THEN next is the land of Turky, that marcheth to Great Armony and therein are many countreys as Capadoce, Saure,[1] Bryke, Quecion, Patan & Genethe, in eche one of the countreys are many good cities, and it is a plaine land, & few hills and few rivers, and then is the kingdome of Mesopotamy that beginneth eastwarde at flom of Tygre[2] at a citie that men call Mosell,[3] and it lasteth westwarde to the flom of Euphraten, to a citie that men call Rochaym[4] & westwarde from high Armony unto the wildernesse of Inde the lesse, and it is a good land and playne, but there is few rivers, and there is but two hils in that lande, the one is called Simar, and the other Lison, & it marcheth unto the lande of Caldee, and ye shall understande that the land of Ethyope marcheth eastward to the great wildernesse westwarde to the land of Nuby,[5] southwarde to the lande of Maratan[6] and northward to the redde sea & then is the Maritan that lasteth from the hilles of Ethiope unto Liby,[7] the high, and the low that lasteth to the great sea of Spayne.[8]
[1:] Otherwise written Brique, Quesiton, Pytan, and Cemethe.
[2:] The river Tigris.
[3:] Mosul.
[4:] Otherwise Roiantz.
[5:] Nubia.
[6:] Mauritania.
[7:] Lybia.
[8:] The Mediterranean.
CAP. LXXXIIII.
Of divers countreys kingedomes & yles, and marvayles beyond the land of Cathay.
NOW haue I sayd and spoken of many things on this side of the great Kingedome of Cathay, of whome many are obeysant[1] to the great Caane. Now shall I tell of some landes, countreys & yles that are beyond the lande of Cathay. Whoso goeth from Cathay to Inde the high and the low, he shal go through a kingdome that men call Cadissen[2] & it is a great lande, there groweth a maner of fruite as it were gourdes, & when it is ripe men cut it a sonder, and men fynde therein a beast as it were of fleshe and bone and bloud, as it were a lyttle lambe without wolle, and men eate the beast & fruite also, and sure it semeth very strange. Neverthelesse I sayd to them that I held yt for no marvayle, for I sayd that in my countrey are trees yt beare fruit yt become byrds flying, and they are good to eate, & that that falleth on the water liveth & that that falleth on earth dyeth, & they marvailed much thereat. In this countrey & many other thereabout are trees that beareth cloves, & nutmigs and canel[3] and many other spyces, & there be vines that beare so great grapes that a strong man shall enough to beare a cluster of grapes. In that same lande are the hils of Caspy that men cal Uber & amonge those hilles are the Jewes of the x kindes[4] enclosed therein, that men call Gog & Magog & they may not come out on no syde. There were inclosed xxii kynges with theyr folke that dwelled betwene ye hills of Syche,[5] and King Alexander chased them thither among those hilles, for hee trusting for to haue enclosed them there through the working of men, but he might not, and when he saw he might not, he prayed to God that he woulde fulfyll that which hee had begun. God heard his prayer and enclosed the hilles all about them but[6] at the one side, and there is the sea of Caspy. Here some men mighte aske, there is a sea on one side, why go they not out there, for thereto aunswered I that all if it be called a sea, it is not a sea, but a stange[7] standing among hyls, and it is the greatest stange of all the world, and all if they went over the sea, they wot not wher to arive, for they can no speach[8] but their own. And ye shall understand that the Jewes haue no law[9] of their owne in all the world, but they dwell in those hils, and yet they pay tribute for their land to the quene of Armony[10] & sometime it is so that some of the Jewes go over the hils but many men may not passe there togither, for the hils are so great and high. Neverthelesse men say in that countrey therby, that in the time of Antechrist they shall doe much harme to Christen men and therefore all the Jewes that dwell in diverse partes of the worlde lerne for to speake Ebrew, for they hope that the Jewes that dwel among the hils aforesayde, shall come out of the hils and speake all Ebrew and nought else, & then shall these Jewes speake Ebrew to them and lede them into Christendome for to destroye Christen men. For these Jewes say they know by their prophecies that those Jewes yt are among those hils of Caspy shall come out, and Christen men shall be in their subjection, as they bee under christen men. And if ye wyll know how they shall finde the passage out, as I have understand I shall tell you. In the time of Antechriste a foxe shall make his denne in the same place wher King Alexander dyd make the gates & he shall dyg in the earth so long til he pearce it through and come among the Jewes, and when they see the Foxe, they shall haue great marvaile[11] of him, for they saw neuer such a beast, for other beastes have they among them many, and they shall chase this foxe and pursue him until yt he be fled againe to his hole that he came from, & then shall they dig after him untill they come to ye gates yt Alexander did make of great stones well dight[12] with siment, then shall they brake these gates, and they shall find the issue.
[1:] Obedient, or under the rule of.
[2:] Other editions say Caldithe.
[3:] Cinnamon.
[4:] Tribes.
[5:] Scythia.
[6:] Except.
[7:] Lake or pool.
[8:] Can only speak their own language.
[9:] Misprint for land.
[10:] Other editions say Amazony.
[11:] Be astonished at him.
[12:] Well cemented.
CAP. LXXXV.
Of the land of Bactry, and of many Griffons and other beastes.
FROM this land men shal go unto the land of Bactry,[1] where are many wicked men & fell,[2] in that land are trees that beare wol,[3] as it were shepe, of which they make cloth. In this land are ypotains[4] that dwel sometime on land, sometime on water, and are halfe a man and halfe a horse, and they eate not but men, when they may get them. In this land are many gryffons, more than in other places, and some say they haue the body before as an Egle, and behinde as a Lyon, and it is trouth, for they be made so; but the Griffen hath a body greater than viii Lyons and stall worthier[5] than a hundred Egles. For certainly he wyl beare to his nest flying, a horse and a man upon his back, or two Oxen yoked togither as they go at plowgh, for he hath longe nayles on hys fete, as great as it were hornes of Oxen,[6] and of those they make cups there to drynke of, and of his rybes[7] they make bowes to shoote with.