Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/353

Rh traversed by many others; Ascelin, Plano-Carpini, Rubruk, Oderic de Friuli, Sir John Mandeville, were all of them contemporaries of Marco Polo; but they had seen nothing but numerous deserts on their way to the court of Kara-Koroum; they had never remained long in any part; they had not had either the ability or the leisure to observe the details of the countries through which they journeyed. They saw nothing, and what indeed could they have seen? A Tartar population continually under arms, having no fixed habitation, occupying only poor or devastated countries, offered no other spectacle than themselves. The only things, consequently, that the travellers could speak of in their narratives, were the manners and customs of the warlike Mongols. They had never encountered when on their journeys any objects of interest relating to art, industry, commerce, or agriculture. They had, it is true, occasionally visited some of the towns, but these were separated from one another by immense deserts. The security of the travellers diminished in proportion to their distance from these enclosed places, since the Tartar families who had kept to their wandering mode of life traversed the steppes in all directions, chasing the wild animals in the woods, and watching for the passage of travellers that they might plunder them. It became necessary to organise complete caravans, and to wait in the large towns till a sufficient number of travellers could be got together to ensure safety during the journey. Regular periods for departure were named, but unavoidable accidents would often defer them, and the journeys were thus indefinitely delayed.

Heavy falls of snow, the overflowing of rivers, deep