And On The Morrow After He Told Vs, That He Durst In No Case Receiue Baptisme, Because Then He Should Drinke No More Cosmos.

For the Christians of that place affirme that no true Christians ought to drinke thereof:

And that without the said liquor he could not liue in that desert From which opinion, I could not for my life remoue him. Wherefore be it knowen of a certainty vnto your highnes, that they are much estranged from the Christian faith by reason of that opinion which hath bin broached and confirmed among them by the Russians, of whom there is a great multitude in that place. The same day Scacatay the captaine aforesayd gaue vs one man to conduct vs to Sartach, and two other to guide vs vnto the next lodging, which was distant from that place fiue dayes iourney for oxen to trauell. They gaue vnto vs also a goate for victuals, and a great many bladders of cowes milke, and but a little Cosmos, because it is of so great estimation among them. And so taking our iourney directly toward the North, me thought that wee had passed through one of hell gates. The seruants which conducted vs began to play the bold theeues with vs, seeing vs take so little heed vnto our selues. At length hauing lost much by their theeuery, harme taught vs wisdome. And then we came vnto the extremity of that prouince, which is fortified with a ditch from one sea vnto another: without the bounds wherof their lodging was situate. Into the which, so soone as we had entred, al the inhabitants there seemed vnto vs to be infected with leprosie: [Sidenote: Salt pits.] for certain base fellowes were placed there to receiue tribute of al such as tooke salt out of the salt pits aforesaid. From that place they told vs that we must trauel fifteen daies iourney, before we shuld find any other people. With them wee dranke Cosmos, and gaue vnto them a basket full of fruites and of bisket. And they gaue vnto vs eight oxen and one goate, to sustaine vs in so great a iourney, and I knowe not how many bladders of milke. [Sidenote: Ten dayes iorney.] And so changing our oxen, we tooke our iourney which we finished in tenne dayes, arriuing at another lodging: neither found wee any water all that way, but onely in certane ditches made in the valleys, except two small riuers. And from the time wherein wee departed out of the foresaid prouince of Gasaria, we trauailed directly Eastward, hauing a Sea on the South side of vs, and a waste desert on the North, which desert, in some places, reacheth twenty dayes iourney in breadth, and there is neither tree, mountaine, nor stone therein. And it is most excellent pasture. Here the Comanians, which were called Capthac, were wont to feede their cattell. Howbeit by the Dutch men they are called Valani, and the prouince it selfe Valania. [Sidenote: The length of Comania.] But Isidore calleth all that tract of land stretching from the riuer of Tanais to the lake of Maotis, and so along as farre as Danubius, the countrey of Alania. And the same land contunueth in length from Danubius vnto Tanais (which diuideth Asia from Europe) for the space of two moneths iourney, albeit a man should ride poste as fast as the Tartars vse to ride: and it was all ouer inhabited by the Comanians, called Capthac: yea and beyond Tanais, as farre as the riuer Edil or Volga: the space betweene the two which riuers is a great and long iourney to bee trauailed in ten dayes. [Sidenote: Russia.] To the North of the same prouince lieth Russia, which is full of wood in all places, and stretcheth from Polonia and Hungaria, euen to the riuer of Tanais: and it hath bene wasted all ouer by the Tartars, and as yet is daily wasted by them. They preferre the Saracens before the Russians, because they are Christians, and when they are able to giue them no more golde or siluer, they driue them and their children like flockes of sheepe into the wildernes, constraining them to keepe their cattell there. [Sidenote: Prussia.] Beyond Russia lieth the countrey of Prussia, which the Dutch knights of the order of Saint Maries hospitall of Ierusalem haue of late wholly conquered and subdued. And in very deede they might easily winne Russia, if they would put to their helping hand. For if the Tartars should but once know, that the great Priest, that is to say, the Pope did cause the ensigne of the crosse to bee displaied against them, they would flee all into their desert and solitarie places. [Footnote: There is some confusion in original edition, which I have here corrected.]

De tedijs qua patiebantur, et de sepultura Comanorum. Cap. 15.

Ibamus ergo versus orientem, nihil videntes nisi coelum et terram, et aliquando mare ad dextram, quod dicitur Mare Tanais, et etiam sepulturas Comanorum, qua apparebant nobis a duabus leucis secundum quod solebant parentela eorum sepeliri simul. Quam diu eramus in solitudine bene erat nobis: quod tadium quod patiebar quum veniebamus ad mansiones eorum non possem exprimere verbis. Volebat enim dux noster, quod ad quoslibet capitaneos ingrederer cum xenio: et ad hoc non sufficiebant expensa. Quotidie enim eramus octo persona comedentes viaticum nostrum exceptis seruientibus, qui omnes volebant comedere nobiscum. Nos enim eramus quinqui, et ipsi tres qui ducebant nos: duo ducentes bigas, et vnus iturus nobiscum vsque ad Sartach. Carnes quas dabant non sufficiebant; nec inueniebamus aliquid venale pro moneta. [Sidenote: Calor maximus ibi in astate.] Et cum sedebamus sub bigis notris pro vmbra, quia calor erat ibi maximus illo tempore, ipsi ita importune ingerebant se nobis, quod conculcabant nos, volentes omnia nostra videre. Si arripiebat eos appetitus purgandi ventrem, non elongabant se a nobis, quam possit faba iactari. Imo iuxta nos colloquentes mutuo faciebant immunditias suas: et multa alia faciebant qua erant supra modum tadiosa.

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