And I assure you they do suck the very bones till not a particle
of marrow remains in them; for they say that if any nourishment remained
in the bones this would breed worms, and then the worms would die for want
of food, and the death of those worms would be laid to the charge of the
deceased man's soul. And so they eat him up stump and rump. And when they
have thus eaten him they collect his bones and put them in fine chests,
and carry them away, and place them in caverns among the mountains where
no beast nor other creature can get at them. And you must know also that
if they take prisoner a man of another country, and he cannot pay a ransom
in coin, they kill him and eat him straightway. It is a very evil custom
and a parlous.[NOTE 5]
Now that I have told you about this kingdom let us leave it, and I will
tell you of Lambri.
NOTE 1. - I have little doubt that in Marco's dictation the name was really
Samatra, and it is possible that we have a trace of this in the
Samarcha (for Samartha) of the Crusca MS.
The Shijarat Malayu has a legend, with a fictitious etymology, of the
foundation of the city and kingdom of Samudra, or SUMATRA, by Marah
Silu, a fisherman near Pasangan, who had acquired great wealth, as wealth
is got in fairy tales.
