The most important description of Prester John’s kingdom is contained in the famous _Letter_, addressed in some manuscripts to Manuel, the Byzantine Emperor, in others to Frederick, the Roman Emperor; in still others, to the Pope. In this letter,[1332] the earliest version of which dates from before 1177, John tells that he is superior in wealth and power to all the kings of the world. His realm includes the three Indias and St. Thomas’ shrine. It extends across the desert of Babylon to the tower of Babel and contains seventy-two provinces, each ruled over by a king. Prester John is lord of the Amazons and Brahmins. In one direction his territory reaches out four months’ journey. In the other, no one can tell how far. “Only if you could count the stars of the heaven and the sands of the sea would you be able to form an estimate of our dominion and our power.” Many are the extraordinary features of this realm which abounds in milk and honey: here is one of the rivers of Paradise; here are streams that give forth gold and jewels; here pepper is gathered; here is the fountain of youth; and here a mysterious sea of sand fed by a river of rocks, beyond which dwell the ten tribes of the Jews, who, although they have their own kings, are nevertheless subject to the mighty Christian ruler. In one of the provinces near the torrid zone the salamander thrives, a “worm” which cannot live without fire and which makes a chrysalis about himself as do the silkworms (an interesting and unexpected bit of natural history embedded in the midst of fable). Prester John takes particular delight in expatiating on the enormous wealth of his country, on the virtues of its inhabitants—for among them there are neither liars nor adulterers nor indeed vice or crime of any description—and on their clemency and Christian piety. Every year the king makes a pilgrimage with his army across the serpent-infested Babylonian desert to the shrine of the prophet Daniel. A large part of the _Letter_ is taken up with a minute description of the royal palace—exactly like that which St. Thomas built for the King Gundophorus, of the king’s household, the grandees who wait upon him, the officials of the kingdom, etc., etc. In an early Latin version of the _Letter_, written probably in England, we are informed that there are people from all countries of the world at Prester John’s court;[1333] among the personal servants of the king there are Englishmen who wait upon him at table. No less than eleven thousand Englishmen are in his bodyguard, and every Englishman who comes to the court, whether clerk or knight, is invested with the order of knighthood. The French and Italian versions of the _Letter_, which were probably translated from this Latin text, substitute “François” and “Franceschi” for “Anglici.” _Alliance With Prester John Desired_