[1] Called Citrarchan in the former section, but certainly what we now
call Astracan, then the capital of a Tartar principality, which now
forms one of the provinces of the vast Russian empire. - E.
[2] These are large shallow ponds, in which sea water is exposed to
evaporation, to procure salt. - E.
[3] In the original this person is called the cham of the _Camercheriens_.
The Tartar government of Astracan belonged to one of the Mongal tribes
of Kipschak; but the word used in the original may have been a local
term, not now explicable. - E.
[4] Perhaps the kingdom or province of Cazan, higher up the Wolga. - E.
[5] Contarini has forgot to give us any account in what manner he procured
leave to quit Astracan. Perhaps, by means of Marcus, he was permitted
to pass for one of his attendants. - E.
[6] It may be necessary to remark, that the tails of a peculiar species of
sheep, O. Platyurus, or the broad-tailed sheep, common among the
Tartars, and other parts of the world, are said sometimes to weigh
twenty-five pounds. - E.
[7] Probably an error for 2000. - E.
SECTION VIII.
_Contarini, after crossing European Sarmatia, arrives at Moscow, the
capital of White Russia, and is presented to the Grand Duke._
After recommending ourselves to the protection of God, we continued our
journey, through immense and terrible deserts, sometimes towards the
north, and sometimes westerly[1], always resting at noon, and taking up
our quarters for the night on the bare ground, without any protection
against the weather. To prevent us from being surprized in the night by
the wandering Tartars, outguards were placed every night in three
directions around our resting-place. During the greater part of this long
and dreary journey, we were very ill off for water both for ourselves and
our cattle, and we never saw any wild animals. One day we saw about forty
horses, which we were told had escaped from a caravan of merchants the
year before. We fell in one day with a small horde of Tartars, having
twenty waggons, but I was not able to learn where they were going. As our
provisions decreased rapidly, we were forced to use the remainder very
sparingly, and were consequently reduced to a very short allowance.
On the 22d of September 1475, we entered Russia, and discovered a few
huts in the middle of a wood. On the inhabitants learning that Marcus,
their countryman, was in our caravan, they came to see him that he might
protect them from the Tartars, and brought him a present of honey and wax,
a part of which he gave to us. This was a most providential supply, as we
were so much reduced by fatigue and spare diet, that we were hardly able
to sit on horseback.
