In The Night Time Also They Hear Noises As Of Their
Friends, And Sometimes The Sound Of Music Is Heard
In the air, and people
imagine that they hear the din of drums, as if armies were marching past.
To
Avoid the danger of separation, the travellers in the desert keep close
together, and hang bells about the necks of their beasts; and if any one
stays behind, they set up marks in the route, that they may know how to
follow.
Having crossed the desert of Lop, we come to the city of Sachion[6] or
Sachiou, which is subject to the great khan, and is situated in the great
country of Tangut. The inhabitants of this city are mostly idolaters, who
have a peculiar language, mixed with a good many Mahometans, and some
Nestorian Christians; this people are little addicted to merchandize or
manufacture, and live on the products of their soil. In this city there are
many temples, consecrated to various idols, with monasteries of priests
devoted to the service of these false deities, to which numerous sacrifices
are offered with great reverence. When a son is born to any person, he is
immediately consecrated to the protection of some particular idol, and the
father nourishes a sheep in his house for a year with great care; and on
the anniversary day of that idol, he presents his son and the sheep as a
sacrifice, with great reverence and many ceremonies, before the shrine of
this tutelary deity.
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