Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/346

334 and spoke to them with great interest about the sovereign pontiff, the Church of Rome, and Christians generally.

The emperor's conversation with the two Venetian brothers soon bore fruit, for Kublai called a council of the first dignitaries of his empire, and imparted to them his project of sending envoys to the Pope of the Christians.

The members of the council responded unanimously that the idea was worthy of being put into execution, and the khan had Nicolo and Matteo Polo at once called before him, invested them with the rank of ambassadors, and gave orders for the preparation of the letters which they were to take to the Pope. At their departure, Kublai particularly impressed upon the Venetians the importance of the request which he had addressed to the sovereign Pontiff, for him to despatch a hundred men, remarkable for their wisdom and scientific attainments, "in order," he said, "that they may show idolaters generally, and to my subjects, that their present doctrine is a diabolical invention, and point out to them the superiority of Christianity." These words are not a little surprising, proceeding from a sovereign devoted to the superstitions of the Lamas; but what is more surprising still is, that he especially directed his ambassadors to bring him some of the oil burning before the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. All these facts prove that Christianity was widely spread in China; and that if the great khan did not openly