These Men Are Always On
Horseback, And When Their Horses Tire, They Steal Others From The Ordinary
Pastures Of The Tartars, And Each Man Has Generally One Or Two Spare Horses
To Serve As Food In Case Of Need.
Our guide therefore was in great fear
lest we might fall in with some of these stragglers.
Besides this danger,
we must have perished during this journey, if we had not fortunately
carried some of our biscuit along with us. We at length reached the great
river Etilia or Volga, which is four times the size of the Seine, and of
great depth. This river rises in the north of Greater Bulgaria, and
discharges itself into the Hircanian Sea, called the Caspian by Isidore,
having the Caspian mountains and the land of Persia on the south, the
mountains of Musihet, or of the Assassins on the east, which join the
Caspian mountains, and on the north is the great desert now occupied by the
Tartars, where formerly there dwelt certain people called Canglae, or
Cangitae, and on that side it receives the Etilia, or Volga, which
overflows in summer like the Nile in Egypt. On the west side of this sea
are the mountains of the Alani and Lesgis, the Iron-gate or Derbent, and
the mountains of Georgia. This sea, therefore, is environed on three sides
by mountains, but by plain ground on the north. Friar Andrew, in his
journey, travelled along its south and east sides; and I passed its north
side both in going and returning between Baatu and Mangu-khan, and along
its western side in my way from Baatu into Syria. One may travel entirely
round it in four months; and it is by no means true, as reported by
Isidore, that it is a bay of the ocean, with which it nowhere joins, but is
environed on all sides by the land.
At the region from the west shore of the Caspian, where the Iron-gate of
Alexander is situated, now called Derbent, and from the mountains of the
Alani, and along the Palus Moeotis, or sea of Azoph, into which the Tanais
falls, to the northern ocean, was anciently called Albania; in which
Isidore says, that there were dogs of such strength and fierceness, as to
fight with bulls, and even to overcome lions, which I have been assured by
several persons to be true; and even, that towards the northern ocean, they
have dogs of such size and strength, that the inhabitants make them draw
carts like oxen[1].
[1] It is astonishing how easily a small exaggeration converts truth to
fable. Here the ill-told story of the light sledges of the Tshutki,
drawn by dogs of a very ordinary size, is innocently magnified into
carts dragged by gigantic mastiffs. - E.
SECTION XXI.
Of the Court of Baatu, and our Entertainment there.
On that part of the Volga where we arrived, they have lately built a new
village, in which there is a mixed population of Russians and Tartars,
established for the service of the ferry, that they may transport
messengers going to and from the court of Baatu, as he always remains on
the east side of the Volga. Neither does he ever travel any farther north,
in summer, than to the place where we arrived on that river, and was even
then descending towards the south. From January till August, he and all the
other Tartars ascend by the banks of rivers towards the cold regions of the
north, and in August they begin again to return. From the place where we
came to the Volga, is a journey of five days northward to the first
villages of the Greater Bulgaria, and I am astonished to think how the
Mahometan religion should have travelled thither; as from Derbent, on the
extreme borders of Persia, it is thirty days journey to pass the desert and
ascend along the Volga into Bulgaria, and in the whole track there are no
towns, and only a few villages where the Volga falls into the Caspian; yet
these Bulgarians[1] are the most bigotedly attached to the religion of
Mahomet, of any of the nations that have been perverted to that diabolical
superstition.
The court of Baatu having already gone towards the south, we passed down
the stream of the Volga in a bark from the before mentioned village, to
where his court then was; and we were astonished at the magnificent
appearance of his encampment, as his houses and tents were so numerous, as
to appear like some large city, stretching out to a vast length; and there
were great numbers of people ranging about the country, to three or four
leagues all around. Even as the children of Israel knew every one on which
side of the Tabernacle to pitch his tent, so every Tartar knows on to what
side of the court of his prince he ought to place his house, when he
unlades it from his cart. The princes court is called in their language
Horda, which signifies the middle, because the chieftain or ruler always
dwells in the midst of his people; only that no subject or inferior person
must place his dwelling towards the south, as the court gates are always
open to that quarter. But they extend themselves to the right and left,
according as they find it convenient. On our arrival we were conducted to a
Mahometan, who did not provide us with any provisions; and we were brought
next day to the court, where Baatu had caused a large tent to be erected,
as his house was two small to contain the multitude of men and women who
were assembled at this place. We were admonished by our guide, not to speak
until we should receive orders from Baatu to that purpose, and that then we
should be brief in our discourse. Baatu asked if your majesty had sent us
as ambassadors to him? I answered, that your majesty had formerly sent
ambassadors to Ken-khan; and would not have sent any on the present
occasion, or any letters to Sartach, had it not been that you had been
advised they were become Christians; on which account only I had been sent
in congratulation and not through any fear.
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