ANTHONY JENKINSON.

1558

it to me and received me well. By his order, I was entertained with food and mare's milk, for there was no bread there. And in payment for the wares stolen from me by his people, which had a value of about 15 Muscovite rubles each ruble is worth about 100 Dutch stivers, he gave a free letter of safe-conduct, along with a horse of 7 rubles' value, noting that money has no place among them. I found myself quite satisfied to have enjoyed this courtesy from him, for I was assured that the order to rob me had already been given if I had been cunning around him.

How he conducts himself, noted.

This Prince always keeps himself in the field and is provided with neither castles nor cities. I found him under a small, round dwelling made of reeds, covered on the outside with rough skins and lined on the inside with carpets. Beside him, I saw the Bishop of this desolate land, honored beneath him like the Pope at Rome. Both of them asked me about our country, laws, and religion, along with the purpose of my journey. I noticed their satisfaction with the answer I gave them. I then returned to the people of the caravan, with whom I traveled for 20 days in this desert without seeing any city or village. We had used up our provisions, but when those failed us, we ate one of my camels, the rest of the caravan paying for their load likewise in the following days. For three days we were without water to find, and what we found in the following days had to be drawn from very deep wells, which was still salty, however.

Further progress of the caravan.

On the 3rd of October, we found ourselves on the shore of a gulf of the Caspian Sea, where the waters are very good. Those who collected the tolls here on behalf of the King of Turcomania took 100 of our wares, along with a gift of 7 different items for the King. We did not stay there more than a day and departed after we had refreshed ourselves a little.