After leaving that city of Yachi of which I have been speaking, and
travelling ten days towards the west, you come to another capital city
which is still in the province of Carajan, and is itself called Carajan.
The people are Idolaters and subject to the Great Kaan; and the King is
COGACHIN, who is a son of the Great Kaan.[NOTE 1]
In this country gold-dust is found in great quantities; that is to say in
the rivers and lakes, whilst in the mountains gold is also found in pieces
of larger size. Gold is indeed so abundant that they give one saggio of
gold for only six of the same weight in silver. And for small change they
use porcelain shells as I mentioned before. These are not found in the
country, however, but are brought from India.[NOTE 2]
In this province are found snakes and great serpents of such vast size as
to strike fear into those who see them, and so hideous that the very
account of them must excite the wonder of those to hear it. I will tell you
how long and big they are.
You may be assured that some of them are ten paces in length; some are
more and some less. And in bulk they are equal to a great cask, for the
bigger ones are about ten palms in girth. They have two forelegs near the
head, but for foot nothing but a claw like the claw of a hawk or that of a
lion. The head is very big, and the eyes are bigger than a great loaf of
bread. The mouth is large enough to swallow a man whole, and is garnished
with great [pointed] teeth. And in short they are so fierce-looking and so
hideously ugly, that every man and beast must stand in fear and trembling
of them. There are also smaller ones, such as of eight paces long, and of
five, and of one pace only.
The way in which they are caught is this. You must know that by day they
live underground because of the great heat, and in the night they go out
to feed, and devour every animal they can catch. They go also to drink at
the rivers and lakes and springs. And their weight is so great that when
they travel in search of food or drink, as they do by night, the tail
makes a great furrow in the soil as if a full ton of liquor had been
dragged along. Now the huntsmen who go after them take them by certain gyn
which they set in the track over which the serpent has past, knowing that
the beast will come back the same way. They plant a stake deep in the
ground and fix on the head of this a sharp blade of steel made like a
razor or a lance-point, and then they cover the whole with sand so that
the serpent cannot see it.
