Of divers provinces & cities,
AND after three yeeres I departed out of the empire of Cataie, traveiling fiftie dayes journey towards the West. And at length I came unto the empire of Pretegoani,1whose principall citie is Kasan, which hath many cities under it. From thence passing many dayes travel I came unto a province called Casan, which is for good commodities, one of the onely provinces under the Sunne, & is very well inhabited, insomuch that when we depart out of the gates of one city we may beholde the gates of another city, as I myselfe sawe in divers of them. The breadth of the said province is 50 dayes journey and the length aboue sixtie. In it there is great plenty of all victuals, and especially of chesnuts, and it is one of the twelve provinces of the great Can. Going on further, I came unto a certaine Kingdome called Tebek,2which is in subjection unto the great Can also, wherein I thinke there is more plenty of bread and wine then in any other part of the worlde besides. The people of the sayd countrey do, for the most part, inhabit in tents made of blacke felt. Their principall city is invironed with faire and beautifull walls, being built of most white and blacke stones, which are disposed checkerwise one by another, and curiously compiled together: likewise all the high wayes in this countrey are exceedingly well paved. In the said countrey none dare shed the bloud of a man, or of any beast, for the reverence of a certaine idol. In theaforesayd citie their Abassi, that is to say, their Pope is resident, being the head and prince of all idolaters (upon whom he bestoweth and distributeth gifts after his maner) euen as our Pope of Rome accounts himselfe to be the head of all Christians. The Women of this countrey weare aboue an hundreth tricks & trifles about them, and they haue two teeth in their mouthes as long as the tuskes of a boare.When any mans father deceaseth among them, his sonne assembleth together all the priests and musicians that he can get, saying that he is determined to honour his father: then causeth he him to be caried into the field (all his kinsfolks, friends, and neighbours, accompanying him in the sayd action) where the priests with great solemnity cut off the fathers head, giving it unto his sonne, which being done, they divide the whole body into morsels, and so leaue it behinde them, returning home with prayers in the company of the said sonne. So soone as they are departed, certain vultures, which are accustomed to such bankets, come flying from the mountains, and cary away all the sayd morsels of flesh: and from thenceforth a fame is spread abroad, that the sayd party deceased was holy, because the angels of God carried him into paradise. And this is the greatest and highest honour, that the sonne can devise to performe unto his father. Then the sayd sonne taketh his fathers head, seething it and eating the flesh thereof, but of the skull he maketh a drinking cup, wherein himselfe with all his family and kinred do drinke with great solemnitie and mirth, in the remembrance of his dead and devoured father.Many other vile and abominable things doth the sayd nation commit, which I meane not to write because men neither can nor will beleeve, except they should haue a sight of them.
1:Prester John.2:Or Thibet.
1:Prester John.
2:Or Thibet.