, and
Matriga.--Forst.

[4] This obviously refers to the canal of communication between the sea of
Azoph and the Euxine.--E.

[5] Called likewise Soldeya, Soldadia and Sogdat, now Sudak.--E.

[6] Sartach was the son of Baatu-khan.--E.

[7] This name is probably meant to imply the Trucheman, Dragoman, or
interpreter; and from the strange appellative, _Man of God_, he may
have been a monk from Constantinople, with a Greek name, having that
signification: perhaps Theander--E.

[8] Cherson or Kersona, called likewise Scherson, Schursi, and Gurzi.--E.

[9] These castles of the Goths, first mentioned by Rubruquis, were
afterwards noticed by Josaphat Barbaro, a Venetian, in 1436; and
Busbeck conversed with some of these Goths from the Crimea at
Constantinople in 1562, and gives a vocabulary of their language. From
the authority of Rubruquis misunderstood, some ancient map makers have
inserted the Castella Judeorum instead of Gothorum in the Crimea, and
even Danville placed them in his maps under the name of Chateaux des
Juifs, castles of the Jews.--Forst.

SECTION II.

_Of the Tartars and their Houses_.

They have no permanent city, and they are ignorant of the future. They
divide all Scythia among them; and each leader, according to the number of
his followers, knows the boundaries of his pastures, and where he ought to
feed his flocks in winter and summer, and in spring and autumn. In winter
they descend into the warmer regions of the south, and in summer they
travel towards the colder countries of the north. Such pastures as have no
water, are reserved for winter use, when there is snow on the ground, as
the snow there serves instead of water.

The houses in which they sleep are founded on a round structure of wattled
rods, and the roof is formed of wickers, meeting above in a small roundel,
from which arises a neck like a chimney, all of which they cover with white
felt; and they often cover over the felt with lime, or white earth and
powdered bones to make it bright: sometimes their houses are black; and the
felt about the neck of the dome is decorated with a variety of pictures.
Before the door, likewise, they hang a felt, ornamented with painting; and
they employ much coloured felt, painted with vines, trees, birds, and
beasts, for decorating their dwellings. Some of these houses are so large
as to measure thirty feet in breadth. I once measured the distance