A
Bible Also, And An Arabian Book Worth Thirty Sultanies, Were Retained, And
Many Other Things Which I Never Recovered.
Sarai, and the palace of Baatu
are on the east side of the river, and the valley through which the arms of
the river spread abroad, is more than seven leagues in breadth.
After leaving Sarai, on the feast of All Saints, 1st November, we travelled
south till the feast of St Martin, 11th November, when we came to the
mountains of the Alani. In fifteen days travel we found no people, except
at one little village, where one of the sons of Sartach resided,
accompanied by many falconers, and falcons. For the first five days we did
not meet a single man, and were a whole day and night in great danger of
perishing for want of water. The Alani in some of the mountains, still hold
out against the Tartars, so that two of every ten of the subjects of
Sartach are obliged to guard certain passes in the mountains of Dagistan,
lest the Alanians carry away the cattle in the plain. There are likewise
certain Mahometans called Lesghis in these mountains who are not
subjugated, so that the Tartars had to give us a guard of twenty men to see
us safe beyond the Iron-gate. I was glad of this circumstance, as I had
never seen the Tartars armed; and yet, of all those twenty, only two had
habergions, which they said they had procured from the Alani, who are
excellent smiths and armourers.
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