A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 01: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
After some time, the emperor sent for us, and intimated, by Chingay, his
secretary, that we should write down our messages and affairs, and deliver
them to him, which we did accordingly. Many days afterwards, we were again
called to the presence, and were asked if there were any persons about the
Pope who understood the Russian, Arabic, or Tartarian languages. To this we
answered that we were ignorant of these languages, and though there were
Saracens in our land, they inhabited at a great distance from our lord the
Pope; and we proposed, that when they had written in the Tartar language,
they might explain the meaning to us, which we would carefully write down
in our language, and would then deliver both the originals and the
translation to his holiness. On this they went from us to the emperor. We
were again called upon at Martinmas, when Kadac, the chief minister of the
empire, with Chingay and Bala, and several scribes, came to us and
explained the emperor's letter, word for word; and when we had written it
in Latin, they made us interpret every sentence to them, to see if we had
any way erred. And when both letters were written, they made us read them
over twice more, lest any thing were mistaken: Saying, "Take heed that
every thing be well understood, as great inconvenience might arise from
wrong conception." They gave us likewise a copy of the emperor's letters in
Arabic, in case any one might be found who could explain them in our
country.
SECTION XXXII.
_The Papal Envoys receive a Licence to depart._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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