to nobody except to a certain Tartar king of the Ponent, whose name is TOCTAI; to him indeed they pay tribute, but only a trifle.  It is not a land of trade, though to be sure they have many fine and valuable furs, such as Sables, in abundance, and Ermine, Vair, Ercolin, and Fox skins, the largest and finest in the world [and also much wax].  They also possess many Silver-mines, from which they derive a large amount of silver.[NOTE 1]

There is nothing else worth mentioning; so let us leave Rosia, and I will tell you about the Great Sea, and what provinces and nations lie round about it, all in detail; and we will begin with Constantinople.—­First, however, I should tell you of a province that lies between north and north-west.  You see in that region that I have been speaking of, there is a province called LAC, which is conterminous with Rosia, and has a king of its own.  The people are partly Christians and partly Saracens.  They have abundance of furs of good quality, which merchants export to many countries.  They live by trade and handicrafts.[NOTE 2]

There is nothing more worth mentioning, so I will speak of other subjects; but there is one thing more to tell you about Rosia that I had forgotten.  You see in Rosia there is the greatest cold that is to be found anywhere, so great as to be scarcely bearable.  The country is so great that it reaches even to the shores of the Ocean Sea, and ’tis in that sea that there are certain islands in which are produced numbers of gerfalcons and peregrine falcons, which are carried in many directions.  From Russia also to OROECH it is not very far, and the journey could be soon made, were it not for the tremendous cold; but this renders its accomplishment almost impossible.[NOTE 3]

Now then let us speak of the Great Sea, as I was about to do.  To be sure many merchants and others have been there, but still there are many again who know nothing about it, so it will be well to include it in our Book.  We will do so then, and let us begin first with the Strait of Constantinople.

NOTE 1.—­Ibn Fozlan, the oldest Arabic author who gives any detailed account of the Russians (and a very remarkable one it is), says he “never saw people of form more perfectly developed; they were tall as palm-trees, and ruddy of countenance,” but at the same time “the most uncleanly people that God hath created,” drunken, and frightfully gross in their manners. (Fraehn’s Ibn Fozlan, p. 5 seqq.) Ibn Batuta is in some respects less flattering; he mentions the silver-mines noticed in our text:  “At a day’s distance from Ukak[1] are the hills of the Russians, who are Christians.  They have red hair and blue eyes; ugly to look at, and crafty to deal with.  They have silver-mines, and it is from their country that are brought the saum or ingots of silver with which buying and selling is carried on in this country (Kipchak or the Ponent of Polo).  The weight of each saumah