Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/314

302 302 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. seem to have conducted themselves towards Argoun with a haughtiness which the Khan complains of to Philip, although in a very moderate tone. They refused to render the sovereign of Persia the honours required of them, under pretext that, this prince not being yet a Christian, they should be want- ing in duty to their own master if they did him homage, that is, probably, prostrated themselves three times before him, according to custom. A short time after this a new envoy arrived at Kome, from the court of the Tartar Khan, and afterwards pro- ceeded to France and England. This was a Genoese, named Buscarello di Gesulfo, who delivered to Philip the Fair a letter from Argoun in the Mongol language and the Oigour character, which has been found in the Archives of France. Abel Remusat has made known the substance of this letter, and published a fac simile of it, from which M. Schmidt, a learned Orientalist of St. Petersburgh, perfectly acquainted with the Mongol language, has made a translation, word for word, into German, and also preserving the original Mongol form, in which the words God, and Kha-khan, whenever they occur, begin a new line, and are even placed a little higher than the rest. " Thou hast sent to me "When the troops of the Ilkkhan shall march against] Egypt, we will set out from here to join him. Having received this message on thy part, I tell thee that we propose, trusting in GOD, to set off in the last month of the winter of the year of the Panther (1291), and to encamp before Damascus towards the loth of the first month of spring. If you keep your word, and send the troops at the appointed moment, and if