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 74: CAP. LXVI.

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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. LXVI.

Of the land named Cathay and of the great riches thereof.

AND from thence men go uppon a river that men call Ceremosan, and this river goeth throughe Cathay ¹ & doth many times harme when it waxeth great. Cathay is a faire countrey & rich, ful of goods and merchandises, thether come marchauntes everye yeare for to fetch spices and other marchandises more commonly than they do in other countreys. And ye shall understand that marchaunts that come from Venice or from Gene or from other places of Lombardy, or of Italy, they go by sea and land, xi monthes and more or they may come to Cathay.

1: Northern China.