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National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
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| 4 2 2 MARCO POLO Boox III. CHAPTER XXXIV. | ||||||||
| CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF ZANGHIBAR. A WORD ON INDIA IN GENERAL. ZANGIIIBAR is a great and noble Island; with a compass of some 2000 miles.' The people are all Idolaters, and have a king and a language of their own, and pay tribute to nobody. They are both tall and stout, but not tall in proportion to their stoutness, for if they were, being so stout and brawny, they would be absolutely like giants ; and they are so strong that they will carry for four men and eat for five. They are all black, and go stark naked, with only a little covering for decency. Their hair is as black as pepper, and so frizzly that • even with water you can scarcely straighten it. And their mouths are so large, their noses so turned up, their lips so thick, their eyes so big and bloodshot, that they look like very devils ; they are in fact so hideously ugly that the world has nothing to show more horrible. Elephants are produced in this country in wonderful profusion. There are also lions that are black and quite different from ours. And their sheep and wethers are all exactly alike in colour ; the body all white and the head black ; no other kind of sheep is found there, you may rest assured.2 They have also many giraffes. This is a beautiful creature, and I must give you a description of it. Its body is short and somewhat sloped to the rear, for its hind legs are short whilst the fore-legs and the neck are both very long, and thus its head stands about three paces from the ground. The head is small, and the animal is not at all mischievous. Its colour is all red and white in round spots, and it is really a beautiful object.' | ||||||||
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