12. The trees in this India, and also in India the Greater, never shed their leaves till the new ones come.[88]
13. To write about the other trees would be too long a business, and tedious beyond measure; seeing that they are many and divers, and beyond the comprehension of man.
14. But about wild beasts of the forest I say this: there be lions, leopards, ounces, and another kind something like a greyhound, having only the ears black and the whole body perfectly white, which among those people is called Siagois.[89] This animal, whatever it catches, never lets go, even to death. There is also another animal, which is called Rhinoceros,[90] as big as a horse, having one horn long and twisted; but it is not the unicorn.
15. There be also venomous animals, such as many serpents, big beyond bounds, and of divers colours, black, red, white, and green, and parti-coloured; two-headed also, three-headed, and five-headed. Admirable marvels![91]
16. There be also coquodriles, which are vulgarly called Calcatix;[92] some of them be so big that they be bigger than the biggest horse. These animals be like lizards, and have a tail stretched over all, like unto a lizard’s; and have a head like unto a swine’s, and rows of teeth so powerful and horrible that no animal can escape their force, particularly in the water. This animal has, as it were, a coat of mail; and there is no sword, nor lance, nor arrow, which can anyhow hurt him, on account of the hardness of his scales. In the water, in short, there is nothing so strong, nothing so evil, as this wonderful animal. There be also many other reptiles, whose names, to speak plainly, I know not.
17. As for birds, I say plainly that they are of quite different kinds from what are found on this side of the world; except, indeed, crows and sparrows;[93] for there be parrots and popinjays in very great numbers, so that a thousand or more may be seen in a flock. These birds, when tamed and kept in cages, speak so that you would take them for rational beings. There be also bats really and truly as big as kites. These birds fly nowhither by day, but only when the sun sets. Wonderful! By day they hang themselves up on trees by the feet, with their bodies downwards, and in the daytime they look just like big fruit on the tree.[94]
18. There are also other birds, such as peacocks, quails, Indian fowls,[95] and others, divers in kind; some white as white can be, some green as green can be, some parti-coloured, of such beauty as is past telling.
19. In this India, when men go to the wars, and when they act as guards to their lords, they go naked, with a round target,—a frail and paltry affair,—and holding a kind of a spit[96] in their hands; and, truly, their fighting seems like child’s play.
20. In this India are many and divers precious stones, among which are the best diamonds under heaven. These stones never can be dressed or shaped by any art, except what nature has given. But I omit the properties of these stones, not to be prolix.