Going From Tumen Eastwards, Or
Rather To The North-East, In Seven Days Journey We Arrive At The River
Ledil[24], On The Banks Of Which Stands Githercan[25], A Small
Insignificant Town, Laid Waste, And In Ruins.
It was formerly a very
considerable and celebrated place; as before the devastation of it by
Tamerlane, the spices
And silks which go to Syria[26] were carried by
Githercan, and thence to Tanna, from whence they were brought, by six or
seven large gallies to Venice; for at that time no other nation besides
Venice traded to Syria. The Ledil or Wolga is a large and very broad river,
which discharges itself into the Sea of Baku, or the Caspian, twenty-five
Italian miles below Astracan; and both this river and the Caspian, which is
tolerably salt, contain innumerable quantities of fish called tunnies and
sturgeons. One may sail up this river to within three days journey of
Moscow in Russia; and the inhabitants of that place go every year with
their vessels to Astracan, to procure salt. The passage downwards is easy,
as the river Mosco runs into the Oka, and that again into the Wolga. In
this river there are many islands, and many forests along its banks. Some
of these islands are thirty miles in circumference; and in the forests
there are trees of such vast size, that one of them may be hollowed into a
boat, that will require eight or ten horses, and twice as many men, to draw
it against the stream.
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