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Friar Jordanus; (1329)

Mirabilia Descripta:
(The wonders of the East)
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A reconstruction of Friar Jordanus view of the world

Jordan of Severac (fl. 1280-c. 1330), was a Catalan Dominican missionary and explorer in Asia known for his Mirabilia Descripta describing the marvels of the East. He was the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Quilon, the first Catholic diocese in India. From Catholic traders Jordanus had learnt that Ethiopia (i.e. Abyssinia and Nubia) was accessible to Western Europeans and the earliest Latin missionaries penetrated thither. During a visit to the west, Jordanus probably wrote his Mirabilia, which from internal evidence can only be fixed within the period 1329–1338; in this work he furnished the best account of the three Indian regions, products, climate, manners, customs, fauna and flora.

Taken from one of the several existing translations

In this third India (east Africa) there are birds that are called Roc (1), so big that they easily lift an elephant into the air. I personally met someone who said to have seen one of these birds of which one of its wings had 24 palms long.
In this India there are the real unicorns, big as a horse, with a corn on the head only one but very big and pointed, but short and solid and also marrow. This animal it is said is tough in battle that it can kill an elephant. And it can not be caught except by a young virgin. All the parts of this animal are admirable and usable as medicine.
There are still other animals all different. There are those who resemble cats (2) of which the sweat has such a good smell that it smells better then anything else in the world, it gets collected as follows; when it sweats it rubs a tree the sweat sticks to the tree, dries and people come to harvest and take it away.........
There are snakes, some have horns, other precious stones.
The people of this land are very black, with a big belly, but small, with big lips, flat nosed, protruding and ugly face. In general they walk naked. I've seen many of them. They catch terrible animals, like lions and leopards as well as terrible snakes. They are harder then the wild animals.
In this India one finds amber, which is like wood it also mummifies excessively and is called marine-gem, or precious thing from the sea.
There are a certain kind of animals who resemble a donkey, striped all over with black and white in such a way that one stripe is black and the following white. Those animals are so beautiful that it is marvelous.  

(In his section dealing with India minor = Pakistan + N. India)
There is also another tree of a different variety, who like that one ( the coconut tree) gives always a white liquor as nice to drink as that one, the tree is called tari (or tali) (palm-wine tree) (this tree is indigenous to Africa and imported and cultivated in India. According to Hoernle this is the oldest mention of the tree in India)