ber
of ships and vessels, as would be quite incredible by any person who had
not been an eye-witness. In this city I saw 300 pounds of good and new
ginger sold for less than a groat. They have the largest and finest geese,
and the greatest plenty of them is to be sold, more than in any other part
of the world. They are as white as milk, having a bone the size of an egg
on the crown of the head, of a blood-red colour, and a skin or bag under
their throat, which hangs down half a foot or more[3]. These birds are
exceedingly fat, and are sold at reasonable rates. The ducks and hens of
this country are twice the size of ours. There are likewise large and
monstrous serpents, which are caught and eaten by the natives, and are held
in such estimation as to be produced at all their feasts. In short, this
city abounds in all kind of provisions.

Travelling from thence through many cities, I came at length to a city
called Caitan or Zaiton[4], in which the minorite friars have two places of
abode, unto which I transported the bones of the dead friars formerly
mentioned, who suffered martyrdom for the faith of Christ. In this city,
which is twice as long as Bologna, there are abundance of provisions, and
it contains many monasteries of religious persons, who are devoted to the
worship of idols. I was in one of these monasteries, which was said to
contain 3000 religious men, and 11,000 idols, one of the smallest of which
was as large as our St Christopher. These religious men feed their idols
daily, serving up a banquet of good things before them, smoking hot, and
they affirm that their gods are refreshed and fed by the steam of the
victuals, which are afterwards carried away, and eaten up by the priests.

[1] Otherwise Mangi, or Southern China.--E.

[2] This place, which on the margin is corrected by the equally unknown
name of Ceuskala, was probably Canton; but having endeavoured to
explain the distorted names of places in China, in the travels of
Marco Polo, it is unnecessary to resume the almost impossible task in
these much less interesting, and perhaps fabricated travels of
Oderic.--E.

[3] Oderic here means pelicans, called alca-trarzi by the Spaniards.
--Hakluyt.

[4] Called in p. 404. Carchan.--E.

SECTION XI.

_Of the City of Fuko, or Foquien_.

Continuing my journey still farther to the east, I came to the city of
Foquien, which is thirty miles in circuit. The poultry here are very