Book I. 
568 
The FO Y AGES and TR AVELS 
(C 
fter the King, requeftetli that yon may remain in this 
Kingdom, which Requeft Baatu cannot grant, wkh- 
6£ out the Knowledge and Confent of Mangu-Khan ; 
u wherefore you and your Interpreter muff, of Necefiity, 
<£ go to Mangu-Khan ; but, neverthelefs, your Affociate 
“ and the other Man, fhali return unto the Court of Sar- 
ct tach, and ftay there for you till you come back.” Then 
began my Interpreter to lament, efteeming himfelf but a 
dead Man ; my Affociate alfo protefted he would fooner 
lofe his Head than withdraw out of my Company : I my- 
felf faid, that without my Affociate I could not go, and 
that we flood in Need of two Servants at lead, becaufe 
if one ftiould chance to fall lick we would not be without 
another. 
Upon this, returning unto the Court, he told this to 
Baatu, and Baatu anfwered, let the two Priefts and the 
Interpreter go together, but let the Clerk return to Sar- 
tach and coming again unto us, he told us fo ; and when 
I would have fpoken for the Clerk to have had him with 
11s, he faid, no more Words, for Baatu is refolved that fo 
it fhali be, and therefore I dare not go to the Court any 
more. Gofet, the Clerk, had the Remainder of the Alms- 
Money beftowed upon him, twenty-fix Yperperas, and no 
more., ten whereof he kept for himfelf and the Lad, and 
fixteen he gave unto the Interpreter for us j and thus were 
we parted with Tears, he returning unto the Court of 
Sartach , and ourfelves remaining ftill in the fame Place. 
27. On the Eve of the Feaft of Affumption our Clerk 
arrived at the Court of Sartach, and the next Day after the 
Nefiorian Priefts were adorned with our Veftments, in the 
Prefence of the faid Sartach. Then we ourfelves were con- 
ducted unto another Hoft, who was appointed to provide 
us Houfe-room, Victuals, and Horfes ; but becaufe we had 
not any thing to beftow upon him, he did all things un- 
towardly for us : Then we rode on forward with Baatu , de- 
fending along by the Bank of Etilia , or Volga , for the 
Space of five Weeks together. Sometimes my Affociate 
was fo extreamly hungry, that he would tell me in a man- 
ner weeping, that it fared with him as though he had never 
eaten any thing in all his Life before. There is a Fair or 
Market following the Court of Baatu at all times ; but it 
was fo far diftant from us, that we could not have Recourfe 
thereto, for we were conftrained to walk on Foot for want 
of Horfes. At length certain Hungarians , a fort of Clergy- 
men, found us out, and one of them could as yet fing 
many Songs without Book, and was accounted of other 
Hungarians as a Prieft, and was fent for unto the Funerals 
of his deceafed Countrymen. 
There was another of them alfo pretty well inftrufled in 
his Grammar, for he could underftand the Meaning of any 
thing that we fpoke, but could not anfwer us. Thefe 
Hungarians were a great Help to us, giving us Cofmos to 
drink, and fometimes Flefti to eat alfo, who when they 
requefted to have fome Books of us, and I had not any to 
give them (for indeed we had none except a Bible, and a 
Breviary) it grieved me exceedingly, and I faid to them 
bring me fome Ink and Paper, and I will write for you fo 
long as we fhali remain here-, and they did fo, and I copied 
out for them the Hours of the bleffed Virgin, and the 
Office of the Dead. One Day there was a Comanian that 
accompanied us, that faluted us, faying Salve Vomine-, won- 
dering thereat, and faluting him again, I demanded of 
him who had taught him that kind of Salutation ? He faid, 
that he was baptized in Hungary by our Friars, and that 
of them he learned it : He faid moreover, that Baatu had 
enquired many things of him concerning us, and that he 
told him the State of our Order. Afterwards I faw Baatu 
riding with his Company, and all his Subje&s that were 
Matters of Families riding with him, and in my Eftimation 
there were more than five hundred Perfons in all. 
At length, about the End of Holy-rood, there came a 
certain rich Meal unto us, whofe Father was a Millanary, 
which is a great Office among them, and told us, I am the 
Man that muft condildt you to Mangu-Khan, and we have 
thither a Journey of four Months to travel, and there is 
fuch extreme Cold in thofe Parts, that Stones and Trees 
burft afunder : Therefore I wifti you would advife with 
yohrfelves whether you be able to endure it or no ? I an- 
fwered, by God’s Help I hope we fhali be able to go thro* 
3 
that which other Men can endure. Then he faid, if you 
cannot endure it, I will forfake you by the way, and I an* 
fwered, it were not juft Dealings for you fo to do, for w§ 
go not thither upon any Bufmefs of our own, but by reafon 
that we are fent thither by our Lord 5 wherefore fince we 
are committed to your Charge, you ought in no wife to for- 
fake us. Then he faid, all ftiall be well. He caufed us to 
Ihew him our Garments, and wha.tfoever he deemed to be 
lefs needful for us; he bid us leave behind in the Cuftody 
of our Hoft. On the Morrow they brought unto each of 
us a furred Gown made all of Ram’s Skins, with the Wool 
fall upon them, and Breeches of the fame. Boots according 
to their Fafhion, Shoes made of Felt, and Hoods alfo made 
of Skins after their Manner. The fecond Day after Holy- 
rood we began to fet forward on our Journey, having three 
Guides to direbt us, and we rode continually Eaftward till 
the Feaft of All-Saints throughout all that Region, and 
beyond alfo, were the People Changles Inhabitants, who 
were defeended from the Romans. On the North Side of 
us we had Bulgaria the Greater , and on the South the Cas- 
pian Sea. 
28. When we had travelled twelve Days Journey from 
Etilia we found a mighty River called Jagac , which River 
iffuing out of the North from the Land of Pafcatir , or of the 
Hungarians w hich is all one, and they are all of them Shep- 
herds , not having any Cities ; and their Country bordered! 
upon Bulgaria the Greater on the Weft Frontier; from the 
North-Eaft Part of the Country there is no City at all* 
Out of the faid Region of Pafcatir proceeded the Hunnes 
of old, who afterwards were called Hungarians , Next unto 
it is Bulgaria the Greater. IJidore reporteth concerning the- 
People of this Nation, that withfwift Horfes they travelled 
the impregnable Walls and Bounds of Alexander , which 
together with the Rocks of Caucafus , ferve to reftrain thofe- 
barbarous and blood- thirfty People from invading the Re- 
gions of the South, infomuch as they had Tribute paid 
unto them as far as Egypt , and that they wafted all Coun- 
tries, even unto France. If fo they were more mighty 
than the Tartars as yet are and unto them the Blacians 
and the Bulgarians , and the Vandals, joined thenffelves % 
for out of Bulgaria the Greater came thofe Bulgarians „ 
As for them who inhabited beyond Danubius , near unto 
Confiantinople , and not far from Pafcatir, are called Ike, 
which (faving the Pronunciation) is all one with black, for 
the Tartars cannot pronounce the Letter B : From whom 
alfo defeend the People which inhabit the Land of Haffan, 
for they are called Ilac (both thefe and the other) in the 
Language of the Ruffians, the Polonians , and die Bo- 
hemians. 
The Sclavonians fpoke one Language with the V and ah, 
all which confederated with the Hunnes, and now, for the 
moft part, they unite thenffelves to the Tartars, whom 
GOD hath raifed up from the utmoft Parts of the Earth,, 
according to that which the Lord faith ; I will provoke them 
to Envy by a People which is no People, and by a foolifh Na- 
tion will I anger them. This Prophecy is fulfilled, accord* 
ing to the literal Senfe thereof, upon all Nations, which 
obferve not the Law of GOD. All this which I have 
written concerning the Land of Pafcatir, was told me 
by certain Friars, who travelled thither before ever the 
Tartars came and, from that Time, they were fubdued 
unto their Neighbours the Bulgarians, being Saracens % 
for which Reafon many of them proved Saracens alfo. 
Other Matters concerning thefe People may be known 
out of Hiftory ; for it is manifeft, that thole Provinces 
beyond Confiantinople , which are now called Bulgaria, 
Valachia , and Sclavonia , were of old Provinces belonging 
to the Greeks \ alfo Hungary was heretofore called Panonia, 
and we were riding over the Land of Changle from the Feaft 
of Holy-rood , until the Feaft of All Saints, travelling almoft 
every Day, according to my Account, as far as it is from 
Paris to Orleans, and fometimes farther, according as we 
were provided with Poft- Horfes ; for fome Days we had 
Change of Horfes twice or thrice in a Day, fometimes we 
were two or three Days together, not finding any People, ^ 
and then we were conftrained not to ride fo faft. Of twenty 
or thirty Horfes we had always the world, becaufe we were 
Strangers, for every one took their Choice of the heft Horfes 
before us. They provided me always a ftrong Horfe, becaufe 
