114 CHKISTTANITY IN CHINA, ETC. They do not wash their faces, nor cut their hair, but plait it, and tie it together at the top of their heads, in the form of a tiara, which serves them instead of a helmet. They are excellent archers. Their food is simple, and not very abundant. They practise, above all things, justice and humanity. Their horses eat flesh meat." At these words there arose a great noise in the assembly. An Arab chief stood up and said that the letter was not worthy of credit, since it contained an incredible circumstance ; but another replied that he had himself had an Arab horse, which he fed habitually with beef and mutton, and that, consequently, there was no reason to doubt what the metropolitan of Samarkand had asserted.* The progress of these Tartar Keraites towards the Western regions of Asia, was only the prelude to their future aggrandisement, and enormous conquests. The Christian element, which continued to penetrate more and more this rough and energetic race, seemed to communicate to it an expansive force that nothing could resist — not even the enthusiastic ardour of Is- lam. In the middle of the twelfth century, one of these Keraite kings, also designated by the name of Prester John, after having prosecuted a furious war against the sovereigns of Persia and Medea, took, by assault, Ecbatana, the capital of two empires, and pursued, like a torrent, his devastating march, until he planted his camp on the banks of the Tigris. He was preparing to carry his victorious and indefatigable bat-
- During our long journey from Pekin to Lha-Ssa, the capital of
Thibet, we ourselves saw a horse devouring, with excellent appetite, slices of camel's flesh.
