"Advise Well With Yourselves,
Therefore," Said He, "Whether You Be Able To Endure It, For Otherwise I
Shall Forsake You
By the way." To this I answered, that I hoped we should
be able, with the help of God, to
Endure hardships like other men; but as
we were sent by his lord under his charge, and did not go on any business
of our own, he ought not to forsake us. He then said that all should be
well, and having examined our garments, he directed us what we should leave
behind in the custody of our host, as not useful for the journey; and next
day he sent each of us a furred gown, made of sheep skins, with the wool
on, and breeches of the same, likewise shoes or footsocks made of felt, and
boots of their fashion, and hoods of skins. The second day after the holy
cross day, 16th September, we began our journey, attended by three guides,
and we rode continually eastwards during forty-six days, till the feast of
All-Saints, 1st November. The whole of that region, and even beyond it, is
inhabited by the people named Changle or Kangittae, who are descended from
the Romans. Upon the north side we had the country of the Greater Bulgaria,
and to the south the Caspian sea.
[1] This, however, is only to be understood of what may be termed the
pretorian or royal horde, in a time of profound peace, travelling in
their usual and perpetual round in quest of forage; the almost
boundless space of the desert must have been interspersed with
numerous subordinate hordes, and though the usual guard of Baatu might
not have exceeded 500 heads of families, the military force of his
dominions, though subordinate to Mangu-khan, certainly exceeded
200,000 fighting men. - E.
SECTION XXIII.
Of the River Jaic or Ural, and of sundry Regions and Nations.
At the end of twelve days journey from the Etilia or Volga, we came to a
great river named the Jagag (Jaic or Ural); which, issuing from the land of
Pascatir (of Zibier or of the Baschirs, now Siberia), falls into the
Caspian. The language of the Baschirs and of the Hungarians is the same,
and they are all shepherds, having no cities; and their land is bounded on
the west by the Greater Bulgaria; from which country eastwards, in these
northern parts, there are no cities whatsoever, so that the Greater
Bulgaria is the last country which possesses towns and cities. From this
country of Pascatir the Huns went, who were afterwards called Hungarians.
Isidore writes, that with swift horses they passed the walls of Alexander,
and the rocks of Caucasus, which opposed the barbarians, and even exacted
tribute from Egypt, and laid waste the whole of Europe as far as France,
being even more warlike in their day than the Tartars are now. With them
the Blacians or Walachians, the Bulgarians, and the Vandals united. These
Bulgarians came from the Greater Bulgaria, The people named Ilac or Vlac,
who inhabit beyond the Danube from Constantinople, not far from Pascatir,
are the same people, being properly named Blac or Blacians, but as the
Tartars cannot pronounce the letter B, they are called Ilac, Vlac, or
Wallachians.
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