From the audience we were conducted to the dwelling of a person who was ordered to provide us in lodging, food, and horses; but as we had no presents to give, he treated us with great neglect. We travelled along with Baatu, down the banks of the Volga for five weeks, and were often so much in want of provisions, that my companion was sometimes so extremely hungry as even to weep. For though there is always a fair or market following the court, it was so far from us, that we, who were forced to travel on foot, were unable to reach it. At length, some Hungarians, who had for some time been looked upon as priests, found out, and relieved our distresses. One of these was able to sing with a loud voice, and being considered by his countrymen as a kind of priest, was employed at their funerals; the other had been decently instructed in the Latin grammar, so that he understood whatever we spoke to him deliberately, but was unable to make answer. These men were a great consolation to us, as they supplied us with flesh and cosmos. They requested some books from us, and it grieved me much that we could not comply, having only one bible and a breviary. But I made them bring some ink and paper, and I copied out for them the Hours of the blessed Virgin, and the Office for the Dead. It happened one day that a Comanian passing by saluted us in Latin, saying Salvete domini. Surprized at this unusual salutation, I questioned him how he had learnt it, and he told me he had been baptized in Hungary by our priests, who had taught him. He said, likewise, that Baatu had inquired many things at him respecting us, and that he had given him an account of the nature and rules of our order. I afterwards saw Baatu riding with his company, who were the whole of his subjects that were householders or masters of families, and in my estimation they did not exceed 500 men279.

At length, about the Holyrood, 14th September, or festival of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, there came to us a certain rich Moal, whose father was a millenary or captain of a thousand horse, who informed us that he had been appointed to conduct us. He informed us that the journey would take us four months, and that the cold was so extreme in winter, as even to tear asunder trees and stones with its force. "Advise well with yourselves, therefore," said he, "whether you be able to endure it, for otherwise I shall forsake you by the way." To this I answered, that I hoped we should be able, with the help of God, to endure hardships like other men; but as we were sent by his lord under his charge, and did not go on any business of our own, he ought not to forsake us. He then said that all should be well, and having examined our garments, he directed us what we should leave behind in the custody of our host, as not useful for the journey; and next day he sent each of us a furred gown, made of sheep skins, with the wool on, and breeches of the same, likewise shoes or footsocks made of felt, and boots of their fashion, and hoods of skins. The second day after the holy cross day, 16th September, we began our journey, attended by three guides, and we rode continually eastwards during forty-six days, till the feast of All-Saints, 1st November. The whole of that region, and even beyond it, is inhabited by the people named Changle or Kangittae, who are descended from the Romans. Upon the north side we had the country of the Greater Bulgaria, and to the south the Caspian sea.

At the end of twelve days journey from the Etilia or Volga, we came to a great river named the Jagag (Jaic or Ural); which, issuing from the land of Pascatir (of Zibier or of the Baschirs, now Siberia), falls into the Caspian. The language of the Baschirs and of the Hungarians is the same, and they are all shepherds, having no cities; and their land is bounded on the west by the Greater Bulgaria; from which country eastwards, in these northern parts, there are no cities whatsoever, so that the Greater Bulgaria is the last country which possesses towns and cities. From this country of Pascatir the Huns went, who were afterwards called Hungarians. Isidore writes, that with swift horses they passed the walls of Alexander, and the rocks of Caucasus, which opposed the barbarians, and even exacted tribute from Egypt, and laid waste the whole of Europe as far as France, being even more warlike in their day than the Tartars are now. With them the Blacians or Walachians, the Bulgarians, and the Vandals united. These Bulgarians came from the Greater Bulgaria, The people named Ilac or Vlac, who inhabit beyond the Danube from Constantinople, not far from Pascatir, are the same people, being properly named Blac or Blacians, but as the Tartars cannot pronounce the letter B, they are called Ilac, Vlac, or Wallachians. From them, likewise, the inhabitants of the land of the Assani are descended, both having the same name in the Russian, Polish, and Bohemian languages. The Sclavonians and the Vandals speak the same language; and all of these joined themselves formerly with the Huns, as they now do with the Tartars. All this that I have written concerning the land of Pascatir, I was informed by certain friars predicants, who had travelled there before the irruption of the Tartars; and as they had been subdued by their neighbours the Bulgarians, who were Mahometans, many of them adopted that faith. Other matters respecting these people may be known from various chronicles. But it is obvious, that those provinces beyond Constantinople, which are now called Bulgaria, Wallachia, and Sclavonia280, formerly belonged to the Greek empire; and Hungary was formerly named Pannonia.

We continued riding through the land of the Changles or Kangittae, as before mentioned, from Holy Cross-day till All-Saints, travelling every day, as well as I could guess, about as far as from Paris to Orleans, and sometimes farther281, according as we happened to be provided with relays; for sometimes we would change horses two or three times a-day, and then we travelled quicker; while sometimes we had to travel two or three days without finding any inhabitants to supply us, and then we were forced to travel more deliberately. Out of thirty or forty horses, we were always sure to have the worst, being strangers, as every one took their choice before it came to our turn. They always, however, provided me with a strong horse, because I was corpulent and heavy; but whether his pace happened to be hard or gentle, was all one to them, and I dared not to make any complaints. Our horses often tired before we could fall in with any of the inhabitants, and we were then obliged to beat and whip them up, being obliged to lay our garments upon spare horses, and sometimes two of us obliged to ride on one horse.

There was no end of hunger and thirst, and cold and weariness. In the morning they gave us something to drink, or some boiled millet; but afterwards we had nothing to eat until the evening, when they bestowed some flesh upon us, being generally the shoulder and breast of a ram, and every one was allowed a proportion of the broth to drink; and we considered ourselves fortunate when we had enough of broth, as it was exceedingly refreshing, pleasant, and nutritive. Sometimes we were constrained to eat our meat half boiled, or even almost raw, for want of fuel, especially when we were benighted and obliged to pass the night in the fields, because we could not conveniently gather horse or cow-dung to make a fire, and we seldom found any other fuel, except a few thorns here and there, and a few rare woods on the banks of some rivers. Every Saturday I remained fasting until night, and was then constrained, to my great grief, to eat flesh, as I could not procure any other food in the desert. In the beginning of our journey our guide disdained us exceedingly, and seemed quite indignant at being obliged to take charge of such base fellows as he seemed to esteem us; but he afterwards behaved better, and often took us purposely to the courts of rich Moals, who requested us to pray for them; and if I had been so fortunate as to have a good interpreter, I might have been able to do some good among these ignorant people.