When Any Stranger Comes Among Them, All The Masters
Of Families Strive To Procure Him As A Guest, After Which,
They leave the
stranger to be entertained by the females of the family, and will not
return to their own
House till after his departure; and all this is done in
honour of their idols, thinking that they secure their favour by this
strange procedure. The principal money in this country is gold, unstamped,
and issued by weight. But their ordinary money consists in solid small
loaves of salt, marked with the seal of the prince; and of this merchants
make vast profits in remote places, which have abundance of gold and musk,
which the inhabitants are eager to barter for salt, to use with their meat.
Leaving this province, we proceeded fifteen days journey farther, passing
through many cities and villages, the inhabitants of which have the same
customs with those of Caindu; and at length we came to a river called
Brius, which is the boundary of the province of Caindu. In this river
gold dust is found in great abundance, by washing the sand of the river in
vessels, to cleanse the gold from earth and sand. On the banks of this
river, which runs direct to the ocean, cinnamon grows in great plenty.
Having passed the river Brius, we come westwards to the province of
Caraian, which contains seven kingdoms, and is under the command of
Sentamur, as viceroy for his father the great khan. This prince is young,
rich, wise, and just. The country produces excellent horses, is well
peopled and has a peculiar and very difficult language; the inhabitants are
idolaters, who live on their cattle and the produce of the earth. After
proceeding five days journey through this country, we came to the great and
famous city of Jaci[2]. In this large city there are many merchants and
manufacturers, and many different kinds of people, idolaters, Christians,
Nestorians, and Mahometans; but the great majority are idolaters. It has
abundance of corn and rice, but the inhabitants only use bread made from
rice, as they esteem it more wholesome; they make a drink also from rice,
mixed with several kinds of spices, which is very pleasant. They use white
porcelain instead of money, and certain sea shells for ornaments[3]. Much
salt is made in this country from the water of salt wells, from which the
viceroy derives great profit. There is a lake in this country 100 miles in
circuit, which has great quantities of fish. The people of this country eat
the raw flesh of beef, mutton, buffalo, and poultry, cut into small pieces
and seasoned with excellent spices, but the poorer sort are contented with
garlic shred down among their meat. The men have no objections to permit
the intercourse of strangers with their wives, on condition only of being
previously asked for their consent.
We departed from Jaci or Lazi, and travelling westwards for ten days
journey, we came to a province called Carazan after the name of its chief
city, which is governed by a son of the great khan, named Cogatin[4]. The
rivers in this province yield large quantities of washed gold, and,
likewise in the mountains, solid gold is found in veins; and the people
exchange gold against silver, at the rate of one pound of gold for six
pounds of silver[5]. The ordinary currency of the country is in porcelain
shells brought from India. In this country there are very large serpents,
some of which are ten paces long, and ten spans in thickness, having two
little feet before, near the head, with three talons or claws like lions,
and very large bright eyes[6]. Their jaws have large sharp teeth, and their
mouths are so wide, that they are able to swallow a man; nor is there any
man, or living creature, that can behold these serpents without terror.
Some of these are only eight, six, or five paces in length. In the day-time
they lurk in holes to avoid the great heat, going out only in the night in
search of prey, and they devour lions, wolves, or any other beasts they can
find, after which they go in search of water, leaving such a track in the
sands, owing to their weight, as if a piece of timber had been dragged
along. Taking advantage of this circumstance, the hunters fasten great iron
spikes under the sand in their usual tracks, by means of which they are
often wounded and killed. The crows or vultures proclaim the serpents fate
by their cries, on which the hunters come up and flea the animal, taking
out his gall, which is employed as a sovereign remedy for several diseases,
given to the quantity of a pennyweight in wine; particularly against the
bite of a mad dog, for women in labour, for carbuncles, and other
distempers. They likewise get a good price for the flesh, which is
considered as very delicate.
This province breeds many stout horses, which are carried by the merchants
into India. They commonly take out a bone from the tails of their horses,
to prevent them from being able to lash them from side to side, as they
esteem it more seemly for the tails to hang down. The natives, who are
idolaters, use long stirrups in riding, like the French; whereas the
Tartars and other nations use short stirrups, because they rise up when
they discharge their arrows. In their wars, they use targets and other
defensive armour made of buffalo hides; and their offensive weapons are
lances and crossbows, with poisoned arrows. Some of them, who are great
villains, are said always to carry poison with them, that if taken
prisoners, they may swallow it to procure sudden death, and to avoid
torture. On which occasion, the great lords force them to swallow dogs dung
that they may vomit up the poison. Before they were conquered by the great
khan, when any stranger of good appearance happened to lodge with them,
they used to kill him in the night; believing that the good properties of
the murdered person would afterwards devolve to the inhabitants of the
house; and this silly notion has occasioned the death of many persons.
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