Proceeding Four
Days Journey Farther, We Pass Through A Fine Plain, Containing Many Cities,
Castles, And Villages, And Several Beautiful Green Lawns Or Pastures, In
Which There Are Many Wild Beasts.
Beyond this last mentioned plain is the wide country of Thebet, or Thibet,
which the great khan vanquished and
Laid waste; and in it there are many
ruined cities and castles, for the space of twenty days journey, which has
become an uninhabited wilderness, full of lions and other wild beasts.
Those who have to travel through this country must carry victuals along
with them, and must use precautions to defend themselves against the
ferocious animals of the desert. Very large canes grow all over this
country, some of which are ten paces long and three palms thick, and as
much between the knots or joints. When travellers take up their quarters
for the night, they take large bundles of the greener reeds or canes, which
they put upon the top of a large fire, and they make such a crackling noise
in burning as to be heard for two miles off by which the wild beasts are
terrified and fly from the place; but it has sometimes happened that the
horses, and other beasts belonging to the merchants or travellers, have
been frightened by this noise, and have run away from their masters: for
which reason prudent travellers use the precaution of fettering or binding
their feet together, to prevent them from running off.
[1] Owing to the prodigious revolutions which have taken place in the East
since the time of Marco, and the difference of languages, by which
countries, provinces, towns, and rivers have received very dissimilar
names, it is often difficult or impossible to ascertain, with any
precision, the exact geography of the relations and descriptions in
the text.
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