the Emperor of Cathay (China), whose image 

 they have on their flags (noo). 



"On leaving Java I returned to Oxanap and 

 took the way to the Kingdom of Armalec, whose 

 device is a white flag with a pale of gold (simi- 

 lar to Delhi — 1099). I departed from the Em- 

 pire of Armalec and traveled by land for a 

 great distance over a well-peopled country, 

 with flocks, but no cities nor towns, because 

 all the inhabitants live in the country. 



TO THE END OF THE EARTH 



"At last I arrived in the Empire of Catayo 

 (China), where all the cities are on the shores 

 of the eastern sea, which joins with the Sea of 

 India. This sea of the east is full of reefs 

 and islands, and to the eastward there is no 

 news of any lands, only waters, as in the west- 

 ern sea. 



"Know that Catayo (China) is the end of 

 the earth in the line of Spain. This empire is 

 irrigated by three great rivers, which rise in 

 the Montes Caspios (Himalaya Mountains) 

 and are led off into many parts. They call the 

 largest of these rivers Magot (Hoang-Ho), 

 for it rises near the castle of Magot (the Great 

 Wall), which is one of the gates of encircled 

 Tartaria (Tartary). They call this emperor 

 Gosman Imperator Morroy, and Grand Can, 

 Lord of the East. His device is a gold flag 

 and in the middle an emperor seated, in white 

 cloths, with an imperial crown on his head, in 

 one hand a Turkish bow, in the other a golden 

 apple (1101). 



"I departed from the Empire of Catayo to- 

 ward the north, up the course of the river 

 Magot (Hoang-Ho), and traveled for 65 days. 

 I did not find town nor city. The land is en- 

 tirely inhabited by tribes with flocks. It is all 

 a plain country and has no stones nor trees 

 nor people who eat bread, but only meat and 

 mine Thence I reached the Montes Caspios 

 (Himalayas) of Magot. 



"Know that these mountains are of immeas- 

 urably height and surround Tartaria from sea 

 to sea, and there is only one very narrow pass. 

 Here there is a castle built of magnet iron 

 throughout, for nature made it in this manner 

 and it reaches to the clouds. At its foot rises 

 the river Magot. On the other side there is 

 another castle which is as high and built of the 

 same stone, called Got (Gog and Magog, men- 

 tioned in Ezekiel xxxviii). The castles are 

 very high on the top, so that ten thousand men 

 can reside in each of them. Between the two 

 are the Iron Gates which shut the entrance to 

 Tartaria. 



"Within this Tartaria there are countless 

 tribes who do not observe any of the com- 

 mandments of God, except that they do no evil 

 one to another. They are very confident and 

 great fighters, both on foot and on horseback, 

 insomuch that Alexander was unable to con- 

 quer them or to enter their country by the 

 mountains, for they shut and fastened those 

 iron gates by placing great rocks against them, 

 and they were closed for a long time. Even- 

 tually they removed the obstruction, coming 

 out and conquering a great part of the world 

 themselves. From that lineage came all those 

 of the Empire of Catayo. 



"From that lineage also came those of the 

 empires of Armalec, Mesopotamia, all the Per- 

 sians, those of the Empire of Sara (Caspian), 

 as well Turks and Tartars, Saracens and Goths. 

 Some of them turned to the law of Abraham 

 and others turned Moors. The wise men of 

 Tartaria say that when 7,000 years of the era 

 of Adam are completed they will be lords of 

 the whole face of the earth and will make all 

 peoples conform to their law and their freedom. 

 This enclosed Tartaria forms a fourth part 

 of the whole earth. 



"In the Empire of Catayo there is a king- 

 dom called Scim (perhaps a kingdom of hear- 

 say), which borders on the Kingdom of Sar- 

 niagant (Samarkand), Bocarin (Bokhara), and 

 Trimic (Tibet). The flag of its king is white, 

 with a figure of the sun in the center (1102). 



Europe's first account op Tibet 



"The Kingdom of Trimic (Tibet) is all sur- 

 rounded by mountains, which give rise to many 

 fountains and rivers. Those who are born here 

 have very long lives. They are men of clear 

 understandings and good memories, learned in 

 the sciences and live according to the law. 

 They say that the men who first heard of sci- 

 ence and learning were these, and that the Per- 

 sians heard of those things from them. For 

 this reason they deserve honour above all other 

 men ; for others do not equal these in learning 

 or science." 



This is the earliest European account of the 

 people of Tibet. 



"I departed from Magot, where I had re- 

 sided for sometime, and traveled with some 

 companions, 25 days' journey to the westward, 

 to the city of Bocarin (Bokhara), where the 

 king always resides. Here I met with mer- 

 chants who came from Catayo and traveled 

 with us, 35 days' journey, to another city, called 

 Cato, the head of a kingdom with very exten- 

 sive territory (probably a region bordering on 

 Siberia). But all the people live in the coun- 

 try, except the people of one city where the 

 king lives. These two kingdoms have for a 

 device a yellow flag with many white stars 

 (1103). 



"We departed from the Kingdom of Cato 

 and traveled a great distance without finding 

 town nor city, yet the country was inhabited 

 and with many flocks. We came to a moun- 

 tain which is a spur from the Montes Caspios 

 and extends to the Sea of Sara (Caspian). 

 This mountain is 125 days' journey long. 



"We crossed it by a very high pass and again 

 traveled a long distance over a country with- 

 out cities or towns until we came to a great 

 city called Norgancio (Khiva), in the Empire 

 of Uxbeco (Shah Usbek, who reigned during 

 the first half of the fourteenth century over a 

 vast region stretching from the Dnieper to the 

 Ural Mountains). The King of the Norgan- 

 cio has for his device a white flag with the 

 sign of Uxbeco Emperor of Sara (on the Cas- 

 pian) red" (1104). 



Journeying westward by way of the Caspian 

 Sea, which he crossed in a ship belonging to 

 Christians, the friar visited Armenia. His re- 

 cital continues : 



"Then I went to see the mountains of Ar- 

 menia the Greater, where the ark of Noe 



397 



