Of a great yland called Dodyn, where are many diverse men of evill conditions.

THEN there is another yle that men call Dodyn, & it is a great yle. In this yle are maner diverse maner of men y^t haue evyll maners, for the father eateth the son & the son the father the husband his wyfe and the wyfe hir husbande. And if it so be that the father be sicke, or the mother, or any frend, the sonne goeth soone to the priest of the law & prayeth him that he will aske of the ydoll if his father shall dye of that sicknesse or not. And then the priest and the son kneele downe before the ydole devoutly & asketh him, and he aunswereth to them, and if he say that he shall lyve, then they kepe him wel, and if he say that he shall dye, then commeth the priest with the son or with the wyfe or what frende that it be unto him y^t is sicke, and they lay their hands over his mouth to stop his breath, and so they sley him & then they smite all the body into peces & praieth all his frendes for to come and eate of him that is dead, and they make a great feste thereof and haue many minstrels there, and eate him with great melody. And so when they haue eaten al y^e flesh, then they take the bones and bury them all singing with great worship, and all those that are of his friendes that were not there at the eating of him haue great shame and vylany, so that they shall never more be taken as frends. And the King of this yle is a great lord and mightie, & he hath under him Liiii grete Yles and eche of them hath a King, and in one of these yles are men that haue but one eye, & that is in the middest of theyr front and they eate not flesh & fishe all rawe. And in another yle dwell men that haue no heads & theyr eyen are in theyr shoulders & theyr mouth is on theyr breste.¹ In another yle are men that haue no head ne eyen and theyr mouth is in theyr shoulders. And in another yle are men that haue flatte faces without nose and without eyen, but they haue two small round holes in stede of eyen, and they haue a flatte mouth without lippes. And in that yle are men also that haue their faces all flat without eyen, without mouth & without nose, but they haue their eyen and their mouth behinde on their shoulders. And in an other yle are foule men that haue the lippes aboute the mouth so greate that when they sleepe in the sonne, they cover all theyr face with the lippe. And in another yle are lyttle men as dwarfes, and haue no mouth but a lyttle rounde hole & through that hole they eate their meat with a pipe, & they haue no tongue & they speake not but they blow & whistle and so make signes one to another. And in another yle are men with hanging eares unto their shoulders.² And in another yle are wild men with hanging eares & haue feete lyke an hors & they run faste & they take wild beastes and eate them. And in another yle are men that go on theyr handes & feete lyke beasts & are all rough and will leape upon a tree like cattes or apes. And in an other yle are men that go euer uppon theyr knees mervaylosly, and haue on euery foote viii Toes.³ Many other maner of folke bee in the sea in yles thereabout, of whome it were to longe to tell all.

1: Here again Pliny says in his 7th book, cap. 2:—"These people dwell not very far from the TroglodytÆ (dwellers in caves) to the west, of whom again there is a tribe who are without necks, and have eyes in their shoulders."

2: See Appendix.

3: Here a paragraph is omitted, not being suitable for general readers.