All This Their Fathers Set Down Exactly In A Book.
It has been already said that the Tartars are idolaters.
Each man of any
consequence has a table aloft in the wall of one of his chambers, on which
a name is written, to signify the great God of Heaven, whom he adores once
each day, with a censer of burning incense; and lifting up his hands, and
thrice gnashing his teeth, he prays to God to grant him health and
understanding; this being the only petition addressed to the Almighty, of
whom they pretend not to make any similitude. But they have a statue or
image on the ground, called Natigai, the god of earthly things, and
images of his wife and children. This is likewise worshipped with incense,
gnashing of teeth, and lifting up the hands; and from this, they beg for
favourable weather, productive crops, increase of children, and all manner
of worldly prosperity. They believe the soul to be immortal, and that when
a man dies, his soul enters into another body, better or worse, according
to the merits or demerits of his former life: As that a poor man becomes a
gentleman, then a prince or lord, and so higher, till at length the soul is
absorbed in God. Or if he have deserved ill, it descends to animate the
body of a lower and poorer man, after that the body of a dog, always
descending to the lowest rank of baseness. In their manners, the language
of the Tartars is comely; they salute one another with grace and
cheerfulness, conducting themselves honestly, and they feed in a cleanly
manner.
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