In My Opinion, The Tartars Have Small Store
Of Armour, Except Bows And Arrows, And Leather Jackets; Some Have Iron
Plates, And Skull Cups From Persia, And I Saw Two At The Court Of Mangu
Armed With Clumsy And Unwieldy Coats Of Rough Hog-Skin.
We found one castle
of the Alanians, which had been subdued by the Tartars, about which there
were many vineyards, and there we drank wine for the first time.
On the
following day we reached Derbent or the Iron-gate, built by Alexander the
Macedonian, on a small plain between the sea and the mountains, one end of
the city reaching to the shore, while the other extends a mile in length to
the top of the mountain, on which is a strong castle. But the breadth of
the city scarcely exceeds a stones throw. It has very strong walls, and
turrets of large polished stones, with no trenches; but the Tartars have
demolished the tops of the turrets, and the bulwarks of the walls.
Two days journey from Derbent we came to a city named Samaron[3], in which
there were many Jews; near which we saw walls descending from the mountains
to the sea; and leaving the way by the sea, because it turns to the east,
we went up into the high countries, towards the south. Next day we passed
through a valley, in which we could perceive the foundations of walls,
stretching quite across between two mountains, which were themselves quite
impassable.
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