§8 4 The VOYAGES and tR A F ELS Book! 
Faith ; for a Man cannot fpeak before him, fave what he fuffer them : They make all things that are fent to the Court 
pleafeth, unlefs he were an Ambaffador, but an Ambaffa- pafs between Fires, and have a due Portion of them, 
dor may fpeak what he will, and they always demand, They alfo purgify the houfhold Stuff *of the Dead 
whether he have any thing elfe to fay. drawing them between thefe Fires ; for when any one dieth 
But he buffered me to fpeak no more j but I muft hear all things whatfoever which appertain to him, are feparated, 
him, and anfwer as to Interrogatories. Then I anfwered, arid not mingled with other things of the Court, till all 
that if he would make me underftand his Words, and be purged by the Fire •, fo did I fee it done to the Court of 
that they were fet down in Writing, I would willingly car- the Lady who died while we were there ; whereupon there 
ry them to my Power. Then he afked me, if I would was a double Reafon why Friar Andrew and his Fellows 
have Gold or Silver, or coftl-y Garments ? I anfwered, we fhould go between the Fires, both becaufe they brought 
receive no fuch things ; but we have not wherewith to bear Prefents, and alfo for that they belonged to him who was 
our Expences, and without your Help, we cannot get out of dead, to wit, Kh on- Khan ; no fuch thing was required of 
your Country. Then faid he, I will provide you all Neceffa- me, becaufe I brought nothing. If any living Creature* 
ries throughout my Country, will you have any thing more ? or any thing elfe, fall to the Ground while they thus make 
I anfwered, it fufficeth me. Then he demanded how far them pafs between the Fires, that is theirs ; they alfo on the 
will you be brought ? I faid let our Pafs bring me to the ninth Day of the Moon of May , gather together all white 
Armenian Country ; if I were there, it were enough. He an- Mares of the Herd and confecrate them. The Chriftian 
fwered, I will caufe you to be conveyed thither, and after 
look to yourfelf ; and he added, there are two Eyes in one 
Head, and though they be two, yet there is one Objedt to 
both ; and whither the one diredteth the Sight, the other 
doth : You came from Baatu , and therefore you muff re- 
turn by him. When he had thus faid, I craved Leave to 
fpeak ; fpeak on, faid he •, then faid I, “ Sir, we are not 
44 Men of War; we defire that they have Dominion of 
44 the World, who would moil juftly govern it according 
44 to the Will of God ; our Office is to teach Men to live 
44 according to the Will of God ; for this Purpofe came 
44 we into thefe Parts, and would willingly have remain- 
44 ed here, if it had pleafed you ; but feeing it is your 
44 Pleafure that we return, it muft be fo ; 1 will return, 
44 and carry your Letters according to my Power, as ye 
44 have commanded. I would requeft your Magnificence, 
44 that when I' have carried your Letters, it may be lawful 
44 for me to return to you, with your good liking, chief- 
44 ly becaufe you have poor Servants of yours at Balac, 
44 who are of our Language, and they want a Prieft to 
44 teach them and their Children their Law, and I would 
44 willingly ftay with them.” To this he anfwered. Know 
you whether your Lords would fend you back to me? I an- 
fwered, 44 Sir, I know not the Purpofe of my Lords ; but 
44 I have Licence from them to go whither I will, where 
44 it is needful to preach the Word of God ; and it feems 
44 to me, as if it were very neceffary in thofe Parts : 
44 Whereupon, whether they fend Ambaffadors or no, if 
44 it pleafe you, I will return. ” Then he held his Peace, 
and fat a long Space, as it were in a Mufe ; and my Inter- 
preter defired me to fpeak no more, and I carefully expedt- 
ed what he would anfwer. 
At length, he faid, you have a long Way to go, 
make yourfelf ftrong with Food, that you may come lufty 
into your Country, and he caufed them to give me Drink ; 
then i departed from his Prefence, and returned not again. 
If I had been endowed with Power to do Wonders, as 
Mofes did, perad^enture he had humbled himfelf. 
52. The Soothfayers therefore, as he confeffed, are 
their Priefts, and whatfoever they command to be done, is 
performed without Delay ; whofe Office I fhall deferibe 
unto you, as I could learn of Matter William , and others, 
who reported unto me things like to be true. They are 
many, /and they have always one Head, or chief Prieft, 
who always places his Houfe before the great Houfe of 
Mangu-Khan , within a Stone’s Call ; under his Study are 
the Chariots which bear their Idols, the others are behind 
the Court, in Places appointed for them, and they who 
have any Confidence in that Art, come unto them from 
divers Parts of the World. Some of them are fkilful in 
Aftronomy, and efpecially the Chief of them, and they 
foretel to them the Eclipfes of the Sun and Moon. And 
when they are to come to pafs ; all the People prepare 
them Food, fo that they need not go out of the Door of 
their Houfe ; and when there is an Eclipfe, they play up- 
on their Timbrels and Organs, and make a great Noife, 
and fet up loud Shouts. When the Eclipfe is paft, they 
give themfelves to Feafting and Drinking, and make great 
Chear. They foretel fortunate and unlucky Days for all Bu- 
finefs ; therefore they never levy an Army, or undertake 
War, without their Direction ; and they had long fince 
returned into Hungary , but that their Soothfayers will not 
2 
Priefts alfo muft come together with their Cenfors ; then 
they call new Cofmos upon the Ground, and make a great 
Feaft that Day, becaufe then they think they drink Cof- 
mos firft, as it is the Fafliion, in fome Places with us, as 
for Wine, on the Feaft of Saint Bartholomew , or Sixtus ; 
and for Fruits, on the Feaft of St. James and Chriftopher. 
_ They alfo are invited when any Child is bom, to foretel 
his Deftiny. They are fent for alfo when any is fick, to 
ufe their Charms, and they tell whether it be a natural In- 
firmity, or by Sorcery ; in regard to which, that good Wo- 
man of Metz I mentioned before, told me a wonderful 
thing. On a certain time, very coftly Furrs were prefent- 
ed, which were laid down at the Court of her Lady, who 
was a Chriftian, as I faid before, and the Soothfayers drew 
them through between the Fires, and took more of them 
than was their Due, and a certain Woman under whofe 
Cuftody the T reafure of her Lady was, accufed them there- 
of unto her Lady, whereupon the Lady herfeif reproved 
them. It fell out after this, that this Lady herfeif began 
to be fick, and to fuffer certain fudden Pains in divers 
Parts of her Body ; the Soothfayers were called, and they 
fitting far off, commanded one of thofe Maidens to put her 
Hand upon the Place where the Grief was, and" if ffie 
found any thing, fhe fhould fnatch it away ; then fhe ari- 
fing, did fo, and fine found a Piece of Felt in her Hand, 
or of fome other thing: Then they commanded her to put 
it upon the Ground, which being laid down, it began to 
creep, as if it had been fome living Creature; then they 
put it into the Water, and it was turned as it were into a- 
Horfe-leech ; and they faid fome Witch hath hurt you thus 
with her Sorceries, and t#ey aacufed her that had accufed 
them of the Furrs, who was brought without the Tents 
into the Fields, and received the Baffinado feven Days to- 
gether there, and was afterwards tormented with other Pu- 
nifhments, to make her confefs; and in the mean time her 
Lady died, which fhe underftanding, faid unto them, I 
know my Lady is dead, kill me, that I may go after her, 
for I never did her hurt ; and when fhe confeffed nothings. 
Mangu-Khan commanded fhe fhould live. 
Then the Sorcerers accufed the Lady’s Daughter’s Nurfe, 
of whom I fpake before, who was a Chriftian, and her 
Hufband was the chief among all the Nejiorian Priefts ; 
fo fhe was brought to Punifhment, with a Maid of hers, 
to . make her confefs, and the Maid confefs’d, that her 
Miftrefs fent her to fpeak with a certain Horfe to demand 
Anfwers. The Woman alfo herfeif confefs’d fomething 
fhe did, to be beloved by her Lady, that fhe might do 
her Good, but fhe did nothing that might hurt her. She 
was demanded alfo whether her Hufband were privy to it; 
fhe excufed him, for that he had burnt the Charadters and 
Letters which fhe had made. Then fhe was put to 
Death, and Mangu-Khan fent the Prieft her Hufband to 
the Bifhop, who was in Cathaya , to be judged, altho* 
he was not found culpable. 
In the mean time it fell out, that the principal Wife of 
Mangu-Khan brought forth a Son, and the Soothfayers 
were called to foretel the Deftiny of the Child, who .all 
prophefied Profperity, and faid, he fhould live long, and 
be a great Lord. After a few Days it happened that the 
Child died ; then the Mother enraged, called the Sooth- 
fayers, faying, you faid my Son fhould live, and he is 
dead. Then they faid. Madam, behold, we fee that Sor- 
cerefs , 
