This Country Is Well Inhabited, Having
Many Strong Towns And Castles, And The Men Are Practised In Arms, And
Accustomed To War.
They burn their dead, after which they inclose the bones
and ashes in chests, which they hide in holes of the mountains.
Gold is
found in great plenty, yet both here and in Cangigu and Amu, they use the
cowrie shells which are brought from India.
From this province of Tholoman, the high road leads eastwards by a river,
on the banks of which there are many towns and castles, and at the end of
twelve days journey, we come to the great city of Cintigui, the province of
the same name being subject to the great khan, and the inhabitants are
idolaters. They manufacture excellent cloths from the bark of trees, of
which their summer clothing is made. There are many lions in this country,
so that no person dare sleep out of doors in the night, and the vessels
which frequent the river, dare not be made fast to the banks at night from
dread of the lions. The inhabitants have large dogs, so brave and strong,
that they are not afraid even to attack the lion, and it often happens that
one man armed with a bow and arrows, and assisted by two of these dogs,
will kill a lion. The dogs, urged on by the man, give the onset, and the
lion endeavours to take shelter beside a tree, that the dogs may not be
able to get behind him, yet he scorns to run away, and holds on his stately
slow space, the dogs always fastening on his hinder parts; but so
cautiously and nimbly do they manage their assaults, that whenever the lion
turns upon them, they are beyond his reach.
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