For he hath his talons so long and so
large and great upon his feet, as though they were horns of great
oxen or of bugles or of kine, so that men make cups of them to
drink of. And of their ribs and of the pens of their wings, men
make bows, full strong, to shoot with arrows and quarrels.
From thence go men by many journeys through the land of Prester
John, the great Emperor of Ind. And men clepe his realm the isle
of Pentexoire.
CHAPTER XXX
OF THE ROYAL ESTATE OF PRESTER JOHN. AND OF A RICH MAN THAT MADE A
MARVELLOUS CASTLE AND CLEPED IT PARADISE; AND OF HIS SUBTLETY
THIS emperor, Prester John, holds full great land, and hath many
full noble cities and good towns in his realm, and many great
diverse isles and large. For all the country of Ind is devised in
isles for the great floods that come from Paradise, that depart all
the land in many parts. And also in the sea he hath full many
isles. And the best city in the Isle of Pentexoire is Nyse, that
is a full royal city and a noble, and full rich.
This Prester John hath under him many kings and many isles and many
diverse folk of diverse conditions. And this land is full good and
rich, but not so rich as is the land of the great Chan. For the
merchants come not thither so commonly for to buy merchandises, as
they do in the land of the great Chan, for it is too far to travel
to. And on that other part, in the Isle of Cathay, men find all
manner thing that is need to man - cloths of gold, of silk, of
spicery and all manner avoirdupois. And therefore, albeit that men
have greater cheap in the Isle of Prester John, natheles, men dread
the long way and the great perils in the sea in those parts.
For in many places of the sea be great rocks of stones of the
adamant, that of his proper nature draweth iron to him. And
therefore there pass no ships that have either bonds or nails of
iron within them. And if there do, anon the rocks of the adamants
draw them to them, that never they may go thence. I myself have
seen afar in that sea, as though it had been a great isle full of
tree, and buscaylle, full of thorns and briars, great plenty. And
the shipmen told us, that all that was of ships that were drawn
thither by the adamants, for the iron that was in them.
