If it isn't demons, idols, and black magic, it's sex -- the most repressed impulse in the Western-Christian tradition.

During and after his time in the court of Kubla Khan, one notices an increased tone of rationality in the narrative. Less exoticized details of the life of people in the Orient begin to emerge, such as food and clothing habit, but the earlier sensationalism is not lost entirely -- perhaps cannot be, as it is such an engrained part of the Western perspective when viewing the sights of Asia. He travels to a region he identifies as "Bengala," which according to Latham is likely Bengal but could possibly be Pegu, which was in the process of being conquered during the time of the Great Khan's court (Latham, 189). Though this passage also contains a brief and simple message about the main sources of sustenance for the people in this region,...
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