IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
18 o.
t
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD, BLACK LIONS & PARROTS
dried, and it becomes like paste, and then they spread it out to dry, and being dry it is cut vs
up into pieces so as you can see it; and that is indigo. Moreover I tell you that there is v VB
so great heat in this country and the sun there is so hot that one can scarcely bear
it there. For I tell you that even the water is so hot that if you were to put an egg into G
some river when the sun was shining brightly on it it would be cooked before you were vL
gone at all far just as in boiling water. And again [87c] I make you know that the vt.
merchants come to this kingdom with their ships' in numbers bringing many goods L
from Mangi and from Arabie and from the Levant and make there very great gain • FB
of this merchandise which they bring in from their country and which they carry z
away afterwards with their ships to their own country, of the merchandise of this y
kingdom. There are in this kingdom many strange beasts different from all the others L
in the world. For I tell you that there are black lions without any other colour
or mark. And there are also parrots of several kinds more beautiful than those which FB z P
are brought to us this side of the sea, for there are some parrots all white as snow and they z
have the feet and the beak red, and again there are some parrots red and some white' z FB
and green which are the most beautifur thing in the world to see; and green ones also. v FB
There are some again very small which are likewise very beautiful. There are also
peacocks much more beautiful and larger and of another sort and si.~e than are ours. z
And also they have hens very different from ours and better than ours. And what shall FB L V
I tell you about it ? They have all things different from ours, and they are more beautiful and better. For they have many fruits, but they have no fruits like ours, nor VB any beasts nor any birds; and this comes to pass, they say, through the great heat R which is the rule there. Grain have they none except rice alone.' They make wine z also of a palm sugar,4 of which there is much. This is a very good drink and makes a z R G man become drunken sooner than grape-wine would do. Of all other things which z are needed by the body of man for life they have in great abundance different from VA ours and very cheap, except that they have no corn but rice only, of which they have G plenty. They have indeed astrologers enough and good. [87d] And they have many z z VA physicians who know well how to care for and keep mens bodies in health. They z are all black, both men and women & children, and go all naked except that they FB FB cover their natural parts with very beautiful' cloth. They do not hold for sin any act of self-indulgence nor any carnal sin. And the marriages are made in this way vB v
1 Z,V: "wares"
2 FB: et de blans Z,V: "blue" L': azuri only.
3 seublemant perhaps a slip for seulemant. FB: seullement
4 Z,V: "dates"
5 TA: bianche
415
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