The Travels of Sir John Mandeville

India is home to a variety of people, many of whom live in the 5,000 islands near it. Its name comes from the Indus River, which runs through it, and its population rarely travels because of the astrological influence exerted by the planet Saturn. The city Hormuz (Crues) is exceptionally hot and has rocks that exert a magnetic force. Ships containing metal are pulled onto the rocks and stuck.

Mandeville stresses the difference between worshipping simulacres and idols, as some people here worship the former and some the latter. A simulacre is an image of a natural occurrence or historical figure. Worshipping one is a way of honoring God’s creations. An idol is worshipped as a god itself and typically combines the features of many existing things (usually a human and one or more animals, as the human is the image of divinity).

Many Christians reside in the city of Sarche, which Mandeville describes as ‘good’. A neighboring city, Polumbum (i.e., Kollam, on the Malabar Coast), has the Well of Youth, which has water from the Earthly Paradise. Mandeville claims that he and his companions drank from it. Since then, he has felt healthier.