Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/390

378 378 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. document," says the learned Orientalist, " is a roll of cotton paper eighteen inches wide and more than nine feet long, containing forty-two lines, in the Mongol language and in Oigour character perfectly resembling those of the letter of Argoun to Philip the Fair. On this length has been stamped five times a great square seal in red ink. At the back and at one of the ends is found, in small writing scarcely legible, an Italian translation of the Mongol letter. The two documents addressed to Philip the Fair by Argoun and by Kharbende present a remarkable dif- ference in the dimensions of the paper, the length of the lines, and the breadth of the margins and intervals. It is known that all these particulars are important in the eyes of Orientals, and are used, according to the customs of their diplomacy, as a means of expressing and of graduating those marks of esteem which they grant to the princes with whom they wish to treat. Argoun, notwithstanding his " goodness and beneficence" has confined himself, in this respect, to what was strictly necessary. His letter shows no margins, and scarcely any spaces, and it is only six feet and a half long. That of Kharbende is much more respectful ; being ten feet long, and having the seal affixed to it five times instead of three. The motto upon it is in antique characters of those which are composed of broken lines, and which the Chinese call " tchouan." It signifies, " By supreme decree, the seal of the descendant of the emperor, charged to reduce to obedience the ten thousand barbarians." By these last words are meant not only Persians, but Christians and Western nations in general who acknowledge or ought, it is assumed, to acknowledge the authority of the Son of heaven. It is