At Its Southern Foot Lies A Valley Remarkable For Its
Buddhist Monasteries And Shrines, One Of Which, "Shing-Tung-Tze," Is
Entirely Made Of Brass, Whence Its Name.
"Kuku-Khoto is the depot for the Mongolian trade with China.
It contains
two hundred tea-shops, five theatres, fifteen temples, and six Mongol
monasteries. Among its sights are the Buddhist convent of Utassa, with its
five pinnacles and has-reliefs, the convent of Fing-sung-si, and a temple
containing a statue erected in honour of the Chinese general, Pai-jin-
jung, who avenged an insult offered to the Emperor of China." (Proc. R.
G. S. IX. 1887, p. 233.) - H. C.]
A passage in Rashiduddin does seem to intimate that the Kerait, the tribe
of Aung Khan, alias Prester John, did occupy territory close to the
borders of Cathay or Northern China; but neither from Chinese nor from
other Oriental sources has any illustration yet been produced of the
existence of Aung Khan's descendants as rulers in this territory under the
Mongol emperors. There is, however, very positive evidence to that effect
supplied by other European travellers, to whom the fables prevalent in the
West had made the supposed traces of Prester John a subject of strong
interest.
Thus John of Monte Corvino, afterwards Archbishop of Cambaluc or Peking,
in his letter of January, 1305, from that city, speaks of Polo's King
George in these terms: "A certain king of this part of the world, by name
George, belonging to the sect of the Nestorian Christians, and of the
illustrious lineage of that great king who was called Prester John of
India, in the first year of my arrival here [circa 1295-1296] attached
himself to me, and, after he had been converted by me to the verity of the
Catholic faith, took the Lesser Orders, and when I celebrated mass used to
attend me wearing his royal robes. Certain others of the Nestorians on
this account accused him of apostacy, but he brought over a great part of
his people with him to the true Catholic faith, and built a church of
royal magnificence in honour of our God, of the Holy Trinity, and of our
Lord, the Pope, giving it the name of the Roman Church. This King
George, six years ago, departed to the Lord, a true Christian, leaving as
his heir a son scarcely out of the cradle, and who is now nine years old.
And after King George's death, his brothers, perfidious followers of the
errors of Nestorius, perverted again all those whom he had brought over to
the Church, and carried them back to their original schismatical creed.
And being all alone, and not able to leave His Majesty the Cham, I could
not go to visit the church above-mentioned, which is twenty days' journey
distant.... I had been in treaty with the late King George, if he had
lived, to translate the whole Latin ritual, that it might be sung
throughout the extent of his territory; and whilst he was alive I used to
celebrate mass in his church according to the Latin rite." The distance
mentioned, twenty days' journey from Peking, suits quite well with the
position assigned to Tenduc, and no doubt the Roman Church was in the city
to which Polo gives that name.
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