After they had spent a twelvemonth at the court of this Prince there broke
out a great war between Barca and Alau, the Lord of the Tartars of the
Levant, and great hosts were mustered on either side.[NOTE 3]
But in the end Barca, the Lord of the Tartars of the Ponent, was defeated,
though on both sides there was great slaughter. And by reason of this war
no one could travel without peril of being taken; thus it was at least on
the road by which the Brothers had come, though there was no obstacle to
their travelling forward. So the Brothers, finding they could not retrace
their steps, determined to go forward. Quitting Bolgara, therefore, they
proceeded to a city called UCACA, which was at the extremity of the
kingdom of the Lord of the Ponent;[NOTE 4] and thence departing again, and
passing the great River Tigris, they travelled across a Desert which
extended for seventeen days' journey, and wherein they found neither town
nor village, falling in only with the tents of Tartars occupied with their
cattle at pasture.[NOTE 5]
NOTE 1. - + Barka Khan, third son of Juji, the first-born of Chinghiz,
ruled the Ulus of Juji and Empire of Kipchak (Southern Russia) from 1257
to 1265. He was the first Musulman sovereign of his race.