V 
Chap. II. of W ILL! AM 
Even fo God is every where, and rules all Things, and yet 
he is Invifible, being Underftanding and Wifdom itfelfi 
1 was very defirous to have had fome farther Conference 
with them, but on account that my Interpreter was weary 
and not able to exprefs my Meaning, I was conftrained to 
keep Silence. The Moals , or 'Tartars, are in this regard of 
their Sedt, that is to fay, they believe there is but one God, 
yet they make Images of Felt, in remembrance of their 
deceafed Friends, covering them with five moft rich and 
coftly Garments, and putting them into one or two Carts, 
which Carts no Man dare touch ; and tliefe are in the Cu- 
ftody of their Soothfayers, who are their Priefts, concern- 
ing whom I will give your Highnefs an Account more at 
large hereafter. 
Thefe Soothfayers, or Diviners, always attend upon the 
Court of Mangu , and of other great Perfonages ; as for 
the poorer, or meaner Sort, they have them not, except 
fuch only as are of the Kindred of Z ingis ; and when they 
are to remove, or take any Journey, the faid Diviners go 
before them, as the cloudy Pillar went before the Children 
of Ifrael, and they appoint Ground where the Tents muft 
be pitched j and, firft of all, they take down their own 
Houfes, and after them the whole Court does the like. 
Alfo on their feftival Days, or new Moons, they take out 
thefe Images, and place them in order circle- wife within 
the Houfe § then come the Moals or T artars into the fame 
Houfe, bowing themfelves before the Images, and worfhip 
them. It is not lawful for any Stranger to enter the 
Houfe. And, on a certain Time, I myfelf would have 
gone in, but was very rudely turned out, and obliged to re- 
move, fo that I never after attempted to pry any further 
Into this matter. 
33. But it is my Opinion, that thefe Jugures who live 
among the Chriftians and Saracens , by frequent Difputes 
with them, have been brought to believe that there is but 
©ne God > and they dwell in certain Cities, which were 
brought into Subjection to Z ingis-Khan, and he gave his 
Daughter in Marriage unto their King : Alfo the City of 
Caraearum itfelf, is in a manner within their Territories ; 
and the whole Country of King, or Prefbyter John , and 
of his Brother Unc , lieth near to their Dominions, except 
that they inhabit in certain Paftures Northward, and the 
faid Jugures between the Mountains towards the South. 
The Moals received their Letters or Characters from 
them ; and they are the Tartars principal Scribes, and all 
the Nejlorians almoft can read their Letters. Next unto 
them, between the aforefaid Mountains Eaftwards, inha- 
bited! the Nation Tangut , who are moft valiant People, and 
took Zingis in Battle ; but after the Conclufion of a Peace 
he was fet at Liberty by them, and afterwards fubdued 
them.Thefe People of Tangut have Oxen of great Strength, 
with Tails like Fforfes, and with long, fharp Hair upon 
the Backs and Bellies. Their Legs are larger than thofe 
of other Oxen, and they are exceeding fierce ; thefe Oxen 
draw the Houfes of the Moals, and their Horns are 
{lender, long, {freight, and very fharp-pointed, infomuch 
that the Owners are obliged to cut off the Ends of them. 
A Cow will not fufter herfelf to be coupled to one of 
them, unlefs they whiffle or fing unto her. They have 
alfo the Qualities of a Buffalo, for if they fee a Perfon 
cloathed in Red, they run upon him immediately to kill 
him. 
Next to this Nation are the People of Tibet ; Men, 
who had formerly a Cuftom to eat the Bodies of their de- 
ceafed Parents, that they might make no other Sepulchre 
for them than their own Bowels. But of late they have 
left off this Cuftom, becaufe thereby they became odious 
to all other Nations j notwithftanding which, at this Day, 
they make fine Cups of the Skulls of their Parents, to this 
end, that when they drink out of them, they may, in the 
Midft of all their Jollities and Delights, call their dead 
Parents to Remembrance : This was told me by one that 
faw it. I he faid People of Tibet have vaft Plenty of 
Gold in their Land *, whofoever therefore wants Gold digs 
till he hath found fome, and then taking fo much thereof 
as will ferve his Turn, he lays up the Remainder in the 
Earth, becaufe, if he fhould put it into his Cheft, or Stores 
, houfe, he is of Opinion that God would with-hold from 
aim all other Gold, 
deRubruquis. 571 
I faw fome of thefe People, being very deformed Crea* 
tures. In Tangut I faw lufty, tali Men, but brown and 
fwarthy in Colour. The Jugures are of a middle Stature* 
like Frenchmen. The Language of the Jugures, is the 
Original and Root of the Turkijh and Gomanian Lan- 
guages. Next to Tibet are the People of Langa and So- 
langa , whofe Embaffadors I faw in the Tartars Court j 
and they brought ten great Carts with them, every one of 
which was drawn by fix Oxen, They are little brown 
Men, like Spaniards. Thefe People wear Jackets, like the 
upper Veftment of a Deacon, laving that the Sleeves are 
fomewhat {freighter, and they have Mitres upon their 
Heads like Bifhops 5 but the Fore-part of their Mitre is 
not fo hollow within as the hinder Part, neither is it fharp- 
pointed, nor cornered at the Top •, but there hang down 
certain lquare Laps, compacted of a kind of Straw* 
which is made rough through extreme Heat, and is fo 
trimmed, that it glktereth in the Sun-beams like a Glafs, 
or an Helmet well burnifhed. On their Brows they have 
long Bands of the fameManufadture faftened to theirMitres* 
which hover in the Wind as if two long Homs grew out 
of their Heads ; and when the Wind toffes them up and 
down too much, they tie them over the midft of their 
Mitre, from one Temple to another, and fo they lie a-crofs 
their Heads. ‘ Their principal Embaffador to the Tartar’s, 
Court, had a Table of Elephants Teeth about him, of a 
Cubit in Length, and a Handful in Breadth, very fmooth, 
and whenfoever he fpoke to the Emperor himfelf, or to 
any other great Perfonage, he always looked on that Ta- 
ble as if he had found therein thofe Things which he fpake £ 
neither did he caft his Eyes to the Right-hand or to the 
Left of thofe with whom he talked. 
Beyond them, as I was certainly informed, there are O a 
ther People called Muc , having Villages, but no one Man 
of them appropriates any Cattle to himfelf, notwithftand- 
ing there are many Flocks and Droves of Cattle in their 
Country, and nobody appointed to keep them ■, but when 
any of them want a Beaft, he goes up upon a Hill, and 
there makes a Shout, and all the Cattle which are within 
hearing of the Noife, come flocking about him, and ftiffef 
themfelves to be taken as if they were tame. And when 
any Meffenger, or Stranger, cometh into their Country* 
they fhut him up in an Houfe, allowing him Things ne- 
ceffary, till his Bufmefs be difpatched ; for if any Stranger 
fhould travel through that Country, the Cattle would^fly 
away at the very Scent of him, and fo become wild. Be- 
yond Muc is the grand Cathaya, the Inhabitants of which* 
as I fuppofe, were of old called Seres , for from them are 
brought moft excellent Stuffs and Silk •, and this People are 
called Seres of a certain Town in the fame Country. I was 
credibly informed, that in the faid Country, there is a 
Town having Walls of Silver, and Bulwarks of Gold, 
There are many Provinces in that Land, the greater Pare 
of which are not as yet fubdued by the Tartars , and the 
Sea lieth between them and India. Thefe Cathayans are 
Men of little Stature, fpeaking much through the Nofe. 
^ This is a general Remark, that all the People of the 
Eaft have fmali Eyes. They are excellent Workmen in. 
every Art, and their Phyficians are well fkilPd in the Vir* 
tue of Herbs, and judge very exadtly of the Pulfe, blit 
know not any thing concerning Urine. Some of them I 
faw, for there are many at Caraearum, and they always 
bring up their Children in the fame Trade of their Father, 
and therefore they pay fo much Tribute ; for they give die 
Moals, or Moguls, every Day, one thoufand five hundre s 
Caffino’s, or Jafcots (Jalcoc is a Piece of Silver weighing 
ten Marks) that is to fay, every Day, fifty thoufand 
Marks, befides Silks, and a certain Quantity of Victuals* 
and other Services which they do them. All thefe Nati- 
ons are between the Mountains of Caucafus ; on the North 
Side of thofe Mountains to the Eaft Sea, on the South 
Part of Scythia , which the Shepherds of Moal inhabit, all 
are Tributary unto them, and all given to Idolatry, and 
report many Fables of a Multitude of Gods, and certain 
deified Men, and make a Pedigree of the Gods, as our 
Poets do. 
The Neftorians are intermix’d with them as Strangers, 
fb are the Saracens as far as Cathay. The Nejlorians inha^ 
bit fifteen Cities of Cathay , and have a Bifliop there ill 
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