The Sclavonians And The Vandals Speak The Same
Language; And All Of These Joined Themselves Formerly With The Huns, As
They Now Do With The Tartars.
All this that I have written concerning the
land of Pascatir, I was informed by certain friars predicants, who had
travelled there before the irruption of the Tartars; and as they had been
subdued by their neighbours the Bulgarians, who were Mahometans, many of
them adopted that faith.
Other matters respecting these people may be known
from various chronicles. But it is obvious, that those provinces beyond
Constantinople, which are now called Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Sclavonia
[1], formerly belonged to the Greek empire; and Hungary was formerly named
Pannonia.
We continued riding through the land of the Changles or Kangittae, as
before mentioned, from Holy Cross-day till All-Saints, travelling every
day, as well as I could guess, about as far as from Paris to Orleans, and
sometimes farther [2], according as we happened to be provided with relays;
for sometimes we would change horses two or three times a-day, and then
we travelled quicker; while sometimes we had to travel two or three days
without finding any inhabitants to supply us, and then we were forced to
travel more deliberately. Out of thirty or forty horses, we were always
sure to have the worst, being strangers, as every one took their choice
before it came to our turn. They always, however, provided me with a strong
horse, because I was corpulent and heavy; but whether his pace happened to
be hard or gentle, was all one to them, and I dared not to make any
complaints. Our horses often tired before we could fall in with any of the
inhabitants, and we were then obliged to beat and whip them up, being
obliged to lay our garments upon spare horses, and sometimes two of us
obliged to ride on one horse.
[1] Probably intended for what is now called Servia - E.
[2] This may be taken at a medium of thirty miles a day which, in
forty-six days, would amount to 1380 miles; no doubt a very fatiguing
journey for a corpulent heavy man as he describes himself - E.
SECTION XXIV.
Of the Hunger, Thirst, and other Miseries we endured.
There was no end of hunger and thirst, and cold and weariness. In the
morning they gave us something to drink, or some boiled millet; but
afterwards we had nothing to eat until the evening, when they bestowed some
flesh upon us, being generally the shoulder and breast of a ram, and every
one was allowed a proportion of the broth to drink; and we considered
ourselves fortunate when we had enough of broth, as it was exceedingly
refreshing, pleasant, and nutritive. Sometimes we were constrained to eat
our meat half boiled, or even almost raw, for want of fuel, especially when
we were benighted and obliged to pass the night in the fields, because we
could not conveniently gather horse or cow-dung to make a fire, and we
seldom found any other fuel, except a few thorns here and there, and a few
rare woods on the banks of some rivers. Every Saturday I remained fasting
until night, and was then constrained, to my great grief, to eat flesh, as
I could not procure any other food in the desert. In the beginning of our
journey our guide disdained us exceedingly, and seemed quite indignant at
being obliged to take charge of such base fellows as he seemed to esteem
us; but he afterwards behaved better, and often took us purposely to the
courts of rich Moals, who requested us to pray for them; and if I had been
so fortunate as to have a good interpreter, I might have been able to do
some good among these ignorant people.
Zingis, the first great khan or emperor of the Tartars, left four sons,
from whom descended many grandsons, who are daily multiplying and
dispersing over that immense waste desert, which is boundless like the
ocean. These Moals whom we visited and prayed for, were astonished when we
refused their proffered gifts of gold and silver and fine garments. They
often enquired whether the great Pope was actually 500 years old, as they
had heard from report. They likewise enquired into the nature and
productions of our country, especially whether we had abundance of cattle,
sheep, and horses. When we spoke to them about the ocean, they could form
no adequate conception of its immense expanse, without banks or limits.
On the feast of All-Saints, 1st November, as the people had now descended
very much to the southwards, we now discontinued our eastern route, and
journied directly south for eight days, along certain high mountains. In
the desert we saw many wild asses resembling mules, called colan or coulan
by the Tartars, which our guide and his companions often chased with great
eagerness, but without success, owing to the great swiftness of these
animals. Upon the seventh day of our southern route, we saw directly before
us some exceedingly high mountains, and we entered upon a fine cultivated
plain, which was irrigated like a garden. Next day, 7th November, we
arrived at a town belonging to the Mahometans named Kenchat, the governor
of which came out to meet our guide with ale and other refreshments; for it
is the custom of all the subjected cities, to welcome the messengers of
Baatu and Mangu with meat and drink on their arrival. At this season, the
ice was fully bearing, and we found frost in the desert before the feast of
St Michael, 29th September. I inquired the name of the province, but being
in a strange land they could not inform me, and could only tell me the name
of this city, which is very small. Into this district a large river
descends from the mountains, which the inhabitants lead off to water or
irrigate the whole region; so that this river does not discharge itself
into any sea, but after forming many pools or marshes, is absorbed into the
earth.
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