Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/254

242 242 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. must have excited the liveliest interest and emotion among the Christians of the West ; and it was certainly a most remarkable thing to hear that in the midst of the steppes of Tartary, and under the tent of a grand- son of Tchincmiz-Khan, a religious conference had taken place concerning the Unity of God, and the Holy Trinity, between Pagans, Christians, and Mahometans ; between a monk of St. Francis d' Assise from the far West, and a Chinese philosopher from the remotest East ; and to hear, too, of this poor Franciscan listening to confessions, and administering the Communion to Christians at Kara-Koroum, the Tartar capital. No less remarkable and beautiful is it, perhaps, to hear with what simplicity this monk tells the story of his adventures to the first monarch of Europe, St. Louis of France. In concluding his narrative Rubruk gives his opinion that it would be desirable to send to the Tartars, not mere monks, but a bishop or some other prelate of distinction with the rank of an ambassador, as they would probably, in that case, pay more attention to what was said; and he adds, that these people are not really as formidable as has been imagined, and that their conquests have been effected as much by trickery as by force of arms. " I positively declare," he says to St. Louis, " that if our peasants would live as frugally and dress like these Tartars, they might make the same conquests." *
 * Bergeron, p. 39o.