AND OF THE FOUR FLOODS
THAT COME FROM PARADISE TERRESTRIAL
TOWARD the east part of Prester John's land is an isle good and
great, that men clepe Taprobane, that is full noble and full
fructuous.
And the king thereof is full rich, and is under the
obeissance of Prester John. And always there they make their king
by election. In that isle be two summers and two winters, and men
harvest the corn twice a year. And in all the seasons of the year
be the gardens flourished. There dwell good folk and reasonable,
and many Christian men amongst them, that be so rich that they wit
not what to do with their goods. Of old time, when men passed from
the land of Prester John unto that isle, men made ordinance for to
pass by ship, twenty-three days, or more; but now men pass by ship
in seven days. And men may see the bottom of the sea in many
places, for it is not full deep.
Beside that isle, toward the east, be two other isles. And men
clepe that one Orille, and that other Argyte, of the which all the
land is mine of gold and silver. And those isles be right where
that the Red Sea departeth from the sea ocean. And in those isles
men see there no stars so clearly as in other places. For there
appear no stars, but only one clear star that men clepe Canapos.
And there is not the moon seen in all the lunation, save only the
second quarter.
In the isle also of this Taprobane be great hills of gold, that
pismires keep full diligently. And they fine the pured gold, and
cast away the un-pured. And these pismires be great as hounds, so
that no man dare come to those hills for the pismires would assail
them and devour them anon. So that no man may get of that gold,
but by great sleight. And therefore when it is great heat, the
pismires rest them in the earth, from prime of the day into noon.
And then the folk of the country take camels, dromedaries, and
horses and other beasts, and go thither, and charge them in all
haste that they may; and after that, they flee away in all haste
that the beasts may go, or the pismires come out of the earth. And
in other times, when it is not so hot, and that the pismires ne
rest them not in the earth, then they get gold by this subtlety.
They take mares that have young colts or foals, and lay upon the
mares void vessels made there-for; and they be all open above, and
hanging low to the earth. And then they send forth those mares for
to pasture about those hills, and with-hold the foals with them at
home. And when the pismires see those vessels, they leap in anon:
and they have this kind that they let nothing be empty among them,
but anon they fill it, be it what manner of thing that it be; and
so they fill those vessels with gold.
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