401.)
["Ibn Batuta's account of the market of the 'Land of Darkness' ... agrees
almost word for word with Dr. Mirth's account of the 'Spirit Market, taken
from the Chinese.'" (Parker, China Review, XIV. p. 359.) - H.C.]
Abulfeda gives exactly the same account of the trade; and so does
Herberstein. Other Oriental writers ascribe the same custom to the Wisu,
a people three months' journey from Bolghar. These Wisu have been
identified by Fraehn with the Wesses, a people spoken of by Russian
historians as dwelling on the shores of the Bielo Osero, which Lake indeed
is alleged by a Russian author to have been anciently called Wuesu,
misunderstood into Weissensee, and thence rendered into Russian Bielo
Osero ("White Lake"). (Golden Horde, App. p. 429; Buesching, IV.
359-360; Herberstein in Ram. II. 168 v.; Fraehn, Bolghar, pp. 14, 47;
Do., Ibn Fozlan, 205 seqq., 221.) Dumb trade of the same kind is a
circumstance related of very many different races and periods, e.g., of a
people beyond the Pillars of Hercules by Herodotus, of the Sabaean dealers
in frankincense by Theophrastus, of the Seres by Pliny, of the Sasians far
south of Ethiopia by Cosmas, of the people of the Clove Islands by Kazwini,
of a region beyond Segelmessa by Mas'udi, of a people far beyond Timbuctoo
by Cadamosto, the Veddas of Ceylon by Marignolli and more modern writers,
of the Poliars of Malabar by various authors, by Paulus Jovius of the
Laplanders, etc. etc.
Pliny's attribution, surely erroneous, of this custom to the Chinese [see
supra, H.C.], suggests that there may have been a misunderstanding by
which this method of trade was confused with that other curious system of
dumb higgling, by the pressure of the knuckles under a shawl, a masonic
system in use from Peking to Bombay, and possibly to Constantinople.
The term translated here "Light," and the "Light Country," is in the G.T.
"a la Carte," "a la Cartes." This puzzled me for a long time, as I
see it puzzled Mr. Hugh Murray, Signor Bartoli, and Lazari (who passes it
over). The version of Pipino, "ad Lucis terras finitimas deferunt,"
points to the true reading; - Carte is an error for Clarte.
The reading of this chapter is said to have fired Prince Rupert with the
scheme which resulted in the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company.
[1] That is, in one passage of Pliny (iv. 12); for in another passage from
his multifarious note book, where Thule is spoken of, the Arctic day
and night are much more distinctly characterised (IV. 16).
CHAPTER XXII.
DESCRIPTION OF ROSIA AND ITS PEOPLE. PROVINCE OF LAC.
Rosia is a very great province, lying towards the north. The people are
Christians, and follow the Greek doctrine. There are several kings in the
country, and they have a language of their own. They are a people of
simple manners, but both men and women very handsome, being all very white
and [tall, with long fair hair]. There are many strong defiles and passes
in the country; and they pay tribute to nobody except to a certain Tartar
king of the Ponent, whose name is TOCTAI; to him indeed they pay tribute,
but only a trifle. It is not a land of trade, though to be sure they have
many fine and valuable furs, such as Sables, in abundance, and Ermine,
Vair, Ercolin, and Fox skins, the largest and finest in the world [and
also much wax]. They also possess many Silver-mines, from which they
derive a large amount of silver.[NOTE 1]
There is nothing else worth mentioning; so let us leave Rosia, and I will
tell you about the Great Sea, and what provinces and nations lie round
about it, all in detail; and we will begin with Constantinople. - First,
however, I should tell you of a province that lies between north and
north-west. You see in that region that I have been speaking of, there is
a province called LAC, which is conterminous with Rosia, and has a king of
its own. The people are partly Christians and partly Saracens. They have
abundance of furs of good quality, which merchants export to many
countries. They live by trade and handicrafts.[NOTE 2]
There is nothing more worth mentioning, so I will speak of other subjects;
but there is one thing more to tell you about Rosia that I had forgotten.
You see in Rosia there is the greatest cold that is to be found anywhere,
so great as to be scarcely bearable. The country is so great that it
reaches even to the shores of the Ocean Sea, and 'tis in that sea that
there are certain islands in which are produced numbers of gerfalcons and
peregrine falcons, which are carried in many directions. From Russia also
to OROECH it is not very far, and the journey could be soon made, were it
not for the tremendous cold; but this renders its accomplishment almost
impossible.[NOTE 3]
Now then let us speak of the Great Sea, as I was about to do. To be sure
many merchants and others have been there, but still there are many again
who know nothing about it, so it will be well to include it in our Book.
We will do so then, and let us begin first with the Strait of
Constantinople.
NOTE 1. - Ibn Fozlan, the oldest Arabic author who gives any detailed
account of the Russians (and a very remarkable one it is), says he "never
saw people of form more perfectly developed; they were tall as palm-trees,
and ruddy of countenance," but at the same time "the most uncleanly people
that God hath created," drunken, and frightfully gross in their manners.
(Fraehn's Ibn Fozlan, p. 5 seqq.) Ibn Batuta is in some respects less
flattering; he mentions the silver-mines noticed in our text:
