On the road they met with horrid barren mountains and vallies, and with a great number of animals like roes[1], besides abundance of fowls, such as hasel-hens, and heath-cocks, which were as white as snow, and pheasants the size of a goose[2]. In St. Olave's church at Drontheim, they saw the skin of a white bear, which was fourteen feet and a half long; and they observed other birds, such as gerfalcons, goss-hawks[3], and several other kinds of hawks, to be much whiter than in other places, on account of the coldness of the country.
[1] The Rein-deer, Cervus tarandus, Lin.--Forst.
[2] Probably the Tetrao lagopus, Lin.--Forst.
[3] Falco Gyrfalcus, and Falco astur.--Forst.
Four days before they reached Stegeborg, they came to a town called Wadstena, in which St. Bridget was born, and where she had founded a nunnery, together with chaplains of the same order. At this place the northern kings and princes have built a most magnificent church covered with copper, in which they counted sixty-two altars. The nuns and chaplains received the strangers with great kindness; and, after resting two days, they set out to wait on the chevalier Giovanne Franco, who relieved them in a manner that did honour to his generosity, and did every thing in his power to comfort them in their distressed situation. A fortnight after their arrival at his residence, a plenary indulgence was given at the church of St. Bridget, in Wadstena, to which people from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and even from Germany, Holland, and Scotland, came to partake; some of whom came from a distance of more than 600 miles. They went to the indulgence at Wadstena along with Giovanne Franco, in order to inquire if there were any ships bound for Germany or England, there being always a great concourse of people on such occasions. The chevalier was five days on the road, and had more than 100 horses in his train. At Wadstena they took leave of their beneficent countryman, who furnished them amply with money and clothes for their journey, and ordered his son Matthew, a very amiable young man, to accompany them eight days journey on their way to Lodese, on the river Gotha; and where he lodged them in his own house for some time, till the ship in which they were to embark was ready to sail The chevalier Franco lent them his own horses all the way from his castle of Stegeborg; and, as Quirini was ill of a fever, he mounted him on a horse which had a wonderfully easy pace.
From Lodese, three of Quirini's crew went home in a vessel bound for Rostock, and eight of them accompanied him to England, where they came to their friends in London, by way of Ely and Cambridge. After residing two months at London, they took shipping thence for Germany; and, travelling thence by way of Basil, in Switzerland, they arrived, after a journey of twenty-four days, in safety and good health at Venice.
CHAPTER XIX.
Travels of Josaphat Barbaro, Ambassador from Venice to Tanna, now called Asof, in 1436.[1]
[1] Forster, Voy. and Disc, in the North p. 165.
INTRODUCTION.
Josaphat Barbaro, a Venetian, was sent, in the year 1436, by the republic of Venice, as ambassador to Tanna, now called Asof, which at that time was in the hands of the Genoese. This relation was printed in a small and scarce collection at the Aldus press in Venice, by Antonio Minutio in 1543, and was afterwards inserted in the collection of Giovanne Baptista Ramusio. The following is an abstract of that journey. He went afterwards into Persia in 1471, as ambassador to Ussum Hassan, or Assambei, a Turkomanian prince of the white weather tribe, and was sixteen years among the Tartars; and on his return to his native country wrote an account of both these expeditions. He died at Venice at a very advanced age, in 1494.
These travels are not given in any regular order, nor is any itinerary mentioned. It would appear that he resided for some time at Tanna, now Asof, making several journeys into the Crimea, and among the nations which inhabit between the Don and the Wolga, the Black Sea and the Caspian; and that he returned home by way of Moscow, Novogorod, Warsaw, and Francfort on the Oder, and through Germany into Italy.
Josaphat Barbaro began his journey to Tanna in 1436, and explored that country with great assiduity, and a spirit of inquiry that does him much honour, partly by land and partly by water, for sixteen years. The plain of Tartary is bounded on the east by the great river Ledil, Edil, or Wolga; on the west by Poland; on the north by Russia; on the south by the Great or Black Sea, Alania, Kumania or Comania, and Gazaria, all of which border on the sea of Tebache[2]. Alania has its name from the people called Alani, who call themselves As in their own language. These people were Christians, and their country had been ravaged and laid waste by the Tartars or Mongals. The province of Alania contains many mountains, rivers, and plains, and in the latter there are many hills made by the hand of man, serving for sepulchral monuments, on the top of each of which there is a flat stone with a hole in it, in which a stone cross is fixed. About 110 years before the journey of Barbaro, or in 1326, the religion of Mahomet was adopted by the Tartars or Mongals; though, indeed, before that period there were some Mahometans in the country, but every one was permitted to follow what religion he chose. In consequence of this, some worshipped wooden images, which they carried about with them on their carts or moveable huts: But the compulsatory establishment of the Mahometan religion takes its date from the time of Hedighi, Edigi, or Jedighei, who was a general under the Tartarian emperor Sidahameth khan. This Hedighi was the father of Naurus, in whose days Ulu-Mohameth, or Mahomet the great, was khan of the Tartars.
[2] Called likewise the sea of Zabachi, Ischaback-Denghissi, the Palus Maeotis, and Sea of Asof.--Forst.
A misunderstanding happened between the Naurus and the khan Ulu-Mohameth, in consequence of which Naurus retired to the river Ledil or Wolga, attended by the Tartar tribes who adhered to him personally, and joined himself to Khezi-Mohamet, or little Mahomed, who was a relation to the khan or emperor. Naurus and Khezi resolved to make war against Ulu, and accordingly marched with their combined forces by way of Giterchan or Astrakan, and through the plains of Tumen, or the great step or desert, which extends from the Wolga to the Don, and quite down the mountains of Caucasus. On this march westwards they kept southwards close to Circassia, and turned off towards the Don and the sea of Asof, both of which were frozen over. In order to find food for their cattle and horses, they marched in separate parties, at so great a distance from each other, that some crossed the river Don at a place called Palastra, while others crossed it where it was covered with ice, near Bosagaz, which two places are 120 miles separate from each other; yet so well were their movements combined, that they came upon Ulu-Mohameth quite unexpectedly, and he was constrained to fly with his wife and children, leaving every thing in confusion behind him, as Khezi Mohameth became emperor or khan in his stead, and again crossed the Don in the month of June.
Proceeding westwards to the left from Tanna or Asof, along the coast of the sea of Zabachi, or the Palus Maeotis, and then for some distance along the Great or Black Sea, quite to the province of Mingrelia, one arrives, after three days journey, at the province of Chremuch, Kremuk, or Kromuk, the sovereign of which is called Bisserdi[3], and his son is named Chertibei[4], which signifies the true or real lord. Bisserdi possesses a beautiful country, adorned with fertile fields, considerable rivers, and many fine woods, and can raise about a thousand horse. The higher order of the people in this country chiefly subsist by plundering the caravans. They have excellent horses; the people are valiant, inured to war, and very artful; but have nothing singular in their manners and appearance. Their country abounds in corn, cattle, and honey; but produces no wine. Beyond this country there are other provinces, which