Patna is a long and large town, being formerly a separate kingdom, but is now under subjection to the great Mogor.  The men are tall and slender, and have many old people among them.  The houses are very simple, being made of earth and covered with straw, and the streets are very large.  There is here a great trade in cotton and cotton cloth, likewise great quantities of sugar, which is carried to Bengal and India, much opium, and other commodities.  He that is chief here under the king is called Tipperdas, and is held in much estimation by the people.  Here in Patna I saw a dissembling prophet, who sat on a horse in the market-place, making as if he were asleep, and many of the people came and touched his feet with their hands, which they then kissed.  They took him for a great man, but in my opinion he was only a lazy lubber, whom I left sleeping there.  The people of these countries are much given to these dissembling hypocrites.

From Patna I went to Tanda in the land of Gouren[409], which is in the country of Bengal.  This is a place of great trade in cotton and cotton cloth, formerly a kingdom, but now subject to the great Mogor.  The people are great idolaters, going naked with only a cloth about their middles, and the country hath many tigers, wild buffaloes, and wild fowl. Tanda is about a league from the river Ganges, as in times past the river flowed over its banks in the rainy season, and drowned a considerable extent of country with many villages, and so it yet remains, and the old bed of the river still remains dry, by which means the city now stands at a distance from the water.  From Agra I was five months coming down the Jumna and the Ganges to Bengal, but it may be sailed in much shorter time.

[Footnote 409:  In our modern maps Tanda and the country or district of Gouren are not to be found; but the ruins of Gour, which may have some reference to Gouren, are laid down in lat. 24 deg. 52’ N. long. 88 deg. 5’ E. about seven miles from the main stream of the great Ganges, and ten miles south from the town of Maida.—­E.]

I went from Bengal into the country of Couche[410], which is 25 days journey north from Tanda.  The king is a Gentile, named Suckel Counse.  His country is very extensive, and reaches to within no great distance of Cauchin China, whence they are said to procure pepper.  The port is called Cacchegate.  All the country is set with bamboos or canes made sharp at both ends, and driven into the earth, and they can let in the water and drown the country above knee-deep, so that neither men nor horses can pass; and in case of any wars, they poison all the waters.  The people are all Gentiles, who kill nothing, having their ears marvellously great and a span long, which they draw out by various devices when young.  They have much silk and musk, and cloth made of cotton.  They have hospitals for sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds, and all kinds of living creatures, which they keep when old and lame until they die.  If a man bring any living creature into this country, they will give money for it or other victuals, and either let it go at large or keep it in their hospitals.  They even give food to the ants.  Their small money is almonds[411], which they often eat.