Chapter XIV.
OF THE LAND OF JOB, AND OF HIS AGE.—OF THE ARRAY OF MEN OF CHALDEA.—OF THE LAND WHERE WOMEN DWELL WITHOUT COMPANY OF MEN.—OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND VIRTUES OF THE TRUE DIAMOND.
After leaving Cornaa, we enter the land of Job, a very fair country, and abounding in all goods; and men call it the land of Sweze (Susiana). In that land is the city of Theman. Job was a pagan, and he was son of Are of Gosre, and held the land as prince of the country; and he was so rich that he knew not the hundredth part of his goods. And, although he was a pagan, still he served God well, after his law; and our Lord took his service in satisfaction. And when he fell in poverty he was seventy-eight years of age. And afterwards, when God had tried his patience, which was so great, he brought him again to riches, and to higher estate than before. And after that he was king of Idumea, after king Esau. And when he was king he was called Jobab. And in that kingdom he lived afterwards one hundred and seventy years[362]; and so he was of age, when he died, two hundred and forty-eight years. In that land of Job there is no want of any thing needful to man's body. There are hills, where they get manna in greater abundance than in any other country. This manna is called bread of angels; and it is a white thing, very sweet and delicious, and sweeter than honey or sugar; it comes of the dew of heaven, that falls upon the herbs in that country; and it congeals, and becomes white and sweet; and they put it in medicines for rich men, for it cleanseth the blood, and putteth out melancholy. This land of Job borders on the kingdom of Chaldea. This land of Chaldea is very extensive; and the language of that country is greater in sounding than it is in other parts beyond the sea. We pass it to go to the Tower of Babylon the Great, of which I have spoken, where all the languages were first changed; and that is four days from Chaldea. In that realm are fair men, and they go full nobly arrayed in cloths of gold, orfrayed, and apparelled with great pearls and precious stones full nobly; but the women are very ugly, and vilely arrayed; and they go barefoot, and clothed in evil garments, large and wide, but short to the knees, and long sleeves down to the feet, like a monk's frock, and their sleeves are hanging about their shoulders; and they are black women, foul and hideous; and truly they are as bad as they are foul. In that kingdom of Chaldea, in a city called Ur, dwelt Terah, Abraham's father; and there was Abraham born, which was in the time that Ninus was king of Babylon, of Arabia, and of Egypt. This Ninus made the city of Nineveh, which Noah had begun; and because Ninus completed it, he called it Nineveh, after his own name. There lies Tobit the prophet, of whom Holy Writ speaketh. And from that city of Ur Abraham departed, by the commandment of God, after the death of his father, and led with him Sarah, his wife, and Lot, his brother's son, because he had no child. And they went to dwell in the land of Canaan, in a place called Shechem. And this Lot was he who was saved, when Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities, where the Dead Sea now is, were burnt and sunk down to hell, as I have told you before.
Beside the land of Chaldea is the land of Amazonia, in which is all women, and no man; not, as some men say, because men may not live there, but because the women will not suffer men amongst them, to be their sovereigns[363]. This land of Amazonia is an island surrounded by the sea, except in two places, where are two entrances. And beyond the water dwell the men who are their paramours, where they go to solace them when they will. Beside Amazonia is the land of Tarmegyte, a great and very pleasant country, and for the goodness of which king Alexander made there the city of Alexandria: he made twelve cities of the same name, but that city is now called Celsite. And from that other side of Chaldea, toward the south, is Ethiopia, a great country, which extends to the extremity of Egypt. Ethiopia is divided into two principal parts, the east and the south, the latter part being called Mauritania. And the people of that country are blacker than in the other part, and are called Moors. In that country is a well, which in the day is so cold that no man may drink thereof, and in the night it is so hot that no man may suffer his hand therein. Towards the south, to pass by the Ocean Sea, is a great country, but men may not dwell there, for the fervent burning of the sun. In Ethiopia all the rivers and waters are troubled, and somewhat salt, for the great heat that is there. And the people of that country are easily intoxicated, and have but little appetite for meat. And they are afflicted with dysenteries, and live not long. In Ethiopia, the children, when young, are all yellow; and when they grow older that yellowness turns to black. In Ethiopia is the city of Saba and the land where one of the three kings reigned who came to our Lord in Bethlehem.
From Ethiopia they go to India through many different countries; and men call the higher India Emlak. India is divided into three principal parts: the Greater, which is a very hot country; and India the Less, which is a temperate country, extending to the land of Media; and the third part, toward the north, is so cold, that for continual frost the water becomes crystal; and upon those rocks of crystal grow the good diamonds, that are of troubled colour. Yellow crystal draws colour like oil. And they are so hard that no man may polish them; and men call them diamonds in that country, and hamese in another country. Other diamonds are found in Arabia, but they are not so good; they are browner and more tender. And other diamonds also are found in the island of Cyprus, which are still more tender, and may easily be polished; and they find diamonds also in Macedonia; but the best and most precious are in India. And they often find hard diamonds in a mass which comes out of gold, when they break the mass in small pieces, to purify it and refine it, out of the mine. And it sometimes happens that they find some as great as a pea, and some less; and they are as hard as those of India. And although men find good diamonds in India, yet nevertheless men find them more commonly upon the rocks in the sea, and upon hills where the mine of gold is. They grow many together, one little, another great; and there are some of the greatness of a bean, and some as great as a hazel nut. They are square and pointed of their own kind, both above and beneath, without work of man's hand; and they grow together, male and female, and are nourished by the dew of heaven; and they engender commonly and bring forth small children, that multiply and grow all the year. I have oftentimes tried the experiment, that if a man keep them with a little of the rock, and wet them with May-dew often, they shall grow every year, and the small will grow great[364]; for right as the fine pearl congeals and grows great by the dew of heaven, right so doth the true diamond; and right as the pearl of its own nature takes roundness, so the diamond, by virtue of God, takes squareness. And a man should carry the diamond on his left side, for it is of greater virtue than on the right side[365]; for the strength of their growing is toward the north, that is the left side of the world; and the left part of man is, when he turns his face towards the east. And if you wish to know the virtues of the diamond (as men may find in the "Lapidary,"[366] with which many men are not acquainted), I shall tell you, as they beyond the sea say and affirm, from whom all science and philosophy comes. He who carries the diamond upon him, it gives him hardiness and manhood, and it keeps the limbs of his body whole. It gives him victory over his enemies in court and in war, if his cause be just; and it keeps him that bears it in good wit; and it keeps him from strife and riot, from sorrows and from enchantments, and from phantasies and illusions of wicked spirits. And if any cursed witch or enchanter would bewitch him that bears the diamond, all that sorrow and mischance shall turn to the offender, through virtue of that stone; and also no wild beast dare assail the man who bears it on him. Also the diamond should be given freely, without coveting and without buying, and then it is of greater virtue; and it makes a man stronger and firmer against his enemies; and heals him that is lunatic, and those whom the fiend pursues or torments. And if venom or poison be brought in presence of the diamond, anon it begins to grow moist and sweat. There are also diamonds in India that are called violastres (for their colour is like violet, or more brown than violets), that are very hard and precious, but some men like them not so well as the others. Also there is another kind of diamonds that are as white as crystal; but they are a little more troubled; and they are good and of great virtue, and they are all square and pointed of their own nature; and some are six-square, some four-square, and some three, as nature shapes them; and, therefore, when great lords and knights go to seek honour in arms, they gladly bear the diamond upon them.
I shall speak a little more of the diamonds, that they who know them not may not be deceived by chapmen who go through the country selling them; for whoever will buy the diamond, it is needful that he know them, because men counterfeit them often with crystal, which is yellow; and with sapphires of citron colour, which is yellow also; and with the sapphire loupe, and with many other stones. But these counterfeits are not so hard; and the points will break easily, and men may easily polish them. But some workmen, for malice, will not polish them, to that intent, to make men believe that they may not be polished. But men may assay them in this manner; first cut with them or write with them in sapphires, in crystal, or in other precious stones. Also take the adamant[367], that is, the shipman's stone, that draws the needle to it, and lay the diamond on it, and lay the needle before the adamant; and if the diamond be good and virtuous, the adamant draws not the needle, while the diamond is there present. This is the proof that they beyond the sea use. Nevertheless it happens often that the good diamond loses its virtue by sin, and for incontinence of him that bears it; and then it is needful to make it recover its virtue again, or else it is of little value.