In all this country there is no bridge of stone or of wood; in no part of the kingdoms or lordships of Prester John are there Jews. There are infinite quantities of sugar canes, and they do not know how to make it; grapes and peaches are ripe in the month of February and end in April: there are many oranges, lemons and citrons, and few pot herbs, because they do not plant them.
Animals, namely lions, ounces, tigers, wolves, deer, antas,[285] wild cows, foxes, lynxes,[286] wild boars, porcupines, civet cats, roedeer, gazelles, elephants, and other animals not known to us, of which the country is full, except two which I never saw there, namely bears and rabbits.
Birds, partridges of three kinds, like ours, other fowls which we call of Guinea, there they are called zegra, quails, pigeons, turtles, hawks, falcons, kites, eagles, thrushes, sparrows, swallows, nightingales, larks, wild ducks, of different kinds,[287] and other waterfowl, herons, cranes, hemas, and all other birds that may be in the world, and not known to us; and there are all in this country except magpies and cuckoos, which I never saw, nor heard of their being there.
There are so many apes, that in the kingdom of the Barnagais, in a town which is named Ceroel, at the time the harvest is ripe, they pursue them till they make them pass a mountain; and they keep guard over them in a pass by day, because at night they do not move about, and they give a certain provision to two men who keep guard over them until the corn is gathered in, when they let them loose, or leave off keeping watch over them.
There is much basil in the thickets, and there are none of our trees except cypresses, plumtrees, and willows by the rivers; there are no melons, cucumbers, nor horseradish.
In the country there is no gold or silver money, and purchases are made by exchange of one thing for another, principally salt, which is current throughout the country as money.
There is linen there, but it gives no fibre, and no stuff is made with it; there is much cotton, and stuff made of it; there is much coloured cloth, and there is a very cold country where they wear serge.
The churches there are well built, but the walls are not well wrought, and they do not place anything upon them; they pitch [the roof] upon props, which reach from the ground upwards.
In the country there is gold, silver, copper and tin, but they do not know how to get it out of the mines.
There are many lepers in this country, and they do not live separated from the people, they live all together; there are many people who, out of their devotion, wash them, and tend their sores with their hands.