And
therefore dare not the merchants pass there, but if they know well
the passages, or else that they have good lodesmen.
And also they dread the long way. And therefore they go to Cathay,
for it is more nigh. And yet it is not so nigh, but that men must
be travelling by sea and land, eleven months or twelve, from Genoa
or from Venice, or he come to Cathay. And yet is the land of
Prester John more far by many dreadful journeys.
And the merchants pass by the kingdom of Persia, and go to a city
that is Clept Hermes, for Hermes the philosopher founded it. And
after that they pass an arm of the sea, and then they go to another
city that is clept Golbache. And there they find merchandises, and
of popinjays, as great plenty as men find here of geese. And if
they will pass further, they may go sikerly enough. In that
country is but little wheat or barley, and therefore they eat rice
and honey and milk and cheese and fruit.
This Emperor Prester John taketh always to his wife the daughter of
the great Chan; and the great Chan also, in the same wise, the
daughter of Prester John. For these two be the greatest lords
under the firmament.
In the land of Prester John be many diverse things and many
precious stones, so great and so large, that men make of them
vessels, as platters, dishes and cups. And many other marvels be
there, that it were too cumbrous and too long to put it in
scripture of books; but of the principal isles and of his estate
and of his law, I shall tell you some part.
This Emperor Prester John is Christian, and a great part of his
country also. But yet, they have not all the articles of our faith
as we have. They believe well in the Father, in the Son and in the
Holy Ghost. And they be full devout and right true one to another.
And they set not by no barretts, ne by cautels, nor of no deceits.
And he hath under him seventy-two provinces, and in every province
is a king. And these kings have kings under them, and all be
tributaries to Prester John. And he hath in his lordships many
great marvels.
For in his country is the sea that men clepe the Gravelly Sea, that
is all gravel and sand, without any drop of water, and it ebbeth
and floweth in great waves as other seas do, and it is never still
ne in peace, in no manner season. And no man may pass that sea by
navy, ne by no manner of craft, and therefore may no man know what
land is beyond that sea.
