Chapter XXXI (1)

OF THE CUSTOMS OF KINGS AND OTHERS THAT DWELL IN THE ISLES
BORDERING ON PRESTER JOHN'S LAND.

From those isles that I have spoken of before, in the land of Prester John, that are under earth as to us, and of other isles that are further beyond, whoever will pursue them may come again right to the parts that he came from, and so environ all the earth; but what for the isles, what for the sea, and what for strong rowing, few people assay to pass that passage. And therefore men return from the isles beforesaid by other isles, coasting, from the land of Prester John. And then come men, in returning, to an isle called Casson, which is full sixty days in length, and more than fifty in breadth. This is the best isle, and the best kingdom, that is in all those parts, except Cathay; and if the merchants used that country as much as they do Cathay, it would be better than Cathay in a short time. This country is well inhabited, and so full of cities and good towns, and inhabited with people, that when a man goes out of one city he sees another city before him. In that isle is great plenty of all goods to live with, and of all manner of spices; and there are great forests of chestnuts. The king of that isle is very rich and mighty; and yet he holds his land of the great chan, and is subject to him; for it is one of the twelve provinces which the great chan has under him, besides his own land, and other less isles, of which he has many.

From that kingdom come men, in returning, to another isle, called Rybothe, which, also, is under the great chan. It is a full good country, and rich in all goods, and wine and fruit, and all other riches. And the people of that country have no houses; but they dwell and lie all under tents made of black fern. And the principal city, and the most royal, is all walled with black and white stone; and all the streets, also, are paved with the same stones. In that city is no man so hardy as to shed blood of any man, nor of any beast, for the reverence of an idol that is worshipped there. And in that isle dwells the pope of their law, whom they call lobassy. This lobassy gives all the benefices, and other dignities, and all other things that belong to the idol. In that isle they have a custom, in all the country, that when any man's father is dead, and the son wishes to do great honour to his father, he sends to all his friends, and to all his kin, and for religious men and priests, and for minstrels also, in great plenty; and then they bear the dead body unto a great hill, with great joy and solemnity; and when they have brought it thither, the chief prelate smites off the head, and lays it upon a great platter of gold and silver, if he be a rich man; and then he gives the head to the son; and then the son and his other kin sing and say many prayers; and then the priests, and the religious men, smite all the body of the dead man in pieces; and then they say certain prayers. And the birds of prey of all the country about know the custom for a long time before, and come flying above in the air, as eagles, kites, ravens, and other birds that eat flesh. And then the priests cast the bits of flesh, and each fowl takes what he may, and goes a little thence and eats it; and they do so whilst any piece of the dead body remains. And after that the priests sing with high voice, in their language, "Behold how worthy a man, and how good a man this was, that the angels of God came to seek him, and to bring him into Paradise." And then it seems to the son that he is highly worshipped when many birds, and fowls, and ravens, come and eat his father; and he that has most number of fowls is most worshipped. Then the son brings home with him all his kin, and his friends, and all the others, to his house, and makes a great feast; and then all his friends make their boast how the fowls came thither, here five, here six, here ten, and there twenty, and so forth; and they rejoice greatly to speak thereof. And when they are at meat the son brings forth the head of his father, and thereof he serves of the flesh to his most special friends, as a dainty. And of the skull he makes a cup, and drinks out of it with his other friends in great devotion, in remembrance of the holy man that the angels of God had eaten. And that cup the son shall keep to drink out of all his lifetime, in remembrance of his father.

From that land, in returning by ten days through 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 neither prince, nor duke, nor earl; but he has more that hold of him lands and other lordships; for he has every year, of annual rent, more than three hundred thousand horses charged with corn of divers grains and rice; and so he leads a full noble and delicate life, after the custom of the country; for he has every day fifty fair damsels, all maidens, that serve him evermore at his meat, and to lie by him at night, and to do with them what he pleases. And when he is at the 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 touches nothing, nor handles nought, but holds evermore his hands before him upon the table; for he has such long nails that he may take nothing, nor handle any thing. For the nobleness of that country is to have long nails, and to make them grow always to be as long as men may; and there are many in that country that have their nails so long that they environ all the hand; and that is a great nobleness. And the nobleness of the women is to have small feet; and therefore, as soon as they are born, they bind their feet so tight that they may not grow half as nature would. And always these damsels, that I spoke of before, sing all the time that this rich man eateth; and when 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 leads his life; and so they did 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 a sty to be made fat. He has a full fair and rich palace, the walls of which are two miles in circuit; and he has within many fair gardens, and many fair halls and chambers; and the pavement of his halls and chambers are of gold and silver. And in the middle of one of his gardens is a little mountain, where there is a little meadow; and in that meadow is a little house, with towers and pinnacles, all of gold; and in that little house will he sit often to take the air and sport himself.

And you shall understand that of all these countries and isles, and of all the divers people that I have spoken of before, and of divers laws, and of divers beliefs that they have, there is none of them all but they have some reason and understanding in them, and they have certain articles of our faith, and some good points of our belief; and they believe in God that created all things and made the world; but yet they cannot speak perfectly (for there is no man to teach them), but only what they can devise by their natural understanding; for they have no knowledge of the Son nor of the Holy Ghost; but they can all speak of the Bible, namely of Genesis, of the Prophets' laws, and of the books of Moses. And they say well that the creatures that they worship are no gods; but they worship them for the virtue that is in them. And of simulacres, and of idols, they say that there are no people but that they have simulacres; and they say that we Christian men have images, as of our lady, and of other saints, that we worship; not the images of wood or of stone, but the saints in whose name they are made; for right as the books of the Scripture teach the clerks how and in what manner they shall believe, right so the images and the paintings teach the ignorant people to worship the saints, and to have them in their minds, in whose name the images are made. They say, also, that the angels of God speak to them in those idols, and that they do many great miracles. And they say truth, that there is an angel within them; for there are 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 other is not the good angel, but the wicked angel, which is within the idols to deceive them and maintain them in their error.

There are many other divers countries, and many other marvels beyond, that I have not seen; wherefore I cannot speak of them properly. And, also, in the countries where I have been are many diversities of many wonderful things, more than I make mention of; for it were too long a thing to devise you the manner of them all. And therefore now that I have devised you of certain countries, which I have spoken of before, I beseech your worthy and excellent nobleness that it suffice to you at this time; for if I told you all that is beyond the sea, another man, perhaps, who would labour to go into those parts to seek those countries, might be blamed by my words in rehearsing many strange things; for he might not say any thing new, in the which the hearers might have either solace or pleasure.

And you shall understand that, at my coming home, I came to Rome, and showed my life to our holy father the pope, and was absolved of all that lay in my conscience of many divers grievous points, as men must need that are in company, dwelling amongst so many divers people, of divers sects and beliefs, as I have been. And, amongst all, I showed 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, gave my book to be examined and proved by the advice of his said council, by the which my book was proved for true, insomuch that they showed me a book, which my book was examined by, that comprehended full much more, by an hundredth part, by the which the _Mappa Mundi_ was made. And so my book (albeit that many men list not to give credence to any thing but to what they see with their eye, be the author or the person ever so true) is affirmed and proved by our holy father in manner and form as I have said.

And I, John Maundeville, knight, abovesaid, (although I be unworthy,) that went from our countries, and passed the sea, in the year of Grace 1322, have passed many lands, and many isles and countries, and searched many full strange places, and have been in many a full good and honourable company, and at many a fair deed of arms, (albeit that I did none myself, for my insufficiency,) now I am come home (in spite of myself) to rest; for rheumatic gouts, that distress me, fix the end of my labour, against my will (God knoweth). And thus, taking comfort in my wretched rest, recording the time passed, I have fulfilled these things, and written them in this book, as it would come into my mind, the year of Grace 1356, in the thirty-fourth year that I departed from our country. 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[285] An allusion to the legal forms of conveying and bequeathing property in the middle ages.

[286] Dismas and Jestes, or Jesmas, were, according to the vulgar legend, the names of the two thieves who were crucified at the same time with the Saviour, Dismas being the one who reproved his companion for his unbelief. Maundeville has introduced more of the popular superstitious and religious legends of the middle ages than the previous travellers.

[287] See, on this popular legend, the editor's note on the "Chester Plays" (or Mysteries), vol. i. p. 239. It was derived from one of the apocryphal books of the eastern church.

[288] The beautiful chapel built by St. Louis, and now known as the Sainte Chapelle.

[289] There is an old Greek iambic to this effect:—"Ἄθωος καλύπτει πλευρά Λεμνίας βοός."

[290] Maundy-Thursday is the day of Christ's commandment on instituting the Lord's Supper, the Thursday before Easter. It was also called Shere-Thursday. The ceremony observed on the day was called holding or making the Maundy.

[291] The period during which Maundeville was in the east was that when the question of reuniting the Greek and Latin churches was in agitation, which is probably the cause he enters so largely into their differences of belief.

[292] Long before our author's time, the text, in John xxi. 22, 23, in the vulgar Latin, happened to be changed in favour of this notion; for Jesus' answer to Peter's question about John, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" is there, "Sic eum volo manere donec veniam," the conjunction _si_ being dropped, by means of _sic_ following.

[293] Lango is but another name of the isle of Cos, where Hippocrates, (commonly called by the medieval writers Ypocras,) the famous physician, was born. See before, p. 33.

[294] The two orders, the Templars and Hospitalers, having been expelled from Palestine by the Mohammedans, on the capture of Acre in 1291, the first retired to Cyprus; but in 1310 the Hospitalers made themselves masters of the isle of Rhodes, which became the chief place of the order until it was taken by the Turks, on the 1st of January, 1523, when they removed to Malta.

[295] See before, p. 33 of the present volume, where the same blunder is made by Sæwulf.

[296] This story, or one very similar to it, is found in the chronicle of John of Brompton. The bay of Satalia was notoriously dangerous to navigators, who attempted to account for it by legends like these. We have already seen an earlier traveller, Sæwulf, narrowly escape shipwreck in passing it (p. 49). John of Brompton gives two legends to account for the stormy character of the bay, according to one of which the head of the monster alluded to in the text lay at the bottom; and when it was turned with the face upwards, this position caused a perilous tempest.

[297] These were a kind of large wild dogs. Jacobus de Vitriaco ("Hist. Orient.," lib. iii.), speaking of the animals of Judea, says, "Sunt ibi cameli et bubali abundanter, et _papiones_ quos appellant, canes silvestres, acriores quam lupi."

[298] Song of Solomon, iv. 15.

[299] Luke, xi. 27.

[300] Our author has picked up a strange version of the classic story of Perseus and Andromeda, and has even mistaken Andromeda for the monster that was to have devoured her. The mark of the chain is mentioned by Solinus.

[301] A similar description is found in Geoffrey de Vinsauf (Itin. Reg. Ric. I. lib. i. c. 32), who, however, states that it is a mere story taken from Solinus, and he does not assert that there was such a foss in his time. It may be further observed that Maundeville has fallen into another blunder in confounding the foss alluded to with the pretended sepulchre of Memnon.

[302] It is curious that Maundeville should thus confound Babylon of Chaldea with Babylon of Egypt.

[303] Sirkouk, or Siracon, was the vizir of Noureddin, sultan of Aleppo, and was uncle, not father, of Saladin. He dethroned the last Fatimite khalif of Egypt, and brought that country under the power of the sultans, which was soon after usurped by Saladin, who reigned from 1173 to 1193. The other sultans mentioned by Maundeville may easily be identified by a reference to the ordinary histories.

[304] This was the sultan Koutchouc-Ascraf, who was chosen successor to his brother in 1341, and, after reigning about six months, was deposed on the 11th of January, 1342. This fixes Maundeville's departure from Egypt to the latter months of the year 1341.

[305] See Maundeville's explanation of this word in a subsequent chapter.

[306] This account of Babylon is taken chiefly from Pliny and the ancient geographers.

[307] Bagdad.

[308] Gen. xii. 1.

[309] Ephraem Cyrus.

[310] The legend of Theophilus, who sold himself to the evil one, and then repented, and was saved from the devil by the Virgin Mary, was a popular one in the Middle Ages. See Jubinal's Rutebeuf, vol. ii. pages 79 and 260. He is commonly said to have lived at Adana, in Cilicia.

[311] Susa.

[312] A spurious book, purporting to be the exposition of dreams compiled by the prophet Daniel, was very popular in the middle ages, and is the work here alluded to.

[313] _i. e._ The people of Barbary.

[314] Rosetta.

[315] This account of the Phœnix is taken from Pliny's Natural History, x. 2, and xi. 37. The legend of the Phœnix was a very favourite one throughout the middle ages.

[316] The story is taken from one of the apocryphal books of the Eastern sectarians, which had a considerable influence on the legendary literature of the medieval church.

[317] The wonderful adventures of Alexander the Great in his Indian expedition, and the marvels he met with, are the subject of a multitude of extraordinary legends in the middle ages, and exerted no little influence on geography and natural science down to a comparatively recent period. The hero was made to give an account of them in a supposititious letter to his preceptor Aristotle, which was published in almost every language in Western Europe, and is of frequent recurrence in medieval manuscripts.

[318] These are, of course, the pyramids. See the slight allusion to them in Benjamin of Tudela, p. 121.

[319] Brindisi, the ancient Brundusium.

[320] See before, p. 22.

[321] Exod. iii. 5.

[322] 1 Kings, xix. 8.

[323] This pretended imprint of Moses' body, and some of the other remarkable things described by Maundeville, were still shown to visitors in the earlier part of the last century.

[324] Psalms, cxxxii. 6.

[325] The medieval legendary history of the three kings will be found printed at the end of the first volume of the "Chester Mysteries."

[326] Rachel had but two children, Joseph and Benjamin; but by them she had twelve grandchildren. Gen. xlvi. 20-22.

[327] Perhaps Maundeville reckons from the capture of Acre, in 1291, when the Christians lost their last footing in the Holy Land. Jerusalem was finally taken from the Christians by the Turks in October, 1244.

[328] The _Vitas Patrum_ was the most popular collection of saints' legends in the middle ages.

[329] See before, pp. 4, 38.

[330] John, xix. 26.

[331] Gen. xxviii. 16.

[332] Acts, iii. 2.

[333] Matt. ix. 6.

[334] Matt. xxvi. 39.

[335] Matth. x. 41.

[336] Joshua, ii. 9.

[337] Matth. iv. 3.

[338] This is a very ingenious attempt at derivation, like some others found in the book of Sir John Maundeville, who speaks again of the Georgian Christians at the end of Chapter X.

[339] This word probably means bitumen. The Latin text has _Dalem et dalketram_; the French, _De alym et d'alketran_. This would almost lead us to consider the French as the original text, from which the others were translated.

[340] Mount Royal, which stood in the immediate neighbourhood of the ancient Petra, was a place of some celebrity in the history of the crusades. It was said to have been impregnable from the strength of its position; and it was only taken by Saladin, in 1187, by starving the garrison.

[341] Psalms, cxx. 5.

[342] Luke, x. 13, 15. This is a curious example of the manner in which legends were raised on the misapplication of Scripture by the medieval theologians, who, in this respect, closely resembled the Talmudists among the Jews.

[343] 2 Sam. i. 21.

[344] Luke, i. 28.

[345] The foregoing passages of Scripture, repeated as directed in Latin, composed, in fact, the common charm against thieves and robbers; and our forefathers seem to have had the simplicity to believe that, by a proper use of it, they were actually under those circumstances rendered invisible. The quotations are from Luke iv. 30; Exod. xv. 16. The latter is wrongly quoted from the Psalter. The misinterpretation of the first passage (it was believed that Jesus became invisible) appears to have arisen at a very early period.

[346] There was an immense mass of legendary matter of this kind current in the middle ages, with which it is necessary, in a certain degree, to be acquainted, in order to understand the literature and manners of our forefathers. It is to such legends that the old writers frequently allude when we suppose that they are merely misquoting Scripture.

[347] This is of course a little more legend. The notion that there was a town on the summit of Mount Tabor is probably a mistake of our traveller.

[348] This legend arose out of an interpretation given to Gen. iv. 23, 24. See, as an illustration, the scene in the "Coventry Mysteries," pp. 44-46.

[349] Matt. xiv. 31.

[350] Luke, xxiv. 30.

[351] Psalms, xxxii. 5.

[352] See before, p. 178.

[353] The khalif Motawakkel had, in A.D. 856, ordered the Christians and Jews to wear a broad girdle of leather; and they have continued to wear it in the east till modern times. From that epoch the Christians of Syria, who were mostly Jacobites or Nestorians, were called Christians of the girdle.

[354] It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that _sabbatum_, or _dies sabbati_, is the Latin for Saturday.

[355] Ramah Gibeon, now El Jib. Douke is Ain Duk, the Greek Δωκ (see Robinson, ii. 308, 309). It requires considerable study and research to identify all the names mentioned by Maundeville in the sequel.

[356] We must take this as a little satire of Sir John Maundeville's against the vices of the day among his own countrymen; and it seems not to have been without its effect. There is an English metrical version of it in the "Reliquiæ Antiquæ," ii. 113.

[357] The foregoing account of Mohammed and his doctrines is of course full of error and prejudice; but it is curious, as showing the popular notions on the subject in England and France in the fourteenth century, and may be compared with several other popular tracts of that age. The Koran had been translated into Latin as early as the twelfth century. An account very similar to the above is given by Roger of Wendover (Bohn's Antiq. Lib.).

[358] _i. e._ The Athanasian Creed.

[359] A Christian dynasty reigned over the small independent kingdom of Trebizond from 1204 to 1462, after which it was swallowed up in the Ottoman empire.

[360] This is an allusion to another medieval religious legend.

[361] An account of the remarkable ruins, both ecclesiastical and palatial, that are met with at Anni, which was the capital of the Pakradian branch of Armenian kings, will be found in the Travels of Sir R. K. Porter, and those of W. J. Hamilton, vol. i. p. 197.

[362] One hundred and forty years. Job, xlii. 16.

[363] Here follows, in the original, the common story of the Amazons, taken from the ancient authors, which is not worth reprinting.

[364] Maundeville's notions concerning diamonds are somewhat singular; they are, however, partly taken from Pliny, lib. xxxvii. c. 4.

[365] Hence the ring was commonly worn on the left hand.

[366] The "Liber Lapidarius" was a popular medieval treatise on the virtues and properties of precious stones, which was of great importance when people implicitly believed in the wonderful efficacy of such things.

[367] _i. e._ The loadstone. The appellation of the "shipman's stone" is curious, as showing that the properties of the mariners' compass were well known before the middle of the fourteenth century. We have other evidence to show that the mariner's compass was known at a much earlier period.

[368] This is taken from Pliny's Natural History, lib. ix. c. 3.

[369] Pliny's Natural History, lib. vi. c. 17.

[370] Ormuz.

[371] _Undurn_ was nine o'clock in the morning. The Latin text has "_A diei hora tertia usque ad nonam_."

[372] This tradition of a mountain of magnetic ore is very general among the Chinese and throughout Asia. The Chinese assign its position to a specific place, which they call Tchang-haï, in the southern sea, between Tonquin and Cochin-China, which is precisely the same geographical region indicated in the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor.

[373] The Well of Youth was a sort of El Dorado of the middle ages, which most people believed in, and many went in search of; but, in spite of Maundeville's assertion that he had drunk of the water, it appears never to have been found.

[374] This is the country described by Marco Polo, book iii. c. 20, under the name of Maabar.

[375] A rich cloth of silk, mentioned not unfrequently in medieval writers.

[376] An astronomical instrument used in the middle ages for taking altitudes, &c. Maundeville's notions about the form of the earth, and the possibility of passing round it, are extremely curious, from the circumstance of their having been written and published so long before the time of Columbus.

[377] Job, xxvi. 7.

[378] Perhaps Sumatra. Maundeville seems to allude to the tattooing practised so generally in the islands of the Pacific.

[379] This seems to be an allusion to the upas tree.

[380] This accusation was spread against the Jews, as an excuse for persecution and spoliation.

[381] This may possibly be meant for Ceylon; but it would be vain to attempt to identify the islands mentioned in this and the following chapter. Some of the descriptions may, however, have had their foundation in what was originally correct information, but exaggerated or misunderstood.

[382] Adam's Peak is in the island of Ceylon, which seems to be the one here alluded to under the name of Silha.

[383] The "marvels" that follow in this paragraph are taken almost entirely from Pliny and Solinus.

[384] This is the city called by Marco Polo (from whom Maundeville appears to have abridged his description) Kin-sai. It was the capital of Southern China, under the dynasty of the Song.

[385] Part of this account is taken from Pliny, Hist. Nat., vii. 2.

[386] This is the word used in the English version. The Latin has _ascensorium_, and the French, _mountaynette_.

[387] These are old names of precious stones, which it would not be very easy now to explain.

[388] This was the famous Ghengis-khan, who ruled the Moguls from 1176 to 1227, and was the founder of the Tartar empire. It is needless to say that the history Maundeville gives of his accession is a mere fable.

[389] Veneration for peculiar numbers was a very general superstition, and the number three, and its multiple, nine, were, in particular, in universal repute.

[390] This story of the king and the twelve arrows is told in very nearly the same manner in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments; and the substance of a well-known fable will be easily recognised in it.

[391] Oktai-khan, who ruled over the Tartars from 1229 (having been absent in China when his father died) to 1241.

[392] Gaiouk reigned from 1246 to 1249. The death of his predecessor had been followed by a regency.

[393] Mango-khan, after another regency, succeeded in 1251; and after conquering Persia and other countries, died in 1259. This monarch was made known to Europeans by the embassy of William de Rubruquis and others, and excited interest in the west by the report of his conversion to Christianity.

[394] Mango's successor was the celebrated Houlagou (1259 to 1265), who was followed in succession by eight khans between then and the time when Maundeville wrote. These were followed, in 1360, by the famous Timur-beg, or Tamerlane.

[395] These are the names of different birds used in hawking.

[396] _Leech_ was the old English name for one class of medical practitioners. It is employed here in contradistinction to physicians, and I have not ventured to assign a modern equivalent. The preference given to Christian physicians is somewhat curious when we compare it with a similar feeling existing in the East at the present day.

[397] Paper money was in common use among the Tartars and Chinese at an early period. See, on this curious subject, the travels of Marco Polo.

[398] "And none shall appear before me empty." Exod. xxxiv. 20.

[399] A kind of garment made of skins with the fur on. In the Latin the passage stands, "Habent et pelliceas, quibus utuntur ex transversis;" in the French, "Et vestent des pellices, le peil dehors."

[400] Leather boiled soft, and then reduced to any required shape and hardened; a substance very much used for a variety of purposes in the middle ages.

[401] The Maure Sea seems to be the Northern Ocean, and the mountains of Chotaz are perhaps the Ourals.

[402] These are, no doubt, Bokhara and Samarcand.

[403] Iskendroon?

[404] Tabreez.

[405] The Kurds, the Gordynæ of the ancients.

[406] Take the sacrament.

[407] Mosul.

[408] Cotton.

[409] The editor of the edition of our author, printed in 1727, observes, that one four feet long, in the Cotton Library, had a silver hoop about the end, on which is engraved, _Griphi unguis, divo Cuthberto Dunelmensi sacer_. Another, about an ell long, is mentioned by Dr. Grew, in his History of the Rarities of the Royal Society, page 26; though the doctor there supposes it rather the horn of a rock-buck, or of the _ibex mas_.

[410] Un-khan, or, as he was popularly called, Prester John, and the marvels of his dominions, were for several centuries a subject of great interest to the people of Western Europe, and were an object of anxious inquiry to all travellers in the East. A pretended letter from this monarch to the pope, describing his dominions, was published in Latin, French, and other languages. Much information relating to Prester John is found in Matthew Paris, who wrote before the middle of the thirteenth century. Marco Polo in his travels (book i. ch. xliii.) mentions the former subjection of the Tartars to him. Roger Bacon did not believe the extraordinary tales which were current relative to Prester John—_de quo tanta fama solebat esse, et multa falsa dicta sunt et scripta_. (Opus Majus, edit. Jebb, p. 232.) A most profound and learned dissertation on the personage and history of Prester John, by M. D'Avezac, will be found in the Introduction to his edition of the History of the Tartars, by John du Plan-de-Carpin, (published in the transactions of the Geographical Society of Paris,) 4to, 1838, p. 165-168.

[411] Ormuz.—The derivation is droll enough.

[412] Probably cocoa-nuts.

[413] This is apparently the giraffe.

[414] I have omitted some paragraphs preceding this, which are mere reproductions of the wonderful ethnographic stories of Pliny and Solinus.

[415] Here follows the story of the ants that keep the gold, taken from Pliny, Hist. Nat. xi. 31, and found in other ancient writers.

THE TRAVELS OF BERTRANDON DE LA BROCQUIÈRE.

A.D. 1432, 1433.

To animate and inflame the hearts of such noble men as may be desirous of seeing the world, and by the order and command of the most high, most powerful, and my most redoubted lord, Philip, by the grace of God duke of Burgundy, Lorraine, Brabant, and Limbourg, count of Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy[416], palatine of Hainault, Holland, Zealand, and Namur, marquis of the Holy Empire, lord of Friesland, Salines, and Mechlin, I, Bertrandon de la Brocquière, a native of the duchy of Guienne, lord of Vieux-Chateau, counsellor and first esquire-carver to my aforesaid most redoubted lord, after bringing to my recollection every event, in addition to what I had made an abridgment of in a small book by way of memorandums, have fairly written out this account of my short travels, in order that if any king or Christian prince should wish to make the conquest of Jerusalem, and lead thither an army overland, or if any gentleman should be desirous of travelling thither, they may be made acquainted with all the towns, cities, regions, countries, rivers, mountains, and passes in the different districts, as well as the lords to whom they belong, from the duchy of Burgundy to Jerusalem. The route hence to the holy city of Rome is too well known for me to stop and describe it. I shall pass lightly over this article, and not say much until I come to Syria. I have travelled through the whole country from Gaza, which is the entrance to Egypt, to within a day's journey of Aleppo, a town situated on the north of the frontier, and which we pass in going to Persia.

Having formed a resolution to make a devout pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and being determined to discharge my vow, I quitted, in the month of February, 1432, the court of my most redoubted lord, which was then at Ghent. After traversing Picardy, Champagne, and Burgundy, I entered Savoy, crossed the Rhone, and arrived at Chambery by the Mont-du-Chat. Here commences a long chain of mountains, the highest of which is called Mount Cenis, which forms a dangerous pass for travellers in times of snow. The road is so difficult to find, that a traveller, unless he wish to lose it, must take one of the guides of the country, called Marrons. These people advise you not to make any sort of noise that may shake the atmosphere round the mountain, for in that case the snow is detached, and rolls with impetuosity to the ground. Mount Cenis separates Italy from France.

Having thence descended into Piedmont, a handsome and pleasant country, surrounded on three sides by mountains, I passed through Turin, where I crossed the Po, and proceeded to Asti, which belongs to the duke of Orleans; then to Alexandria, the greater part of the inhabitants of which are said to be usurers—to Piacenza, belonging to the duke of Milan—and at last to Bologna la Grassa, which is part of the pope's dominions. The emperor Sigismund was at Piacenza; he had come thither from Milan, where he had received his second crown, and was on his road to Rome in search of the third[417]. From Bologna I had to pass another chain of mountains (the Appennines) to enter the states of the Florentines. Florence is a large town, where the commonalty govern. Every three months they elect for the government magistrates, called priori, who are taken from different professions; and as long as they remain in office they are honoured, but on the expiration of the three months they return to their former situations. From Florence I went to Monte Pulciano, a castle built on an eminence, and surrounded on three sides by a large lake (Lago di Perugia), thence to Spoleto, Monte Fiascone, and at length to Rome.

Rome is well known. Authors of veracity assure us that for seven hundred years she was mistress of the world. But although their writings should not affirm this, would there not be sufficiency of proof in all the grand edifices now existing, in those columns of marble, those statues, and those monuments as marvellous to see as to describe? Add to the above the immense quantities of relics that are there; so many things that our Lord has touched, such numbers of holy bodies of apostles, martyrs, confessors, and virgins; in short, so many churches where the holy pontiffs have granted full indulgences for sin. I saw there Eugenius IV., a Venetian, who had just been elected pope[418]. The prince of Salernum had declared war against him; he was of the Colonna family, and nephew to pope Martin[419].

I quitted Rome the 25th of March, and, passing through a town belonging to count de Thalamoné, a relation to the cardinal des Ursins, arrived at Urbino; thence I proceeded through the lordships of the Malatestas to Rimini, a part of the Venetian dominions. I crossed three branches of the Po, and came to Chiosa, a town of the Venetians, which had formerly a good harbour; but this was destroyed by themselves when the Genoese came to lay siege to Venice. From Chiosa, I landed at Venice, distant twenty-five miles.

Venice is a large and handsome town, ancient and commercial, and built in the middle of the sea. Its different quarters being separated by water form so many islands, so that a boat is necessary to go from one to the other. This town possesses the body of St. Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, as well as many others that I have seen, especially several bodies of the Holy Innocents, which are entire. These last are in an island called Murano, renowned for its manufactories of glass. The government of Venice is full of wisdom. No one can be a member of the council, nor hold any employment, unless he be noble and born in the town. It has a duke, who is bound to have ever with him, during the day, six of the most ancient and celebrated members of the council. When the duke dies, his successor is chosen from among those who have shown the greatest knowledge and zeal for the public good.

On the 8th of May I embarked to accomplish my vow, on board a galley, with some other pilgrims. We sailed along the coast of Sclavonia, and successively touched at Pola, Zara, Sebenico, and Corfu. Pola seemed to me to have been formerly a handsome and strong town, with an excellent harbour. We were shown at Zara the body of St. Simeon, to whom our Lord was presented in the Temple. The town is surrounded on three sides by the sea, and its fine port is shut in by an iron chain. Sebenico belongs to the Venetians, as does Corfu, which, with a very handsome harbour, has also two castles.

From Corfu we sailed to Modon, a good and fair town in the Morea, also belonging to the Venetians; thence to Candia, a most fertile island, the inhabitants of which are excellent sailors. The government of Venice nominates a governor, who takes the title of duke, but who holds his place only three years. Thence to Rhodes, where I had but time to see the town; to Baffa, a ruined town in the island of Cyprus; and at length to Jaffa, in the Holy Land of Promise.

At Jaffa, the pardons commence for pilgrims to the Holy Land. It formerly belonged to the Christians, and was then strong; at present it is entirely destroyed, having only a few tents covered with reeds, whither pilgrims retire to shelter themselves from the heat of the sun. The sea enters the town, and forms a bad and shallow harbour; it is dangerous to remain there long for fear of being driven on shore by a gust of wind. There are two springs of fresh water; but one is overflowed by the sea when the westerly wind blows a little strong. When any pilgrims disembark here, interpreters and other officers of the sultan[420] instantly hasten to ascertain their numbers, to serve them as guides, and to receive, in the name of their master, the customary tribute.

Ramlé, the first town we came to from Jaffa, is without walls, but a good and commercial town, seated in an agreeable and fertile district. We went to visit, in the neighbourhood, a village where St. George was martyred; and, on our return to Ramlé, we continued our route, and arrived, after two days, at the holy city of Jerusalem, where our Lord Jesus Christ suffered death for us. After making the customary pilgrimages, we performed those to the mountain where Jesus fasted forty days; to the Jordan, where he was baptized; to the church of St. John, near to that river; to that of St. Martha and St. Mary Magdalene, where our Lord raised Lazarus from the dead; to Bethlehem, where he was born; to the birth-place of St. John the Baptist; to the house of Zachariah; and, lastly, to the holy cross, where the tree grew that formed the real cross, after which we returned to Jerusalem.

The Cordeliers have a church at Bethlehem, in which they perform divine service, but they are under great subjection to the Saracens. The town is only inhabited by Saracens, and some Christians of the girdle[421].

At the birth-place of St. John the Baptist, a rock is shown, which, during the time of Herod's persecution of the innocents, opened itself miraculously in two, when St. Elizabeth having therein hid her son, it closed again of itself, and the child remained shut up, as it is said, two whole days.

Jerusalem is situated in a mountainous and strong country, and is at this day a considerable town, although it appears to have been much more so in former times. It is under the dominion of the sultan, to the shame and grief of Christendom. Among the free Christians, there are but two Cordeliers who inhabit the holy sepulchre, and even they are oppressed by the Saracens; I can speak of it from my own knowledge, having been witness of it for two months. In the church of the Holy Sepulchre reside also many other sorts of Christians, Jacobites, Armenians, Abyssinians from the country of Prester John, and Christians of the girdle; but of these the Franks suffer the greatest hardships.

When all these pilgrimages were accomplished, we undertook another, equally customary, that to St. Catherine's on Mount Sinai. For this purpose we formed a party of ten pilgrims, Sir André de Thoulongeon, Sir Michel de Ligne, Guillaume de Ligne, his brother, Sanson de Lalaing, Pierre de Vaudrey, Godefroi de Thoisi, Humbert Buffart, Jean de la Roe, Simonet[422], and myself.

For the information of others, who, like myself, may wish to visit this country, I shall say, that the custom is to treat with the chief interpreter at Jerusalem, who receives a tax for the sultan, and one for himself, and then sends to inform the interpreter at Gaza, who, in his turn, negotiates a passage with the Arabians of the desert. These Arabs enjoy the right of conducting pilgrims; and, as they are not always under due subjection to the sultan, their camels must be used, which they let to hire at ten ducats a head. The Saracen who at this time held the office of chief interpreter was called Nanchardin. Having received the answer from the Arabs, he called us together before the chapel, which is at the entrance and on the left of the holy sepulchre; he there took down in writing our ages, names, surnames, and very particular descriptions of our persons, and sent a duplicate of this to the chief interpreter at Cairo. These precautions are taken for the security of travellers, and to prevent the Arabs from detaining any of them; but I am persuaded that it is done likewise through mistrust, and through fear of some exchange or substitution that may make them lose the tribute-money. On the eve of our departure we bought wine for the journey, and laid in a stock of provision, excepting biscuit, which we were to find at Gaza. Nanchardin having provided asses and mules to carry us and our provision, with a particular interpreter, we set off.

The first place we came to was a village formerly more considerable, at present inhabited by Christians of the girdle, who cultivate vines. The second was a town called St. Abraham, and situated in the valley of Hebron, where our Lord created our first father Adam. In that place are buried together Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with their wives; but this sepulchre is now inclosed within a mosque of the Saracens. We were anxious to see it, and even advanced to the gate; but our guides and interpreter assured us they dared not suffer us to enter in the day-time, on account of the dangers they should run, and that any Christian found within a mosque is instantly put to death, unless he renounces his religion. After the valley of Hebron, we traversed another of greater extent, near to which the mountain on which St. John performed his penitence was pointed out to us. Thence we crossed a desert country, and lodged in one of those houses built through charity, and called khan; from this khan we came to Gaza.

Gaza, situated in a fine country near the sea, and at the entrance of the desert, is a strong town, although uninclosed. It is pretended that it formerly belonged to the famous Samson. His palace is still shown, and also the columns of that which he pulled down; but I dare not affirm that these are the same. Pilgrims are harshly treated there; and we also should have suffered, had it not been for the governor, a man about sixty years of age, and a Circassian, who heard our complaints and did us justice. Thrice were we obliged to appear before him; once, on account of the swords we wore, and the two other times for quarrels which the Saracen moucres sought to have with us. Many of us wished to purchase asses; for the camel has a very rough movement, which is extremely fatiguing to those unaccustomed to it. An ass is sold at Gaza for two ducats; but the moucres not only wanted to prevent our buying any, but to force us to hire asses from them, at the price of five ducats, to St. Catherine's. This conduct was represented to the governor. For myself, who had hitherto ridden on a camel, and had no intention of changing, I desired they would tell me how I could ride a camel and an ass at the same time. The governor decided in our favour, and ordered that we should not be forced to hire any asses from the moucres against our inclinations. We here laid in fresh provisions necessary for the continuance of our journey; but, on the eve of our departure, four of my companions fell sick, and returned to Jerusalem. I set off with the five others, and we came to a village situated at the entrance of the desert, and the only one to be met with between Gaza and St. Catherine's. Sir Sanson de Lalaing also there quitted us, and returned; so that our company consisted of Sir Andrew de Toulongeon, Pierre de Vaudrei, Godefroi de Toisi, Jean de la Roe, and myself.

We thus travelled two days in the desert, absolutely without seeing any thing deserving to be related. Only one morning I saw, before sunrise, an animal running on four legs, about three feet long, but scarcely a palm in height. The Arabians fled at the sight of it, and the animal hastened to hide itself in a bush hard by. Sir Andrew and Pierre de Vaudrei dismounted, and pursued it sword in hand, when it began to cry like a cat on the approach of a dog. Pierre de Vaudrei struck it on the back with the point of his sword, but did it no harm, from its being covered with scales like a sturgeon. It sprung at Sir Andrew, who, with a blow from his sword, cut the neck, partly through, and flung it on its back, with its feet in the air, and killed it. The head resembled that of a large hare; the feet were like the hands of a young child, with a pretty long tail, like that of the large green lizard. Our Arabs and interpreter told us it was very dangerous[423].

At the end of the second day's journey I was seized with such a burning fever that it was impossible for me to proceed. My four companions, distressed at this accident, made me mount an ass, and recommended me to one of our Arabs, whom they charged to reconduct me, if possible, to Gaza. This man took a great deal of care of me, which is unusual in respect to Christians. He faithfully kept me company, and led me in the evening to pass the night in one of their camps, which might consist of fourscore and some tents, pitched in the form of a street. These tents consist of two poles stuck in the ground by the bigger end, at a certain distance from each other, and on them is placed another pole cross-way, and over this last is laid a thick coverlid of woollen, or coarse hair. On my arrival, four or five Arabs, who were acquainted with my companion, came to meet us. They dismounted me from my ass, and laid me on a mattress which I had with me, and then, treating me according to their method, kneaded and pinched me so much with their hands[424], that from fatigue and lassitude I slept and reposed for six hours. During this time no one did me the least harm, nor took any thing from me. It would, however, have been very easy for them to do so; and I must have been a tempting prey, for I had with me two hundred ducats, and two camels laden with provision and wine.

I set out, on my return to Gaza, before day; but when I came thither, I found neither my four companions who had remained behind nor Sir Sanson de Lalaing: the whole five had returned to Jerusalem, carrying with them the interpreter. Fortunately I met with a Sicilian Jew to whom I could make myself understood; and he sent me an old Samaritan, who, by some medicines which he gave me, appeased the great heat I endured. Two days after, finding myself a little better, I set off in company with a Moor, who conducted me by a road on the sea-side. We passed near Ascalon, and thence traversed an agreeable and fertile country to Ramlé, where I regained the road to Jerusalem.

On the first day's journey I met on my road the governor of that town returning from a pilgrimage, with a company of fifty horsemen, and one hundred camels, mounted principally by women and children, who had attended him to his place of devotion. I passed the night with them, and the morrow, on my return to Jerusalem, took up my lodgings with the Cordeliers at the church of Mount Sion, where I again met my five comrades.