- bassadors, "you may go and act according to your
customs." The flattering privilege was received with great rejoicings, and the practice, strange as it may be, has continued up to the present day.
Departing from this Tartarian Sybaris, they entered the province of Chinchintalas, a country thickly peopled, and rich in mines, but chiefly remarkable for that salamander species of linen, manufactured from the slender fibres of the asbestos, which was cleansed from stains by being cast into the fire. Then followed the district of Sucher, in the mountains of which the best rhubarb in the world was found. They next directed their course towards the north-east, and having completed the passage of the desert of Shomo, which occupied forty days, arrived at the city of Karakorum, compared by Rubruquis to the insignificant town of St. Denis, in France, but said by Marco Polo to have been three miles in circumference, and strongly fortified with earthen ramparts.
Our travellers now turned their faces towards the south, and traversing an immense tract of country which Marco considered unworthy of minute description, passed the boundaries of Mongolia, and entered Cathay. During this journey they travelled through a district in which were found enormous wild cattle, nearly approaching the size of the elephant, and clothed with a fine, soft, black and white hair, in many respects more beautiful than silk, specimens of which Marco procured and brought home with him to Venice on his return. Here, likewise, the best musk in the world was found. The animal from which it was procured resembled a goat in size, but in gracefulness and beauty bore a stronger likeness to the antelope, except that it had no horns. On the belly of this animal there appeared, every full moon, a small protuberance or excrescence, like a thin silken bag, filled with the liquid perfume; to obtain which the animal was hunted and slain. This bag was
