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.
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