People Of Tracota, And Cynocephales, In 'The Travels Of Sir John Mandeville'

The Travels Of Sir John Mandeville' presents itself as an account of China, India, and the Holy Land, written by an Englishman, Sir John Mandeville of St. Albans--who is in fact entirely fictitious. The identity of the true author is not known, but he was probably a mid-14th-century French cleric. The text was available in various versions and various languages, including Latin, French, and Middle English. The dialect of the present manuscript suggests that it was written in East Anglia, perhaps Norfolk. 'Sir John Mandeville' spends parts of his narrative describing the wondrous races and creatures that inhabit the edges of the known world. In the upper miniatures the naked cave-dwelling people of Tracota eat snakes and guard their precious stone, traconite; in the lower miniature dog-headed Cynocephales worship an ox on an altar.