When any one dies, he is mourned for with violent howlings, and the mourners are free from tribute during a whole year. Any one who happens to enter a house, in which a grown up person lies dead, must not enter the house of Mangu-khan during a whole year; if the dead person is a child, he is only debarred for one lunation. One house is always left near the grave of the deceased; but the burial place of any of the princes of the race of Jenghis-khan is always kept secret; yet there is always a family left in charge of the sepulchres of their nobles, though I do not find that they deposit any treasure in these tombs. The Comanians raise a large barrow or tomb over their dead, and erect a statue of the person, with his face turned towards the east, holding a drinking cup in his hand; they erect likewise, over the tombs of the rich, certain pyramids or sharp pinnacles. In some places, I observed large towers built of burnt bricks, and others of stone, though no stones were to be found about the place. I saw the grave of a person newly buried, in honour of whom there were hung up sixteen horses hides, four of which towards each quarter of the world, between high poles; and beside the grave they had set cosmos, that the deceased might drink, and flesh for him to eat, although the person was said to have been baptized. Farther east, I saw other kinds of sepulchres, consisting of large areas, paved with stone, some round and others square, having four large stones placed upright around the pavement, and fronting the four cardinal points. When any one lies sick in bed, a mark is affixed to the house, that no one may enter, as no one ever visits the sick, except his own servant; and when any one belonging to the great courts is sick, watchmen are placed at a great distance, all round, that no one may enter the precincts; as they dread lest evil spirits, or bad winds, might enter along with visitors. They consider their soothsayers, or people who practise divination, as priests.
SECTION XI.
Of our first Entering among the Tartars, and of their Ingratitude.
When we first entered among these Tartars, after having made us wait for them a long time, under the shade of certain black carts, a considerable number of them on horseback surrounded us. Their first question was, whether we had ever before been among them; and being answered in the negative, they began impudently to beg some of our victuals; and we gave them some of the biscuits and wine, which we had brought with us from Constantinople. Having drank one flaggon of our wine they demanded more, saying, that a man does not enter a house with one foot only. But we excused ourselves, as not being well provided. They next inquired, whence we came, and whither we were going? To this I answered, that hearing Sartach was become a Christian, we wished to go to him, that we might present your majestys letters to him. They then asked if we came of our own accord, or were sent upon this errand. To this I said, that no one had compelled me, and that I had come voluntarily, and by the desire of my superiors; being cautious not to say that I was the ambassador from your majesty. They then required to know if our carts contained gold and silver, or precious vestments, as presents for Sartach. To which I answered, that Sartach should see what we carried when we came to his presence, and that they had nothing to do with such questions, but ought to conduct me to their captain; that he, if he thought proper, might direct me to be carried to Sartach, otherwise I should return. There then was in this province one Scacatai, or Zagathai, related to Baatu, to whom the emperor of Constantinople had written requisitorial letters, that I might be permitted to proceed on my journey. On being informed of this, they supplied us with horses and oxen, and appointed two men to conduct us on our journey, and those which we had brought with us from Soldaia returned. Yet they made us wait a long while, continually begging our bread to give to their children; and they admired and coveted every thing they saw about our servants, as their knives, gloves, purses, and points. But when we excused ourselves from their importunity, alleging that we had a long journey before us, and must not give away those things which were necessary for ourselves, they reviled me as a niggard; and though they took nothing by force, they were exceedingly impudent, and importunate in begging, to have every thing they saw. If a man gives them any thing, it may be considered as thrown away, for they have no gratitude; and as they look upon themselves as the lords of the world, they think that nothing should be refused to them by any one; yet, if one gives them nothing, and afterwards stands in need of their assistance, they will not help him. They gave us some of their butter milk, called Apram, which is extremely sour. After this we left them, thinking that we had escaped out of the hands of the demons, and the next day we arrived at the quarters of their captain. From the tune when we left Soldaia, till we got to Sartach, which took us two months, we never lay under a house or a tent, but always in the open air, or under our carts; neither did we see any town, or the vestiges of any buildings where a village had been; though we saw vast numbers of the tombs of the Comanians. On the same evening, our conductor gave us some cosmos, which was very pleasant to drink, but not having been accustomed to that liquor, it occasioned me to sweat most profusely.
SECTION XII.
Of the Court of Zagathai, and how the Christians drink no Cosmos.
Next morning, we met the carts of Zagathai, laden with houses, and I thought that a great city was travelling towards us. I was astonished at the prodigious droves of oxen and horses, and the immense flocks of sheep, though I saw very few men to guide them; which made me inquire how many men he had under his command, and I was told he had not above 500 in all, half of whom we had already passed at another station. Then the servant who conducted us, informed me that it was requisite for us to make a present to Zagathai, and desired us to stop while he went forwards, to announce our arrival. It was then past three o'clock, and the Tartars unladed their houses near a certain water. After this, the interpreter of Zagathai came to us, and learning that we had not been before among them, he demanded some of our victuals, which we gave him; he also required to have some garments, as a reward for his trouble in interpreting for us to his master; but we excused ourselves on account of our poverty. He then asked us what we intended to present to his lord, when we shewed him a flaggon of wine, and filled a basket with biscuit, and a platter with apples and other fruits; but he was not satisfied, as we had not bought him some rich stuffs. However, we entered into the presence of Zagathai with fear and bashfulness; he was sitting on a bed, having a small citern or lute in his hand, and his wife sat beside him, who, I really believe, had amputated her nose, between the eyes, that it might be the flatter, for she had no nose in that part of her face, which was smeared over with black ointment, as were also her eyebrows, which seemed very filthy in our eyes. I then repeated to him the exact same words which I had used before, respecting the object of our journey, as we had been admonished by some who had been among them formerly, never to vary in our words. I requested that he would deign to accept our small gift; for, being monks, it was contrary to the rules of our order to possess gold or silver or rich garments; on which account, we had no such things to offer, and hoped he would accept some portion of our victuals as a blessing. He received those things, and immediately distributed them among his men, who were met in his house to drink. I likewise presented to him the letters from the emperor of Constantinople. He then sent these to Soldaia to be translated, because, being in Greek, there was no person about him who understood that language. He asked if we would drink cosmos? For the Russian, Greek, and Alanian Christians, who happen to, be among the Tartars, and conform strictly to their own laws, do not drink that liquor, and even think they are not Christians who do so; and their priests, after such conduct, formally reconcile them again to the church, as if they had thereby renounced the Christian faith. I answered that we had still a sufficiency of our own drink, but when that was done, we should be under the necessity of using what might