OF THE CITY OF BALC.
Balc is a noble city and a great, though it was much greater in former
days. But the Tartars and other nations have greatly ravaged and destroyed
it. There were formerly many fine palaces and buildings of marble, and the
ruins of them still remain. The people of the city tell that it was here
that Alexander took to wife the daughter of Darius.
Here, you should be told, is the end of the empire of the Tartar Lord of
the Levant. And this city is also the limit of Persia in the direction
between east and north-east.[NOTE 1]
Now, let us quit this city, and I will tell you of another country called
DOGANA.[NOTE 2]
When you have quitted the city of which I have been speaking, you ride
some 12 days between north-east and east, without finding any human
habitation, for the people have all taken refuge in fastnesses among the
mountains, on account of the Banditti and armies that harassed them. There
is plenty of water on the road, and abundance of game; there are lions
too. You can get no provisions on the road, and must carry with you all
that you require for these 12 days.[NOTE 3]
NOTE 1. - BALKH, "the mother of cities," suffered mercilessly from
Chinghiz. Though the city had yielded without resistance, the whole
population was marched by companies into the plain, on the usual Mongol
pretext of counting them, and then brutally massacred.
