But They Drink Good Beverage And Sweet And Nourishing
That Is Made Of Gallamelle And That Is That Men Make Sugar Of, That
Is Of Right Good Savour, And It Is Good For The Breast.
Also it befalleth some-time, that Christian men become Saracens,
either for poverty or for simpleness, or else for their own
wickedness.
And therefore the archflamen or the flamen, as our
archbishop or bishop, when he receiveth them saith thus: LA ELLEC
OLLA SILA, MACHOMETE RORES ALLA; that is to say, 'There is no God
but one, and Mahomet his messenger.'
Now I have told you a part of their law and of their customs, I
shall say you of their letters that they have, with their names and
the manner of their figures what they be: Almoy, Bethath, Cathi,
Ephoti, Delphoi, Fothi, Garothi, Hechum, Iotty, Kaythi, Lothum,
Malach, Nabaloth, Orthi, Chesiri, 30ch, Ruth, Holath, Routhi,
Salathi, Thatimus, Yrthom, A3a30th, Arrocchi, 30tipyn, Ichetus.
And these be the names of their a. b. c. Now shall ye know the
figures. . . . And four letters they have more than other for
diversity of their language and speech, forasmuch as they speak in
their throats; and we in England have in our language and speech
two letters more than they have in their a. b. c.; and that is
[character which cannot be reproduced] and [character which cannot
be reproduced], which be clept thorn and 30gh.
CHAPTER XVI
OF THE LANDS OF ALBANIA AND OF LIBIA. OF THE WISHINGS FOR WATCHING
OF THE SPARROW-HAWK; AND OF NOAH'S SHIP
NOW, sith I have told you before of the Holy Land and of that
country about, and of many ways for to go to that land and to the
Mount Sinai, and of Babylon the more and the less, and to other
places that I have spoken before, now is time, if it like you, for
to tell you of the marches and isles and diverse beasts, and of
diverse folk beyond these marches.
For in those countries beyond be many diverse countries and many
great kingdoms, that be departed by the four floods that come from
paradise terrestrial. For Mesopotamia and the kingdom of Chaldea
and Arabia be between the two rivers of Tigris and of Euphrates;
and the kingdom of Media and of Persia be between the rivers of
Nile and of Tigris; and the kingdom of Syria, whereof I have spoken
before, and Palestine and Phoenicia be between Euphrates and the
sea Mediterranean, the which sea dureth in length from Morocco,
upon the sea of Spain, unto the Great Sea, so that it lasteth
beyond Constantinople 3040 miles of Lombardy.
And toward the sea Ocean in Ind is the kingdom of Scythia, that is
all closed with hills. And after, under Scythia, and from the sea
of Caspian unto the flom of Thainy, is Amazonia, that is the land
of feminye, where that no man is, but only all women. And after is
Albania, a full great realm; and it is clept Albania, because that
the folk be whiter there than in other marches there-about: and in
that country be so great hounds and so strong, that they assail
lions and slay them. And then after is Hircania, Bactria, Hiberia
and many other kingdoms.
And between the Red Sea and the sea Ocean, toward the south is the
kingdom of Ethiopia and of Lybia the higher, the which land of
Lybia (that is to say, Lybia the low) that beginneth at the sea of
Spain from thence where the pillars of Hercules be, and endureth
unto anent Egypt and toward Ethiopia. In that country of Lybia is
the sea more high than the land, and it seemeth that it would cover
the earth, and natheles yet it passeth not his marks. And men see
in that country a mountain to the which no man cometh. In this
land of Lybia whoso turneth toward the east, the shadow of himself
is on the right side; and here, in our country, the shadow is on
the left side. In that sea of Lybia is no fish; for they may not
live ne dure for the great heat of the sun, because that the water
is evermore boiling for the great heat. And many other lands there
be that it were too long to tell or to number. But of some parts I
shall speak more plainly hereafter.
Whoso will then go toward Tartary, toward Persia, toward Chaldea
and toward Ind, he must enter the sea at Genoa or at Venice or at
some other haven that I have told you before. And then pass men
the sea and arrive at Trebizond that is a good city; and it was
wont to be the haven of Pontus. There is the haven of Persians and
of Medians and of the marches there beyond. In that city lieth
Saint Athanasius that was bishop of Alexandria, that made the psalm
QUICUNQUE VULT.
This Athanasius was a great doctor of divinity. And, because that
he preached and spake so deeply of divinity and of the Godhead, he
was accused to the Pope of Rome that he was an heretic. Wherefore
the Pope sent after him and put him in prison. And whiles he was
in prison he made that psalm and sent it to the Pope, and said,
that if he were an heretic, then was that heresy, for that, he
said, was his belief. And when the Pope saw it, and had examined
it that it was perfect and good, and verily our faith and our
belief, he made him to be delivered out of prison, and commanded
that psalm to be said every day at prime; and so he held Athanasius
a good man. But he would never go to his bishopric again, because
that they accused him of heresy.
Trebizond was wont to be holden of the Emperor of Constantinople;
but a great man, that he sent for to keep the country against the
Turks, usurped the land and held it to himself, and cleped him
Emperor of Trebizond.
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