them in the faith. We reserved the flesh which
they had brought us until the feast day, for there
was nothing to be bought among the Tartars for gold
and silver, but only for cloth and garments, which
we had not to dispose of. When our servants offered
any of the coin which they call yperpera [1], they
rubbed it with their fingers, and smelt it, to see
whether it were copper. All the food they supplied
us with was sour, and filthy cows milk; and the water
was so foul and muddy, by reason of their numerous
horses, that we could not drink it. If it had
not been for the grace of God, and the biscuit we
brought with us, we had surely perished.
[1] Or hyperpyron, a coin said to be of the value
of two German
dollars, or six and eightpence
Sterling.—E.
Of a Saracen who desired to be Baptized, and of
men who seemed Lepers.
Upon the day of Pentecost, a Saracen came to visit
us, to whom we explained the articles of the Christian
faith; particularly the salvation of sinners, through
the incarnation of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead,
and judgment to come, and how through baptism all
sin was washed out. He seemed much affected with
these doctrines, and even expressed a desire to be
baptized; but when we were preparing for that ceremony,
he suddenly mounted on horseback, saying that he must
first consult his wife; and he returned next day,
declining to receive baptism, because he would not
then be allowed to drink cosmos, without which, he
could not live in that country. From this opinion,
I could not move him by any arguments; so that these
people are much estranged from becoming Christians,
by the assertion of that opinion by the Russians,
and other Christians, who come among them in great
numbers.
On the same day, which was the morrow of the feast
of Pentecost, Zagathai gave us one man to conduct
us to Sartach, and two others to guide us to the next
station, which was at the distance of five days journey
for our oxen. We were presented also with a goat
to serve us as food, and a great many skin bags of
cows milk, but they gave us very little cosmos, as
that liquor is in great estimation among themselves.
From the station of Zagathai we travelled directly
north, and our attendants began to pilfer largely
from us, because we took too little heed of our property,
but experience at length taught us wisdom. At
length we reached the bounds of this province, which
is fortified by a deep ditch, from sea to sea[1].
Immediately beyond this ditch, we came to the station
to which our conductors belonged, where all the inhabitants
seemed to be infected with leprosy; and certain base
people are placed here to receive the tribute from
all who come for salt from the salt pits formerly
mentioned. We were told that we should have to
travel fifteen days farther before meeting with any
other inhabitants. With these people we drank
