William Rubruck's Account of the Mongols (originally from depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rubruck.html) from can be a bit on the lengthy side.  For this optional paragraph assignment, I do not want you to read all of Rubruck's Account--that is an extra credit option for this unit--what I want you to read is only Part XII "At Khan Batu's court."  There are also some selections available on the web,