They Have Cows,
Heifers, And Sheep Of Admirable Beauty, The Flesh Of Which Is Excellent,
As They Feed On Fine Pastures; But These People Prefer Mares Milk To
Every Other Delicacy.
Though I have not been in the country of these
Tartars, I have been informed that it is flat
And agreeable, having
neither hill nor mountain; but the inhabitants addict themselves
excessively to robbery and plunder, as their sole occupation, and
continually infest the borders of Russia and Circassia by predatory
incursions. Their horses are very wild and unmanageable, and are never
shod. We were told that there is another tribe of Tartars beyond the
Wolga, named wild Tartars, who allow their hair to grow extremely long.
In the middle of winter they often make inroads to the very skirts of the
city of Citracan, whence they carry off cattle, but do no other damage.
These people, like all the Tartars, shift their encampments in search of
pasturage and water.
After travelling for fifteen days along the eastern bank of the Wolga, we
came to a small forest, where the Tartars and Russians of the caravan cut
down trees to construct rafts for crossing the river. While they were at
this work, we discovered a small bark which was by no means in good
repair, by means of which our company proposed to convey our baggage
across. Marcus crossed over with a part of our baggage, leaving me in
charge of the rest, and sent back the boat when he was landed. In my trip
with the remainder of our baggage, the boat began to leak when we were
about half way over, the breadth of the river at this place being about
two miles. Stephen and two Russians accompanied me in the boat, leaving
Demetrius, my interpreter, and John Ungar in charge of the horses. We had
much ado to bale out the water, but by the blessing of God, we got over
in safety. After our baggage was landed, the Russians put off, to go back
for the rest of our people and the horses; but the boat fell to pieces.
This necessarily delayed our other servants and the horses from getting
over till next day, during which interval they were badly off, as all our
provisions were on our side. It was fortunate that I now examined the
state of our provisions, which I found diminished much beyond expectation,
so that we were under the necessity of abridging our allowance for the
remainder of the journey, that we might not run short altogether. Our
principal food consisted of millet, with garlic and onions, and some sour
milk; and we found some wild apples at this place, which we roasted. In
the course of two days, the whole baggage of the caravan was transported
to the western side of the river by means of seven rafts, drawn by horses,
and directed by the Tartars, the horses swimming and having the rafts
tied to their tails. The sight of this was very amusing, but seemed very
dangerous to those who were employed.
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