CHAPTER XXXIV.

[CONCERNING THE RELIGION OF THE CATHAYANS;[NOTE 1] THEIR VIEWS AS TO THE
SOUL; AND THEIR CUSTOMS.

As we have said before, these people are Idolaters, and as regards their
gods, each has a tablet fixed high up on the wall of his chamber, on which
is inscribed a name which represents the Most High and Heavenly God; and
before this they pay daily worship, offering incense from a thurible,
raising their hands aloft, and gnashing their teeth[NOTE 2] three times,
praying Him to grant them health of mind and body; but of Him they ask
nought else. And below on the ground there is a figure which they call
_Natigai_, which is the god of things terrestrial. To him they give a wife
and children, and they worship him in the same manner, with incense, and
gnashing of teeth,[NOTE 2] and lifting up of hands; and of him they ask
seasonable weather, and the fruits of the earth, children, and so
forth.[NOTE 3]

Their view of the immortality of the soul is after this fashion. They
believe that as soon as a man dies, his soul enters into another body,
going from a good to a better, or from a bad to a worse, according as he
hath conducted himself well or ill. That is to say, a poor man, if he have
passed through life good and sober, shall be born again of a gentlewoman,
and shall be a gentleman; and on a second occasion shall be born of a
princess and shall be a prince, and so on, always rising, till he be
absorbed into the Deity. But if he have borne himself ill, he who was the
son of a gentleman shall be reborn as the son of a boor, and from a boor
shall become a dog, always going down lower and lower.

The people have an ornate style of speech; they salute each other with a
cheerful countenance, and with great politeness; they behave like
gentlemen, and eat with great propriety.[NOTE 4] They show great respect
to their parents; and should there be any son who offends his parents, or
fails to minister to their necessities, there is a public office which has
no other charge but that of punishing unnatural children, who are proved
to have acted with ingratitude towards their parents.[NOTE 5]

Criminals of sundry kinds who have been imprisoned, are released at a time
fixed by the Great Kaan (which occurs every three years), but on leaving
prison they are branded on one cheek that they may be recognized.

The Great Kaan hath prohibited all gambling and sharping, things more
prevalent there than in any other part of