Now it came to pass on a day in the year of Christ 1255, that the Lord of the Tartars of the Levant, whose name was Alaue, brother to the Great Kaan now reigning, gathered a mighty host and came up against Baudas and took it by storm.[NOTE 5] It was a great enterprise! for in Baudas there were more than 100,000 horse, besides foot soldiers.  And when Alaue had taken the place he found therein a tower of the Califs, which was full of gold and silver and other treasure; in fact the greatest accumulation of treasure in one spot that ever was known.[NOTE 6] When he beheld that great heap of treasure he was astonished, and, summoning the Calif to his presence, he said to him:  “Calif, tell me now why thou hast gathered such a huge treasure?  What didst thou mean to do therewith?  Knewest thou not that I was thine enemy, and that I was coming against thee with so great an host to cast thee forth of thine heritage?  Wherefore didst thou not take of thy gear and employ it in paying knights and soldiers to defend thee and thy city?”

The Calif wist not what to answer, and said never a word.  So the Prince continued, “Now then, Calif, since I see what a love thou hast borne thy treasure, I will e’en give it thee to eat!” So he shut the Calif up in the Treasure Tower, and bade that neither meat nor drink should be given him, saying, “Now, Calif, eat of thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since thou art so fond of it; for never shalt thou have aught else to eat!”

So the Calif lingered in the tower four days, and then died like a dog.  Truly his treasure would have been of more service to him had he bestowed it upon men who would have defended his kingdom and his people, rather than let himself be taken and deposed and put to death as he was.[NOTE 7] Howbeit, since that time, there has been never another Calif, either at Baudas or anywhere else.[NOTE 8]

Now I will tell you of a great miracle that befell at Baudas, wrought by God on behalf of the Christians.

NOTE 1.—­This form of the Mediaeval Frank name of BAGHDAD, Baudas [the Chinese traveller, Ch’ang Te, Si Shi Ki, XIII. cent., says, “the kingdom of Bao-da,” H. C.], is curiously like that used by the Chinese historians, Paota (Pauthier; Gaubil), and both are probably due to the Mongol habit of slurring gutturals. (See Prologue, ch. ii. note 3.) [Baghdad was taken on the 5th of February, 1258, and the Khalif surrendered to Hulaku on the 10th of February.—­H.  C.]

NOTE 2.—­Polo is here either speaking without personal knowledge, or is so brief as to convey an erroneous impression that the Tigris flows to Kisi, whereas three-fourths of the length of the Persian Gulf intervene between the river mouth and Kisi.  The latter is the island and city of KISH or KAIS, about 200 miles from the mouth of the Gulf, and for a long time one of the chief ports of trade with India and the East.  The island, the Cataea of