.  And there ne is no table but that it is worth an
+huge treasure of goods.
+
+And under the emperor’s table sit four clerks that write all that the
+emperor saith, be it good, be it evil; for all that he saith must be
+holden, for he may not change his word, ne revoke it.
+
+And [at] great solemn feasts before the emperor’s table men bring great
+tables of gold, and thereon be peacocks of gold and many other manner of
+diverse fowls, all of gold and richly wrought and enamelled.  And men
+make them dance and sing, clapping their wings together, and make great
+noise.  And whether it be by craft or by necromancy I wot never; but it
+is a good sight to behold, and a fair; and it is great marvel how it may
+be.  But I have the less marvel, because that they be the most subtle men
+in all sciences and in all crafts that be in the world: for of subtlety
+and of malice and of farcasting they pass all men under heaven.  And
+therefore they say themselves, that they see with two eyes and the
+Christian men see but with one, because that they be more subtle than
+they.  For all other nations, they say, be but blind in cunning and
+working in comparison to them.  I did great business for to have learned
+that craft, but the master told me that he had made avow to his god to
+teach it to no creature, but only to his eldest son.
+
+Also above the emperor’s table and the other tables, and above a great
+part in the hall, is a vine made of fine gold.  And it spreadeth all
+about the hall.  And it hath many clusters of grapes, some white, some
+green, some yellow and some red and some black, all of precious stones.
+The white be of crystal and of beryl and of iris; the yellow be of
+topazes; the red be of rubies and of grenaz and of alabrandines; the
+green be of emeralds, of perydoz and of chrysolites; and the black be of
+onyx and garantez.  And they be all so properly made that it seemeth a
+very vine bearing kindly grapes.
+
+And before the emperor’s table stand great lords and rich barons and
+other that serve the emperor at the meat.  And no man is so hardy to
+speak a word, but if the emperor speak to him; but if it be minstrels
+that sing songs and tell jests or other disports, to solace with the
+emperor.  And all the vessels that men be served with in the hall or in
+chambers be of precious stones, and specially at great tables either of
+jasper or of crystal or of amethysts or of fine gold.  And the cups be of
+emeralds and of sapphires, or of topazes, of perydoz, and of many other
+precious stones.  Vessels of silver is there none, for they tell no price
+thereof to make no vessels of: but they make thereof grecings and pillars
+and pavements to halls and chambers.  And before the hall door stand many
+barons and knights clean armed to keep that no man enter, but if it be
+the will or the commandment of the emperor, or but if they be servants or
+minstrels of the household; and other none is not so hardy to neighen
+nigh the hall door.
+
+And ye shall understand, that my fellows and I with our yeomen, we served
+this emperor, and were his soldiers fifteen months against the King of
+Mancy, that held against him.  And the cause was for we had great lust to
+see his noblesse and the estate of his court and all his governance, to
+wit if it were such as we heard say that it was.  And truly we found it
+more noble and more excellent, and richer and more marvellous, than ever
+we heard speak of, insomuch that we would never have lieved it had we not
+seen it.  For I trow, that no man would believe the noblesse, the riches
+ne the multitude of folk that be in his court, but he had seen it; for it
+is not there as it is here.  For the lords here have folk of certain
+number as they may suffice; but the great Chan hath every day folk at his
+costage and expense as without number.  But the ordinance, ne the
+expenses in meat and drink, ne the honesty, ne the cleanness, is not so
+arrayed there as it is here; for all the commons there eat without cloth
+upon their knees, and they eat all manner of flesh and little of bread,
+and after meat they wipe their hands upon their skirts, and they eat not
+but once a day.  But the estate of lords is full great, and rich and
+noble.
+
+And albeit that some men will not trow me, but hold it for fable to tell
+them the noblesse of his person and of his estate and of his court and of
+the great multitude of folk that he holds, natheles I shall say you a
+part of him and of his folk, after that I have seen the manner and the
+ordinance full many a time.  And whoso that will may lieve me if he will,
+and whoso will not, may leave also.  For I wot well, if any man hath been
+in those countries beyond, though he have not been in the place where the
+great Chan dwelleth, he shall hear speak of him so much marvellous thing,
+that he shall not trow it lightly.  And truly, no more did I myself, till
+I saw it.  And those that have been in those countries and in the great
+Chan’s household know well that I say sooth.  And therefore I will not
+spare for them, that know not ne believe not but that that they see, for
+to tell you a part of him and of his estate that he holdeth, when he
+goeth from country to country, and when he maketh solemn feasts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+
+_Wherefore he is clept the great Chan_.  _Of the Style of his Letters_:
+_and of the Superscription about his great Seal and his Privy Seal_
+
+FIRST I shall say you why he was clept the great Chan.
+
+Ye shall understand, that all the world was destroyed by Noah’s flood,
+save only Noah and his wife and his children.  Noah had three sons, Shem,
+Cham, and Japhet.  This Cham was he that saw his father’s privy members
+naked when he slept, and scorned them, and shewed them with his finger to
+his brethren in scorning wise.  And therefore he was cursed of God.  And
+Japhet turned his face away and covered them.
+
+These three brethren had seisin in all the land.  And this Cham, for his
+cruelty, took the greater and the best part, toward the east, that is
+clept Asia, and Shem took Africa, and Japhet took Europe.  And therefore
+is all the earth parted in these three parts by these three brethren.
+Cham was the greatest and the most mighty, and of him came more
+generations than of the other.  And of his son Chuse was engendered
+Nimrod the giant, that was the first king that ever was in the world; and
+he began the foundation of the tower of Babylon.  And that time, the
+fiends of hell came many times and lay with the women of his generation
+and engendered on them diverse folk, as monsters and folk disfigured,
+some without heads, some with great ears, some with one eye, some giants,
+some with horses’ feet, and many other diverse shape against kind.  And
+of that generation of Cham be come the Paynims and divers folk that be in
+isles of the sea by all Ind.  And forasmuch as he was the most mighty,
+and no man might withstand him, he cleped himself the Son of God and
+sovereign of all the world.  And for this Cham, this emperor clepeth him
+Cham, and sovereign of all the world.
+
+And of the generation of Shem be come the Saracens.  And of the
+generation of Japhet is come the people of Israel.  And though that we
+dwell in Europe, this is the opinion, that the Syrians and the Samaritans
+have amongst them.  And that they told me, before that I went toward Ind,
+but I found it otherwise.  Natheles, the sooth is this; that Tartars and
+they that dwell in the great Asia, they came of Cham; but the Emperor of
+Cathay clepeth him not Cham, but Can, and I shall tell you how.
+
+It is but little more but eight score year that all Tartary was in
+subjection and in servage to other nations about.  For they were but
+bestial folk and did nothing but kept beasts and led them to pastures.
+But among them they had seven principal nations that were sovereigns of
+them all.  Of the which, the first nation or lineage was clept Tartar,
+and that is the most noble and the most prized.  The second lineage is
+clept Tanghot, the third Eurache, the fourth Valair, the fifth Semoche,
+the sixth Megly, the seventh Coboghe.
+
+Now befell it so that of the first lineage succeeded an old worthy man
+that was not rich, that had to name Changuys.  This man lay upon a night
+in his bed.  And he saw in avision, that there came before him a knight
+armed all in white.  And he sat upon a white horse, and said to him, Can,
+sleepest thou?  The Immortal God hath sent me to thee, and it is his
+will, that thou go to the seven lineages and say to them that thou shalt
+be their emperor.  For thou shalt conquer the lands and the countries
+that be about, and they that march upon you shall be under your
+subjection, as ye have been under theirs, for that is God’s will
+immortal.
+
+And when he came at morrow, Changuys rose, and went to seven lineages,
+and told them how the white knight had said.  And they scorned him, and
+said that he was a fool.  And so he departed from them all ashamed.  And
+the night ensuing, this white knight came to the seven lineages, and
+commanded them on God’s behalf immortal, that they should make this
+Changuys their emperor, and they should be out of subjection, and they
+should hold all other regions about them in their servage as they had
+been to them before.  And on the morrow, they chose him to be their
+emperor.  And they set him upon a black fertre, and after that they lift
+him up with great solemnity.  And they set him in a chair of gold and did
+him all manner of reverence, and they cleped him Chan, as the white
+knight called him.
+
+And when he was thus chosen, he would assay if he might trust in them or
+no, and whether they would be obeissant to him or no.  And then he made
+many statutes and ordinances that they clepe _Ysya Chan_.  The first
+statute was, that they should believe and obey in God Immortal, that is
+Almighty, that would cast them out of servage, and at all times clepe to
+him for help in time of need.  The tother statute was, that all manner of
+men that might bare arms should be numbered, and to every ten should be a
+master, and to every hundred a master, and to every thousand a master,
+and to every ten thousand a master.  After he commanded to the principals
+of the seven lineages, that they should leave and forsake all that they
+had in goods and heritage, and from thenceforth to hold them paid of that
+that he would give them of his grace.  And they did so anon.  After he
+commanded to the principals of the seven lineages, that every of them
+should bring his eldest son before him, and with their own hands smite
+off their heads without tarrying.  And anon his commandment was
+performed.
+
+And when the Chan saw that they made none obstacle to perform his
+commandment, then he thought well that he might trust in them, and
+commanded them anon to make them ready and to sue his banner.  And after
+this, Chan put in subjection all the lands about him.
+
+Afterward it befell upon a day, that the Can rode with a few meinie for
+to behold the strength of the country that he had won.  And so befell,
+that a great multitude of enemies met with him.  And for to give good
+example hardiness to his people, he was the first that fought, and in the
+midst of his enemies encountered, and there he was cast from his horse,
+and his horse slain.  And when his folk saw him at the earth, they were
+all abashed, and weened he had been dead, and flew every one, and their
+enemies after and chased them, but they wist not that the emperor was
+there.  And when the enemies were far pursuing the chase, the emperor hid
+him in a thick wood.  And whet, they were come again from the chase, they
+went and sought the woods if any of them had been hid in the thick of the
+woods; and many they found and slew them anon.  So it happened that as
+they went searching toward the place that the emperor was, they saw an
+owl sitting upon a tree above him; and then they said amongst them, that
+there was no man because that they saw that bird there, and so they went
+their way; and thus escaped the emperor from death.  And then he went
+privily all by night, till he came to his folk that were full glad of his
+coming, and made great thankings to God Immortal, and to that bird by
+whom their lord was saved.  And therefore principally above all fowls of
+world they worship the owl; and when they have any of their feathers,
+they keep them full preciously instead of relics, and bear them upon
+their heads with great reverence; and they hold themselves blessed and
+safe from all perils while that they have them upon them, and therefore
+they bear their feathers upon their heads.
+
+After all this the Chan ordained him, and assembled his people, and went
+upon them that had assailed him before, and destroyed them, and put them
+in subjection and servage.  And when he had won and put all the lands and
+countries on this half the Mount Belian in subjection, the white knight
+came to him again in his sleep, and said to him, Chan! the will of God
+Immortal is that thou pass the Mount Belian.  And thou shalt win the land
+and thou shalt put many nations in subjection.  And for thou shalt find
+no good passage for to go toward that country, go [to] the Mount Belian
+that is upon the sea, and kneel there nine times toward the east in the
+worship of God Immortal, and he shall shew the way to pass by.  And the
+Chan did so.  And anon the sea that touched and was fast to the mount
+began to withdraw him, and shewed fair way of nine foot breadth large;
+and so he passed with his folk, and won the land of Cathay that is the
+greatest kingdom of the world.
+
+And for the nine kneelings and for the nine foot of way the Chan and all
+the men of Tartary have the number of nine in great reverence.  And
+therefore who that will make the Chan any present, be it of horses, be it
+of birds, or of arrows or bows, or of fruit, or of any other thing,
+always he must make it of the number of nine.  And so then be the
+presents of greater pleasure to him; and more benignly he will receive
+them than though he were presented with an hundred or two hundred.  For
+him seemeth the number of nine so holy, because the messenger of God
+Immortal devised it.
+
+Also, when the Chan of Cathay had won the country of Cathay, and put in
+subjection and under foot many countries about, he fell sick.  And when
+he felt well that he should die, he said to his twelve sons, that everych
+of them should bring him one of his arrows.  And so they did anon.  And
+then he commanded that men should bind them together in three places.
+And then he took them to his eldest son, and bade him break them all
+together.  And he enforced him with all his might to break them, but he
+ne might not.  And then the Chan bade his second son to break them; and
+so, shortly, to all, each after other; but none of them might break them.
+And then he bade the youngest son dissever every one from other, and
+break everych by himself.  And so he did.  And then said the Chan to his
+eldest son and to all the others, Wherefore might ye not break them?  And
+they answered that they might not, because that they were bound together.
+And wherefore, quoth he, hath your little youngest brother broken them?
+Because, quoth they, that they were parted each from other.  And then
+said the Chan, My sons, quoth he, truly thus will it fare by you.  For as
+long as ye be bound together in three places, that is to say, in love, in
+truth and in good accord, no man shall be of power to grieve you.  But
+and ye be dissevered from these three places, that your one help not your
+other, ye shall be destroyed and brought to nought.  And if each of you
+love other and help other, ye shall be lords and sovereigns of all
+others.  And when he had made his ordinances, he died.
+
+And then after him reigned Ecchecha Cane, his eldest son.  And his other
+brethren went to win them many countries and kingdoms, unto the land of
+Prussia and of Russia, and made themselves to be clept Chane; but they
+were all obeissant to their elder brother, and therefore was he clept the
+great Chan.
+
+After Ecchecha reigned Guyo Chan.
+
+And after him Mango Chan that was a good Christian man and baptized, and
+gave letters of perpetual peace to all Christian men, and sent his
+brother Halaon with great multitude of folk for to win the Holy Land and
+for to put it into Christian men’s hands, and for to destroy Mahomet’s
+law, and for to take the Caliph of Bagdad that was emperor and lord of
+all the Saracens.  And when this caliph was taken, men found him of so
+high worship, that in all the remnant of the world, ne might a man find a
+more reverend man, ne higher in worship.  And then Halaon made him come
+before him, and said to him, Why, quoth he, haddest thou not taken with
+thee more soldiers and men enough, for a little quantity of treasure, for
+to defend thee and thy country, that art so abundant of treasure and so
+high in all worship?  And the caliph answered him, For he well trowed
+that he had enough of his own proper men.  And then said Halaon, Thou
+wert as a god of the Saracens.  And it is convenient to a god to eat no
+meat that is mortal.  And therefore, thou shall not eat but precious
+stones, rich pearls and treasure, that thou lovest so much.  And then he
+commanded him to prison, and all his treasure about him.  And so he died
+for hunger and thirst.  And then after this, Halaon won all the Land of
+Promission, and put it into Christian men’s hands.  But the great Chan,
+his brother, died; and that was great sorrow and loss to all Christian
+men.
+
+After Mango Chan reigned Cobyla Chan that was also a Christian man.  And
+he reigned forty-two year.  He founded the great city Izonge in Cathay,
+that is a great deal more than Rome.
+
+The tother great Chan that came after him became a Paynim, and all the
+others after him.
+
+The kingdom of Cathay is the greatest realm of the world.  And also the
+great Chan is the most mighty emperor of the world and the greatest lord
+under the firmament.  And so he clepeth him in his letters, right thus:
+_Chan_!  _Filius Dei excelsi_, _omnium universam terram colentium summus
+imperator_, _& dominus omnium dominantium_!  And the letter of his great
+seal, written about, is this; _Deus in coelo_, _Chan super terram_, _ejus
+fortitudo_.  _Omnium hominum imperatoris sigillum_.  And the
+superscription about his little seal is this; _Dei fortitudo_, _omnium
+hominum imperatoris sigillum_.
+
+And albeit that they be not christened, yet nevertheless the emperor and
+all the Tartars believe in God Immortal.  And when they will menace any
+man, then they say, God knoweth well that I shall do thee such a thing,
+and telleth his menace.
+
+And thus have ye heard, why he is clept the great Chan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+_Of the Governance of the great Chan’s Court_, _and when he maketh solemn
+feasts_.  _Of his Philosophers_.  _And of his array_, _when he rideth by
+the country_
+
+NOW shall I tell you the governance of the court of the great Chan, when
+he maketh solemn feasts; and that is principally four times in the year.
+
+The first feast is of his birth, that other is of his presentation in
+their temple that they clepe their Moseache, where they make a manner of
+circumcision, and the tother two feasts be of his idols.  The first feast
+of the idol is when he is first put into their temple and throned; the
+tother feast is when the idol beginneth first to speak, or to work
+miracles.  More be there not of solemn feasts, but if he marry any of his
+children.
+
+Now understand, that at every of these feasts he hath great multitude of
+people, well ordained and well arrayed, by thousands, by hundreds, and by
+tens.  And every man knoweth well what service he shall do, and every man
+giveth so good heed and so good attendance to his service that no man
+findeth no default.  And there be first ordained 4000 barons, mighty and
+rich, for to govern and to make ordinance for the feast, and for to serve
+the emperor.  And these solemn feasts be made without in halls and tents
+made of cloths of gold and of tartaries, full nobly.  And all those
+barons have crowns of gold upon their heads, full noble and rich, full of
+precious stones and great pearls orient.  And they be all clothed in
+cloths of gold or of tartaries or of camakas, so richly and so perfectly,
+that no man in the world can amend it, ne better devise it.  And all
+those robes be orfrayed all about, and dubbed full of precious stones and
+of great orient pearls, full richly.  And they may well do so, for cloths
+of gold and of silk be greater cheap there a great deal than be cloths of
+wool.  And these 4000 barons be devised in four companies, and every
+thousand is clothed in cloths all of one colour, and that so well arrayed
+and so richly, that it is marvel to behold.
+
+The first thousand, that is of dukes, of earls, of marquises and of
+admirals, all clothed in cloths of gold, with tissues of green silk, and
+bordered with gold full of precious stones in manner as I have said
+before.  The second thousand is all clothed in cloths diapered of red
+silk, all wrought with gold, and the orfrays set full of great pearl and
+precious stones, full nobly wrought.  The third thousand is clothed in
+cloths of silk, of purple or of Ind.  And the fourth thousand is in
+cloths of yellow.  And all their clothes be so nobly and so richly
+wrought with gold and precious stones and rich pearls, that if a man of
+this country had but only one of their robes, he might well say that he
+should never be poor; for the gold and the precious stones and the great
+orient pearls be of greater value on this half the sea than they be
+beyond the sea in those countries.
+
+And when they be thus apparelled, they go two and two together, full
+ordinately, before the emperor, without speech of any word, save only
+inclining to him.  And every one of them beareth a tablet of jasper or of
+ivory or of crystal, and the minstrels going before them, sounding their
+instruments of diverse melody.  And when the first thousand is thus
+passed and hath made his muster, he withdraweth him on that one side; and
+then entereth that other second thousand, and doth right so, in the same
+manner of array and countenance, is did the first; and after, the third;
+and then, the fourth; and none of them saith not one word.
+
+And at one side of the emperor’s table sit many philosophers that be
+proved for wise men in many diverse sciences, as of astronomy,
+necromancy, geomancy, pyromancy, hydromancy, of augury and of many other
+sciences.  And everych of them have before them astrolabes of gold, some
+spheres, some the brain pan of a dead man, some vessels of gold full of
+gravel or sand, some vessels of gold full of coals burning, some vessels
+of gold full of water and of wine and of oil, and some horologes of gold,
+made full nobly and richly wrought, and many other manner of instruments
+after their sciences.
+
+And at certain hours, when them thinketh time, they say to certain
+officers that stand before them, ordained for the time to fulfil their
+commandments; Make peace!
+
+And then say the officers; Now peace! listen!
+
+And after that, saith another of the philosophers; Every man do reverence
+and incline to the emperor, that is God’s Son and sovereign lord of all
+the world!  For now is time!  And then every man boweth his head toward
+the earth.
+
+And then commandeth the same philosopher again; Stand up!  And they do
+so.
+
+And at another hour, saith another philosopher; Put your little finger in
+your ears!  And anon they do so.
+
+And at another hour, saith another philosopher; Put your hand before your
+mouth!  And anon they do so.
+
+And at another hour, saith another philosopher; Put your hand upon your
+head!  And after that he biddeth them to do their hand away.  And they do
+so.
+
+And so, from hour to hour, they command certain things; and they say,
+that those things have diverse significations.  And I asked them privily
+what those things betokened.  And one of the masters told me, that the
+bowing of the head at that hour betokened this; that all those that bowed
+their heads should evermore after be obeissant and true to the emperor,
+and never, for gifts ne for promise in no kind, to be false ne traitor
+unto him for good nor evil.  And the putting of the little finger in the
+ear betokeneth, as they say, that none of them ne shall not hear speak no
+contrarious thing to the emperor but that he shall tell it anon to his
+council or discover it to some men that will make relation to the
+emperor, though he were his father or brother or son.  And so forth, of
+all other things that is done by the philosophers, they told me the
+causes of many diverse things.  And trust right well in certain, that no
+man doth nothing to the emperor that belongeth unto him, neither clothing
+ne bread ne wine ne bath ne none other thing that longeth to him, but at
+certain hours that his philosophers will devise.  And if there fall war
+in any side to the emperor, anon the philosophers come and say their
+advice after their calculations, and counsel the emperor of their advice
+by their sciences; so that the emperor doth nothing without their
+counsel.
+
+And when the philosophers have done and performed their commandments,
+then the minstrels begin to do their minstrelsy, everych in their
+instruments, each after other, with all the melody that they can devise.
+And when they have done a good while, one of the officers of the emperor
+goeth up on a high stage wrought full curiously, and crieth and saith
+with loud voice; Make Peace!  And then every man is still.
+
+And then, anon after, all the lords that be of the emperor’s lineage,
+nobly arrayed in rich cloths of gold and royally apparelled on white
+steeds, as many as may well sue him at that time, be ready to make their
+presents to the emperor.  And then saith the steward of the court to the
+lords, by name; N. of N.! and nameth first the most noble and the
+worthiest by name, and saith; Be ye ready with such a number of white
+horses, for to serve the emperor, your sovereign lord!  And to another
+lord he saith; N. of N., be ye ready with such a number, to serve your
+sovereign lord!  And to another, right so, and to all the lords of the
+emperor’s lineage, each after other, as they be of estate.  And when they
+be all cleped, they enter each after other, and present the white horses
+to the emperor, and then go their way.  And then after, all the other
+barons every of them, give him presents or jewels or some other thing,
+after that they be of estate.  And then after them, all the prelates of
+their law, and religious men and others; and every man giveth him
+something.  And when that all men have thus presented the emperor, the
+greatest of dignity of the prelates giveth him a blessing, saying an
+orison of their law.
+
+And then begin the minstrels to make their minstrelsy in divers
+instruments with all the melody that they can devise.  And when they have
+done their craft, then they bring before the emperor, lions, leopards and
+other diverse beasts, and eagles and vultures and other divers fowls, and
+fishes and serpents, for to do him reverence.  And then come jugglers and
+enchanters, that do many marvels; for they make to come in the air, by
+seeming, the sun and the moon to every man’s sight.  And after they make
+the night so dark that no man may see nothing.  And after they make the
+day to come again, fair and pleasant with bright sun, to every man’s
+sight.  And then they bring in dances of the fairest damsels of the
+world, and richest arrayed.  And after they make to come in other damsels
+bringing cups of gold full of milk of diverse beasts, and give drink to
+lords and to ladies.  And then they make knights to joust in arms full
+lustily; and they run together a great random, and they frussch together
+full fiercely, and they break their spears so rudely that the truncheons
+fly in sprouts and pieces all about the hall.  And then they make to come
+in hunting for the hart and for the boar, with hounds running with open
+mouth.  And many other things they do by craft of their enchantments,
+that it is marvel for to see.  And such plays of disport they make till
+the taking up of the boards.  This great Chan hath full great people for
+to serve him, as I have told you before.  For he hath of minstrels the
+number of thirteen cumants, but they abide not always with him.  For all
+the minstrels that come before him, of what nation that they be of, they
+be withholden with him as of his household, and entered in his books as
+for his own men.  And after that, where that ever they go, ever more they
+claim for minstrels of the great Chan; and under that title, all kings
+and lords cherish them the more with gifts and all things.  And therefore
+he hath so great multitude of them.
+
+And he hath of certain men as though they were yeomen, that keep birds,
+as ostriches, gerfalcons, sparrow-hawks, falcons gentle, lanyers, sakers,
+sakrets, popinjays well speaking, and birds singing, and also of wild
+beasts, as of elephants tame and other, baboons, apes, marmosets, and
+other diverse beasts; the mountance of fifteen cumants of yeomen.
+
+And of physicians Christian he hath 200, and of leeches that be Christian
+he hath 210, and of leeches and physicians that be Saracens twenty, but
+he trusteth more in the Christian leeches than in the Saracen.  And his
+other common household is without number, and they all have all
+necessaries and all that them needeth of the emperor’s court.  And he
+hath in his court many barons as servitors, that be Christian and
+converted to good faith by the preaching of religious Christian men that
+dwell with him; but there be many more, that will not that men know that
+they be Christian.
+
+This emperor may dispend as much as he will without estimation; for he
+not dispendeth ne maketh no money but of leather imprinted or of paper.
+And of that money is some of greater price and some of less price, after
+the diversity of his statutes.  And when that money hath run so long that
+it beginneth to waste, then men bear it to the emperor’s treasury and
+then they take new money for the old.  And that money goeth throughout
+all the country and throughout all his provinces, for there and beyond
+them they make no money neither of gold nor of silver; and therefore he
+may dispend enough, and outrageously.  And of gold and silver that men
+bear in his country he maketh cylours, pillars and pavements in his
+palace, and other diverse things what him liketh.
+
+This emperor hath in his chamber, in one of the pillars of gold, a ruby
+and a carbuncle of half a foot long, that in the night giveth so great
+clearness and shining, that it is as light as day.  And he hath many
+other precious stones and many other rubies and carbuncles; but those be
+the greatest and the most precious.
+
+This emperor dwelleth in summer in a city that is toward the north that
+is clept Saduz; and there is cold enough.  And in winter he dwelleth in a
+city that is clept Camaaleche, and that is an hot country.  But the
+country, where he dwelleth in most commonly, is in Gaydo or in Jong, that
+is a good country and a temperate, after that the country is there; but
+to men of this country it were too passing hot.
+
+And when this emperor will ride from one country to another he ordaineth
+four hosts of his folk, of the which the first host goeth before him a
+day’s journey.  For that host shall be lodged the night where the emperor
+shall lie upon the morrow.  And there shall every man have all manner of
+victual and necessaries that be needful, of the emperor’s costage.  And
+in this first host is the number of people fifty cumants, what of horse
+what of foot, of the which every cumant amounteth 10,000 as I have told
+you before.  And another host goeth in the right side of the emperor,
+nigh half a journey from him.  And another goeth on the left side of him,
+in the same wise.  And in every host is as much multitude of people as in
+the first host.  And then after cometh the fourth host, that is much more
+than any of the others, and that goeth behind him, the mountance of a bow
+draught.  And every host hath his journeys ordained in certain places,
+where they shall be lodged at night, and there they shall have all that
+them needeth.  And if it befall that any of the host die, anon they put
+another in his place, so that the number shall evermore be whole.
+
+And ye shall understand, that the emperor, in his proper person, rideth
+not as other great lords do beyond, but if he list to go privily with few
+men, for to be unknown.  And else, he rides in a chariot with four
+wheels, upon the which is made a fair chamber, and it is made of a
+certain wood, that cometh out of Paradise terrestrial, that men clepe
+lignum aloes, that the floods of Paradise bring out at divers seasons, as
+I have told you here before.  And this chamber is full well smelling
+because of the wood that it is made of.  And all this chamber is covered
+within of plate of fine gold dubbed with precious stones and great
+pearls.  And four elephants and four great destriers, all white and
+covered with rich covertures, leading the chariot.  And four, or five, or
+six, of the greatest lords ride about this chariot, full richly arrayed
+and full nobly, so that no man shall neigh the chariot, but only those
+lords, but if that the emperor call any man to him that him list to speak
+withal.  And above the chamber of this chariot that the emperor sitteth
+in be set upon a perch four or five or six gerfalcons, to that intent,
+that when the emperor seeth any wild fowl, that he may take it at his own
+list, and have the disport and the play of the flight, first with one,
+and after with another; and so he taketh his disport passing by the
+country.  And no man rideth before him of his company, but all after him.
+And no man dare not come nigh the chariot, by a bow draught, but those
+lords only that be about him.  And all the host cometh fairly after him
+in great multitude.
+
+And also such another chariot with such hosts ordained and arrayed go
+with the empress upon another side, everych by himself, with four hosts,
+right as the emperor did; but not with so great multitude of people.  And
+his eldest son goeth by another way in another chariot, in the same
+manner.  So that there is between them so great multitude of folk that it
+is marvel to tell it.  And no man should trow the number, but he had seen
+it.  And some-time it happeth that when he will not go far, and that it
+like him to have the empress and his children with him, then they go
+altogether, and their folk be all mingled in fere, and divided in four
+parties only.
+
+And ye shall understand, that the empire of this great Chan is divided in
+twelve provinces; and every province hath more than two thousand cities,
+and of towns without number.  This country is full great, for it hath
+twelve principal kings in twelve provinces, and every of those Kings have
+many kings under them, and all they be obeissant to the great Chan.  And
+his land and his lordship dureth so far, that a man may not go from one
+head to another, neither by sea ne land, the space of seven year.  And
+through the deserts of his lordship, there as men may find no towns,
+there be inns ordained by every journey, to receive both man and horse,
+in the which they shall find plenty of victual, and of all things that
+they need for to go by the country.
+
+And there is a marvellous custom in that country (but it is profitable),
+that if any contrarious thing that should be prejudice or grievance to
+the emperor in any kind, anon the emperor hath tidings thereof and full
+knowledge in a day, though it be three or four journeys from him or more.
+For his ambassadors take their dromedaries or their horses, and they
+prick in all that ever they may toward one of the inns.  And when they
+come there, anon they blow an horn.  And anon they of the inn know well
+enough that there be tidings to warn the emperor of some rebellion
+against him.  And then anon they make other men ready, in all haste that
+they may, to bear letters, and prick in all that ever they may, till they
+come to the other inns with their letters.  And then they make fresh men
+ready, to prick forth with the letters toward the emperor, while that the
+last bringer rest him, and bait his dromedary or his horse.  And so, from
+inn to inn, till it come to the emperor.  And thus anon hath he hasty
+tidings of anything that beareth charge, by his couriers, that run so
+hastily throughout all the country.  And also when the Emperor sendeth
+his couriers hastily throughout his land, every one of them hath a large
+throng full of small bells, and when they neigh near to the inns of other
+couriers that be also ordained by the journeys, they ring their bells,
+and anon the other couriers make them ready, and run their way unto
+another inn.  And thus runneth one to other, full speedily and swiftly,
+till the emperor’s intent be served, in all haste.  And these couriers be
+clept _Chydydo_, after their language, that is to say, a messenger,
+
+Also when the emperor goeth from one country to another, as I have told
+you here before, and he pass through cities and towns, every man maketh a
+fire before his door, and putteth therein powder of good gums that be
+sweet smelling, for to make good savour to the emperor.  And all the
+people kneel down against him, and do him great reverence.  And there,
+where religious Christian men dwell, as they do in many cities in the
+land, they go before him with procession with cross and holy water, and
+they sing, _Veni creator spiritus_! with an high voice, and go towards
+him.  And when he heareth them, he commandeth to his lords to ride beside
+him, that the religious men may come to him.  And when they be nigh him
+with the cross, then he doth adown his galiot that sits on his head in
+manner of a chaplet, that is made of gold and precious stones and great
+pearls, and it is so rich, that men prize it to the value of a realm in
+that country.  And then he kneeleth to the cross.  And then the prelate
+of the religious men saith before him certain orisons, and giveth him a
+blessing with the cross; and he inclineth to the blessing full devoutly.
+And then the prelate giveth him some manner fruit, to the number of nine,
+in a platter of silver, with pears or apples, or other manner fruit.  And
+he taketh one.  And then men give to the other lords that be about him.
+For the custom is such, that no stranger shall come before him, but if he
+give him some manner thing, after the old law that saith, _Nemo accedat
+in conspectu meo vacuus_.  And then the emperor saith to the religious
+men, that they withdraw them again, that they be neither hurt nor harmed
+of the great multitude of horses that come behind him.  And also, in the
+same manner, do the religious men that dwell there, to the empresses that
+pass by them, and to his eldest son.  And to every of them they present
+fruit.
+
+And ye shall understand, that the people that he hath so many hosts of,
+about him and about his wives and his soil, they dwell not continually
+with him.  But always, when him liketh, they be sent for.  And after,
+when they have done, they return to their own households, save only they
+that be dwelling with him in household for to serve him and his wives and
+his sons for to govern his household.  And albeit, that the others be
+departed from him after that they have performed their service, yet there
+abideth continually with him in court 50,000 men at horse and 200,000 men
+a foot, without minstrels and those that keep wild beasts and divers
+birds, of the which I have told you the number before.
+
+Under the firmament is not so great a lord, ne so mighty, ne so rich as
+is the great Chan; not Prester John, that is emperor of the high Ind, ne
+the Soldan of Babylon, ne the Emperor of Persia.  All these ne be not in
+comparison to the great Chan, neither of might, ne of noblesse, ne of
+royalty, ne of riches; for in all these he passeth all earthly princes.
+Wherefore it is great harm that he believeth not faithfully in God.  And
+natheles he will gladly hear speak of God.  And he suffereth well that
+Christian men dwell in his lordship, and that men of his faith be made
+Christian men if they will, throughout all his country; for he defendeth
+no man to hold no law other than him liketh.
+
+In that country some men hath an hundred wives, some sixty, some more,
+some less.  And they take the next of their kin to their wives, save only
+that they out-take their mothers, their daughters, and their sisters of
+the mother’s side; but their sisters on the father’s side of another
+woman they may well take, and their brothers’ wives also after their
+death, and their step-mothers also in the same wise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+_Of the Law and the Customs of the Tartarians dwelling in Cathay_.  _And
+how that men do when the Emperor shall die_, _and how he shall be chosen_
+
+THE folk of that country use all long clothes without furs.  And they be
+clothed with precious cloths of Tartary, and of cloths of gold.  And
+their clothes be slit at the side, and they be fastened with laces of
+silk.  And they clothe them also with pilches, and the hide without; and
+they use neither cape ne hood.  And in the same manner as the men go, the
+women go, so that no man may unneth know the men from the women, save
+only those women that be married, that bear the token upon their heads of
+a man’s foot, in sign that they be under man’s foot and under subjection
+of man.
+
+And their wives ne dwell not together, but every of them by herself; and
+the husband may lie with whom of them that him liketh.  Everych hath his
+house, both man and woman.  And their houses be made round of staves, and
+it hath a round window above that giveth them light, and also that
+serveth for deliverance of smoke.  And the heling of their houses and the
+walls and the doors be all of wood.  And when they go to war, they lead
+their houses with them upon chariots, as men do tents or pavilions.  And
+they make their fire in the midst of their houses.
+
+And they have great multitude of all manner of beasts, save only of
+swine, for they bring none forth.  And they believe well one God that
+made and formed all things.  And natheles yet have they idols of gold and
+silver, and of tree and of cloth.  And to those idols they offer always
+their first milk of their beasts, and also of their meats and of their
+drinks before they eat.  And they offer often-times horses and beasts.
+And they clepe the God of kind _Yroga_.
+
+And their emperor also, what name that ever he have, they put evermore
+thereto, Chan.  And when I was there, their emperor had to name Thiaut,
+so that he was clept Thiaut-Chan.  And his eldest son was clept Tossue;
+and when he shall be emperor, he shall be clept Tossue-Chan.  And at that
+time the emperor had twelve sons without him, that were named Cuncy,
+Ordii, Chadahay, Buryn, Negu, Nocab, Cadu, [Siban], Cuten, Balacy,
+Babylan, and Garegan.  And of his three wives, the first and principal,
+that was Prester John’s daughter, had to name Serioche-Chan, and the
+tother Borak-Chan, and the tother Karanke-Chan.
+
+The folk of that country begin all their things in the new moon, and they
+worship much the moon and the sun and often-time kneel against them.  And
+all the folk of the country ride commonly without spurs, but they bear
+always a little whip in their hands for to chace with their horses.
+
+And they have great conscience and hold it for a great sin to cast a
+knife in the fire, and for to draw flesh out of a pot with a knife, and
+for to smite an horse with the handle of a whip, or to smite an horse
+with a bridle, or to break one bone with another, or for to cast milk or
+any liquor that men may drink upon the earth, or for to take and slay
+little children.  And the most sin that any man may do is to piss in
+their houses that they dwell in, and whoso that may be found with that
+sin sikerly they slay him.  And of everych of these sins it behoveth them
+to be shriven of their priests, and to pay great sum of silver for their
+penance.  And it behoveth also, that the place that men have pissed in be
+hallowed again, and else dare no man enter therein.  And when they have
+paid their penance, men make them pass through a fire or through two, for
+to cleanse them of their sins.  And also when any messenger cometh and
+bringeth letters or any present to the emperor, it behoveth him that he,
+with the thing that he bringeth, pass through two burning fires for to
+purge them, that he bring no poison ne venom, ne no wicked thing that
+might be grievance to the Lord.  And also if any man or woman be taken in
+avoutry or fornication, anon they slay him.  And who that stealeth
+anything, anon they slay him.
+
+Men of that country be all good archers and shoot right well, both men
+and women, as well on horse-back, pricking, as on foot, running.  And the
+women make all things and all manner mysteries and crafts, as of clothes,
+boots and other things; and they drive carts, ploughs and wains and
+chariots; and they make houses and all manner mysteres, out taken bows
+and arrows and armours that men make.  And all the women wear breeches,
+as well as men.
+
+All the folk of that country be full obeissant to their sovereigns; ne
+they fight not, ne chide not one with another.  And there be neither
+thieves ne robbers in that country.  And every man worshippeth other; but
+no man there doth no reverence to no strangers, but if they be great
+princes.
+
+And they eat hounds, lions, leopards, mares and foals, asses, rats and
+mice and all manner of beasts, great and small, save only swine and
+beasts that were defended by the old law.  And they eat all the beasts
+without and within, without casting away of anything, save only the
+filth.  And they eat but little bread, but if it be in courts of great
+lords.  And they have not in many places, neither pease ne beans ne none
+other pottages but the broth of the flesh.  For little eat they anything
+but flesh and the broth.  And when they have eaten, they wipe their hands
+upon their skirts; for they use no napery ne towels, but if it be before
+great lords; but the common people hath none.  And when they have eaten,
+they put their dishes unwashen into the pot or cauldron with remnant of
+the flesh and of the broth till they will eat again.  And the rich men
+drink milk of mares or of camels or of asses or of other beasts.  And
+they will be lightly drunken of milk and of another drink that is made of
+honey and of water sodden together; for in that country is neither wine
+ne ale.  They live full wretchedly, and they eat but once in the day, and
+that but little, neither in courts ne in other places.  And in sooth, one
+man alone in this country will eat more in a day than one of them will
+eat in three days.  And if any strange messenger come there to a lord,
+men make him to eat but once a day, and that full little.
+
+And when they war, they war full wisely and always do their business, to
+destroy their enemies.  Every man there beareth two bows or three, and of
+arrows great plenty, and a great axe.  And the gentles have short spears
+and large and full trenchant on that one side.  And they have plates and
+helms made of quyrboylle, and their horses covertures of the same.  And
+whoso fleeth from the battle they slay him.  And when they hold any siege
+about castle or town that is walled and defensible, they behote to them
+that be within to do all the profit and good, that it is marvel to hear;
+and they grant also to them that be within all that they will ask them.
+And after that they be yielden, anon they slay them all; and cut off
+their ears and souse them in vinegar, and thereof they make great service
+for lords.  All their lust and all their imagination is for to put all
+lands under their subjection.  And they say that they know well by their
+prophecies, that they shall be overcome by archers and by strength of
+them; but they know not of what nation ne of what law they shall be of,
+that shall overcome them.  And therefore they suffer that folk of all
+laws may peaceably dwell amongst them.
+
+Also when they will make their idols or an image of any of their friends
+for to have remembrance of him, they make always the image all naked
+without any manner of clothing.  For they say that in good love should be
+no covering, that man should not love for the fair clothing ne for the
+rich array, but only for the body, such as God hath made it, and for the
+good virtues that the body is endowed with of Nature, not only for fair
+clothing that is not of kindly Nature.
+
+And ye shall understand that it is great dread for to pursue the Tartars
+if they flee in battle.  For in fleeing they shoot behind them and slay
+both men and horses.  And when they will fight they will shock them
+together in a plump; that if there be 20,000 men, men shall not ween that
+there be scant 10,000.  And they can well win land of strangers, but they
+cannot keep it; for they have greater lust to lie in tents without than
+for to lie in castle or in towns.  And they prize nothing the wit of
+other nations.
+
+And amongst them oil of olive is full dear, for they hold it for full
+noble medicine.  And all the Tartars have small eyen and little of beard,
+and not thick haired but shear.  And they be false and traitors; and they
+last nought that they behote.  They be full hardy folk, and much pain and
+woe may suffer and disease, more than any other folk, for they be taught
+thereto in their own country of youth.  And therefore they spend as who
+saith, right nought.
+
+And when any man shall die, men set a spear beside him.  And when he
+draweth towards the death, every man fleeth out of the house till he be
+dead.  And after that they bury him in the fields.
+
+And when the emperor dieth, men set him in a chair in midst the place of
+his tent.  And men set a table before him clean, covered with a cloth,
+and thereupon flesh and diverse viands and a cup full of mare’s milk.
+And men put a mare beside him with her foal, and an horse saddled and
+bridled.  And they lay upon the horse gold and silver, great quantity.
+And they put about him great plenty of straw.  And then men make a great
+pit and a large, and with the tent and all these other things they put
+him in earth.  And they say that when he shall come into another world,
+he shall not be without an house, ne without horse, ne without gold and
+silver; and the mare shall give him milk, and bring him forth more horses
+till he be well stored in the tother world.  For they trow that after
+their death they shall be eating and drinking in that other world, and
+solacing them with their wives, as they did here.
+
+And after time that the emperor is thus interred no man shall be so hardy
+to speak of him before his friends.  And yet natheles, sometime falleth
+of many that they make him to be interred privily by night in wild
+places, and put again the grass over the pit for to grow; or else men
+cover the pit with gravel and sand, that no man shall perceive where, ne
+know where, the pit is, to that intent that never after none of his
+friends shall have mind ne remembrance of him.  And then they say that he
+is ravished into another world, where he is a greater lord than he was
+here.
+
+And then, after the death of the emperor, the seven lineages assemble
+them together, and choose his eldest son, or the next after him of his
+blood.  And thus they say to him; we will and we pray and ordain that ye
+be our lord and our emperor.
+
+And then he answereth, If ye will that I reign over you as lord, do
+everych of you that I shall command him, either to abide or to go; and
+whomsoever that I command to be slain, that anon he be slain.
+
+And they answer all with one voice, Whatsoever ye command, it shall be
+done.
+
+Then saith the emperor, Now understand well, that my word from henceforth
+is sharp and biting as a sword.
+
+After, men set him upon a black steed and so men bring him to a chair
+full richly arrayed, and there they crown him.  And then all the cities
+and good towns send him rich presents.  So that at that journey he shall
+have more than sixty chariots charged with gold silver, without jewels of
+gold and precious stones, that lords gave him, that be without
+estimation, and without horses, and cloths of gold, and of camakas, and
+tartarins that be without number.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+_Of the Realm of Tharse and the Lands and Kingdoms towards the
+Septentrional Parts_, _in coming down from the land of Cathay_
+
+THIS land of Cathay is in Asia the deep; and after, on this half, is Asia
+the more.  The kingdom of Cathay marcheth toward the west unto the
+kingdom of Tharse, the which was one of the kings that came to present
+our Lord in Bethlehem.  And they that be of the lineage of that king are
+some Christian.  In Tharse they eat no flesh, ne they drink no wine.
+
+And on this half, toward the west, is the kingdom of Turkestan, that
+stretcheth him toward the west to the kingdom of Persia, and toward the
+septentrional to the kingdom of Khorasan.  In the country of Turkestan be
+but few good cities; but the best city of that land hight Octorar.  There
+be great pastures, but few corns; and therefore, for the most part, they
+be all herdsmen, and they lie in tents and they drink a manner ale made
+of honey.
+
+And after, on this half, is the kingdom of Khorasan, that is a good land
+and a plenteous, without wine.  And it hath a desert toward the east that
+lasteth more than an hundred journeys.  And the best city of that country
+is clept Khorasan, and of that city beareth the country his name.  The
+folk of that country be hardy warriors.
+
+And on this half is the kingdom of Comania, whereof the Comanians that
+dwelled in Greece sometime were chased out.  This is one of the greatest
+kingdoms of the world, but it is not all inhabited.  For at one of the
+parts there is so great cold that no man may dwell there; and in another
+part there is so great heat that no man may endure it, and also there be
+so many flies, that no man may know on what side he may turn him.  In
+that country is but little arboury ne trees that bear fruit ne other.
+They lie in tents; and they burn the dung of beasts for default of wood.
+This kingdom descendeth on this half toward us and toward Prussia and
+toward Russia.
+
+And through that country runneth the river of Ethille that is one of the
+greatest rivers of the world.  And it freezeth so strongly all years that
+many times men have fought upon the ice with great hosts, both parties on
+foot, and their horses voided for the time, and what on horse and on
+foot, more than 200,000 persons on every side.
+
+And between that river and the great sea Ocean, that they clepe the Sea
+Maure, lie all these realms.  And toward the head, beneath, in that realm
+is the Mount Chotaz, that is the highest mount of the world, and it is
+between the Sea Maure and the Sea Caspian.  There is full strait and
+dangerous passage for to go toward Ind.  And therefore King Alexander let
+make there a strong city, that men clepe Alexandria, for to keep the
+country that no man should pass without his leave.  And now men clepe
+that city, the Gate of Hell.
+
+And the principal city of Comania is clept Sarak, that is one of the
+three ways for to go into Ind.  But by that way, ne may not pass no great
+multitude of people, but if it be in winter.  And that passage men clepe
+the Derbent.  The tother way is for to go from the city of Turkestan by
+Persia, and by that way be many journeys by desert.  And the third way is
+that cometh from Comania and then to go by the Great Sea and by the
+kingdom of Abchaz.
+
+And ye shall understand, that all these kingdoms and all these lands
+above-said unto Prussia and to Russia be all obeissant to the great Chan
+of Cathay, and many other countries that march to other coasts.
+Wherefore his power and his lordship is full great and full mighty.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+_The Emperor of Persia_, _and of the Land of Darkness_; _and of other
+kingdoms that belong to the great Chan of Cathay_, _and other lands of
+his_, _unto the sea of Greece_
+
+NOW, since I have devised you the lands and the kingdoms toward the parts
+Septentrionals in coming down from the land of Cathay unto the lands of
+the Christian, towards Prussia and Russia,—now shall I devise you of
+other lands and kingdoms coming down by other coasts, toward the right
+side, unto the sea of Greece, toward the land of Christian men.  And,
+therefore, that after Ind and after Cathay the Emperor of Persia is the
+greatest lord, therefore, I shall tell you of the kingdom of Persia.
+
+First, where he hath two kingdoms, the first kingdom beginneth toward the
+east, toward the kingdom of Turkestan, and it stretcheth toward the west
+unto the river of Pison, that is one of the four rivers that come out of
+Paradise.  And on another side it stretcheth toward the Septentrion unto
+the sea of Caspian; and also toward the south unto the desert of Ind.
+And this country is good and plain and full of people.  And there be many
+good cities.  But the two principal cities be these, Boyturra, and
+Seornergant, that some men clepe Sormagant.  The tother kingdom of Persia
+stretcheth toward the river of Pison and the parts of the west unto the
+kingdom of Media, and from the great Armenia and toward the Septentrion
+to the sea of Caspian and toward the south to the land of Ind.  That is
+also a good land and a plenteous, and it hath three great principal
+cities—Messabor, Saphon, and Sarmassan.
+
+And then after is Armenia, in the which were wont to be four kingdoms;
+that is a noble country and full of goods.  And it beginneth at Persia
+and stretcheth toward the west in length unto Turkey.  And in largeness
+it dureth to the city of Alexandria, that now is clept the Gate of Hell,
+that I spake of before, under the kingdom of Media.  In this Armenia be
+full many good cities, but Taurizo is most of name.
+
+After this is the kingdom of Media, that is full long, but it is not full
+large, that beginneth toward the east to the land of Persia and to Ind
+the less; and it stretcheth toward the west, toward the kingdom of
+Chaldea and toward the Septentrion, descending toward the little Armenia.
+In that kingdom of Media there be many great hills and little of plain
+earth.  There dwell Saracens and another manner of folk, that men clepe
+Cordynes.  The best two cities of that kingdom be Sarras and Karemen.
+
+After that is the kingdom of Georgia, that beginneth toward the east to
+the great mountain that is clept Abzor, where that dwell many diverse
+folk of diverse nations.  And men clepe the country Alamo.  This kingdom
+stretcheth him towards Turkey and toward the Great Sea, and toward the
+south it marcheth to the great Armenia.  And there be two kingdoms in
+that country; that one is the kingdom of Georgia, and that other is the
+kingdom of Abchaz.  And always in that country be two kings; and they be
+both Christian.  But the king of Georgia is in subjection to the great
+Chan.  And the king of Abchaz hath the more strong country, and he always
+vigorously defendeth his country against all those that assail him, so
+that no man may make him in subjection to no man.
+
+In that kingdom of Abchaz is a great marvel.  For a province of the
+country that hath well in circuit three journeys, that men clepe Hanyson,
+is all covered with darkness, without any brightness or light; so that no
+man may see ne hear, ne no man dare enter into him.  And, natheles, they
+of the country say, that some-times men hear voice of folk, and horses
+neighing, and cocks crowing.  And men wit well, that men dwell there, but
+they know not what men.  And they say, that the darkness befell by
+miracle of God.  For a cursed emperor of Persia, that hight Saures,
+pursued all Christian men to destroy them and to compel them to make
+sacrifice to his idols, and rode with great host, in all that ever he
+might, for to confound the Christian men.  And then in that country
+dwelled many good Christian men, the which that left their goods and
+would have fled into Greece.  And when they were in a plain that hight
+Megon, anon this cursed emperor met with them with his host for to have
+slain them and hewn them to pieces.  And anon the Christian men kneeled
+to the ground, and made their prayers to God to succour them.  And anon a
+great thick cloud came and covered the emperor and all his host.  And so
+they endure in that manner that they ne may not go out on no side; and so
+shall they evermore abide in that darkness till the day of doom, by the
+miracle of God.  And then the Christian men went where them liked best,
+at their own pleasance, without letting of any creature, and their
+enemies enclosed and confounded in darkness, without any stroke.
+
+Wherefore we may well say with David, _A Domino factum est istud_; _& est
+mirabile in oculis nostris_.  And that was a great miracle, that God made
+for them.  Wherefore methinketh that Christian men should be more devout
+to serve our Lord God than any other men of any other sect.  For without
+any dread, ne were not cursedness and sin of Christian men, they should
+be lords of all the world.  For the banner of Jesu Christ is always
+displayed, and ready on all sides to the help of his true loving
+servants.  Insomuch, that one good Christian man in good belief should
+overcome and out-chase a thousand cursed misbelieving men, as David saith
+in the Psalter, _Quoniam persequebatur unus mills_, _& duo fugarent decem
+milia_; _et cadent a latere tuo mille_, _& decem milia a dextris tuis_.
+And how that it might be that one should chase a thousand, David himself
+saith following, _Quia manus Domini fecit haec omnia_, and our Lord
+himself saith, by the prophet’s mouth, _Si in viis meis ambulaveritis_,
+_super tribulantes vos misissem manum meam_.  So that we may see apertly
+that if we will be good men, no enemy may not endure against us.
+
+Also ye shall understand that out of that land of darkness goeth out a
+great river that sheweth well that there be folk dwelling, by many ready
+tokens; but no man dare not enter into it.
+
+And wit well, that in the kingdoms of Georgia, of Abchaz and of the
+little Armenia be good Christian men and devout.  For they shrive them
+and housel them evermore once or twice in the week.  And there be many of
+them that housel them every day; and so do we not on this half, albeit
+that Saint Paul commandeth it, saying, _Omnibus diebus dominicis ad
+communicandum hortor_.  They keep that commandment, but we ne keep it
+not.
+
+Also after, on this half, is Turkey, that marcheth to the great Armenia.
+And there be many provinces, as Cappadocia, Saure, Brique, Quesiton,
+Pytan, and Gemethe.  And in everych of these be many good cities.  This
+Turkey stretcheth unto the city of Sachala that sitteth upon the sea of
+Greece, and so it marcheth to Syria.  Syria is a great country and a
+good, as I have told you before.  And also it hath, above toward Ind, the
+kingdom of Chaldea, that stretcheth from the mountains of Chaldea toward
+the east unto the city of Nineveh, that sitteth upon the river of Tigris;
+and in largeness it beginneth toward the north to the city of Maraga; and
+it stretcheth toward the south unto the sea Ocean.  In Chaldea is a plain
+country, and few hills and few rivers.
+
+After is the kingdom of Mesopotamia, that beginneth, toward the east, to
+the flom of Tigris, unto a city that is clept Mosul; and it stretcheth
+toward the west to the flom of Euphrates unto a city that is clept
+Roianz; and in length it goeth to the mount of Armenia unto the desert of
+Ind the less.  This is a good country and a plain, but it hath few
+rivers.  It hath but two mountains in that country, of the which one
+hight Symar and that other Lyson.  And this land marcheth to the kingdom
+of Chaldea.
+
+Yet there is, toward the parts Meridionals many countries and many
+regions, as the land of Ethiopia, that marcheth, toward the east to the
+great deserts, toward the west to the kingdom of Nubia, toward the south
+to the kingdom of Moretane, and toward the north to the Red Sea.
+
+After is Moretane, that dureth from the mountains of Ethiopia unto Lybia
+the high.  And that country lieth along from the sea ocean toward the
+south; and toward the north it marcheth to Nubia and to the high Lybia.
+(These men of Nubia be Christian.)  And it marcheth from the lands
+above-said to the deserts of Egypt, and that is the Egypt that I have
+spoken of before.
+
+And after is Lybia the high and Lybia the low, that descendeth down low
+toward the great sea of Spain, in the which country be many kingdoms and
+many diverse folk.
+
+Now I have devised you many countries on this half the kingdom of Cathay,
+of the which many be obeissant to the great Chan.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+_Of the Countries and Isles that be beyond the Land of Cathay_; _and of
+the fruits there_; _and of twenty-two kings enclosed within the
+mountains_
+
+NOW shall I say you, suingly, of countries and isles that be beyond the
+countries that I have spoken of.
+
+Wherefore I say you, in passing by the land of Cathay toward the high Ind
+and toward Bacharia, men pass by a kingdom that men clepe Caldilhe, that
+is a full fair country.
+
+And there groweth a manner of fruit, as though it were gourds.  And when
+they be ripe, men cut them a-two, and men find within a little beast, in
+flesh, in bone, and blood, as though it were a little lamb without wool.
+And men eat both the fruit and the beast.  And that is a great marvel.
+Of that fruit I have eaten, although it were wonderful, but that I know
+well that God is marvellous in his works.  And, natheles, I told them of
+as great a marvel to them, that is amongst us, and that was of the
+Bernakes.  For I told them that in our country were trees that bear a
+fruit that become birds flying, and those that fell in the water live,
+and they that fall on the earth die anon, and they be right good to man’s
+meat.  And hereof had they as great marvel, that some of them trowed it
+were an impossible thing to be.
+
+In that country be long apples of good savour, whereof be more than an
+hundred in a cluster, and as many in another; and they have great long
+leaves and large, of two foot long or more.  And in that country, and in
+other countries thereabout, grow many trees that bear clove-gylofres and
+nutmegs, and great nuts of Ind, and of Canell and of many other spices.
+And there be vines that bear so great grapes, that a strong man should
+have enough to do for to bear one cluster with all the grapes.
+
+In that same region be the mountains of Caspian that men clepe Uber in
+the country.  Between those mountains the Jews of ten lineages be
+enclosed, that men clepe Goth and Magoth and they may not go out on no
+side.  There were enclosed twenty-two kings with their people, that
+dwelled between the mountains of Scythia.  There King Alexander chased
+them between those mountains, and there he thought for to enclose them
+through work of his men.  But when he saw that he might not do it, ne
+bring it to an end, he prayed to God of nature that he would perform that
+that he had begun.  And all were it so, that he was a paynim and not
+worthy to be heard, yet God of his grace closed the mountains together,
+so that they dwell there all fast locked and enclosed with high mountains
+all about, save only on one side, and on that side is the sea of Caspian.
+
+Now may some men ask, since that the sea is on that one side, wherefore
+go they not out on the sea side, for to go where that them liketh?
+
+But to this question, I shall answer; that sea of Caspian goeth out by
+land under the mountains, and runneth by the desert at one side of the
+country, and after it stretcheth unto the ends of Persia, and although it
+be clept a sea, it is no sea, ne it toucheth to none other sea, but it is
+a lake, the greatest of the world; and though they would put them into
+that sea, they ne wist never where that they should arrive; and also they
+can no language but only their own, that no man knoweth but they; and
+therefore may they not go out.
+
+And also ye shall understand, that the Jews have no proper land of their
+own for to dwell in, in all the world, but only that land between the
+mountains.  And yet they yield tribute for that land to the Queen of
+Amazonia, the which that maketh them to be kept in close full diligently,
+that they shall not go out on no side but by the coast of their land; for
+their land marcheth to those mountains.
+
+And often it hath befallen, that some of the Jews have gone up the
+mountains and avaled down to the valleys.  But great number of folk ne
+may not do so, for the mountains be so high and so straight up, that they
+must abide there, maugre their might.  For they may not go out, but by a
+little issue that was made by strength of men, and it lasteth well a four
+great mile.
+
+And after, is there yet a land all desert, where men may find no water,
+neither for digging ne for none other thing.  Wherefore men may not dwell
+in that place, so is it full of dragons, of serpents and of other
+venomous beasts, that no man dare not pass, but if it be strong winter.
+And that strait passage men clepe in that country Clyron.  And that is
+the passage that the Queen of Amazonia maketh to be kept.  And though it
+happen some of them by fortune to go out, they can no manner of language
+but Hebrew, so that they cannot speak to the people.
+
+And yet, natheles, men say they shall go out in the time of anti-Christ,
+and that they shall make great slaughter of Christian men.  And therefore
+all the Jews that dwell in all lands learn always to speak Hebrew, in
+hope, that when the other Jews shall go out, that they may understand
+their speech, and to lead them into Christendom for to destroy the
+Christian people.  For the Jews say that they know well by their
+prophecies, that they of Caspia shall go out, and spread throughout all
+the world, and that the Christian men shall be under their subjection, as
+long as they have been in subjection of them.
+
+And if that you will wit how that they shall find their way, after that I
+have heard say I shall tell you.
+
+In the time of anti-Christ a fox shall make there his train, and mine an
+hole where King Alexander let make the gates; and so long he shall mine
+and pierce the earth, till that he shall pass through towards that folk.
+And when they see the fox, they shall have great marvel of him, because
+that they saw never such a beast.  For of all other beasts they have
+enclosed amongst them, save only the fox.  And then they shall chase him
+and pursue him so strait, till that he come to the same place that he
+came from.  And then they shall dig and mine so strongly, till that they
+find the gates that King Alexander let make of great stones, and passing
+huge, well cemented and made strong for the mastery.  And those gates
+they shall break, and so go out by finding of that issue.
+
+From that land go men toward the land of Bacharia, where be full evil
+folk and full cruel.  In that land be trees that bear wool, as though it
+were of sheep, whereof men make clothes and all things that may be made
+of wool.
+
+In that country be many hippotaynes that dwell some-time in the water and
+sometime on the land.  And they be half man and half horse, as I have
+said before.  And they eat men when they may take them.
+
+And there be rivers of waters that be full bitter, three sithes more than
+is the water of the sea.
+
+In that country be many griffins, more plenty than in any other country.
+Some men say that they have the body upward as an eagle and beneath as a
+lion; and truly they say sooth, that they be of that shape.  But one
+griffin hath the body more great and is more strong than eight lions, of
+such lions as be on this half, and more great and stronger than an
+hundred eagles such as we have amongst us.  For one griffin there will
+bear, flying to his nest, a great horse, if he may find him at the point,
+or two oxen yoked together as they go at the plough.  For he hath his
+talons so long and so large and great upon his feet, as though they were
+horns of great oxen or of bugles or of kine, so that men make cups of
+them to drink of.  And of their ribs and of the pens of their wings, men
+make bows, full strong, to shoot with arrows and quarrels.
+
+From thence go men by many journeys through the land of Prester John, the
+great Emperor of Ind.  And men clepe his realm the isle of Pentexoire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+_Of the Royal Estate of Prester John_.  _And of a rich man that made a
+marvellous castle and cleped it Paradise_; _and of his subtlety_
+
+THIS emperor, Prester John, holds full great land, and hath many full
+noble cities and good towns in his realm, and many great diverse isles
+and large.  For all the country of Ind is devised in isles for the great
+floods that come from Paradise, that depart all the land in many parts.
+And also in the sea he hath full many isles.  And the best city in the
+Isle of Pentexoire is Nyse, that is a full royal city and a noble, and
+full rich.
+
+This Prester John hath under him many kings and many isles and many
+diverse folk of diverse conditions.  And this land is full good and rich,
+but not so rich as is the land of the great Chan.  For the merchants come
+not thither so commonly for to buy merchandises, as they do in the land
+of the great Chan, for it is too far to travel to.  And on that other
+part, in the Isle of Cathay, men find all manner thing that is need to
+man—cloths of gold, of silk, of spicery and all manner avoirdupois.  And
+therefore, albeit that men have greater cheap in the Isle of Prester
+John, natheles, men dread the long way and the great perils in the sea in
+those parts.
+
+For in many places of the sea be great rocks of stones of the adamant,
+that of his proper nature draweth iron to him.  And therefore there pass
+no ships that have either bonds or nails of iron within them.  And if
+there do, anon the rocks of the adamants draw them to them, that never
+they may go thence.  I myself have seen afar in that sea, as though it
+had been a great isle full of tree, and buscaylle, full of thorns and
+briars, great plenty.  And the shipmen told us, that all that was of
+ships that were drawn thither by the adamants, for the iron that was in
+them.  And of the rotten-ness, and other thing that was within the ships,
+grew such buscaylle, and thorns and briars and green grass, and such
+manner of thing; and of the masts and the sail-yards; it seemed a great
+wood or a grove.  And such rocks be in many places thereabout.  And
+therefore dare not the merchants pass there, but if they know well the
+passages, or else that they have good lodesmen.
+
+And also they dread the long way.  And therefore they go to Cathay, for
+it is more nigh.  And yet it is not so nigh, but that men must be
+travelling by sea and land, eleven months or twelve, from Genoa or from
+Venice, or he come to Cathay.  And yet is the land of Prester John more
+far by many dreadful journeys.
+
+And the merchants pass by the kingdom of Persia, and go to a city that is
+Clept Hermes, for Hermes the philosopher founded it.  And after that they
+pass an arm of the sea, and then they go to another city that is clept
+Golbache.  And there they find merchandises, and of popinjays, as great
+plenty as men find here of geese.  And if they will pass further, they
+may go sikerly enough.  In that country is but little wheat or barley,
+and therefore they eat rice and honey and milk and cheese and fruit.
+
+This Emperor Prester John taketh always to his wife the daughter of the
+great Chan; and the great Chan also, in the same wise, the daughter of
+Prester John.  For these two be the greatest lords under the firmament.
+
+In the land of Prester John be many diverse things and many precious
+stones, so great and so large, that men make of them vessels, as
+platters, dishes and cups.  And many other marvels be there, that it were
+too cumbrous and too long to put it in scripture of books; but of the
+principal isles and of his estate and of his law, I shall tell you some
+part.
+
+This Emperor Prester John is Christian, and a great part of his country
+also.  But yet, they have not all the articles of our faith as we have.
+They believe well in the Father, in the Son and in the Holy Ghost.  And
+they be full devout and right true one to another.  And they set not by
+no barretts, ne by cautels, nor of no deceits.
+
+And he hath under him seventy-two provinces, and in every province is a
+king.  And these kings have kings under them, and all be tributaries to
+Prester John.  And he hath in his lordships many great marvels.
+
+For in his country is the sea that men clepe the Gravelly Sea, that is
+all gravel and sand, without any drop of water, and it ebbeth and floweth
+in great waves as other seas do, and it is never still ne in peace, in no
+manner season.  And no man may pass that sea by navy, ne by no manner of
+craft, and therefore may no man know what land is beyond that sea.  And
+albeit that it have no water, yet men find therein and on the banks full
+good fish of other manner of kind and shape, than men find in any other
+sea, and they be of right good taste and delicious to man’s meat.
+
+And a three journeys long from that sea be great mountains, out of the
+which goeth out a great flood that cometh out of Paradise.  And it is
+full of precious stones, without any drop of water, and it runneth
+through the desert on that one side, so that it maketh the sea gravelly;
+and it beareth into that sea, and there it endeth.  And that flome
+runneth, also, three days in the week and bringeth with him great stones
+and the rocks also therewith, and that great plenty.  And anon, as they
+be entered into the Gravelly Sea, they be seen no more, but lost for
+evermore.  And in those three days that that river runneth, no man dare
+enter into it; but in the other days men dare enter well enough.
+
+Also beyond that flome, more upward to the deserts, is a great plain all
+gravelly, between the mountains.  And in that plain, every day at the
+sun-rising, begin to grow small trees, and they grow till mid-day,
+bearing fruit; but no man dare take of that fruit, for it is a thing of
+faerie.  And after mid-day, they decrease and enter again into the earth,
+so that at the going down of the sun they appear no more.  And so they
+do, every day.  And that is a great marvel.
+
+In that desert be many wild men, that be hideous to look on; for they be
+horned, and they speak nought, but they grunt, as pigs.  And there is
+also great plenty of wild hounds.  And there be many popinjays, that they
+clepe psittakes their language.  And they speak of their proper nature,
+and salute men that go through the deserts, and speak to them as apertly
+as though it were a man.  And they that speak well have a large tongue,
+and have five toes upon a foot.  And there be also of another manner,
+that have but three toes upon a foot, and they speak not, or but little,
+for they can not but cry.
+
+This Emperor Prester John when he goeth into battle against any other
+lord, he hath no banners borne before him; but he hath three crosses of
+gold, fine, great and high, full of precious stones, and every of those
+crosses be set in a chariot, full richly arrayed.  And for to keep every
+cross, be ordained 10,000 men of arms and more than 100,000 men on foot,
+in manner as men would keep a standard in our countries, when that we be
+in land of war.  And this number of folk is without the principal host
+and without wings ordained for the battle.  And when he hath no war, but
+rideth with a privy meinie, then he hath borne before him but one cross
+of tree, without painting and without gold or silver or precious stones,
+in remembrance that Jesu Christ suffered death upon a cross of tree.  And
+he hath borne before him also a platter of gold full of earth, in token
+that his noblesse and his might and his flesh shall turn to earth.  And
+he hath borne before him also a vessel of silver, full of noble jewels of
+gold full rich and of precious stones, in token of his lordship and of
+his noblesse and of his might.
+
+He dwelleth commonly in the city of Susa.  And there is his principal
+palace, that is so rich and so noble, that no man will trow it by
+estimation, but he had seen it.  And above the chief tower of the palace
+be two round pommels of gold, and in everych of them be two carbuncles
+great and large, that shine full bright upon the night.  And the
+principal gates of his palace be of precious stone that men clepe
+sardonyx, and the border and the bars be of ivory.  And the windows of
+the halls and chambers be of crystal.  And the tables whereon men eat,
+some be of emeralds, some of amethyst, and some of gold, full of precious
+stones; and the pillars that bear up the tables be of the same precious
+stones.  And the degrees to go up to his throne, where he sitteth at the
+meat, one is of onyx, another is of crystal, and another of jasper green,
+another of amethyst, another of sardine, another of cornelian, and the
+seventh, that he setteth on his feet, is of chrysolite.  And all these
+degrees be bordered with fine gold, with the tother precious stones, set
+with great pearls orient.  And the sides of the siege of his throne be of
+emeralds, and bordered with gold full nobly, and dubbed with other
+precious stones and great pearls.  And all the pillars in his chamber be
+of fine gold with precious stones, and with many carbuncles, that give
+great light upon the night to all people.  And albeit that the carbuncles
+give light right enough, natheles, at all times burneth a vessel of
+crystal full of balm, for to give good smell and odour to the emperor,
+and to void away all wicked airs and corruptions.  And the form of his
+bed is of fine sapphires, bended with gold, for to make him sleep well
+and to refrain him from lechery; for he will not lie with his wives, but
+four sithes in the year, after the four seasons, and that is only for to
+engender children.
+
+He hath also a full fair palace and a noble at the city of Nyse, where
+that he dwelleth, when him best liketh; but the air is not so attempre,
+as it is at the city of Susa.
+
+And ye shall understand, that in all his country nor in the countries
+there all about, men eat not but once in the day, as they do in the court
+of the great Chan.  And so they eat every day in his court, more than
+30,000 persons, without goers and comers.  But the 30,000 persons of his
+country, ne of the country of the great Chan, ne spend not so much good
+as do 12,000 of our country.
+
+This Emperor Prester John hath evermore seven kings with him to serve
+him, and they depart their service by certain months.  And with these
+kings serve always seventy-two dukes and three hundred and sixty earls.
+And all the days of the year, there eat in his household and in his
+court, twelve archbishops and twenty bishops.  And the patriarch of Saint
+Thomas is there as is the pope here.  And the archbishops and the bishops
+and the abbots in that country be all kings.  And everych of these great
+lords know well enough the attendance of their service.  The one is
+master of his household, another is his chamberlain, another serveth him
+of a dish, another of the cup, another is steward, another is marshal,
+another is prince of his arms, and thus is he full nobly and royally
+served.  And his land dureth in very breadth four month’s journeys, and
+in length out of measure, that is to say, all isles under earth that we
+suppose to be under us.
+
+Beside the isle of Pentexoire, that is the land of Prester John, is a eat
+isle, long and broad, that men clepe Mistorak; and it is in the lordship
+of Prester John.  In that isle is great plenty of goods.
+
+There was dwelling, sometime, a rich man; and it is not long since; and
+men clept him Gatholonabes.  And he was full of cautels and of subtle
+deceits.  And he had a full fair castle and a strong in a mountain, so
+strong and so noble, that no man could devise a fairer ne stronger.  And
+he had let mure all the mountain about with a strong wall and a fair.
+And within those walls he had the fairest garden that any man might
+behold.  And therein were trees bearing all manner of fruits, that any
+man could devise.  And therein were also all manner virtuous herbs of
+good smell, and all other herbs also that bear fair flowers.  And he had
+also in that garden many fair wells; and beside those wells he had let
+make fair halls and fair chambers, depainted all with gold and azure; and
+there were in that place many diverse things, and many diverse stories:
+and of beasts, and of birds that sung full delectably and moved by craft,
+that it seemed that they were quick.  And he had also in his garden all
+manner of fowls and of beasts that any man might think on, for to have
+play or sport to behold them.
+
+And he had also, in that place, the fairest damsels that might be found,
+under the age of fifteen years, and the fairest young striplings that men
+might get, of that same age.  And all they were clothed in cloths of
+gold, full richly.  And he said that those were angels.
+
+And he had also let make three wells, fair and noble and all environed
+with stone of jasper, of crystal, diapered with gold, and set with
+precious stones and great orient pearls.  And he had made a conduit under
+earth, so that the three wells, at his list, one should run milk, another
+wine and another honey.  And that place he clept Paradise.
+
+And when that any good knight, that was hardy and noble, came to see this
+royalty, he would lead him into his paradise, and show him these
+wonderful things to his disport, and the marvellous and delicious song of
+diverse birds, and the fair damsels, and the fair wells of milk, of wine
+and of honey, plenteously running.  And he would let make divers
+instruments of music to sound in an high tower, so merrily, that it was
+joy for to hear; and no man should see the craft thereof.  And those, he
+said, were angels of God, and that place was Paradise, that God had
+behight to his friends, saying, _Dabo vobis terram fluentem lacte et
+melle_.  And then would he make them to drink of certain drink, whereof
+anon they should be drunk.  And then would them think greater delight
+than they had before.  And then would he say to them, that if they would
+die for him and for his love, that after their death they should come to
+his paradise; and they should be of the age of those damosels, and they
+should play with them, and yet be maidens.  And after that yet should he
+put them in a fairer paradise, where that they should see God of nature
+visibly, in his majesty and in his bliss.  And then would he shew them
+his intent, and say them, that if they would go slay such a lord, or such
+a man that was his enemy or contrarious to his list, that they should not
+dread to do it and for to be slain therefore themselves.  For after their
+death, he would put them into another paradise, that was an hundred-fold
+fairer than any of the tother; and there should they dwell with the most
+fairest damosels that might be, and play with them ever-more.
+
+And thus went many diverse lusty bachelors for to slay great lords in
+diverse countries, that were his enemies, and made themselves to be
+slain, in hope to have that paradise.  And thus, often-time, he was
+revenged of his enemies by his subtle deceits and false cautels.
+
+And when the worthy men of the country had perceived this subtle
+falsehood of this Gatholonabes, they assembled them with force, and
+assailed his castle, and slew him, and destroyed all the fair places and
+all the nobilities of that paradise.  The place of the wells and of the
+walls and of many other things be yet apertly seen, but the riches is
+voided clean.  And it is not long gone, since that place was destroyed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+_Of the Devil’s Head in the Valley Perilous_.  _And of the Customs of
+Folk in diverse Isles that be about in the Lordship of Prester John_
+
+BESIDE that Isle of Mistorak upon the left side nigh to the river of
+Pison is a marvellous thing.  There is a vale between the mountains, that
+dureth nigh a four mile.  And some men clepe it the Vale Enchanted, some
+clepe it the Vale of Devils, and some clepe it the Vale Perilous.  In
+that vale hear men often-time great tempests and thunders, and great
+murmurs and noises, all days and nights, and great noise, as it were
+sound of tabors and of nakers and of trumps, as though it were of a great
+feast.  This vale is all full of devils, and hath been always.  And men
+say there, that it is one of the entries of hell.  In that vale is great
+plenty of gold and silver.  Wherefore many misbelieving men, and many
+Christian men also, go in oftentime for to have of the treasure that
+there is; but few come again, and namely of the misbelieving men, ne of
+the Christian men neither, for anon they be strangled of devils.
+
+And in mid place of that vale, under a rock, is an head and the visage of
+a devil bodily, full horrible and dreadful to see, and it sheweth not but
+the head, to the shoulders.  But there is no man in the world so hardy,
+Christian man ne other, but that he would be adread to behold it, and
+that it would seem him to die for dread, so is it hideous for to behold.
+For he beholdeth every man so sharply with dreadful eyen, that be
+evermore moving and sparkling as fire, and changeth and stirreth so often
+in diverse manner, with so horrible countenance, that no man dare not
+neighen towards him.  And from him cometh out smoke and stinking fire and
+so much abomination, that unnethe no man may there endure.
+
+But the good Christian men, that be stable in the faith, enter well
+without peril.  For they will first shrive them and mark them with the
+token of the holy cross, so that the fiends ne have no power over them.
+But albeit that they be without peril, yet, natheles, ne be they not
+without dread, when that they see the devils visibly and bodily all about
+them, that make full many diverse assaults and menaces, in air and in
+earth, and aghast them with strokes of thunder-blasts and of tempests.
+And the most dread is, that God will take vengeance then of that that men
+have misdone against his will.
+
+And ye shall understand, that when my fellows and I were in that vale, we
+were in great thought, whether that we durst put our bodies in adventure,
+to go in or not, in the protection of God.  And some of our fellows
+accorded to enter, and some not.  So there were with us two worthy men,
+friars minors, that were of Lombardy, that said, that if any man would
+enter they would go in with us.  And when they had said so, upon the
+gracious trust of God and of them, we let sing mass, and made every man
+to be shriven and houseled.  And then we entered fourteen persons; but at
+our going out we were but nine.  And so we wist never, whether that our
+fellows were lost, or else turned again for dread.  But we saw them never
+after; and those were two men of Greece, and three of Spain.  And our
+other fellows that would not go in with us, they went by another coast to
+be before us; and so they were.
+
+And thus we passed that perilous vale, and found therein gold and silver,
+and precious stones and rich jewels, great plenty, both here and there,
+as us seemed.  But whether that it was, as us seemed, I wot never.  For I
+touched none, because that the devils be so subtle to make a thing to
+seem otherwise than it is, for to deceive mankind.  And therefore I
+touched none, and also because that I would not be put out of my
+devotion; for I was more devout then, than ever I was before or after,
+and all for the dread of fiends that I saw in diverse figures, and also
+for the great multitude of dead bodies, that I saw there lying by the
+way, by all the vale, as though there had been a battle between two
+kings, and the mightiest of the country, and that the greater part had
+been discomfited and slain.  And I trow, that unnethe should any country
+have so much people within him, as lay slain in that vale as us thought,
+the which was an hideous sight to see.  And I marvelled much, that there
+were so many, and the bodies all whole without rotting.  But I trow, that
+fiends made them seem to be so whole without rotting.  But that might not
+be to mine advice that so many should have entered so newly, ne so many
+newly slain, with out stinking and rotting.  And many of them were in
+habit of Christian men, but I trow well, that it were of such that went
+in for covetise of the treasure that was there, and had overmuch
+feebleness in the faith; so that their hearts ne might not endure in the
+belief for dread.  And therefore were we the more devout a great deal.
+And yet we were cast down, and beaten down many times to the hard earth
+by winds and thunders and tempests.  But evermore God of his grace holp
+us.  And so we passed that perilous vale without peril and without
+encumbrance, thanked be Almighty God.
+
+After this, beyond the vale, is a great isle, where the folk be great
+giants of twenty-eight foot long, or of thirty foot long.  And they have
+no clothing but of skins of beasts that they hang upon them.  And they
+eat no bread, but all raw flesh; and they drink milk of beasts, for they
+have plenty of all bestial.  And they have no houses to lie in.  And they
+eat more gladly man’s flesh than any other flesh.  Into that isle dare no
+man gladly enter.  And if they see a ship and men therein, anon they
+enter into the sea for to take them.
+
+And men said us, that in an isle beyond that were giants of greater
+stature, some of forty-five foot, or of fifty foot long, and, as some men
+say, some of fifty cubits long.  But I saw none of those, for I had no
+lust to go to those parts, because that no man cometh neither into that
+isle ne into the other, but if he be devoured anon.  And among those
+giants be sheep as great as oxen here, and they bear great wool and
+rough.  Of the sheep I have seen many times.  And men have seen, many
+times, those giants take men in the sea out of their ships, and brought
+them to land, two in one hand and two in another, eating them going, all
+raw and all quick.
+
+Another isle is there toward the north, in the sea Ocean, where that be
+full cruel and full evil women of nature.  And they have precious stones
+in their eyen.  And they be of that kind, that if they behold any man
+with wrath, they slay him anon with the beholding, as doth the basilisk.
+
+Another isle is there, full fair and good and great, and full of people,
+where the custom is such, that the first night that they be married, they
+make another man to lie by their wives for to have their maidenhead: and
+therefore they take great hire and great thank.  And there be certain men
+in every town that serve of none other thing; and they clepe them
+cadeberiz, that is to say, the fools of wanhope.  For they of the country
+hold it so great a thing and so perilous for to have the maidenhead of a
+woman, that them seemeth that they that have first the maidenhead putteth
+him in adventure of his life.  And if the husband find his wife maiden
+that other next night after that she should have been lain by of the man
+that is assigned therefore, peradventure for drunkenness or for some
+other cause, the husband shall plain upon him that he hath not done his
+devoir, in such cruel wise as though the officers would have slain him.
+But after the first night that they be lain by, they keep them so
+straitly that they be not so hardy to speak with no man.  And I asked
+them the cause why that they held such custom: and they said me, that of
+old time men had been dead for deflowering of maidens, that had serpents
+in their bodies that stung men upon their yards, that they died anon: and
+therefore they held that customs to make other men ordained therefore to
+lie by their wives, for dread of death, and to assay the passage by
+another [rather] than for to put them in that adventure.
+
+After that is another isle where that women make great sorrow when their
+children be y-born.  And when they die, they make great feast and great
+joy and revel, and then they cast them into a great fire burning.  And
+those that love well their husbands, if their husbands be dead, they cast
+them also in the fire with their children, and burn them.  And they say
+that the fire shall cleanse them of all filths and of all vices, and they
+shall go pured and clean into another world to their husbands, and they
+shall lead their children with them.  And the cause why that they weep,
+when their children be born is this; for when they come into this world,
+they come to labour, sorrow and heaviness.  And why they make joy and
+gladness at their dying is because that, as they say, then they go to
+Paradise where the rivers run milk and honey, where that men see them in
+joy and in abundance of goods, without sorrow and labour.
+
+In that isle men make their king evermore by election, and they ne choose
+him not for no noblesse nor for no riches, but such one as is of good
+manners and of good conditions, and therewithal rightfull, and also that
+he be of great age, and that he have no children.  In that isle men be
+full rightfull and they do rightfull judgments in every cause both of
+rich and poor, small and great, after the quantity of the trespass that
+is mis-done.  And the king may not doom no man to death without assent of
+his barons and other men wise of counsel, and that all the court accord
+thereto.  And if the king himself do any homicide or any crime, as to
+slay a man, or any such case, he shall die there for.  But he shall not
+be slain as another man; but men shall defend, in pain of death, that no
+man be so hardy to make him company ne to speak with him, ne that no man
+give him, ne sell him, ne serve him, neither of meat ne of drink; and so
+shall he die in mischief.  They spare no man that hath trespassed,
+neither for love, ne for favour ne for riches, ne for noblesse; but that
+he shall have after that he hath done.
+
+Beyond that isle is another isle, where is great multitude of folk.  And
+they will not, for no thing, eat flesh of hares, ne of hens, ne of geese;
+and yet they bring forth enough, for to see them and to behold them only;
+but they eat flesh of all other beasts, and drink milk.  In that country
+they take their daughters and their sisters to their wives, and their
+other kinswomen.  And if there be ten men or twelve men or more dwelling
+in an house, the wife of everych of them shall be common to them all that
+dwell in that house; so that every man may lie with whom he will of them
+on one night, and with another, another night.  And if she have any
+child, she may give it to what man that she list, that hath companied
+with her, so that no man knoweth there whether the child be his or
+another’s.  And if any man say to them, that they nourish other men’s
+children, they answer that so do over men theirs.
+
+In that country and by all Ind be great plenty of cockodrills, that is a
+manner of a long serpent, as I have said before.  And in the night they
+dwell in the water, and on the day upon the land, in rocks and in caves.
+And they eat no meat in all the winter, but they lie as in a dream, as do
+the serpents.  These serpents slay men, and they eat them weeping; and
+when they eat they move the over jaw, and not the nether jaw, and they
+have no tongue.
+
+In that country and in many other beyond that, and also in many on this
+half, men put in work the seed of cotton, and they sow it every year.
+And then groweth it in small trees, that bear cotton.  And so do men
+every year, so that there is plenty of cotton at all times.  Item; in
+this isle and in many other, there is a manner of wood, hard and strong.
+Whoso covereth the coals of that wood under the ashes thereof, the coals
+will dwell and abide all quick, a year or more.  And that tree hath many
+leaves, as the juniper hath.  And there be also many trees, that of
+nature they will never burn, ne rot in no manner.  And there be nut
+trees, that bear nuts as great as a man’s head.
+
+There also be many beasts, that be clept orafles.  In Arabia, they be
+clept gerfaunts.  That is a beast, pomely or spotted, that is but a
+little more high than is a steed, but he hath the neck a twenty cubits
+long; and his croup and his tail is as of an hart; and he may look over a
+great high house.  And there be also in that country many camles; that is
+a little beast as a goat, that is wild, and he liveth by the air and
+eateth nought, ne drinketh nought, at no time.  And he changeth his
+colour often-time, for men see him often sithes, now in one colour and
+now in another colour; and he may change him into all manner colours that
+him list, save only into red and white.  There be also in that country
+passing great serpents, some of six score foot long, and they be of
+diverse colours, as rayed, red, green, and yellow, blue and black, and
+all speckled.  And there be others that have crests upon their heads, and
+they go upon their feet, upright, and they be well a four fathom great,
+or more, and they dwell always in rocks or in mountains, and they have
+alway the throat open, of whence they drop venom always.  And there be
+also wild swine of many colours, as great as be oxen in our country, and
+they be all spotted, as be young fawns.  And there be also urchins, as
+great as wild swine here; we clepe them Porcz de Spine.  And there be
+lions all white, great and mighty.  And there be also of other beasts, as
+great and more greater than is a destrier, and men clepe them Loerancs;
+and some men clepe them odenthos; and they have a black head and three
+long horns trenchant in the front, sharp as a sword, and the body is
+slender; and he is a full felonious beast, and he chaseth and slayeth the
+elephant.  There be also many other beasts, full wicked and cruel, that
+be not mickle more than a bear, and they have the head like a boar, and
+they have six feet, and on every foot two large claws, trenchant; and the
+body is like a bear, and the tail as a lion.  And there be also mice as
+great as hounds, and yellow mice as great as ravens.  And there be geese,
+all red, three sithes more great than ours here, and they have the head,
+the neck and the breast all black.
+
+And many other diverse beasts be in those countries, and elsewhere
+there-about, and many diverse birds also, of the which it were too long
+for to tell you.  And therefore, I pass over at this time.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+_Of the goodness of the folk of the Isle of Bragman_.  _Of King
+Alexander_.  _And wherefore the Emperor of Ind is clept Prester John_
+
+AND beyond that isle is another isle, great and good and plenteous, where
+that be good folk and true, and of good living after their belief and of
+good faith.  And albeit that they be not christened, ne have no perfect
+law, yet, natheles, of kindly law they be full of all virtue, and they
+eschew all vices and all malices and all sins.  For they be not proud, ne
+covetous, ne envious, ne wrathful, ne gluttons, ne lecherous.  Ne they do
+to any man otherwise than they would that other men did to them, and in
+this point they fulfil the ten commandments of God, and give no charge of
+avoir, ne of riches.  And they lie not, ne they swear not for none
+occasion, but they say simply, yea and nay; for they say, he that
+sweareth will deceive his neighbour, and therefore, all that they do,
+they do it without oath.
+
+And men clepe that isle the Isle of Bragman, and some men clepe it the
+Land of Faith.  And through that land runneth a great river that is clept
+Thebe.  And, in general, all the men of those isles and of all the
+marches thereabout be more true than in any other countries thereabout,
+and more rightfull than others in all things.  In that isle is no thief,
+ne murderer, ne common woman, ne poor beggar, ne never was man slain in
+that country.  And they be so chaste, and lead so good life, as that they
+were religious men, and they fast all days.  And because they be so true
+and so rightfull, and so full of all good conditions, they were never
+grieved with tempests, ne with thunder, ne with light, ne with hail, ne
+with pestilence, ne with war, ne with hunger, ne with none other
+tribulation, as we be, many times, amongst us, for our sins.  Wherefore,
+it seemeth well, that God loveth them and is pleased with their creaunce
+for their good deeds.  They believe well in God, that made all things,
+and him they worship.  And they prize none earthly riches; and so they be
+all rightfull.  And they live full ordinately, and so soberly in meat and
+drink, that they live right long.  And the most part of them die without
+sickness, when nature faileth them, for eld.
+
+And it befell in King Alexander’s time, that he purposed him to conquer
+that isle and to make them to hold of him.  And when they of the country
+heard it, they sent messengers to him with letters, that said thus; What
+may be enough to that man to whom all the world is insufficient?  Thou
+shalt find nothing in us, that may cause thee to war against us.  For we
+have no riches, ne none we covet, and all the goods of our country be in
+common.  Our meat, that we sustain withal our bodies, is our riches.
+And, instead of treasure of gold and silver, we make our treasure of
+accord and peace, and for to love every man other.  And for to apparel
+with our bodies we use a silly little clout for to wrap in our carrion.
+Our wives ne be not arrayed for to make no man pleasance, but only
+convenable array for to eschew folly.  When men pain them to array the
+body for to make it seem fairer than God made it, they do great sin.  For
+man should not devise ne ask greater beauty, than God hath ordained man
+to be at his birth.  The earth ministereth to us two things,—our
+livelihood, that cometh of the earth that we live by, and our sepulture
+after our death.  We have been in perpetual peace till now, that thou
+come to disinherit us.  And also we have a king, not only for to do
+justice to every man, for he shall find no forfeit among us; but for to
+keep noblesse, and for to shew that we be obeissant, we have a king.  For
+justice ne hath not among us no place, for we do to no man otherwise than
+we desire that men do to us.  So that righteousness ne vengeance have
+nought to do among us.  So that nothing thou may take from us, but our
+good peace, that always hath dured among us.
+
+And when King Alexander had read these letters, he thought that he should
+do great sin, for to trouble them.  And then he sent them sureties, that
+they should not be afeard of him, and that they should keep their good
+manners and their good peace, as they had used before, of custom.  And so
+he let them alone.
+
+Another isle there is, that men clepe Oxidrate, and another isle, that
+men clepe Gynosophe, where there is also good folk, and full of good
+faith.  And they hold, for the most part, the good conditions and customs
+and good manners, as men of the country abovesaid; but they go all naked.
+
+Into that isle entered King Alexander, to see the manner.  And when he
+saw their great faith, and their truth that was amongst them, he said
+that he would not grieve them, and bade them ask of him what that they
+would have of him, riches or anything else, and they should have it, with
+good will.  And they answered, that he was rich enough that had meat and
+drink to sustain the body with, for the riches of this world, that is
+transitory, is not worth; but if it were in his power to make them
+immortal, thereof would they pray him, and thank him.  And Alexander
+answered them that it was not in his power to do it, because he was
+mortal, as they were.  And then they asked him why he was so proud and so
+fierce, and so busy for to put all the world under his subjection, right
+as thou were a God, and hast no term of this life, neither day ne hour,
+and willest to have all the world at thy commandment, that shall leave
+thee without fail, or thou leave it.  And right as it hath been to other
+men before thee, right so it shall be to other after thee.  And from
+hence shalt thou bear nothing; but as thou were born naked, right so all
+naked shall thy body be turned into earth that thou were made of.
+Wherefore thou shouldest think and impress it in thy mind, that nothing
+is immortal, but only God, that made the thing.  By the which answer
+Alexander was greatly astonished and abashed, and all confused and
+departed from them.
+
+And albeit that these folk have not the articles of our faith as we have,
+natheles, for their good faith natural, and for their good intent, I trow
+fully, that God loveth them, and that God take their service to gree,
+right as he did of Job, that was a paynim, and held him for his true
+servant.  And therefore, albeit that there be many diverse laws in the
+world, yet I trow, that God loveth always them that love him, and serve
+him meekly in truth, and namely them that despise the vain glory of this
+world, as this folk do and as Job did also.
+
+And therefore said our Lord by the mouth of Hosea the prophet, _Ponam eis
+multiplices leges meas_; and also in another place, _Qui totum orbem
+subdit suis legibus_.  And also our Lord saith in the Gospel, _Alias oves
+habeo_, _que non sunt ex hoc ovili_, that is to say, that he had other
+servants than those that be under Christian law.  And to that accordeth
+the avision that Saint Peter saw at Jaffa, how the angel came from
+heaven, and brought before him diverse beasts, as serpents and other
+creeping beasts of the earth, and of other also, great plenty, and bade
+him take and eat.  And Saint Peter answered; I eat never, quoth he, of
+unclean beasts.  And then said the angel, _Non dicas immunda_, _que Deus
+mundavit_.  And that was in token that no man should have in despite none
+earthly man for their diverse laws, for we know not whom God loveth, ne
+whom God hateth.  And for that example, when men say, _De profundis_,
+they say it in common and in general, with the Christian, _Pro animabus
+omnium defunctorum_, _pro quibus sit orandum_.
+
+And therefore say I of this folk, that be so true and so faithful, that
+God loveth them.  For he hath amongst them many of the prophets, and
+alway hath had.  And in those isles, they prophesied the Incarnation of
+Lord Jesu Christ, how he should be born of a maiden, three thousand year
+or more or our Lord was born of the Virgin Mary.  And they believe well
+it, the Incarnation, and that full perfectly, but they know not the
+manner, how he suffered his passion and death for us.
+
+And beyond these isles there is another isle that is clept Pytan.  The
+folk of that country ne till not, ne labour not the earth, for they eat
+no manner thing.  And they be of good colour and of fair shape, after
+their greatness.  But the small be as dwarfs, but not so little as be the
+Pigmies.  These men live by the smell of wild apples.  And when they go
+any far way, they bear the apples with them; for if they had lost the
+savour of the apples, they should die anon.  They ne be not full
+reasonable, but they be simple and bestial.
+
+After that is another isle, where the folk be all skinned rough hair, as
+a rough beast, save only the face and the palm of the hand.  These folk
+go as well under the water of the sea, as they do above the land all dry.
+And they eat both flesh and fish all raw.  In this isle is a great river
+that is well a two mile and an half of breadth that is clept Beaumare.
+
+And from that river a fifteen journeys in length, going by the deserts of
+the tother side of the river—whoso might go it, for I was not there, but
+it was told us of them of the country, that within those deserts were the
+trees of the sun and of the moon, that spake to King Alexander, and
+warned him of his death.  And men say that the folk that keep those
+trees, and eat of the fruit and of the balm that groweth there, live well
+four hundred year or five hundred year, by virtue of the fruit and of the
+balm.  For men say that balm groweth there in great plenty and nowhere
+else, save only at Babylon, as I have told you before.  We would have
+gone toward the trees full gladly if we had might.  But I trow that
+100,000 men of arms might not pass those deserts safely, for the great
+multitude of wild beasts and of great dragons and of great serpents that
+there be, that slay and devour all that come anent them.  In that country
+be many white elephants without number, and of unicorns and of lions of
+many manners, and many of such beasts that I have told before, and of
+many other hideous beasts without number.
+
+Many other isles there be in the land of Prester John, and many great
+marvels, that were too long to tell all, both of his riches and of his
+noblesse and of the great plenty also of precious stones that he hath.  I
+trow that ye know well enough, and have heard say, wherefore this emperor
+is clept Prester John.  But, natheles, for them that know not, I shall
+say you the cause.
+
+It was sometime an emperor there, that was a worthy and a full noble
+prince, that had Christian knights in his company, as he hath that is
+now.  So it befell, that he had great list for to see the service in the
+church among Christian men.  And then dured Christendom beyond the sea,
+all Turkey, Syria, Tartary, Jerusalem, Palestine, Arabia, Aleppo and all
+the land of Egypt.  And so it befell that this emperor came with a
+Christian knight with him into a church in Egypt.  And it was the
+Saturday in Whitsun-week.  And the bishop made orders.  And he beheld,
+and listened the service full tentively.  And he asked the Christian
+knight what men of degree they should be that the prelate had before him.
+And the knight answered and said that they should be priests.  And then
+the emperor said that he would no longer be clept king ne emperor, but
+priest, and that he would have the name of the first priest that went out
+of the church, and his name was John.  And so ever-more sithens, he is
+clept Prester John.
+
+In his land be many Christian men of good faith and of good law, and
+namely of them of the same country, and have commonly their priests, that
+sing the Mass, and make the sacrament of the altar, of bread, right as
+the Greeks do; but they say not so many things at the Mass as men do
+here.  For they say not but only that that the apostles said, as our Lord
+taught them, right as Saint Peter and Saint Thomas and the other apostles
+sung the Mass, saying the _Pater Noster_ and the words of the sacrament.
+But we have many more additions that divers popes have made, that they ne
+know not of.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+ _Of the Hills of Gold that Pismires keep_.  _And of the four Floods that
+                     come from Paradise Terrestrial_
+
+TOWARD the east part of Prester John’s land is an isle good and great,
+that men clepe Taprobane, that is full noble and full fructuous.  And the
+king thereof is full rich, and is under the obeissance of Prester John.
+And always there they make their king by election.  In that isle be two
+summers and two winters, and men harvest the corn twice a year.  And in
+all the seasons of the year be the gardens flourished.  There dwell good
+folk and reasonable, and many Christian men amongst them, that be so rich
+that they wit not what to do with their goods.  Of old time, when men
+passed from the land of Prester John unto that isle, men made ordinance
+for to pass by ship, twenty-three days, or more; but now men pass by ship
+in seven days.  And men may see the bottom of the sea in many places, for
+it is not full deep.
+
+Beside that isle, toward the east, be two other isles.  And men clepe
+that one Orille, and that other Argyte, of the which all the land is mine
+of gold and silver.  And those isles be right where that the Red Sea
+departeth from the sea ocean.  And in those isles men see there no stars
+so clearly as in other places.  For there appear no stars, but only one
+clear star that men clepe Canapos.  And there is not the moon seen in all
+the lunation, save only the second quarter.
+
+In the isle also of this Taprobane be great hills of gold, that pismires
+keep full diligently.  And they fine the pured gold, and cast away the
+un-pured.  And these pismires be great as hounds, so that no man dare
+come to those hills for the pismires would assail them and devour them
+anon.  So that no man may get of that gold, but by great sleight.  And
+therefore when it is great heat, the pismires rest them in the earth,
+from prime of the day into noon.  And then the folk of the country take
+camels, dromedaries, and horses and other beasts, and go thither, and
+charge them in all haste that they may; and after that, they flee away in
+all haste that the beasts may go, or the pismires come out of the earth.
+And in other times, when it is not so hot, and that the pismires ne rest
+them not in the earth, then they get gold by this subtlety.  They take
+mares that have young colts or foals, and lay upon the mares void vessels
+made there-for; and they be all open above, and hanging low to the earth.
+And then they send forth those mares for to pasture about those hills,
+and with-hold the foals with them at home.  And when the pismires see
+those vessels, they leap in anon: and they have this kind that they let
+nothing be empty among them, but anon they fill it, be it what manner of
+thing that it be; and so they fill those vessels with gold.  And when
+that the folk suppose that the vessels be full, they put forth anon the
+young foals, and make them to neigh after their dams.  And then anon the
+mares return towards their foals with their charges of gold.  And then
+men discharges them, and get gold enough by this subtlety.  For the
+pismires will suffer beasts to go and pasture amongst them, but no man in
+no wise.
+
+And beyond the land and the isles and the deserts of Prester John’s
+lordship, in going straight toward the east, men find nothing but
+mountains and rocks, full great.  And there is the dark region, where no
+man may see, neither by day ne by night, as they of the country say.  And
+that desert and that place of darkness dure from this coast unto Paradise
+terrestrial, where that Adam, our formest father, and Eve were put, that
+dwelled there but little while: and that is towards the east at the
+beginning of the earth.  But that is not that east that we clepe our
+east, on this half, where the sun riseth to us.  For when the sun is east
+in those parts towards Paradise terrestrial, it is then midnight in our
+parts on this half, for the roundness of the earth, of the which I have
+touched to you of before.  For our Lord God made the earth all round in
+the mid place of the firmament.  And there as mountains and hills be and
+valleys, that is not but only of Noah’s flood, that wasted the soft
+ground and the tender, and fell down into valleys, and the hard earth and
+the rocks abide mountains, when the soft earth and tender waxed nesh
+through the water, and fell and became valleys.
+
+Of Paradise ne can I not speak properly.  For I was not there.  It is far
+beyond.  And that forthinketh me.  And also I was not worthy.  But as I
+have heard say of wise men beyond, I shall tell you with good will.
+
+Paradise terrestrial, as wise men say, is the highest place of earth,
+that is in all the world.  And it is so high that it toucheth nigh to the
+circle of the moon, there as the moon maketh her turn; for she is so high
+that the flood of Noah ne might not come to her, that would have covered
+all the earth of the world all about and above and beneath, save Paradise
+only alone.  And this Paradise is enclosed all about with a wall, and men
+wit not whereof it is; for the walls be covered all over with moss, as it
+seemeth.  And it seemeth not that the wall is stone of nature, ne of none
+other thing that the wall is.  And that wall stretcheth from the south to
+the north, and it hath not but one entry that is closed with fire,
+burning; so that no man that is mortal ne dare not enter.
+
+And in the most high place of Paradise, even in the middle place, is a
+well that casteth out the four floods that run by divers lands.  Of the
+which, the first is clept Pison, or Ganges, that is all one; and it
+runneth throughout Ind or Emlak, in the which river be many precious
+stones, and much of lignum aloes and much gravel of gold.  And that other
+river is clept Nilus or Gison, that goeth by Ethiopia and after by Egypt.
+And that other is clept Tigris, that runneth by Assyria and by Armenia
+the great.  And that other is clept Euphrates, that runneth also by Media
+and Armenia and by Persia.  And men there beyond say, that all the sweet
+waters of the world, above and beneath, take their beginning of the well
+of Paradise, and out of that well all waters come and go.
+
+The first river is clept Pison, that is to say in their language
+Assembly; for many other rivers meet them there, and go into that river.
+And some men clepe it Ganges, for a king that was in Ind, that hight
+Gangeres, and that it ran throughout his land.  And that water [is] in
+some place clear, and in some place troubled, in some place hot, and in
+some place cold.
+
+The second river is clept Nilus or Gison; for it is always trouble; and
+Gison, in the language of Ethiopia, is to say, trouble, and in the
+language of Egypt also.
+
+The third river, that is dept Tigris, is as much for to say as,
+fast-running; for he runneth more fast than any of the tother; and also
+there is a beast, that is clept tigris, that is fast-running.
+
+The fourth river is clept Euphrates, that is to say, well-bearing; for
+there grow many goods upon that river, as corns, fruits and other goods
+enough plenty.
+
+And ye shall understand that no man that is mortal ne may not approach to
+that Paradise.  For by land no man may go for wild beasts that be in the
+deserts, and for the high mountains and great huge rocks that no man may
+pass by, for the dark places that be there, and that many.  And by the
+rivers may no man go.  For the water runneth so rudely and so sharply,
+because that it cometh down so outrageously from the high places above,
+that it runneth in so great waves, that no ship may not row ne sail
+against it.  And the water roareth so, and maketh so huge noise and so
+great tempest, that no man may hear other in the ship, though he cried
+with all the craft that he could in the highest voice that he might.
+Many great lords have assayed with great will, many times, for to pass by
+those rivers towards Paradise, with full great companies.  But they might
+not speed in their voyage.  And many died for weariness of rowing against
+those strong waves.  And many of them became blind, and many deaf, for
+the noise of the water.  And some were perished and lost within the
+waves.  So that no mortal man may approach to that place, without special
+grace of God, so that of that place I can say you no more; and therefore,
+I shall hold me still, and return to that, that I have seen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV
+
+
+_Of the Customs of Kings and other that dwell in the Isles coasting to
+Prester John’s Land_.  _And of the Worship that the Son doth to the
+Father when he is dead_
+
+FROM those isles that I have spoken of before, in the Land of Prester
+John, that be under earth as to us that be on this half, and of other
+isles that be more further beyond, whoso will, pursue them for to come
+again right to the parts that he came from, and so environ all earth.
+But what for the isles, what for the sea, and what for strong rowing, few
+folk assay for to pass that passage; albeit that men might do it well,
+that might be of power to dress them thereto, as I have said you before.
+And therefore men return from those isles abovesaid by other isles,
+coasting from the land of Prester John.
+
+And then come men in returning to an isle that is clept Casson.  And that
+isle hath well sixty journeys in length, and more than fifty in breadth.
+This is the best isle and the best kingdom that is in all those parts,
+out-taken Cathay.  And if the merchants used as much that country as they
+do Cathay, it would be better than Cathay in a short while.  This country
+is full well inhabited, and so full of cities and of good towns inhabited
+with people, that when a man goeth out of one city, men see another city
+even before them; and that is what part that a man go, in all that
+country.  In that isle is great plenty of all goods for to live with, and
+of all manner of spices.  And there be great forests of chestnuts.  The
+king of that isle is full rich and full mighty, and, natheles, he holds
+his land of the great Chan, and is obeissant to him.  For it is one of
+the twelve provinces that the great Chan hath under him without his
+proper land, and without other less isles that he hath; for he hath full
+many.
+
+From that kingdom come men, in returning, to another isle that is clept
+Rybothe, and it is also under the great Chan.  That is a full good
+country, and full plenteous of all goods and of wines and fruit and all
+other riches.  And the folk of that country have no houses, but they
+dwell and lie all under tents made of black fern, by all the country.
+And the principal city and the most royal is all walled with black stone
+and white.  And all the streets also be pathed of the same stones.  In
+that city is no man so hardy to shed blood of any man, ne of no beast,
+for the reverence of an idol that is worshipped there.  And in that isle
+dwelleth the pope of their law, that they clepe Lobassy.  This Lobassy
+giveth all the benefices, and all other dignities and all other things
+that belong to the idol.  And all those that hold anything of their
+churches, religious and other, obey to him, as men do here to the Pope of
+Rome.
+
+In that isle they have a custom by all the country, that when the father
+is dead of any man, and the son list to do great worship to his father,
+he sendeth to all his friends and to all his kin, and for religious men
+and priests, and for minstrels also, great plenty.  And then men bear the
+dead body unto a great hill with great joy and solemnity.  And when they
+have brought it thither, the chief prelate smiteth off the head, and
+layeth it upon a great platter of gold and of silver, if so [he] be a
+rich man.  And then he taketh the head to the son.  And then the son and
+his other kin sing and say many orisons.  And then the priests and the
+religious men smite all the body of the dead man in pieces.  And then
+they say certain orisons.  And the fowls of ravine of all the country
+about know the custom of long time before, [and] come flying above in the
+air; as eagles, gledes, ravens and other fowls of ravine, that eat flesh.
+And then the priests cast the gobbets of the flesh and then the fowls,
+each of them, taketh that he may, and goeth a little thence and eateth
+it; and so they do whilst any piece lasteth of the dead body.
+
+And after that, as priests amongst us sing for the dead, _Subvenite
+Sancti Dei_, _etc._, right so the priests sing with high voice in their
+language; Behold how so worthy a man and how good a man this was, that
+the angels of God come for to seek him and for to bring him into
+Paradise.  And then seemeth it to the son, that he is highly worshipped,
+when that many birds and fowls and ravens come and eat his father; and he
+that hath most number of fowls is most worshipped.
+
+And then the son bringeth home with him all his kin, and his friends, and
+all the others to his house, and maketh them a great feast.  And then all
+his friends make their vaunt and their dalliance, how the fowls came
+thither, here five, here six, here ten, and there twenty, and so forth;
+and they rejoice them hugely for to speak thereof.  And when they be at
+meat, the son let bring forth the head of his father, and thereof he
+giveth of the flesh to his most special friends, instead of _entre
+messe_, or a _sukkarke_.  And of the brain pan, he letteth make a cup,
+and thereof drinketh he and his other friends also, with great devotion,
+in remembrance of the holy man, that the angels of God have eaten.  And
+that cup the son shall keep to drink of all his life-time, in remembrance
+of his father.
+
+From that land, in returning by ten journeys throughout the land of the
+great Chan, is another good isle and a great kingdom, where the king is
+full rich and mighty.
+
+And amongst the rich men of his country is a passing rich man, that is no
+prince, ne duke, ne earl, but he hath more that hold of him lands and
+other lordships, for he is more rich.  For he hath, every year, of annual
+rent 300,000 horses charged with corn of diverse grains and of rice.  And
+so he leadeth a full noble life and a delicate, after the custom of the
+country.  For he hath, every day, fifty fair damosels, all maidens, that
+serve him evermore at his meat, and for to lie by him o’ night, and for
+to do with them that is to his pleasance.  And when he is at table, they
+bring him his meat at every time, five and five together; and in bringing
+their service they sing a song.  And after that, they cut his meat, and
+put it in his mouth; for he toucheth nothing, ne handleth nought, but
+holdeth evermore his hands before him upon the table.  For he hath so
+long nails, that he may take nothing, ne handle nothing.  For the
+noblesse of that country is to have long nails, and to make them grow
+always to be as long as men may.  And there be many in that country, that
+have their nails so long, that they environ all the hand.  And that is a
+great noblesse.  And the noblesse of the women is for to have small feet
+and little.  And therefore anon as they be born, they let bind their feet
+so strait, that they may not grow half as nature would.  And this is the
+noblesse of the women there to have small feet and little.  And always
+these damosels, that I spake of before, sing all the time that this rich
+man eateth.  And when that he eateth no more of his first course, then
+other five and five of fair damsels bring him his second course, always
+singing as they did before.  And so they do continually every day to the
+end of his meat.  And in this manner he leadeth his life.  And so did
+they before him, that were his ancestors.  And so shall they that come
+after him, without doing of any deeds of arms, but live evermore thus in
+ease, as a. swine that is fed in sty for to be made fat.  He hath a full
+fair palace and full rich, where that he dwelleth in, of the which the
+walls be, in circuit, two mile.  And he hath within many fair gardens,
+and many fair halls and chambers; and the pavement of his halls and
+chambers be of gold and silver.  And in the mid place of one of his
+gardens is a little mountain, where there is a little meadow.  And in
+that meadow is a little toothill with towers and pinnacles, all of gold.
+And in that little toothill will he sit often-time, for to take the air
+and to disport him.  For the place is made for nothing else, but only for
+his disport.
+
+From that country men come by the land of the great Chan also, that I
+have spoken of before.
+
+And ye shall understand, that of all these countries, and of all these
+isles, and of all the diverse folk, that I have spoken of before, and of
+diverse laws, and of diverse beliefs that they have, yet is there none of
+them all but that they have some reason within them and understanding,
+but if it be the fewer, and that have certain articles of our faith and
+some good points of our belief, and that they believe in God, that formed
+all things and made the world, and clepe him God of Nature; after that
+the prophet saith, _Et metuent eum omnes fines terrae_, and also in
+another place, _Omnes gentes servient ei_, that is to say, ‘All folk
+shall serve him.’
+
+But yet they cannot speak perfectly (for there is no man to teach them),
+but only that they can devise by their natural wit.  For they have no
+knowledge of the Son, ne of the Holy Ghost.  But they can all speak of
+the Bible, and namely of Genesis, of the prophet’s saws and of the books
+of Moses.  And they say well, that the creatures that † they worship ne
+be no gods; but they worship them for the virtue that is in them, that
+may not be but only by the grace of God.  And of simulacres and of idols,
+they say, that there be no folk, but that they have simulacres.  And that
+they say, for we Christian men have images, as of our Lady and of other
+saints that we worship; not the images of tree or of stone, but the
+saints, in whose name they be made after.  For right as the books and the
+scripture of them teach the clerks how and in what manner they shall
+believe, right so the images and the paintings teach the lewd folk to
+worship the saints and to have them in their mind, in whose names that
+the images be made after.  They say also, that the angels of God speak to
+them in those idols, and that they do many great miracles.  And they say
+sooth, that there is an angel within them.  For there be two manner of
+angels, a good and an evil, as the Greeks say, Cacho and Calo.  This
+Cacho is the wicked angel, and Calo is the good angel.  But the tother is
+not the good angel, but the wicked angel that is within the idols to
+deceive them and for to maintain them in their error.
+
+There be many other divers countries and many other marvels beyond, that
+I have not seen.  Wherefore, of them I cannot speak properly to tell you
+the manner of them.  And also in the countries where I have been, be many
+more diversities of many wonderful things than I make mention of; for it
+were too long thing to devise you the manner.  And therefore, that that I
+have devised you of certain countries, that I have spoken of before, I
+beseech your worthy and excellent noblesse, that it suffice to you at
+this time.  For if that I devised you all that is beyond the sea, another
+man, peradventure, that would pain him and travail his body for to go
+into those marches for to ensearch those countries, might be blamed by my
+words in rehearsing many strange things; for he might not say nothing of
+new, in the which the hearers might have either solace, or disport, or
+lust, or liking in the hearing.  For men say always, that new things and
+new tidings be pleasant to hear.  Wherefore I will hold me still, without
+any more rehearsing of diversities or of marvels that be beyond, to that
+intent and end, that whoso will go into those countries, he shall find
+enough to speak of, that I have not touched of in no wise.
+
+And ye shall understand, if it like you, that at mine home-coming, I came
+to Rome, and shewed my life to our holy father the pope, and was assoiled
+of all that lay in my conscience, of many a diverse grievous point; as
+men must needs that be in company, dwelling amongst so many a diverse
+folk of diverse sect and of belief, as I have been.
+
+And amongst all I shewed him this treatise, that I had made after
+information of men that knew of things that I had not seen myself, and
+also of marvels and customs that I had seen myself, as far as God would
+give me grace; and besought his holy fatherhood, that my book might be
+examined and corrected by advice of his wise and discreet council.  And
+our holy father, of his special grace, remitted my book to be examined
+and proved by the advice of his said counsel.  By the which my book was
+proved for true, insomuch, that they shewed me a book, that my book was
+examined by, that comprehended full much more, by an hundred part, by the
+which the _Mappa Mundi_ was made after.  And so my book (albeit that many
+men ne list not to give credence to nothing, but to that that they see
+with their eye, ne be the author ne the person never so true) is affirmed
+and proved by our holy father, in manner and form as I have said.
+
+And I, John Mandevile, knight, abovesaid (although I be unworthy), that
+departed from our countries and passed the sea, the year of grace a
+thousand three hundred and twenty two, that have passed many lands and
+many isles and countries, and searched many full strange places, and have
+been in many a full good honourable company, and at many a fair deed of
+arms (albeit that I did none myself, for mine unable insuffisance), now I
+am come home, maugre myself, to rest, for gouts artetykes that me
+distrain, that define the end of my labour; against my will (God
+knoweth).
+
+And thus, taking solace in my wretched rest, recording the time passed, I
+have fulfilled these things, and put them written in this book, as it
+would come into my mind, the year of grace a thousand three hundred and
+fifty six, in the thirty-fourth year, that I departed from our countries.
+
+Wherefore, I pray to all the readers and hearers of this book, if it
+please them, that they would pray to God for me; and I shall pray for
+them.  And all those that say for me a _Pater Noster_, with an _Ave
+Maria_, that God forgive me my sins, I make them partners, and grant them
+part of all the good pilgrimages and of all the good deeds that I have
+done, if any be to his pleasance; and not only of those, but of all that
+ever I shall do unto my life’s end.  And I beseech Almighty God, from
+whom all goodness and grace cometh from, that he vouchsafe of his
+excellent mercy and abundant grace, to fulfil their souls with
+inspiration of the Holy Ghost, in making defence of all their ghostly
+enemies here in earth, to their salvation both of body and soul; to
+worship and thanking of him, that is three and one, without beginning and
+without ending; that is without quality, good, without quantity, great;
+that in all places is present, and all things containing; the which that
+no goodness may amend, ne none evil impair; that in perfect Trinity
+liveth and reigneth God, by all worlds, and by all times!
+
+_Amen_!  _Amen_!  _Amen_!
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                [HERE ENDETH THE BOOK OF JOHN MANDEVILLE.]
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+
+{0}  The supplement was not transcribed as part of the original Project
+Gutenberg release.  The texts are available elsewhere in Project
+Gutenberg.—DP.
+
+{ix}  Not Mandeville, but an anonymous sojourner among the Tartars, whose
+story fills a page and a half in Hakluyt.
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE***
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