Prester John's Letter to Chayyim

Seventy-two kings pay tribute to me. I am a devout Christian and everywhere protect the Christians of our empire, nourishing them with alms. We have made a vow to visit the sepulchre of our Lord with a great army, as befits the glory of our Majesty, to wage war against and chastise the enemies of the cross of Christ, and to exalt his sacred name.

In one of the heathen provinces flows a river called the Physon, which, emerging from Paradise, winds and wanders through the entire province; and in it are found emeralds, sapphires, carbuncles, topazes, chrysolites, onyxes, beryls, sardonyxes, and many other precious stones...

In our hall there dine daily, on our right hand, twelve archbishops, and on our left, twenty bishops, and also the Patriarch of St. Thomas, the Protopapas of Samarkand, and the Archprotopapas of Susa, in which city the throne of our glory and our imperial palace are situated. . . .