multitudes falling to the ground, maimed and dying; with such effusion
of blood as was dreadful to behold. So great also was the clangor of
arms, and such the shoutings and the shrieks, that the noise seemed to
ascend to the skies. The king of Mien, acting as became a valiant
chief, was present wherever the greatest danger appeared, animating his
soldiers, and beseeching them to maintain their ground with resolution.
He ordered fresh squadrons from the reserve to advance to the support
of those that were exhausted; but perceiving at length that it was
impossible any longer to sustain the conflict or to withstand the
impetuosity of the Tartars, the greater part of his troops being either
killed or wounded, and all the field covered with the carcasses of men
and horses, whilst those who survived were beginning to give way, he
also found himself compelled to take to flight with the wreck of his
army, numbers of whom were afterwards slain in the pursuit....

The Tartars having collected their force after the slaughter of the
enemy, returned towards the wood into which the elephants had fled for
shelter, in order to take possession of them, where they found that the
men who had escaped from the overthrow were employed in cutting down
trees and barricading the passages, with the intent of defending
themselves. But their ramparts were soon demolished by the Tartars, who
slew many of them, and with the assistance of the persons accustomed to
the management of the elephants, they possessed themselves of these to
the number of two hundred or more. From the period of this battle the
grand khan has always chosen to employ elephants in his armies, which
before that time he had not done. The consequences of the victory were,
that he acquired possession of the whole of the territories of the king
of Bangala and Mien, and annexed them to his dominions. [Footnote: "The
Travels of Marco Polo the Venetian." Everyman's Library. J.M. Dent &
Sons, Ltd., London; pp. 253-256.]

CHAPTER XXVII

TRAVELING TOWARD THE TROPICS

We left Yung-chang with no regret on Monday, January 28. Our stay there
would have been exceedingly pleasant under ordinary conditions but it was
impossible not to chafe at the delay occasioned by the caravan. Traveling
southward for two days over bare brown mountain-sides, their monotony
unrelieved exce