Chap. II. of M A R c 
Cares to the Women, who are affifted therein by Slaves; 
which they buy, or take in War. When a Woman is 
once delivered, fhe forfakes the Bed, waihes the Child, 
and dreffes it, and then the Hulband lieth down, and keeps 
the Child with him forty Days, not buffering it to depart; 
is vifited all that time by Friends and Neighbours, to chear 
and comfort him. The Woman looks to the Houfe, and 
carries the Hufband his Broths to the Bed, and gives Suck 
to the Child by him. Their Wine is made of Rice and 
Spice ; their ordinary Food is Rice, and raw Fldh, dreffed 
as before mentioned. In this Province there are no other 
Idols, fa ve that every Family adoreth the oldeft Man in the 
Houfe, of whom they fay, come themlelves, and all they 
have ; they dwell for the moft part in wild and mountain- 
ous Places, but Foreigners come not to thofe Mountains, 
becaufe the Air would kill them, being in Summer very 
corrupt. 
They have no Letters, but make their Contrails and Ob- 
ligations by Tallies of Wood, one half whereof one keepech, 
and the other the other, which being afterwards paid, the 
Tally is deftroyed. There are no Phyficians in this Pro- 
vince, nor in Caindu y Vociam , and Caraian ; but when 
any is Tick, they call the Magicians, or Idol Priefts toge- 
ther, and the fick Perfon declares his Difeafe unto them ; 
then the Magicians dance, and found certain Inftruments, 
and bellow forth Songs, in Honour of their Gods, till at 
length the Devil entereth into one of them, fkipping and 
playing in the Dance. Then leaving the Dance, they 
confuk with him that is poffeffed, for what Caufe that 
Difeafe happened unto him, and what is to be done for his 
Recovery f The Devil anfwereth by him, becaufe he hath 
done this or that, or becaufe he hath offended this or that 
God, therefore he fell into this Difeafe. Then the Magi- 
cians intreat that God to pardon him this Offence, promi- 
ling, that if the lick Perfon recovers, he fhall offer a Sacri- 
fice of his own Blood ; but if the Devil, or the Prieft, 
think the Patient to be fick of fuch a Difeafe that he can- 
not be freed from the fame, he ufeth to anfwer ; This Man 
hath fo grievoufly offended that God, that he cannot by 
any Sacrifices be appeafed ; but if he think he fhall recover, 
he commanded! to offer fo many Rams, having black 
Heads, and to prepare fo many Magicians with their 
Wives, by them to offer Sacrifices, and that God may 
then . be appeafed towards him ; which being heard, his 
Kinfmen quickly caufe thofe things to be done which the 
Devil commanded. They kill Rams, and fprinlde their 
Blood in the Air, and the Magicians affembled, light 
.great Candles, and perfume the whole Houfe with In- 
cenfe, making great Smoke of Lignum Aloes, and 
Iprinkle the Broth of the Flefh in the Air, with the Po- 
tion made of Spices ; all which being duly performed, 
they fkip about again, and dance in Honour of that Idol, 
which is fuppofed to have been favourable to the Sick, 
dinging and making a horrible Noife with their Voices. 
Thefe things being performed, they afk the poffefs’d 
again, whether the Idol be pleafed ? And if he anfwer no, 
they prefently prepare themfelves to fulfil any other Com- 
mand of his ; but if he anfwer that he is fatisfied, they fit 
down at the Table, and eat the Flefh offered to the Idol 
with great Joy, and drink the Liquors, and Dinner being 
ended, and the Magicians paid, every one returns to his 
own Home ; and when the Sick hath thus efcaped the 
Difeafe, thro’ the Providence of God, and hath been re- 
ftored to Health, they attribute it to the Idol, to whom 
they facrificed ; but if he die, then they fay, the Idol was 
defrauded, and that fome of the Sacrifices tailed thereof 
firft : This is not done to all, but by the richer, the Devil, 
or his Priefts, in his Name, impofing on their Blindnefs. 
The Great Khan, A. D. 1272, fent an Army into the 
Kingom of Vociam and Gurazan , to reduce it, his Forces 
OPOLO. ’ 
being to the Number of twelve thoufand veteran Troops; 
under the Conduit of a Neftorian , an experienced Officer. 
As foon as the King of Mien and King of Bengala heard 
of their coming, affembling their Forces, they joined 
Horfe and Foot together about threefcore Thoufand; and 
about a thoufand Elephants bearing Cattles, and in every 
Cattle twelve or fixteen armed Men were placed ; with 
thi^ Army the King of Mein marched fpeedily towards 
the City of Vociam , where the Army of the Vartan lay- 
encamped. Nejiardin , however, marched forth with in- 
vincible Courage to fight the Enemy, and drawing near 
them, encamped near a certain great Wood, knowing- 
that the Elephants with their Towers on their Backs were 
not able to enter into the Wood. Then the King of Mein 
feeing this, refolved to meet them ; but the ‘Tartarian 
Horfe perceiving the Elephants which were placed in the 
Front of the Battle, were terrified, fo that they could not 
by any Means be brought to charge the Elephants ; the 
Tartars therefore were compelled to alight from their 
Horfes, and tying them to the Trees, they came to fight 
on Foot againft thofe Beafts, and very wifely fliot a 
Multitude of Arrows againft the Elephants, which not 
able to endure the Wounds received by the Arrows, be- 
took themfelves to flight, and went all to the next Wood, 
brake their Caftles, and overthrew the armed Men fitting 
in them ; which the Tartars feeing, run to their Horfes; 
and getting upon them, furioufly fell upon the King’s 
Army with great Violence, and many of either Army feii. 
At length the King of Mein being put to Flight, left the 
Viitory to the Tartars , who Fattened to the Wood, and 
taking many Captives, ufed their Help to feize two hun- 
dred of thefe Elephants, and ever fince the Great Khan 
hath ufed Elephants in his Army, to which before he was 
notaccuftomed: Hereupon alfo he vanquifhed the Countries 
of the King of Mein and Bengala , and fubjeited them to 
his Empire 1 . 
Departing from the Province of Caraiam , there is a great 
Defart, which continued! two Days and a half, nor is 
there any Habitation there, but a very large Plain, in 
which three Days in the Week Multitudes meet together 
for Trading. Many defeend from the great Mountains of 
that Country, bringing Gold with them to change for Sil- 
ver, that is, giving an Ounce of Gold for five Ounces of 
Silver, and therefore many Merchants from foreign Nati- 
ons come thither, who bring Silver and carry Gold away, 
and bring thither Merchandize to fell to thefe People ; for 
to thofe high Mountains in which they who gather Gold 
in that Country dwell, no Stranger can come, becaufe the 
Way is intricate and unpaffable. When you are paft that 
Plain, going toward the South, Mein bordereth upon In - 
dia , and the Diftance is about fifteen Days Journey, 
through Places uninhabited, and woody, in which innu- 
merable Elephants, Unicorns, and other wild Beafts 
wander. 
After that fifteen Days Journey, you come to Mein„ 
a great and noble City, the Head of the Kingdom, and 
fubjeit to the Great Khan. The Inhabitants thereof have 
a peculiar Language, and are Idolaters. In this City there 
was a King, who being ready to die, commanded that 
near to his Sepulchre there flhould be ereited two Towers, 
in the Fo,rm of Pyramids, one at the Head, the other at 
the Feet, both of Marble, of the Heighth of ten Fathom. On 
the Top was placed a round Ball ; he caufed one to be covered 
all over with Gold, a Finger thick, and the other with 
Silver ; and upon the Top, round about the Balls, many 
little gold and filver Bells were hanged, which at the 
blowing of the Wind, gave a certain ftirill and pleafant 
Sound. The Monument, or Sepulchre, was alfo covered 
with Plates, partly of Gold, partly of Silver. He com- 
manded this to be made in Honour of his Soul, and that 
J Lhe £ reat Conquefts made by the Tartars in the Eaft, have fo overturned all Monuments of Antiquity among the Nations they have fubdued, that 
if it were not for thefe Travels of Marco Polo, we fhould be at a Lofs for any of the Particulars relating to them. The Chinefe Hiftorians indeed*, ve- 
ry fully confir m the Truth of what he has delivered, but in general Terms only ; fo that they add nothing circumftantial, or capable of living us a 
clearer or more diftinft Idea of what he has bid down, in refpeft to which it is fufficient for us to obferve, that mpft of the Fads he mentions either 
.Happened at the Time when he was actually prefent in the Court of the Great Khali, or a very little before it; fo that he could not but be well in- 
formed as to the I rath of what he afferts. Strange indeed to us, who live at fo great a Diftance from thefe Countries, and are fo little acquainted 
with the Manners of their Inhabitants, but at the fame Time very agreeable to the beft Accounts that have been afforded us of thefe Court - 
tries by modern Travellers, and more efpecially by the Mifiioflaries, who have been- at great Pains to codec! and reduce into Order fuch Paffaees 
as they have met with in Chinefe and other Oriental Writers, 6 
Numb. 42. y R Hs 
