[27] Riazan on the Oka, the capital of a province or the same name. - E.
[28] Even at present, they make an inebriating liquor in Russia, from
millet, called busa, which is very heady, and is probably what is
named bossa in the text - Forst.
[29] I strongly suspect that this passage is wrong translated, and that it
ought to have been, that the castle as encompassed with wooden walls,
as it is well known that the city of Moscow environs the castle or
Kremlin. - E.
[30] This expression has no meaning. Barbaro probably wrote that four
pounds could be had at Moscow for the same money that would buy one in
Venice. - E.
[31] The Caspian, besides the names of Bochri and Bakhu, is likewise called
the sea of Khozar, and the sea of Tabristan. - E.
[32] Zagathai was one of the sons of the great conqueror Zingis Khan, and
received that part of the empire for his share, which comprehended
Turkistan, Mawaralnahar, and Kuaresm; which extensive country took
from him the name of Zagathai. - Forst.
The furs mentioned in the text could not be brought from this country,
which besides, is to the south-east of Kasan. To the north-east lies
Siberia, the true country of fine furs; and which Barbara, by mistake,
must have named Zagathai:
