CHAPTER IV.
OF GEORGIANIA AND THE KINGS THEREOF.
In Georgiania there is a King called David Melic, which is as much
as to say “David King”; he is subject to the Tartar.{1} In old times
all the kings were born with the figure of an eagle upon the right
shoulder. The people are very handsome, capital archers, and most
valiant soldiers. They are Christians of the Greek Rite, and have a
fashion of wearing their hair cropped, like Churchmen.{2}
This is the country beyond which Alexander could not pass when he
wished to penetrate to the region of the Ponent, because that the
defile was so narrow and perilous, the sea lying on the one hand,
and on the other lofty mountains impassable to horsemen. The strait
extends like this for four leagues, and a handful of people might hold
it against all the world. Alexander caused a very strong tower to be
built there, to prevent the people beyond from passing to attack him,
and this got the name of the IRON GATE. This is the place that the Book
of Alexander speaks of, when it tells us how he shut up the Tartars
between two mountains; not that they were really Tartars, however, for
there were no Tartars in those days, but they consisted of a race of
people called COMANIANS and many besides.{3}
[In this province all the forests are of box-wood.{4}] There are
numerous towns and villages, and silk is produced in great abundance.
They also weave cloths of gold, and all kinds of very fine silk stuffs.
The country produces the best goshawks in the world [which are called
_Avigi_].{5} It has indeed no lack of anything, and the people live
by trade and handicrafts. ’Tis a very mountainous region, and full of
strait defiles and of fortresses, insomuch that the Tartars have never
been able to subdue it out and out.
[Illustration: Mediæval Georgian Fortress, from a drawing dated 1634.
“La provence est toute plene de grant montagne et d’estroit pas et de
fort.”]
There is in this country a certain Convent of Nuns called St.
Leonard’s, about which I have to tell you a very wonderful
circumstance. Near the church in question there is a great lake at the
foot of a mountain, and in this lake are found no fish, great or small,
throughout the year till Lent come. On the first day of Lent they find
in it the finest fish in the world, and great store too thereof; and
these continue to be found till Easter Eve. After that they are found
no more till Lent come round again; and so ’tis every year. ’Tis really
a passing great miracle!{6}
That sea whereof I spoke as coming so near the mountains is called
the Sea of GHEL or GHELAN, and extends about 700 miles.{7} It is
twelve days’ journey distant from any other sea, and into it flows
the great River Euphrates and many others, whilst it is surrounded by
mountains. Of late the merchants of Genoa have begun to navigate this
sea, carrying ships across and launching them thereon. It is from the
country on this sea also that the silk called _Ghellé_ is brought.{8}
[The said sea produces quantities of fish, especially sturgeon, at the
river-mouths salmon, and other big kinds of fish.]{9}
NOTE 1.—Ramusio has: “One part of the said province is subject to
the Tartar, and the other part, owing to its fortresses, remains
subject to the King David.” We give an illustration of one of these
mediæval Georgian fortresses, from a curious collection of MS.
notices and drawings of Georgian subjects in the Municipal Library
at Palermo, executed by a certain P. Cristoforo di Castelli of that
city, who was a Theatine missionary in Georgia, in the first half
of the 17th century.
The G. T. says the King was _always_ called David. The Georgian
Kings of the family of Bagratidae claimed descent from King
David through a prince Shampath, said to have been sent north by
Nebuchadnezzar; a descent which was usually asserted in their
public documents. Timur in his Institutes mentions a suit of
armour given him by the King of Georgia as forged by the hand of
the Psalmist King. David is a very frequent name in their royal
lists. [The dynasty of the Bagratidae, which was founded in 786
by Ashod, and lasted until the annexation of Georgia by Russia on
the 18th January, 1801, had nine reigning princes named David.
During the second half of the 12th century the princes were: Dawith
(David) IV. Narin (1247–1259), Dawith V. (1243–1272), Dimitri II.
Thawdadebuli (1272–1289), Wakhtang II. (1289–1292), Dawith VI.
(1292–1308).—H. C.] There were two princes of that name, David,
who shared Georgia between them under the decision of the Great
Kaan in 1246, and one of them, who survived to 1269, is probably
meant here. The name of David was borne by the last titular King of
Georgia, who ceded his rights to Russia in 1801. It is probable,
however, as Marsden has suggested, that the statement about
the King _always_ being called David arose in part out of some
confusion with the title of _Dadian_, which, according to Chardin
(and also to P. di Castelli), was always assumed by the Princes of
Mingrelia, or Colchis as the latter calls it. Chardin refers this
title to the Persian _Dád_, “equity.” To a portrait of “Alexander,
King of Iberia,” or Georgia Proper, Castelli attaches the following
inscription, giving apparently his official style: “With the
sceptre of David, Crowned by Heaven, First King of the Orient and
of the World, King of Israel,” adding, “They say that he has on his
shoulder a small mark of a cross, ‘_Factus est principatus super
humerum ejus_,’ and they add that he has all his ribs in one piece,
and not divided.” In another place he notes that when attending the
King in illness his curiosity moved him strongly to ask if these
things were true, but he thought better of it! (_Khanikoff; Jour.
As._ IX. 370, XI. 291, etc.; _Tim. Instit._ p. 143; _Castelli_ MSS.)
[A descendant of these Princes was in St. Petersburg about
1870. He wore the Russian uniform, and bore the title of Prince
Bagration-Mukransky.]
NOTE 2.—This fashion of tonsure is mentioned by Barbaro and
Chardin. The latter speaks strongly of the beauty of both sexes, as
does Della Valle, and most modern travellers concur.
NOTE 3.—This refers to the Pass of Derbend, apparently the Sarmatic
Gates of Ptolemy, and _Claustra Caspiorum_ of Tacitus, known to
the Arab geographers as the “Gate of Gates” (_Báb-ul-abwáb_), but
which is still called in Turkish _Demír-Kápi_, or the Iron Gate,
and to the ancient Wall that runs from the Castle of Derbend along
the ridges of Caucasus, called in the East _Sadd-i-Iskandar_, the
Rampart of Alexander. Bayer thinks the wall was probably built
originally by one of the Antiochi, and renewed by the Sassanian
Kobad or his son Naoshirwan. It is ascribed to the latter by
Abulfeda; and according to Klaproth’s extracts from the _Derbend
Námah_, Naoshirwan completed the fortress of Derbend in A.D. 542,
whilst he and his father together had erected 360 towers upon
the Caucasian Wall which extended to the Gate of the Alans (_i.e._
the Pass of Dariel). Mas’udi says that the wall extended for
40 parasangs over the steepest summits and deepest gorges. The
Russians must have gained some knowledge as to the actual existence
and extent of the remains of this great work, but I have not been
able to meet with any modern information of a very precise kind.
According to a quotation from _Reinegg’s Kaukasus_ (I. 120, a work
which I have not been able to consult), the remains of defences
can be traced for many miles, and are in some places as much as
120 feet high. M. Moynet indeed, in the _Tour du Monde_ (I. 122),
states that he traced the wall to a distance of 27 versts (18
miles) from Derbend, but unfortunately, instead of describing
remains of such high interest from his own observation, he cites a
description written by Alex. Dumas, which he says is quite accurate.
[“To the west of Narin-Kaleh, a fortress which from the top of
a promontory rises above the city, the wall, strengthened from
distance to distance by large towers, follows the ridge of the
mountains, descends into the ravines, and ascends the slopes to
take root on some remote peak. If the natives were to be believed,
this wall, which, however, no longer has any strategetical
importance, had formerly its towers bristling upon the Caucasus
chain from one sea to another; at least, this rampart did protect
all the plains at the foot of the eastern Caucasus, since vestiges
were found up to 30 kilometres from Derbend.” (_Reclus, Asie
russe_, p. 160.) It has belonged to Russia since 1813. The first
European traveller who mentions it is Benjamin of Tudela.
Bretschneider (II. p. 117) observes: “Yule complains that he was
not able to find any modern information regarding the famous
Caucasian Wall which begins at Derbend. I may therefore observe
that interesting details on the subject are found in Legkobytov’s
_Survey of the Russian Dominions beyond the Caucasus_ (in Russian),
1836, vol. iv. pp. 158–161, and in Dubois de Montpéreux’s _Voyage
autour du Caucase_, 1840, vol. iv. pp. 291–298, from which I shall
give here an abstract.”
(He then proceeds to give an abstract, of which the following is a
part:)
“The famous _Dagh bary_ (mountain wall) now begins at the village
of _Djelgan_, 4 versts south-west of Derbend, but we know that
as late as the beginning of the last century it could be traced
down to the southern gate of the city. This ancient wall then
stretches westward to the high mountains of Tabasseran (it seems
the Tabarestan of Mas’udi).... Dubois de Montpéreux enumerates the
following sites of remains of the wall:—In the famous defile of
_Dariel_, north-east of Kazbek. In the valley of the _Assai_ river,
near Wapila, about 35 versts north-east of Dariel. In the valley
of the Kizil river, about 15 versts north-west of Kazbek. Farther
west, in the valley of the _Fiag_ or _Pog_ river, between _Lacz_
and _Khilak_. From this place farther west about 25 versts, in
the valley of the _Arredon_ river, in the district of _Valaghir_.
Finally, the westernmost section of the Caucasian Wall has been
preserved, which was evidently intended to shut up the maritime
defile of _Gagry_, on the Black Sea.”—H. C.]
There is another wall claiming the title of _Sadd-i-Iskandar_ at
the S.E. angle of the Caspian. This has been particularly spoken of
by Vámbéry, who followed its traces from S.W. to N.E. for upwards
of 40 miles. (See his _Travels in C. Asia_, 54 _seqq._, and _Julius
Braun_ in the _Ausland_, No. 22, of 1869.)
Yule (II. pp. 537–538) says, “To the same friendly correspondent
[Professor Braun] I owe the following additional particulars on
this interesting subject, extracted from _Eichwald, Periplus des
Kasp. M._ I. 128.
“‘At the point on the mountain, at the extremity of the fortress
(of Derbend), where the double wall terminates, there begins a
single wall constructed in the same style, only this no longer
runs in a straight line, but accommodates itself to the contour of
the hill, turning now to the north and now to the south. At first
it is quite destroyed, and showed the most scanty vestiges, a few
small heaps of stones or traces of towers, but all extending in
a general bearing from east to west.... It is not till you get 4
versts from Derbend, in traversing the mountains, that you come
upon a continuous wall. Thenceforward you can follow it over the
successive ridges ... and through several villages chiefly occupied
by the Tartar hill-people. The wall ... makes many windings, and
every ¾ verst it exhibits substantial towers like those of the
city-wall, crested with loop-holes. Some of these are still in
tolerably good condition; others have fallen, and with the wall
itself have left but slight vestiges.’
“Eichwald altogether followed it up about 18 versts (12 miles) not
venturing to proceed further. In later days this cannot have been
difficult, but my kind correspondent had not been able to lay his
hand on information.
“A letter from Mr. Eugene Schuyler communicates some notes
regarding inscriptions that have been found at and near Derbend,
embracing Cufic of A.D. 465, Pehlvi, and even Cuneiform. Alluding
to the fact that the other _Iron-gate_, south of Shahrsabz, was
called also _Kalugah_, or _Kohlugah_ he adds: ‘I don’t know what
that means, nor do I know if the Russian Kaluga, south-west of
Moscow, has anything to do with it, but I am told there is a
Russian popular song, of which two lines run:
‘“Ah Derbend, Derbend Kaluga,
Derbend my little Treasure!”’
[Illustration: View of Derbend.
“=Alexandre ne poit paser quand il vost aler au Ponent ... car de
l’un les est la mer, et de l’autre est gran montagne que ne se
poent cavaucher. La vie est mout estroit entre la montagne et la
mer.=”]
“I may observe that I have seen it lately pointed out that
_Koluga_ is a Mongol word signifying a _barrier_; and I see that
Timkowski (I. 288) gives the same explanation of _Kalgan_, the name
applied by Mongols and Russians to the gate in the Great Wall,
called Chang-kia-Kau by the Chinese, leading to Kiakhta.”
The story alluded to by Polo is found in the mediæval romances
of Alexander, and in the Pseudo-Callisthenes on which they are
founded. The hero chases a number of impure cannibal nations within
a mountain barrier, and prays that they may be shut up therein. The
mountains draw together within a few cubits, and Alexander then
builds up the gorge and closes it with gates of brass or iron.
There were in all twenty-two nations with their kings, and the
names of the nations were Gōth, Magōth, Anugi, Egēs, Exenach, etc.
Godfrey of Viterbo speaks of them in his rhyming verses:—
“Finibus Indorum species fuit una virorum;
Goth erat atque Magoth dictum cognomen eorum
* * * * *
Narrat Esias, Isidorus et Apocalypsis,
Tangit et in titulis Magna Sibylla suis.
Patribus ipsorum tumulus fuit venter eorum,” etc.
Among the questions that the Jews are said to have put, in order
to test Mahommed’s prophetic character, was one series: “Who are
Gog and Magog? Where do they dwell? What sort of rampart did
Zu’lḳarnain build between them and men?” And in the Koran we find
(ch. xviii. _The Cavern_): “They will question thee, O Mahommed,
regarding Zu’lḳarnain. Reply: I will tell you his history”—and
then follows the story of the erection of the Rampart of Yájúj and
Májúj. In ch. xxi. again there is an allusion to their expected
issue at the latter day. This last expectation was one of very
old date. Thus the Cosmography of Aethicus, a work long believed
(though erroneously) to have been abridged by St. Jerome, and
therefore to be as old at least as the 4th century, says that the
_Turks_ of the race of Gog and Magog, a polluted nation, eating
human flesh and feeding on all abominations, never washing, and
never using wine, salt, nor wheat, shall come forth in the Day of
Antichrist from where they lie shut up behind the Caspian Gates,
and make horrid devastation. No wonder that the irruption of
the Tartars into Europe, heard of at first with almost as much
astonishment as such an event would produce now, was connected
with this prophetic legend![1] The Emperor Frederic II., writing
to Henry III. of England, says of the Tartars: “’Tis said they are
descended from the Ten Tribes who abandoned the Law of Moses, and
worshipped the Golden Calf. They are the people whom Alexander
Magnus shut up in the Caspian Mountains.”
[See the chapter _Gog et Magog dans le roman en alexandrins_, in
Paul Meyer’s _Alexandre le Grand dans la Littérature française_,
Paris, 1886, II. pp. 386–389.—H. C.]:
“Gos et Margos i vienent de la tiere des Turs
Et .cccc. m. hommes amenerent u plus,
Il en jurent la mer dont sire est Neptunus
Et le porte d’infier que garde Cerberus
Que l’orguel d’Alixandre torneront a reüs
Por çou les enclot puis es estres desus.
Dusc’ al tans Antecrist n’en istera mais nus.”
According to some chroniclers, the Emperor Heraclius had already
let loose the Shut-up Nations to aid him against the Persians, but
it brought him no good, for he was beaten in spite of their aid,
and died of grief.
The theory that the Tartars were Gog and Magog led to the Rampart
of Alexander being confounded with the Wall of China (see _infra_,
Bk. I. ch. lix.), or being relegated to the extreme N.E. of Asia,
as we find it in the Carta Catalana.
These legends are referred to by Rabbi Benjamin, Hayton, Rubruquis,
Ricold, Matthew Paris, and many more. Josephus indeed speaks of
the Pass which Alexander fortified with gates of steel. But his
saying that the King of Hyrcania was Lord of this Pass points to
the Hyrcanian Gates of Northern Persia, or perhaps to the Wall of
Gomushtapah, described by Vámbéry.
Ricold of Montecroce allows two arguments to connect the Tartars
with the Jews who were shut up by Alexander; one that the Tartars
hated the very name of Alexander, and could not bear to hear it;
the other, that their manner of writing was very like the Chaldean,
meaning apparently the Syriac (_anté_, p. 29). But he points out
that they had no resemblance to Jews, and no knowledge of the law.
Edrisi relates how the Khalif Wathek sent one Salem the Dragoman
to explore the Rampart of Gog and Magog. His route lay by Tiflis,
the Alan country, and that of the Bashkirds, to the far north or
north-east, and back by Samarkand. But the report of what he saw is
pure fable.
In 1857, Dr. Bellew seems to have found the ancient belief in the
legend still held by Afghan gentlemen at Kandahar.
At Gelath in Imeretia there still exists one valve of a large iron
gate, traditionally said to be the relic of a pair brought as a
trophy from Derbend by David, King of Georgia, called the Restorer
(1089–1130). M. Brosset, however, has shown it to be the gate of
Ganja, carried off in 1139.
(_Bayer_ in _Comment. Petropol._ I. 401 _seqq._; _Pseudo-Callisth._
by _Müller_, p. 138; _Gott. Viterb._ in _Pistorii Nidani Script.
Germ._ II. 228; _Alexandriade_, pp. 310–311; _Pereg._ IV. p. 118;
_Acad. des Insc. Divers Savans_, II. 483; _Edrisi_, II. 416–420,
etc.)
NOTE 4.—The box-wood of the Abkhasian forests was so abundant, and
formed so important an article of Genoese trade, as to give the
name of _Chao de Bux_ (Cavo di Bussi) to the bay of Bambor, N.W.
of Sukum Kala’, where the traffic was carried on. (See _Elie de
Laprim._ 243.) Abulfeda also speaks of the Forest of Box (_Shará’
ul-buḳs_) on the shores of the Black Sea, from which box-wood was
exported to all parts of the world; but his indication of the exact
locality is confused. (_Reinaud’s Abulf._ I. 289.)
At the present time “Boxwood abounds on the southern coast of the
Caspian, and large quantities are exported from near Resht to
England and Russia. It is sent up the Volga to Tsaritzin, from
thence by rail to the Don, and down that river to the Black Sea,
from whence it is shipped to England.” (_MS. Note_, H. Y.)
[Cf. V. Helm’s _Cultivated Plants_, edited by J. S. Stallybrass,
Lond., 1891, _The Box Tree_, pp. 176–179.—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—Jerome Cardan notices that “the best and biggest goshawks
come from Armenia,” a term often including Georgia and Caucasus.
The name of the bird is perhaps the same as _’Afçi_, “Falco
montanus.” (See _Casiri_, I. 320.) Major St. John tells me that
the _Terlán_, or goshawk, much used in Persia, is still generally
brought from Caucasus. (_Cardan, de Rer. Varietate_, VII. 35.)
NOTE 6.—A letter of Warren Hastings, written shortly before
his death, and after reading Marsden’s Marco Polo, tells how a
fish-breeder of Banbury warned him against putting pike into his
fish-pond, saying, “If you should leave them where they are _till
Shrove Tuesday_ they will be sure to spawn, and then you will never
get any other fish to breed in it.” (_Romance of Travel_, I. 255.)
Edward Webbe in his Travels (1590, reprinted 1868) tells us that
in the “Land of Siria there is a River having great store of fish
like unto Salmon-trouts, but no Jew can catch them, though either
Christian and Turk shall catch them in abundance with great ease.”
The circumstance of fish being got only for a limited time in
spring is noticed with reference to Lake Van both by Tavernier and
Mr. Brant.
But the exact legend here reported is related (as M. Pauthier has
already noticed) by Wilibrand of Oldenburg of a stream under the
Castle of Adamodana, belonging to the Hospitallers, near Naversa
(the ancient _Anazarbus_), in Cilicia under Taurus. And Khanikoff
was told the same story of a lake in the district of Akhaltziké
in Western Georgia, in regard to which he explains the substance
of the phenomenon as a result of the rise of the lake’s level
by the melting of the snows, which often coincides with Lent. I
may add that Moorcroft was told respecting a sacred pond near
Sir-i-Chashma, on the road from Kabul to Bamian, that the fish
in the pond were not allowed to be touched, but that they were
accustomed to desert it for the rivulet that ran through the valley
regularly every year _on the day of the vernal equinox_, and it was
then lawful to catch them.
Like circumstances would produce the same effect in a variety of
lakes, and I have not been able to identify the convent of St.
Leonard’s. Indeed Leonard (_Sant Lienard_, G. T.) seems no likely
name for an Armenian Saint; and the patroness of the convent (as
she is of many others in that country) was perhaps Saint _Nina_,
an eminent personage in the Armenian Church, whose tomb is still a
place of pilgrimage; or possibly St. _Helena_, for I see that the
Russian maps show a place called _Elenovka_ on the shores of Lake
Sevan, N.E. of Erivan. Ramusio’s text, moreover, says that the
lake was _four days in compass_, and this description will apply,
I believe, to none but the lake just named. This is, according to
Monteith, 47 miles in length and 21 miles in breadth, and as far as
I can make out he travelled round it in three very long marches.
Convents and churches on its shores are numerous, and a very
ancient one occupies an island on the lake. The lake is noted for
its fish, especially magnificent trout.
(_Tavern._ Bk. III. ch. iii.; _J. R. G. S._ X. 897; _Pereg. Quat._
p. 179; _Khanikoff_, 15; _Moorcroft_, II. 382; _J. R. G. S._ III.
40 _seqq._)
Ramusio has: “In this province there is a fine city called TIFLIS,
and round about it are many castles and walled villages. It is
inhabited by Christians, Armenians, Georgians, and some Saracens
and Jews, but not many.”
NOTE 7.—The name assigned by Marco to the Caspian, “Mer de
Gheluchelan” or “Ghelachelan,” has puzzled commentators. I have no
doubt that the interpretation adopted above is the correct one. I
suppose that Marco said that the sea was called “La Mer de Ghel
ou (de) Ghelan,” a name taken from the districts of the ancient
_Gelae_ on its south-western shores, called indifferently _Gíl_ or
_Gílán_, just as many other regions of Asia have like duplicate
titles (singular and plural), arising, I suppose, from the change
of a _gentile_ into a _local_ name. Such are Lár, Lárán, Khutl,
Khutlán, etc., a class to which Badakhshán, Wakhán, Shaghnán,
Mungán, Chaghánián, possibly Bámián, and many others have formerly
belonged, as the adjectives in some cases surviving, _Badakhshi,
Shaghni, Wákhi_, etc., show.[2] The change exemplified in the
induration of these _gentile plurals_ into _local singulars_ is
everywhere traced in the passage from earlier to later geography.
The old Indian geographical lists, such as are preserved in the
Puránas, and in Pliny’s extracts from Megasthenes, are, in the
main, lists of _peoples_, not of provinces, and even where the real
name seems to be local a _gentile_ form is often given. So also
_Tochari_ and _Sogdi_ are replaced by _Tokháristán_ and _Sughd_;
the _Veneti_ and _Taurini_ by Venice and Turin; the _Remi_ and the
_Parisii_, by Rheims and Paris; _East-Saxons_ and _South-Saxons_ by
Essex and Sussex; not to mention the countless _-ings_ that mark
the tribal settlement of the Saxons in Britain.
Abulfeda, speaking of this territory, uses exactly Polo’s phrase,
saying that the districts in question are properly called
_Kíl-o-Kílán_, but by the Arabs _Jíl-o-Jílán_. Teixeira gives
the Persian name of the sea as _Darya Ghiláni_. (See _Abulf._ in
_Büsching_, v. 329.)
[The province of Gíl (Gílán), which is situated between the
mountains and the Caspian Sea, and between the provinces of
Azerbaíján and Mázanderán (H. C.)], gave name to the silk for
which it was and is still famous, mentioned as _Ghelle_ (_Gílí_)
at the end of this chapter. This _Seta Ghella_ is mentioned also
by Pegolotti (pp. 212, 238, 301), and by Uzzano, with an odd
transposition, as Seta _Leggi_, along with Seta _Masandroni_,
_i.e._ from the adjoining province of Mázanderán (p. 192). May
not the Spanish _Geliz_, “a silk-dealer,” which seems to have
been a puzzle to etymologists, be connected with this? (See _Dozy
and Engelmann_, 2nd ed. p. 275.) [Prof. F. de Filippi (_Viaggo in
Persia nel_ 1862, ... Milan, 1865, 8vo) speaks of the silk industry
of Ghílán (pp. 295–296) as the principal product of the entire
province.—H. C.]
The dimensions assigned to the Caspian in the text would be very
correct if length were meant, but the Geog. Text with the same
figure specifies _circuit_ (_zire_). Ramusio again has “a circuit
of 2800 miles.” Possibly the original reading was 2700; but this
would be in excess.
NOTE 8.—The Caspian is termed by Vincent of Beauvais _Mare
Seruanicum_, the Sea of Shirwan, another of its numerous Oriental
names, rendered by Marino Sanuto as _Mare Salvanicum_. (III. xi.
ch. ix.) But it was generally known to the Franks in the Middle
Ages as the SEA OF BACU. Thus Berni:—
“Fuor del deserto la diritta strada
Lungo il Mar di Bacu miglior pareva.”
(_Orl. Innam._ xvii. 60.)
And in the _Sfera_ of Lionardo Dati (_circa_ 1390):—
“Da Tramontana di quest’Asia Grande
Tartari son sotto la fredda Zona,
Gente bestial di bestie e vivande,
Fin dove _l’Onda di Baccù_ risuona,” etc. (p. 10.)
This name is introduced in Ramusio, but probably by interpolation,
as well as the correction of the statement regarding Euphrates,
which is perhaps a branch of the notion alluded to in _Prologue_,
ch. ii. note 5. In a later chapter Marco calls it the _Sea of
Sarai_, a title also given in the Carta Catalana. [Odorico calls it
Sea of _Bacuc_ (_Cathay_) and Sea of _Bascon_ (Cordier). The latter
name is a corruption of Abeskun, a small town and island in the
S.E. corner of the Caspian Sea, not far from Ashurada.—H. C.]
We have little information as to the Genoese navigation of the
Caspian, but the great number of names exhibited along its shores
in the map just named (1375) shows how familiar such navigation had
become by that date. See also _Cathay_, p. 50, where an account
is given of a remarkable enterprise by Genoese buccaneers on the
Caspian about that time. Mas’udi relates an earlier history of
how about the beginning of the 9th century a fleet of 500 Russian
vessels came out of the Volga, and ravaged all the populous
southern and western shores of the Caspian. The unhappy population
was struck with astonishment and horror at this unlooked-for
visitation from a sea that had hitherto been only frequented by
peaceful traders or fishermen. (II. 18–24.)
NOTE 9.—[The enormous quantity of fish found in the Caspian Sea is
ascribed to the mass of vegetable food to be found in the shallower
waters of the North and the mouth of the Volga. According to
Reclus, the Caspian fisheries bring in fish to the annual value of
between three and four millions sterling.—H. C.]
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[1] See Letter of Frederic to the Roman Senate, of 20th June, 1241,
in _Bréholles_. Mahommedan writers, contemporary with the Mongol
invasions, regarded these as a manifest sign of the approaching end
of the world. (See Elliot’s _Historians_, II. p. 265.)
[2] When the first edition was published, I was not aware of remarks to
like effect regarding names of this character by Sir H. Rawlinson in
the _J. R. As. Soc._ vol. xi. pp. 64 and 103.