$04 
The VOV AGES and TRAVELS Book I. 
Flafk, or leather Bottle, with as much Water as he pleafes, 
which while he rides, mixes together, and this is his 
Dinner. 
. .When they encounter With their Enemies, they ride 
here and there fiiooting, and fometimes make a Shew of 
Flight, fiiooting as they fly % and finding the Enemy bro- 
ken, rejoin their Forces, and purfue the Victory, having 
their Horfes fo at Command, as with a Sign to turn 
any Way. But now the Tartars are mixed and confound- 
ed, and fo are their Fafhions. They punifh Malefactors 
after this Manner j If any fteal a Thing of fmall Value, 
and is not to be deprived of Life, he is feven Times 
beaten with a Cudgel, or feventeen, or feven and twenty, 
or thirty and feven, or forty- feven, giving the Strokes ac- 
cording to the Meafure and Quality of the Offence, and 
that unto an hundred : Some die through thefe Strokes. 
But if any have ftolen an Horfe, or other Thing, for the 
which he defer ves to die, he is cut afunder with a Sword 
in the Middle but if he will redeem his Life he may, by 
reftoring the Theft nine-fold. Such as have Horfes, 
Oxen, or Camels, brand them with their Marks, and 
fend them to feed in the Paftures without a Keeper. 
Leaving the City of Caracarum and the Mountain Altaic 
we come unto the champion Country of Bargu , which 
extends itfelf northwads about fixty Days Journey in 
Length. The Inhabitants of thefe Places are called Medites, 
and they are fubjeCt to the Great Khan, and in Manners 
like the Tartars •, they are a Sort of favage Men, and eat 
the Flefh of Beafts which they take by hunting, efpecially 
Stags, of which they have Plenty, and they make them 
fo tame that they can ride them ; they have no Corn or 
Wine. In the Summer they chiefly pra&ife hunting of 
wild Beafts and Fowls, on the Flefh whereof they may 
live in the Winter ; for in Winter Fowls, as well as 
other living Things fly from thence on account of the 
Extremity of the Cold. 
14. After forty Days Journey you come to the Ocean, 
near which is a Mountain, where Storks and fine Fal- 
cons breed, which are carried thence unto the Court of 
the Great Khan. Here we muft return unto the City 
Campion ; if therefore you proceed farther five Days Jour- 
ney from the City Campion towards the Eaft, you come to 
the Kingdom of Erginul , in the Province of Tangut , fub- 
jed to the Great Khan. In this Kingdom are many Ido- 
laters ; there are fome Nejiorian Chriftians and T urks ; 
as alio many Cities and Caftles, of which Erginul is chief. 
From hence, if you proceed farther to the South-Eaft, 
you may go to the Parts of Cathay , Going South-Eaft to- 
wards Cathay , there is a certain famous City named Cin- 
guy , the Name alfo of the Province, tributary unto the 
Great Khan contained in Tangut ; the People are fome 
Chriftians , fome Mohammedans , and others Idolaters. 
There are alfo found wild Oxen, very near as big as Ele- 
phants, very fair, having white and black Hair, fhort in 
other Parts, and on the Shoulder three Palms long, fine, 
white, and in many Refpe&s beyond Silk, of which Hair 
our Author brought fome to Venice as a rare Thing. Many 
alfo of thefe Oxen are tamed, and made to couple with 
tame Kine, and the Breed of them are fitter for Bufinefs 
than any other Creatures, bear great Burthens, are yoaked 
to the Plough, and do twice as much Service as others. 
The beft Mufk in the World is found in this Province, 
and is taken from a Beaft of the Bignefs of a Goat, having 
Hair like a Stag, Feet and Tail like a Gazell, but with- 
out Horns. It hath four Teeth, two above and two be- 
neath, of the Length of three Fingers, as white as Ivory, 
and is a very beautiful Creature. When the Moon is at 
full, near the Navel, under the Belly, there grows to this 
Beaft an Impoftume or Bladder, full of Blood, and at the 
Full Moon they goto hunt them, and take away that Swell- 
ing, which is dried in the Sun, and is the beft Mufk •, the 
Flefh alfo is good to eat : Mafter Marco brought to Venice 
the Head and Feet of this Beaft dried. The Men live by 
Merchandife and Arts, and have abundance of Corn. 
They are Idolaters, of a fat Body and little Nofe, black 
Hair, having no Beard but four Hair? on their Chirr. 
The Women are wonderfully fair, and when the Men des 
fire, to marry Wives, they rather make Choice of the 
Beautiful than the Noble or Rich. It often happens from 
hence, that a great Nobleman marries a poor Wife, if 
beautiful, affigning a Dowry to her Mother. This Pro- 
vince extends itfelf five and twenty Days Journey in 
Length, and is very fertile 5 in it are exceeding large 
Pheafants, having Trains eight or ten Handfuls long; 
many other Kinds of Birds are alfo found there, which 
have very beautiful Feathers of various excellent Co- 
lours fc . 
After eight Days Journey further Eaft, you meet with 
the Province Egrigaia , in the which are many Cities and 
Caftles •, all but this lies ftill in T rngut. The principal City 
is called Calacia , the Inhabitants thereof are Idolaters* j 
there are three Churches of Nejiorian Chriftians, who are 
fubjed to the Great Khan. In this City Camblets are 
made, woven of white Wool, and the Hair of Camels, 
than which there are fcarce any better in the World. Eaft 
from this Province of Egrigaia , lies that of Tandach , in 
which are many Cites and Caftles, and here Prefbyter John 
refides, who now pays Tribute to the Great Khan. "The 
King of that Nation is called George , and is a Prieft and a 
Chriftian, and moft of the People are Chriftians. All the 
Great Khans, after his Death (who was flain in Battle by 
Zingis) give their Daughters to thofe Kings to Wife. 
This King George holds not all that the Prieft John before 
held, and is the Fourth of that Family '. There is a Na- 
tion there called Argons , more lightly Men, and fitter for 
Merchandize than the reft, defcended of Idolaters and 
Mohammedans . There are alfo two Regions, where they 
dwell, which in thofe Parts are called , Og and Magog \ but 
they which dwell there call them Ung and Mongul ; in XJng 
are Gog , and in Mongul the Tartars. Riding Eaft feven 
Days towards Cathay are many Cities peopled with Idola- 
ters, Mohammedans , and Nejlorians. There is one City 
called Sindicin , where very excellent Arms are made 
of divers forts fit for Armies. In the Mountains of this 
Province are great Mines of Silver, and much Game, and 
the Country of the Mountains is called Idifa. 
Three Days Journey from the City laft mentioned ftands 
another City Jangamur , that is. The White Lake , where 
there is a Palace, in which the Great Khan delights, becaufe 
there are many Lakes and Rivers, many Swans, and in 
the Plains, Cranes, Pheafants, Partridges, and other Fowls. 
There are five forts of Cranes there, fome have black 
Wings like Crows, others are white, and bright, having 
their Feathers full of Eyes like Peacocks, but of a Golden 
Colour, the Neck black and white, very beautiful ; a third 
fort for Bignefs not unlike ours ; a fourth little, and very 
fair, iniermingled with red and blue Colours *, the fifth of a 
grizzle, or grey Colour, having red and black Heads, and 
thefe are very large ; and near to this City lies a Valley* 
where are many Cottages, in which a great Number of 
Partridges are maintained, which are kept againft the 
King’s coming to lodge there for fome Time. Three Days 
Journey Nor th-Eaft ward, is the City Ciandu , which the 
Great Khan Cublay now reigning built, erecting therein a 
marvellous Palace of Marble, and other Stones, which ex- 
tends to the Wall on the one Side, and the middle of the 
City on the other. He included fixteen Miles, within the 
Circuit of the Wall on that Side, where the Palace joins 
the City Wall, into which none can enter but by the Palace. 
In this Inclofure or Park are pleafant Meadows, Springs, 
Rivers, red and fallow Deer, Fawns carried thither for 
the Hawks, of which are mewed there about two hundred 
Ger-Falcons, which he goes once a Week to fee, and he 
often ufeth one Leopard or more fitting on Horfes, with 
which he hunts the Stag and Deer, and having taken the 
beft, gives it to the Ger-Falcons, and in beholding this 
This Account of the Mufk Animal is very exaft, and contains nothing in it liable to Exception, which fhev/s that where our Author relates 
Things of his own Knowledge, and which fall within the Compafs of his Underftanding, he may very well be relied on. 
1 There is the fame Miftake here, as in the Relation of Rubruquis. The People in Europe were extremely defirous of learning fome News of this 
Chriftian Monarch, as they would needs have him to be ; and therefore when our Author heard that this Prince was a Nejiorian, he took it for 
granted that he muft be Prefbyter John 1 but as we have already fet that Matter ip a dear Light, we fhaU not trouble the Reader any farther with it 
at prefent. 
