The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 416 (Color Image)

0416	The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2

360 MARCO POLO BOOK III.

But

death, some forty years past, it has been under his

Queen, a lady of much discretion, who for the great love

she bore him never would marry another husband. And

I can assure you that during all that space of forty years

she had administered her realm as well as ever her

husband did, or better ; and as she was a lover of justice,

of equity, and of peace, she was more beloved by those

of her kingdom than ever was Lady or Lord of theirs

before. The people are Idolaters, and are tributary to

nobody. They live on flesh, and rice, and milk.'

It is in this kingdom that diamonds are got ; and I

will tell you how. There are certain lofty mountains in

those parts ; and when the winter rains fall, which are

very heavy, the waters come roaring down the mountains

in great torrents. When the rains are over, and the

waters from the mountains have ceased to flow, they

search the beds of the torrents and find plenty of diamonds.

In summer also there are plenty to be found in the

mountains, but the heat of the sun is so great that it is

scarcely possible to go thither, nor is there then a drop

of water to be found. Moreover in those mountains

great serpents are rife to a marvellous degree, besides

other vermin, and this owing to the great heat. The

serpents are also the most venomous in existence, inso-

much that any one going to that region runs fearful peril ;

for many have been destroyed by these evil reptiles.

Now among these mountains there are certain great

and deep valleys, to the bottom of which there is no

access. Wherefore the men who go in search of the

diamonds take with them pieces of flesh, as lean as they

can get, and these they cast into the bottom of a valley.

Now there are numbers of white eagles that haunt those

mountains and feed upon the serpents. When the eagles

see the meat thrown down they pounce upon it and carry

it up to some rocky hill-top where they begin to rend it.

National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books