Histories

All this abundance of gold, from which the Indians send the aforementioned gold-dust to the king, they obtain in the following way.

To the east of the Indian country is sand. Of all the people of Asia (continent)Asia whom we know - even those about whom something is said with precision - the Indians dwell nearest to the dawn and the rising sun; for on the eastern side of +India [77,20] (nation), Asia India all is desolate because of the sand.

There are many Indian nations, none speaking the same language; some of them are nomads, some not; some dwell in the river marshes and live on raw fish, which they catch from reed boats. Each boat is made of one joint of reed.[*](Not the bamboo, apparently, but the “kana,” which sometimes grows to a height of 50 feet.)

These Indians wear clothes of bullrushes; they mow and cut these from the river, then weave them crosswise like a mat, and wear them like a breastplate.