Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 2, 1851).djvu/103

Rh The sweetness of this plant was said to be remarkable, so that it was very much sought after by wolves and other ravenous beasts.

Although I received this account about the seed and the plant as a passing observation, yet I have related it, as described to me by men by no means given to vain talking; and I repeat it with the less hesitation, because I was told by William Postel, a man of great learning, that he had heard from one Michael, who was public interpreter of Turkish and Arabic in the Venetian republic, that he had seen certain very delicate furs from a plant growing in those countries, which were used by the Mussulmauns to keep their heads warm after shaving them, and were applied also to their naked breasts, and which were brought from the neighbourhood of the Tartar city of Samarcand, and the countries lying north-east of the Caspian Sea, to Chalibontis. He said, moreover, that it was from an animal fixed on the ground like a plant, but that he had not seen the plant, nor knew its name, except that it was called "Samarcandeos". "As these details are not incompatible, they almost lead me to think," says Postel, "that this statement is not altogether fabulous, but rather that it is a fact, redounding to the glory of the Creator, to whom all things are possible."

Twenty days' journey eastward from the territory of Prince Schidack, we come to a people whom the Russians call Jurgenci, whose sovereign is the Sultan Barack, brother to the Great Khan or King of Cathaia. Ten days' journey from the dominions of Sultan Barack we come to those of the Khan Bebeid, this is that same Great Khan of Cathaia.