After resting some time, we quitted
the banks of the river, and resumed our journey. This river Wolga is
certainly the largest and deepest river in the world, being, as well as I
could judge, two miles broad, and has very high banks.
[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.
