before a table covered with bread, wine, and other delicacies, that the spirit might be refreshed with the savour. The procession was accompanied by all the musical instruments in the city; and along with the body were borne representations upon paper of servants of both sexes, horses, camels, money, and costly garments, all of which were consumed with the corpse on the funeral pile, instead of the realities, which, according to Herodotus, were anciently offered up as a sacrifice to the manes at the tombs of the Scythian chiefs. Turning once more towards the north, they entered the fertile and agreeable province of Khamil, situated between the vast desert of Lop and another smaller desert, only three days’ journey across. The natives of this country, practical disciples of Aristippus, being of opinion that pleasure is happiness, seemed to live only for amusement, devoting the whole of their time to singing, dancing, music, and literature. Their hospitality, like that of the knights of chivalry, was so boundlessly profuse, that strangers were permitted to share, not only their board, but their bed, the master of a family departing when a guest arrived, in order to render him more completely at home with his wife and daughters. To increase the value of this extraordinary species of hospitality, it is added that the women of Khamil are beautiful, and as fully disposed as their lords to promote the happiness of their guests. Mangou Khan, the predecessor of Kublai, desirous of reforming the morals of his subjects, whatever might be the fate of his own, abolished this abominable custom; but years of scarcity and domestic afflictions ensuing, the people petitioned to have the right of following their ancestral customs restored to them. “Since you glory in your shame,” said Mangou to their ambassadors, “you may go and act according to your customs.” The flattering privilege was received with great rejoicings, and the practice, strange as it may be, has continued up to the present day. Departing from this Tartarian Sybaris, they entered the province of Chinchintalas, a country thickly peopled, and rich in mines, but chiefly remarkable for that salamander species of linen, manufactured from the slender fibres of the asbestos, which was cleansed from stains by being cast into the fire. Then followed the district of Sucher, in the mountains of which the best rhubarb in the world was found. They next directed their course towards the north-east, and having completed the passage of the desert of Shomo, which occupied forty days, arrived at the city of Karakorum, compared by Rubruquis to the insignificant town of St. Denis, in France, but said by Marco Polo to have been three miles in circumference, and strongly fortified with earthen ramparts.