WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight / Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys cover

The Voiage and Travayle of Sir John Maundeville Knight / Which treateth of the way towards Hierusalem and of marvayles of Inde with other ilands and countreys

Chapter 108: CAP. C.
Open in WeRead

About This Book

The narrator offers a medieval travelogue that traces routes toward Jerusalem and across regions of Asia, Africa, and India, blending eyewitness-style observations, borrowed reports, and fantastic tales. It catalogs cities, landscapes, animals, plants, trade goods, and unfamiliar customs, alternating itinerary notes with moral and religious commentary. Frequent digressions present marvels and monstrous races alongside practical details about pilgrim routes, local rites, and fortifications, producing a text that shifts between guidebook information and imaginative storytelling. The structure mixes descriptive chapters with episodic anecdotes, inviting readers to weigh veracity while encountering the era's geographical knowledge, commerce, and popular curiosities.

CAP. C.

Of a great yland and kingedome called Taprobane.1

TOWARDE the East side of Prester John's lande is an yle that men call Taprobane, & is right good and fructuous,2 and there is a great Kyng and a rych, and he is obedient unto Prester John & the King is alway made by eleccion. In this yle is ii wynters and two somers, and they shere3 corne twise in the yere, all times in the yeare gardeins florysheth. There dwelleth good people and reasonable and many Christen men among them that are full rich, and the water betwene the syde of Prester John and this yle is not full depe for men may see the grounde in many places.

1:  There seems a difference of opinion whether this island is Ceylon or Sumatra.

2:  Fruitful.

3:  Reap.