“Mount Gybeit means the sacred mountain. On this mountain, it is said that the magus prayed when he saw a star on the night of the birth of Christ. This mountain is not easily accessible. The air in the center is so light and pure that the few people who have been able to climb it have had to go up with a sponge filled with water over their mouths. There is a spring at the bottom of the mountain where the Magus used to drink, and I personally drank from this water.” Excerpt from Giovanni di Marignolli’s recollections, transcribed in “Cathay and the Way Thither” by Henry Yule