From Them, Likewise, The Inhabitants Of The Land Of The Assani Are Descended, Both Having The Same Name In The Russian, Polish, And Bohemian Languages.

The Sclavonians and the Vandals speak the same language; and all of these joined themselves formerly with the Huns, as they now do with the Tartars.

All this that I have written concerning the land of Pascatir, I was informed by certain friars predicants, who had travelled there before the irruption of the Tartars; and as they had been subdued by their neighbours the Bulgarians, who were Mahometans, many of them adopted that faith. Other matters respecting these people may be known from various chronicles. But it is obvious, that those provinces beyond Constantinople, which are now called Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Sclavonia [1], formerly belonged to the Greek empire; and Hungary was formerly named Pannonia.

We continued riding through the land of the Changles or Kangittae, as before mentioned, from Holy Cross-day till All-Saints, travelling every day, as well as I could guess, about as far as from Paris to Orleans, and sometimes farther [2], according as we happened to be provided with relays; for sometimes we would change horses two or three times a-day, and then we travelled quicker; while sometimes we had to travel two or three days without finding any inhabitants to supply us, and then we were forced to travel more deliberately. Out of thirty or forty horses, we were always sure to have the worst, being strangers, as every one took their choice before it came to our turn. They always, however, provided me with a strong horse, because I was corpulent and heavy; but whether his pace happened to be hard or gentle, was all one to them, and I dared not to make any complaints. Our horses often tired before we could fall in with any of the inhabitants, and we were then obliged to beat and whip them up, being obliged to lay our garments upon spare horses, and sometimes two of us obliged to ride on one horse.

[1] Probably intended for what is now called Servia - E.

[2] This may be taken at a medium of thirty miles a day which, in forty-six days, would amount to 1380 miles; no doubt a very fatiguing journey for a corpulent heavy man as he describes himself - E.

SECTION XXIV.

Of the Hunger, Thirst, and other Miseries we endured.

There was no end of hunger and thirst, and cold and weariness. In the morning they gave us something to drink, or some boiled millet; but afterwards we had nothing to eat until the evening, when they bestowed some flesh upon us, being generally the shoulder and breast of a ram, and every one was allowed a proportion of the broth to drink; and we considered ourselves fortunate when we had enough of broth, as it was exceedingly refreshing, pleasant, and nutritive. Sometimes we were constrained to eat our meat half boiled, or even almost raw, for want of fuel, especially when we were benighted and obliged to pass the night in the fields, because we could not conveniently gather horse or cow-dung to make a fire, and we seldom found any other fuel, except a few thorns here and there, and a few rare woods on the banks of some rivers.

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