Also men go through India by many different countries, to the great Sea of Ocean. And afterwards men find there an island that is called Hermes[370]; and there come merchants of Venice and Genoa, and of other parts, to buy merchandise; but there is great heat in that district. In that country, and in Ethiopia, and in many other countries, the inhabitants lie all naked in rivers and waters, men and women together, from undurn[371] of the day till it be past noon. And they lie all in the water, except the face, for the great heat that there is. And the women have no shame of the men, but lie all together, side by side, till the heat is past. There may men see many foul figures assembled, and chiefly near the good towns. In that island are ships without nails of iron or bonds, on account of the rocks of adamants (loadstones[372]); for they are all abundant thereabout in that sea, that it is marvellous to speak of; and if a ship passed there that had either iron bonds or iron nails, it would perish; for the adamant, by its nature, draws iron to it; and so it would draw to it the ship, because of the iron, that it should never depart from it.
From that island men go by sea to another island called Chana, where is abundance of corn and wine; and it was wont to be a great island, and a great and good haven, but the sea has greatly wasted it and overcome it. The king of that country was formerly so strong and so mighty that he held war against king Alexander. The people of that country differ in their religious belief; for some worship the sun, some the moon, some the fire, some trees, some serpents, or the first thing that they meet in a morning; and some worship simulacres, and some idols. Between simulacres and idols there is a great difference; for simulacres are images made after the likeness of men or of women, or of the sun or of the moon, or of any beast, or of any natural thing; and an idol is an image made by the lewd will of man, which is not to be found among natural things, as an image that has four heads, one of a man, another of a horse, or of an ox, or of some other beast, that no man has seen in nature. And they that worship simulacres worship them for some worthy man who once existed, as Hercules and many others, that did many wonders in their time. For they say well that they are not gods; for they know well that there is a God of nature that made all things, who is in heaven; but they know well that this man may not do the wonders that he did, unless it had been by the special gift of God, and therefore they say that he was well with God, wherefore they worship him. And so they say of the sun; because it changes the season and gives heat and nourishes all things upon earth; and since it is of so great profit, they know well that that might not be, unless God loved it more than any other thing. And because God has given it greater virtue in the world, therefore it is right, as they say, to worship and reverence it. And so they say of other planets, and of the fire also, because it is so profitable. And of idols, they say also that the ox is the most holy beast that is on earth, and most patient and more profitable than any other; and they know well that it may not be without special grace of God, and therefore make they their god of an ox the one part, and the other part of a man, because man is the noblest creature on earth, and also he hath lordship above all beasts; therefore make they the upper half of the idol of a man, and the lower half of an ox; and so of serpents and of other beasts, and different things that they worship, that they meet first in a morning. And they worship also especially all those that they have good meeting of, and when they speed well in their journey, after their meeting, and mostly such as they have proved and assayed by experience of long time; for they say, that that good meeting may not come but by the grace of God; and therefore they make images like to those things in which they have belief, to behold them and worship them first in the morning, before they meet any contrarious thing. And there are also some Christians who say that it is good to meet some beasts first in the morning, and bad to meet others; and that they have often proved that it is very unlucky to meet the hare, and swine, and many other beasts; and the sparrow-hawk, and other ravenous birds, when they fly after their prey, and take it before armed men, is a good sign, and if they fail of taking their prey it is an evil sign; and also, to such people, it is unlucky to meet ravens. There are many people that believe in these things, and in other such, because it happens often so to fall after their fantasies; and also there are men enough that disbelieve in them.