Had been left at that station; and who but for
his interference must have perished by famine, or would have been reduced
to slavery. Forster asserts that Haitho met with Rubruquis, who was then on
his return home; but we have already seen, in the account of the travels of
Rubruquis, that the two travellers did not meet.
In the year 1305, when he must have become very old, Haitho became a monk
of the Praemonstratensian order at Episcopia in Cyprus. He afterwards went
to Poitou in France, where he dictated in French to Nicholas Salconi, a
history of the events which had occurred in the east from the first
commencement of the conquests of the Tartars or Mongals, including the
reigns of Zingis-khan and his successors, to Mangu-khan inclusively; and a
particular narrative of the history of his own country, Armenia Minor, from
the reign of Haitho I. to that of Leon II. both inclusive. This account
Salconi translated into Latin in 1307, by order of the reigning Pope.
The travels of Haitho being perfectly contemporary with those of Rubruquis,
are not sufficiently interesting to be here inserted; and the historical
part of his relations have no connection with the plan of this work, which
it would swell beyond due bounds: But the following brief account of his
geographical description of the east, as it existed in the thirteenth
century, and as abstracted by J. R. Forster, in his Voyages and Discoveries
in the North, have been deemed worthy of insertion, together with the
observations or commentaries of that ingenious author.
[1] Forst. Hist. of Voy. and Disc. in the North, p. 113.
SECTION II.
Geographical Notices of the East in the Thirteenth Century, by Haitho.
Sec. 1. The empire of Kathay is one of the most extensive, most opulent, and
most populous in the world, and is entirely situated on the sea coast. The
inhabitants have a very high notion of their own superior intelligence,
which they express by saying, that they only of all the people on earth
have two eyes; to the Latins they allow one, and consider all other
nations as blind. The Kathayans have small eyes and no beards. Their money
consists of small square pieces of paper, impressed with the seal of their
emperor. To the west, this empire is bounded by that of the Tarsae; to the
north by the desert of Belgian; and to the south by the sea, in which there
are innumerable islands. The inhabitants of Kathay are exceedingly skilful
and ingenious in all works of art and in manufactures, but are of a very
timorous disposition. In the foregoing description, and in the traits of
character, the empire and inhabitants of northern China are distinctly
indicated.
