Panim and also hée was Cofraas son and hée held that Land as the prince thereof and hée was so rich that hée knew not the hundred part of his goods and after his pouerty God made him richer then euer hée was before so that he was king of Idumea after the death of king Esau and when hée was king hée was called Ioab and in that kingdome hée liued a C. and lxx yéere so that hée was of age when hée dyed CC. and xlviij yéere And in this land of Iob is no want of any thing that is néedfull to mans body There are hils where men finde manna and manna is called Angels bread that is a white thing right swéet and much swéeter then suger or honny and that commeth of the dew of heauen that falleth on the hearbs and there is congealed and waxen white and men put it in medicines for rich men This land marcheth to the land of Calde which is a great land and there is full faire men and well apparelled and they goe richly arayed with cloth of Gold and with Pearles and other precious stones But the women are right soule euill clad and go bare foote and beare an ill cote large wide short vnto their knées and haue long sléeues downe to the foote and they haue great black haire long hanging about their shoulders and they are right foule for to looke vpon but I will not tell it all because that I am not worthy for to haue any reward for my praising of them In this land of Calde aforesaid is a cittie that men call Hur and in that cittie was Abraham the Patriarke borne Of the kingdome of Amasony whereas dwell none but women Chap. L. NEere the Land of Calde is the Land of Amasony wherein do dwell no men but all women as men say for they will suffer no man to liue among them nor to haue rule ouer them For somtime ther was a king and men dwelling in that Land as they doe in other Countries and had wiues and it befell that the king had great warre with them of Sychy this king was called Colopius and hée was slaine in battaile and all the noble men of his land And this Quéene when shée and other Ladies of the land heard that the king and the Lords were slaine they gathered them together and killed all the men that were left in their land among them And when they will haue any man to lye by them they send for them into a Country that is néere their land and the men come and stay there eight dayes or as the woman liketh and then goe they againe and if they haue men children they send them to their fathers when they can eat and go if they haue maide children they kéepe them and if they bée of noble bloud they burne the left pap away for bearing of a shield and if they bée of baser degrée they burne the right pap away for shooting For those women of that country are good warriours and are often in pay with other Lordes and the Quéen of that land gouerneth well the land this land is inuironed with water Beside Amazony is the land of Termagute that is a good land and profitable and for the goodnes of that land king Alexander did make a cittie there and called it Alexandria Of the land of Ethiope Chap. li. ON the other side of Chalde toward the South side is Ethiope a great land In this land on the South are the folke right black In that side is a well that on the day the water is so cold that no man may drincke thereof and on the night it is so hot that no man may abide to put his hand in it In this land the riuers and all the waters are troubled and some deale salt for the great heate and men of that land are lightly dronken and haue little appetite to meate and they haue commonly the flix of body and they liue not long In Ethiope are such men that haue but one foote and they go so fast that it is a great meruaile and that is a large foot that the shadow therof couereth the body from Sun or raine when they lye vpon their backs when their children are first borne they looke like russet and when they wax old then they bée all black In Ethiope is the land of Saba of the which one of the thrée kings that sought our Lord at Bethlehem was King Of Inde the more and the lesse and of Diamonds and small people and other things Chap. lij FRom Ethiope men goe into Inde through many and diuers countries first through Inde the more and it is parted into thrée parts that is to say Inde the more which is a hot Land and Inde the lesse which is a temperate land and the third part is toward the North there it is right cold so that with great cold frost and I se the water becommeth Christal vpon that groweth the good Diamonds that are of a troubled coulour that diamond is so hard that no man may breake it Other Diamonds men finde in Araby that are not so good for they are more soft and there be some in Cipres and in Macedony men finde Diamonds also but the best are in Inde and some many times are found in Amasse in the mine where gold is gotten when men breake the masse in péeces sometime men finde some of greatnesse of a Pease and some lesse and those are as hard as those of Inde sometime there are good Diamonds found in Inde vpon the Rock of Christall and also vpon the Rock of Adamand in the sea and on other hils are found Diamonds that are as great as Hasell nuts which are all square and pointed of their owne kinde and they grow two together male and female and are nourished with the dew of heauen and they engender commonly and bring forth other small ones which increase grow all the yéere I haue many times tryed that if a man kéepe them with a little of the rock and wet them with many dewes sometime they will grow euery yéere and the small will wax great and if a man doe beare that Diamond in his left side then it is of more vertue for the strength of their growiag is toward the North that is on the left side as men of those countries say To him that beareth the Diomond vpon him it giueth hardinesse it kéepeth the lims of his body also it giueth a man victory of his enimies if his cause bée right and it kéepeth him that beareth it in good will from strife from ryot ill dreames sorceries and enchantments Moreouer no wild beast shall grieue him nor assaile him This Diamond should bée giuen fréely without couetousnesse or buying for then it is of most vertue it healeth him that is lunatike and hée that is possessed with a Diuell and as soone as any venim or poison bée brought néere to the Diamond it moistneth and beginneth to
Hungary and through the Citie that men call Cipanum and through the castle of Nurburgh by the I le Torne toward the end of Hungary and so by the riuer of Danubie that is a full great riuer and goeth into Almaine vnder the hils of Lumbardy it taketh into it fortie other riuers and it runneth throughout Hungary and through Cresses and Crochie and goeth into the sea so strongly and with so great might that the water is fresh thirty miles within the sea afterward men goe to Belgraue and entreth into the land of Bugres and there men passe a bridge of stone that is ouer the riuer of Morack so men passe through the land of Pinseras and come to Gréece to the citie of Stermisse and to the citie of Affinpane that was sometime called Bradre the noble and so the citie of Constantinople that was sometime called Bessalneron and there dwelled commonly the Emperour of Gréece At Constantinople is the best and the fayrest Church of the world and it is of Saint Steuen And before this Church is a guilt Image of Iustinian the Emperour and it is sitting vpon a horse and crowned and it was wont to holde a round apple in his hand and men say there that it is a token that the Emperour hath lost a part of his lands for the apple is fallen out of the Images hand and also hée hath lost a great part of his Lordship For hée was wont to bée Emperour of Roome of Gréece and of all Asia the lesse of Surry and of the land of Iudea in the which is Hierusalem and of the land of Aegipt of Percia and Arabia but he hath lost all but Gréece and that land he holdeth onely men would put the apple in the Images hand but it will not hold it This apple betokeneth the Lordship that he had ouer all the world and the other hand he lifteth vp against the East in token to menasse misdoers This Image standeth vpon a piller of marble In Cruce sit Palma Cedrus Cypressus Oliua For the péece that went right vp from the earth vnto the head was of Cipres and the péece that went ouerthwart to the which his hands were nailed was of Palme the stock that stood within the earth in the which they had made a morteys was of Ceder and the table aboue his head was a foote and a halfe long on which the title was written that was of Oliue the Iewes made this crosse of these foure manner of trées for they thought that our Lord should haue hanged as long as the crosse might last therfore made they the foot of Ceder for Ceder may not in the earth ne in water rot they thought that the body of Christ shold haue stoncken they made the péece that went from the earth vpward of Cipres so that the smell of his body should grieue no man that came by and that ouerthwart was made of Palme in signification of victorie And the table of the title was made of Oliue for it betokeneth peace as the story of Noe witnesseth when the Doue brought the branch of Oliue that betokened peace made betwéene God and man And also you shall vnderstand that the Christian men that dwell ouer the Sea say that the péece of the crosse that we call Cipres was of the trée that Adam eate the apple off and so they finde written and they say also that their Scripture saith that when Adam was sick he said to his son Seth that hée should go to Paradise and pray the Angel that kéepeth Paradise that he would send him oyle of the trée of mercy for to annoynt him that hée might haue health Seth went but the Angell would not let him come in at the gate but said vnto him that he might not haue of the oyle of mercy but he tooke him thrée carnels of the same trée that his father eate the apple off and bad him as soone as his father was dead that hée should put these carnels vnder his tongue burie him and he did so and of these thrée carnels sprang a trée as the Angel said and when the trée bare fruit then should Adam be made whole And when Seth came againe and found his father dead hée did with the carnels as the Angell commaunded him of the which came thrée trées whereof a Crosse was made that bare good fruit that is to say our Sauiour Iesu Christ through whom Adam and all that came of him should be saued deliuered from euerlasting death but if it be their owne default This holy crosse had the Iewes hid vnder the earth in the rock of the mount of Caluery and it lay there two hundred yéeres and more as they say vnto the time that Saint Elene found it the which saint Elene was the daughter of Coel king of England that then was called Britaine and after marryed to Constantius first Consull and after Emperour of Rome who had by her issue Constantine the great borne in England and afterward Emperour of Rome which Constantine turned the name of Bezansium into Constantinople he réedified that Citie made it the monarcal seat of all Europa and Asia Minor also ye shall vnderstand that the Crosse of our Lord was in length viij cubites and the péece that went ouerthwart was thrée cubuites and a halfe A part of the crowne of our Lord Iesu Christ wherwith he was crowned one of the nailes the speare head and many other reliques are in Fraunce at Paris in the chappell of the kings and the crowne lyeth in a vessel of cristall wel dight and richly for the French king bought these reliques sometime of the Iewes to whom the Emperor had laid them to pledge for a great sum of gold And although men say that this Crowne was of thornes ye shall vnderstand that it was of Ioukes of the sea which be white and pricketh as sharp as thornes for I haue séene and beheld many times that at Paris and that at Constantinople for they were both of one made of Ioukes of the Sea But men haue departed it in two parts of the which one part is at Paris and the other part at Constantinople and I haue a point thereof that séemeth a white thorne and that was giuen me for a great friendship For there are many of them broken fallen into the vessell when they shew the crowne to great men or Lords that come thether And yée shall vnderstand that our Lord in that night that hée was taken hée was lead into a Garden and there hée was examined sharply and there the Iewes crowned him with a Crowne of Abbespine branches that grew in the same Garden and set it on his head so fast that the bloud ranne downe by many places of his visage necke and shoulders and therefore hath the Abbespine many vertues for hée that beareth a braunch of it about him no thunder nor no manner of tempest may hurt him nor the house
best that is in the world for all the stares of his hall and chambers are made one of gold and another of siluer and all the walles are plated with fine gold and siluer and in those plates are written stories of knights and battailes and the floures of the hall and chambers are of gold and siluer so that no man would beléeue the great riches that are there except hée had séene it and the king of this I le is so mighty that hée hath many times ouercome the great Caane of Cathay which is the mightiest Emperor that is in all the world there is often war betwéene them for the great Caane would make him hold his land of him Of the kingdome of Pathen or Salmasse which is a goodly land Chap. lvij ANd for to goe forth by the Sea there is an I le that is called Pathen and some call it Salmasse for it is a great with many faire citties In this land growes trées that beare meale of which men make faire bread while of good sauour it séemeth like as it were wheate And there be other trées which beare venim against the which is no medicine but onely to take of the leaues of the same trées and stampe them and temper them with water and drinck it or else hée shall dye sodainely for nothing else may helpe him And if yée will know how these trées beare meale I shall tell you men hewe with an hatchet about the roote of the trée by the earth they pearce it in many places and then commeth out a licour the which they take in a vessell and set it in the Sunne and drie it and when it is drie they carry it vnto the mill to grind and so it is faire meale and white Also hony wine and venim are drawne out of other trées in the same manner and they put it in vessels to kéepe In that I le is a dead sea which is a water that hath no bottome and if any thing fall therein it shall neuer bée found beside that sea groweth great Canes and vnder their rootes men finde a precious stone of great vertue for hée that beareth one of those stones about him ther may no Iron gréeue him nor draw bloud on him and therefore they that haue those stones fight full hardly for there may no weapon that is of Iron grieue him therefore they that know the manner make their weapons without yron and so they slay them Of the kingdome of Talonach the king whereof hath many wiues Chap lviij THen is there another I le that men call Talonach the same is a great land and therein is great plentie of fish other goods as you shal hereafter heare And they king of that land hath as many wiues as he wil a thousand and moe and he neuer lyeth but once by any one of them also in that land is a great meruaile for all manner of fishes of the sea commeth thether once a yéere one after another and lyeth néere the land somtime on the land and so lie thrée dayes and men of that land come thether and take of them what they will and then go those fishes away and an other sort commeth and lyeth also thrée dayes men take of them and thus do all manner of fishes till all haue béene there and men haue taken what they will But no man can tell the cause why it is so But they of that country say that those fishes come so thether to doe worship to their king for they say hée is the worthiest king of the world for he hath so many wiues and getteth so many children of them And that same king hath xiiij M. Elephants or moe which bée tame and they be kept for his pleasure by the men of the country so that hée may haue them ready at his hand when hée hath any warre against any King or Prince and then hée doth put vpon their backs castles and men of war as the vse of the land is and likewise doe other kings and princes thereabout Of the Iland called Raso where men be hanged as soone as they are sicke Chap. lix AND from this I le men goe to another I le called Raso and the men of this I le when their friends are sicke and that they beléeue surely that they shall dye they take them and hang them vp quicke on a trée and say it is better that birds that are Angels of God eate them then wormes of the earth From thence men goe to an I le where the men are of an il kind for they nourish hounds for to strangle men And when their friends are sicke that they hope they shall dye then doe those hounds strangle them for they will not that they die a kindely death for then should they suffer too great paine as they say and when they are thus dead they eate their flesh for venison Of the Iland of Melke wherein dwelleth euill people Chap. lx FRom thence men goe by sea through many Iles vnto an I le called Melke and there bée full ill people for they haue none other delight but for to fight and slay men for they drinke gladly mans blood which blood they call good and they that may slay most is of most fame among them And if there bée two men at strife and after bée made at one then must they drinke eyther others blood or else the accord is of no value From this I le men goe to an other I le that is called Traconit where all men are as beasts for they are vnreasonable and they dwell in caues for they haue not wit to make houses these men eate Adders and speake not but make such a noise as Adders doe one to another and they make no force of riches but of a stone that is of forty coulours and it is called Traconit after that I le they know not the vertue thereof but they couet it for the great fairenesse Of the Iland named Macumeran whereas the people haue heads like hounds Chap. lxi FRom that I le men goe to an other that is called Macumeran which is a great Ile a faire and the men and women of that country haue heades like hounds they are reasonable and worship an Oxe for their God they goe all naked but a litle cloath before their priuie members they are good men to fight and they beare a great Target with which they couer all the body and a speare in their hand and if they take any man in battaile they send him to their king which is a great Lord and deuout in his faith for hée hath about his neck on a Corde thrée hundred Pearles great and orient and as wée say our Pater noster and other prayers right so their king saith euery day thrée hundred praiers to his God before hée eyther eate or drinck and he beareth also about his neck a Ruby orient fine and good that is néere a foote and fiue fingers
through the country as hée passeth through citties and townes each man maketh a fire before his house and casteth therein Insence and other things that giue good smell to the Emperour And if any men of Religion that are christian men dwell néere where the Emperour commeth they méete him with Procession with Crosse holy water and they sing Veni creator spiritus with a loud voice and when hée séeth them comming hée commaundeth the Lords that they ride néere to them to make way that the Religious men may come to him and when hée séeth the Crosse hée doth off his hat that is made of precious stones and great Pearles that hat is so rich that it is meruaile to tell and then hée enclineth to the Crosse and the prelate of the religious men saith Orisons béefore him and giueth him the blessing with the crosse and hée enclineth to the blessing full deuoutly and then the prelate giueth him some fruit to the number of ix peares or apples or other fruit in a platter of golde and then the Emperour taketh one thereof and the other hée giueth to his Lords for the maner is such there that no strange men shall come before the Emperour but hée giue him somewhat after the olde Law that saith Non accedit in conspectu meo inanis that is to say No man come into my sight idle And then the Emperour biddeth these religious men that they goe forth so that men of his hoast defile them not and those religious men that dwell where the Empresse or the Emperours son commeth they doe in the same manner How the Caane is the mightiest Lord of all the world Chap. lxxv THis great Caane is the mightiest Lord of the world for Prester Iohn is not so great a Lord as hée nor the Soudan of Babylon ne the Emperour of Persia In this land a man hath an hundred wiues some xi and some more some lesse and they take of their kin to wiues all saue their sisters their mothers and daughters they take also well their stepmother if their father be dead and men and women haue all one manner of clothing so that they may not bée knowne but the women that are marryed beare a token in their heads and they dwell not with their husbands but hée may lye by any as hée will They haue plenty of all manner of beasts saue swine for they will kéepe none and they beléeue well in God that made all things and yet haue they Idols of gold and siluer and to those Idols they offer their first milke of beasts Yet of other manners of this country Chap. lxxvj THe Emperour the great Caane hath thrée wiues and the principall wife was Prester Iohns daughter And the people of this Country begin to doe all their things in the newe Moone and they worship much the Sun and the Moone those men ride commonly without spurres for they hold it a great sin to breake one bone with another and to spill mylke on the ground or any other licour that men may drinck and the most sin that they may doe is to pisse in their houses where they dwell and hée that pisseth in his house shall bée slaine and of those sins they shriue them to their Priests and for their penance they shall giue siluer and the place where they haue pissed shall be hallowed or else may no man come there And when they haue done their penance they shall passe through a fire or two to make them cleane of their sins When they haue eaten they wipe their hands vpon their skirtes for they haue no Table clothes except it bée right great Lords and when they haue all eaten they put their dishes or platters not washed in the pot or caudron with the flesh that is left when they haue eaten vntill they will eate another time and rich men drinks milke of Mares Asses or other beasts and other beuerage that is made of milke and water together for they haue neither béere nor wine And when they goe to war they war full wisely and each man of them beareth two or thrée bowes and many arrowes and a great hatchet gentlemen haue short swordes and he that flyeth in battaile they slay him and they are euer in purpose to bring all the land in subiection to them for they say it is prophesied that they shall bée ouercome by shot of archers and that they shal turne them to their law but they wot not what men they shall bée and it is great perill to pursue the Tartarians when they flye for they will shoote béehind and slay men as well as before and they haue small eyes as little byrds and they are commonly false for they hold not their promise And when a man shall dye among them they stick a speare in the earth beside him and when hée draweth to the death they goe out of the house till hée bée dead then they put him in the earth in the field How the Emperour is brought vnto his graue when he is dead Chap. lxxvij ANd when the Emperour is dead they set him into a cart in the middest of the tent and then set before him a Table couered with a Cloth and therevpon they set flesh and other meate and a cup full of milke of a Mare and they set a Mare with a colt by him and a horse sadled and brideled and they lay vpon the horse gold and siluer and all about him they make a great graue with all the things they put him therein as the tent horse gold and siluer and all that is about him they say when hée commeth into another world hée shall not bée without an house nor horse ne siluer nor gold and the Mare shall giue him milke and bring forth more horses till hée bée well stored in an other world and one of his chamberlaines or seruants is put with him in the earth for to doe him seruice in the other world for they beléeue that when hée is dead hée shall goe to another world and bée a greater Lord there then here and when hee is laid in the earth no man shall bée so hardy for to speake of him béefore his friends When the Emperour is dead how they chuse and make another Chap. lxxviij ANd then when the Emperour is dead the seauen Linages gather them together and they touch his son or the next of his blood and they say thus wée will and wée ordaine and wée pray thée that thou wilt bée our Lord and Emperour and hée enquireth of them and saith if yée will that I raigne ouer you then must yée doe all that I bid you doe And if hée bid that any shall bée slaine hée shall bée slaine and they answere all with one voyce all that yée bid shall bée done Then said the Emperour from hence foorth my word shall cut as my sworde and then they set him in a chaire and crowne him and then all the good townes thereabout
then xxx thousand men beside commers and goers but xxx thousand there or in the court of the great Caane spendeth not so much as xij thousand in our countrie Hée hath euermore vii kings in his court to serue him and each one of them serueth a moneth and with these kings serue alway lxxii Dukes CCC Earles and euery day eate in his court xii Archbishops and xx Bishops The Patriarke of Saint Thomas is as it were a Pope and Archbishops Bishops and Abbots all are kings in that country and some of the Lords is Maister of the hall some of the chamber some steward some Marshall and other Officers and therefore hée is full richly serued And his Land lasteth in breadth foure monethes iourney and it is of length without measure Of the wildernesse wherein groweth the trees of the Sunne and the Moone Chap. xcix AND béeyond this place is a great wildernesse as men that haue béene there say In this wildernesse as men say are the trées of the Sunne and of the Moone that spake to king Alexander and told him of his death and men say that folke that kéepe these trées and eate of the fruits of them liue foure or fiue hundred yéere through vertue of the fruit and wée would gladly haue gone thether but I beléeue that an hundred thousand men of armes should not passe that wildernesse for great plenty of wilde beasts as Dragons and serpents that slay men when they passe that way In this land are many Elephants all white and blew without number and Vnicornes and Lyons of many coulours Many other Iles are in the land of Prester Iohn that were too long to tell and much riches and of precious stones is great plentie I haue heard say why this Emperour is called Prester Iohn and for those that know it not I will declare Therefore sometime an Emperour that was a noble Prince and doughtie and hée had many Christian Knights with him and the Emperour thought hée would sée the seruice in christian Churches and then was Churches of Christendome in Turky Surry and Tartary Hierusalem Palistine Araby and Alapy and all the Lords of Aegypt And this Emperour came with a Christian Knight into a Church of Aegypt and it was on a Satterday after Whitsunday when the Bishop gaue Orders and hée beheld the Seruice and asked of the knight what folke those should bée that stood before the Bishop and the Knight sayd they should bée Priests and hée sayd hée would no more bée called king ne Emperour but Priest and hée would haue the name of him that came first out of the Priests and hée was called Iohn and so haue all the Emperours since béene called Prester Iohn In this land are many Christian men of good faith and good law and they haue priests to sing seruice and they receiue the sacrament as men of Gréece doe and they say not otherwise but as the Apostles said as Saint Peter and Saint Thomas and other Apostles when they sung and sayd Pater noster and the words with the which the Communion is sacred wée haue many additions of Popes that haue béene ordained of which men of those countries know not Of a great Iland and Kingdome called Taprobane Chap. c. TOward the East side of Prester Iohns Land is an I le that men call Taprobane and it is right good and fruitfull and there is a great King and a rich and he is obedient vnto Prester Iohn the King is alway made by election In this I le are two winters and two Summers and they reape corne twice in the yéere and gardens flowrish at all times in the yéere There dwelleth good people and reasonable and many christian men among them are full rich and the water betwéene the side of Prester Iohn and this I le is not very déepe for men may sée the ground in many places Of two other Iles one is called Oriell and the other Argete where are many gold mines Chap cj. THere are more Eastward two other Iles the one is called Oriell and the other Argete of which all the land is full of mines of gold and siluer In those Iles many men sée no Stars cléere shining but one Star that is called Canapos and there many men sée not the Moone but in the last quarter In that I le is a great hill of gold that Pismires kéepe and they do the fine gold from other that is not fine gold and the Pismires are as great as hounds so that no man dare come there for dread of pismires that should assay them so that men may not worke in that gold nor get therof but by subtiltie and therefore when it is right hot the pismires hide themselues in the earth from morne to noone of the day and then men of the country take Cammels and Dromedaries and other beasts and goe thether and charge them with gold and goe away fast or the pismires come out of the earth And other times when it is not so hot that the pismires hide them not they take Mares that haue soles and they lay vpon these mares two long vessels as it were two small barrels and the mouth vpwards and driue them thether and hold their foles at home and when the pismires sée these vessels they spring therin for by kinde they leaue no hole nor pit open and anone they fill these vessels with gold and when men thinke that the vessels bée full they take the foles bring them as néere as they dare and then they whine and the mares heare them and anone they come to their foles and so they take the gold for these pismires will suffer beasts to come among them but no men Of the darke country and hils and rocks of stone nigh to Paradise Chap. cij BEyond the Iles of the land of Prester Iohn and his Lordship of wildernesse to goe right East men shall finde nothing but hils great rocks and other darke land where no man may sée a day or night as men of the Country say and this wildernesse and darke land lasteth to Paradise terrestre where Adam and Eue were set but they were but a little while there and that is toward the East at the beginning of the Earth but that is not our East that we call where the Sun riseth for when the Sunne riseth there then it is midnight in our country by reason of the roundnesse of the Earth for our Lord made the earth all round in the middest of the firmament Of Paradise can I not speake properly for I haue not béene there but that I haue heard I shall tell you Men say that Paradise terrestre is the highest land of all the world and it is so high that it toucheth néere to the circle of the Moone for it is so high that Noes floud might not come thereto which couered all the Earth about A little of Paradise terrestre Chap. ciij. THis Paradise terrestre is enclosed all about with a wall and