AD. THE ENGLISH VOYAGES I 



1253- 



where any one growen to mans estate lieth dead, he must 

 not enter into the court of Mangu-Can til one whole yere 

 be expired. If it were a child deceased he must not enter 

 into the said court til the next moneth after. Neere unto 

 the grave of the partie deceased they alwaies leave one 

 cottage. If any of their nobles (being of the stock of 

 Chingis, who was their first lord & father) deceaseth, his 

 sepulcher is unknowen. And alwayes about those places 

 where they interre their nobles, there is one house of men 

 to keep the sepulchers. I could not learn that they use 

 to hide treasures in the graves of their dead. The Co- 

 manians build a great toomb over their dead, & erect the 

 image of the dead party thereupon, with his face towards 

 the East, holding a drinking cup in his hand, before his 

 navel. They erect also upon the monuments of rich 

 men, Pyramides, that is to say, litle sharpe houses or 

 pinacles : & in some places I saw mighty towers made of 

 brick, in other places Pyramides made of stones, albeit 

 there are no stones to be found thereabout. I saw one 

 newly buried, in whose behalfe they hanged up i6. horse 

 hides, unto each quarter of the world 4, betweene certain 

 high posts : & they set besides his grave Cosmos for him 

 to drink, & flesh to eat : & yet they sayd that he was 

 baptized. I beheld other kinds of sepulchers also towards 

 the East : namely large flowres or pavements made of 

 stone, some round & some square, & then 4. long stones 

 pitched upright, about the said pavement towards the 4. 

 regions of the world. When any man is sicke, he lieth in 

 his bed, & causeth a signe to be set upon his house, to 

 signifie that there lieth a sicke person there, to the end 

 that no man may enter into the sayd house : whereupon 

 none at all visit any sicke party but his servant only. 

 Moreover, when any one is sicke in their great courts, 

 they appoint watchmen to stand round about the said 

 court, who wil not suffer any person to enter within the 

 precincts thereof. For they feare least evill spirits or 

 winds should come together with the parties that enter in. 

 They esteeme of soothsayers, as of their priests. 



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