  We report the detection of emission from dust and carbon monoxide in the
radio-quiet quasar BR1202--0725 at redshift z=4.7. Maps of these emissions
reveal two objects separated by a few arc seconds, which could indicate either
the presence of a companion to the quasar or gravitational lensing of the
quasar itself. Regardless of the precise interpretation of the maps, the
detection of carbon monoxide confirms the presence of a large mass of molecular
gas in one of the most distant galaxies known, and shows that conditions
conducive to huge bursts of star formation existed in the early Universe.
