_Wherefore that the Emperour of Cathay is called the great Caane._
AND ye shall understande why he is called y^e great Caane, ye knowe
y^t all the worlde was destroied with Noes floud but Noe his wife &
children. Noe had three sons, Sem, Cham & Japhet. Cham when he saw his
father naked when he slept, scorned him & therefore he was cursed and
Japhet covered him againe. These three brethrene hadde all the land.
Cham toke the best parte eastward that is called Asia. Sem toke Afryke
and Japhet toke Europe. Cham was the mightiest and richest of his
bretherne and of him are come the Paynim folke & divers maner of men
of the yles, some headlesse, and other men disfigured, and for this
Cham the Emperour there called him Cham and Lord of all. But ye shall
understande that the Emperour of Cathay is called Caane, and not
Cham, & for this cause, it is not long ago that all Tartary was in
subjection and thrall to other nations about, and they were made
herdemen to kepe beastes, and among them was vii linages[1] or kindes,
the firste was called Tartary that is the best, the second linage is
called Tamghot,[2] the third Furace,[3] the fourth Valaire, the fifth
Semoth,[4] the sixth Menchy,[5] the seventh Sobeth.[6] These are all
holding of the great Caane of Cathay. Now it befell so that the first
linage was an olde man & hee was not ryche and men called him Chanius.
This man lay and slept on a nighte in his bedde, and there came to him
a knighte, all white, sitting uppon a white hors, and sayde to him,
Caane slepeste thou? God that is almighty sent me to thee, & it is
his will that thou saye to the vii linages y^t thou shalt be theyr
Emperour, for ye shall conquere all the lande about you, and they
shall be in your subjection as you have bene in theirs. And when morow
came he rose up and sayde it to the vii linages, and they scorned him
and sayde he was a fole, and the next night the same knighte came to
the vii linages and bad them of gods behalfe to make Chanius their
Emperour, and they shold be out of all subjection. And on the morow
they chose Chanius to be Emperour, and dyd him all worship that they
might do, & called him Caane as the white knighte called him, and they
sayde they would doe as he badde them. Then he made many statutes and
lawes, the which he called Ysakan.[7] The firste statute was, that
they shoulde be obedient to God almyghtie, and beleve that he should
deliver them out of thraldome, and that they shoulde call on him in
all their workes. Another statute was, y^t all men that might beare
armes shoulde be nombred, and to eche x shoulde be a master, and to
a hundred a master, and to a thousand a master. Then he commaunded
to all the greatest and principallest of the vii linages, that they
should forsake all that they had in heritage or lordship, and that
they should hold them payed of that he wold give them of his grace,
and they did so. And also he bad them y^t eche man should bringe
his eldest sonne before him, and sleay his owne sonne with his owne
handes, and smyte of their heads, and as sone they did his bidding.
And when he saw they made no letting[8] of what he bad them, then bad
he them folow his baner, and then he put in subjection all the landes
about him.
[Footnote 1: People or tribes.]
[Footnote 2: Tangut, or Tanghút, is the name given to certain
tribes of Thibetan extraction, who lived on the north-west
frontier of China.]
[Footnote 3: Called variously Eurache, Semoche, Megly and
Coboghe, whose relative positions can scarcely now be defined
accurately.]
[Footnote 4: As Footnote #3.]
[Footnote 5: As Footnote #3.]
[Footnote 6: As Footnote #3.]
[Footnote 7: Others write it Ysya-Chan.]
[Footnote 8: Hindrance.]