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.

Other Indians, to the east of these, are nomads and eat raw flesh; they are called Padaei. It is said to be their custom that when anyone of their fellows, whether man or woman, is sick, a man's closest friends kill him, saying that if wasted by disease he will be lost to them as meat; though he denies that he is sick, they will not believe him, but kill and eat him.