Of the way for to go to prester Johns land which is Emperour of Inde.
FROM this lande of Bactry men goe many dayes Jorneyes to the lande of Prester John, that is a great Emperour of Inde, and men call his lande the yle of Pantoroze.1 This Emperour Prester John holdeth great land, & many good cities, and good townes, in his kingedome is many great yles & large for this land of Ynde is departed in yles because of great flods that come out of Paradise, and also in the sea are many great yles, the best citie that is in the yle of Pantoroze is called Nile,2 that is a noble citie & a rich. Prester John hath under him many kings and many diverse people, and his land is good & rych, but not so rich as the land of the great Caane, for marchaunts come not so much thyther as they do unto the lande of the greate Caane, for it is so long a journey. And also they finde in the yle of Cathay all thing that they haue nede of, as spycery, clothes of gold, and other riches, and all if they might haue better cheape in the lande of Prester John than in the land of Cathay, and more finer, neverthelesse they would let3 it, for the long waye and great perils on the sea, for there are many places in the sea where are many roches of a stone that is called Adamand, the which of its own kinde, draweth to him all maner of yron, & therefore there may no ships that hath yron nayles passe, but it draweth them to him, and therefore they dare not go into that countrey with ships for dread of the Adamand. I went once into that sea & sawe along as it had bene a great yle of trees, stockes & braunches growinge, and the shipmen told me that those were of great shippes that abode there, through the vertue of the Adamandes and of things that were in the ships, whereof those trees sprong and waxed. And such roches are there many in diverse places of that sea & therefore dare there no shypman passe that waye. And another thing also that they dread the long way, and therefore they go moste to Cathay, and that is nerer unto them. And yet it is not so nere, but then behoveth4 for Venice or Gene be in ye sea toward Cathay xi or xii moneths. The land of Prester John is long, & marchaunts passe thither through the lande of Persy, and come unto a citie that men cal Hermes,5 for a Philosopher that was called Hermes founded it, and they passe an arme of the sea, & come to another citie that men call Saboth,6 & there fynde they all marchaundises, & popiniayes, as great plentie as larkes7 in our countrey. In this countrey is little wheat or barly, and therefore they eate ryce mylk and chese, & other fruits. This Emperour Prester John weddeth commonly the daughter of the greate Caane, and the great Caane his daughter. In the land of Prester John is many divers things, and many precious stones so great & so large that they make of them vessels, platters, and cuppes, and many other things of which it were to long to tell, but somewhat of his law and of his faith I shall tell you.
