From The Station Of Zagathai We Travelled Directly North, And Our
Attendants Began To Pilfer Largely From Us, Because We Took Too Little Heed
Of Our Property, But Experience At Length Taught Us Wisdom.
At length we
reached the bounds of this province, which is fortified by a deep ditch,
from sea to sea[1].
Immediately beyond this ditch, we came to the station
to which our conductors belonged, where all the inhabitants seemed to be
infected with leprosy; and certain base people are placed here to receive
the tribute from all who come for salt from the salt pits formerly
mentioned. We were told that we should have to travel fifteen days farther
before meeting with any other inhabitants. With these people we drank
cosmos, and we presented them in return with a basket of fruits and
biscuit; and they gave us eight oxen and a goat, and a vast number of
bladders full of milk, to serve as provision during our long journey. But
by changing our oxen, we were enabled in ten days to attain the next
station, and through the whole way we only found water in some ditches, dug
on purpose, in the vallies, and in two small rivers. From leaving the
province of Casaria, we traveled directly eastwards, having the sea of
Azoph on our right hand, and a vast desert on the north, which, in some
places, is twenty days journey in breadth, without mountain, tree, or even
stone; but it is all excellent pasture.
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