They Do In The Same Way With Many
Other Articles, So That They Become Trained To Be Very Dexterous And Keen
Traders.
And every day they take their food to their mothers to be cooked
and served, but do not eat a scrap at the expense of their fathers.]
In this kingdom and all over India the birds and beasts are entirely
different from ours, all but one bird which is exactly like ours, and that
is the Quail. But everything else is totally different. For example they
have bats, - I mean those birds that fly by night and have no feathers of
any kind; well, their birds of this kind are as big as a goshawk! Their
goshawks again are as black as crows, a good deal bigger than ours, and
very swift and sure.
Another strange thing is that they feed their horses with boiled rice and
boiled meat, and various other kinds of cooked food. That is the reason
why all the horses die off.[NOTE 17]
They have certain abbeys in which are gods and goddesses to whom many
young girls are consecrated; their fathers and mothers presenting them to
that idol for which they entertain the greatest devotion. And when the
[monks] of a convent[2] desire to make a feast to their god, they send
for all those consecrated damsels and make them sing and dance before the
idol with great festivity. They also bring meats to feed their idol
withal; that is to say, the damsels prepare dishes of meat and other good
things and put the food before the idol, and leave it there a good while,
and then the damsels all go to their dancing and singing and festivity for
about as long as a great Baron might require to eat his dinner.
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