WILLIAM DE RUBRUQUIS a.d. 



1253. 



diviners are called Can amongst them. Whereupon their 

 princes are called Can, because that unto them belongeth 

 the government of the people by divination. Wee doe 

 reade also in the historie of Antiochia, that the Turkes 

 sent for aide against the French-men, unto the kingdome 

 of Con Can. For out of those parts the whole nation of From whence 

 the Turkes first came. The said Con was of the nation ^^^ Turkes 

 of Kara-Catay. Kara signifieth blacke, and Catay is the -^'^ ^^^ 

 name of a countrey. So that Kara-Catay signifieth the 

 blacke Catay. This name was given to make a difference 

 between the foresaid people, and the people of Catay, 

 inhabiting Eastward over against ye Ocean sea: con- An Ocean sea. 

 cerning whom your majesty shall understand more here- 

 after. These Catayans dwelt upon certaine Alpes, by the 

 which I travailed. And in a certain plaine countrey 

 within those Alpes, there inhabited a Nestorian shepheard, 

 being a mighty governour over the people called Yayman, Nayman. 

 which were Christians, following the sect of Nestorius. 

 After the death of Con Can, the said Nestorian exalted 

 himselfe to the kingdome, and they called him King Presbiter 

 John, reporting ten times more of him then was true. '^°^^' 

 For so the Nestorians which come out of those parts, 

 use to doe. For they blaze abroade great rumors, and 

 reports upon just nothing. Whereupon they gave out 

 concerning Sartach, that he was become a Christian, and 

 the like also they reported concerning Mangu Can, 

 and Ken Can : namely because these Tartars make more 

 account of Christians, then they doe of other people, 

 and yet in very deede, themselves are no Christians. 

 So likewise there went foorth a great report concerning 

 the said king John. Howbeit, when I travailed along 

 by his territories, there was no man that knew any thing 

 of him, but onely a fewe Nestorians. In his pastures The place of 

 or territories dwelleth Ken Can, at whose Court Frier ^^^ ^^^^ ^" 

 Andrew was. And I my selfe passed by it at my ^^°^'^^- 

 returne. This John had a brother, being a mightie 

 man also, and a shepheard like himselfe, called Vut, and ^«^ ^^"y or 

 he inhabited beyond the Alpes of Cara Catay, being ^"^^ ^'^'^■ 



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