He Went Afterwards Into
Persia In 1471, As Ambassador To Ussum Hassan, Or Assambei, A Turkomanian
Prince Of The White Weather Tribe, And Was Sixteen Years Among The Tartars;
And On His Return To His Native Country Wrote An Account Of Both These
Expeditions.
He died at Venice at a very advanced age, in 1494.
These travels are not given in any regular order, nor is any itinerary
mentioned. It would appear that he resided for some time at Tanna, now
Asof, making several journeys into the Crimea, and among the nations which
inhabit between the Don and the Wolga, the Black Sea and the Caspian; and
that he returned home by way of Moscow, Novogorod, Warsaw, and Francfort on
the Oder, and through Germany into Italy.
* * * * *
Josaphat Barbaro began his journey to Tanna in 1436, and explored that
country with great assiduity, and a spirit of inquiry that does him much
honour, partly by land and partly by water, for sixteen years. The plain of
Tartary is bounded on the east by the great river Ledil, Edil, or Wolga; on
the west by Poland; on the north by Russia; on the south by the Great or
Black Sea, Alania, Kumania or Comania, and Gazaria, all of which border on
the sea of Tebache[2]. Alania has its name from the people called Alani,
who call themselves As in their own language. These people were
Christians, and their country had been ravaged and laid waste by the
Tartars or Mongals. The province of Alania contains many mountains, rivers,
and plains, and in the latter there are many hills made by the hand of man,
serving for sepulchral monuments, on the top of each of which there is a
flat stone with a hole in it, in which a stone cross is fixed. About 110
years before the journey of Barbaro, or in 1326, the religion of Mahomet
was adopted by the Tartars or Mongals; though, indeed, before that period
there were some Mahometans in the country, but every one was permitted to
follow what religion he chose. In consequence of this, some worshipped
wooden images, which they carried about with them on their carts or
moveable huts: But the compulsatory establishment of the Mahometan religion
takes its date from the time of Hedighi, Edigi, or Jedighei, who was a
general under the Tartarian emperor Sidahameth khan. This Hedighi was the
father of Naurus, in whose days Ulu-Mohameth, or Mahomet the great, was
khan of the Tartars.
A misunderstanding happened between the Naurus and the khan Ulu-Mohameth,
in consequence of which Naurus retired to the river Ledil or Wolga,
attended by the Tartar tribes who adhered to him personally, and joined
himself to Khezi-Mohamet, or little Mahomed, who was a relation to the
khan or emperor. Naurus and Khezi resolved to make war against Ulu, and
accordingly marched with their combined forces by way of Giterchan or
Astrakan, and through the plains of Tumen, or the great step or desert,
which extends from the Wolga to the Don, and quite down the mountains of
Caucasus.
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