Walls, o f no better materials than o f mud’; but his palace
called W-angan, was o f great magnificence. Rubriquis* -gives
a full account o f'it1 to his ’ matter.. He informs us that William
the Goldftnitb-was employed'in* tfr© ornamental work. The
S il v e r : T r e e . famous filver-tree in one o f the ootrrts was in a fine tafte. At
the foot, o f the> tree were four lions, the fame number of: gilt
ferpents.'twined round the ftem, and their heads-appeared out o f
the- branches* pointing different-w-ays, fpouting various' liquors,
one o f wine, another o f CaracOfinps,- or the liquor o f mares
milk ; the third, mads o f honey‘-;- tiie fourth o f rice:; andeach
fell into a great 111 ver cittern placed beneath/ On the fummic
o f the* tree-was'amangel-witha trumpet,- w-hichToanded'-b'y the
help o f a- pipe blown by a-man artificially Concealed. All this
fhowed- tatte in tlie’' Kòcwf as • well as beauty- o f‘ dofign in the
artift. This city, placed in the- middls'ofthe-' deferta on <a falient
ehain-of mountains, might-Well aftOnifh- the traveller w ith i t s
population, and the fplendor o f itS'palaces. Thefe-parts o f Tor-
tary* wefa about that period full o f bpulenf cities, Ixut little more
than the1 lite o-f-them, or ofiSortt^ortti-iitlelf^was1 diftdvera-blè by
the Jefuits who’were employeddiy thè-emperoFin-the'vattworld
o f the fnrvey o f his ‘Tartarian dbsriaionisi T he labors-of the?
Fathers Regis, Fidelli, and many- others-, are comprifed in twelve-
maps, in the fefcond Volume'of D& Halide< In -the thif-d iheet is;
ihewn- the fituation o f this-onee famous“ city ; and in Tome o f the;
others, the whole-of the -defert which lies- in the Ghinefe territories.
The- chains of communication are- eXpre'fled;- and ■ the;
roadSj which the more hardy travellers ventured over,. amidiB
the traeklefs fands,
* PK x©6 and 95;
T he
T h e part o f this defert which is clamed b y the Chineje, begins
in Lat. 35” north, and in hong, lid' 3o'>eaft from París,
winds towards the north-eaft-as high as Halter Gobi, in Lat. 47”
and Long. 136. After running fouth-WeftWard to the borders
of- iridia, it IMrtS PhibeV, 'thek»afitry o f the Koho-mr ‘tartars,
tiftd then the borders o f the far projeaing province o f Shen-ft.
Thefe traéis were knoivu by the almott obfolete name o f the
hnte patent -kingdom o f fariguth. Rubruquis and Marco Polo
travelled through, and defcr-ihe its floüriíhing ttate, and the
number o f its cities.- The fria-r is-the firft who mentions the ox
With a tail like a horfé-, covered with iilken hairs, the grunting
ox, Hitt. Quad. 1. N* 8, fince his days fully verified. Polo, in Ms
foad to 7’angtilb, paffed through the great defert, which he names
that o f Lop. During night, fays he, the caravans are terrified
with the delufions o f demons which haunt thefe horrid fands.
The travellers mutt he careful how they ftray, for they Will
imagine themfelves to be called by their proper names by fomfe
o f their comrades, till they are brought to the edge o f a precipice
; and fometimes they Will be entertained with aerial miilic,
Superftitions fitted to the dread of the pláce.
H a l t b r G o b i .
IV afterwards palles between the country of the Gflltnucs and
the Kallas to the north-weft, the Ortus tartars and the Mongols
tb the fouth, and concludes its cóurfe of above two thoufanci
miles, from the borders of India to Halter Gobi,- its remoteft extremity.
The extreme point to the fouth-weft is not diftant
from the lakes Lanke and Manfardar,: the fources of the Ganges;
and the lake which gives origin to the great BurrampoOterl\
Even thefe deferts do not want inhabitants: fome pittance is
tuirín-Mis i A a 2 found
T a n g u t k .