Travelling From This Country To The Southward, Along The Coast Of The
Ocean, I Passed Through Many Countries And Islands, One Of Which Is Called
Moumoran[1], And Is 2000 Miles In Circumference.
The people of this
country, both men and women, go naked, except a small cloth before the
middle of their bodies.
They have dogs faces, and worship an ox as their
god, and all of them wear the image of an ox in gold or silver on their
foreheads. The men are very tall and strong, and when they go to battle,
they carry targets of iron or steel, large enough to cover and protect
their whole bodies. All the prisoners whom they take in war, unless they
can ransom themselves with money, are eaten; but those who are able to pay
ransom are set free. The king of this country wears a string of 300 large
and fair pearls about his neck, which he employs as a rosary for counting
his prayers; and says every day as many prayers to his god. He wears also
on his finger a marvellously large and brilliant stone, of a span long,
which resembles a flame of fire, so that no one dare approach him, and it
is said to be the most valuable precious stone in all the world. The great
Tartar emperor of Cathay, hath often used every endeavour to procure this
wonderful jewel, but has never been able to prevail, either by force,
policy, or money.
[1] It is impossible even to conjecture what island is here meant; but as
Ceylon follows next in succession, it may possibly refer to Sumatra,
though that island appears to have been mentioned already, under the
name of Symolora - E.
SECTION IX.
Of the Island of Ceylon, and of the Mountain where Adam mourned the Death
of Abel.
From thence I passed another island named Sylan, or Ceylon, which is 2000
miles in circuit, in which there are infinite multitudes of serpents, great
numbers of lions, bears, and all kinds of ravenous beasts, and a great many
of elephants. In this island there is a great mountain, on which the
inhabitants pretend that Adam mourned for the death of his son Abel, during
500 years. On the top of this mountain there is a most beautiful plain, in
which is a small lake always full of water, which the inhabitants allege to
have proceeded from the tears of Adam and Eve; but this I proved to be
false, as I saw the water to flow out of the lake. This lake is full of
horse-leeches, and numbers of precious stones are to be found on its
bottom, which the king of the island, instead of appropriating to his own
use, allows certain poor people to dive for once or twice a-year, for their
own profit, that they may pray for blessings upon his soul. On this
occasion they smear their bodies with lemon juice, which prevents the
leeches from hurting them while they are in the water. The water from this
lake runs into the sea, at which place the inhabitants dig on the shore, at
low water, for rubies, diamonds, pearls, and other precious stones, which
are found in such abundance, that the king of this island is believed to
possess more precious stones than any other monarch in the world. There are
wild beasts and birds of all kinds in this island in great numbers; and I
was informed by the natives, that these beasts never attack or do harm to
strangers, but only kill the indigenous inhabitants. I saw in this island
certain birds, as large as our geese, having two heads, and other wonderful
things I do not here write of.
Still farther to the south, I came to a certain island, called Bodin[1],
which name signifies unclean; and this island is inhabited by a most
wicked people, who devour raw flesh, and commit all manner of wickedness
and abominable uncleanness to an incredible extent; insomuch, that they
kill and eat each other, the father eating his son, the son his father, the
husband his wife, and the wife her husband. If any man be sick, the son
goes to the soothsayer, or prognosticating priest, requesting him to
inquire of his god, whether or not his father is to recover. Then both go
to an idol of gold or silver, which they thus address: "We adore thee as
our lord and god, and we beseech thee to inform us, whether such a man is
to die or to recover from his present infirmity." Then the devil returns an
answer from the idol, and if he says the man is to recover, the son returns
to the house of his father, and ministers to him in all things necessary,
until he regain his former health; but if the response is that the man is
to die, the priest then goes to him, and putting a cloth into his mouth,
immediately strangles him. After this the dead body is cut in pieces, and
all the friends and relations are invited to feast upon this horrible
banquet, which is accompanied with music and all manner of mirth; but the
bones are solemnly buried. On my blaming this abominable practice, they
alleged, as its reason and excuse, that it was done to prevent the worms
from devouring the flesh, which would occasion great torments to his soul;
and all I could say was quite insufficient to convince them of their error.
There are many other novel and strange things in this country, to which no
one would give credit, who had not seen them with his own eyes; yet, I
declare before God, that I assert nothing of which I am not as sure as a
man may be of any thing. I have been informed by several credible persons,
that this India contains 4400 islands, most of which are well inhabited,
among which there are sixty-four crowned kings.
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