Of Inde the more, & Inde the lesse, & of diamonds, and small people, & other things.
FROM Ethyope men go into Inde through many dyverse countreys, and it is called Inde the more, and it is departed in three parties, that is to say, Inde the more that is a full hote lande, & Inde the lesse is a temperate land, and the thyrde part that is toward the north there it is right cold, so that for greate colde, frost & yce, the water becommeth Cristal & upon that groweth the good diamondes yt is like a trouble[1] colour, & that Diamonde is so harde that no man may breake it. Other Diamonds men finde in Araby that are not so good for they are more softer and some are in Cipres and in Macedony men also finde diamondes but the best are in Inde & some are founde many times in a masse that cometh oute where men fynde golde from the myne when men breake the masse in pyeces, and sometyme men finde some of greatnesse of a pese,[2] and some lesse, and those are as harde as those of Inde, and all if it be that men fynde good dyamondes in Indie upon the Roch of Crystall, also menne finde good dyamondes upon the Roch of Adamante[3] in the sea and on hilles, as it were haysell noutes,[4] and they are all square and poynted of theyre owne kynde, and they grow both togither, male and female, and are noryshed with the dewe of heaven, and they engendre commonly & bring forth small children that multiply & growe all the yeare. I haue many times assayed that if a man kepe them with a lyttle of the roche, and wette them with many dewes oft times, they shal grow euery yeare, and the small shall waxe greate. And a manne shall bere the Diamonde in his left side, and then it is of more vertue, for the strength of theyr growing is toward the North, that is on the lefte side as men of those countreys say. To him that beareth the diamond upon him it giveth him hardinesse, it kepeth his lims of his body hole, it giveth victory of[5] enimies if a mans cause be ryght, and hym that bereth it in good will, it kepeth him from strife, from ryote, ill dreames, and sorcerys, and enchauntements, and no wylde beste shall greve him nor assaile him. And also the Dyamonde shoulde be given freely without covetyse and bying, & then it is of more vertue, it healeth him that is lunatyke, and he that is travailed with a divell, and if venym or poyson be brought in the presence of the Diamonde so soon it moysteth and beginneth to sweate, and men may well polyce[6] them to make men beleve that they may not be polyshed. But men may assaye them well in this maner, fyrst cut with them an diverse precious stones, as Saphyrs or other uppon Crystall and then men take a stone that is called Adamande, lay a nedell before that Adamande and if the Diamond is good & vertuous the Adamande draweth not the nedell to him whiles the Diamonde is there. And this is the proof that they make beyonde the sea. But it falleth sometime that the good diamond loseth his vertue through him that wereth it, and therefore it is nedefull for to make it to recover his virtue againe, or else it is lyttle of value.[7]
[1:] Prismatic.
[2:] Pea.
[3:] Rocks of Magnetic Loadstone were then firmly believed in.
[4:] Hazel nuts.
[5:] Over.
[6:] Polish.
[7:] This description of the diamond is largely taken from Pliny, book 37, chap. iv.
CAP. LIII.
Of diverse countreys & Kingdomes & yles of the lande of Inde.
MANY diverse countreys & Kingdoms are in Inde, and it is called Inde of a river that runneth through it, which is called Inde also & there are many precious stones in that river Inde. And in that ryver men finde Eles of xxx foote long & men yt dwell nere that river are of evill colour, yelowe & grene. In Inde is more than fyve thousande yles that men dwell in good and great, beside those that men dwel not in. And in eche one of those is great plenty of cities and muche people, for men of Inde are of that condicion that they passe not out of theyr lande commonly, for they dwell under a planet that is called Saturne, & that planet maketh his course by the xii signes in xxx[1] yeare and the Mone passeth through the xii signes in a moneth and for that Saturne is of so late sterying,[2] therefore men that dwell under him, & in that clymate have no good will to be much sterying aboute. And in our countrey is it contrary, for we are in a climate that is of the mone, & of light stering and that is the planet of way, & therefore it giveth us will to much moving & steryng and to go into diverse countreys of the world, for it goeth about the worlde more lyghtly than any other planet dothe. Also men passe through Inde by many countreys unto the great Occean Sea. And then they fynde the yle of Hermes where marchaunts of Venis and of Gene and of other diverse partes of christendome come for to by them marchaundise.
In this lande men and women lye all naked in the ryvers and waters, from undren[3] or heate of the day tyll it be past none, and they ly all in the water but the face, for the great heat that is there, and the women be not ashamed for the men. In that yle are the ships without nayles of yron, or bond, for roches of Adamand[4] that are in the sea would draw shippes to them. From this yle men go by the sea to the yle of Lana where is great plenty of corne, and the King of this yle was sometime so mighty that he helde war against King Alexander with great strength. Men of this yle have many maner beleves and faithe & have also diverse lawes, for some do worship the Sunne, some the fyre, some the trees, & some the serpents, or any other thinge that they fyrst meete in the morning, and some doe worship simulacres[5] and Idoles, but betwene symulacres & ydoles is no[6] difference, and that is to understande, ymages made to what lykenesse of thing that man may invent, for some ymage hath an head lyke an Oxe, some haue three or foure heddes, on of a man or an hors or Oxe or any other best that no man hath seene. And ye shall understande that they that worship symulacres they worship them as for worthy men that were sometime, as Hercules, and other that dyd many mervayles in theyr tymes. For they saye they know well that they are not god of kynde[7] that made all thinges, but that they are wel[8] with god for the mervayles that they did, and therefore they worship them. And so say they of the sonne, for it chaungeth oft tymes, for it giueth sometime great heate for to nourych[9] all things on earth, & bicause it is of so greate profyte they knowe well that it is not God but it is well with God & that God loveth it more than any other thing, and for this cause they worshippe it. And also they saye theyr reasons of other planettes, and of fyre also, for it is profitable, and nedefull. And of ydolls they say the Oxe is the holyest that they may finde here in earthe, and more profitable than any other, for he doth much good, and none ille, and they knowe well that it maye not bee without the speciall grace of God, and therefore they make theyr God of an Oxe, the one halfe, and the other halfe a man, for man is the fairest and the best creature of the worlde. And they doe worship to serpentes, and other beastes that they fyrste meete with in the morninge, and namely those bestes that have good, meting after whome they speake[10] well all the day after, the which they have proved of long time, & therefore they say that this meting cometh of Gods grace, and therefore they doe make ymages lyke unto those things that they may worship them before they meete anythinges else. And there are some christen men that say that some bestes are better for to meet than some, for hares, swine, and other bestes are ill to meete first, as they saye. In this yle of Cana is many wilde bestes, & rattes in that countrey are as great as houndes here, and they take them with mastifes, for cattes may not take them. Fro thence men come to a citie that men call Sarchys, and it is a faire and a goode citie and there dwell many christen men of Gods faith, and there be men of religion. From thence men come to the land of Lombe & in that lande groweth peper in a forest that men call Tomber & it groweth in none other place more in all the worlde than in that forest, and that forest is well L[11] daies journey. And there by the lande of Lombe is the Citie of Polomes,[12] and under that Citie is an hyll that men call Polombe and thereof taketh the citie his name. And so at the fote of the same hill is a right faire and a clere well, that hath a full good and sweete savoure, and it smelleth of all maner of sortes of spyces, and also at eche houre of the daye it changeth his savour diversly, and who drinketh thries on the daye of that well, he is made hole of all maner (of) sickenesse that he hathe. I have sometime dronke of that well, and methinketh yet that I fare the better; some call it the well of youth, for they that drinke thereof seme to be yong alway, and live without great sicknesse, and they saye this well, cometh from Paradise terrestre, for it is so vertuous, and in this lande groweth ginger, and thither come many good marchauntes for spyces. In this countrey men worship the Oxe for his great simpleness and mekenesse, and the profite that is in him, for they make the Oxe to travaile vi or vii yere and then men do eate him. And the Kinge of that land hath euermore one Oxe with him, and he that kepeth him euery day taketh hys fees for the keping. And also euery daye he gathereth his uryne and his dong in a vessell of gold, and bereth it to the prelate that they call, Archi porta papaton[13] and the prelate bereth it to the King, and maketh thereupon a great blessing and then the King putteth his hande therein, and they call it gaule and hee anoynteth his fronte, and his breste therewith, and they doe it great worship, and saye he shall be fulfilled with the vertu of the Oxe before sayde, and that he is halowed through vertue of that holy thinge as they saye. And when the Kinge hath this done, then doe it other lordes, and after them other men after theyr degree, if they may haue any of the remenaunt.[14] In thys countrey theyr ydoles are halfe men and halfe oxe, as the figure sheweth in the seconde lefe here before, and out of these ydolles the wycked ghost[15] speaketh unto them, and giveth them aunswere of what thing that they aske him, and before these ydolles they many times sleay theyr children, and sprinkle the blood on the ydoles, and so make they sacrifice. And if any man die in that countrey, they brene them in tokening of penaunce that he should suffer no penance if he were layd in the earth for eating of wormes. And if his wife haue no children then they burne hir with him, and they saye that is good reason that she keepe him company in the other worlde, as she dyd in this, & if she haue children she may liue with them and[16] she will; and if the wyfe dye before, she shall be burnt, & hir husbande also, if he will. In this countrey groweth good wine, & women drink wine & men none, and women shaue theyr berds & not men.