It Was The Punishment Also Of Military And State Offences, And Even Princes Were Liable To It Without Fatal Disgrace.

"If they give any offence," says Carpini, "or omit to obey the slightest beck, the Tartars themselves are beaten like donkeys." The number of blows administered was, according to Wassaf, always odd, 3, 5, and so forth, up to 77.

(Carp. 712; Ilchan. I. 37.)

["They also punish with death grand larceny, but as for petty thefts, such as that of a sheep, so long has one has not repeatedly been taken in the act, they beat him cruelly, and if they administer an hundred blows they must use an hundred sticks." (Rockhill, Rubruck, p. 80.) - H. C.]

NOTE 2. - "They have no herdsmen or others to watch their cattle, because the laws of the Turks (i.e. Tartars) against theft are so severe.... A man in whose possession a stolen horse is found is obliged to restore it to its owner, and to give nine of the same value; if he cannot, his children are seized in compensation; if he have no children, he is slaughtered like a mutton." (Ibn Batuta, II. 364.)

NOTE 3. - This is a Chinese custom, though no doubt we may trust Marco for its being a Tartar one also. "In the province of Shansi they have a ridiculous custom, which is to marry dead folks to each other. F. Michael Trigault, a Jesuit, who lived several years in that province, told it us whilst we were in confinement.

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