The Best Musk In The World Is
Found In This Province, And Is Procured From A Beautiful Animal, The Size
Of a goat, having hair like a stag, the feet and tail resembling an
antelope, but has no horns; it
Has two teeth in the upper jaw, above three
inches long, as white as the finest ivory[3]. When the moon is at the full,
a tumor, or imposthume, grows on the belly of this animal, resembling a
bladder filled with blood, and at this time people go to hunt this animal
for the sake of this bag or swelling, which they dry in the sun, and sell
at a high price, as it is the best of musk. The flesh also of the animal is
good for eating. I, Marco, brought the head and feet of one of these
animals to Venice.
The people of this country of Singui live by trade and manufacture, and
they have abundance of corn. They are idolaters, having fat bodies, small
noses, black hair, and no beard, except a few scattered hairs on their
chins. The women are exceedingly fair, and the men rather make choice of
their wives by their beauty than by their nobility or riches; so, that when
a great nobleman marries a poor but beautiful wife, he has often to assign
a large dowery to obtain the consent of the mother. This province extends
twenty-five days journey in length, and is very fertile. In it there are
exceedingly large pheasants, with tails eight or ten handbreadths long, and
many other kinds of birds, some of which have very beautiful and finely
variegated plumage.
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