Part 13
_Of the way for to go to prester Johns land which is Emperour of Inde._
FROM this lande of Bactry men goe many dayes Jorneyes to the lande of Prester John, that is a great Emperour of Inde, and men call his lande the yle of Pantoroze.[1] This Emperour Prester John holdeth great land, & many good cities, and good townes, in his kingedome is many great yles & large for this land of Ynde is departed in yles because of great flods that come out of Paradise, and also in the sea are many great yles, the best citie that is in the yle of Pantoroze is called Nile,[2] that is a noble citie & a rich. Prester John hath under him many kings and many diverse people, and his land is good & rych, but not so rich as the land of the great Caane, for marchaunts come not so much thyther as they do unto the lande of the greate Caane, for it is so long a journey. And also they finde in the yle of Cathay all thing that they haue nede of, as spycery, clothes of gold, and other riches, and all if they might haue better cheape in the lande of Prester John than in the land of Cathay, and more finer, neverthelesse they would let[3] it, for the long waye and great perils on the sea, for there are many places in the sea where are many roches of a stone that is called Adamand, the which of its own kinde, draweth to him all maner of yron, & therefore there may no ships that hath yron nayles passe, but it draweth them to him, and therefore they dare not go into that countrey with ships for dread of the Adamand. I went once into that sea & sawe along as it had bene a great yle of trees, stockes & braunches growinge, and the shipmen told me that those were of great shippes that abode there, through the vertue of the Adamandes and of things that were in the ships, whereof those trees sprong and waxed. And such roches are there many in diverse places of that sea & therefore dare there no shypman passe that waye. And another thing also that they dread the long way, and therefore they go moste to Cathay, and that is nerer unto them. And yet it is not so nere, but then behoveth[4] for Venice or Gene be in ye sea toward Cathay xi or xii moneths. The land of Prester John is long, & marchaunts passe thither through the lande of Persy, and come unto a citie that men cal Hermes,[5] for a Philosopher that was called Hermes founded it, and they passe an arme of the sea, & come to another citie that men call Saboth,[6] & there fynde they all marchaundises, & popiniayes, as great plentie as larkes[7] in our countrey. In this countrey is little wheat or barly, and therefore they eate ryce mylk and chese, & other fruits. This Emperour Prester John weddeth commonly the daughter of the greate Caane, and the great Caane his daughter. In the land of Prester John is many divers things, and many precious stones so great & so large that they make of them vessels, platters, and cuppes, and many other things of which it were to long to tell, but somewhat of his law and of his faith I shall tell you.
[Footnote 1: Other editions say Pentexoire.]
[Footnote 2: Nyse in other copies.]
[Footnote 3: Would not go that.]
[Footnote 4: This must be a misprint, and the text must read that travellers from Venice or Genoa to Cathay must make a voyage lasting 11 or 12 months.]
[Footnote 5: Ormuz.]
[Footnote 6: Other editions say Colbache.]
[Footnote 7: Others say _geese_.]
CAP. LXXXVII.
_Of the faith and belyfe of Prester John, but he hath not all the full beliefe as we haue._
THIS Emperour prester John is christen & a great part of his lande also, but they haue not all the articles of our fayth, but they beleve well in the Father, the Sonne, & the Holy Ghost, & they are full devout and true to one another, & they make no force of Catal,[1] and he hath under him Lxxii provinces and countries, and in eche one is a king, & those kings haue other kinges under them. And in this lande are many marvailes, for in that lande is the gravely sea, that is of sande and gravaile and no drop of water, and ebbeth and floweth with righte great waves as another sea doth, and it is never standing still, nor never in rest, and no man may passe that land beyond it. And al if it so be that there bee no water in the sea, yet men may finde therein right good fishe, and of other fashion & shape than is in any other seas, and also they are of full good savour & swete, and good to eat. And three jorneys from that sea are many greate hills, through which runneth a great floud that cometh from Paradise, and it is full of precious stones, and no drop of water, and it runneth with great waves into the gravely sea. And this floud runneth three dayes in the weke so fast, & stirreth great stones of the roches with him that make muche noise, and as sone as they come into the gravely sea, they are no more sene, and in those three dayes when it runneth thus, no man dare come in it, but the other dayes men go therein where they will. And also beyond that floud towards that wildernesse is a great plaine all sandy and gravely among hills, & in that plain grow trees that at the rising of the Son ech day begin to grow, and so grow they to midday, and beare fruit, but no man dare eate of that fruite, for it is a maner of yron,[2] and after myddaye it turneth againe to the earth, so that when the Sonne goeth downe it is nothinge seene, and so doeth it every day. And there is in y^t wildernesse many wild men with horns on their heads righte hidious, and they speke not but rout[3] as swine & in y^t countrey are many popiniayes, y^t they call in theyr language (pistak) & they speke through their own kind as a part as a man, & those that speake well haue long tonges and large & on every fote five toes, but there are som that haue but three toes but those speake nought and very ill.
[Footnote 1: They care not for property.]
[Footnote 2: In other editions it is "for it is a thing of Fayrye," or Magic.]
[Footnote 3: Root like hogs.]
CAP. LXXXVIII.
_Of an other ylande where also dwelleth good people therein, and is called Sinople._
THEN is there an other yland that is called Synople, wherein also are good people and true, & full of good faith, & they are much lyke in their living to y^e men before sayd, and they go all naked. Into that Iland came King Alexander, & when he saw their good faith and trouth, and theyr good belefe, he said that he wold do them no harme and bad them aske of him riches and nought[1] else, and they shoulde haue it. And they aunswered, that they had richesse ynough, when they had meat & drinke to sustaine their bodies, & they sayde also that richesse of this world is nought worth, but if it were so that he might graunt them that they should never dye, that would they pray him. And Alexander said that might he not do, for he was mortal and shold die as they shold. Then sayd they, why art y^e so proude & woldest win all the world, and haue it in thy subjection as it were a god & hast no terme[2] of thy life, & thou will haue all riches of y^e world, the which shall forsake thee or thou forsake it, & thou shalt beare nothing with thee, but it shal dwel to other, but as thou were borne naked, so shalt thou bee done in earth. And Alexander was greatly astonied of this aunswere, & if it be so that they haue not the articles of our faithe, neverthelesse I beleve that God loveth their service to gree,[3] as he did of Job that was a Paynim, the which he held for his true servant and many other. I beeleve well that God loveth al those that love him and serve him mekely and truely, and that despise the vaine glory of the world as these men doe, and as Job did, and therefore saide our Lorde through the mouth of the holy prophet Isay,[4] _Ponam eis multiplices Leges meas_, That is to say, I will put my laws to them in many maners, & the gospell saith thus, _Alias oves habeo, que non sunt ex hoc ovili_, That is to say I haue other shepe that are not of this folde, and thereto accordeth the vision that saint Peter saw at Jaffe how the aungell came from heaven, & brought with him of all maner of beastes, as serpents and divers foules, and said to sainct Peter, Take and eat. And sainct Peter aunswered, I eat never of uncleane beste. And the aungell sayde to him, _Non dicas inmunda, que Deus mundavit_. That is to saye, Call thou not those things uncleane that God hath clened. This was done in token that men sholde not haue many men in despite for their divers lawes, for we wot never whom God loveth & whom God hateth.
[Footnote 1: Misprint for _aught_, anything.]
[Footnote 2: End, termination.]
[Footnote 3: Pleasure, "please Him."]
[Footnote 4: Others say Hosea.]
CAP. LXXXIX.
_Of two other iles, the one is called Pitan where in be little men that eate no meat, and in that other ile are the men all rough of fethers._
THERE is another yle that men call Pitan, men of this lande till no lande, for they eate nought and they are smal, but not so smal as Pigmes. These men liue with smell of wild aples,[1] & when they go far out of the countrey, they beare apples with them, for anon as they lose that savour of apples they dye, they are not reasonable but as wyld beastes. And there is another yle where the people are all fethers,[2] but the face and the palmes of theyr handes, these men go as well about the sea as on the lande, and they eate fleshe & fish all raw, in this yle is a great river that is two mile brode & a halfe that men call Renemar.
[Footnote 1: Pliny (book 7, cap. 2) says: "At the very extremity of India, on the eastern side, near the source of the River Ganges, there is the nation of the Astonei, a people who have no mouths; their bodies are rough and hairy, and they cover themselves with a down plucked from the leaves of trees (_probably cotton_). These people subsist only by breathing and by the odours which they inhale through the nostrils. They support themselves upon neither meat nor drink: when they go upon a long journey they only carry with them various oderiferous roots & flowers, and wild apples, that they may not be without something to smell at. But an odour which is a little more powerful than usual easily destroys them."]
[Footnote 2: Other editions read, _rough hair_.]
CAP. XC.
_Of a rich man in Prester Johan's lande named Catolonapes and of his gardeine._
IN an yle of Prester Johans land y^t men call Miscorach, there was a rich man y^t was called Catolonapes, he was ful rich & had a fair castel on a hil & strong, & he made a wal all about ye hill right strong & fayre, within he had a faire gardeine wherein were many trees bearing all maner of fruits y^t he might find, & he had planted therein al maner of herbes of good smel and that bare flowers, & ther wer many faire wels, & by them was made many hals & chambers wel dight with gold & asure, & he had made there dyverse stories of beastes and birds y^t song & turned by engin and orbage[1] as they had been quick,[2] & he had in his gardeine al thing that might be to man solace & comfort, he had also in that gardeine maydens within y^e age of xv yeare, y^e fairest y^t he myght find, & men children of the same age, & they were clothed with clothes of gold, & he sayd that they were aungels and he caused to be made certain hils,[3] & enclosed them about with precious stones of Jaspy & christal & set in gold & pearls and other maner of stones, and he had made a coundute[4] under y^e earth, so that when he wold y^e walls[5] ran somtime with milke, somtime with wine, somtime honey, & this place is called Paradise & when any yong bacheler of y^e countrey, knight or sqyer, cometh to him for solace and disport, he ledeth him into his paradise & sheweth them these things, as the songs of birds & his damosels and wels, & he did strike diverse Instruments of musyke, in a high tower that might be sene, and sayde they were the aungels of God, & that place was Paradise, that God hath graunted to those that beleved, when hee sayde thus, _Dabo vobis terram fluentam lac & mel_. That is to say, I shall giue you land flowing with mylk and hony. And then this rych man dyd[6] these men drinke a maner of drinke, of which they were dronken, & he said to them if they wold dye for his sake & when they were dead they shold come to his paradise, and they should be of the age of those maydens, and shold dwell alway with them, and he shold put them in a fayrer paradise where they shold se god in his joy, and in his majesty & then they graunted to do that he wold, and he bad them go and sleay such a lord, or a man of the countrey that he was wroth with, and that they should haue no dread of no man and if they were slaine themselfe for his sake, he shold put them in his paradise when they were dead. And so went those bachelers to sleay great lordes of the countrey, & were slaine themselfe in hope to haue that Paradise, and thus was he avenged of his enimies through his desert,[7] and when rich men of the countrey perceived this cautell[8] and malice and the will of this Catolonapes, they gathered them to gither & assayled the castel & slew hym & destroyed all his goods and his faire places and riches that were in his paradise, and the place of the wales[9] are there yet, and it is not long ago since it was destroyed.
[Footnote 1: This word is very puzzling. It seems to me that it probably means _wheel work_, from Lat. _orbis_, a circle; but Rd. Braithwaite, in his _Arcadian Princesse_, says: "In the lowest border of the garden, I might see a curious _orbell_, all of touch, wherein the Syracusan tyrants were no lesse artfully portrayed, than their severall cruelties to life displayed."]
[Footnote 2: As if they had been alive.]
[Footnote 3: Misprint for Wells.]
[Footnote 4: Conduit.]
[Footnote 5: Wells.]
[Footnote 6: Made.]
[Footnote 7: Deceit.]
[Footnote 8: Ill intent, evil mind.]
[Footnote 9: Wells.]
CAP. XCI.
_Of a marvelous vale that is beside the river of Physon._
AND a lyttle from that place, on the left syde besyde the river of Physon is a great marvaile. There is a vale betwene two hils, and that is foure myle longe, and some men call it the valay enchaunted, some y^e valey of Divels, some the valey perylous,[1] and in that valey are many tempests & a great noyse very hydeous bothe day & night & sound as it were a noise of Taburines[2] of nakers[3] & of trumpets as it were a great feast. This valey is all full of devils, and hath ben alway, and men say thereby y^t it is a enter[4] to hell. In this valey is muche golde & silver, wherefore many Christen men & other go thether for covetise of that golde and silver, but few of them come out againe, for they are anon strangled with divels. And in the middes of that vale on a roche is a visage, & the head of a fiend bodely, right hideous and dreadfull to see, and there is nothing sene but the head to y^e shoulders, but there is no christen men in y^e world nor other so hardy but y^t he should be greatly afraide to beholde it, for he beholdeth eche man so sharply & felly[5] & his eyes are so staring & so sprinkling[6] as fyre & he chaungeth so often his countenaunce that no man dare come nere for all the worlde, and out of his mouth & his nose cometh great plenty of fyer of divers colours, & sometime is the fyer so stynking, that no man may suffer it, but alway a good christen man, and one that is stedfast in the fayth may go therein without harme, if they shrive them well and blesse them with the token of the crosse, then shall the divels haue no power over them. And ye shall understande that when my felowes & I were in that valey, we had full great dought[7] if we shold put our bodies in a venture to go through it, & some of my felows agreed therto, & some wold not, and there were in our company two friers minours of Lombardy & sayd if any of us wold go in, they wold also, as they had sayd so, and upon trust of them we sayd that we wold go, & we dyd sing a masse and were shriven & houseled,[8] and we went in xiiii men & when we came out we were but x[9] & we wist not whether our felowes were loste there, or that they turned againe, but we saw no more of them, others of our felowes that would not go in with us, went about another way for to be before us, and so they were. And we went through the valey and saw there many marvailous things, gold silver precious stones & jewels great plenty, as we thought, whether it were so or no, I know not, for divels are so subtill & false, that they make many times a thinge to seme y^t is not, for to deceive men, and therefore I wold touch nothing for dread of enimies that I saw there in many likenesses, and of dead bodies that I saw lye in the valey, but I dare not saye that they were all bodies, but they were bodies through making of divels. And we were often cast down to the earth by winde, thunder & tempest, but God helped alway, and so passed we through that valey without peryl or harme thankes be to God.
[Footnote 1: Perilous.]
[Footnote 2: Tambourines.]
[Footnote 3: A kind of drum, probably a kettledrum.]
[Footnote 4: Entrance.]
[Footnote 5: Evilly.]
[Footnote 6: Sparkling.]
[Footnote 7: Doubt.]
[Footnote 8: Received the Sacrament.]
[Footnote 9: Others say 9.]
CAP. XCII.
_Of an yland wherein dwell people as great as giants of xxviii or xxx fote of length & other things._
AND beyond that valey is a great yle, where people as great as giaunts of xxviii fote long & they haue no clothinge but beasts skyns that hang on them, & they eate no bread but flesh raw and they drink milke, & they haue no houses, & they eat gladlyer fleshe of men, than other, & men saye to us, that beyond that yle is a yle where are greater giaunts as xlv or L fote long, & some sayd L cubits long, but I saw not them, and among those giaunts are great shepe, as it were young oxen, and they beare great wolle, these shepe haue I sene many times. An other yle is there northward where are many evill and fell women and they haue precious stones in their eies, & they haue suche kinde y^t if they beholde any man with wrath, they sley them of the beholding as the Basalysk doeth.[1]
[Footnote 1: Here a passage is omitted.]
CAP. XCIII.
_Of women which make great sorow as theyr children are borne & great joy when they are dead._
AN other yle there is, where women make great sorow when theyr children be borne & when they are dead they make great joy and caste them in a great fier and burne them, and they that loue well theyr husbands, when they are dead they cast them in a fyer to burn them, for they say that fyer shall make them clean of all filth & vices & they shall be cleane in another world, and the cause why they wepe when their children are borne, and y^t they joye at their death, they say a child when he is borne cometh into this world to haue travaile, sorow & heavinesse, & when they are dead they go to Paradise where rivers are of mylke and honey, & there is lyfe & joy and plenty of goods without travaile or sorow. In thys yle they make their kings by chosing, & they chose him not for his riches and noblenesse, but him that is of good conditions and most righteous and trew that judgeth euery man truely, little & much after their trespasse, and ye king may judge no man to death without counsel of his barons, & that they all assent. And if it so be y^t the king do a great trespasse, as sley a man or such lyke, he shall dye also, but he shall not be slaine, but they shall defend and forbid that no man be so hardy to beare him company, nor to speake to him, ne giue him meat nor drinke and thus he shall dye, for they spare no man y^t hath done a trespasse, for loue, lordeship riches nor noblenes, but they do him right after y^t he hath deserved.
CAP. XCIIII.
_Of an yland where men wed theyr owne daughters & kinswomen._
THERE is another yle where there is great plenty of people & they eate neuer flesh of hares, nor of hens, nor geese, yet is there many of them but they eate of all other beastes, and they drink mylk, in this countrey they wed theyr owne daughters and other of theyr kyn as them liketh, and if there be x or xii men in one house, eche one of theyr wyves shal be comon to other, & at night shal one haue one of y^e wives and another night another. And if she haue any chylde, she may give it to whome she would so that no man knowe if it be his or not. In this land & many other places of Inde, are many cocodrilles, that is a maner of a long serpent, and on nights they dwell on water, and on dayes they dwell on land and rocks, and they eat not in winter. These serpents sley men and eate them weping,[1] and they haue no tongue. In this countrey and many other, men caste sede of cotton, and sow it eche yeare and it groweth as it were small trees, and they bere cotton. In Araby is a kynde of beast that some men call Garsantes,[2] that is a fayre beast, & he is hyer than a great courser or a stead[3] but his neck is nere xx cubytes long, and his crop and his taile lyke a hart and he may loke ouer a high house and there is many Camilions,[4] that is a lytle beaste, & he eateth nor drinketh never, and he chaungeth his colour often, for sometime he is of one colour & sometime of another, and he may chaunge him into all colours that he will, saue black and red. There are many wilde swine of many colours and as great as Oxen, & they are spotted as it were smal fawnes, and there are lions all white, and there be other beastes as great steedes that men call Lauhorans,[5] and men call them Toutes, and their head is blacke, and three long hornes in his fronte, as cutting as sharp swords, and he chaseth and wil sley Olifants. And there is many other maner of beastes, of whom it were to long to write all.
[Footnote 1: This curious belief gave rise to the term "Crocodile's tears," _i.e._, hypocritical tears.]
[Footnote 2: Giraffes.]
[Footnote 3: A steed or horse.]
[Footnote 4: Chameleon.]
[Footnote 5: A rhinoceros is here evidently meant.]
CAP. XCV.
_Of an ylande wherein dwell full good people and true._
THERE is another yland good and great, and plentiouse, where are good men and true and of godly lyfe after their faith, & all if they be not christen neverthelesse of kinde they are full of good vertues and they fly all vices, and all sinne and malice, for they are not envious, proud, covetous, lecherous nor glotenus, and they do not unto another man but that they wold he did to them, and they fulfill the x commaundementes and they make no force of ryches nor of having, & they Swere not, but they say ye and nay, for they say he that swereth will deceive his neighbour, and some men call this yle the yle of Bragamen, and some call it the land of faith, and through it runneth a great river that men call Thebe, and generally al men in those iles, and other iles thereby are truer and rightwiser than in other countreys. In this ile are no theves, murderers nor beggers. And for as much as they are so true and so good, there is no tempest nor thunder, warre, hunger, nor tribulation, and thus it semeth well that God loveth them wel, and he is well payed of theyr dedes, and they beleve in God y^t made all thing & him they worship and they live so ordinately in meate and drinke that they live right longe, and many of them dye without sicknesse, that kinde[1] faileth them for age.
[Footnote 1: They only die of old age.]
CAP. XCVI.
_How King Alexander sent his men thither for to winne that lande._