It was early in the morning, when marching from a little well-situated town, called Changu, we had a river to pass, where we were obliged to ferry; and had the Tartars had any intelligence, then had been the time to have attacked us, when, the caravan being over, the rear-guard was behind:  but they did not appear there.

About three hours after, when we were entered upon, a desert of about fifteen or sixteen miles over, behold, by a cloud of dust they raised, we saw an enemy was at hand; and they were at hand indeed, for they came on upon the spur.

The Chinese, our guard on the front, who had talked so big the day before, began to stagger, and the soldiers frequently looked behind them; which is a certain sign in a soldier, that he is just ready to run away.  My old pilot was of my mind; and being near me, he called out:  “Seignior Inglese,” said he, “those fellows must be encouraged, or they will ruin us all; for if the Tartars come on, they will never stand it.”—­“I am of your mind,” said I:  “but what course must be done?”—­“Done?” said he; “let fifty of our men advance, and flank them on each wing, and encourage them, and they will fight like brave fellows in brave company:  but without it, they will every man turn his back.”  Immediately I rode up to our leader, and told him, who was exactly of our mind; and accordingly fifty of us marched to the right wing, and fifty to the left, and the rest made a line of reserve; for so we marched, leaving the last two hundred men to make another body to themselves, and to guard the camels; only that, if need were, they should send a hundred men to assist the last fifty.

In a word, the Tartars came on, and an innumerable company they were; how many, we could not tell, but ten thousand we thought was the least.  A party of them came on first, and viewed our posture, traversing the ground in the front of our line; and as we found them within gun-shot, our leader ordered the two wings to advance swiftly, and give them a salvo on each wing with their shot, which was done; but they went off, and I suppose went back to give an account of the reception they were like to meet with; and, indeed, that salute clogged their stomachs; for they immediately halted, stood awhile to consider of it, and, wheeling off to the left, they gave over the design, and said no more to us for that time; which was very agreeable to our circumstances, which were but very indifferent for a battle with such a number.

Two days after this we came to the city of Naum, or Naunm.  We thanked the governor for his care for us, and collected to the value of one hundred crowns, or thereabouts, which we gave to the soldiers sent to guard us; and here we rested one day.  This is a garrison indeed, and there were nine hundred soldiers kept here; but the reason of it was, that formerly the Muscovite frontiers lay nearer to them than they do now, the Muscovites having abandoned that part of the country (which lies from the city west, for about two hundred miles) as desolate and unfit for use; and more especially, being so very remote, and so difficult to send troops hither for its defence; for we had yet above two thousand miles to Muscovy, properly so called.