Marco Polo

These people are very fond of luxury, and they spend all their wealth on fine clothes and jewels.

They are a very licentious people, and they have no regard for marriage or fidelity.

The people here are very rude and uncouth, and they have no manners or politeness.

There is also a sort of black stone, which is dug from the mountains and burns like wood.

They have a kind of wine made from rice and spices which is very good, and makes a man drunk sooner than the wine from grapes.

The people are idolaters and have a language of their own. They live by trade and industry. They have plenty of silk.

The city is beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world.

They have a custom of burning their dead, and when a man dies they burn him with great ceremony.

The Great Khan has a vast palace all roofed with gold and silver, and decorated with dragons and beasts and birds.

There are dogs as big as donkeys, which are used for hunting wild oxen.

They take the bamboo and cut it into lengths, and then split each length into very thin strips.

The men are very warlike and are all horsemen. They have no cities or towns, but live in tents.

The people of Cathay are idolaters, and they burn their dead.

The Tartars are the most arrogant people in the world, and they look upon other nations with contempt.

The women of Tibet are very loose in their morals, and it is no shame to them to have many husbands.

The Great Khan has such a quantity of treasure that no one who has not seen it can believe it.

The people of Japan are white, and they are very courteous, but they are the most cruel people in the world.

The people of Sumatra are idolaters, and they eat human flesh.

The people of Persia are very handsome, but they are great liars and cheats.

The people of Arabia are very treacherous, and they are great thieves.