The incidental reference to China by Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveller in the east, of the twelfth century, should not be omitted. It is but a reference, but curious enough to be quoted. It is as follows:--
"From thence (the Island of Khandy) the passage to China is effected in forty days; this country lies eastward, and some say that the star Orion predominates in the sea which bounds it, and which is called Sea of Nikpha. Sometimes so violent a storm rages in this sea, that no mariner can reach his vessel; and whenever the storm throws a ship into this sea, it is impossible to govern it; the crew and the passengers consume their provisions, and then die miserably. Many vessels have been lost in this way, but people have learned how to save themselves from this fate by the following contrivance. They take bullocks' hides along with them, and whenever this storm arises and throws them into the Sea of Nikpha, they sew themselves up in the hides, taking care to have a knife in their hand, and being secured against the sea-water, they throw themselves into the ocean; here they are soon perceived by a large eagle, called griffin, which takes them for cattle, darts down, takes them in his gripe, and carries them upon dry land, where he deposits his burthen on a hill or in a dale, there to consume his prey. The man, however, now avails himself of his knife, therewith to kill the bird, creeps forth from the hide, and tries to reach an inhabited country. Many people have been saved by this stratagem."
The first European reference to China described by a traveller from _hearsay_, is that given by the Minorite friar John de Plano Carpini, who, with five other brothers of the order, in 1245 was sent by Pope Innocent IV into the country of the Mongolians. The purpose of this mission was, if possible, to divert these devastating conquerors from Europe, and to instigate them rather to a war with the Turks and Saracens. At the same time they were to inculcate, as much as might be, the Christian faith, and at all events to collect every possible information respecting a people so little known.
Carpini was absent sixteen months. A copy of his narrative, formerly belonging to Lord Lumley, is in the British Museum, and is the same which was used by Hakluyt for his _Principal Navigations_, from which the following extract is taken. It is after describing a battle between the Mongals and the Chinese, whom he calls Kythayans, that he describes the latter as follows: