Josafat Barbaro says he had seen the thing, but is vague
as to place. (Aelian Nat. An. III. 3, IV. 32; Amoen. Exoticae;
Ferrier, H. of Afghans, p. 294; J. A. S. B. XV. 160.)
[Rabelais says (Bk. I. ch. xvi.): "Si de ce vous efmerveillez,
efmerveillez vous d'advantage de la queue des beliers de la Scythie, qui
pesait plus de trente livres; et des moutons de Surie, esquels fault (si
Tenaud, dict vray) affuster une charrette au cul, pour la porter tant
qu'elle est longue et pesante." (See G. Capus, A travers le roy. de
Tamerlan, pp. 21-23, on the fat sheep.) - H. C.]
NOTE 3. - The word rendered banditti is in Pauthier Carans, in G. Text
Caraunes, in the Latin "a scaranis et malandrinis." The last is no
doubt correct, standing for the old Italian Scherani, bandits. (See
Cathay, p. 287, note.)
NOTE 4. - This is a knotty subject, and needs a long note.
The KARAUNAHS are mentioned often in the histories of the Mongol regime in
Persia, first as a Mongol tribe forming a Tuman, i.e. a division or
corps of 10,000 in the Mongol army (and I suspect it was the phrase the
Tuman of the Karaunahs in Marco's mind that suggested his repeated use
of the number 10,000 in speaking of them); and afterwards as daring and
savage freebooters, scouring the Persian provinces, and having their
headquarters on the Eastern frontiers of Persia.
