he great houses of the Moals; but the cows will not allow themselves to be
yoked unless they are sung to at the same time. These animals are of the
nature of the buffalo, for when they see a person clothed in red, they run
furiously upon him to put him to death.

Beyond these are the people of Tebet, who were wont to eat the dead bodies
of their parents, from a motive of piety, considering that to be the most
honourable sepulchre; but they have discontinued this custom, which was
looked upon as abominable by all other nations. They still, however,
continue to make handsome drinking cups of the skulls of their parents,
that they may call them to remembrance even in their mirth. I received this
information from an eye-witness. In their country there is much gold, so
that any one who is in want, digs till he finds enough for his necessities,
and leaves the rest behind for another occasion; for they have an opinion,
that God would conceal all other gold from them in the earth, if they were
to hoard any in their houses. I saw some of these people, who are much
deformed. The people of Tangut are tall lusty men of a brown complexion.
The Jugurs are of middle stature like ourselves, and their language is the
root or origin of the Turkish and Comanian languages.

Beyond Tebet, are the people of Langa and Solanga[1], whose messengers I
saw in the court of Mangu-khan, who had along with them more than ten great
carts, each drawn by six oxen. These are little brown men like the
Spaniards, and are dressed in tunics or jackets, like our deacons, with
straiter sleeves. They wear a kind of caps like the mitres of our bishops;
but the fore part is less than the hinder part, and ends square, instead of
being pointed. These are made of straw, stiffened by great heat, and so
well polished, that they glister in the sun like a mirror or well polished
helmet. Round their temples, they have long bands of the same material,
fixed to their caps, which stream to the wind like two long horns from
their temples. When too much tossed by the wind, they fold these over the
top of their caps. When the principal messenger entered the court, he held
in his hand a smooth ivory tablet about a foot long and a palm broad; and
when spoken to by the khan, or any other great man, he always looked on his
tablet as if he had seen there what was spoken, never looking to the right
or the left, or to the person who spoke to him. Even in coming into the
presence and i