The Publijher unto the Reader. 



ducfion of feveral Ruffian, Folifo, and Lithuanian Names of Men and Countries. 

 After the devaluation of their Countrey they would notwithstanding have foon re- 

 covered their former Grandeur, had not Diviiîons and Inteftine Wars long kept 

 them low -, and at length after divers wonderful and great Revolutions given 

 the Ruffes leifure hilt to breath, and then invite them to deprive them of the belt 

 part of their Dominion. They not able to rcfift,bcing broken.as I faid,by Difcord and 

 Divilion into divers petty Principalities. And ori the other fide, the Crim Tartar 

 affilted by the luri^, fubdued the remainder, whereby that Tribe which before 

 was comparatively i neon lid er able, became Supreme, and is at this day a terror un- 

 to all the North-Ealt Countries of Chriltendom. To fhew in what manner and 

 by what degrees all this was tranfacted, is rather matter of a jult Hiftory, than of 

 a Preface i the decorum whereof I have already tranfgreffed, in making a Porch almoft 

 as large as the main Building, to which it (hould ferve only for an Entrance. 



I fhall therefore conclude with fomefhort and flight Remarks on divers PalTages in 

 our Authors Relation. His account of the Periplus of the Euxine Sea , (leaving out 

 what he allows for the Jeine Sea Palus Meowjdiffers little in number of Miles from 

 that of Arrian, though they difagree fomewhat in particular diftances i and is wonder- 

 fully confonant to that calculation of Eratofthones, Hecat<eus, Ptolomy, and Ammianus 

 Marcclinw, who reckon it to amount unto 23000 Stadia, or 2875 Miles, which 

 wants but 15 of our Travellers Computation. 



„He is alfomore paiticular,and I believe,more exact than any I have hitherto met with, 

 in his Description of Crim oxTaurica CberJ lorn fut, whofe length and breadth he gives 

 us in feveral places directly, or by cenfequence. What he tells us concerning Arbot- 

 ka and the great Field without it, furrounded by the Sea he calls The Ratten Sea, is 

 fcarcely mentioned by any Modern Geographer, but wonderfully confonant to what 

 is delivered by Strabo. Arbotka feems to be Taphre^ the Ratten Sea, he calls cra.'srpetv 

 riprtiv, or Lacus putris, and affirms to be part of the Palus Mxotis : in compafs 4000 

 furlongs, with divers other particulars, confirming our Travellers Difcourfe, as may 

 be read at large in his feventh Book. And I find in a Difcourfe published by Mr, 

 Ihevenot concerning the Tartars, written lately by a Religious Miffionary who long 

 refided in thofe parts, a Defcription of this place very futable unto our Author. His 

 words are thefe, (peaking of the moft remarkable places in Crim. Arbotec eft un Cha- 

 fteau avec une tour fcituée fur la col d'une Peninfulé que eft enfermée entre la Mer de Limen, 

 & Tineka Woda cette gorge rfa plus d'un quart de lieue , elle eft traverfée d'une 

 Pallifade qui s'ende d'une Mer a l'autre : la Peninfulé eft appcîlée par nos Colaques 

 Cola, a caufe q'elle a la forme d'une f aulx, ceft on ce lieu ou le Chan tient fon Haras qui eft 

 bien de feptante mille Chevaux. Et il eft un deftroit entre la terre ferme e Cofa 200 pas de 

 'large qui eft gay able quand il eft calme ft e Cojfaques le paffent quand ils vont dérober le Che- 

 vaux de haras de Cham. 



Wnat our Author tells us of the Communication between the Tanais and Volga at 

 Camufshanka, is particularly defcribed by Olearius, who wrote many years after him > 

 who alfo agrees with us in his account of the Rivers of Circaflia, and Comuhgs Coun- 

 trey^ only our Writer is more punctual in his Defcription of their Sourfes and Courfe, 

 and mentions two or three omitted by Olearius, or unknown to him. A frequent 

 mention is made by Procopius, Agathias, and others of the Bizantine Hiftorians, of that 

 (trait paffage between Georgia and Anadoule, or as they word it, between Colchis and 

 Ajla S i^inor, or Armenia. 



Our Author having given an account of the Courfe of the Volga, and of the môft 

 remarkable places lying upon, or near it -, atlaft affuresus, That it empties it felf in- 

 to the Cajpian Sea only by 2 2 Mouthes, whofe names he there rehearfes : whereas 

 other Writers afcribe unto it 70 Entrances,though as Olearius judiciouily obferves,moft 

 of them are rather paffages made by the Sea between Iflands and broken Ground,than 

 proper diftinct Arms or Branches of the forementioned Rivers. 



What is faid concerning the Cojfackj retiring unto, and netting in an Iiland of the 

 CafiianSza, is confirmed by a late French Writer, who long refided in Perfia, He 



largely 



