Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/218

206 206 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. charge of two Franciscan monks, William of Rubruk* sometimes known as Rubruquis, and Bartholomew of Cre- mona; and in order to protect the dignity of King Louis, they did not profess to have received their orders from any one but their own superiors. They went in the first place from Acre to Constantinople, which was then in the hands of the Franks; and Rubruk, preaching at St. Sophia, declared, as it had been agreed he should do, that he was going to Tartary to preach the gospel to the infidels, according to the rules of the Minorite Friars; and such was the aspect that he endeavoured to give to his mission throughout his whole journey. The ambassadors embarked on the 7th of May, 1253, in a vessel that took them to Soldaya, and there found that some Constantinople merchants who had preceded them had, notwithstanding what Rubruk had said at St. Sophia, announced them in the quality of ambassa- dors. The Franciscan diplomatist endeavoured, how- ever, to persuade the inhabitants of the place that he had no claim to the dignity. At Soldaya, Rubruk completed the organisation of his caravan for the long and perilous journey he was about to undertake. He procured eight covered carts, two of which were to serve for beds, and five saddle- horses, for the little party composed of the two monks, an interpreter, a guide, and a servant. " In the third day after leaving Soldaya," says Rubruk in the account he gave to St. Louis after his return, " we met with the Tartars, and when I had seen them, and observed their manners, it seemed to me as if I were en-
 * He was born in Brabant, about 1220.