a thousand hands than in any of the others.[NOTE 1] And when any Christian asks them why they make their Idols in so many different guises, and not all alike, they reply that just so their forefathers were wont to have them made, and just so they will leave them to their children, and these to the after generations.  And so they will be handed down for ever.  And you must understand that the deeds ascribed to these Idols are such a parcel of devilries as it is best not to tell.  So let us have done with the Idols, and speak of other things.

But I must tell you one thing still concerning that Island (and ’tis the same with the other Indian Islands), that if the natives take prisoner an enemy who cannot pay a ransom, he who hath the prisoner summons all his friends and relations, and they put the prisoner to death, and then they cook him and eat him, and they say there is no meat in the world so good!—­But now we will have done with that Island and speak of something else.

You must know the Sea in which lie the Islands of those parts is called the SEA OF CHIN, which is as much as to say “The Sea over against Manzi.”  For, in the language of those Isles, when they say Chin, ’tis Manzi they mean.  And I tell you with regard to that Eastern Sea of Chin, according to what is said by the experienced pilots and mariners of those parts, there be 7459 Islands in the waters frequented by the said mariners; and that is how they know the fact, for their whole life is spent in navigating that sea.  And there is not one of those Islands but produces valuable and odorous woods like the lignaloe, aye and better too; and they produce also a great variety of spices.  For example in those Islands grows pepper as white as snow, as well as the black in great quantities.  In fact the riches of those Islands is something wonderful, whether in gold or precious stones, or in all manner of spicery; but they lie so far off from the main land that it is hard to get to them.  And when the ships of Zayton and Kinsay do voyage thither they make vast profits by their venture.[NOTE 2]

It takes them a whole year for the voyage, going in winter and returning in summer.  For in that Sea there are but two winds that blow, the one that carries them outward and the other that brings them homeward; and the one of these winds blows all the winter, and the other all the summer.  And you must know these regions are so far from India that it takes a long time also for the voyage thence.

Though that Sea is called the Sea of Chin, as I have told you, yet it is part of the Ocean Sea all the same.  But just as in these parts people talk of the Sea of England and the Sea of Rochelle, so in those countries they speak of the Sea of Chin and the Sea of India, and so on, though they all are but parts of the Ocean.[NOTE 3]

Now let us have done with that region which is very inaccessible and out of the way.  Moreover, Messer Marco Polo never was there.  And let me tell you the Great Kaan has nothing to do with them, nor do they render him any tribute or service.