THERE is another yle where there is great plenty of people & they eate neuer flesh of hares, nor of hens, nor geese, yet is there many of them but they eate of all other beastes, and they drink mylk, in this countrey they wed theyr owne daughters and other of theyr kyn as them liketh, and if there be x or xii men in one house, eche one of theyr wyves shal be comon to other, & at night shal one haue one of y^e wives and another night another. And if she haue any chylde, she may give it to whome she would so that no man knowe if it be his or not. In this land & many other places of Inde, are many cocodrilles, that is a maner of a long serpent, and on nights they dwell on water, and on dayes they dwell on land and rocks, and they eat not in winter. These serpents sley men and eate them weping,[1] and they haue no tongue. In this countrey and many other, men caste sede of cotton, and sow it eche yeare and it groweth as it were small trees, and they bere cotton. In Araby is a kynde of beast that some men call Garsantes,[2] that is a fayre beast, & he is hyer than a great courser or a stead[3] but his neck is nere xx cubytes long, and his crop and his taile lyke a hart and he may loke ouer a high house and there is many Camilions,[4] that is a lytle beaste, & he eateth nor drinketh never, and he chaungeth his colour often, for sometime he is of one colour & sometime of another, and he may chaunge him into all colours that he will, saue black and red. There are many wilde swine of many colours and as great as Oxen, & they are spotted as it were smal fawnes, and there are lions all white, and there be other beastes as great steedes that men call Lauhorans,[5] and men call them Toutes, and their head is blacke, and three long hornes in his fronte, as cutting as sharp swords, and he chaseth and wil sley Olifants. And there is many other maner of beastes, of whom it were to long to write all. [Illustration] [Footnote 1: This curious belief gave rise to the term "Crocodile's tears," _i.e._, hypocritical tears.] [Footnote 2: Giraffes.] [Footnote 3: A steed or horse.] [Footnote 4: Chameleon.] [Footnote 5: A rhinoceros is here evidently meant.] CAP. XCV. _Of an ylande wherein dwell full good people and true._