Batou, to whose court, therefore, he directed the ambassadors to proceed. They accordingly recommenced their journey, and moving towards the east, crossed the Volga, and traversed the plains of Kipjak, until they arrived at the camp of this new sovereign, whose mighty name seems never before to have reached their ears. Rubruquis was singularly astonished, however, at the sight of this prodigious encampment, which covered the plain for the space of three or four leagues, the royal tent rising like an immense dome in the centre, with a vast open space before it on the southern side.
On the morning after their arrival they were presented to the khan. They found Batou, the description of whose red countenance reminds the reader of Tacitus's portrait of Domitian, seated upon a lofty throne glittering with gold. One of his wives sat near him, and around this lady and the other wives of Batou, who were all present, his principal courtiers had taken their station. Rubruquis was now commanded by his conductor to kneel before the prince. He accordingly bent one knee, and was about to speak, when his guide informed him by a sign that it was necessary to bend both. This he did, and then imagining, he says, that he was kneeling before God, in order to keep up the illusion, he commenced his speech with an ejaculation. Having prayed that to the earthly gifts which the Almighty had showered down so abundantly upon the khan, the favour of Heaven might be added, he proceeded to say, that the spiritual gifts to which he alluded could be obtained only by becoming a Christian; for that God himself had said, "He who believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he who believeth not shall be damned." At these words the khan smiled; but his courtiers, less hospitable and polite, began to clap their hands, and hoot and mock at the denouncer of celestial vengeance. The interpreter, who, in all probability, wholly misrepresented the speeches he
