CAP. LXX. _Of the great Caanes letters and the wryting about his seale._ NOW when he had wonne the lande of Cathay he dyed, and then raigned after Cythoco[1] the eldest sonne of Caane, & his other brothers went to winne them landes in other countreys, and they wan the land of Pruisse, and of Russy & they dyd cal themselfe Caane, but he of Cathay is the greatest lorde of all the worlde and so he called him in his letters and sayth thus, _Caane filius dei excelsi, universam terram coulentium summus imperator, & dominus dominantium_ That is to say, Caane Gods son, Emperour of all those that tyll all the lande, and Lorde of all lordes. And the writing about his great seale is, _Deus in celo & Caane super terram ejus fortitudo omnium hominum imperatoris sigillum_ That is to say, God in heaven, Caan uppon earth, his strength the seale of the Emperor of all men. And the wryting about his privy seale is, _Dei fortitudo omnium hominum imperatoris sigillum_ That is to say, The strength of God, seale of the Emperour of all men. And if it be so that they be not christen, yet the Emperour and the Tartarins beleve in God Almightie. [Footnote 1: In other editions Ecchecha. In reality, Ok-lar-Khan, who succeeded his father in 1229, and reigned over the Tartars till 1241.] CAP. LXXI. _Of the governaunce of the countrey of the great Caane._ NOW haue I tolde you why he is called the great Caane, now shall I tell you of the governinge of his courte when they make great feastes, and he kepeth foure principall feastes in the yeare, the fyrste of his byrth, the seconde when he is borne to the Temple to be circumcised, the third is of his ydoles when they begin to speake, and the fourth when the ydole beginneth fyrst to do myracles, & at those tymes he hath men well arayed by thousands and by hundreds and eche one wote well what he shal do. For there is fyrst ordeined 4000 rich barons and mighty for to ordeine the feast & to serve the Emperour & all these barons haue crowns of gold well dight with precious stones and pearles, and they are clad in clothes of golde & camathas[1] as richly as they may bee made & they may well have suche clothes for they are there of lesse pryce than wollen cloth is here. And these foure thousande barons are departed in foure parties, & eche company is clad in diverse colour ryght richely, and when the first thousand is passed and hath shewed them, then come the seconde thousande, and then the thirde thousande & then the fourth, and none of them speketh a word. And on the one side of the Emperours table sitteth many phylosophers of many sciences, some of Astronomie, Nygromancie[2], Geometry, Pyromacy,[3] & many other sciences, and some haue before them Astrolabes[4] of golde or of precious stones full of sande or of coles brenning, some haue horologes[5] well dight and richly, and many other instruments after their sciences. And at a certaine houre when they