Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/181

169 ELECTION OF A GRAND KHAN. 1G9 there were two persons remarkable for the simplicity of their attire, and the modesty of their behaviour; namely, the two spiritual children of St. Francis d'As- sise, sent to preach the gospel to these fierce barbarians, and teach them to seek before all things the " kingdom of God and his righteousness." In this spot, named Syra-Ordou, there were now collected two thousand white tents, which were still scarcely sufficient to lodge the princes, lords, and am- bassadors waiting to prostrate themselves before the new sovereign. The merchants of Persia, India, and China had flocked thither in great numbers, with the most precious productions of the various countries of the East, and the neighbourhood of the imperial camp was filled with a countless multitude, whose agitation and tremendous tumult gave a formidable character to the assembly. The princes of the blood and generals assembled in an immense tent, capable of containing two thousand persons, and surrounded at some distance by a painted balustrade. Public affairs were discussed till about the middle of the day, and then the members of the assembly set to drinking to excess of fermented mare's milk; every day they put on garments of a different colour, distributed by the sovereign, and even the monks one day received vestments of silk embroidered with gold, which they put on over their robes of serge. The electors of the Kouriltai yielding at length to the influence of the regent Tourakina, agreed to choose Couyouk, and gave their votes for him unanimously. He, according to the practice on such occasions, at first refused the supreme dignity, but after a long resistance declared he would accept the empire, on