Along By The Bankes Of Obi, And The Riuers Neare There About, Are Here And There Many Castles And Fortresses:

All the lordes whereof are subiect to the prince of Moscouia, as they say.

They say also, or rather fable, that the idol called Aurea anus, is an image like vnto an old wife, hauing a child in her lap, and that there is now seene another infant, which they say to be her nephew: Also that there are certaine instruments that make a continuall sound like the noyse of Trumpets, the which, if it so be, I thinke it to be by reason of the winde, blowing continually into the holow places of those instruments.

The riuer Cossin falleth out of the mountaines of Lucomoria: In the mouth of this is a castle, whither from the springs of the great riuer Cossin, is two moneths viage. [Sidenote: Tachnin a great riuer. People of monstrous shape. A fish like a man. Plinie writeth of the like fish.] Furthermore, from the springs of the same riuer, the riuer Cassima hath his originall, which running through Lucomoria, falleth into the great riuer Tachnin, beyond the which (as is said) dwell men of prodigious shape, of whom some are ouergrowen with haire like wilde beastes, other haue heads like dogges, and their faces in their breasts, without neckes, and with long hands also, and without feete. There is likewise in the riuer Tachnin a certaine fish, with head, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feete, and other members vtterly of humane shape, and yet, without any voyce, and pleasant to be eaten, as are other fishes.

[Sidenote: The end of the iournall.] All that I haue hitherto rehearsed, I haue translated out of the saide iourney which was deliuered me in the Moscouites tongue: In the which, perhaps some things may seeme fabulous, and in maner incredible, as of the double men, and the dead reuiuing, the Aurea Anus also, and the monstrous shapes of men, with the fish of humane fourme: whereof although I haue made diligent inquisition, yet could I know nothing certaine of any that had seene the same with their eyes: neuerthelesse, to giue farther occasion to other to search the truth of these things, I haue thought good to make mention hereof.

Noss in the Moscouites tongue signifieth a nose, and therefore they call all capes or points that reach into the sea by the same name.

The mountaines about the riuer of Petzora are called Semnoy Poyas, or Cingulus mundi, that is, the girdle of the world, or of the earth.

Kithai is a lake, of which the great Can of Cathay, whom the Moscouians cal Czar Kithaiski, hath his name: For Can in the Tartars language signifieth, A King.

[Sidenote: Moria is the sea.] The places of Lucomoria, neare vnto the sea, are saluage full of woods, and inhabited without any houses. And albeit, that the author of this iourney, said, that many nations of Lucomoria are subiect to the prince of Moscouia, yet for asmuch as the kingdome of Tumen is neare thereunto, whose prince is a Tartar, and named in their Tongue, Tumenski Czar, that is, a king in Tumen, and hath of late done great domage to the prince of Moscouia: It is most like that these nations should be rather subiect vnto him.

Neare vnto the riuer Petzora (whereof mention is made in this iourney) is the citie and castle of Papin or Papinowgorod, whose inhabitants are named Papini, and haue a priuate language, differing from the Moscouites. [Sidenote: High mountaines, supposed to be Hyperborei, and Rhiphei.] Beyond this riuer are exceeding high mountaines, reaching euen vnto the bankes, whose ridges or tops, by reason of continuall windes, are in maner vtterly barren without grasse or fruits. And although in diuers places they haue diuers names, yet are they commonly called Cingulus mundi, that is, the girdle of the world. In these mountaines doe Ierfalcons breede, whereof I haue spoken before. There growe also Cedar trees, among the which are found the best and blackest kinde of Sables: and onely these mountaines are seene in all the dominions of the prince of Moscouia which perhaps are the same that the old writers call Rhipheos or Hyperboreos, so named of the Greeke word, Hyper, that is, Aboue, and Boreas, that is, the North; for by reason they are couered with continuall snow and frost, they can not without great difficultie be trauayled, and reach so farre into the North, that they make the vnknown land of Engronland. The Duke of Moscouia, Basilius the sonne of Iohn, sent on a time two of his Captaines, named Simeon Pheodorowich Kurbski, & Knes Peter Vschatoi, to search the places beyond these mountaines, and to subdue the nations thereabout. Kurbski was yet aliue at my being in Moscouia, & declared vnto me that he spent xvii. daies in ascending the mountaine, & yet could not come to the top thereof, which in their tongue is called Stolp, that is, a piller. This mountaine is extended into the Ocean vnto the mouthes of the riuers of Dwina and Petzora.

But now hauing spoken thus much of the said iourney, I will returne to the dominions of Moscouia, with other regions lying Eastward and South from the same, toward the mighty Empire of Cathay. But I will first speake somewhat briefly of the prouince of Rezan, and the famous riuer of Tanais.

[Sidenote: The fruitfull prouince of Rezan.] The prouince of Rezan, situate betweene the riuers of Occa and Tanais, hath a citie builded of wood, not far from the bank of Occa: there was in it a castle named Iaroslaue, whereof there now remainethr nothing but tokens of the old ruine. Not farre from that citie the riuer Occa maketh an Iland named Strub, which was sometime a great Dukedome, whose prince was subiect to none other. This prouince of Rezan is more fruitful then any other of the prouinces of Moscouia: Insomuch that in this (as they say) euery graine of wheat bringeth forth two, and sometimes more eares:

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