The next mission to the Tartar armies was despatched by St. Louis, while engaged in his memorable crusade against the Saracens in Syria, who, at the same time, were attacked by the Tartar forces on the side of Persia. The person selected by this prince was WILLIAM DE RUBRUQUIS, a friar of the order of Fratres Minores, who was ordered to proceed to a chief named Sartach, settled, at that time, on the borders of the Black Sea, and reported to be a Christian. Setting out from Constantinople, Rubruquis crossed the Crimea, and passing the plains of Commania, which had been overrun by the Tartars, he was told by a fellow traveller that so dreadful was the famine which ensued, that the living men devoured and tore with their teeth the raw flesh of the dead, as dogges would gnaw upon carrion.' Shortly after, he encountered a moving town of Tartar houses fixed upon huge carts drawn by twenty-two oxen each, eleven abreast, the axletrees of which he compared to the masts of a large ship.

Proceeding onwards he next fell in with the carts of Sacatoi, a petty Tartar chief, laden with houses, which made him think a mightie city' was coming out to meet him. When introduced to this chief, his wife, whose ace of clubs nose seems to have attracted the particular notice of our missionary, was seated beside him. '1 verily thought,' he says, 'that she had cut and pared her nose between the eyes; so that she had left herself no nose at all, which presented an appearance most ugly in our eyes.' These people, it seems, were utterly unacquainted with the use of money; and, when offered a piece of gold, would put it to their nose to smell if it were copper, which metal had some value with them: Rubruquis, therefore, having no merchandize, found himself entirely dependant on Tartar charity, which was confined to a little sour milk and water. The pious monk, however, set about the task of conversion; but found that some other Christians, already there, had assured the Tartars that whoever, after baptism, should drink Koumis, or mare's milk, forfeited, from that moment, all hope of salvation; and to his great mortification not one of them was willing to be baptized at such a price.

The missionaries now crossed the Don and the Volga, and soon after reached the residence of Sartach. A declaration of poverty was here also admitted as a plea for their not offering a present to this prince, who, instead of being a Christian, as Rubruquis had hoped to find him, rather seemed to deride or skoff at Christians. Our monk had not remained here long, when he was informed that the Khan had decided that he should pay a visit to the residence of his father Baatu, a few days journey farther. On approaching this monarch, Rubruquis was directed to fall on both knees. This he instantly complied with, and thus placed in the

atti

attitude of devotion, the good friar entirely forgot his situation, and unconsciously began a fervent prayer to heaven for the conversion of that infidel chief. The burst of merriment which arose among the crowd awakened him to the awkwardness of his situation; and turning to the interpreter, from whom he thought to have received comfort in the time of need, he saw, to his grief, that he was utterly abasht, and dasht out of countenance.'

On retiring to their lodgings they were followed by the guide who announced to them the pleasure of Sartach, that they should proceed to the court of Mangu Khan, the supreme of all the tribes who followed the standard of Gengis Khan. This was a new source of grief; but resistance was vain, and they prepared for the journey. Mounted on horseback they flew like the wind over trackless deserts, to the great annoyance of our corpulent and unwieldy friar. In this manner, and with so scanty a share of provisions, that of hunger, thirst, cold and wearinesse,' they thought there would be no end, they continued travelling forty-three days directly east, then southerly, over high mountains and fertile plains, to the lake Balkash, on whose border was a city called Coilaes. Here and in the neighbourhood were a set of idolaters called Jugurs, who roused the indignation of the friar, from the resemblance of their worship to that of the Catholic church. • They have saffron coloured jackets, laced or buttoned from the bosom right down, after the French fashion; and they have a cloak on their left shoulder, like unto a deacon carrying the housel-box in time of Lent.'

Proceeding to the north-east they journeyed over rocks and hills covered with deep snow; but this was not the worst, for here the guides, with looks of dismay, assured them that the recesses were haunted by demons, who were accustomed to dart out on the unwary traveller, sometimes snatching away the horse from under the rider, and sometimes eviscerating the rider himself, leaving the hollow and lifeless frame still seated. To prevent these fearful accidents Rubruquis and his party began, with a loud voice, to chaunt the Creed, in consequence of which they passed without molestation from the emissaries of Satan, a circumstance that gave them prodigious importance in the eyes of their Tartar guides.

At length they reached the palace of the great lord. Mangu Khan received them sitting on a bed, and clothed with a spotted skin. He appeared about the age of five and forty, flat-nosed and of a middle stature. There was plenty of liquor in the room, which the Khan offered to the missionaries, but Rubruquis replied, Sir, we are not men that take pleasure in drinke.' To their great misfortune, however, their interpreter had a different feeling, and being stationed close to the butler, such a cloud soon

began

began to gather around the small portion of understanding with which nature had endowed him, that when Rubruquis was called upon to deliver his speech, he was unluckily too far gone to be capable of transmitting it to the imperial ear. This was sufficiently awkward, but the good friar, on looking up, had the consolation to observe that Mangu Khan was drunke also.' Rubruquis found at this court a swarm of Armenian, Nestorian, Mahomedau, and idolatrous priests, all labouring to convert his Tartarian majesty; but he had reason to believe, he says, that the Khan had no faith in any of their systems, but that he held to Shamanism, or Budhism, in which he had been brought up. His queen, or principal wife, however, was desirous of becoming a Christian, and it was announced that she was about to be baptized with great ceremony; no priest, however, was allowed to be present at it. On their being recalled to her presence, she begged a blessing from them all; and, falling on her knees, drank off a cup full of liquor. She then desired Rubruquis and his companions to chaunt, which they did, until her most Christian Majesty, being dead drunk, was conveyed out of the church; and the several priests, who were nearly in a similar condition, made the best of their way to their respective homes.

From this place Rubruquis accompanied the Khan to Karrakorum, at that time the capital of the Tartars; here he found no less than twelve different sorts of idolatrous worship, and one Christian church, the members of which requested him to celebrate the sacrament: previously to the ceremony, however, he thought it right to examine the communicants as to their observance of the Ten Commandments; they went on pretty well till they came to the eighth, when they declared, with one voice, that the keeping of that was quite out of the question, as their masters hired them on the express condition, that they should have no other food nor clothing but what they could steal! Soon after this Rubruquis and his companions were dismissed; and, taking a more direct and northern route, they passed through Armenia, on their return to their own country.

Rubruquis gives a detailed, and by far the best, account that had yet been received of the manners, customs, laws and government of the Tartar tribes: and though he as well as the other ministers of the Christian religion failed in the grand object of their missions, yet the accounts which they brought back of the barbarous magnificence and splendour of these oriental despots, awakened a spirit of commercial enterprise, which laid the foundation of that intercourse with the east to which the Venetians were not a little indebted for the wealth and prosperity their republic so long enjoyed. Two brothers (Marco and Nicolo) of the Polo family were the first to avail themselves of the opening thus afforded. They set out

from

from Constantinople, in the year 1254 or 1255, and were well received at the Camp of Baskah, the brother of Batu, grandson of Gengis-khan, then at Sarai, beyond the Volga: from this place they proceeded to Bokhara, and after a journey of twelve months, arrived at the imperial residence of the Great Khan, who then occupied the throne of China. They returned to their native country in safety in 1269.

MARCO POLO, the son of Nicolo, set out with them on a second expedition about the end of the year 1271. The route they now pursued was through Armenia, Persian Iruk, Khorasan, by the city of Balkh, into the country of Badakshan. They then ascended the elevated regions of Pamer and Belor, on their way to Kashgar and Khoten; thence proceeding easterly, they crossed the great desert of Kobi, through Siefan to the western extremity of the province of Shen-si, and finally to the residence of the Kublai, who then held his court at Cambalu or Pekin. The exchange of felt tents for stone palaces had by this time subdued the native ferocity of the Tartar chiefs, and given them a taste for the arts, the elegancies and luxuries of a more refined state of society. Kublai took young Marco into his protection; had him instructed in the languages used at the Chinese court, employed him on various embassies, and finally appointed him governor of Yangcheu-foo. After many years residence in China, Marco returned homewards by sea, to Ormus in the Persian Gulph; whence he proceeded through Persia to Trebizen, on the coast of the Euxine, and by the way of Constantinople and of Negropont, arrived safely at Venice after an absence of twenty-four years.

The reproach of dealing too much in the marvellous, which had been attached to the name of Marco Polo, was gradually wearing away, as later experience continued to elucidate his veracity; but Mr. Marsden, (who has rendered a signal service ta literature by his elegant and faithful translation of those remarkable travels,) has completely rescued his memory from all stain on that score, and proved him to be not only an accurate observer, but a faithful reporter of what he saw, and what he learned from others. Perhaps no stronger proof of this could be produced than the fidelity with which he relates the fabulous or romantic stories current in the east, according to the notions of those from whom he drew them. As an instance of this kind, and to show how truth may assume the appearance of falsehood, we shall give the story of the Old Man of the Mountain,' and endeavour to trace it to its real source.

'The district in which his residence lay, obtained the name of Mulehet, signifying, in the language of the Saracens, the place of heretics, and his people that of Mulehetites, or holders of heretical tenets; as we apply the term of Patharini to certain heretics amongst Christians. The

following

following account of this chief, Marco Polo testifies to his having heard from sundry persons. He was named Alo-eddin, and his religion was that of Mahomet. In a beautiful valley enclosed between two lofty mountains, he had formed a luxurious garden, stored with every delicious fruit and every fragrant shrub that could be procured. Palaces of various sizes and forms were erected in different parts of the grounds, ornamented with works in gold, with paintings, and with furniture of rich silks. By means of small conduits contrived in these buildings, streams of wine, milk, honey, and some of pure water, were seen to flow in every direction. The inhabitants of these palaces were elegant and beautiful damsels, accomplished in the arts of singing, playing upon all sorts of musical instruments, dancing, and especially those of dalliance and amorous allurement. Clothed in rich dresses they were seen continually sporting and amusing themselves in the garden and pavilions; their female guardians being confined within doors, and never suffered to appear. The object which the chief had in view in forming a garden of this fascinating kind, was this: that Mahomet having promised to those who should obey his will the enjoyments of Paradise, where every species of sensual gratification should be found, in the society of beautiful nymphs; he was desirous of its being understood by his followers, that he also was a prophet and the compeer of Mahomet, and had the power of admitting to paradise such as he should chuse to favour. In order that none without his license might find their way into this delicious valley, he caused a strong and inexpugnable castle to be erected at the opening of it; through which the entry was by a secret passage. At his court, likewise, this chief entertained a number of youths, from the age of twelve to twenty years, selected from the inhabitants of the surrounding mountains, who shewed a disposition for martial exercises, and appeared to possess the quality of daring courage. To them he was in the daily practice of discoursing on the subject of the paradise announced by the Prophet, and of his own power of granting admission; and at certain times he caused draughts of a soporific nature to be administered to ten or a dozen of the youths; and, when half dead with sleep, he had them conveyed to the several apartments of the palaces in the garden. Upon awakening from this state of lethargy, their senses were struck with all the delightful objects that have been described, and each perceived himself surrounded by lovely damsels, singing, playing, and attracting his regards by the most fascinating caresses; serving him also with delicate viands and exquisite wines; until intoxicated with excess of enjoyment, amidst actual rivulets of milk and wine, he believed himself assuredly in paradise, and felt an unwillingness to relinquish its delights. When four or five days had thus been passed, they were thrown once more into a state of somnolency, and carried out of the garden. Upon their being introduced to his presence, and questioned by him as to where they had been, their answer was, " in paradise, through the favour of your highness" and then before the whole court, who listened to them with eager curiosity and astonishment, they gave a circumstantial account of the scenes to which they had been witnesses. The chief thereupon ad

dressing