rn splendour. High on a neighbouring
hill stood the Khan's tent, resting on pillars plated with gold, top
and sides covered with silk brocades, while the great ceremony took
place. But the men of the West were not welcomed by the new Emperor
of the East. It was supposed that he intended shortly to unfurl his
Standard against the whole of the Western world, and in November Friar
John and his companions found themselves formally dismissed with a
missive from the Great Khan to the Pope, signed and sealed by the Khan
himself.

[Illustration: A TARTAR CAMP. From the Borgian map, 1453.]

The return journey was even more trying; winter was coming on, and
for nearly seven months the Pope's faithful envoys struggled on across
the endless open plains of Asia towards Russia, resting their eyes
on vast expanses of snow. At last they reached home, and Friar John
wrote his _Book of the Tartars_, in which he informs us that Mongolia
is in the east part of the world and that Cathay is "a country in the
east of Asia." To the south-west of Mongolia he heard of a vast desert,
where lived certain wild men unable to speak and with no joints in
their legs. These occupy themselves in making felt out of camel's hair
for garments to protect them from the weather.

Again Carpini tells us about that mythical character figuring in the
travel books of this time--Prester John. "The Mongol army," he says,
"marched against the Christians dwelling in the greater India, and
the king of that country, known by the name of Prester John, came forth
with his army to meet them. This Prester John caused a number of hollow
copper figures to be made, resembling men, which were stuffed with
combustibles and set upon horses, each having a man behind on the horse,
with a pair of bellows to stir up the fire. At the first onset of the
battle these mounted figures were sent forward to the charge; the men
who rode behind them set fire to the combustibles and then strongly
blew with the bellows; immediately the Mongol horses and men were burnt
with wild-fire and the air was darkened with smoke."

We shall hear of Prester John again. For within a few years of the
return of Friar John, another Franciscan friar, William de Rubruquis,
was sent forth, this time by the French king, Louis, to carry letters
to the Great Khan begging him to embrace Christianity and acknowledge
the supremacy of the Pope. William and his chosen companions had a
painful and difficult journey of