They Soon Afterwards Entered
The Kingdom Of Thibet, And Were Honourably Received By Officers Sent On
Purpose From _Chaparangue_, The Residence Of The King Of Thibet.
The
king and queen listened to their doctrines with much complacency, and
even admitted their truths without dispute, and
Would not allow them to
return to India till they promised an oath to come back, when the king
not only engaged to give them liberty to preach, but that he would build
them a church, and was greatly pleased with a picture they left him of
the Virgin and Child.
The fathers returned according to promise, on which the king built them
a church and was afterwards baptised along with the queen, in spite of
every thing the Lamas could say to prevent him. From merchants who
traded to this place from China, the fathers understood that it was 60
days journey from _Chaparangue_ to China, 40 of which was through the
kingdom of _Usangue_, and thence 20 days to China. They likewise learnt
that Cathay is not a kingdom, but a great city - the metropolis of a
province subject to the grand _Sopo_, very near China, whence perhaps
some give the name of Cathay to China[19]. Perhaps this kingdom of
Thibet is the empire of Prester John, and not Ethiopia as some have
believed.
[Footnote 19: This is evidently erroneous, as we know certainly from the
travels of Marco Polo and other authorities, that Cathay was the
northern part of China, once a separate kingdom.
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