Rubruck, William of (Willem van Ruysbroeck, c. 1210 -c 1270)

Flemish Franciscan monk, William of Rubruck (Willem van Ruysbroeck, c. 1210 -c 1270). Author of the most detailed and valuable of the early Western accounts of the Mongols. William had participated in the crusade of King Louis IX of France to Palestine and there heard about the Mongols from friar Andrew of Longjumeau, a Dominican who had been involved in papal diplomacy aimed at trying to enlist the Mongols in the Christian crusade against the Muslims. Rubruck then decided to undertake his own mission to the Mongols primarily in the hope of promoting their conversion to Christianity.

In 1253 he set out through the lands of the western part of their empire (what we know as the Golden Horde) - that is, starting out through the southern steppes of what is now Ukraine and Russia. His roundtrip journey lasted the better part of three years.

William had the distinction of being the first European to visit the Mongol capital of Karakorum on the Orhon River and return to write about it. He provided a unique description of the Khan's palace there and abundant detail about the individuals of various ethnicities and religions whom he encountered. Understandably, he was particularly interested in the Nestorian Christians. He describes generally with great precision Mongol traditional culture, many features of which have survived amongst the herders one may observe today in inner Asia.

William of Rubruck's Account of the Mongols

The text below is the translation by W. W. Rockhill: The journey of William of Rubruck to the eastern parts of the world, 1253-55, as narrated by himself, with two accounts of the earlier journey of John of Pian de Carpine. tr. from the Latin and ed., with an introductory notice, by William Woodville Rockhill (London: Hakluyt Society, 1900).

Notes and some additional headings have been added, and the text checked against the more recent Hakluyt Society translation, whose extensive notes by two noted Mongol specialists make it the preferred edition for those who wish full scholarly annotation: The mission of Friar William of Rubruck : his journey to the court of the Great Khan Möngke, 1253-1255, tr. by Peter Jackson; introduction, notes and appendices by Peter Jackson with David Morgan (London: Hakluyt Society, 1990). The light annotation provided here has been appropriated from the latter. Alternative translations from the Jackson edition are provided throughout the text in the format [J: alt. translation].

The entire text has been mirrored here to enhance readability, from the 'Historical Texts' section, Silk Road Seattle Project.

General Contents:

Introduction Yurts and their furnishings The Mongols' social and religious customs; celebrations More on food Kumiss (fermented mare's milk, called cosmos by Rubruck) Animals in the Mongols' diet. Clothing Funeral practices Rubruck resumes his travel narrative Nestorians Crossing the Volga

At Khan Batu's court Buddhists and Buddhism More Nestorians Christians at the court of the Khan The Khan's palace at Karakorum Description of Karakorum Religious debate at court Rubruck's final audience at court Religious customs The Khan's letter to the King of France Rubruck's return journey

O the most excellent lord and most Christian Louis, by the grace of God illustrious King of the French, from Friar William of Rubruck, the meanest in the order of Minor Friars, greetings, and may he always triumph in Christ. It is written in Ecclesiasticus of the wise man: "He shall go through the land of foreign peoples, and shall try the good and evil in all things." This, my lord King, have I done, and may it have been as a wise man and not as a fool; for many do what the wise man doth, though not wisely, but most foolishly; of this number I fear I may be. Nevertheless in whatever way I may have done, since you commanded me when I took my leave of you that I should write you whatever I should see among the Tartars, and you did also admonish me not to fear writing a long letter, so I do what you enjoined on me, with fear, however, and diffidence, for the proper words that I should write to so great a monarch do not suggest themselves to me.

Be it known then to your Sacred Majesty that in the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and fifty-three, on the Nones of May (7th May), I entered the Sea of Pontus, which is commonly called Mare Majus, or the Greater Sea, and it is one thousand four hundred miles in length, as I learnt from merchants, and is divided as it were into two parts. For about the middle of it there are two points of land, the one in the north and the other in the south. That which is in the south is called Sinopolis, and is a fortress and a port of the Soldan of Turkia [=the Seljuk sultan of Rum]; while that which is in the north is a certain province now called by the Latins Gazaria [=Khazaria; the modern Crimea], but by the Greeks who inhabit along its sea coast it is called Cassaria, which is Cesaria. And there are certain promontories projecting out into the sea to the south toward Sinopolis; and there are three hundred miles between Sinopolis and Cassaria, and so there are seven hundred miles from these points to Constantinople in length and breadth, and seven hundred to the east, which is Hyberia [=Iberia], that is to say, the province of Georgia.

So we made sail for the province of Gazaria, or Cassaria, which is about triangular in shape, having on its west side a city called Kersona [=Cherson; modern Sevestopol], where Saint Clement was martyred. And as we were sailing past it we saw an island on which is a temple said to have been built by angelic hands. In the middle, at the summit of the triangle as it were, on the south side, is a city called Soldaia, which looketh across towards Sinopolis: and thither come all the merchants arriving from northern countries, and likewise those coming from Roscia [=Russia] and the northern countries who wish to pass into Turkia. The latter carry vair and minever, and other costly furs: the others (the former) carry cloths of cotton or bombax, silk stuffs and sweet-smelling spices. To the east of this province is a city called Matrica, where the river Tanais [=Don R.] falls into the sea of Pontus [=Black Sea], through an opening twelve miles wide. For this river, before it enters the sea of Pontus, forms a kind of sea to the north which has a width and breadth of seven hundred miles, with nowhere a depth of over six paces, so large vessels do not enter it, but the merchants of Constantinople who visit the said city of Matrica send their barks as far as the River Tanais to buy dried fish, such as sturgeon, barbell and tench [J: shad (and) eel-pout], and other fishes in infinite varieties. The said province of Cassaria is therefore encompassed by the sea on three sides: to wit, on the west, where is Kersona, the city of Clement, and to the south where is the city of Soldaia, to which we were steering, and which makes the apex of the province, and to the east by the sea of Tanais [J adds: where the city of Matrica and the mouth of the Sea of Tanais are situated]. Beyond this opening is Zikuia, which does not obey the Tartars [J: which is not subject to the Tartars], and to the east (of that) are the Suevi and Hiberi, who do not obey the Tartars. After that, to the south, is Trapesund [=Trebizond], which hath its own lord, Guido by name, who is of the family of the emperors of Constantinople, and he obeyeth the Tartars. After that is the country of Vastacius, whose son is called Ascar after his maternal grandfather, and who is not subject (to them). From the opening (of the sea) of Tanais to the west as far as the Danube all is theirs (i.e., the Tartars'), even beyond the Danube towards Constantinople, Blakia [=Wallachia], which is the land of Assan [= Asên, the ruling dynasty of Bulgaria], and minor Bulgaria as far as Sclavonia, all pay them tribute; and besides the regular tribute, they have taken in the past few years from each house one axe and all the iron which they found unwrought.

We arrived then in Soldaia on the 12th of the calends of June (May 21st), and there had preceded us certain merchants of Constantinople, who had said that envoys from the Holy Land were coming who wished to go to Sartach [=the son of the ruler of the Mongols' western forces, Batu (d.1255/6)]. I had, however, publicly preached on Palm Sunday (April 12th) [J: April 13th] in Saint Sophia that I was not an envoy, neither yours nor anyone's, but that I was going among these unbelievers according to the rule of our order. So when I arrived these said merchants cautioned me to speak guardedly, for they had said that I was an envoy, and if I said I was not an envoy I would not be allowed to pass [J: if I denied I was an envoy I should not be provided with safe-conduct]. So I spoke in the following way to the captains [J: "prefects" (Lat. capitaneos)] of the city, or rather to the substitutes of the captains, for the captains had gone to Baatu during the winter bearing the tribute, and had not yet returned : " We have heard say in the Holy Land that your Lord Sartach is a Christian, and greatly were the Christians rejoiced thereat, and chiefly so the most Christian lord the King of the French, who has come thither on a pilgrimage and is fighting against the Saracens [=Muslims] to wrench the holy places from out their hands: it is for this I wish to go to Sartach, and carry to him the letters of the lord king, in which he admonisheth him of the weal of all Christendom." And they received us right favorably, and gave us lodgings in the episcopal church. And the bishop of this church had been to Sartach, and he told me much good of Sartach, which I later on did not discover myself.

Then they gave us the choice whether we would have carts with oxen to carry our effects, or sumpter horses. And the merchants of Constantinople advised me to take carts, and that I should buy the regular covered carts such as the Ruthenians [=Russians] carry their furs in, and in these I could put such of our things as I would not wish to unload every day; should I take horses it would be necessary to unload them at each stopping-place and to load other horses; and furthermore I should be able to ride more slowly following the gait of the oxen. Then I accepted their advice, unfortunately, however, for I was two months on the way to Sartach, which I might have traveled in one had I gone with horses.

I had brought with me from Constantinople, on the advice of merchants, fruits, muscadel wine and dainty biscuits to present to the first captains (of the Tartars), so that my way might be made easier, for among them no one is looked upon in a proper way who comes with empty hands. All these things I put in one of the carts, since I had not found the captains of the city, and I was told they would be most acceptable to Sartach if I could carry them to him that far. We set out on our journey about the calends of June (1st June [1253]) with our four covered carts and two others which were lent us by them and in which was carried bedding to sleep on at night. And they gave us also five horses to ride, for us five persons, myself, and my companion Friar Bartholomew of Cremona, and Gosset the bearer of the presents [J (correcting Rockhill): "the bearer of this letter" (Near the end of the narrative we learn that Rubruck was detained in Acre in Palastine and sent the narrative to King Loius via Gosset], and Homo Dei the dragoman [interpreter], and the boy Nicholas whom I had bought at Constantinople by means of your charity. They gave us also two men who drove the carts and looked after the oxen and horses.

Now from Kersona all the way to the mouth of the Tanais there are high promontories along the sea, and there are forty hamlets between Kersona and Soldaia, nearly every one of which has its own language; among them were many Goths, whose language is Teutonic.

Beyond these mountains to the north is a most beautiful forest, in a plain full of springs and rivulets, and beyond this forest is a mighty plain which stretches out for five days to the border of this province to the north, where it contracts, having the sea to the east and the west, so that there is a great ditch from one sea to the other. In this plain used to live Comans before the Tartars came, and they forced the cities referred to and the forts to pay them tribute; but when the Tartars came such a multitude of Comans entered this province, all of whom fled to the shore of the sea, that they ate one another, the living the dying, as was told me by a certain merchant who saw it, the living devouring and tearing with their teeth the raw flesh of the dead, as dogs do corpses. Toward the end of this province are many and large lakes, on whose shores are brine springs, the water of which as soon as it enters the lake is turned into salt as hard as ice. And from these brine springs Baatu and Sartach derive great revenues, for from all Ruscia they come thither for salt, and for each cartload they give two pieces of cotton worth half an yperpera. There come there also by sea many ships for salt, and all contribute according to the quantity (they take) [J: according to their capacity].

After having left Soldaia we came on the third day across the Tartars, and when I found myself among them it seemed to me of a truth that I had been transported into another century [J: I really felt as if I were entering some other world]. I will describe to you as well as I can their mode of living and manners.

[Yurts and their furnishings]

Nowhere have they fixed dwelling-places, nor do they know where their next will be [J: Nowhere have they any 'lasting city'; and of 'the one to come' they have no knowledge (cf. Heb. 13:14)]. They have divided among themselves Cithia [=Sythia], which extendeth from the Danube to the rising of the sun ; and every captain, according as he hath more or less men under him, knows the limits of his pasture land and where to graze in winter and summer, spring and autumn. For in winter they go down to warmer regions in the south: in summer they go up to cooler towards the north. The pasture lands without water they graze over in winter when there is snow there, for the snow serveth them as water. They set up the dwelling in which they sleep on a circular frame of interlaced sticks converging into a little round hoop on the top, from which projects above a collar as a chimney, and this (framework) they cover over with white felt. Frequently they coat the felt with chalk, or white clay, or powdered bone, to make it appear whiter, and sometimes also (they make the felt) black. The felt around this collar on top they decorate with various pretty designs. Before the entry they also suspend felt ornamented with various embroidered designs in color [J: they hang up in front of the entrance felt patchwork in various patterns] . For they embroider the felt, colored or otherwise, making vines and trees, birds and beasts.

And they make these houses so large that they are sometimes thirty feet in width. I myself once measured the width between the wheel-tracks of a cart twenty feet, and when the house was on the cart it projected beyond the wheels on either side five feet at least. I have myself counted to one cart twenty-two oxen drawing one house, eleven abreast across the width of the cart, and the other eleven before them. The axle of the cart was as large as the mast of a ship, and one man stood in the entry of the house on the cart driving the oxen.

Furthermore they weave light twigs into squares of the size of a large chest, and over it from one end to the other they put a turtle-back [J: carapace] also of twigs, and in the front end they make a little doorway; and then they cover this coffer or little house with black felt coated with tallow or ewe's milk, so that the rain cannot penetrate it, and they decorate it likewise with embroidery work. And in such coffers they put all their bedding and valuables, and they tie them tightly on high carts drawn by camels, so that they can cross rivers (without getting wet). Such coffers they never take off the cart.

When they set down their dwelling-houses, they always turn the door to the south' and after that they place the carts with coffers on either side near the house at a half stone's throw, so that the dwelling stands between two rows of carts as between two walls. The matrons make for themselves most beautiful (luggage) carts, which I would not know how to describe to you unless by a drawing, and I would depict them all to you if I knew how to paint. A single rich Mo'al or Tartar has quite one hundred or two hundred such carts with coffers. Baatu has twenty-six wives, each of whom has a large dwelling, exclusive of the other little ones which they set up after the big one, and which are like closets, in which the sewing girls live, and to each of these (large) dwellings are attached quite two hundred carts. And when they set up their houses, the first wife places her dwelling on the extreme west side, and after her the others according to their rank, so that the last wife will be in the extreme east ; and there will be the distance of a stone's throw between the iurt of one wife and that of another. The ordu of a rich Mo'al seems like a large town, though there will be very few men in it. One girl will lead twenty or thirty carts, for the country is flat, and they tie the ox or camel carts the one after the other, and a girl will sit on the front one driving the ox, and all the others follow after with the same gait. Should it happen that they come to some bad piece of road, they untie them, and take them across one by one. So they go along slowly, as a sheep or an ox might walk.

When they have fixed their dwelling, the door turned to the south, they set up the couch of the master on the north side. The side for the women is always the east side, that is to say, on the left of the house of the master, he sitting on his couch his face turned to the south. The side for the men is the west side, that is, on the right. Men coming into the house would never hang up their bows on the side of the woman.

[The Mongols' social and religious customs; celebrations]

And over the head of the master is always an image of felt, like a doll or statuette, which they call the brother of the master: another similar one is above the head of the mistress, which they call the brother of the mistress, and they are attached to the wall: and higher up between the two of them is a little lank one (macilenta), who is, as it were, the guardian of the whole dwelling. The mistress places in her house on her right side, in a conspicuous place at the foot of her couch, a goat-skin full of wool or other stuff, and beside it a very little statuette looking in the direction of attendants and women. Beside the entry on the woman's side is yet another image, with a cow's tit for the women, who milk the cows: for it is part of the duty of the women to milk the cows. On the other side of the entry, toward the men, is another statue with a mare's tit for the men who milk the mares.

And when they have come together to drink, they first sprinkle with liquor this image which is over the master's head, then the other images in order. Then an attendant goes out of the dwelling with a cup and liquor, and sprinkles three times to the south, each time bending the knee, and that to do reverence to the fire; then to the east, and that to do reverence to the air; then to the west to do reverence to the water; to the north they sprinkle for the dead. When the master takes the cup in hand and is about to drink, he first pours a portion on the ground. If he were to drink seated on a horse, he first before he drinks pours a little on the neck or the mane of the horse. Then when the attendant has sprinkled toward the four quarters of the world he goes back into the house, where two attendants are ready, with two cups and platters to carry drink to the master and the wife seated near him upon the couch. And when he hath several wives [J: as he has more than one wife], she with whom he hath slept that night sits beside him in the day, and it becometh all the others to come to her dwelling that day to drink, and court is held there that day, and the gifts which are brought that day are placed in the treasury of that lady. A bench with a skin of milk, or some other drink, and with cups, stands in the entry.

In winter they make a capital drink of rice, of millet, and of honey, ; it is clear as wine : and wine is carried to them from remote parts. In summer they care only for cosmos. There is always cosmos near the house, before the entry door, and beside it stands a guitar-player with his guitar. Lutes and vielles [i.e. guitars] such as we have I did not see there, but many other instruments which are unknown among us. And when the master begins to drink, then one of the attendants cries with a loud voice, "Ha!" and the guitarist strikes his guitar, and when they have a great feast they all clap their hands, and also dance about to the sound of the guitar, the men before the master, the women before the mistress. And when the master has drunken, then the attendant cries as before, and the guitarist stops. Then they drink all around, and sometimes they do drink right shamefully and gluttonly [J: Then they all drink in turn, men and women alike, and at times compete with one another in quaffing in a thoroughly distasteful and greedy fashion]. And when they want to challenge anyone to drink, they take hold of him by the ears, and pull so as to distend his throat, and they clan and dance before him. Likewise, when they want to make a great feasting and jollity with someone, one takes a full cup, and two others are on his right and left, and thus these three come singing and dancing towards him who is to take the cup, and they sing and dance before him ; and when he holds out his hand to take the cup, they quickly draw it back, and then again they come back as before, and so they elude him three or four times by drawing away the cup, till he hath become well excited and is in good appetite [J: has a good thirst], and then they give him the cup, and while he drinks they sing and clap their hands and strike with their feet [J: ...they give him the goblet, singing and clapping and stamping their feet until he is drunk].

[Kumiss (fermented mare's milk, called cosmos by Rubruck).]

This cosmos, which is mare's milk, is made in this wise. They stretch a long rope on the ground fixed to two stakes stuck in the ground, and to this rope they tie toward the third hour the colts of the mares they want to milk. Then the mothers stand near their foal, and allow themselves to be quietly milked; and if one be too wild, then a man takes the colt and brings it to her, allowing it to suck a little; then he takes it away and the milker takes its place. When they have got together a great quantity of milk, which is as sweet as cow's as long as it is fresh, they pour it into a big skin or bottle, and they set to churning it with a stick prepared for that purpose, and which is as big as a man's head at its lower extremity and hollowed out; and when they have beaten it sharply it begins to boil up like new wine and to sour or ferment, and they continue to churn it until they have extracted the butter. Then they taste it, and when it is mildly pungent, they drink it. It is pungent on the tongue like râpé wine [i.e., a wine of inferior quality] when drunk, and when a man has finished drinking, it leaves a taste of milk of almonds on the tongue, and it makes the inner man most joyful and also intoxicates weak heads, and greatly provokes urine. They also make cara cosmos that is "black cosmos," for the use of the great lords. It is for the following reason that mare's milk curdles not. It is a fact that (the milk) of no animal will curdle in the stomach of whose fetus is not found curdled milk. In the stomach of mares' colts it is not found, so the milk of mares curdles not. They churn then the milk until all the thicker parts go straight to the bottom, like the dregs of wine, and the pure part remains on top, and it is like whey or white must. The dregs are very white, and they are given to the slaves, and they provoke much to sleep. This clear (liquor) the lords drink, and it is assuredly a most agreeable drink and most efficacious. Baatu has thirty men around his camp at a day's distance, each of whom sends him every day such milk of a hundred mares, that is to say every day the milk of three thousand mares, exclusive of the other white milk which they carry to others. As in Syria the peasants give a third of their produce, so it is these (Tartars) must bring to the ordu of their lords the milk of every third day. As to cow's milk they first extract the butter, then they boil it down perfectly dry, after which they put it away in sheep paunches which they keep for that purpose; and they put no salt in the butter, for on account of the great boiling down it spoils not. And they keep this for the winter. What remains of the milk after the butter they let sour as much as can be, and they boil it, and it curdles in boiling, and the curd they dry in the sun, and it becomes as hard as iron slag, and they put it away in bags for the winter. In winter time, when milk fails them, they put this sour curd, which they call gruit, in a skin and pour water on it, and churn it vigorously till it dissolves in the water, which is made sour by it, and this water they drink instead of milk. They are most careful not to drink pure water.

[Animals in the Mongols' diet]

The great lords have villages in the south, from which millet and flour are brought to them for the winter. The poor procure (these things) by trading sheep and pelts. The slaves fill their bellies with dirty water, and with this they are content. They catch also rats, of which many kinds abound here. Rats with long tails they eat not, but give them to their birds. They eat mice and all kinds of rats which have short tails. There are also many marmots, which are called sogur, and which congregate in one hole in winter, twenty or thirty together, and sleep for six months; these they catch in great numbers. There are also conies, with a long tail like a cat's, and on the end of the tail they have black and white hairs. They have also many other kinds of small animals good to eat, which they know very well how to distinguish. I saw no deer there. I saw few hares, many gazelles. Wild asses I saw in great numbers, and these are like mules. I saw also another kind of animal which is called arcali[=a wild sheep], which has quite the body of a sheep, and horns bent like a ram's, but of such size that I could hardly lift the two horns with one hand, and they make of these horns big cups. They have hawks and peregrine falcons in great numbers, which they all carry on their right hand. And they always put a little thong around the hawk's neck, which hangs down to the middle of its breast, by which, when they cast it at its prey, they pull down with the left hand the head and breast of the hawk, so that it be not struck by the wind and carried upward. So it is that they procure a large part of their food by the chase. When they want to chase wild animals, they gather together in a great multitude and surround the district in which they know the game to be, and gradually they come closer to each other till they have shut up the game in among them as in an enclosure, and then they shoot them with their arrows.

[Clothing]

Of their clothing and customs [J: clothing and appearance] you must know, that from Cataia [=China], and other regions of the east, and also from Persia and other regions of the south, are brought to them silken and golden stuffs and cloth of cotton, which they wear in summer. From Ruscia, Moxel, and from Greater Bulgaria [=a region in the middle Volga, not to be confused with minor Bulgaria mentioned above] and Pascatir [a region between the upperl Volga and Ural R.], which is greater Hungary, and Kerkis [=Kerghiz], all of which are countries to the north and full of forests, and which obey them, are brought to them costly furs of many kinds, which I never saw in our parts, and which they wear in winter. And they always make in winter at least two fur gowns, one with the fur against the body, the other with the fur outside exposed to the wind and snow; these latter are usually of the skins of wolves or foxes or papions [J: lynx]; and while they sit in the dwelling they have another lighter one. The poor make their outside (gowns) of dog and kid (skins).

They make also breeches with furs. The rich furthermore wad their clothing with silk stuffing, which is extraordinarily soft, light and warm. The poor line their clothes with cotton cloth, or with the fine wool which they are able to pick out of the coarser. With this coarser they make felt to cover their houses and coffers, and also for bedding. With wool and a third of horse hair mixed with it they make their ropes. They also make with felt covers [both] saddle-cloths and rain cloaks; so they use a great deal of wool. You have seen the costume of the men.

The men shave a square on the tops of their heads, and from the front corners (of this square) they continue the shaving to the temples, passing along both sides of the head. They shave also the temples and the back of the neck to the top of the cervical cavity, and the forehead as far as the crown of the head, on which they leave a tuft of hair which falls down to the eyebrows. They leave the hair on the sides of the head, and with it they make tresses which they plait together to the ears.

And the dress of the girls differs not from the costume of the men, except that it is somewhat longer. But on the day following her marriage, (a woman) shaves the front half of her head, and puts on a tunic as wide as a nun's gown, but everyway larger and longer, open before, and tied on the right side. For in this the Tartars differ from the Turks; the Turks tie their gowns on the left, the Tartars always on the right. Furthermore they have a head-dress, which they call bocca, made of bark, or such other light material as they can find, and it is big and as much as two hands can span around, and is a cubit and more high, and square like the capital of a column. This bocca they cover with costly silk stuff, and it is hollow inside, and on top of the capital, or the square on it, they put a tuft of quills or light canes also a cubit or more in length. And this tuft they ornament at the top with peacock feathers, and round the edge (of the top) with feathers from the mallard's tail, and also with precious stones. The wealthy ladies wear such an ornament on their heads, and fasten it down tightly with an amess [J: a fur hood], for which there is an opening in the top for that purpose, and inside they stuff their hair, gathering it together on the back of the tops of their heads in a kind of knot, and putting it in the bocca, which they afterwards tie down tightly under the chin. So it is that when several ladies are riding together, and one sees them from afar, they look like soldiers, helmets on head and lances erect. For this bocca looks like a helmet, and the tuft above it is like a lance. And all the women sit their horses astraddle like men. And they tie their gowns with a piece of blue silk stuff at the waist and they wrap another band at the breasts, and tie a piece of white stuff below the eyes which hangs down to the breast. And the women there are wonderfully [J: astonishingly] fat, and she who has the least nose is held the most beautiful. They disfigure themselves horribly by painting their faces. They never lie down in bed when having their children.

It is the duty of the women to drive the carts, get the dwellings on and off them, milk the cows, make butter and gruit, and to dress and sew skins, which they do with a thread made of tendons. They divide the tendons into fine shreds, and then twist them into one long thread. They also sew the boots, the socks and the clothing. They never wash clothes, for they say that God would be angered thereat, and that it would thunder if they hung them up to dry. They will even beat those they find washing them [J: they thrash anyone doing laundry and confiscate it]. Thunder they fear extraordinarily; and when it thunders they will turn out of their dwellings all strangers, wrap themselves in black felt, and thus hide themselves till it has passed away. Furthermore, they never wash their bowls, but when the meat is cooked they rinse out the dish in which they are about to put it with some of the boiling broth from the kettle, which they pour back into it. They also make the felt and cover the houses.

The men make bows and arrows, manufacture stirrups and bits, make saddles, do the carpentering on (the framework of) their dwellings and the carts; they take care of the horses, milk the mares, churn the cosmos or mare's milk, make the skins in which it is put; they also look after the camels and load them. Both sexes look after the sheep and goats, sometimes the men, other times the women, milking them.

They dress skins with a thick mixture of sour ewe's milk and salt. When they want to wash their hands or head, they fill their mouths with water, which they let trickle on to their hands, and in this way they also wet their hair and wash their heads.

As to their marriages, you must know that no one among them has a wife unless he buys her; so it sometimes happens that girls are well past marriageable age [J: are very mature] before they marry, for their parents always keep them until they sell them. They observe the first and second degrees of consanguinity, but no degree of affinity; thus (one person) will have at the same time or successively two sisters. Among them no widow marries, for the following reason: they believe that all who serve them in this life shall serve them in the next, so as regards a widow they believe that she will always return to her first husband after death. Hence this shameful custom prevails among them, that sometimes a son takes to wife all his father's wives, except his own mother; for the ordu of the father and mother always belongs to the youngest son, so it is he who must provide for all his father's wives who come to him with the paternal household, and if he wishes it he uses them as wives, for he esteems not himself injured if they return to his father after death. When then anyone has made a bargain with another to take his daughter, the father of the girl gives a feast, and the girl flees to her relatives and hides there. Then the father says: "Here, my daughter is yours: take her wheresoever you find her." Then he searches for her with his friends till he finds her, and he must take her by force and carry her off with a semblance of violence to his house.

As to their justice you must know that when two men fight together no one dares interfere, even a father dare not aid a son ; but he who has the worse of it may appeal to the court of the lord, and if anyone touches him after the appeal, he is put to death. But action must be taken at once without any delay, and the injured one must lead him (who has offended) as a captive. They inflict capital punishment on no one unless he be taken in the act or confesses. When one is accused by a number of persons, they torture him so that he confesses. They punish homicide with capital punishment, and also co-habiting with a woman not one's own. By not one's own, [I] mean not his wife or bondwoman, for with one's slaves one may do as one pleases. They also punish with death grand larceny, but as for petty thefts, such as that of a sheep, so long as one has not repeatedly been taken in the act, they beat him cruelly, and if they administer a hundred blows they must use a hundred sticks: I speak of the case of those beaten under order of authority [J: those who have been sentenced to a beating by the court]. In like manner false envoys, that is to say persons who pass themselves off as ambassadors but who are not, are put to death. Likewise sorcerers, of whom I shall however tell you more, for such they consider to be witches.

[Rubruck resumes his travel narrative]

When therefore we found ourselves among these barbarians, it seemed to me, as I said before, that I had been transported into another world. They surrounded us on their horses, after having made us wait for a long while seated in the shade under our carts. The first question was whether we had ever been among them before. Having answered that we had not, they began to beg most impudently for some of our provisions. We gave them some of the biscuit and wine that we had brought with us from the city, and when they had drunk one flagon they asked for another, saying that a man enters not a house with one foot only; but we gave it not, excusing ourselves on the score of the smallness of our stock. Then they asked whence we came and where we wanted to go. I told them what I have already said: that we had heard that Sartach was a Christian, and that I wanted to go to him, for I had your letters [J: letter] to deliver to him [*The Rockhill edition consistently renders the plural while Jackson renders singular. I have changed the number to singular throughout the remainder of the narrative]. They made most diligent inquiry whether I was going of my own free will, or whether I was sent. I answered that no one forced me to go, nor would I go if I did not want to, so I was going of my own free will, and also of the will of my superior. I was most careful never to say that I was your ambassador. Then they asked me what was in the carts, whether it was gold or silver or costly clothing that I was taking to Sartach. I answered that Sartach would see for himself what we were bringing to him when we reached him, but that it was none of their business to ask: they should have me shown to their captain, and that he, if it so pleased him, should have me taken to Sartach, otherwise I would go back.

Now there was in that province a relative of Baatu, a captain by the name of Scatay [=Scacatai], to whom the lord emperor of Constantinople was sending (by me) letters that I be allowed to pass. So they agreed (to do as I asked), supplying us with horses and oxen, and two men to guide us ; and those who had brought us went back. Before, however, giving us all this, they kept us waiting for along time, begging of our bread for their little ones, admiring everything they saw on our servants, knives, gloves, purses and belts, and wanting everything. I excused myself [J: I refused] on the plea that we had a long journey before us, and that we could not at the start deprive ourselves of necessary things. Then they called me an impostor. It is true that they took nothing by force; but they beg in the most importunate and impudent way for whatever they see, and if a person gives to them, it is so much lost, for they are ungrateful. They consider themselves the masters of the world, and it seems to them that there is nothing that anyone has the right to refuse them: if he refuses to give, and after that has need of their service, they serve him badly. They gave us to drink of their cow's milk, from which the butter had been taken ; it was very sour, and is what they call aira. And thus we left them, and it seemed to me that we had escaped from the midst of devils [J: clutches of demons]. On the next day we came to their captain.

For two months, from the time we left Soldaia to when we came to Sartach, we never slept in a house or tent, but always in the open air or under our carts; and we never saw a city, but only Comans' tombs in very great numbers.

That evening the man who was guiding us gave us cosmos to drink, and at the taste of it I broke out in a sweat with horror and surprise, for I had never drunk of it. It seemed to me, however, very palatable, as it really is.

In the morning then we came across the carts of Scatay carrying the dwellings, and it seemed to me that a city was coming towards me. I was also astonished at the size of the herds of oxen and horses and flocks of sheep, though I saw but few men to manage them. So I asked how many men (Scatay) had under him, and I was told that there were not over five hundred, of whom we had passed half at another camp. Then the man who guided us began telling me that I must give something to Scatay [J: that he ought to give something to Scatay], and he made us stop while he went ahead to announce our coming. It was already past the third hour, so they set down their dwellings near some water, and (Scatay's) interpreter came to us, and as soon as he learnt that we had never been among them before he begged of our provisions, and we gave him some. He wanted also a gown, for he was to act as translator of our words in the presence of his master. We excused ourselves. He asked what we were bringing to his master, so we got a flagon of wine and filled a small basket with biscuits and a plate with apples and other fruit, but he was not pleased because we were not taking some costly tissue [J: cloth]. However we went with this in fear and trembling. (Scatay) was seated on his couch, with a little guitar in his hand, and his wife was beside him; and in truth it seemed to me that her whole nose had been cut off, for she was so snub-nosed that she seemed to have no nose at all; and she had greased this part of her face with some black unguent, and also her eyebrows, so that she appeared most hideous to us. Then I spoke to him in the terms previously used, for it was essential that we should everywhere say the same thing; out this we had been well cautioned by those who had been among them, never to change what we said. Then I begged him to be pleased to accept these trifles of us, excusing myself, being a monk and not allowed by my Order [i.e. the Franciscans] to own gold or silver or costly robes: so I had nothing of the sort to give him, only of our food to offer him for a blessing. Then he had the things accepted, and once distributed among his men who had gathered there to drink. I also gave him the letter from the emperor of Constantinople. This was on the octave of Ascension (5th June [1253]). He at once sent them to Soldaia, to be translated there, for they were in Greek, and had no one with him who knew the Greek language. He asked us if we would drink cosmos, or mare's milk; for the Christians, Ruthenians, Greeks and Alans who live among them, and who wish to follow strictly their religion, drink it not ; for of a truth they consider themselves to be no longer Christians if they drink it, and the priests have to bring them back into the fold as if they had denied the faith of Christ. Then I made answer that we had had enough of our own to drink so far, but that if that liquor should give out, we should have to drink what he gave us. He asked about the contents of the letter we were sending [J: the letter you were sending] to Sartach. I told him that the sealed ones were our bulls [J: I said that your letter was sealed] but that there was naught in them but good and friendly words. He then asked what we would say to Sartach. I answered: "Words of the Christian faith." He asked which, for he would be pleased to hear them [J: 'What are they?' he inquired, since he was eager to hear them]. Then I expounded to him as well as I could through my interpreter, who was neither over intelligent nor fluent, the symbol [J: creed] of the faith. When he had heard it, he remained silent, but wagged his head. Then, having made choice of two men to watch over us, and over the horses and oxen, he made us drive about with him until the return of the messenger whom he had sent to have the letter of the emperor translated, and we went about with him until the day after Pentecost (8th June [J: June 9th]).

On Pentecost eve (6th June [J: June 7th]) there came to us certain Alans, who are there called Aas, and they are Christians according to the Greek rite, and use the Greek writing and have Greek priests. They are not however schismatics like the Greeks, for without any respect to persons they honor all Christians. And they brought us cooked meats, begging us to eat of their food, and to pray for one of theirs who had died. Then I told them that it was the eve of a great festival, and that on that day we did not eat meat, and I told them of the festival, at which they were much pleased, for they were in ignorance of what concerned the Christian rite, the name of Christ alone excepted. And they and many other Christians, Ruthenians and Hungarians asked whether they could be saved, for they had to drink cosmos and eat carrion and beasts slaughtered by Saracens and infidels, which those Greek and Ruthenian priests consider about the same as carrion, or sacrifices to idols; and because they did not know the facts, neither could they keep them if they did know. Then I explained to them as well as I could, teaching them and comforting [J: strengthening] them in the faith. The meat which they had brought we kept for the feast day, for we could find nothing to buy with gold and silver, but only with linen or other tissues, and of those we had none. When our servants showed the yperpera [=a Byzantine gold coin], they rubbed them with their fingers, and put them to their noses to smell if they were copper. Neither did they (i.e., the Mongols) give us food, but only cow's milk, very sour and bad-smelling. Our wine was about exhausted [J: Our wine had by now run out], and the water was so muddy from the horses that it was not drinkable; had it not been for the biscuits we had, and God's mercy, we should probably have perished.

On the day of Pentecost (7th June [J: June 8th]) a certain Saracen came to us, and while in conversation with us, we began expounding the faith, and when he heard of the blessings of God to man in the incarnation, the resurrection of the dead and the last judgment, the washing away of sins in baptism, he said he wished to be baptized; but while we were making ready to baptize him he suddenly jumped on his horse saying he had to go home to consult with his wife. And the next day talking with us he said he could not possibly venture to receive baptism, for then he could not drink cosmos. For the Christians of these parts say that no true Christian should drink, but that without this drink it were impossible to live in these deserts. From this opinion I could not possibly turn him. So you will see how far they are astray from the true faith through this opinion, which has been implanted among them by the Ruthenians, of whom there are great numbers there.

On this same day this captain (Scatay) gave us a man to guide us to Sartach, and two to take us to a camp which was five days off, as oxen travel. And they gave us also a goat for food, and several skins of cows, milk, but only a little cosmos, for it is held very precious among them. And so we set out due north, and it seemed to me that we had passed through one of the gates of hell. The men who conducted us began robbing us in the most audacious manner, for they saw that we took but little care. Finally, after losing a number of things, vexation made us wise.

We came finally to the end of this province (of Gazaria), which is closed by a ditch (running) from one sea to the other, and outside of it was the camp of these (Mongols); and when we came among them they were such horrible looking creatures that they seemed like lepers. They were stationed there to collect the tax from those who get sail from the salt lakes [J: salt springs] of which I have already spoken. From this point we should have to travel fifteen days, they said without seeing anyone. We drank cosmos with them, and gave them a basket full of biscuits; and they gave the eight of us a goat for the whole long journey, and I know not how many skins of cow's milk. So having changed horses and oxen we set out, and in ten days covered the distance to the next camp; and along whole route we only found water in holes made in hollows with the exception of two small streams. And we were traveling due east from the time we left this province of Gazaria, having the sea to the south and a vast wilderness to the north, which extends in places over thirty days in breadth; and in it is neither forest, nor hill, nor stone, but only the finest pasturage. Here the Comans, who are called Capchat, used to pasture their flocks; the Teutons, however, call them Valans, and the province Valania. It is stated however by Isidorus [=Isidore (d. ca. CE 636): bishop of Seville who's varied works included histories of the Goths, Vandals and Sueves] that Alania extends from the river Tanais to the Palus Maeotis and the Danube; and this country which extends from the Danube to the Tanais (which is the boundary between Asia and Europe), and which it takes two months hard riding, as ride the Tartars, to cross, was all inhabited by the Capchat Comans, as was also that beyond the Tanais [=Don R.] to the Etilia [=Volga R.], between which two rivers are ten good days. To the north of province lies Ruscia, which is everywhere covered with forests, and extends from Poland and Hungary to the Tanais, and it was all ravaged by the Tartars, and is still being ravaged every day. For the Tartars prefer the Saracens to the Ruthenians, who are Christians, and when the latter can give no more gold or silver they drive them off to the wilds, them and their little ones, like flocks of sheep, there to herd their cattle. Beyond Ruscia to the north is Pruscia, which has all been recently conquered by the Teutonic knights; and of a truth they might readily acquire Ruscia, if they would put their hand to it, for should the Tartars hear that the great priest, that is the Pope, was about to make a crusade against them, they would all flee to their deserts.

We traveled eastward, seeing nothing but the sky and the earth, only now and then to our right the sea which is called Sea of Tanais, and tombs of Comans visible two leagues off, on account of the custom of burying the whole of a family in one spot. As long as we were in the desert; it fared well with us, but such misery as I had to suffer when we came to inhabited places, words fail me to express. For our guide wanted me to meet every captain with a present, but our supplies sufficed not for that, for daily we were eight persons eating our bread, without counting those who came by hazard, who all wanted to eat with us. There were five of us, and the three who were conducting us, two driving the carts and one going with us to Sartach. The meat they had given us was insufficient, and we could find nothing to buy with money. To add to this, when we were seated in the shade under our carts, for the heat was intense at that season, they pushed in most importunately among us, to the point of crushing us, in their eagerness to see all our things. If they were seized with a desire to void their stomachs, they did not go away from us farther than one can throw a bean: they did their filthiness right beside us while talking together, and much more they did which was vexatious beyond measure. Above all this, however, I was distressed because I could do no preaching to them; the interpreter would say to me: "You cannot make me preach, I do not know the proper words to use." And he spoke the truth; for after awhile, when I had learned something of the language, I saw that when I said one thing, he said a totally different one, according to what came uppermost in his mind. So, seeing the danger of speaking through him, I made up my mind to keep silence.

We traveled along then in great distress from stage to stage [J: camp to camp] till a few days before the feast of blessed Mary Magdalen (22nd June) we came to the great river Tanais, which separates Asia from Europe, just as the river of Egypt divides Asia from Africa. At the place where we came to it Baatu and Sartach had established a village of Ruthenians on the east bank, who ferried envoys and merchants across on small boats. They first passed us across, then the carts; putting one wheel in one boat and the other in another and tying the boats together they rowed them across. At this place our guide did a most foolish thing; thinking that the people had to supply us with horses, he sent back to their owners from the near bank the animals which had brought us; but when we asked for animals they replied that they were exempted by Baatu from any other service than ferrying across those who came and went. From merchants even they collect much money. So we remained there on the river bank for three days. The first day they gave us a big barbell [J: eel-pout] just out of the water, the second day some rye bread and a little meat which the headman of the village collected from the different houses; the third day we got dried fish, of which they have great quantities here. That river at this point was as broad as the Seine at Paris. And before we came there, we passed many fine sheets of water full of fish, but the Tartars do not know how to catch them, nor do they care for fish unless they can eat it as they would mutton. This river is the eastern boundary of Ruscia, and takes its rise in the Moeotide fens, which extend to the ocean in the north. The river, however, flows southward, forming a big sea of seven hundred miles before it reaches the Sea of Pontus, and all the streams we passed flow also in that direction. This same river has a forest on its west bank. Beyond this point the Tartars go no farther north, for at that season, about the beginning of August, they commence going back southward ; so there is another village lower down (the river), where envoys pass over in winter. We found ourselves here in great straits, for we could procure neither horses nor oxen for money. Finally when I had proved to them that we were working for the common good of all Christendom, they obliged us with oxen and horses; but we ourselves had to go on foot.

It was the season when they were cutting the rye. Wheat thrives not there; but they have great abundance of millet.. The Ruthenian women arrange their heads as among us, but their outside gowns they trim from the feet to the knee with vaire or minever. The men wear capes like the Germans; on their heads they wear felt caps, pointed and very high.

We trudged along for three days without seeing anyone, and just as we and the oxen were well worn out, and unable to find any Tartars [J: we had no idea in what direction we might meet up with the Tartars], two horses came running towards us; we took them with great delight, and our guide and the interpreter got on them, in the hope of being able to find some people. Finally on the fourth day we found some people, and we were as happy as shipwrecked mariners on reaching port. Then we got horses and oxen and went along from stage to stage till we reached the camp of Sartach on the second day of the Calends of August (July 31st).

The country beyond the Tanais is most beautiful, with rivers and forests. To the north are great forests, inhabited by two races of men: to wit, the Moxel, who are without any religion, a race of pure pagans [J: have no law and are exclusively heathen]. They have no towns, but only little hamlets in the forest. Their chief and the greater part of them were killed in Germany; for the Tartars took them with them to the borders of Germany, and so they have formed a high opinion of the Germans, and they hope that through them they may finally be freed of the Tartar yoke. If a trader comes among this people, he with whom he first puts up must provide for him as long as he sees fit to stay among them. If one sleeps with another's wife the husband cares not, unless he sees it with his own eyes; so they are not jealous. They have swine, honey and wax, precious furs and hawks.

After them are the others called Merdas, whom the Latins call Merdinis, and they are Saracens. Beyond them is the Etilia, the largest river I have ever seen, and it comes from the north, from Greater Bulgaria and flows south, and it falls into a certain lake which has a circumference of four months journey, and of it I shall tell you later. So these two rivers, the Tanais and the Etilia, in, the north where we crossed them, are only distant the one from the other ten days; but to the south they are far remote from one another. For the Tanais flows down into the Sea of Pontus, while the Etilia forms with many other rivers which flow into it from Persia, this sea or lake [=Caspian Sea]. To the south we had very high mountains, inhabited, on the side facing this desert, by the Kerkis and the Alans or Aas, who are Christians and still fight the Tartars. Beyond them, along the sea or lake of Etilia, live certain Saracens called Lesgi, who likewise owe them no allegiance. Beyond them are the Iron Gates, which Alexander made to keep the barbarous nations out of Persia; of these I shall tell you later, for I passed through this place on my way back, and between these two rivers in this country through which we were traveling used to live Comans Capchac before the Tartars occupied it.

So we found Sartach three days from the Etilia, and his ordu seemed to us very big, for he has six wives, and his eldest son who was beside him had two or three, and every one of them had a big dwelling and perhaps two hundred carts. Our guide went to a certain Nestorian, Coiac by name, who is one of the most important men of his ordu. This latter made us go a long way to an officer who is called the Jamiam [J (correcting Rockhill's reading): iam], for thus they call him whose duty it is to receive envoys [*The iam or yamwas the Mongol postal service. Here Rubruck erroneously applies the term to the official himself]. In the evening this Coiac had us told to come to him. Then our guide asked us what we were going to take to him, and he was greatly scandalized when he saw that we were getting nothing ready to take to him. We stood in front of him seated in all his glory, striking a guitar and making people dance before him [J: while he had a guitar played and people dancing in front of him]. Then I repeated what I had previously said elsewhere as to the reason for which we had come to his master, begging him to assist us that his lord might see your letter. I also excused myself, being a monk, for neither having, receiving nor carrying with me gold or silver or any precious thing, but only books and the chapel [J: liturgical items], with which we served God, so we were not offering presents to either him or his lord, for having put away all worldly goods I could not be the bearer of those of others. Then he replied right pleasantly that I did well, being a monk, to keep my vows; that he did not want of our things, but would rather give us of his own if we were in want; and he caused us to sit down and drink of his milk, and after awhile he besought us to say a blessing for him, which we did. He also asked us who was the greatest lord among the Franks. I said, "The Emperor, if his land were in peace" [J: "if he held his territory unchallenged" (*Emperor Fredrick had been deposed and excommunicated by the pope and was vying for power with his competitors)]. "No," he said, "it is the King of France." For he had heard of you from Messire Baldwin of Hainaut. I also found there one of the companions of David, who had been in Cyprus (with him), and who had told him of all he had seen. Then we went back to our lodgings.

The next day (1st August) I sent him (Coiac) a flagon of muscadel wine, which had kept perfectly good during the whole long journey, and a hamper of biscuits which pleased him very much; and that evening he kept our servants with him. The next day he sent me word to come to the court, bringing with me the king's letter, the vestments and the church ornaments and the books, for his master wished to see them. We did accordingly, putting in one cart the books and the chapel, and in another bread, wine and fruit. Then he caused us to explain all about the books and vestments, and many Tartars and Christians and Saracens looked on seated on their horses. When he had finished examining them, he asked if I would give all these things to his master. When I heard this I was shocked, and his words displeased me. Dissimulating, however, I replied: "My lord, we beg that your lord will deign receive this bread, wine and fruit, not as a present, for it is too trifling, but for a blessing, and so that we appear not before him with empty hands. He shall see the letter of the lord King, and by them he shall know why we come to him, and then we will await his pleasure, we and all our belongings. As to these vestments they are holy, and may not be touched except by Friar priests." Then he told us to put them on to go in unto his lord, and this we did. I put on the most costly of the vestments, with a most beautiful cushion (pulvinar) against my breast, and took the Bible which you had given me, and the beautiful Psalter which my lady the Queen had presented me with, and in which were right beautiful pictures. My companion took the missal and the cross, while the clerk (Gosset) put on a surplice and took the censer. And so we came before his (i.e. , Sartach's) dwelling, and they raised the felt which hung before the entry, so that he could see us. Then they made the clerk and the interpreter to bow the knee (three times): of us they did not demand it. Then they enjoined us earnestly to be most careful in going in and coming out not to touch the threshold of the dwelling, and also to chant some blessing for him. So we went in chanting, "Salve, regina!" [J: went in singing the Salve Regina] In the entry of the dwelling there was a bench with cosmos and cups, and all Sartach's wives had come thither and the Mo'al came crowding in around us.

Then this Coiac handed him the censer with the incense, and he examined it, holding it in his hand most carefully. After that he handed him the Psalter, at which he took a good look, as did the wife who was seated beside him. Then he handed him the Bible, and he asked if the Gospels [J: Gospel] were in it. I said that it contained all the Sacred writings. He also took in his hand the cross, and asked if the image on it were that of Christ. I replied that it was. Those Nestorians and Hermenians [=Armenians] never make the figure of Christ on their crosses; they would thus appear to entertain some doubt of the Passion, or to be ashamed of it. Then he caused the bystanders to withdraw [J: draw back] so that he could better see our ornaments. Then I presented to him your letter, with translations in Arabic and Syriac, for I had had them both translated and written in these languages at Acon [=Acre in Palestine]. And there were there (at Sartach's camp) Hermenian priests who knew Turkish and Arabic, and that companion of David who knew Syriac, Turkish, and Arabic. Then we went out and took off our vestments, and some scribes and this Coiac came, and they translated the letters (into Mongol). When he (Sartach) had heard them, he caused our bread and wine and fruit to be accepted, and our vestments and books to be carried back to our lodgings. All this took place on the Feast of Saint Peter in Chains (1st August).

The next morning (2nd August) came to us a priest, the brother of that Coiac, who begged for a little vase with holy oil, for Sartach wanted to see it, he said, and we gave it to him. Toward vespers Coiac called us, and said to us: "The lord King hath written good words to my lord; but they contain certain difficulties, concerning which he would not venture to do anything without the advice of his father: so you must go to his father. And the two carts which you brought here, with the vestments and books, leave them to me, for my lord wishes to examine them carefully." I at once suspected evil of his greed, and said to him: "My lord, not only these, but the two other carts which we have, will we leave under your care." "No," he said; "leave these, but do what you wish with the others." I told him this was quite impossible, but that we would give everything over to him. Then he asked us if we wished to remain in the country. I said: "If you have well understood the letter of the lord King, you can see that that is the case." Then he said that we must be very patient and humble; and with this we left him that evening.

The next morning he (Coiac) sent a Nestorian priest for the carts, and we brought all four of them. Then the brother of this Coiac came up, and separated all our belongings from the things which we had taken the day before to the court, and these, to wit the books and the vestments, he took for himself; notwithstanding that Coiac had ordered us to take with us the vestments we had worn before Sartach, so that, should occasion arise, we might put them on before Baatu; but the priest took them from us by force, saying: "What, you have brought these to Sartach, and now you want to take them to Baatu!" And when I sought to reason with him, he answered me: "Say no more, and be off with you." So I had to bear it in patience, for we were not allowed to go in unto Sartach, nor was there anyone to do us justice. I was afraid also of the interpreter, lest he say something differently from what I should speak, for he used to be eager for us to make presents to everyone [J: as he would have quite liked us to make a gift of everything]. I had one comfort; as soon as I discerned their greed, I abstracted the Bible from among the books, also the sentences [*Jackson suggests Peter Lombard's 12th c. book on Theology, the Libri Sententiarum IV] and the other books of which I was specially fond. I did not dare abstract the Psalter of my lady the Queen, for it had been too much noticed on account of the gilded pictures in it. And so we were sent back with the two remaining carts to our lodgings. Then came he who was to guide us to Baatu, and he wanted to start at once. I told him that on no account would I take the carts, and this he reported to Coiac, who ordered that we should leave them and our servant with him [J: leave them with the iam], and this we did.

Traveling then due east toward Baatu, we came on the third day (5th August) to the Etilia, and when I saw its waters, I wondered from where away up in the north so much water could come down.

Before we left Sartach, the above mentioned Coiac and a number of scribes of the court said to us: "You must not say that our lord is a Christian. He is not a Christian, but a Mo'al." For the name of Christian seems to them that of a nation [J: for they regard the name Christendom as the name of a people]. They have risen so much in their pride, that though they may believe somewhat in the Christ, yet will they not be called Christians, wishing to exalt their own name of Mo'al above all others, nor will they be called Tartars. The Tartars were another people of whom I have heard as follows.

[Nestorians]

At the time when the Franks took Antioch the sovereignty of these northern regions belonged to a certain Con cham [J: Coir Chan]. Con was his proper name, cham his title, which means the same as soothsayer. All soothsayers are called cham and so all their princes are called cham, because their government of the people [J: control over the people] depends on divination. Now we read in the history of Antioch, that the Turks sent for succor against the Franks to King Con cham; for from these parts came all the Turks. That Con was of Caracatay. Now Cara means black, and Catay is the name of a people, so Caracatay is the same as "Black Catay." And they are so called to distinguish them from the Cathayans [=Chinese] who dwell by the ocean in the east, and of whom I shall tell you hereafter. Those Caracatayans lived in highlands (alpibus) through which I passed, and at a certain place amidst these alps dwelt a certain Nestorian, a mighty shepherd and lord over a people called Nayman, who were Nestorian Christians. When Con cham died, that Nestorian raised himself to be king (in his stead) and the Nestorians used to call him King John, and to say things of him ten times more than was true. For this is the way of the Nestorians who come from these parts: out of nothing they will make a great story, just as they have spread abroad that Sartach is a Christian, and so of Mangu Chan and Keu Chan [=Chingis's grandson Güyük Khan (d.1248)], because they show more respect to Christians than to other people; though of a truth they are not Christians. So great reports went out concerning this King John; though when I passed through his pasture lands, no one knew anything of him save a few Nestorians. On those pasture lands lived Keu Chan, to whose court went Friar Andrew, and I also passed through them on my way back. This John had a brother, also a mighty shepherd, whose name was Unc [=Ong Khan]; and he lived beyond the alps of the Caracatayans, some three weeks journey from his brother, and he was lord of a little town called Caracarum [=Qaraqorum], and the people he had under his rule were called Crit and Merkit, and they were Nestorian Christians. But that lord of theirs had abandoned the worship of Christ, and had taken to idolatry, having about him priests of the idols, who are all invokers of demons and sorcerers. Beyond those pasture lands, some ten or fifteen days, were the pasture lands of the Mo'al, who were very poor people, without a chief and without religion except sorcery and soothsaying, such as all follow in those parts. And next to the Mo'al were other poor people, who were called Tartars. Now King John being dead without an heir, his brother Unc was brought in (ditatus est), and caused himself to be proclaimed Chan, and his flocks and herds were driven about as far as the borders of the Mo'al. At that tune there was a certain Chingis, a blacksmith, among the people of Mo'al, and he took to lifting the cattle of Unc Chan whenever he could, so that the herdsmen complained to their lord Unc Chan. So he got together an army, and made a raid into the land of the Mo'al, seeking for this Chingis, but he fled among the Tartars and hid himself there. Then this Unc Chan having got great booty from the Mo'al and the Tartars went back. Then that Chingis spoke to those Tartars and to those Mo'al, saying, " 'Tis because we are without a chief, that our neighbors oppress us." And they made him chief and captain of the Tartars and the Mo'al. Then he secretly got together an army and fell upon Unc Chan and defeated him, so that he fled to Cathay. And it was there that his daughter was captured, and Chingis gave her to wife to one of his sons, who by her had Mangu [=Mönke Khan (d.1259)] who now reigneth.

Now this Chingis used to dispatch the Tartars in every direction, and so their name spread abroad, for everywhere was heard the cry: "The Tartars are coming!" But through the many wars they have been nearly all killed off, and now these Mo'al would like to extinguish even the name and raise their own in its stead. The country in which they first lived, and where is still the ordu of Chingis Chan, is called Onankerule. But because Caracarum is the district where their power first began to spread, they hold it their royal city, and near there they elect their Chan.

Of Sartach I know not whether he believes in the Christ or not. This I do know, that he will not be called a Christian, and it even seemed to me that he mocked the Christians. For he is on the road of the Christians, to wit, of the Ruthenians [=Russians], Blacs [=Vlachs], Bulgarians of Minor Bulgaria, Soldaians, Kerkis [=Circassians] and Alans, all of whom pass by him hen going to his father's ordu carrying presents to him, so he shows himself most attentive to them. Should, however, Saracens come along carrying more presents than they, they are sent along more expeditiously. He has Nestorian priests around him who strike a board and chant their offices.

And there is another one called Berka [=Berke Khan (d.1267)], a brother of Baatu, who has his pasture lands toward the Iron Gate, where passes the road followed by all the Saracens coming from Persia and Turkia, and going to Baatu, and who when passing through bring him presents; and he has made himself a Saracen, and he does not allow pork to be eaten in his ordu. When we came back Baatu had ordered him to move from that place to beyond the Etilia to the east, not wanting Saracens to pass by where he was, it appearing to him harmful [J: since he (Batu) viewed it as detrimental to his own interests]. During the four days we were at Sartach's ordu, we were not once furnished with food, and only once with a little cosmos.

On the road between him and his father we were in great fear, for the Ruthenians, Hungarians and Alans, their [the Mongols'] slaves, of whom there are very great numbers among them, are in the habit of banding together twenty or thirty in number, and run off at night (armed) with arrows and bows, and whomsoever they find at night they kill. During the day they hide, and when their horses are tired, they come by night to the herds of horses in the pastures and change their horses, and take one or two with them to eat when necessary. Our guide greatly feared some adventure with them. On this part of the road we should have died of hunger, had we not carried with us a small supply of biscuit.

[Crossing the Volga]

So we came to the Etilia, the greatest of rivers, for it is four times greater than the Seine, very deep, coming from Greater Bulgaria, which is in the north, flowing southward, and emptying into a certain lake, or sea, which is now called Sea of Sirsan [=Shirwan: a city in NW Persia], from a certain city on its coast in Persia. Isidorus, however, calls it the Caspian sea, for it has the Caspian mountains and Persia to the south, the Mulihec mountains, that is the mountains of the Axasins [=Assassins: a Muslim sect based in Northern Iran] to the east, which touch the Caspian mountains; to the north is this wilderness in which are now the Tartars, though at first there were here certain Comans called Cangle [=Qangli]. And on that side (i.e., the north) it receives the Etilia, which rises [J: floods] in summer as does the Nile of Egypt. To the west of it are the mountains of the Alans, the Lesgians, the Iron Gate and the mountains of the Georgians. So this sea has mountains on three sides, but on the north it has this plain. Friar Andrew went himself along two sides of it, the southern and the eastern, and I along the other two, the northern in going from Baatu to Mangu Chan, and again in coming back; and along the western side in coming back from Baatu to Syria. One can go around it in four months , and it is not true, as stated by Isidorus, that it is a gulf of the Ocean. It nowhere reaches the Ocean, but is everywhere surrounded by land.

All this country on the west side of this sea, from where are the Iron Gates of Alexander and the mountains of the Alrans, to the northern Maeotide marshes where rises the Tanais, used to be called Albania. Isidorus says of it that it has dogs in it so big and fierce that "they seize bulls and kill lions" : the truth is, as I have heard tell, that toward the Northern ocean they make dogs to drag carts like oxen, so great is their size and strength.

At this place where we reached Etilia, the Tartars have made a new village with a mixed population of Ruthenians and Saracens, and they ferry across the envoys going to and coming from the ordu of Baatu; for Baatu is on the farther bank to the east, neither does he go beyond this point we had reached when he comes north in summer, and he had begun moving southward (when we arrived). From January to August he goes up to the cool country, as do all of them, and in August they begin moving back.

[At Khan Batu's court]

So we went down the river in a boat from this village to his (Baatu's) ordu, and from that place to the cities of Greater Bulgaria to the north there are five days. I wonder what devil carried this religion of Machomet [=Muhammad] thither. From the Iron Gate, which is the door out of Persia, there are more than thirty days through the desert, going up along the Etilia, to this Bulgaria, along which route there is no city, only some villages near where the Etilia falls into the sea; and these Bulgarians are the worst kind of Saracens, keeping the law of Machomet as no others [J: and adhere more strictly ... than do any of the others].

When I saw the ordu of Baatu, I was astonished, for it seemed like a great city stretched out about his dwelling, with people scattered all about for three or four leagues. And as among the people of Israel, where each one knew in which quarter from the tabernacle he had to pitch his tents, so these know on which side of the ordu they must place themselves when they set down their dwellings. A court (curia) is orda in their language, and it means "middle," for it is always in the middle of the people, with the exception, however, that no one places himself right to the south, for in that direction the doors of the court open. But to the right and left they may spread out as they wish, according to the lay of the land, so long as they do not bring the line of tents down right before or behind the court.

We were first taken to a certain Saracen, who gave us no food. The next day we were taken to the court, and they had a great awning spread, for the dwelling could not hold all the men and women who had come thither. Our guide cautioned us to say nothing until Baatu should have bid us speak, and then to speak briefly. He asked also whether you had already sent ambassadors to the Tartars. I said that you had sent to Keu Chan, but that you would not even have sent envoys to him and [a] letter to Sartach if you had not believed that they were Christians. Then they led us before the pavilion, and we were warned not to touch the ropes of the tent, for they are held to represent the threshold of the door. So we stood there in our robes and barefooted, with uncovered heads, and we were a great spectacle unto ourselves [J: presented quite a spectacle for them]. Friar John of Policarp had been there; but he had changed his gown, fearing lest he should be slighted, being the envoy of the lord Pope. Then we were led into the middle of the tent, and they did not require us to make any reverence by bending the knee, as they are used to do of envoys. We stood before him the time to say: "Miserere mei, Deus," [J: the Miserere mei Deus (i.e., Pslam 50, or 51 in the authorized version)] and all kept profound silence. He was seated on a long seat as broad as a couch, all gilded, and with three steps leading up to it, and a lady was beside him. Men were seated about on his right, and ladies on his left: and where the room on the women's side was not taken up by them, for there were only present the wives of Baatu, men occupied it. A bench with cosmos and big cups of gold and silver, ornamented with precious stones, was in the entry of the tent. He looked at us intently, and we at him, and he seemed to me to be about the height of my lord John de Beaumont, may his soul rest in peace. And his face was all covered at that time with reddish spots. Finally he bid me speak, and our guide told us to bend the knee and speak. I bent one knee as to a man, but he made sign to me to bend both, which I did, not wishing to dispute over it. Then he bid me speak, and I, thinking I was praying God, having both knees bent, began my speech by saying [J: reflecting to myself that I could be at prayer, seeing I was on both knees, I took my first words from a collect, saying...]: "Oh lord, we pray God from whom proceedeth all good things, and who gave you these worldly goods, to give you hereafter celestial ones, for the former without the latter are vain." And as he listened attentively, I added : "You must know for certain that you shall not have the celestial goods unless you have been a Christian ; for God saith: 'He who shall have believed and have been baptized, shall be saved, but he who shall not have believed shall be condemned'." At this he quietly smiled, and the other Mo'als began clapping their hands, laughing at us, and my interpreter stood dumbfounded, and I had to reassure him that he be not afraid. Then silence being reestablished, I said: "I came to your son, because we had heard that he was a Christian, and I brought him [a] letter from the lord King of the French. He (i.e., Sartach) it is who has sent me here to you. You must know the reason why." Then he caused me to rise, and he asked your name and mine, and that of my companion and of the interpreter, and he had it all written down, and he also asked against whom you were waging war, for he had heard that you had left your country with an army. I replied: "Against the Saracens who are profaning Jerusalem, the house of God." He also asked whether you had ever sent envoys to him. "To you," I said, "never." Then he made us sit down, and had us given of his milk to drink, and they hold it to be a great honor when anyone drinks cosmos with him in his dwelling. While sitting there I was looking down, but he bid me turn my face up, either wishing to see me better, or on account of their sorcery, for they hold it to be a bad omen or sign, or as portending evil, if one sits before them with face turned down as if in sorrow, and especially so if he rest his chin or his cheek in his hand. Then we went out, and after a little while our guide came to us, and while conducting us to our lodging said to me: "The lord King requests that you remain in this country, but Baatu may not do this without the permission of Mangu Chan. So you and your interpreter must go to Mangu Chan. As to your companion and the other man, they will go back to Sartach, where they will await your return." Then the interpreter Homo Dei began to lament, deeming himself lost, and my companion to declare that they might sooner cut off his head than separate him from me; and I said that without a companion I could not go, and moreover that we really required two servants, for should one happen to fall ill, I could not be left alone. So he went back to the court and told Baatu what I had said. Then he commanded; "Let the two priests and the interpreter go, and the clerk return to Sartach." He came back and told us the decision; but when I wanted to speak about the clerk, that he might come with us, he said: "Say no more about it, for Baatu has settled it, and I dare not go again to the court." The clerk Gosset had twenty-six yperpera of your alms and no more; of these he kept ten for himself and the boy, and he gave the sixteen others to Homo Dei for us; and so we parted from each other with tears, he going back to Sartach, and we remaining there.

On the eve of the Assumption (14th August [1253]) he (Gosset) reached the ordu of Sartach, and the next day the Nestorian priests were dressed in our vestments in the presence of Sartach. As for us, we were taken to another host who was to provide us with lodgings, food and horses, but as we had nothing to give him he did it all meanly. We drove about with Baatu for five weeks, following the Etilia down its course. Sometimes my companion was so hungry that he would say to me, almost with tears in his eyes: "It seems to me I shall never get anything to eat [J: I feel as if I have never eaten]." The market always follows the ordu of Baatu, but it was so far away from us that we could not get there, for from lack of horses we had to travel afoot. Finally some Hungarians who had been clerks found us out, and one of them still knew how to sing with much expression [J: to chant many things by heart], and was looked upon by the other Hungarians almost as a priest, and was called to the burial of their dead; and another of them was well versed in grammar [J: had received a competent training in grammar], for he understood accurately all we said to him, though he could not reply. These men were a great consolation to us, bringing us cosmos to drink and sometimes meat to eat. I was greatly distressed when they asked me for some books, as I had none to give them, having only a Bible and a breviary. So I said to them: "Bring us tablets (cartas), and I will write for you as long as we are here." And this they did, and I wrote on both sides of them the hours of the Blessed Virgin and the office for the dead. One day a Coman joined us, who saluted us in Latin, saying: "Salvite, domine!" Much astonished, I returned his salutation, and asked him who had taught it him. He said that he had been baptized in Hungary by the brethren of our order, who had taught it to him. He said, furthermore, that Baatu had asked him a great deal about us, and that he had told him of the condition [J: rules] of our Order.

I saw Baatu riding with all his horde (turba); and all the heads of families were riding with him, but according to my estimate there were not over five hundred men. At last, about the feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross (14th September), there came a rich Mo'al to us, whose father was a chief of a thousand, which is a high rank among them, and he said: "I am to take you to Mangu Chan. The journey is a four months one, and it is so cold on it that stones and trees are split by the cold. Think it over whether you can bear it." I answered him: "I trust that, by the grace of God, we may be able to bear what other men can bear." Then he said : "If you cannot bear it, I shall abandon you on the road." I replied: "That is not right; we are not going of ourselves, but are sent by your lord, so, being entrusted to your care, you should not abandon us." Then he said: "All will be well." After that he made us show him all our clothing, and what seemed to him of little use he made us leave with our host. The next day they brought each of us a sheepskin gown, breeches of the same material, boots according to their fashion, felt stockings, and hoods such as they use. The day after the Elevation of the Holy Cross (15th September) we started on our ride, with two pack horses for the three of us, and we rode constantly eastward until the feast of All Saints [=November 1st]. And through all that country and beyond, the Cangle used to live, and they were a branch (parentela) of the Comans. To the north of us was Greater Bulgaria, and to the south the Caspian Sea.

After traveling twelve days from the Etilia, we found a great river which they call Jagac [=Iagac, the modern Ural R.], and it comes from the country of Pascatir in the north, and falls into this previously-mentioned sea (i.e., the Caspian). The language of Pascatir is the same as that of the Hungarians, and they are shepherds without any towns whatever, and on the west this country confines on Greater Bulgaria. From this country eastward, and on that side to the north, there are no more towns; so Greater Bulgaria is the last country with towns. 'Twas from this country of Pascatir that went forth the Huns, who were afterward the Hungarians; hence it is the same as Greater Bulgaria. Isidorus says that with their fleet horses they crossed the barriers which Alexander had built among the rocks of the Caucasus to confine the savage tribes, and that as far as Egypt all the country paid them tribute. They ravaged all the world as far as France, so that they were a greater power than are now the Tartars. With them also came the Blacs, the Bulgars and the Vandals. For from that Greater Bulgaria come the Bulgars, who are beyond the Danube near Constantinople. And beside Pascatir are the Illac, which is the same word as Blac, but the Tartars do not know how to pronounce (the letter) B, and from them come those who are in the land of Assan. They call both of them Illac, the former and the latter. The language of the Ruthenians, Poles, Bohemians and Sclavons is the same as that of the Vandals, and the hand of all of them was with the Huns, as now is that of the greater part of them with the Tartars, whom God has raised up out of the remote parts of the earth, a mighty people but a stupid race, according to what the Lord saith: "I will move them to jealousy (that is, those who do not keep his law) with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." This is fulfilled to the letter as to all the nations who do not keep the law of the Christ. That which I have told of and of Pascatir I know from the preaching friars who went there before the advent of the Tartars, but since then it has been subjugated by the neighboring Saracen Bulgars, and some of the people have become Saracens. The rest may be learned from the chronicles, for it is a well established fact that those provinces from Constantinople (westward) and which were called Bulgaria, Blackia end Sclavonia were provinces of the Greeks, and that Hungary was Pannonia.

So we rode through the country of the Cangle from the feast of the Holy Cross (15th September [J: Sept. 14th]) to the feast of All Saints (1st November), and nearly every day we went, as well as I could estimate, about the distance from Paris to Orleans, and sometimes more, according to the supply of horses. For sometimes we changed horses two three times in a day, while at others we went for two or three days without finding anyone, so we had to go slower. Out of twenty or thirty horses we, as foreigners, always got the worst, for they invariably took their pick of horses before us. They always gave me a strong horse, on account of my great weight; but I dared not inquire whether he rode easily or not, nor did I venture to complain if he proved hard, but I had to bear it all with equal good grace. Consequently we used to have to endure extreme hardships. Oft times the horses were tired out before we had reached the stage, and we had to beat and whip them, put our clothing on other pack horses, change our saddle horses for pack horses, and sometimes even the two of us ride one horse.

Sometimes out of number [J: There is no counting the times] we were hungered and athirst, cold and wearied. They only gave us food in the evening; in the morning we had something to drink or millet gruel while in the evening they gave us meat, a shoulder and ribs of mutton, and some pot liquor. When we had our fill of such meat broth, we felt greatly invigorated; it seemed to me a most delicious drink and most nourishing. On Fridays I fasted without drinking anything till evening, when I was obliged, though it distressed me sorely, to eat meat. Sometimes we had to eat half-cooked or nearly raw meat, not having fuel to cook it; this happened when we reached camp after dark, and we could not see to pick up ox or horse dung. We rarely found any other fuel, save occasionally a few briars. In a few spots along the banks of some of the streams were woods, but such spots were rare. At first our guide showed profound contempt for us, and was disgusted at having to guide such poor folk; but after awhile, when he began to know us better, he would take us to the yurts (curia) of rich Mo'al, where we had to pray for them, and if I had had a good interpreter, I [would of] had opportunities for bringing about much good. This Chingis, the first Chan, had four sons, whose descendants are very numerous; and these all have big ordus, and they- multiply daily and are scattered all over this vast sea-like desert. Our guide took us to many of these, and they would wonder greatly at our not receiving gold, silver, or costly clothing. They inquired also of the great pope, if he were as old as they had heard, for they had heard that he was five hundred years old. They asked about our countries, if there were many sheep, cattle and horses there. As to the Ocean sea, they were quite unable to understand that it was endless, without bounds.

The eve of All Saints (31st October) we left the road to the east, for the people had already moved a good deal to the south, and we made our way by some alps due south continually for eight days. In that desert I saw many asses called culam, and they greatly resemble mules; our guide and his companion chased them a great deal, but without getting one, on account of their great fleetness. The seventh day we began to see to the south some very high mountains, and we entered a plain irrigated like a garden, and here we found cultivated land. On the octave of All Saints (8th November) we entered a certain town of Saracens called Kinchat [=Kenjek], and its captain [i.e., governor] came out of the town to meet our guide, bearing mead (cervisia) [J: ale] and cups. For it is their custom that in all towns subject to them, they come out to meet the messengers of Baatu and Mangu chap with food and drink. At that season of the year there was ice on the roads in those parts, and even earlier, from the date of the feast of Saint Michel (29th September) we had had frost in the desert. I inquired the name of this province; but as we had already passed into another territory, they were unable to tell me anything beyond the name of the town, which was a very small one. And there came a big river down from the mountains, which irrigated the whole country wherever they wanted to lead the water, and it flowed not into any sea, but was absorbed in the ground, forming many marshes. There (at Kinchat) I saw vines, and twice did I drink wine.

The next clay we came to another village nearer the mountains, and I inquired concerning these mountains, which I understood to be those of the Caucasus [*actually the Kirgizskii range], which confine at either extremity on the sea, from the west to the east, and which we had already crossed at the sea previously mentioned into which the Etilia flows. I asked also concerning the town of Talas in which were Teuton [=German] slaves of Buri, of whom Friar Andrew had spoken (to me), and concerning whom I had made much inquiry at the ordus of Sartach and Baatu. I was unable to learn anything concerning them, only the following circumstances of the death of their master Buri. Not finding his pasture lands good, one day while drunk he spoke to his men, saying: "Am I not of the race of Chingis Chan as well as Baatu? (for he was the nephew or brother of Baatu) Why should I not go to the banks of the Etilia like Baatu, to graze there?" Now these words were reported to Baatu, and he wrote to Buri's men, telling them to bring him their lord in chains, and this they did. Then Baatu asked if he had spoken such words, and he confessed that he had, though he sought to excuse himself as being drunk, for they usually condone the offences of drunken men. But Baatu replied: "How dare you mention my name in your drunkenness!" and he had his head cut off.

As to those Teutons I was unable to learn anything concerning them all the way to [J: until I reached] Mangu Chan's ordu, but in the village just referred to I gathered that Talas was beyond us in the direction of the mountains, vi days' travel. When I reached the ordu of Mangu Chan I gathered that Mangu had transported these Teutons, with Baatu's permission, the distance of a month's travel to the east of Talas, to a certain town called Bolat, where they are digging for gold and manufacturing arms, so I could neither go nor come back their way. However, in going I passed quite near that town (of Bolat), perhaps three days from it, but I was unaware of it, nor could I have turned from my route if I had known it.

From the village I have mentioned we went eastward, close to the mountains above referred to, and from that point we entered among the subjects of Mangu Chan, who everywhere sang and clapped their hands before our guide, because he was an envoy of Baatu. For they show each other this mark of honor; the subjects of Mangu receive in this fashion the envoys of Baatu, and those of Baatu the envoys of Mangu. The subjects of Baatu, however, are the stronger, so they do not observe the custom so carefully [J: Baatu's people, however, give themselves rather more airs and are not as careful to observe the practice]. A few days later we entered the alps in which the Caracatai used to live, and there we found a great river which we had to pass in a boat. After that we entered a valley, where we saw a ruined camp [J: fort], whose walls were nothing but mud, and the soil was cultivated there. And after that we found a goodly town, called Equius, in which were Saracens speaking Persian, though they were a very long way off from Persia. The next day, having crossed these alps which project from the high mountains in the south, we entered a beautiful plain with high mountains to the right, and a sea or lake which is twenty-five days [J: fifteen days (*according to Rockhill, the MSS. differ on this point)] in circumference to the left. And all this plain is well watered by the streams which come down from the mountains, and all of which flow into this sea. In the summer time we came back along the north shore of this sea, and there likewise were great mountains. In this plain there used to be many towns, but most of them were destroyed, so that the Tartars might graze there, for there were most excellent pasturages in that country. We found there a big town called Cailac [=Qayaligh], where there was a market, and many traders frequented it. Here we rested twelve days, waiting for a certain secretary of Baatu, who was to be associated with our guide in the matters to be settled at Mangu's ordu. This country used to be called Organum [=Urgench, the region's capitol city], and the people used to have a language and letters of their own [=Sogdian]; but now it is all occupied by Turcomans. Moreover, the Nestorians of those parts used to perform their services in that language, and write books in those letters, and perhaps it was by them that those people were called Organa on account, as was told me, of their having been excellent guitar players (or organiste). 'Twas here I first saw idolaters [=Buddhists], of whom you must know there are many sects in the east.

[Buddhists and Buddhism]

The first are the Iugurs, whose country confines on this said country of Organum, being situated among the mountains to the east of it; and in all their towns is found to mixture of Nestorians and Saracens, and they are also scattered about towards Persia in the towns of the Saracens. In the said city of Cailac they had three idol temples, two of which I entered to see their foolishness. In the first one I found a person who had a little cross in ink on his hand, whence I concluded he was a Christian, and to all that I asked him he replied that he was a Christian. So I asked him: "Why have you not here the Cross and the figure of Jesus Christ?" And he replied: "It is not our custom." So I concluded that they were Christians, but had omitted this through some doctrinal error. I noticed there behind a chest which served in the place of altar and on which they put lamps and offerings, a winged image like Saint Michel, and other images like bishops holding their fingers as if blessing. That evening I could find out nothing more, for the Saracens shun these (idolaters) so much that they will not even speak of them, and when I asked Saracens concerning the rites of these people, they were scandalized. The day following was the first of the month and the Easter of the Saracens, and I changed my host and was lodged near another idol temple, for the people entertain envoys each as he may and according to his ability. Going into this idol temple I found the priests of the idols there, for on the first of the month they throw open the temples and put on their sacerdotal vestments, offer (incense, hang up lamps and offer) the oblations of bread and fruit of the people. Now, in the first place, I will tell you of the rites common to all idolaters, and after that of those of the Iugurs, who form as it were a sect distinct from the others. They all worship to the north, with joined hands, prostrate themselves to the ground with bended knees, placing their foreheads on their hands. As a result of this, the Nestorians in those parts never join their hands in praying, but pray with their hands held extended before the breast.

They (the idolaters) place their temples east and west; on the north side they make an alcove projecting out like a choir, or sometimes, if the building is square, it is in the middle of the building. So they shut off on the north side an alcove in place of a choir [J: if the building is square, they partition off an alcove inside, in the middle of the north side, corresponding to the choir], and there they put a coffer as long and as broad as a table, and after [i.e., behind] that coffer to the south they place the chief idol, and that which I saw at Caracarum was as large as we paint Saint Christopher. And a Nestorian who had come from Cathay told me that in that country there is an idol so big that it can he seen from two days off. And they place other idols around about (the principal one), all most beautifully gilt. And on that coffer, which is like a table, they put lamps and offerings. Contrary to the custom of the Saracens, all the doors of the temples open to the south. They also have big bells like ours: 'tis for this reason, I think, that the eastern Christians do not have any. The Ruthenians, however, have them, and so do the Greeks in Gazaria.

All the priests (of the idolaters) shave their heads [J: shave the head and beard completely], and are dressed in saffron color, and they observe chastity from the time they shave their heads, and they live in congregations of one or two hundred. On the days when they go into the temple, they place two benches, and they sit in the region of the choir but opposite the choir [J: they put down two benches and sit on the ground opposite one another in facing rows like choirs], with books in their hands, which they sometimes put down on these benches; and they keep their heads uncovered as long as they are in the temple, reading in silence and keeping silence. And when I went into one of their temples at Caracarum, and found them thus seated, I tried every means of inducing them to talk, but was unable to do so. Wherever they go they have in their hands a string of one or two hundred beads, like our rosaries, and they always repeat these words, on mani baccam, which is, "God, thou knowest," as one of them interpreted it to me, and they expect as many rewards from God as they remember God in saying this. Around their temple they make a fine courtyard well surrounded by a wall, and in the side of this facing the south, they make the main gate where they sit and talk. And over this gate they set up a long pole, which, if it be possible, rises above the whole city, and by this pole it may be known that this building is an idol temple. This practice is common to all idolaters. When I went into the idol temple I was speaking of, I found the priests seated in the outer gate, and when I saw them with their shaved faces they seemed to me to be Franks, but they had barbarian miters on their heads [J: but the mitres they were wearing on their heads were of paper]. These Iugur priests have the following dress: wherever they go they are always dressed in rather tight saffron-colored tunics, over which is a girdle like the Franks, and they have a stole (pallium) over their left shoulder, passed round the chest and the back to the right side, like the chasuble (casula) worn by a deacon in Lent.

The Tartars have adopted their (i.e., the Uigurs') letters [J: Their alphabet has been adopted by the Tartars]. They begin writing at the top, and run the line downward; and in like manner they read it, and they make the lines to follow each other from left to right. They make great use of drawings and letters for their sorcery [J: they make frequent use of characters written on paper in their witchcraft], so their temples are full of short sentences (brevibus) hung up there.The letter with [which] Mangu Chan sends us is in the Mo'al language, but in their script.

They burn their dead according to the custom of the ancients [J: following a long established custom], and put the ashes in the top of pyramids.

When then I had sat down beside these priests, after having been in the temple and seen their many idols, great and small, I asked them what they believed concerning God. They answered: "We only believe that there is one God." Then I asked: "Do you believe he is a spirit, or something corporeal?" "We believe that he is a spirit," they said. "Do you believe that he has never taken upon him human nature?" They said: "Never." "Then," said I, "if you believe that he is one and a spirit, why do you make him bodily images, and so many? Furthermore, if you do not believe that he became man, why do you make him in human shape rather than in that of some animal?" Then they replied: "We do not make these images to (of) God [J: for God], but when some rich person among us dies, his son, or wife, or someone dear to him, has made an image of the deceased, and puts it here, and we revere it in memory of him." Then I said: "Then you only make these out of flattery for man." "Only," they said, "in remembrance." Then they asked me, as if in derision: "Where is God ? "To which I said: "Where is your soul?" "In our body," they said. I replied: "Is it not everywhere in your body, and does it not direct the whole of it, and, nevertheless, is invisible? So God is everywhere, and governs all things, though invisible, for He is intelligence and wisdom." Then, just as I wanted to continue reasoning with them, my interpreter got tired, and would no longer express my words, so he made me stop talking [J: my interpreter, who was tired and incapable of finding the right words, made me stop talking].

The Mo'al or Tartars who are of this sect, though they believe in one God, make nevertheless images of their dead in felt, and dress them in the richest stuffs, and put them in one or two carts, and no one dare touch these carts, which are under the care of their soothsayers, who are their priests, and of whom I shall tell you further on. These soothsayers are always before the ordu of Mangu and of other rich people, for the poor have none, but only those of the family of Chingis. And when they are on the march, these (soothsayers) precede them as the pillar of a cloud did the children of Israel, and they decide where to pitch the camp, and when they have set down their dwellings, all the ordu follows them. And when a feast day comes about, or the first of the month, they take their images and arrange them in a circle in their house. Then the Mo'al come, enter the house, and bow before the images and do them reverence. And no stranger may enter that house. I tried to force my way into one hut, but was most rudely treated [J: was given a very sharp reprimand].

Those Iugurs who live interspersed with the Christians and Saracens, through frequent disputations, as I believe, have reached the point of having no belief but that in a single God. These Iugurs used to inhabit the cities which first obeyed Chingis Chan, who therefore gave his daughter to their king. And Caracarum is as it were in their territory, and all the land of the king of the Prester John and of Unc his brother, was round about this country, though they occupied the pasture lands to the north, while the Iugurs lived amidst the mountains to the south. So it happened that the Mo'al adopted their letters, and they are their best scribes, and nearly all the Nestorians know their letters. Beyond them to the east among those mountains are the Tanguts, most valiant men, who captured Chingis in war; and he, peace being made, and once freed by them, subdued them. These people have very strong cattle, with very hairy tails like horses, and with bellies and backs covered with hair. They are lower on their legs than other oxen, but much stronger. They draw the big dwellings of the Mo'al, and have slender, long, curved horns, so sharp that it is always necessary to cut off their points. The cows will not let themselves be milked unless sung to. They have also the temper of the bull, for if they see a man dressed in red they throw themselves on him to kill him.

Beyond these are the Tebet, a people in the habit of eating their dead parents, so that for piety's sake they should not give their parents any other sepulcher than their bowels. They have given this practice up, however, as they were held an abomination among all nations. They still, however, make handsome cups out of the heads of their parents, so that when drinking out of them they may have them in mind in the midst of their merry-making. This was told me by one who had seen it. These people have much gold in their country, so that when one lacks gold he digs till he finds it, and he only takes so much as he requires and puts the rest back in the ground; for if he put it in a treasury or a coffer, he believes that God would take away from him that which is in the ground. I saw many misshapen individuals of this people. Of the Tanguts I have seen big men, but swarthy. The Iugurs are of medium size, like us. Among the Iugurs the Turkie Coman language has its source and root. After Tebet are Longa and Solanga [=possibly NE Manchuria and Korea], whose envoys I saw at court, and they had brought with them more than ten big carts, each of which was drawn by six oxen. They are little men and swarthy like Spaniards, and they wear tunics like the chasuble (supertunicale) of a deacon, except with narrower sleeves. On their heads they wear a miter like a bishop's, except that in front it is slightly lower than behind, and it does not terminate in a point, but is square on top, and is of stiff black buckram, and so polished that it shines in the sun's rays like a mirror or a well-burnished helmet. And at the temples are long strips of the same stuff, which are fastened to the miter, and which stand out in the wind like two horns projecting from the temples. When the wind strikes it too violently, they fold them up across the miter over the temples, where they remain like a hoop across the head; and a right handsome ornament it is. And whenever the principal envoy came to court he carried a highly-polished tablet of ivory about a cubit long and half a palm wide. Every time he spoke to the Chan or some great personage, he always looked at that tablet as if he found there that he had to say, nor did he look to the right or the left, nor in the face of him with whom he was talking. Likewise, when coming into the presence of the lord, and when leaving it, he never looked at anything but his tablet.

Besides these people there is another, as I was assured, called Muc, who have towns, but who take no animals for themselves. There are, however, many herds and flocks in their country, but no one herds them; when anyone wants some, he goes to a hill and calls, and all the animals hearing the call come around him, and let him treat them as if they were tame. If an ambassador or any foreigner come to that country, they put him in a house, and give him all he requires, until his business has been settled; for should a foreigner go about the country, his odor would cause the animals to run away and they would become wild.

There is also great Cathay, whose people were anciently I believe, called Seres. From among them come the best silk stuffs (which are called seric by that people), and the people get the name of Seres from one of their cities. I was given to understand that in that region there is a city with walls of silver and towers of gold. In that land are many provinces, the greater number of which do not yet obey the Mo'al, and between them and India there is a sea. These Cathayans are small men, who in speaking aspirate strongly through the nose, and in common with all Orientals, have small openings for the eyes. They are most excellent artisans in all manners of crafts, and their doctors know full well the virtues of herbs, and diagnose very skillfully the pulse; but they do not use diuretics, nor do they know anything about the urine [J: but they do not employ urine samples, not knowing anything about urine]: this I have seen myself. There are a great many of them at Caracarum, and it is their custom for all sons to follow the same trade as their fathers. 'Tis for this reason that they pay such a great tribute; for they give the Mo'al daily a thousand five hundred iascots or cosmos [J lacks "or cosmos"; an iascot is a piece of silver weighing ten marks; so this is fifteen thousand marks, exclusive of the silk tissues and the provisions which they receive from them, and the other servitudes which are put on them.

All these nations are in the mountains of the Caucasus, but on the north side of these mountains, and (they extend) as far as the eastern Ocean, and (this is) also to the south of that Sithia which the pastoral Mo'als inhabit, and whose tributaries they all are. And all of them are given to idolatry, and tell fables of a host of gods, and of deified human beings, and of the genealogy of the gods, as do our poets.

[More Nestorians]

Living mixed among them, though of alien race [J: alien status] (tanquam advene), are Nestorians and Saracens all the way to Cathay. In fifteen cities of Cathay there are Nestorians, and they have an episcopal see in a city called Segin [=Hsi-king], but for the rest they are purely idolaters. The priests of idols of the nations spoken of all wear wide saffron-colored cowls. There are also among them, as I gathered, some hermits who live in forests and mountains and who are wonderful by their lives and austerity [J: leading lives that are extraordinarily ascetic] . The Nestorians there know nothing. They say their offices, and have sacred books in Syrian, but they do not know the language, so they chant like those monks among us who do not know grammar, and they are absolutely depraved. In the first place they are usurers and drunkards; some even among them who live with the Tartars have several wives like them. When they enter church, they wash their lower parts like Saracens; they eat meat on Friday, and have their feasts on that day in Saracen fashion. The bishop rarely visits these parts, hardly once in fifty years. When he does, they have all the male children, even those in the cradle, ordained priests, so nearly all the males among them are priests. Then they marry, which is clearly against the statutes of the Fathers, and they are bigamists, for when the first wife dies these priests take another. They are all simoniacs, for they administer no sacrament gratis. They are solicitous for their wives and children, and are consequently more intent on the increase of their wealth than of the faith. And so those of them who educate some of the sons of the noble Mo'al, though they teach them the Gospel and the articles of the faith, through their evil lives and their cupidity estrange them from the Christian faith, for the lives that the Mo'al themselves and the Tuins [=Buddhists, from Chinese T'ao-yen: "man of the path." The term properly refers only to priests but Rubruck applies it here to all Buddhists] or idolaters lead are more innocent than theirs.

On the feast of Saint Andrew (30th November) we left this city (of Cailac), and at about three leagues from it we found a village entirely of Nestorians. We entered their church, singing joyfully and at the tops of our voices: "Salve, regina!" [J: the Salve Regina] for it had been a long time since we had seen a church. Proceeding thence three days we came to the head of that province, at the head of the said sea [=probably L. Ala Köl, east of L. Balkhash], which seemed to us as tempestuous as the ocean. And we saw a big island in it. My companion approached its shore and moistened a cloth in it, and tasted the water, which was brackish, though drinkable. There opened a valley which came from out high mountains in the south-east, and there amidst the mountains was visible another big sea, and a river came through that valley from that sea into the first one, and there blows nearly continuously such a wind through that valley, that persons cross it with great danger, lest the wind should carry them into the sea. So we crossed this valley, following a northerly direction towards great mountains covered with deep snow, which then covered the ground. On the feast of Saint Nicholas (6th December) we began greatly accelerating our speed, for we already found no one, only those iams, that is to say those men who are stationed a day apart to look after ambassadors, for in many places in the mountains the road is narrow and the grazing bad, so that from dawn to night we would cover the distance of two iams, thus making of two days one, and we traveled more by night than by day. It was extremely cold, so we turned our sheepskins with the wool outside [J: so they lent us goatskins with the wool turned outside].

On the second Sunday [J: Saturday] in Advent (13th December) in the evening, while we were passing through a certain place amidst most terrible rocks, our guide sent me word begging me to say some prayers (bona verba),by which the devils could be put to flight, for in this gorge devils were wont suddenly to bear men off, and no one could tell what they might do. Sometimes they seized the horse, and left the rider; sometimes they tore out the man's bowels and left the body on the horse, and many such things happened there frequently. So we chanted in a loud voice "Credo in unum Deum," when by the mercy of God the whole of our company passed thorough. From that time they began asking me to write cards (cartas) for them, to carry on their heads, and I would say to them: "I will teach you a phrase to carry in your hearts, which will save your souls and your bodies for all eternity." But always when I wanted to teach them, my interpreter failed me. I used to write for them, however, the "Credo in Deum" and the "Pater noster," saying: "What is here written is what one must believe of God, and the prayer by which one asks of God whatever is needful for man; so believe firmly that this writing is so, though you cannot understand it, and pray God to do for you what is written in this prayer, which He taught from His own mouth to His friends, and I hope that He will save you." I could do no more, for it was very dangerous, not to say impossible, to speak on questions of the faith through such an interpreter, for he did not know how.

After that we entered the plain in which was the ordu of Keu Chan, and which used to be the country of the Naiman, who were the real subjects of that Prester John. I did not at that time see this ordu, but on my way back. I will tell you, however, what befell his family, his son, and his wives. When Keu Chan died, Baatu wanted Mangu to be Chan. As to the death of this Keu I could learn nothing definite. Friar Andrew says that he died from some medicine which was given him, and that it was supposed that Baatu had had this done. I, however, heard another story. He had called upon Baatu to come and do him homage, and Baatu had started in great state. He was in great fear, however, he and his men, so he sent ahead one of his brothers, Stican [=Shiban, son of Jochi Khan] by name, and when he came to Keu, and had to present him the cup, a quarrel arose, and they killed each other. The widow of this Stican detained us a whole day, to go to her dwelling and bless it; that is, that we might pray for her. So this Keu being dead, Mangu was elected by the will of Baatu, and had already been elected when Friar Andrew was there.

Keu had a brother called Siremon [=Shiremün, Güyük's nephew], who on the advice of the wife of Keu and her vassals, went in great state toward Mangu as if to do him homag