Zana has already emailed me about my comment as I told her I will tell you guys.
The list Zana had of her spices reminded me of a letter that was sent to Manuel I Komnenos or Emanuel of Constantinople in or around 1165.
It was a letter that was supposedly from a fictitious person called Prester John.
I cant get into the whole thing or post the letter or even a link to it.
What it is is a letter about wild claims of a land far away where Prester John ruled.
In this land there were even wilder claims such as salamanders that lived in fire and so forth.
The crazy part is people believed in it.
Just look up The Letter of Prester John if you may.
Be forewarned if you like history as much as I do you may just get lost for a few years I know I have.
In no way do I doubt the spice list of Zana's it was just the wording that reminded me of the letter.
Here is an excerpt from it.
In one of our lands, hight Zone, are worms called salamanders.
These worms can only live in fire, and they build cocoons like silk-worms which are unwound by the ladies of our palace and spun into cloth and dresses which are worn by our Exaltedness.
These dresses, in order to be cleaned and washed, are cast into flames ...
Before our palace stands a mirror, the ascent to which consists of five and twenty steps of porpyry and serpintine ...
This mirror is guarded day and night by three thousand men. We look therein and behold all that is taking place in every province and region subject to our sceptre.
Seven kings wait upon us monthly, in turn, with sixty-two dukes, two hundred and fifty-six counts and marquises. Twelve archbishops sit at table with us on our right and twenty bishops on the left, besides the patriarch of St. Thomas, the Sarmatian Protopope, and the Archpope of Susa ...
Worth
Worth