nowhere given us. William, your
majestys citizen and subject, sends you a girdle set with a precious stone,
which is worn in those parts as a defence against thunder and lightning,
and most humbly salutes you, always commending you to God in his prayers.

My companion and I parted with tears, he remaining with master William,
while I, with my interpreter, the guide, and one servant, returned to the
court of Baatu, our guide having authority to take a sheep once in four
days, for the sustenance of all four. From Caracarum to the court of Baatu
our journey continued four months and ten days, during all which time we
never saw a town, or even the appearance of a single house, except one
village, in which we did not even eat bread; nor in all that time did we
ever rest, except one day, when we could not get horses. We returned, for
the most part, by the same kind of people through whom we had passed in
going, and yet through other countries, for we went in the winter, and
returned in the summer, by the higher parts of the north, except that for
fifteen days journey we had to travel along a certain river among the
mountains, where there was no lodging, except by the river side[1].
Sometimes we had to go two, or even three days, with no other food than
cosmos; and at one time we were in great danger, not being able to fall in
with any people, our provisions all exhausted, and our horses quite tired.

When we had travelled twenty days, I heard that the king of Armenia had
passed by on his journey to the court of Mangu. In the end of August I met
with Sartach, who went to Mangu, accompanied by his wives and children, and
with flocks and herds; yet the bulk of the families over whom he ruled,
remained between the Tanais and Etilia, or Volga. I sent my duty to him,
saying that I would willingly have remained in his country, but that Mangu
had ordered me to return and carry his letters. His answer was, that I must
obey the will of Mangu-khan.

I then asked Coiac to return our clothes and books. "What," said he, "did
you not bring them to Sartach?" I said that I had certainly brought them to
Sartach, but had not given them, and put him in mind of what I had said on
that former occasion. To this he answered "You say truth, and none can
resist the truth. I left your goods with my father, who dwells in Saray, a
new town, which Baatu has built on the eastern shore of the Volga, but our
priests have some of your vestments." "If any thin