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The Feminine and Mafculine IJlands.
ee Thefe two iflands were peopled in the year 1285, the one by men, the other byWomen only ; the two have communication with each other only once every year.They are Chriftians, and have a bifhop dependent on the archbilhop of Scoria *.
The IJland Scoria.
tc This ifland is fituate five hundred miles from the Feminine and Mafculine Iflands.The inhabitants are Chriftians, and are governed by an archbilhop. Very good filkfluffs are manufactured there ; and much amber grows, as is related by Marco Polo inthe 38th chapter of his third book.
“ Item.—I rauft obferve that the fpices which are fold in the iflands of the EaftIndies pafs through a number of hands before they reach our country.
“ In the firft place the inhabitants of the iflands called Great lava buy them in theother iflands, where they are collected by their neighbours.
tc Secondly, thofe of the ifland Seylan f, where St. Thomas was interred, buy them1 n the ifland of Java, and tranfport them to their own country..
<c Thirdly, they are landed again in the ifland of Seylan, to be fold or exchangedWith the merchants of the ifland Aurea, in the Cherfonefus, where they are warehoufed..
“ In the fourth place, the merchants of the ifland Taprobane buy them in Seylan,.ai *d remove them thence to their own ifland.
“ Fifthly, the Mahomedans refort to Taprobane from Aden, buy the fpices, pay theduties, and tranfport them to their own country.
£c Sixthly, the people of Algiers afterwards purchafe them, and remove them, partlyty fea, but a greater diftance by land carriage.
“ In the feventh place, the Venetians and others buy them of thefe people.
£< Eighthly, the Venetians part with them in barter, or fell them to the Germans :.cc Ninthly, they are then expofed for fale at Frankfort, Prague , and other places.tc In the tenth place, they reach England and France .
<c The eleventh hands they pafs through are thofe of the retailers, of whom, incc The twelfth place, the confumer purchafes them ; hence may be feen the greatcharges to which they muft needs be fubject, and the vaft profit colletlively deduced.
. 5 Twelve feparate gains are derived from them, exclufive of their being fubjed manytln aes to a duty of one pound on ten of their value. It muft moreover be noticed, that
°f good fize being fitted out for the purpofe, with all things proper and neceffary, they embarked,onl n u mber b ref d' ren being about ninety-five, trufting and hoping at all times in Jefus Chrift, whom, thean/ be 2 otten God the Father, the winds and feas eternally obey. After long wandering over the main,and a f Con f K,e rable time had elapfed without any accident befalling them, or lofs even of one of their number,0rc y er ‘heir fearch for the ifland had proved wholly fruitlefs, tired of their long voyage, doubling thea es and the reft of the Northern Iflands, they returned to their own country.”
“ M a f ter likewife is faid—
'Apart !f hutU8 ’ k e ‘ n g ordained a bifhop, with his holy matter Brandan, and other equally fan&ified men,be p e e< T ° n a voyage to the ifland before-mentioned, an ifland exceedingly extolled by many, and reputed toCe ffivel 2 , y a ce Aftial hoft. In this voyage they employed feven years, and each returning year fuc-ktoueht ° 6 ,grated the holy feftivalof Eafter at fea.” After this follows the well known hiftory of giantsn ized th a ^ ter ‘Aa'h, of whales, &c. The learned Jefuit, Godfrey Henfchenius, who minutely feruti-• M 6 „ or y °f the life of St. Brandan, fays, Cuius hiftoria, ut fabulis reperta, omittitur.arco Polo writes Scoira. f With Marco Polo , Seylam.
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