Age, p. 230.) I
owe this correction to a valued correspondent, Professor Bruun, of
Odessa.
[2] The word is, however, perhaps Or. Turkish; Som, "pure, solid."
(See Pavet de Courteille, and Vambery, s.v.)
CHAPTER XXIII.
HE BEGINS TO SPEAK OF THE STRAITS OF CONSTANTINOPLE, BUT DECIDES TO LEAVE
THAT MATTER.
At the straits leading into the Great Sea, on the west side, there is a
hill called the FARO. - But since beginning on this matter I have changed
my mind, because so many people know all about it, so we will not put it
in our description, but go on to something else. And so I will tell you
about the Tartars of the Ponent, and the lords who have reigned over them.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONCERNING THE TARTARS OF THE PONENT AND THEIR LORDS.
The first lord of the Tartars of the Ponent was SAIN, a very great and
puissant king, who conquered ROSIA and COMANIA, ALANIA, LAC, MENJAR, ZIC,
GOTHIA, and GAZARIA; all these provinces were conquered by King Sain.
Before his conquest these all belonged to the Comanians, but they did not
hold well together nor were they united, and thus they lost their
territories and were dispersed over divers countries; and those who
remained all became the servants of King Sain.[NOTE 1]
After King Sain reigned King PATU, and after Patu BARCA, and after Barca
MUNGLETEMUR, and after Mungletemur King TOTAMANGUL, and then TOCTAI the
present sovereign.[NOTE 2]
Now I have told you of the Tartar kings of the Ponent, and next I shall
tell you of a great battle that was fought between Alau the Lord of the
Levant and Barca the Lord of the Ponent.
So now we will relate out of what occasion that battle arose, and how it
was fought.
NOTE 1. - +The COMANIANS, a people of Turkish race, the Polovtzi[or
"Dwellers of the Plain" of Nestor, the Russian Annalist] of the old
Russians, were one of the chief nations occupying the plains on the north
of the Black Sea and eastward to the Caspian, previous to the Mongol
invasion. Rubruquis makes them identical with the KIPCHAK, whose name is
generally attached to those plains by Oriental writers, but Hammer
disputes this. [See a note, pp. 92-93 of Rockhill's Rubruck. - H.C.]
ALANIA, the country of the Alans on the northern skirts of the Caucasus
and towards the Caspian; LAC, the Wallachs as above. MENJAR is a subject
of doubt. It may be Majar, on the Kuma River, a city which was visited
by Ibn Batuta, and is mentioned by Abulfeda as Kummajar. It was in the
14th century the seat of a Franciscan convent. Coins of that century, both
of Majar and New Majar, are given by Erdmann. The building of the
fortresses of Kichi Majar and Ulu Majar (little and great) is ascribed in
the Derbend Nameh to Naoshirwan. The ruins of Majar were extensive when
seen by Gmelin in the last century, but when visited by Klaproth in the
early part of the present one there were few buildings remaining.
Inscriptions found there are, like the coins, Mongol-Mahomedan of the 14th
century.
