The Journey of William of Rubruck

On the third day after leaving Soldaia we came across the Tartars; when I came among them it seemed indeed to me as if I were stepping into some other world, the life and customs of which I will describe for you as well as I can. [...]

I will tell you about their garments and their clothing. From Cathay and other countries to the East, and also from Persia and other districts of the south, come cloths of silk and gold and cotton materials [...]

The next day we met Chagatai's carts laden with their dwellings and it seemed to me as if a large city were approaching me. [...] Our guide went to a certain Nestorian, Coiac by name, who is one of the chief men of his court [...]

in a certain plain among these pasture lands was a nestorian [...] who set himself up as king and the Nestorians called him King John [...]

Next is grand Cathay, the inhabitants of which in ancient times, so I believe, used to be called Seres. From them came the best silken materials, whic are named Serica after the people, and the latter get their name from one of their towns. I learned from good authority that in that country there is a town with walls of silver and ramparts of gold. In that land there are many provinces a number of which are still not subject to the Mongols. Between them and India lies the sea.

The inhabitants of Cathay are little men, and when they speak the breathe heavily trough their noses; it is a general characteristic of all Orientals that they have a small opening for the eyes. They are very fine crafstmen in every art, and their physicians know a great deal about the power of herbs and diagnose very cleverly from the pulse; on the other hand they do not use urinals nor know nothing about urine; I saw this myself, for there were many of them in Caracorum. [...]

There are Nestorians and Saracens living among them like foreigners as far as Cathay. There are Nestorians in fifteen cities of Cathay and they have a bishopric there in the city called Segin [..]

We no longer came across people, except for the men placed at distances of a day's journey to receive envoys[..]

We met with a woman from Metz in Lorraine who had been captured in Hungary and was called Paquette [...] She told us that there was at Caracorum a certain master goldsmith called William, a Parisian by birth [...]

The ordinary money of Cathay is a piece of paper made out of cotton, a handbreadth in width and length, and on this they stamp lines. They write with a brush like those with which painters paint and in a single character they make several letters which form one word. The Tebec write as we do and have letters very much like ours [...]

As for the city of Caracorum I can tell you that, not counting the Chan's palace, it is not as large as the viillage of Saint Denis, [...] There are two districts there: the Saracens quarter where the markets are [...]; the other district is that of the Cathayans who are all craftsmen. apart from these districs there are the large palaces of the court scribes. There are twelve pagan temples belonging to the different nations, two mosques in which the law of Mahomet is proclaimed, and one church for the Christians at the far end of the town. The town is sorrounded by a mud wall and has four gates. [..]

The Emperor sent to me his scribes who said: "Our master sends us to you and he says: 'Here you are, Christians, Saracens and tuins , and each one of you declares that his law is the best and his literature, that is his books, the truest'. He therefore wishes you all to meet together and hold a conference" [...]