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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. XVII. THE PROVINCE OF MAABAR
343 ~
that to be a seafaring man is all the same as to be
an utter desperado, and that his testimony is good for
nothing.* Howbeit they look on lechery as no sin.
[They have the following rule about debts. If a
debtor shall have been several times asked by his
creditor for payment, and shall have put him off from
day to day with promises, then if the creditor can once
meet the debtor and succeed in drawing a circle round
him, the latter must not pass out of this circle until he
shall have satisfied the claim, or given security for its
discharge. If he in any other case presume to pass the
circle he is punished with death as a transgressor against
right and justice. And the said Messer Marco, when in
this kingdom on his return home, did himself witness a
case of this. It was the King, who owed a foreign
merchant a certain sum of money, and though the claim
had often been presented, he always put it off with
promises. Now, one day when the King was riding
through the city, the merchant found his opportunity,
and drew a circle round both King and horse. The
King, on seeing this, halted, and would ride no further
nor did he stir from the spot until the merchant was
satisfied. And when the bystanders saw this they
marvelled greatly, saying that the King was a most just
King indeed, having thus submitted to justke.'41
You must know that the heat here is sometimes so
great that 'tis something wonderful. And rain falls only
for three months in the year, viz. in June, July, and
August. Indeed but for the rain that falls in these three
months, refreshing the earth and cooling the air, the
drought would be so great that no one could exist.15
They have many experts in an art which they call
Physiognomy, by which they discern a man's character
and qualities at once' They also know the import
1
* "A urfax o,,tnia yerj5eti," etc.
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