That Is A Great Isle, And The King Thereof Is
Right Mighty.
The folk of that isle make them always to be marked
in the visage with an hot iron, both men and women, for great
noblesse, for to be known from other folk; for they hold themselves
most noble and most worthy of all the world.
And they have war
always with the folk that go all naked.
And fast beside is another isle, that is clept Betemga, that is a
good isle and a plenteous. And many other isles be thereabout,
where there be many of diverse folk, of the which it were too long
to speak of all.
But fast beside that isle, for to pass by sea, is a great isle and
a great country that men clepe Java. And it is nigh two thousand
mile in circuit. And the king of that country is a full great lord
and a rich and a mighty, and hath under him seven other kings of
seven other isles about him. This isle is full well inhabited, and
full well manned. There grow all manner of spicery, more
plenteously than in any other country, as of ginger, cloves-
gilofre, canell, seedwall, nutmegs and maces. And wit well, that
the nutmeg beareth the maces; for right as the nut of the hazel
hath an husk without, that the nut is closed in till it be ripe and
that after falleth out, right so it is of the nutmeg and of the
maces. Many other spices and many other goods grow in that isle.
For of all things is there plenty, save only of wine. But there is
gold and silver, great plenty.
And the king of that country hath a palace full noble and full
marvellous, and more rich than any in the world. For all the
degrees to go up into halls and chambers be, one of gold, another
of silver. And also, the pavements of halls and chambers be all
square, of gold one, and another of silver. And all the walls
within be covered with gold and silver in fine plates, and in those
plates be stories and battles of knights enleved, and the crowns
and the circles about their heads be made of precious stones and
rich pearls and great. And the halls and the chambers of the
palace be all covered within with gold and silver, so that no man
would trow the riches of that palace but he had seen it. And wit
well, that the king of that isle is so mighty, that he hath many
times overcome the great Chan of Cathay in battle, that is the most
great emperor that is under the firmament either beyond the sea or
on this half. For they have had often-time war between them,
because that the great Chan would constrain him to hold his land of
him; but that other at all times defendeth him well against him.
After that isle, in going by sea, men find another isle, good and
great, that men clepe Pathen, that is a great kingdom full of fair
cities and full of towns.
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