These Disturbances Being Settled, Amir
Khudadad, Who Commanded In That Country, Came To Inform Them, That The
Ambassadors Might Proceed Safely On Their Journey.
On the 18th of Jomada-
al-awal, they came to a place named Bilgotu[8], on the territories of
Mehemmed-Beg, where they waited for the Dajis[9], and the retinue of the
Shah of Badakshan.
After their arrival, they passed the river Kenker[10]
on the twenty-second of Jomada-al-awal, and next day, they saw Mehemmed-
Beg, prince of that horde, whose son, Soltan Shadi Karkan[11], was son-in-
law to Shah Rokh, and a daughter of that prince had married Mirza Mehemmed
Juki[12]. On the twenty-eighth of the before named month, they entered the
country of Ilduz[13], which was occupied by the tribe of Jel, and under the
dominion of Shir Behram, or Scheir Begrahim; and though the sun was then in
the summer solstice, they were often astonished to find ice two inches
thick in this vast desert. On the eighth of Jomada-al-akher, they were
alarmed, by receiving, news that the son of Ahmed Beg had plundered the
Daji, who was ambassador from Awis, or Oweys Khan; and they made every
possible haste to pass through the defiles of the mountains,
notwithstanding of much hail and rain falling at the time. At the end or
the month, they arrived at Tarkan[14], where there is a great temple, with
a huge idol, which the idolatrous inhabitants say is the image of
Shakmonni, or Shamku. Departing from thence on the second of Rajeb, they
came on the fifth to Karakoja.[l5] And certain Kathayans came here on the
tenth, who took a list of the names of the ambassadors and all their
retinue. On the nineteenth they arrived at the town of Ata-Sufi, where Kha
Zadeh Taj'oddin resided, a person descended from the prophet, originally of
the city of Tormul, and son-in-law to Amir Fakr'oddin, chief of the Moslems
in Kabul[16].
On the twenty-second of Rajeb they arrived at Kabul[17], in which place
Amir Fakr'oddin had built a fine mosque; near which was a temple of the
idolaters, set round with images, and strange figures of various sizes, and
at the doors there were two gigantic statues that seemed to fight. Mengli
Timur Bayri, a handsome young man, was governor of this city. Departing
thence on the twenty-fifth of Rajeb, they entered on the desert of Noman
Cobi, where they only found water once in two days; and on the twelfth of
Shaaban, they saw lions, oxen, and other wild beasts; the oxen, named Gau
Kottahs, are very large and strong, insomuch that they are able to toss a
man and horse into the air. Their tails are remarkably long and hairy, and
are in great estimation all over the East, where they are often carried on
long poles, by way of ornament, and are likewise much employed for driving
away flies. On the fourteenth, they arrived at a place within twelve stages
of Sekju[18], the first city in Kathay. From this time, the Kathayans came
daily to meet them, erecting tents or huts, adorned with green boughs, in
the desert for their accommodation, and plentifully supplied their tables
with fowls, and various kinds of flesh, fruits, fresh and dried, and other
victuals, all served on porcelain or china dishes, besides several kinds of
strong liquors; and henceforwards they were as splendidly regaled in the
desert as they afterwards were in the cities of Kathay. According to the
list taken by the Kathayans, Amir Shadi Khoja, and Gaksheh, had 200 persons
in their retinue; Soltan Ahmed and Gayath-addin, 500; Argdak, sixty;
Ardvan, fifty; and Taj'oddin, fifty; in all 860 persons; among whom were
many merchants, who were passed as belonging to the retinue of the
ambassadors, and who were, afterwards under the necessity of performing the
services which fell to their lot, according to the register. In taking this
list, the Kathayan officers made them swear that there were no other
persons besides those named, and informed them that they would be despised
if they did not tell the truth.
It is remarkable, that among the many viands and liquors supplied to them,
in the before-mentioned entertainment, there was a pot of Chinese tea,
which the Jesuit Trigault imagined had only come into use in China of late
years. Tea is called Tscha by the Chinese, and its use is very ancient,
as the earlier of the two Mahometan travellers, who wrote in 851 and 867,
mention the use, by the Chinese in that early period, of the infusion of
the leaves of a shrub called sah or tsha. Even at that time, the use of
tea must have become an article of constant and extensive consumption in
China, as the emperor derived a large revenue from the tax on that
article[19].
On the sixteenth of the month Shaaban, they were informed that the Dankji,
governor of the borders of Kathay, intended to entertain them that day with
an imperial feast; and on their arrival at his encampment, they found a
square arpent[20] of ground inclosed with tents, the cords of which,
fastened to pegs in the ground, were so interlaced together that there was
no entrance into the inclosure but by four gates, which were left on
purpose. In the midst of this place, they had erected a great and very high
awning of cloth, supported on wooden pillars; at one end of which was an
imperial canopy of state, erected on two richly varnished pillars, between
which stood a great chair of state as if for the emperor, and other seats
on both sides. The ambassadors were placed on the left hand of the imperial
throne, arid the Kathayan officers on the right. Before each ambassador
there were two tables, one of which was covered with various meats and
fruits, and the other with cakes and delicate bread, ornamented with
festoons of silk and paper.
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