Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/219

207 RUBRUK, TIIK NEW TARTAR AMBASSADOR. 207 tering a new world ; and before pursuing ray journey, I will endeavour to describe to your Majesty, as well as I can, something of the fashions and manners of life of those people." It may be interesting to compare the picture drawn by the Franciscan monks of the Tartars of the thirteenth century, with that which modern missionaries have en- deavoured to trace, after traversing the steppes of Mon- golia, and we will, therefore, follow the ambassador of St. Louis through some of his details.* " The Tartars," says Rubruk, " have no permanent abodes, and never know where they may be the next day ; though every chief of a horde knows the bounds of his pasture grounds, and whereabouts he ought to be, according to the season of the year. When winter comes they descend towards the south, and in summer go up again to the cold regions of the north. The houses they inhabit are placed upon wheels, and constructed of a kind of wooden lattice work, with an opening at the top that serves for a chimney. This wooden frame is generally covered with white felt, plastered with lime or powdered bones ; but sometimes these houses are black. Before the entrance there is suspended a piece of felt, enriched with paintings, representing flowers, trees, birds, and fantastic animals. "These dwellings are sometimes thirty feet long, and Rubruk counted as many as twenty-two oxen harnessed to one of them. These great cabins are, however, only for chiefs ; common people have much smaller ones, and of a conical shape, but also placed on four wheels ; and when the tribe is on a march, the carts drawn by a
 * " Relation dcs Voyages en Tartaric" Bergeron.