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Setting sail from Kathay or China, they arrived in three months at an island called Java, and sailing from thence they arrived in eighteen months in the dominions of king Argon. Six hundred of the mariners and others died during the voyage, and but one woman; and only Coza of the three ambassadors survived.

I shall now leave the country of Mangi, and proceed to discourse of India the greater, the middle, and lesser; in which I have been, both in the service of the great khan, and also on our return home along with the queen, who was sent from Kathay to Argon.

He afterwards subjugated the five northern provinces of China, which were long imperfectly known under the name of Kathay; and successively reduced Carisme or Transoxiana, now great Bucharia, Chorassan, and Persia: and he died in 1227, after having exhorted and instructed his sons to persevere in the career of conquest, and more particularly to complete the conquest of China.

On the sixteenth of the month Shaaban, they were informed that the Dankji, governor of the borders of Kathay, intended to entertain them that day with an imperial feast; and on their arrival at his encampment, they found a square arpent of ground inclosed with tents, the cords of which, fastened to pegs in the ground, were so interlaced together that there was no entrance into the inclosure but by four gates, which were left on purpose.

To the east, this country is bounded by Kathay, to the west by Turkestan, to the north by an extensive desert, and to the south by a very rich province, named Sym or Peim, in which diamonds are found, and which, is situated between Kathay and India.

Columbus tried to find a way to the island of Kathay and stumbled upon a new and unsuspected continent. An Austrian bishop equipped an expedition which was to travel eastward and find the home of the Grand Duke of Muscovy, a voyage which led to complete failure, for Moscow was not visited by western men until a generation later.

Five days journey farther south from Ciangu is the city of Ciangli, likewise in Kathay, between which we pass many cities and castles, all subject to the great khan; and through the middle of this last city of Ciangli, there runs a large river, which is very convenient for the transport of merchandize.