_Yet another way by lande toward the lande of promission._
NOW haue I tolde you some wayes by land and by water how men may go to
Hierusalem. And if it be so that there be many other wayes that men go
by, after the countreys that they come from, neverthelesse they tourne
all to one ende, yet is there a way all by land to Hierusalem, &
passe no sea from Fraunce or Flaunders, but that way is full longe
and perylous & of great travaile, & therefore few go that way, he that
goeth that way, he goeth through Almayn & Pruse and so to Tartary,
this Tartary is holden of the great Cane,[1] of whome I shall speake
afterwarde, for thether lasteth[2] his lordeshippe, and all the lords
of Tartary yelde to him tribute. Tartary is a full evill land, sandy
and a lytle fruite bearing, for there groweth but little corne or
fruyte, but bestes are there great plentie, and therefore eate they
but fleshe without breade, and they sup the broth, and they drynke
mylke of all maner of bestes, they eat Cattes, and all maner of
wyld bestes, rattes & myce, and they haue but lyttle wodde,[3] and
therefore they dyght[4] theyr meate with horse dounge & other bestes
doung, when it is dry. Princes and other lordes eate but ones in the
day, and ryght lyttle, and they be ryght foule folke, and of evyll
lyking, and in somer there is many tempests and thonders, that sleaeth
many men & bestes (_sodainly it is_) right colde, and sodainly it is
right hot. The Prince that governeth that land they call him Roco and
he dwelleth at a Citie that men call Orda, and forsoth there is no
man that will dwell in that lande, for it is good to sow in thornes
& wedes, other good is there none, as I herd say, for I was not that
way, but I have bene in other lordes landes marching thereon, and the
land of Rossye and Nyflonde & the Kingedome of Grecon[5] and Lectowe,
and the kingdome of Grasten[6] & in many other places, but I went
neuer that way to Hierusalem & therefore I may not tell it, for I haue
understande, that men may not well go that way but in winter, when the
waters and marys[7] that be in that lande be frosen and covered with
snow, so that men may passe thereon, for were not the snow,
there might no man go in that lande but he wer lost. And ye shall
understande that a man shall go three days journey from Pruse to passe
this waye, tyll he come to the lande of Sarasyns, that men dwell in.
And if by fortune any christen men passe that way, as once a yeare
they doe, they cary theyr vitale with them, for they shoulde finde
nothing there but a maner of things that they call Syleys, and they
cary theyr vytales upon the yce on sleddes[8] and charyottes without
wheles, and as long as theyr vitayles laste, they may dwell there, but
no longer. And when spyes of the countrey see christen men come, they
runne to the towns and castels and cry right loude, Kera, Kera, Kera,
and as sone as they haue cryed, then dothe the people arme them. And
ye shall understande that the yse there is harder than it is here, and
euery man hath a stew[9] in his house, and therein they eat and do all
things that them nedeth. And that is at the North part of the world,
where it is commonly colde, for the Sonne cometh ne shineth but a
little in that countrey, and that lande is in some places so colde,
that there may no man dwel therein, and on the South side of the world
it is in some places so hote, that there can no man dwel, the son
giveth so great heate in those countreys.
[Footnote 1: Khan.]
[Footnote 2: For his dominions extend as far.]
[Footnote 3: Wood.]
[Footnote 4: Cook.]
[Footnote 5: Cracow.]
[Footnote 6: Darestan, or Silistria.]
[Footnote 7: Marais or marshes, meres.]
[Footnote 8: Sledges.]
[Footnote 9: Stove.]