There Are Great Numbers Of
The Animals Called Gadderi In This Province, Which Produce Musk.
The lake
which produces pearls is likewise very abundant in fish, and the whole
country is full of wild beasts of many kinds, as lions, bears, stags, deer,
ounces, and roebucks, and many kinds of birds.
Cloves also are found in
great plenty, which are gathered from small trees, resembling the bay-tree
in boughs and leaves, but somewhat longer and straighter, having white
flowers. The cloves when ripe are black, or dusky, and very brittle. The
country likewise produces ginger and cinnamon in great plenty, and several
other spices which are not brought to Europe. It has no wine, but in place
of it, the inhabitants make a most excellent drink of corn or rice,
flavoured with various spices.
The inhabitants of this country are so besotted to their idols, that they
fancy they secure their favour by prostituting their wives, sisters, and
daughters to strangers. When any stranger comes among them, all the masters
of families strive to procure him as a guest, after which, they leave the
stranger to be entertained by the females of the family, and will not
return to their own house till after his departure; and all this is done in
honour of their idols, thinking that they secure their favour by this
strange procedure. The principal money in this country is gold, unstamped,
and issued by weight. But their ordinary money consists in solid small
loaves of salt, marked with the seal of the prince; and of this merchants
make vast profits in remote places, which have abundance of gold and musk,
which the inhabitants are eager to barter for salt, to use with their meat.
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