And this befel in the
Island of Seilan in India.
The Idolaters come thither on pilgrimage from very long distances and with
great devotion, just as Christians go to the shrine of Messer Saint James
in Gallicia. And they maintain that the monument on the mountain is that
of the king's son, according to the story I have been telling you; and
that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish that are there were those of
the same king's son, whose name was Sagamoni Borcan, or Sagamoni the
Saint. But the Saracens also come thither on pilgrimage in great numbers,
and they say that it is the sepulchre of Adam our first father, and
that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish were those of Adam.[NOTE 5]
Whose they were in truth, God knoweth; howbeit, according to the Holy
Scripture of our Church, the sepulchre of Adam is not in that part of the
world.
Now it befel that the Great Kaan heard how on that mountain there was the
sepulchre of our first father Adam, and that some of his hair and of his
teeth, and the dish from which he used to eat, were still preserved there.
So he thought he would get hold of them somehow or another, and despatched
a great embassy for the purpose, in the year of Christ, 1284. The
ambassadors, with a great company, travelled on by sea and by land until
they arrived at the island of Seilan, and presented themselves before the
king. And they were so urgent with him that they succeeded in getting two
of the grinder teeth, which were passing great and thick; and they also
got some of the hair, and the dish from which that personage used to eat,
which is of a very beautiful green porphyry. And when the Great Kaan's
ambassadors had attained the object for which they had come they were
greatly rejoiced, and returned to their lord. And when they drew near to
the great city of Cambaluc, where the Great Kaan was staying, they sent
him word that they had brought back that for which he had sent them. On
learning this the Great Kaan was passing glad, and ordered all the
ecclesiastics and others to go forth to meet these reliques, which he was
led to believe were those of Adam.
And why should I make a long story of it? In sooth, the whole population
of Cambaluc went forth to meet those reliques, and the ecclesiastics took
them over and carried them to the Great Kaan, who received them with great
joy and reverence.[NOTE 6] And they find it written in their Scriptures
that the virtue of that dish is such that if food for one man be put
therein it shall become enough for five men:
