deprived them of their subsistence and liberty.  Some who were soldiers excused themselves from having gone to the wars, as otherwise they would be slain; these I forbid to go against Christians, declaring, that if slain for their refusal, God would account them as martyrs.  After this I gave the holy communion to these people on Easter day, and I hope, with the blessing of God to many, being assisted by the Nestorians, who lent me their chalice and paten.  They baptized above threescore persons on Easter eve with great solemnity, to the great joy of all the Christians.

Soon after this William Bouchier was grievously sick, and when recovering, the monk Sergius visited him, and gave him so great a doze of rhubarb as had almost killed him.  On this I expostulated with the monk, that he ought either to go about as an apostle, doing miracles by the virtue of prayer and the Holy Ghost, or as a physician, according to the rules of the medical aid, and not to administer strong potions to people who were not prepared.  About this time the principal priest of the Nestorians, who was a kind of archdeacon over the rest, became sick $ and when I endeavoured, at the request of his family, to prevail upon the monk to visit him, he said, “Let him alone for he and three others intend to procure an order from Mangu-khan to expel you and I.”  And I learnt afterwards, that there was a dispute between them, as Mangu-khan had sent four jascots on Easter eve to the monk, to distribute among the priests; and Sergius, keeping one to himself, had given three to the priests, one being a counterfeit, and the priests thought Sergius had kept too great a share to himself.  Finding the archdeacon in a dying way, I administered to him the Eucharist and extreme unction, which he received with great humility and devotion; but, by the advice of the monk, I quitted him before he died, as otherwise I could not have entered the court of Mangu-khan for a whole year.  When he was dead, the monk said to me, “Never mind it:  This man only, among the Nestorians, had any learning, and opposed us; henceforwards Mangu-khan and all the rest will crouch at our feet.”  He even pretended that he had killed him by his prayers.  I afterwards learnt that the monk practised divination, with the aid of a Russian deacon, though, when I challenged him, he pretended to excuse himself, and to deny the truth of what had been reported to me:  But I could not leave him, having been placed there by command of the khan, so that I dared not to remove without his special command.

Exclusive of the palace of the khan, Caracarum is not so good as the town of St Denis, and the monastery of St Dennis is worth more than ten times the value of the palace itself.  It contains two principal streets:  that of the Saracens in which the fairs are held, and to which many merchants resort, as the court is always near; the other is the street of the Kathayans, which is full of artificers.  Besides these streets, there are many palaces, in which are