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Publijher unto the Reader. 



H E enfuihg Narration was put into my hands Five or Six 

 Years ago, by a very Intelligent Worthy Perfon, who long 

 relîded in the fame Family with our Author,and did affure 

 me, that the Difcourfe here publithed , was written with 

 his own hand, and prefented unto that Honourable Perfon 

 who redeemed him out of Captivity. The Gentleman 

 who bellowed thefe Papers upon me, will not be refpon- 

 fible for the Truth of all therein contained ; but I having 

 compared his Account of feveral Countries with that of 

 Olearius and other more Ancient and Modern Writers, have found them very Con- 

 fonant unto each other, and therefore do charitably believe him no lefs Faithful in 

 his Defcription of thofe Countries and People concerning whom little hath been 

 faid by any befides. By reafon of his long abfence from his Native Country, and 

 dif-ufe of his Mother-Tongue, his ftyle was fo rough, odd, and unpleafant, that I was 

 forced to make therein great Alterations both as to Method and ExprelTion, yet. 

 keeping ilri&ly unto his fénfe : I have alfo much abbreviated his Difcourfe, many 

 things being often repeated, and he having (luffed it with divers impertinencies, 

 which would have been void of all Inftru&ion and Delight. He would never own 

 his true Name or Pedigree, for Reafôns mentioned in his Paper , which Ï thought al- 

 together unneceflary to be rehearfed ■, that of Ajlracan, wherewith he concludes his 

 NARRATIVE, being riclritious, and I fuppofe alfumed, becaufe of his long 

 Refidencein a City of that name, from which he made moll of his Excurlions: 

 And which with the Adjacent Country he hath above all others moft particularly de- 

 fcribed, giving us the names of feveral Neighbouring Places and Rivers mentioned 

 by no other Writer. I was highly pleafed with the Account he gives us of Czarofs- 

 gorod, which he alfo fometimes cal's Seraichan and Scraicbena ; the former of which is 

 the Mufcovitijh , the latter the Tartarian Appellation, and interpreted,both lignifie the 

 Habitation of the Emperour or dbamjt being formed ythe Metropolis of a great Empire. 

 As alfo with his mention of a place on the Weft-lide of- the Volga, where he fay es 

 Ajlracan was formerly tituated, Concerning both which Cities, I (hall declare di- 

 vers things I have Collected out of feveral European and Arabian Writers, which ei- 

 ther are not commonly known, or little regarded. But I mult neceffarily premife 

 fomewhat concerning the Antient Inhabitants of the Country wherein thefe Cities 

 are lituated. 



The rirft Nation- (of whom Ï find any mention) who made any fix'd habitation 

 in thefe Quarters were the CbaZari , fo named by the Latines and Greeks, but by the 

 Mahumaans, Alcbozar, and Gorjani. This Nation during the Reign of the Emperour 

 Jujiine, like a Torrent Overflowed all that Vaft Continent which lies between China 

 and the Borijïbenes, Conquered part of India, All Baaria, Sogdiana, and made the 

 Perfians Tributary, by whom they are always called Turks, and their Prince,C/^M», a 

 Title formerly common unto all great Turk^b Emperours. This Mighty Monarch 

 having conquered the Igor s or Jugurs, Avares, Cbuni or Huns, Abtehtes or White 

 Huns, and all other Tribes of Turks and Tartars, together with the Alani (whofe Do- 

 minion then extended, as appears by Msrcellinus, from the Borijlbenes far beyond the 

 moll North-Eatl part of the Cafiian Sea) entred into a League with JujUne, and ftyles 

 himfelf in his Letters, Lord of the Seven Climates of the World. His Ads may be read 

 at large in TbeofbilaUw Simocatta ; Excerptps de Legationibus : and divers others of the 

 Bitintine Hillorians. This Nation AlTilled the Emperour Heracliits in his Wars 



(O2J agakift 



