They Bring Also Musk And
Several Other Sweet Perfumes.
These Christian merchants told us, that in
their country were many Christian princes, subject to the great khan,
who dwells in the city of _Cathay_[89].
The dress of these Christians
was of camblet, very loose and full of plaits, and lined with cotton;
and they wore sharp pointed caps of a scarlet colour, two spans high.
They are white men, believing in one God with a trinity of persons, and
were baptized after our manner. They believe in the doctrines of the
evangelists and apostles, and write from right to left like the
Armenians. They celebrate the birth and crucifixion of Christ, observe
the forty days of lent, and keep the days of several saints. They wear
no shoes, but have a kind of hose of silk on their legs, garnished with
jewels. On their fingers they wore rings with stones of wonderful
splendour. At their meat they use no tables, but eat lying on the
ground, feeding upon flesh of all kinds. They affirmed also that there
are certain Christian kings, whom they called _Rumi_, bordering on the
Turks. When these Christians had seen the precious merchandise belonging
to my companion, and particularly a great branch of coral, they
earnestly advised him to accompany them to a certain city, whither they
were bound, assuring him that by their procurement he should sell this
to very great advantage, especially if he would take rubies in payment,
by means of which he might easily gain 10,000 pieces of gold, assuring
him that these stones were of much greater value in Turkey than in the
east.
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