The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 08: Asia, Part IHakluyt, Richard
History
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 08: Asia, Part I
Hakluyt, Richard
Discoveries in geography -- English; Voyages and travels
Aftreward men gon be many yles be see, unto an yle, that men clepen Milke:
and there is a fulle cursed peple: for thei delyten in ne thing more, than
for to fighten and to sle men. And thei drynken gladlyest mannes blood, the
whiche thei clepen dieu. And the mo men that a man may slee, the more
worschipe he hathe amonges hem. And zif 2 persones ben at debate, and
peraventure ben accorded be here frendes or be sumn of here alliance, it
behovethe that every of hem, that schulle ben accorded, drynke of otheres
blood: and elle the accord ne the alliance is noghte worthe, ne it schalle
not be ne repref to him to breke the alliance and the accord, but zif every
of hem drynke of otheres blood.
And from that yle, men gon be see, from yle to yle, unto an yle, that is
clept Tracoda; where the folk of that contree ben as bestes and
unresonable, and duellen in caves, that thei maken in the erthe; for thei
have no wytt to maken hem houses. And whan thei seen ony man passynge
thorghe here contrees, thei hyden hem in here caves. And thei eten flesche
of serpentes; and thei eten but litille, and thei speken nought; but thei
hissen, as serpentes don. And thei sette no prys be no richesse, but only
of a precyous ston, that is amonges hem, that is of 60 coloures. And for
the name of the yle, thei clepen it Tracodon. And thei loven more that
ston, than ony thing elle: and zit thei knowe not the vertue thereof: but
thei coveyten it and loven it only for the beautee.
Aftre that yle, men gon be the see occean, be many yles, unto an yle, that
is clept Nacumera; that is a gret yle and good and fayr: and it is in
kompas aboute, more than a 1000 myle. And alle the men and wommen of that
yle han houndes hedes: and thei ben clept Cynocephali: and thei ben fulle
resonable and of gode undirstondynge, saf that thei worschipen an ox for
here god. And also everyche of hem berethe an ox of gold or of sylver in
his forhed, in tokene that thei loven wel here god. And thei gon alle
naked, saf a litylle clout, that thei coveren with here knees and hire
membres. Thei ben grete folk and wel fyghtynge; and thei han a gret targe,
that coverethe alle the body, and a spere in here hond to fighte with. And
zif thei taken ony man in bataylle, anon thei eten him. The kyng of that
yle is fulle riche and fulle myghty, and righte devout aftre his lawe: and
he hathe abouten his nekke 360 perles oryent, gode and grete, and knotted,
as Pater Nostres here of amber. And in maner as wee seyn oure Pater Noster
and oure Ave Maria, cowntyng the Pater Nosters, right so this kyng seythe
every day devoutly 300 preyeres to his god, or that he ete: and he berethe
also aboute his nekke a rubye oryent, noble and fyn, that is a fote of
lengthe, and fyve fyngres large. And whan thei chesen here kyng, thei taken
him that rubye, to beren in his hond, and so thei leden him rydynge alle
abouten the cytee. And fro thens fromward, thei ben alle obeyssant to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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