FRIAR BEATUS ODORICUS a.d. 



1330- 

 there is a most beautiful plain, wherin is a litle lake 

 conteining great plenty of water, which water ye in- 

 habitants report to have proceeded from the teares of 

 Adam & Eve : howbeit I proved that to be false, because 

 I saw the water flow in the lake. This water is ful of 

 hors-leeches, & blood-suckers, & of precious stones also : 

 which precious stones the king taketh not unto his owne 

 use, but once or twise every yere he permitteth certaine 

 poore people to dive under the water for ye said stones, 

 & al that they can get he bestoweth upon them, to 

 the end they may pray for his soule. But y' they 

 may with lesse danger dive under the water, they take 

 limons which they pil, anointing themselves throughly 

 with the juice therof, & so they may dive naked under 

 ye water, the hors-leeches not being able to hurt them. 

 From this lake the water runneth even unto the sea, 

 and at a low ebbe the inhabitants dig rubies, dkmonds, 

 pearls, & other pretious stones out of the shore : wher- 

 upon it is thought, that ye king of this island hath 

 greater abundance of pretious stones, then any other 

 monarch in the whole earth besids. In the said country 

 there be al kinds of beasts and foules : & the people 

 told me, that those beasts would not invade nor hurt , 

 any stranger, but only the natural inhabitants. I saw 

 in this island fouls as big as our country geese, having 

 two heads, and other miraculous things, which I will 

 not here write off. Traveling on further toward the 

 south, I arrived at a certain island called Bodin, which Or.Dad'm. 

 signifieth in our language unclean. In this island there 

 do inhabit most wicked persons, who devour & eat raw 

 flesh committing al kinds of uncleannes & abominations 

 in such sort, as it is incredible. For the father eateth 

 his son, & the son his father, the husband his owne 

 wife, & the wife her husband : and that after this maner. 

 If any mans father be sick, the son straight goes unto 

 the sooth-saying or prognosticating priest, requesting 

 him to demand of his god, whether his father shall 

 recover of that infirmity or no ? Then both of them 



421 



