Ch. xxvi., Pachym. Andron. Palaeol.
VI. 1; D'Ohsson, vol iv.)
Before finally quitting the "Tartars of the Levant," we give a
representation of the finest work of architecture that they have left
behind them, the tomb built for himself by Oljaitu (see on this page), or,
as his Moslem name ran, Mahomed Khodabandah, in the city of Sultaniah,
which he founded. Oljaitu was the brother and successor of Marco Polo's
friend Ghazan, and died in 1316, eight years before our traveller.
CHAPTER XX.
CONCERNING KING CONCHI WHO RULES THE FAR NORTH.
You must know that in the far north there is a King called CONCHI. He is a
Tartar, and all his people are Tartars, and they keep up the regular
Tartar religion. A very brutish one it is, but they keep it up just the
same as Chinghis Kaan and the proper Tartars did, so I will tell you
something of it.
You must know then that they make them a god of felt, and call him
NATIGAI; and they also make him a wife; and then they say that these two
divinities are the gods of the Earth who protect their cattle and their
corn and all their earthly goods. They pray to these figures, and when
they are eating a good dinner they rub the mouths of their gods with the
meat, and do many other stupid things.
The King is subject to no one, although he is of the Imperial lineage of
Chinghis Kaan, and a near kinsman of the Great Kaan.[NOTE 1] This King
has neither city nor castle; he and his people live always either in the
wide plains or among great mountains and valleys. They subsist on the milk
and flesh of their cattle, and have no corn. The King has a vast number
of people, but he carries on no war with anybody, and his people live in
great tranquillity. They have enormous numbers of cattle, camels, horses,
oxen, sheep, and so forth.
You find in their country immense bears entirely white, and more than 20
palms in length. There are also large black foxes, wild asses, and
abundance of sables; those creatures I mean from the skins of which they
make those precious robes that cost 1000 bezants each. There are also
vairs in abundance; and vast multitudes of the Pharaoh's rat, on which the
people live all the summer time. Indeed they have plenty of all sorts of
wild creatures, for the country they inhabit is very wild and trackless.
[NOTE 2]
And you must know that this King possesses one tract of country which is
quite impassable for horses, for it abounds greatly in lakes and springs,
and hence there is so much ice as well as mud and mire, that horses cannot
travel over it. This difficult country is 13 days in extent, and at the
end of every day's journey there is a post for the lodgement of the
couriers who have to cross this tract.
