xing their visitors. At length, after having been half starved,
frequently threatened with death, and insulted in a hundred ways, they
were set free, bearing letters to the pope ordering him to come in
person and do homage to Genghis Khan, the Son of God.

At the same time that Ascelin set out for the south, another party,
headed by John Carpini, set out for the north, to visit the Tartars then
in Russia. Here they were startled by the first act demanded of them,
they being compelled to pass between two large fires as a purification
from the suspicion of evil. On coming into the presence of Bathy, the
general, they, more terrified perhaps than Ascelin, did not hesitate to
fall upon their knees. To heighten their terrors, two of them were sent
to the court of the Great Khan, in the heart of Tartary, the other two
being detained on some pretext. The journey was a frightful one. With no
food but millet, no drink but melted snow, pushing on at a furious
speed, changing horses several times a day, passing over tracts strewn
with human bones, and the weather through part of their journey being
bitterly cold, they at length reached the court of the Mongols on July
22, 1246.

They arrived at an interesting period. The election of Kujak, a new
khan, was about to take place, and, in addition to great Tartar lords
from all quarters of the Mongol empire, ambassadors from Russia, Persia,
Bagdad, India, and China were at hand with presents and congratulations.
The assembled nobles, four thousand in all, dazzled Carpini with their
pomp and magnificence. The coronation was attended with peculiar
ceremonies, and a few days afterwards audience was given to the
ambassadors, that they might deliver their presents. Here the friars
were amazed at the abundance and value of the gifts, which consisted of
satin cloths, robes of purple, silk girdles wrought with gold, and
costly skins. Most surprising of all was a "sun canopy" (umbrella) full
of precious stones, a long row of camels covered with Baldakin cloth,
and a "wonderful brave tent, all of red purple, presented by the
Kythayans" (Chinese), while near by stood five hundred carts "all full
of silver, and of gold, and of silk garments."

The friars were now placed in an embarrassing position by being asked
what presents they had to give. They had so little that they thought it
best to declare "that they were not of ability so to do." This failure
was well received, and throughout their vis