And If She Have Any Child, She May Give It
To What Man That She List, That Hath Companied With
Her, so that no
man knoweth there whether the child be his or another's. And if
any man say to
Them, that they nourish other men's children, they
answer that so do over men theirs.
In that country and by all Ind be great plenty of cockodrills, that
is a manner of a long serpent, as I have said before. And in the
night they dwell in the water, and on the day upon the land, in
rocks and in caves. And they eat no meat in all the winter, but
they lie as in a dream, as do the serpents. These serpents slay
men, and they eat them weeping; and when they eat they move the
over jaw, and not the nether jaw, and they have no tongue.
In that country and in many other beyond that, and also in many on
this half, men put in work the seed of cotton, and they sow it
every year. And then groweth it in small trees, that bear cotton.
And so do men every year, so that there is plenty of cotton at all
times. Item; in this isle and in many other, there is a manner of
wood, hard and strong. Whoso covereth the coals of that wood under
the ashes thereof, the coals will dwell and abide all quick, a year
or more. And that tree hath many leaves, as the juniper hath. And
there be also many trees, that of nature they will never burn, ne
rot in no manner. And there be nut trees, that bear nuts as great
as a man's head.
There also be many beasts, that be clept orafles. In Arabia, they
be clept gerfaunts. That is a beast, pomely or spotted, that is
but a little more high than is a steed, but he hath the neck a
twenty cubits long; and his croup and his tail is as of an hart;
and he may look over a great high house. And there be also in that
country many camles; that is a little beast as a goat, that is
wild, and he liveth by the air and eateth nought, ne drinketh
nought, at no time. And he changeth his colour often-time, for men
see him often sithes, now in one colour and now in another colour;
and he may change him into all manner colours that him list, save
only into red and white. There be also in that country passing
great serpents, some of six score foot long, and they be of diverse
colours, as rayed, red, green, and yellow, blue and black, and all
speckled. And there be others that have crests upon their heads,
and they go upon their feet, upright, and they be well a four
fathom great, or more, and they dwell always in rocks or in
mountains, and they have alway the throat open, of whence they drop
venom always.
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