CHAPTER II.

HOW THE TWO BROTHERS WENT ON BEYOND SOLDAIA.

Having stayed a while at Soldaia, they considered the matter, and

thought it well to extend their journey further. So they set forth from

Soldaia and travelled till they came to the Court of a certain Tartar

Prince, BARCA KAAN by name, whose residences were at SARA{1} and at

BOLGARA [and who was esteemed one of the most liberal and courteous

Princes that ever was among the Tartars.]{2} This Barca was delighted

at the arrival of the Two Brothers, and treated them with great honour;

so they presented to him the whole of the jewels that they had brought

with them. The Prince was highly pleased with these, and accepted the

offering most graciously, causing the Brothers to receive at least

twice its value.

After they had spent a twelvemonth at the court of this Prince there

broke out a great war between Barca and Aláu, the Lord of the Tartars

of the Levant, and great hosts were mustered on either side.{3}

[Illustration: Map to illustrate the Geographical Position of the CITY

of SARAI

Part of the Remains of the CITY of SARAI near TZAREV North of the

AKHTUBA Branch of the VOLGA

Lit. Frauenfelder, Palermo]

But in the end Barca, the Lord of the Tartars of the Ponent, was

defeated, though on both sides there was great slaughter. And by reason

of this war no one could travel without peril of being taken; thus it

was at least on the road by which the Brothers had come, though there

was no obstacle to their travelling forward. So the Brothers, finding

they could not retrace their steps, determined to go forward. Quitting

Bolgara, therefore, they proceeded to a city called UCACA, which was at

the extremity of the kingdom of the Lord of the Ponent;{4} and thence

departing again, and passing the great River Tigris, they travelled

across a Desert which extended for seventeen days’ journey, and wherein

they found neither town nor village, falling in only with the tents of

Tartars occupied with their cattle at pasture.{5}

NOTE 1.—✛ Barka Khan, third son of Jújí, the first-born of

Chinghiz, ruled the _Ulús_ of Juji and Empire of Kipchak (Southern

Russia) from 1257 to 1265. He was the first Musulman sovereign of

his race. His chief residence was at SARAI (Sara of the text), a

city founded by his brother and predecessor Bátú, on the banks of

the Akhtuba branch of the Volga. In the next century Ibn Batuta

describes Sarai as a very handsome and populous city, so large that

it made half a day’s journey to ride through it. The inhabitants

were Mongols, Aás (or Alans), Kipchaks, Circassians, Russians, and

Greeks, besides the foreign Moslem merchants, who had a walled

quarter. Another Mahomedan traveller of the same century says the

city itself was not walled, but, “The Khan’s Palace was a great

edifice surmounted by a golden crescent weighing two _kantars_ of

Egypt, and encompassed by a wall flanked with towers,” etc. Pope

John XXII., on the 26th February 1322, defined the limits of the

new Bishopric of Kaffa, which were Sarai to the east and Varna to

the west.

Sarai became the seat of both a Latin and a Russian metropolitan,

and of more than one Franciscan convent. It was destroyed by Timur

on his second invasion of Kipchak (1395–6), and extinguished by the

Russians a century later. It is the scene of Chaucer’s half-told

tale of Cambuscan:—

“At _Sarra_, in the Londe of Tartarie,

There dwelt a King that werriëd Russie.”

[“_Mesalek-al-absar_ (285, 287), says Sarai, meaning ‘the Palace,’

was founded by Bereké, brother of Batu. It stood in a salty plain,

and was without walls, though the palace had walls flanked by

towers. The town was large, had markets, _madrasas_—and baths. It

is usually identified with Selitrennoyé Gorodok, about 70 miles

above Astrakhan.” (_Rockhill, Rubruck_, p. 260, note.)—H. C.]

Several sites exhibiting extensive ruins near the banks of the

Akhtuba have been identified with Sarai; two in particular.

One of these is not far from the great elbow of the Volga at

Tzaritzyn: the other much lower down, at Selitrennoyé Gorodok or

Saltpetre-Town, not far above Astrakhan.

The upper site exhibits by far the most extensive traces of

former population, and is declared unhesitatingly to be the sole

site of Sarai by M. Gregorieff, who carried on excavations among

the remains for four years, though with what precise results I

have not been able to learn. The most dense part of the remains,

consisting of mounds and earth-works, traces of walls, buildings,

cisterns, dams, and innumerable canals, extends for about 7½ miles

in the vicinity of the town of Tzarev, but a tract of 66 miles in

length and 300 miles in circuit, commencing from near the head

of the Akhtuba, presents remains of like character, though of

less density, marking the ground occupied by the villages which

encircled the capital. About 2½ miles to the N.W. of Tzarev a vast

mass of such remains, surrounded by the traces of a brick rampart,

points out the presumable position of the Imperial Palace.

M. Gregorieff appears to admit no alternative. Yet it seems certain

that the indications of Abulfeda, Pegolotti, and others, with

regard to the position of the capital in the early part of the 14th

century, are not consistent with a site so far from the Caspian.

Moreover, F. H. Müller states that the site near Tzarev is known

to the Tartars as the “Sarai of Janibek Khan” (1341–1357). Now it

is worthy of note that in the coinage of Janibek we repeatedly

find as the place of mintage, _New Sarai_. Arabsháh in his History

of Timur states that 63 years had elapsed from the foundation to

the destruction of Sarai. But it must have been at least 140 years

since the foundation of Batu’s city. Is it not possible, therefore,

that both the sites which we have mentioned were successively

occupied by the Mongol capital; that the original Sarai of Batu was

at Selitrennoyé Gorodok, and that the _New Sarai_ of Janibek was

established by him, or by his father Uzbeg in his latter days, on

the upper Akhtuba? Pegolotti having carried his merchant from Tana

(Azov) to Gittarchan (Astrakhan), takes him _one day_ by river to

Sara, and from Sara to _Saracanco_, also by river, eight days more.

(_Cathay_, p. 287.) In the work quoted I have taken Saracanco for

Saraichik, on the Yaik. But it was possibly the Upper or New Sarai

on the Akhtuba. Ibn Batuta, marching on the frozen river, reached

Sarai in three days from Astrakhan. This could not have been at

Tzarev, 200 miles off.

In corroboration (_quantum valeat_) of my suggestion that there

must have been two Sarais near the Volga, Professor Bruun of Odessa

points to the fact that Fra Mauro’s map presents _two_ cities of

Sarai on the Akhtuba; only the Sarai of Janibeg is with him no

longer _New_ Sarai, but _Great_ Sarai.

The use of the latter name suggests the possibility that in the

_Saracanco_ of Pegolotti the latter half of the name may be the

Mongol _Kúnḳ_ “Great.” (See _Pavet de Courteille_, p. 439.)

Professor Bruun also draws attention to the impossibility of Ibn

Batuta’s travelling from Astrakhan to Tzarev in three days, an

argument which had already occurred to me and been inserted above.

[The Empire of Kipchak founded after the Mongol Conquest of 1224,

included also parts of Siberia and Khwarizm; it survived nominally

until 1502.—H. C.]

(_Four Years of Archæological Researches among the Ruins of Sarai_

[in Russian] by M. Gregorieff [who appears to have also published a

pamphlet specially on the site, but this has not been available];

_Historisch-geographische Darstellung des Stromsystems der Wolga,

von Ferd. Heinr. Müller_, Berlin, 1839, 568–577; _Ibn. Bat._ II.

447; _Not. et Extraits_, XIII. i. 286; _Pallas, Voyages; Cathay_,

231, etc.; _Erdmann, Numi Asiatici_, pp. 362 _seqq._; _Arabs._ I.

p. 381.)

NOTE 2.—BOLGHAR, our author’s Bolgara, was the capital of the

region sometimes called Great Bulgaria, by Abulfeda _Inner

Bulgaria_, and stood a few miles from the left bank of the Volga,

in latitude about 54° 54′, and 90 miles below Kazan. The old Arab

writers regarded it as nearly the limit of the habitable world, and

told wonders of the cold, the brief summer nights, and the fossil

ivory that was found in its vicinity. This was exported, and with

peltry, wax, honey, hazel-nuts, and Russia leather, formed the

staple articles of trade. The last item derived from Bolghar the

name which it still bears all over Asia. (See Bk. II. ch. xvi.,

and Note.) Bolghar seems to have been the northern limit of Arab

travel, and was visited by the curious (by Ibn Batuta among others)

in order to witness the phenomena of the short summer night, as

tourists now visit Hammerfest to witness its entire absence.

Russian chroniclers speak of an earlier capital of the Bulgarian

kingdom, Brakhimof, near the mouth of the Kama, destroyed by

Andrew, Grand Duke of Rostof and Susdal, about 1160; and this may

have been the city referred to in the earlier Arabic accounts. The

fullest of these is by Ibn Fozlán, who accompanied an embassy from

the Court of Baghdad to Bolghar, in A.D. 921. The King and people

had about this time been converted to Islam, having previously, as

it would seem, professed Christianity. Nevertheless, a Mahomedan

writer of the 14th century says the people had then long renounced

Islam for the worship of the Cross. (_Not. et Extr._ XIII. i. 270.)

[Illustration: Ruins of Bolghar.]

Bolghar was first captured by the Mongols in 1225. It seems to have

perished early in the 15th century, after which Kazan practically

took its place. Its position is still marked by a village called

Bolgari, where ruins of Mahomedan character remain, and where coins

and inscriptions have been found. Coins of the Kings of Bolghar,

struck in the 10th century, have been described by Fraehn, as

well as coins of the Mongol period struck at Bolghar. Its latest

known coin is of A.H. 818 (A.D. 1415–16). A history of Bolghar was

written in the first half of the 12th century by Yakub Ibn Noman,

Kadhi of the city, but this is not known to be extant.

Fraehn shows ground for believing the people to have been a mixture

of Fins, Slavs, and Turks. Nicephorus Gregoras supposes that they

took their name from the great river on which they dwelt (Βούλγα).

[“The ruins [of Bolghar],” says Bretschneider, in his _Mediæval

Researches_, published in 1888, vol. ii. p. 82, “still exist, and

have been the subject of learned investigation by several Russian

scholars. These remains are found on the spot where now the village

_Uspenskoye_, called also _Bolgarskoye_ (Bolgari), stands, in the

district of Spask, province of Kazan. This village is about 4

English miles distant from the Volga, east of it, and 83 miles from

Kazan.” Part of the Bulgars removed to the Balkans; others remained

in their native country on the shores of the Azov Sea, and were

subjugated by the Khazars. At the beginning of the 9th century,

they marched northwards to the Volga and the Kama, and established

the kingdom of Great Bulgaria. Their chief city, Bolghar, was on

the bank of the Volga, but the river runs now to the west; as the

Kama also underwent a change in its course, it is possible that

formerly Bolghar was built at the junction of the two rivers.

(Cf. _Reclus, Europe russe_, p. 761.) The Bulgars were converted

to Islam in 922. Their country was first invaded by the Mongols

under Subutai in 1223; this General conquered it in 1236, the

capital was destroyed the following year, and the country annexed

to the kingdom of Kipchak. Bolghar was again destroyed in 1391 by

Tamerlan. In 1438, Ulugh Mohammed, cousin of Toka Timur, younger

son of Juji, transformed this country into the khanate of Kazan,

which survived till 1552. It had probably been the capital of the

Golden Horde before Sarai.

With reference to the early Christianity of the Bulgarians, to

which Yule refers in his note, the _Laurentian Chronicle_ (A.D.

1229), quoted by Shpilevsky, adduces evidence to show that in the

Great City, _i.e._ _Bulgar_, there were Russian Christians and a

Christian cemetery, and the death of a Bulgarian Christian martyr

is related in the same chronicle as well as in the Nikon, Tver, and

Tatischef annals in which his name is given. (Cf. Shpilevsky, _Anc.

towns and other Bulgaro-Tartar monuments_, Kazan, 1877, p. 158

seq.; _Rockhill’s Rubruck_, Hakl. Soc. p. 121, note.)—H. C.]

The severe and lasting winter is spoken of by Ibn Fozlán and other

old writers in terms that seem to point to a modern mitigation

of climate. It is remarkable, too, that Ibn Fozlán speaks of the

aurora as of very frequent occurrence, which is not now the case

in that latitude. We may suspect this frequency to have been

connected with the greater cold indicated, and perhaps with a

different position of the magnetic pole. Ibn Fozlán’s account of

the aurora is very striking:—“Shortly before sunset the horizon

became all very ruddy, and at the same time I heard sounds in the

upper air, with a dull rustling. I looked up and beheld sweeping

over me a fire-red cloud, from which these sounds issued, and in

it movements, as it were, of men and horses; the men grasping

bows, lances, and swords. This I saw, or thought I saw. Then there

appeared a white cloud of like aspect; in it also I beheld armed

horsemen, and these rushed against the former as one squadron of

horse charges another. We were so terrified at this that we turned

with humble prayer to the Almighty, whereupon the natives about us

wondered and broke into loud laughter. We, however, continued to

gaze, seeing how one cloud charged the other, remained confused

with it a while, and then sundered again. These movements lasted

deep into the night, and then all vanished.”

(_Fraehn, Ueber die Wolga Bulgaren_, Petersb. 1832; _Gold.

Horde_, 8, 9, 423–424; _Not. et Extr._ II. 541; _Ibn Bat._ II.

398; _Büschings Mag._ V. 492; _Erdmann, Numi Asiat._ I. 315–318,

333–334, 520–535; _Niceph. Gregoras_, II. 2, 2.)

NOTE 3.—ALAU is Polo’s representation of the name of Hulákú,

brother of the Great Kaans Mangu and Kublai and founder of the

Mongol dynasty in Persia. In the Mongol pronunciation guttural

and palatal consonants are apt to be elided, hence this spelling.

The same name is written by Pope Alexander IV., in addressing the

Khan, _Olao_, by Pachymeres and Gregoras Χαλαὺ and Χαλαοῦ, by

Hayton _Haolon_, by Ibn Batuta _Huláún_, as well as in a letter of

Hulaku’s own, as given by Makrizi.

The war in question is related in Rashíduddín’s history, and by

Polo himself towards the end of the work. It began in the summer of

1262, and ended about eight months later. Hence the Polos must have

reached Barka’s Court in 1261.

Marco always applies to the Mongol Khans of Persia the title of

“Lords of the East” (_Levant_), and to the Khans of Kipchak that of

“Lords of the West” (_Ponent_). We use the term _Levant_ still with

a similar specific application, and in another form _Anatolia_. I

think it best to preserve the terms _Levant_ and _Ponent_ when used

in this way.

[Robert Parke in his translation out of Spanish of Mendoza,

_The Historie of the great and mightie kingdome of China_ ...

London, printed by I. Wolfe for Edward White, 1588, uses the word

_Ponent_: “You shall understande that this mightie kingdome is the

Orientalest part of all Asia, and his next neighbour towards the

_Ponent_ is the kingdome of _Quachinchina_ ... (p. 2).”—H. C.]

NOTE 4.—UCACA or UKEK was a town on the right bank of the Volga,

nearly equidistant between Sarai and Bolghar, and about six miles

south of the modern Saratov, where a village called _Uwek_ still

exists. Ukek is not mentioned before the Mongol domination, and is

supposed to have been of Mongol foundation, as the name Ukek is

said in Mongol to signify a dam of hurdles. The city is mentioned

by Abulfeda as marking the extremity of “the empire of the Barka

Tartars,” and Ibn Batuta speaks of it as “one day distant from

the hills of the Russians.” Polo therefore means that it was the

frontier of the Ponent towards Russia. Ukek was the site of a

Franciscan convent in the 14th century; it is mentioned several

times in the campaigns of Timur, and was destroyed by his army.

It is not mentioned under the form Ukek after this, but appears

as _Uwek_ and _Uwesh_ in Russian documents of the 16th century.

Perhaps this was always the Slavonic form, for it already is

written _Uguech_ (= Uwek) in Wadding’s 14th century catalogue of

convents. Anthony Jenkinson, in Hakluyt, gives an observation of

its latitude, as _Oweke_ (51° 40′), and Christopher Burrough, in

the same collection, gives a description of it as _Oueak_, and the

latitude as 51° 30′ (some 7′ too much). In his time (1579) there

were the remains of a “very faire stone castle” and city, with old

tombs exhibiting sculptures and inscriptions. All these have long

vanished. Burrough was told by the Russians that the town “was

swallowed into the earth by the justice of God, for the wickednesse

of the people that inhabited the same.” Lepechin in 1769 found

nothing remaining but part of an earthen rampart and some

underground vaults of larger bricks, which the people dug out for

use. He speaks of coins and other relics as frequent, and the like

have been found more recently. Coins with Mongol-Arab inscriptions,

struck at Ukek by Tuktugai Khan in 1306, have been described by

Fraehn and Erdmann.

(_Fraehn, Ueber die ehemalige Mong. Stadt Ukek_, etc., Petersb.

1835; _Gold. Horde_; _Ibn Bat._ II. 414; _Abulfeda, in Büsching_,

V. 365; _Ann. Minorum_, sub anno 1400; _Pétis de la Croix_, II.

355, 383, 388; _Hakluyt_, ed. 1809, I. 375 and 472; _Lepechin,

Tagebuch der Reise_, etc., I. 235–237; _Rockhill, Rubruck_,

120–121, note 2.)

NOTE 5.—The great River Tigeri or Tigris is the Volga, as Pauthier

rightly shows. It receives the same name from the Monk Pascal of

Vittoria in 1338. (_Cathay_, p. 234.) Perhaps this arose out of

some legend that the Tigris was a reappearance of the same river.

The ecclesiastical historian, Nicephorus Callistus, appears to

imply that the Tigris coming from Paradise flows under the Caspian

to emerge in Kurdistan. (See IX. 19.)

The “17 days” applies to one stretch of desert. The whole journey

from Ukek Bokhara would take some 60 days at least. Ibn Batuta is

58 days from Sarai to Bokhara, and of the last section he says, “we

entered the desert which extends between Khwarizm and Bokhara, and

_which has an extent of 18 days’ journey_.” (III. 19.)