When I was about to have propounded reasons to prove the truth of the divine essence, and to have explained the doctrine of the Trinity, the Nestorians alleged that I had said quite enough, and that now they meant to speak; so I gave place to them. When, therefore, they would have disputed with the Saracens, these men said that they agreed to the truth of the law and the gospel of the Christian, and would not dispute with them in any thing, and even confessed that they beg from God in their prayers that they may die the death of the Christians. There was among the idolaters a priest of the sect of the Jugurs, who believe in one God, and yet make idols. With this man the Nestorians talked much, shewing all things till the coming of Christ to judgment, and explaining the Trinity to him and the Saracens by similitudes. All of them hearkened to their harangue without attempting to make any contradiction; yet none of them said that they believed and would become Christians. The conference was now broken up. The Nestorians and Saracens sang together with a loud voice, and the Tuinians held their peace; and afterwards they all drank together most plentifully.
On Whitsunday I was called into the presence of the khan, and before I went in, the goldsmiths son, who was my interpreter, informed me that it was determined I was to return to my own country, and advised me to say nothing against it. When I came before the khan I kneeled, and he asked me whether I said to his secretaries that he was a Tuinian. To this I answered, "My lord, I said not so; but if it please your highness I will repeat what I then said;" and I recited what I had spoken, as mentioned before, and he answered: "I thought well you said not so, for it was a word you ought not to have spoken; but your interpreter hath ill rendered your words." Then, reaching forth the staff on which, he leaned towards me, he said, "be not afraid." To which I answered smiling, that if I had feared I should not have come hither. He then said, as if confessing his faith: "We Moals believe that there is but one God, and we have an upright heart towards him." "Then," said I, "may God grant you this mind, for without his gift it cannot be." He then added, "God hath given to the hand divers fingers, and hath given many ways to man. He hath given the Scriptures to you, yet you keep them not. You certainly find not in the Scriptures that one of you should dispraise another?" "No," said I; "and I signified unto your highness from the beginning, that I would not contend with any one." "I speak not," said he, "respecting you. In like manner, you find not in your Scriptures, that a man ought to swerve from justice for the sake of money?" To this I answered, "That our Scriptures taught no such evil doctrine, neither had I come into, these parts to get money, having even refused that which was freely offered to me." And one of the secretaries, then present, certified, that I had refused a jascot and a piece of silk. "I speak not of that," said the khan; "God hath given you the Scriptures and you keep them not; but he hath given to us soothsayers, and we do what they bid us, and live in peace." He drank four times, as I think, before he disclosed these things; and, while I waited attentively in expectation that he might disclose any thing farther respecting his faith, he began another subject, saying: "You have stayed a long time here, and it is my pleasure that you return. You have said that you dared not to carry my ambassadors with you; will you carry my messenger, or my letters?" To this I answered, "If he would make me understand his words, and that they were put in writing, I would willingly carry them, to the best of my power." He then asked if I would have gold or silver, or costly garments? I answered, that we received no such things; but not having wherewith to bear our expences, we could not get out of his country without his help. He then said, that he would provide us in all necessaries through his country, and demanded how far we would be brought. I said it were sufficient if he gave us a pass into Armenia. To this he answered: "I will cause you to be carried thither, after which look to yourself. There are two eyes in one head, yet they both look to one object. You came here from Baatu, and therefore you must return by him." Having requested and obtained leave to speak, I addressed him thus: "Sir! we are not men of war, and desire that they who would most justly govern according to the will of God may have dominion in the world. Our office is to teach men to live according to the law of God: For this, purpose we came into these parts, and would willingly have remained here if it had been your pleasure; but since you are pleased that we should return, I shall carry your letters according to my power, in obedience to your commands. I request of your magnificence, that, when I have delivered your letters, it may be lawful for me to come back into your dominions; chiefly because you have servants of our nation at Balac, who want a priest to teach them and their children the law of our religion, and I would willingly stay with them." He then asked whether I knew that our lords would send me back to him? To this. I answered, "I know not what may be the purpose of my sovereign; but I have licence to go wherever I will, where it is needful to preach the word of God, and it seems to me necessary in these parts; wherefore, whether my lords send ambassadors or not, if it is your pleasure, I will return." Then, after a long pause, as if musing, he said, "You have a lone way to go, make yourself strong with food, that you may be enabled to endure the journey." So he ordered them to give me drink, and I departed from his presence, and returned not again. From that time I could have no time nor place to expound to him the catholic faith; for a man must not speak before him, unless what he pleaseth to order or allow, except he were an ambassador, who may speak what he will, and they always demand of such whether he has any thing more to say.
The soothsayers are the priests of the Mongals, and whatever they command to be done is performed without delay. I shall describe their office, as I learnt it from the goldsmith and others. Of these soothsayers there are great numbers, under the direction of a chief priest, whose house is always about a stone's throw in front of the great house of Mangu-khan, and under his charge are all the chariots which carry idols. The other soothsayers dwell behind the court, in places appointed for them; and such as have confidence in their art come to consult them from various distant parts. Some of them are skilful in astronomy, especially their chief, and they foretel eclipses of the sun and moon. When these are to happen, all the people prepare their food, that they may not be under the necessity of going out of doors, and during the eclipse they play on various instruments of music, and set up loud shouts: when it is over, they indulge in feasting and carousing, to express their joy.
These soothsayers pretend to foretell lucky and unlucky days for all affairs; and the Tartars never levy an army, or undertake a war without their approbation. They had long since resumed their attack on Hungary, but that the soothsayers have always opposed it. They make every thing which is sent to court pass between two fires, as a purification, likewise, all the household stuff belonging to a dead person must be purged in the same manner; and, if any living creature drop down, or any thing whatever fall to the ground during the ceremony, it becomes the property of the soothsayers, who, besides, have a certain proportion of every thing which they purify as their due. There was, therefore, a twofold reason why Friar Andrew Carpini was made to pass between the fires; both because he brought presents, and because Con-khan, for whom these had been brought, was dead: But as I brought nothing, this was not required of me.