THERE yles of the land of Prester John, they are under the earth to us, & other yles are there whoso wold pursue them for to environ the earth whoso had grace of God to hold the waye, he mighte come right to the same countreys that he were come of and come from & so go about the earth, and for that it asketh so long tyme, & also there are so many perils to passe that fewe men assay to go so, and yet it might be done, & therefore men come from these yles to other yles costing of the lordship of Prester John, & men come in the coming to one yle y^t men cal Cassoy, & that country is nere Lx journeys long & more than L of bredth, that is the best land that is in those countreys saue Cathay & if marchants came thither as commonly as they do to Cathay, it would be better than Cathay, for it is so thick of cities & towns y^t when a man goeth out of a citie he seeth another on eche side. There is great plenty of spices and other goods. Ye king of this ile is rich & mighty & he holdeth his land of y^e great Caan for y^t is one of y^e xii princes[2] that the great Caan hath under him beside his owne lande. [Footnote 1: Antipodes.] [Footnote 2: Misprint for provinces.] CAP. CV. _Of the Kingedome of Ryboth._ FROM this yle men go another kyngdome that is called Riboth, and that is also under y^e great Caan. This is a good countrey and plentious of corne, wine & other things, men of this lande haue no houses but they dwell in tentes made of tree. And the principall citie of the countrey is all blacke made of black stones and white and all the streetes are paved with such stones and in the citie is no man so hardy to spil blood of man ne beast, for worship of a mawment[1] that is worshiped there. In that citie dwelleth the Pope of their lawe, that they call Lopasse, and he giveth all dignities & benefices that fall to y^e mawmet. And men of religion and men that haue churches in that countrey are obedient to him as men here to the pope. In this yle they haue a custome through all the countrey that when a mans father is dead they wil do him great worship, they send after all his friends, religious priests and many other, and they beare the body to an hill with great Joy and myrth, and whan it is there, the greatest prelate smiteth of his head, & laieth it upon a great plate of gold, or silver, and giveth it to his sonne and his son taketh it to his other friends, singing and sayinge many orysons,[2] and then the prestes and the religious men cut the flesh of[3] the body in peces and say orysons, and the byrds of the countrey come thether, for they know well the custome, and they flye about them as they were egles and other birds that eate flesh, and the priestes cast the pieces unto them, and they beare it away a little from thence and then they eate it, and as priestes in our countrey sing for soules _subvenite sancti dei_ and so forth, so those prestes ther syng with high voyce in their language in this maner wyse.