session of
well-established markets; there are manufactured fine stuffs, which are
called after its name." It was at Erzinjan that was fought in 1244 the
great battle, which placed the Seljuk Turks under the dependency of the
Mongol Khans.--H. C.] I do not find mention of its hot springs by modern
travellers, but Lazari says Armenians assured him of their existence. There
are plenty of others in Polo's route through the country, as at Ilija,
close to Erzrum, and at Hassan Kala.

The _Buckrams_ of Arzinga are mentioned both by Pegolotti (circa 1340) and
by Giov. d'Uzzano (1442). But what were they?

Buckram in the modern sense is a coarse open texture of cotton or hemp,
loaded with gum, and used to stiffen certain articles of dress. But this
was certainly _not_ the mediaeval sense. Nor is it easy to bring the
mediaeval uses of the term under a single explanation. Indeed Mr. Marsh
suggests that probably two different words have coalesced. Fr.-Michel says
that _Bouqueran_ was _at first_ applied to a light cotton stuff of the
nature of muslin, and _afterwards_ to linen, but I do not see that he
makes out this history of the application. Douet d'Arcq, in his _Comptes
de l'Argenterie_, etc., explains the word simply in the modern sense, but
there seems nothing in his text to bear this out.

A quotation in Raynouard's Romance Dictionary has "_Vestirs de polpra e
de_ bisso _que est_ bocaran," where Raynouard renders _bisso_ as _lin_; a
quotation in Ducange also makes Buckram the equivalent of Bissus; and
Michel quotes from an inventory of 1365, "_unam culcitram pinctam_ (qu.
punctam?) _albam factam_ de bisso _aliter_ boquerant."

Mr. Marsh again produces quotations, in which the word is used as a
proverbial example of _whiteness_, and inclines to think that it was a
bleached cloth with a lustrous surface.

It certainly was not _necessarily_ linen. Giovanni Villani, in a passage
which is curious in more ways than one, tells how the citizens of Florence
established races for their troops, and, among other prizes, was one which
consisted of a _Bucherame di bambagine_ (of cotton). Polo, near the end of
the Book (Bk. III. ch. xxxiv.), speaking of Abyssinia, says, according to
Pauthier's text: "_Et si y fait on moult beaux_ bouquerans et autres draps
de coton." The G. T. is, indeed, more ambiguous: "_Il hi se font maint
biaus dras_ banbacin e bocaran" (cotton _and_ buckram). When, however, he
uses the same expression with referen