WILLIAM DE RUBRUQUIS ad. 



1253- 



Of the court of Scacatai : and how the Christians 

 drinke no Cosmos. Chap. 12. 



ON the morrowe after we met with the cartes of Sca- 

 catai laden with houses, and me thought that a 

 mighty citie came to meete me. I wondered also at the 

 great multitude of huge droves of oxen, & horses, and at 

 the flockes of sheepe. I could see but a fewe men that 

 guided all these matters : wherupon I inquired how many 

 men he had under him, & they told me that he had not 

 above 500. in all, the one halfe of which number we were 

 come past, as they lay in another lodging. Then the ser- 

 vant which was our guide told me, that I must present 

 somwhat unto Scacatay : & so he caused us to stay, going 

 himselfe before to give notice of our comming. By this 

 time it was past three of the clocke, and they unladed 

 their houses nere unto a certain water : And there came 

 unto us his interpreter, who being advertised by us that 

 wee were never there before, demanded some of our vic- 

 tuals, & we yeelded unto his request. Also he required 

 of us some garment for a reward, because he was to inter- 

 pret our sayings unto his master. Howbeit we excused 

 our selves as well as wee could. Then he asked us, what 

 we would present unto his Lord ? And we tooke a flagon 

 of wine, & filled a maund with bisket, & a platter with 

 apples & other fruits. But he was not contented therewith, 

 because we brought him not some rich garment. Notwith- 

 standing we entred so into his presence with feare and 

 bashfulnes. He sate upon his bed holding a citron in his 

 hand, and his wife sate by him : who (as I verily thinke) 

 had cut and pared her nose betweene the eyes, that she 

 might seeme to be more flat and saddle-nosed : for she 

 had left her selfe no nose at all in that place, having 

 annointed the very same place with a black ointment, and 

 her eye browes also : which sight seemed most ugly in our 

 eies. Then I rehearsed unto him the same wordes, which 

 I had spoken in other places before. For it stoode us in 

 hand to use one and the same speech in all places. For 



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