But They
Detained A Part Of Our Company, Under Pretence Of Sending Them Back To The
Pope.
We accordingly gave letters to these persons, reciting all that had
hitherto occurred; but they got no farther than the residence of duke
Montij, where we joined them on our return homewards.
Next day, being
Easter, after prayers and a slight breakfast, we departed from the court of
Baatu in much dejection of spirits, accompanied by two guides. We were so
feeble that we could hardly support the fatigue of riding, our only food
during Lent having been millet boiled with water, and our only drink melted
snow. Passing eastwards through Comania, we travelled continually with
great expedition, changing our horses five times a day, and sometimes
oftener; except when we had to pass through deserts, on which occasions we
had stronger horses allowed, that were able to undergo the whole labour. In
this manner we travelled, almost without ceasing, from the beginning of
Lent, until eight days after Easter, including our journey to the court of
Baatu.
On the north of Comania, immediately beyond Russia, lie the people called
Morduyni-Byleri[1] in great Bulgaria, and the Bastarci in great Hungary;
beyond the Bastarci are the Parositae and Samogetae; and beyond these, on
the desert shores of the ocean, a people who are said to have dogs faces.
On the south, Comania has the Alani, Circassians, Gazarians, Greece, and
Constantinople, the land of the Iberians, the Cattes, the Brutaches, who
are said to be Jews, who shave the whole of their heads, and the lands of
the Scythians, Georgians, Armenians, and Turks. On the west are Hungary and
Russia. Comania is a country of great length and breadth, the inhabitants
of which were mostly extirpated by the Tartars, though many of them were
reduced to bondage and some fled, but the fugitives have in general
returned, and now serve the Tartars. We next entered the land of the
Kangittae, which has few inhabitants, owing to a great scarcity of water.
From this circumstance, several of the servants of Jeroslaus, duke of
Russia, perished in the desert, when travelling to join him in the land of
the Tartars. Both here and in Comania, we found many human bones and skulls
in large heaps[2]. The Comanians and Kangittae, were pagans who dwelt in
tents, and lived entirely on the produce of their flocks and herds, without
practising any tillage whatever. On their conquest, a great part of the
Kangittae were rooted out by the Tartars, and the remnant reduced to
bondage.
[1] The Morduyni, Morduas, or Merdas, were probably the same
people with those now called Tscheremisses, who call themselves
Mari-murt, or the people of Mari. - E.
[2] Probably Tartar trophies of victory. Even Timour, the great
Mongol conqueror after Zingis, so much vaunted by many writers for his
virtues and humanity, used to order the erection of immense pyramids
of recent human heads, in memory of victory. - E.
SECTION XXIV.
The arrival of Carpini at the first Station of the new Emperor.
From the land of the Kangittae we entered the country of the Bisermini, who
speak the Comanian language and observe the law of Mahomet. In this country
we saw innumerable ruined cities and castles, and many towns left desolate.
The former sovereign of this country, which is full of high mountains, was
called Alti Soldan, who, with all his lineage, was destroyed by the
Tartars. On the south side lie Jerusalem and Baldach, or Bagdat; and on its
nearest borders dwell two Tartar dukes, Burin and Cadan, sons of Thiaday
the son of Zingis-chan. To the north is the land of the black Kitayans and
the ocean[1]. Syban, the brother of Baatu, dwells in the land of the
Bisermini. We travelled in this country from Ascension-day until eight days
before the feast of St John the Baptist, 16th June, when we entered the
land of the black Kitayans, in which the emperor has built a house, where
we were invited to drink, and the resident there for the emperor, caused
the principal people of the city, and even his own two sons, to dance
before us[2]. Going from thence we came to a certain sea, having a small
mountain on its banks, in which there is said to be a hole, whence such
vehement tempests of wind issue in winter, that travellers can hardly pass
without imminent danger. In summer the noise of the wind is heard
proceeding from this hole, but it is then quite gentle. We travelled along
the shore of this sea for several days, leaving it upon our left; and
though this sea is not of very large dimensions, it contains a considerable
number of islands[3]. Ordu, whom we have already mentioned as the senior of
all the Tartar dukes, dwells in this country, in the orda or court of his
father, where one of his wives bears rule. For, according to the Tartar
customs, the courts of princes and nobles are never dissolved at their
deaths, but are kept up under the government of one of his wives, to whom
the gifts are continued which used to be given to their lords. In this
place, therefore, we arrived at the first court under the immediate
jurisdiction of the emperor, in which one of his wives dwelt; but as we had
not yet been presented to the emperor, we were not invited, or even
permitted to enter the station, but were exceedingly well entertained in
our tent, after the Tartar fashion, and were allowed to remain there one
day for rest and refreshment.
[1] The confused geographical notices of this traveller are so
uninstructive, as not to merit any commentary. A good account of the
present state of these immense regions will be found in Pinkerton's
Modern Geography, articles Independent Tartary, Chinese Tartary, and
Asiatic Russia. The ancient and perpetually changing distribution of
nations in Scythia or Tartary, in its most extended sense, almost
elude research, and would require lengthened dissertations instead of
illustrative notes.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 65 of 217
Words from 65509 to 66523
of 222093
