From Marco Polo's travelogue:
<b>on Bhagwan Gautam Buddha:</b>
... He left the palace, and journeyed into great and trackless mountains, where he spent his whole life virtuously and chastely, observing rigid abstinence; <b>so that had he been a Christian, he must have been a very great saint</b>....
<b>on India:</b>
... When you depart from Seilan, and go westward about sixty miles, you come to the extensive province of Maabar, on the mainland. <b>It is called India, the Greater, and is indeed the noblest and richest country in the whole world</b>... {Seilan - Ceylon}
<b>one king (or even a satrap) he encounters:</b>
... The king ... wears a necklace full set with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and other precious stones, worth a great treasure. He has also suspended from his neck a silken cord, reaching a pace down, and containing 104 of the largest pearls and most valuable rubies. It is worn because he repeats everyday, morning and evening, 104 prayers in honour of his idols. To this he is bound by his faith and religion, by the example and injunction of his ancestors. He wears also round three parts both of his arms and legs, bracelets of gold, full of goodly stones and pearls. In short, the number of his jewels is surprising, being of more value than a handsome city, and no wonder, since they are all produced in his own dominions. ...The accumulation of treasure, so rare in Europe, is a general policy of oriental princes....
<b>Wonderment at regular bathing of people:</b>
... Both men and women wash the whole body in water twice every day, morning and evening, and till then will neither eat nor drink. He who omits this observance is regarded as we do a heretic. ...
<b>On diamonds of AP:</b>
... Masulipatam, at this kingdom we arrive after departing from Maabar and travelling northward about a thousand miles. It is subject to a queen of great wisdom, whose husband died forty years ago, and her love to him was such that she has never married another. In this kingdom, you must know, is found the diamond ; ...men search through the ground previously inundated, and find the gems. while fierce and venomous serpents inspire great fear; yet those who venture thither discover valuable diamonds....;
Now this is the only country in the world containing these precious stones; and do not suppose that the best come to our Christian countries; they are carried to the great khan {referring to his chinese host} and other lords of those regions, whose ample treasure enables them to purchase these.
<b>Brahmans of Kerala:</b>
...province lying westward of this place, and thence came originally all the Abraiamain in the world. These are the best and most honest of all merchants, and
would not on any account tell a lie. They neither eat flesh nor drink wine, are faithful to their wives, and lead every way very virtuous lives. They take nothing from any one, and do nothing that could be considered a sin. They are all known by a silk thread worn over the shoulder, and tied beneath the opposite arm, so that it passes across both the breast and back. There are among them an order named cuigui {yogi?}, who live to an extraordinary age, even 150 or 200 years, yet can perform all the service of the monastery and idols as well as younger men. This is owing to their great abstinence in eating and drinking; for they subsist mostly on rice and milk.
http://books.google.com/books?id=MCQNAAAAYAAJ
<b>on Bhagwan Gautam Buddha:</b>
... He left the palace, and journeyed into great and trackless mountains, where he spent his whole life virtuously and chastely, observing rigid abstinence; <b>so that had he been a Christian, he must have been a very great saint</b>....
<b>on India:</b>
... When you depart from Seilan, and go westward about sixty miles, you come to the extensive province of Maabar, on the mainland. <b>It is called India, the Greater, and is indeed the noblest and richest country in the whole world</b>... {Seilan - Ceylon}
<b>one king (or even a satrap) he encounters:</b>
... The king ... wears a necklace full set with rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and other precious stones, worth a great treasure. He has also suspended from his neck a silken cord, reaching a pace down, and containing 104 of the largest pearls and most valuable rubies. It is worn because he repeats everyday, morning and evening, 104 prayers in honour of his idols. To this he is bound by his faith and religion, by the example and injunction of his ancestors. He wears also round three parts both of his arms and legs, bracelets of gold, full of goodly stones and pearls. In short, the number of his jewels is surprising, being of more value than a handsome city, and no wonder, since they are all produced in his own dominions. ...The accumulation of treasure, so rare in Europe, is a general policy of oriental princes....
<b>Wonderment at regular bathing of people:</b>
... Both men and women wash the whole body in water twice every day, morning and evening, and till then will neither eat nor drink. He who omits this observance is regarded as we do a heretic. ...
<b>On diamonds of AP:</b>
... Masulipatam, at this kingdom we arrive after departing from Maabar and travelling northward about a thousand miles. It is subject to a queen of great wisdom, whose husband died forty years ago, and her love to him was such that she has never married another. In this kingdom, you must know, is found the diamond ; ...men search through the ground previously inundated, and find the gems. while fierce and venomous serpents inspire great fear; yet those who venture thither discover valuable diamonds....;
Now this is the only country in the world containing these precious stones; and do not suppose that the best come to our Christian countries; they are carried to the great khan {referring to his chinese host} and other lords of those regions, whose ample treasure enables them to purchase these.
<b>Brahmans of Kerala:</b>
...province lying westward of this place, and thence came originally all the Abraiamain in the world. These are the best and most honest of all merchants, and
would not on any account tell a lie. They neither eat flesh nor drink wine, are faithful to their wives, and lead every way very virtuous lives. They take nothing from any one, and do nothing that could be considered a sin. They are all known by a silk thread worn over the shoulder, and tied beneath the opposite arm, so that it passes across both the breast and back. There are among them an order named cuigui {yogi?}, who live to an extraordinary age, even 150 or 200 years, yet can perform all the service of the monastery and idols as well as younger men. This is owing to their great abstinence in eating and drinking; for they subsist mostly on rice and milk.
http://books.google.com/books?id=MCQNAAAAYAAJ