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
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD, SWIFTRUNNING CURRENT • t 9 t .
killed each day that none could believe the hearing of it if he did not see it by his r
own looking. And they say that this camels flesh is better and more wholesome
than any other flesh to be found in that region, as they have proved, and so they use to it
eat it all the year. Again you may know that there are many very great trees of red FB
sandal in this island as large as are the trees [91c] of our country, & they do great VA
trade in them; and these trees would be sufficiently valuable in another land. And
they have many woods of them as we have of other wild trees in our fatherland,. and vL z R
because of the great quantity they are of small value. They have the finest ambergris enough vs
because there are whales or baleens in great abundance in that sea, and there are also z
the very large fishes which we call capdoilles in plenty. And because they often catch L P
these whales and these capdoilles in plenty and take oil from them they have much oil v y
and ambergris in great quantity, and you know that the whale makes & produces z
ambergris. And the whales discharge it, and the sea makes it come to the beach, and they R
gather it. They have many leopards and lynxes & bears, and lions also they have great z FB z P
beyond measure, and other wild animals also such as are stags, roe-deer, fallow-deer, v v
and other like animals they have in abundance. And hunting and fowling of many v z
different animals and birds they have in multitude. They also have very large z
flocks' in plenty. There are many • other strange birds, that is very different from ours, v z z
so that it is a wonder.' They have moreover much merchandise and many ships z
come therefrom different provinces with many wares, and these are cloth of gold and R
of silk, and with silk of several kinds and of many other things which we will not z
tell you here, and they sell all the things and change them with the merchants of the y z
island for the wares of the island. And the merchants come there in plenty with v v
their ships loaded and they discharge' and sell them all, and then they load them
with the wares of the island, and being loaded off they go, and they carry them to v
their countries. For I tell you that the merchants make great profit there and great
gain. Moreover I tell you that this island is so far in the midday that the ships cannot FB
go sailing more towards midday to the other islands except to this island and to z
that of Çanghibar,4 because the sea there runs so swiftly towards midday that they z
would hardly be able to come away to return back, and for this reason the ships do v
not go there. [91d] Moreover I tell you that the ships which come to this island
' bestiaus Z: struços "ostriches" Other texts seem to omit the words.
2 V: oxelli diuersi dai nostri chiamati chandanzie The last words are perhaps due to confusion with the following "merchandise".
3 lescargent This should possibly be les tangent, "they exchange them". Z_,V omit the word.
4 N'A: ale altre ixolle ... va poche naue, senora de quelle de Zangibar
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