welle, alle watres comen and gon. The firste ryvere is clept Phison, that is to seyne in hire langage, Assemblee: for many other ryveres meten hem there, and gon in to that ryvere. And sum men clepen it Ganges; for a kyng that was in Ynde, that highte Gangeres, and that it ran thorge out his lond. And that water is in sum place clere, and in sum place trouble: in sum place hoot, and in sum place cole. The seconde ryvere is clept Nilus or Gyson: for it is alle weye trouble: and Gyson, in the langage of Ethiope, is to seye trouble: and in the langage of Egipt also. The thridde ryvere, that is clept Tigris, is as moche for to seye as faste rennynge: for he rennethe more faste than ony of the tother. And also there is a best, that is cleped Tigris, that is faste rennynge. The fourthe ryvere is clept Eufrates, that is to seyne, wel berynge: for there growen manye godes upon that ryvere, as cornes, frutes, and othere godes y nowe plentee. And zee schulle undirstonde, that no man that is mortelle, ne may not approchen to that paradys. For be londe no man may go for wylde bestes, that ben in the desertes, and for the highe mountaynes and gret huge roches, that no man may passe by, for the derke places that ben there, and that manye: and be the ryveres may no man go; for the water rennethe so rudely and so scharply, because that it comethe doun so outrageously from the highe places aboven, that it rennethe in so grete wawes, that no schipp may not rowe ne seyle azenes it: and the watre rorethe so, and makethe so huge noyse, and so gret tempest, that no man may here other in the schipp, thoughe he cryede with alle the craft that he cowde, in the hyeste voys that he myghte. Many grete lordes han assayed with gret wille many tymes for to passen be tho ryveres toward paradys, with fulle grete companyes: but thei myghte not speden in hire viage; and manye dyeden for werynesse of rowynge azenst tho stronge wawes; and many of hem becamen blynde, and many deve, for the noyse of the water: and summe weren perisscht and loste, with inne the wawes: so that no mortelle man may approche to that place, with outen specyalle grace of God: so that of that place I can seye zou no more. And therfore I schall holde me stille, and retornen to that that I have seen. CAPVT. 49. In reuertendo de Cassan, et Riboth, et de diuite Epulone. [Sidenote: Via per quam Mandeuillus redijt in Angliam.] Ex hinc de illis quæ in reuertendo vidi scribo cursim pauca, ne modum excedere videatur materia. [Sidenote: Cassan.] Reuertebar itaque quasi per Aquilonare latus Imperij Presbyteri Ioannis, et nunc terræ, non mari nos commendantes, transiuimus Deo Ductore, multas Insulas in multis diaetis, et peruenimus ad regionem magnam Cassan: haec cum sit vna de quindecim habens longitudinem diaetarum 60. et latitudinem propè 30. posset esse nominatior omnibus ibi circa prouincijs, si a nostris frequentaretur.