WILLIAM DE RUBRUQUIS a.d. | 



1253- I 



Cyngis sent ye Tartars before him in al places where \ 



he came : and thereupon was their name published and j 



spread abroade : for in all places the people woulde j 



crie out : Loe, the Tartars come, the Tartars come. : 



Howbeit, through continuall warres, they are nowe, all \ 



of them in a maner, consumed and brought to nought. ' 



Whereupon the Moals indevour what they can, to \ 



extinguish the name of the Tartars, that they may exalt * 



their owne name. The countrey wherein they first \ 



inhabited, and where the Court of Cyngis Can as yet j 



remaineth, is called Mancherule. But because Tartaria Mancherule. \ 



is the region, about which they have obtained their ; 



conquests, they esteeme that as their royall and chiefe ^ 



citie, and there for the most part doe they elect their . 



great Can. ' 



Of the Russians, Hungarians, and Alanians : and .; 

 of the Caspian Sea. Chap. 20. 



NOw, as concerning Sartach, whether he beleeves in \ 



Christ, or no, I knowe not. This I am sure of, \ 



that he will not be called a Christian. Yea rather he 1 



seemeth unto mee to deride and skoffe at Christians. | 



He lieth in the way of the Christians, as namely of the | 

 Russians, the Valachians, the Bulgarians of Bulgaria the 



lesser, the Soldaianes, the Kerkis, and the Alanians : ^ 



who all of them passe by him, as they are going to \ 



the Court of his father Baatu, to carie giftes : whereupon ) 



he is more in league with them. Howbeit, if the j 



Saracens come, and bring greater giftes then they, they 1 



are dispatched sooner. He hath about him certaine ] 



Nestorian Priestes, who pray upon their beades, and ' 



sing their devotions. Also, there is another under ! 



Baatu called Berta, who feedeth his cattell toward Porta Or^ Berca. \ 

 ferrea, or Derbent, where lieth the passage of all those 



Saracens, which come out of Persia, and out of Turkie to ^ 



goe unto Baatu, and passing by, they give rewards unto \ 



him. And he professeth himselfe to be a Saracene, and '\ 



will not permit swines flesh to be eaten in his dominions. ' 



269 



