34 Generally, they are all Christians from the time of the doctrine of Blessed St. Thomas, who they say baptised them in three ways: thefirst in in blood; the second fire and the third water, like us; in the baptism with fire they are branded on their foreheads and temples; with water they are baptised like we are; in the baptism with blood many of them are circumcised, and they lack our true faith, because the country is very large and these people live in the mountains far removed from the towns and villages; and the truest Christianity to be found amongst them is that of a large city called Babelmalik, where the king we call Prester John (and the Mouros call the Great Abyssinian) can always be found. Every year on the day of Our Lady, in August, this city holds a big festival, which brings together a considerable number of people, including many kings and great lords. On this day, they take an image from a church, which we do not know if it is of Our Lady, or of St. Bartholomew; and it is lifesize and made of gold, the eyes are two rubies of indescribable value, and its body sparkles with countless precious stones. This image is placed on a golden cart, where they worship and revere it a great deal; Prester John goes out in front of her on another cart covered in gold leaf, very finely dressed in rich gold cloths and sparkling with fine stones. They go out in the morning and make a solemn procession around the city, playing various instruments, amid great festivity, until late when they return in the same order; there are so many people there that many die in the crush to reach the cart with the image. They consider such a death a holy and martyr’s death, and this is why many old men and women and others willingly meet it. This king, Prester John, is very rich and and owns a lot of gold, so much that we do not know of any other king of our times who can rival him in this. And as I said earlier, he brings a beautiful and rich court, and pays a large number of people who always accompany him, which is how he rules over neighbouring kings as I have already said.
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