ried prunes, and other
fruits, on which he fed when alone.

About the middle of Lent, the goldsmiths son came from Caracarum, bringing
a silver cross made in the French fashion, with an image of Christ, as a
present for Bulgai, the chief secretary of the court; and the young man
informed Mangu, that the great work he had commanded to be made by his
father, was completed. In the neighbourhood of Caracarum, Mangu has a large
court, inclosed with a brick wall like our priories. Within that court is a
great palace, in which the khan holds feasts twice a-year, once in Easter,
and the other in summer; but the latter is the greater, as all the nobles
meet then at the court, when the khan distributes garments among them, and
displays all his magnificence. Beside the palace there are many great
buildings like our barns, in which the victuals and treasures belonging to
the khan are stored. Because it was indecent to have flaggons going about
the hall of the palace, as in a tavern, William, the goldsmith, constructed
a great silver tree, just without the middle entrance of the great hall, at
the root of which were four silver lions, having pipes discharging pure
cows milk. Four pipes were conveyed up the body of the tree to its top,
which spread out into four great boughs, hanging downwards; on each of
these boughs was a golden serpent, all their tails twining about the body
of the tree, and each of these formed a pipe, one discharging wine, a
second caracosmos, a third ball, or mead made of honey, and the fourth
_teracina_ or drink made of rice; each particular drink having a vessel at
the foot of the tree to receive it. On the top, between the four pipes,
there stood an image of an angel with a trumpet. Under the tree there was a
vault, in which a man was hidden, and from him a pipe ascended to the
angel; and when the butler commands to sound the trumpet, the man below
blows strongly, and the trumpet emits a shrill sound. In a chamber without
the palace, the liquors are stored, and servants who are waiting, pour the
liquors each in its proper pipe, at the signal, when they are conveyed by
concealed pipes up the body of the tree, and discharged into, their
appropriate vessels, whence they are distributed by the under butlers to
the visitors. The tree is all ornamented with silver boughs, and leaves and
fruit all of silver. The palace is like a church, having a middle aisle
and two side ones, beyond two rows of pillars, and has thr