About this time, on account of a violent quarrel between the monk and
certain Mahometans, and because a rumour was propagated of four hundred
assassins having gone forth in divers habits, with an intention to murder
the khan, we were ordered to depart from our accustomed place before the
court, and to remove to the place where other messengers dwelt. Hitherto I
had always hoped for the arrival of the king of Armenia[8], and had not
therefore made any application for leave to depart; but hearing no news of
the king, or a certain German priest who was likewise expected, and fearing
lest we should return in the winter, the severity of which I had already
experienced, I sent to demand the pleasure of the khan, whether we were to
remain with him or to return, and representing that it would be easier for
us to return in summer than in winter. The khan sent to desire that I
should not go far off, as he meant to speak with me next day; to which I
answered, requesting him to send for the son of the goldsmith to interpret
between us, as my interpreter was very incompetent.
[1] So for as was travelled by Rubruquis, and in the route which he pursued
on the north of the Alak mountains, this observation is quite correct
to longitude 100 deg. E. But what he here adds respecting Kathay, is
directly contradictory to the fact; as all the rivers beyond Caracarum
run in an easterly direction. The great central plain of Tangut, then
traversed by the imperial horde of the Mongals, and now by the Eluts
and Kalkas, must be prodigiously elevated above the level of the
ocean. - E.
[2] The information here seems corrupted, or at least is quite incorrect.
Kathay or northern China is due east, or east south-east from the
great plain to the south of Karakum. Daouria, the original residence
of the Mongols of Zingis, between the rivers Onon and Kerlon, is to
the north-east. - E.
[3] The Kerkis must fee the Kirguses, a tribe of whom once dwelt to the
south-west of lake Baikal. The Orangin or Orangey, inhabited on the
east side of that lake. Pascatir is the country of the Bashkirs,
Baschkirians, or Pascatirians in Great Bulgaria, called Great Hungary
in the text, between the Volga and the Ural. - E.
[4] Rubruquis properly rejects the stories of monstrous men, related by the
ancients, yet seems to swallow the absurd story of the purple dye,
engrafted by the Kathayan priest on a very natural invention for
catching apes. He disbelieves the last information of the priest,
which must have been an enigmatical representation of the province of
death, or of the tombs. - E.
[5] It is difficult to guess as to these people and their islands; which
may possibly refer to Japan, or even Corea, which is no island.
