- nished with horses for themselves and their necessary
baggage, the remainder being left behind, and with sheepskin coats to defend them from the piercing cold, they set forward towards the camp of Mangou, then pitched near the extreme frontier of Mangolia, at the distance of four months' journey.
The privations and fatigue which they endured during this journey were indescribable. Whenever they changed horses, the wily Tartar impudently selected the best beast for himself, though Rubruquis was a large heavy man, and therefore required a powerful animal to support his weight. If any of their horses flagged on the way, the whip and the stick were mercilessly plied, to compel him, whether he would or not, to keep pace with the others, which scoured along over the interminable steppes with the rapidity of an arrow; and when, as sometimes happened, the beast totally foundered, the two Franks (for there were now but two, the third having remained with Sartak) were compelled to mount, the one behind the other, on the same horse, and thus follow their indefatigable and unfeeling conductor. Hard riding was not, however, the only hardship which they had to undergo. Thirst, and hunger, and cold were added to fatigue; for they were allowed but one meal per day, which they always ate in the evening, when their day's journey was over. Their food, moreover, was not extremely palatable, consisting generally of the shoulder or ribs of some half-starved sheep, which, to increase the savouriness of its flavour, was cooked with ox and horse-dung, and devoured half-raw. As they advanced, their conductor, who at the commencement regarded them with great contempt, and appears to have been making the experiment whether hardship would kill them or not, grew reconciled to his charge, perceiving that they would not die, and introduced them as they proceeded to various powerful and wealthy Mongols, who seem to have treated them kindly, offering them,
