Many People Come Down From The Great
Mountains, Bringing Gold, Which They Exchange For Five Times Its Weight Of
Silver;
On which account, many merchants come here from foreign countries
with silver, and carry away gold, bringing likewise large quantities
Of
merchandize to sell to these people; for no strangers can go into the high
mountains where the people dwell who gather gold, oh account of the
intricacy and impassable nature of the roads. After passing this plain, and
going to the south for fifteen days journey, through uninhabited and woody
places, in which there are innumerable multitudes of elephants,
rhinoceroses[10], and other wild beasts, we come to Mien, which borders
upon India. At the end of that journey of fifteen days, we come to the
great and noble city of Mien, the capital of the kingdom, which is subject
to the great khan. The inhabitants are idolaters, and have a peculiar
language. There was formerly a king in this city, who being on the point of
death, gave orders to erect two pyramidal monuments, or towers of marble,
near his sepulchre, one at the head and the other at the foot, each of them
ten fathoms high, and having a round ball on the top of each. One of these
he ordered to be covered with gold, and the other with silver, a fingers
breadth in thickness; and round about the tops of these pyramids many
little bells of gold and silver were hung, which gave a pleasing shrill
sound, when agitated by the wind.
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