It Always Bears Fruit, And Yields
Wine, Oil, Sugar, Vinegar, Cordage, Coals, Or Fuel; Of The Leaves Are
Made Thatch For Houses, Sails For Ships, And Mats To Sit Or Lie On; Of
The Branches Are Made Houses, And Brooms Wherewith They Sweep Them; Of
The Wood Ships.
The wine issues from the top of the tree, and is
procured thus:
They cut a branch, binding it hard, and hang an earthen
pot under the cut end, which they empty every evening and morning; and
still[403] the juice, putting raisins into it, by which it becometh
strong wine in a short time. Many ships come here from all parts of
India, and from Ormus and Mecca, so that there are many Moors and
Gentiles at this place. The natives have a strange superstition,
worshipping a cow, and having cows dung in great veneration, insomuch
that they paint or daub the walls of their houses with it. They kill no
animal whatever, not so much as a louse, holding it a crime to take away
life. They eat no flesh, living entirely on roots, rice, and milk. When
a man dies, his living wife is burnt along with his body, if she be
alive; and if she will not, her head is shaven, and she is ever after
held in low esteem. They consider it a great sin to bury dead bodies, as
they would engender many worms and other vermin, and when the bodies
were consumed these worms would lack sustenance; wherefore they burn
their dead.
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