[34] De Guignes, vol. iii. pp. 263–5. [↑]
[35] C. d’Ohsson, tome iv. pp. 141–2. [↑]
[38] Id. ib. pp. 148, 354. Cahun, p. 434. [↑]
[39] C. d’Ohsson, tome iv. pp. 128, 132. [↑]
[40] Hammer-Purgstall: Geschichte der Ilchanen, vol. ii. p. 182. It is not improbable that the captive Muslim women took a considerable part in the conversion of the Mongols to Islam. Women appear to have occupied an honoured position among the Mongols, and many instances might be given of their having taken a prominent part in political affairs, just as already several cases have been mentioned of the influence they exercised on their husbands in religious matters. William of Rubruck tells us how he found the influence of a Muslim wife an obstacle in the way of his proselytising labours: “On the day of Pentecost a certain Saracen came to us, and while in conversation with us, we began expounding the faith, and when he heard of the blessings of God to man in the incarnation, the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, and the washing away of sins in baptism, he said he wished to be baptised; but while we were making ready to baptise him, he suddenly jumped on his horse saying he had to go home to consult with his wife. And the next day talking with us he said he could not possibly venture to receive baptism, for then he could not drink cosmos” (mare’s milk). (Rubruck, pp. 90–1.) [↑]