Of other maners of this countrey.

THIS Emperour the great Caane hath three wives, and the principall wife was Prester Johns daughter. And the people of this countrey begin to doe all theyr thinges in the newe Moone, and they worshippe muche the Sonne and the Moone, those men ryde commonly without spoores, & they holde it a great sinne to breake one bone¹ with another, and to spyll mylke on the grounde, or any other lycour y^t men may drinke.² And when they haue eaten they wipe their handes uppon theyr skyrts, for they haue no table clothes except it be right great lordes, and when they haue all eaten they put their dishes or platters not washed in the pot or cauldron with flesh that is left when they haue eaten, until they will eate another time, & rich men drink milke of mares, of asses, or other beastes, and other beverage that is made of milke and water togither, for they haue neither beere nor wine. And when they go to warre, they warre full wysely, and eche man of them bereth two or three bowes and many arowes and a great hatchet, gentilmen haue short swords,³ and he that flyeth in batayle they sleay him, & they are ever in purpose to bring all the land in subjection to them, for they say prophecies say that they shall be overcome by shot of archers, and that they shall turne them to their law, but they wot not what men they shall be, and it is great peril to pursue the Tartaries when they flee, for they will shoot behinde and slea men as well as before, and they have small eyen⁴ as little birdes, and they are commonly false for they holde not their promise. And when a man shal die among them, they stick a speare in the earth beside him, and when he draweth to the death, they go out of the house till he dead, and then they put him in the earth in the fielde.

1: A bone.

2: A passage is here omitted.

3: Other editions say spears.

4: Eyes.