National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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CHAP. XIX. THE KINGDOM OF MUTFILI
361
But there are men on the watch, and as soon as they see
that the eagles have settled they raise a loud shouting to
drive them away. And when the eagles are thus
frightened away the men recover the pieces of meat, and
find them full of diamonds which have stuck to the meat•
down in the bottom. For the abundance of diamonds
down there in the depths of the valleys is astonishing,
but nobody can get down ; and if one could, it would be
only to be incontinently devoured by the serpents which
are so rife there.
There is also another way of getting the diamonds.
The people go to the nests of those white eagles, of
which there are many, and in their droppings they find
plenty of diamonds which the birds have swallowed in
devouring the meat that was cast into the valleys. And,
when the eagles themselves are taken, diamonds are
found in their stomachs.
So now I have told you three different ways in which
these stones are found. No other country but this king-
dom of Mutfili produces them, but there they are found
both abundantly and of large size. Those that are
brought to our part of the world are only the refuse, as
it were, of the finer and larger stones. For the flower of
the diamonds and other large gems, as well as the largest
pearls, are all carried to the Great Kaan and other Kings
and Princes of those regions ; in truth they possess all
the great treasures of the world.'
In this kingdom also are made the best and most
delicate buckrams, and those of highest price ; in sooth
they look like tissue of spider's web ! There is no King
nor Queen in the world but might be glad to wear them.3
The people have also the largest sheep in the world, and
great abundance of all the necessaries of life.
There is now no more to say ; so I will next tell you about
a province called Lar from which the Abraiaman come.
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