igned. At the present time Mangalu, one of
the sons of the great khan, has the supreme command of this kingdom. This
country yields great plenty of silk, and cloth of gold, and all things
necessary for the subsistence of an army, and the maintenance of its
numerous inhabitants. The people are mostly idolaters, but there are some
Christians and Mahometans among them. Five miles from the city stands the
palace of Mangalu, in a fine plain, watered by numerous springs and
rivulets, and abounding in game. This fine palace, all painted with gold
and azure, and adorned with numberless statues, stands in the middle of a
fine park of five miles square, surrounded by a high wall, in which all
kinds of beasts and fowls are to be found in abundance; and in this place
Mangalu and his courtiers take great delight to hunt. He follows his
fathers excellent example, in conducting his government with great equity
and justice, and is much beloved and respected by the people.

Proceeding three days to the westward, from the palace of Mangalu, through
a very beautiful plain, adorned with many cities and castles, which have
great abundance of silk and other manufactures, we come to a mountainous
district of the province of Chunchian, in the vallies of which there are
many villages and hamlets; the inhabitants being idolaters and husbandmen.
In these mountains they hunt lions, bears, stags, roebucks, deer, and
wolves. The plain is two days over, and for twenty days journey to the
west, the country is well inhabited, and finely diversified with mountains,
vallies, and woods. At the end of these twenty days, there lies, towards
the west, a populous province called Achbaluch Mangi, or the _white_ city
on the borders of Mangi. On entering this province, we find a plain of two
days journey in extent, and containing a prodigious number of villages;
beyond which the country is diversified with mountains, vallies, and woods,
yet all well inhabited. In these mountains there are plenty of wild beasts,
among which are the animals that produce musk. This province produces rice
and other grain, and abundance of ginger. After twenty days journey through
these hills, we come to a plain and a province on the confines of Mangi,
called Sindinfu. The city of the same name is very large, and exceedingly
rich, being twenty miles in circumference; of old, this city and province
was governed by a race of rich and powerful kings. On the death of an old
king, he left t