After some time, Kublai-khan having consulted with his great lords, informed them, that he was desirous to send them as his ambassadors to the pope of the Romans, accompanied by one of his lords named Chogatal[8], requesting that he would send an hundred men, learned in the Christian religion, to his courts, that they might instruct his wise men, that the faith of the Christians was preferable to all other sects, being the only way of salvation; that the gods of the Tartars were devils, and that they and other people of the east were deceived in the worship of these gods. He likewise commanded them, on their return from Jerusalem, to bring him some of the oil from the lamp which burns before the sepulchre of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom the emperor had great devotion, believing him to be the true God. Yielding due reverence to the great khan, they promised faithfully to execute the charge which he had committed to them, and to present to the pope the letters in the Tartarian language, which he gave them for that purpose. According to the custom of the empire, the great khan caused to be given them a golden tablet, engraven and signed with the mark or signet of the khan, in virtue of which, instead of a passport, the bearers were entitled to be everywhere conveyed in safety through dangerous places, by the governors of provinces and cities, throughout the whole empire, having their expences everywhere defrayed, and should be furnished with whatever was needful for them and their attendants in all places, and for as long as they might have occasion to stay.