AD. THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



1330- 



go unto an idol of gold or of silver, making their 

 praiers unto it in maner folowing : Lord, thou art our 

 god, & thee we do adore, beseeching thee to resolve 

 us, whether such a man must die, or recover of such 

 an infirmity or no ? Then the divel answereth out of 

 ye foresaid idol : if he saith (he shal live) then re- 

 turneth his son and ministreth things necessary unto 

 him, til he hath attained unto his former health : but 

 if he saith (he shal die) then goes ye priest unto him, 

 & putting a cloth into his mouth doth strangle him 

 therewith : which being done, he cuts his dead body 

 into morsels, & al his friends and kinsfolks are invited 

 unto the eating thereof, with musique and all kinde 

 of mirth : howbeit his bones are solemnely buried. And 

 when I found fault with that custome demanding a 

 reason thereof, one of them gave me this answere : this 

 we doe, least the wormes should eat his flesh, for then 

 his soule should suffer great torments, neither could I 

 by any meanes remoove them from that errour. Many 

 other novelties and strange things there bee in this 

 countrey, which no man would credite, unles he saw 

 them with his owne eyes. Howbeit, I (before almighty 

 [II. i. 59.] God) do here make relation of nothing but of that only, 

 whereof I am as sure, as a man may be sure. Con- 

 cerning the foresaid islands I inquired of divers wel- 

 experienced persons, who al of them, as it were with 

 one consent, answered me saying, That this India 

 contained 4400. islands under it, or within it : in which 

 islands there are sixtie and foure crowned kings : and 

 they say moreover, that the greater part of those islands 

 are wel inhabited. And here I conclude concerning that 

 part of India. 



Or, China. Of the Upper India : and of the province of 



Mancy. 



^Irst of al therefore, having traveled many dayes 



journey upon the Ocean-sea toward the East, at 



length I arrived at a certaine great province called 



422 



F 



