The King Of Mien Drew Near To Fight
The Tartars; But The Tartarian Horses Were So Terrified With The Sight Of
The Elephants, Who Were Arranged Along The Front Of The Battle, That It Was
Impossible To Bring Them Up To The Charge.
The Tartars, therefore, were
compelled to alight from their horses, which they fastened to the trees,
and came boldly
Forewards on foot against the elephants, among whom they
discharged immense quantities of arrows; so that the elephants, unable to
endure the smart of their wounds, became unmanageable, and fled to the
nearest wood, where they broke their castles, and overturned the armed men,
with which they were filled. On this, the Tartars remounted their horses,
and made a furious attack on the enemy. The battle continued for some time
undecided, and many men were slain on both sides. At length the army of the
king of Mien was defeated and put to flight, leaving the victory to the
Tartars; who now hastened into the wood, and made many prisoners, by whose
assistance they seized two hundred of the elephants, which were sent to the
great khan. Before this time, the Tartars were unaccustomed to the use of
elephants in war; but the great khan has ever since had elephants in his
army. After this victory, the great khan subjected the kingdoms of Mien and
Bengala to his empire.
Departing from the province of Carian, or Caraiam, there is a great desert
which continues for two days and a half, without any inhabitants, at the
end of which desert there is a large plain, in which great multitudes meet
for traffic three days in every week. Many people come down from the great
mountains, bringing gold, which they exchange for five times its weight of
silver; on which account, many merchants come here from foreign countries
with silver, and carry away gold, bringing likewise large quantities of
merchandize to sell to these people; for no strangers can go into the high
mountains where the people dwell who gather gold, oh account of the
intricacy and impassable nature of the roads. After passing this plain, and
going to the south for fifteen days journey, through uninhabited and woody
places, in which there are innumerable multitudes of elephants,
rhinoceroses[10], and other wild beasts, we come to Mien, which borders
upon India. At the end of that journey of fifteen days, we come to the
great and noble city of Mien, the capital of the kingdom, which is subject
to the great khan. The inhabitants are idolaters, and have a peculiar
language. There was formerly a king in this city, who being on the point of
death, gave orders to erect two pyramidal monuments, or towers of marble,
near his sepulchre, one at the head and the other at the foot, each of them
ten fathoms high, and having a round ball on the top of each. One of these
he ordered to be covered with gold, and the other with silver, a fingers
breadth in thickness; and round about the tops of these pyramids many
little bells of gold and silver were hung, which gave a pleasing shrill
sound, when agitated by the wind.
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