Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/51

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This forms the first part of the first volume of a collection of Dutch translations of remarkable travels, which the well known bookseller Van der Aa published in 1706, under the title of: “Naaukerige versameling der gedenkwaardigste zee en land Reysen na Ost en West Indien.”

Respecting the travels of Plano Carpini, see Sprengel’s “Gesch. d. geogr. Entdeck.”, p. 278-288, where the same are accompanied by many learned explanations, as also Murray’s “Discoveries in Asia”, vol. i, pp. 84-109.

Nicolas Ascelin, a Dominican, was despatched by Pope Innocent IV to the Mongolians, at the same time that Plano Carpini was sent by way of Poland and Russia to the court of the Khan. He was accompanied by the monks Alexander, Albert, and Simon de St. Quentin. His entire journey lasted only for a short time; and as he speaks chiefly in his narrative of his reception in the camp of Bajothnoi (Bajunovian?), he gives but few disclosures respecting the countries he travelled through. His route seems to