Chapter 19 |
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Chapter 21
OF THE EVIL CUSTOMS USED IN THE ISLE OF LAMARY. AND HOW THE EARTH
AND THE SEA BE OF ROUND FORM AND SHAPE, BY PROOF OF THE STAR THAT
IS CLEPT ANTARCTIC, THAT IS FIXED IN THE SOUTH
FROM that country go men by the sea ocean, and by many divers isles
and by many countries that were too long for to tell of. And a
fifty-two journeys from this land that I have spoken of, there is
another land, that is full great, that men clepe Lamary. In that
land is full great heat. And the custom there is such, that men
and women go all naked. And they scorn when they see any strange
folk going clothed. And they say, that God made Adam and Eve all
naked, and that no man should shame him to shew him such as God
made him, for nothing is foul that is of kindly nature. And they
say, that they that be clothed be folk of another world, or they be
folk that trow not in God. And they say, that they believe in God
that formed the world, and that made Adam and Eve and all other
things. And they wed there no wives, for all the women there be
common and they forsake no man. And they say they sin if they
refuse any man; and so God commanded to Adam and Eve and to all
that come of him, when he said, CRESCITE ET MULTIPLICAMINI ET
REPLETE TERRAM. And therefore may no man in that country say, This
is my wife; ne no woman may say, This my husband. And when they
have children, they may give them to what man they will that hath
companied with them. And also all the land is common; for all that
a man holdeth one year, another man hath it another year; and every
man taketh what part that him liketh. And also all the goods of
the land be common, corns and all other things: for nothing there
is kept in close, ne nothing there is under lock, and every man
there taketh what he will without any contradiction, and as rich is
one man there as is another.
But in that country there is a cursed custom, for they eat more
gladly man's flesh than any other flesh; and yet is that country
abundant of flesh, of fish, of corns, of gold and silver, and of
all other goods. Thither go merchants and bring with them children
to sell to them of the country, and they buy them. And if they be
fat they eat them anon. And if they be lean they feed them till
they be fat, and then they eat them. And they say, that it is the
best flesh and the sweetest of all the world.
In that land, ne in many other beyond that, no man may see the Star
Transmontane, that is clept the Star of the Sea, that is unmovable
and that is toward the north, that we clepe the Lode-star. But men
see another star, the contrary to him, that is toward the south,
that is clept Antartic. And right as the ship-men take their
advice here and govern them by the Lode-star, right so do ship-men
beyond those parts by the star of the south, the which star
appeareth not to us. And this star that is toward the north, that
we clepe the Lode-star, ne appeareth not to them. For which cause
men may well perceive, that the land and the sea be of round shape
and form; for the part of the firmament sheweth in one country that
sheweth not in another country. And men may well prove by
experience and subtle compassment of wit, that if a man found
passages by ships that would go to search the world, men might go
by ship all about the world and above and beneath.
The which thing I prove thus after that I have seen. For I have
been toward the parts of Brabant, and beholden the Astrolabe that
the star that is clept the Transmontane is fifty-three degrees
high; and more further in Almayne and Bohemia it hath fifty-eight
degrees; and more further toward the parts septentrional it is
sixty-two degrees of height and certain minutes; for I myself have
measured it by the Astrolabe. Now shall ye know, that against the
Transmontane is the tother star that is clept Antarctic, as I have
said before. And those two stars ne move never, and by them
turneth all the firmament right as doth a wheel that turneth by his
axle-tree. So that those stars bear the firmament in two equal
parts, so that it hath as much above as it hath beneath. After
this, I have gone toward the parts meridional, that is, toward the
south, and I have found that in Lybia men see first the star
Antarctic. And so far I have gone more further in those countries,
that I have found that star more high; so that toward the High
Lybia it is eighteen degrees of height and certain minutes (of the
which sixty minutes make a degree). After going by sea and by land
toward this country of that I have spoken, and to other isles and
lands beyond that country, I have found the Star Antarctic of
thirty-three degrees of height and more minutes. And if I had had
company and shipping for to go more beyond, I trow well, in
certain, that we should have seen all the roundness of the
firmament all about. For, as I have said to you before, the half
of the firmament is between those two stars, the which halvendel I
have seen. And of the tother halvendel I have seen, toward the
north under the Transmontane, sixty-two degrees and ten minutes,
and toward the part meridional I have seen under the Antarctic,
thirty-three degrees and sixteen minutes. And then, the halvendel
of the firmament in all holdeth not but nine score degrees. And of
those nine score, I have seen sixty-two on that one part and
thirty-three on that other part; that be, ninety-five degrees and
nigh the halvendel of a degree. And so, there ne faileth but that
I have seen all the firmament, save four score and four degrees and
the halvendel of a degree, and that is not the fourth part of the
firmament; for the fourth part of the roundness of the firmament
holds four score and ten degrees, so there faileth but five degrees
and an half of the fourth part. And also I have seen the three
parts of all the roundness of the firmament and more yet five
degrees and a half. By the which I say you certainly that men may
environ all the earth of all the world, as well under as above, and
turn again to his country, that had company and shipping and
conduct. And always he should find men, lands and isles, as well
as in this country. For ye wit well, that they that be toward the
Antarctic, they be straight, feet against feet, of them that dwell
under the Transmontane; also well as we and they that dwell under
us be feet against feet. For all the parts of sea and of land have
their opposites, habitable trepassable, and they of this half and
beyond half.
And wit well, that, after that that I may perceive and comprehend,
the lands of Prester John, Emperor of Ind, be under us. For in
going from Scotland or from England toward Jerusalem men go upward
always. For our land is in the low part of the earth toward the
west, and the land of Prester John is in the low part of the earth
toward the east. And [they] have there the day when we have the
night; and also, high to the contrary, they have the night when we
have the day. For the earth and the sea be of round form and
shape, as I have said before; and that that men go upward to one
coast, men go downward to another coast.
Also ye have heard me say that Jerusalem is in the midst of the
world. And that may men prove, and shew there by a spear, that is
pight into the earth, upon the hour of midday, when it is equinox,
that sheweth no shadow on no side. And that it should be in the
midst of the world, David witnesseth it in the Psalter, where he
saith, DEUS OPERATUS EST SALUTEM IN MEDIA TERRAE. Then, they, that
part from those parts of the west for to go toward Jerusalem, as
many journeys as they go upward for to go thither, in as many
journeys may they go from Jerusalem unto other confines of the
superficiality of the earth beyond. And when men go beyond those
journeys toward Ind and to the foreign isles, all is environing the
roundness of the earth and of the sea under our countries on this
half.
And therefore hath it befallen many times of one thing that I have
heard counted when I was young, how a worthy man departed some-time
from our countries for to go search the world. And so he passed
Ind and the isles beyond Ind, where be more than 5000 isles. And
so long he went by sea and land, and so environed the world by many
seasons, that he found an isle where he heard speak his own
language, calling on oxen in the plough, such words as men speak to
beasts in his own country whereof he had great marvel, for he knew
not how it might be. But I say, that he had gone so long by land
and by sea, that he had environed all the earth; that he was come
again environing, that is to say, going about, unto his own
marches, and if he would have passed further, till he had found his
country and his own knowledge. But he turned again from thence,
from whence he was come from. And so he lost much painful labour,
as himself said a great while after that he was come home. For it
befell after, that he went into Norway. And there tempest of the
sea took him, and he arrived in an isle. And, when he was in that
isle, he knew well that it was the isle, where he had heard speak
his own language before and the calling of oxen at the plough; and
that was possible thing.
But how it seemeth to simple men unlearned, that men ne may not go
under the earth, and also that men should fall toward the heaven
from under. But that may not be, upon less than we may fall toward
heaven from the earth where we be. For from what part of the earth
that men dwell, either above or beneath, it seemeth always to them
that dwell that they go more right than any other folk. And right
as it seemeth to us that they be under us, right so it seemeth to
them that we be under them. For if a man might fall from the earth
unto the firmament, by greater, reason the earth and the sea that
be so great and so heavy should fall to the firmament: but that
may not be, and therefore saith our Lord God, NON TIMEAS ME, QUI
SUSPENDI TERRAM EX NIHILO?
And albeit that it be possible thing that men may so environ all
the world, natheles, of a thousand persons, one ne might not happen
to return into his country. For, for the greatness of the earth
and of the sea, men may go by a thousand and a thousand other ways,
that no man could ready him perfectly toward the parts that he came
from, but if it were by adventure and hap, or by the grace of God.
For the earth is full large and full great, and holds in roundness
and about environ, by above and by beneath, 20425 miles, after the
opinion of old wise astronomers; and their sayings I reprove
nought. But, after my little wit, it seemeth me, saving their
reverence, that it is more.
And for to have better understanding I say thus. Be there imagined
a figure that hath a great compass. And, about the point of the
great compass that is clept the centre, be made another little
compass. Then after, be the great compass devised by lines in many
parts, and that all the lines meet at the centre. So, that in as
many parts as the great compass shall be departed, in as many shall
be departed the little, that is about the centre, albeit that the
spaces be less. Now then, be the great compass represented for the
firmament, and the little compass represented for the earth. Now
then, the firmament is devised by astronomers in twelve signs, and
every sign is devised in thirty degrees; that is, 360 degrees that
the firmament hath above. Also, be the earth devised in as many
parts as the firmament, and let every part answer to a degree of
the firmament. And wit it well, that, after the authors of
astronomy, 700 furlongs of earth answer to a degree of the
firmament, and those be eighty-seven miles and four furlongs. Now
be that here multiplied by 360 sithes, and then they be 31,500
miles every of eight furlongs, after miles of our country. So much
hath the earth in roundness and of height environ, after mine
opinion and mine understanding.
And ye shall understand, that after the opinion of old wise
philosophers and astronomers, our country ne Ireland ne Wales ne
Scotland ne Norway ne the other isles coasting to them ne be not in
the superficiality counted above the earth, as it sheweth by all
the books of astronomy. For the superficiality of the earth is
parted in seven parts for the seven planets, and those parts be
clept climates. And our parts be not of the seven climates, for
they be descending toward the west [drawing] towards the roundness
of the world. And also these isles of Ind which be even against us
be not reckoned in the climates. For they be against us that be in
the low country. And the seven climates stretch them environing
the world.
Chapter 19 | Index | Chapter 21