AND after three yeeres I departed out of the empire of Cataie, traveiling fiftie dayes journey towards the West. And at length I came unto the empire of Pretegoani,[1] whose principall citie is Kasan, which hath many cities under it. From thence passing many dayes travel I came unto a province called Casan, which is for good commodities, one of the onely provinces under the Sunne, & is very well inhabited, insomuch that when we depart out of the gates of one city we may beholde the gates of another city, as I myselfe sawe in divers of them. The breadth of the said province is 50 dayes journey and the length aboue sixtie. In it there is great plenty of all victuals, and especially of chesnuts, and it is one of the twelve provinces of the great Can. Going on further, I came unto a certaine Kingdome called Tebek,[2] which is in subjection unto the great Can also, wherein I thinke there is more plenty of bread and wine then in any other part of the worlde besides. The people of the sayd countrey do, for the most part, inhabit in tents made of blacke felt. Their principall city is invironed with faire and beautifull walls, being built of most white and blacke stones, which are disposed checkerwise one by another, and curiously compiled together: likewise all the high wayes in this countrey are exceedingly well paved. In the said countrey none dare shed the bloud of a man, or of any beast, for the reverence of a certaine idol. In the aforesayd citie their Abassi, that is to say, their Pope is resident, being the head and prince of all idolaters (upon whom he bestoweth and distributeth gifts after his maner) euen as our Pope of Rome accounts himselfe to be the head of all Christians. The Women of this countrey weare aboue an hundreth tricks & trifles about them, and they haue two teeth in their mouthes as long as the tuskes of a boare. When any mans father deceaseth among them, his sonne assembleth together all the priests and musicians that he can get, saying that he is determined to honour his father: then causeth he him to be caried into the field (all his kinsfolks, friends, and neighbours, accompanying him in the sayd action) where the priests with great solemnity cut off the fathers head, giving it unto his sonne, which being done, they divide the whole body into morsels, and so leaue it behinde them, returning home with prayers in the company of the said sonne. So soone as they are departed, certain vultures, which are accustomed to such bankets, come flying from the mountains, and cary away all the sayd morsels of flesh: and from thenceforth a fame is spread abroad, that the sayd party deceased was holy, because the angels of God carried him into paradise. And this is the greatest and highest honour, that the sonne can devise to performe unto his father. Then the sayd sonne taketh his fathers head, seething it and eating the flesh thereof, but of the skull he maketh a drinking cup, wherein himselfe with all his family and kinred do drinke with great solemnitie and mirth, in the remembrance of his dead and devoured father. Many other vile and abominable things doth the sayd nation commit, which I meane not to write because men neither can nor will beleeve, except they should haue a sight of them.
[1:] Prester John.
[2:] Or Thibet.
Of a certaine riche man, who is fed and nourished by 50 virgins.
WHILE I was in the province of Mancy, I passed by the palace of a certaine famous man, which hath fifty virgin damosels continually attending upon him, feeding him euery meale as a bird feeds her yoong ones. Also he hath sundry kinds of meat served in at his table and three dishes of ech kinde: and when the said virgins feed him, they singe most sweetly. This man hath in yeerely revenues thirty thuman of tagars of rise, euery of which thuman yeeldeth tenne thousand tagars, and one tagar is the burthen of an asse. His palace is two miles in circuit, the pavement thereof is one plate of golde and another of silver. Neere unto the wall of the sayd palace there is a mount artificially wrought with golde and silver, whereupon stand turrets and steeples, and other delectable things for the solace and recreation of the foresayd great man. And it was tolde me that there were foure such men in the sayd kingdome. It is accounted a great grace for the men of that countrey to haue long nailes upon their fingers, and especially upon their thumbes which nailes they may folde about their handes: but the grace and beauty of their women is to haue small and slender feet: and therefore the mothers when their daughters are yoong, do binde up their feete that they may not grow great. Travelling on further towards the South, I arrived at a certain countrey called Melistorte, which is a pleasant and fertile place. In this countrey was a certain aged man called Senex de monte, who round about two mountaines had built a wall to inclose the said mountaines. Within this wall there were the fairest and most chrystall fountaines in the whole world: and about the sayd fountaines there were the most beautifull virgins in great number, and goodly horses also, and in a word, euery thing that could be devised for bodily solace and delight, and therefore the inhabitants of the countrey call the same place by the name of Paradise. The olde Senex, when he saw any proper and valiant yoong man, he would admit him into his paradise. Moreover by certain conducts he makes wine and milke to flow abundantly. This Senex when he hath a minde to revenge himselfe or to slay any king or baron, commandeth him who is governor of the sayd paradise, to bring thereunto some of the acquaintance of the sayd king or baron, permitting him a while to take his pleasure therein, and then to give him a certaine potion being of force, to cast him into such a slumber as should make him quite voide of all sense, and so being in a profound sleepe to convey him out of his paradise: who being awakened and seeing himselfe thrust out of the paradise, would become so sorrowfull, that he could not in the world devise what to do, or whither to turne him. Then would he goe unto the foresaid old man, beseeching him that he might be admitted again into his paradise, who saith unto him, You cannot be admitted thither, unlesse you will slay such or such a man for my sake, & if you will giue the attempt onely, whether you kill him or no, I will place you againe in paradise, that there you may remain always: then would the party without faile put the same in execution, indevouring to murther all those against whom the old man had conceived any hatred. And therefore all the kings of the east stood in awe of the sayd olde man, and gaue unto him great tribute.
Of the death of Senex de monte.
AND when the Tartars had subdued a great part of the world, they came unto the sayd olde man, and tooke from him the custody of his paradise: who being incensed thereat, sent abroad divers desperate and resolute persons out of his forenamed paradise, and caused many of the Tartarian nobles to be slaine. The Tartars seeing this, went and beseiged the citie wherein the sayd olde man was, tooke him, and put him to a most cruell and ignominious death. The friers in that place haue this special gift and prerogative, namely, that by the vertue of the name of Christ Jesu, & in the vertue of his precious blood, which he shedde upon the crosse for the salvation of mankinde, they doe cast foorth devils out of them that are possessed. And because there are many possessed men in those parts, they are bound and brought ten dayes journey unto the sayd friers, who being dispossessed of the uncleane spirits, do presently beleeve in Christ, who delivered them, accounting him for their God, and being baptised in his name, and also delivering immediately unto the friers all their idols and the idols of their cattell, which are commonly made of felt or of womens haire: then the sayd friers kindle a fire in a publicke place (whereunto the people resort, that they may see the false gods of their neighbors burnt), and cast the sayd idols thereinto: howbeit at first those idols came out of the fire againe. Then the friers sprinkled the sayd fire with holy water, casting in the idols the second time, and with that the devils fled in the likenesse of black smoake, and the idols still remained till they were consumed unto ashes. Afterward, this noise and outcry was heard in the ayre: Beholde and see how I am expelled out of my habitation. And by these means the friers doe baptise great multitudes, who presently revolt againe unto their idols; insomuch that the sayd friers must eftsoones, as it were, underprop them, and informe them anew. There was another terrible thing which I saw there: for passing by a certaine valley, which is situate beside a pleasant river, I saw many dead bodies, and in the said valley also I heard divers sweet sounds and harmonies of musike, especially the noise of citherns, whereat I was greatly amazed. This valley conteineth in length seven or eight miles at the least, into the which whosoeuer entreth, dieth presently, and can by no means passe aliue thorow the middest thereof; for which cause all the inhabitants thereabout decline unto the one side. Moreover, I was tempted to go in & to see what it was. At length, making my prayers and recommending my selfe to God in the name of Jesu, I entred, and saw such swarmes of dead bodies there, as no man would beleeve unless he were an eyewitnesse thereof. At the one side of the foresayde valley upon a certaine stone, I saw the visage of a man, which behelde me with such a terrible aspect that I thought verily I should haue died in the same place. But alwayes this sentence, the word became flesh, and dwelt amomgst us, I ceased not to pronounce, signing my selfe with the signe of the crosse, and neerer than seven to eight pases I durst not approach unto the sayd head: but I departed & fled unto another place in the sayd valley, ascending up into a little sande mountaine, where looking about, I saw nothing but the sayd citherns, which methought I heard miraculously sounding and playing by themselves without the helpe of musicians. And being upon the toppe of the mountaine, I found silver there like the scales of fishes in great abundance, and I gathered some part thereof into my bosome to shew for a wonder, but my conscience rebuking me, I cast it upon the earth, reserving no whit at all unto my selfe, and so, by God's grace I departed without danger. And when the men of the countrey knew that I was returned out of the valley alive, they reverenced me much, saying that I was baptised and holy, and that the foresayd bodies were men subject unto the devils infernall who used to play upon citherns, to the end they might allure people to enter, and so murther them. Thus much concerning these things which I beheld most certainly with mine eyes, I frier Odoricus haue heere written: many strange things also I haue of purpose omitted, because men will not beleeue them unlesse they should see them.
Of the honour and reverence done unto the great Can.
I WILL report one thing more, which I saw, concerning the great Can. It is an usuall custome in those parts, that when the foresayd Can traveileth thorow any countrey, his subjects kindle fires before their doores, casting spices thereinto to make a perfume, that their lord passing by may smell the sweet and delectable odours thereof, and much people come forth to meet him. And upon a certaine time when he was comming towardes Cambaleth, the fame of his approch being published, a bishop of ours with certaine of our minorite friers and myselfe went two dayes journey to meet him: and being come nigh unto him, we put a crosse upon wood. I my selfe having a censer in my hand, and began to sing with a loud voice: Veni creator spiritus. And as we were singing on this wise he caused us to be called, commanding us to come unto him: notwithstanding (as it is above mentioned) that no man dare approche within a stones cast of his chariot, unlesse he be called, but such onely as keep his chariot. And when we came neare unto him, he vailed his hat or bonet being of an inestimable price, doing reverence unto the crosse. And immediately I put incense into the censour, and our bishop taking the censer perfumed him, and gaue him his benediction. Moreouer, they that come before the said Can, do alwayes bring some oblation to present unto him, observing the ancient law: Thou shalt not appear in my presence with an empty hand. And for that cause we carried apples with us, and offered them in a platter with reverence unto him: and taking out two of them he did eate some part of one. And then he signified unto us, that we should go apart, lest the horses comming on might in ought offend us. With that we departed from him, and turned aside, going unto certaine of his barons, which had been converted to the faith by certaine friers of our order, being at the same time in his army: and we offered unto them of the foresayd apples, who received them at our hands with great joy, seeming unto us to be as glad, as if we had giuen them some great gift. All the premisses above written frier William de Solanga hath put downe in writing euen as the foresayd frier Odoricus uttered them by word of mouth, in the yeere of our Lord 1330 in the moneth of May, and in the place of S. Anthony of Padua. Neither did he regard to write them in difficult Latine, or in an eloquent style, but even as Odoricus himselfe rehearsed them, to the end that men might the more easily understand the things reported. I Odoricus frier, of Friuli, of a certaine territory called Portus Vahonis, and of the order of the minorites, do testifie and beare witnesse unto the reverend father Guidotus minister of the province of S. Anthony, in the marquisate of Treviso (being by him required upon mine obedience so to doe) that all the premisses above written, either I saw with mine owne eyes, or heard the same reported by credible and substantiall persons. The common report also of the countreys where I was, testifieth those things, which I saw, to be true. Many other things I haue omitted because I behelde them not with my owne eyes. Howbeit from day to day I purpose with my selfe to travell countreys or lands, in which action I dispose myselfe to die or to live, as it shall please my God.