The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 100 (Color Image)

0100	The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2

MARCO POLO BOOK II.

called YACIII, a very great and noble city, in which are

numerous merchants and craftsmen.'

The people are of sundry kinds, for there are not

only Saracens and Idolaters, but also a few Nestorian

Christians.' They have wheat and rice in plenty.

Howbeit they never eat wheaten bread, because in that

country it is unwholesome.3 Rice they eat, and make

of it sundry messes, besides a kind of drink which is

very clear and good, and makes a man . drunk just as

wine does.

Their money is such as I will tell you, They use

for the purpose certain white porcelain shells that are

found in the sea, such as are sometimes put on dogs'

collars ; and So of these porcelain shells pass for a

single weight of silver, equivalent to two Venice groats,

i.e. 24 piccoli. Also eight such weights of silver count

equal to one such weight of gold.4

They have brine-wells in this country from which they

make salt, and all the people of those parts make a

living by this salt. The King, too, I can assure you,

gets a great revenue from this salt.'

There is a lake in this country of a good hundred

miles in compass, in which are found great quantities of the

best fish in the world ; fish of great size, and of all sorts.

They reckon it no matter for a man to have intimacy

with another's wife, provided the woman be willing.

Let me tell you also that the people of that country

eat their meat raw, whether it be of mutton, beef, buffalo,

poultry, or any other kind. Thus the poor people will

go to the shambles, and take the raw liver as it comes

from the carcase and cut it small, and put it in a sauce of

garlic and spices, and so eat it ; and other meat in like

manner, raw, just as we eat meat that is dressed.6

Now I will tell you about a further part of the

Province of Carajan, of which I have been speaking.

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