Thence people pass to the city of Rome in ten days.  And from Rome they proceed by land to Lucca, which is a five days’ journey.  Thence they cross the mountain of Jean de Maurienne, and the passes of Italy.  It is twenty days’ journey to Verdun, which is the commencement of Alamannia, a land of mountains and hills.  All the congregations of Alamannia are situated on the great river Rhine, from the city of Cologne, which is the principal town of the Empire, to the city of Regensburg, a distance of fifteen days’ journey at the other extremity of Alamannia, otherwise called Ashkenaz.

[p.110]

And the following are the cities in the land of Alamannia, which have Hebrew congregations:  Metz, Treves on the river Moselle, Coblenz, Andernach, Bonn, Cologne, Bingen, Muenster, Worms,[211] [All Israel is dispersed in every land, and he who does not further the gathering of Israel will not meet with happiness nor live with Israel.  When the Lord will remember us in our exile, and raise the horn of his anointed, then every one will say, “I will lead the Jews and I will gather them.”  As for the towns which have been mentioned, they contain scholars and communities that love their brethren, and speak peace to those that are near and afar, and when a wayfarer comes they rejoice, and make a feast for him, and say, “Rejoice, brethren, for the help of the Lord comes in the twinkling of an eye.”  If we were not afraid that the appointed time has not yet arrived nor been reached, we would have gathered together, but we dare not do so until the time for song has arrived, and the voice of the turtle-dove (is heard in the land), when the messengers will come and say continually, “The Lord be exalted.”

[p.111]

Meanwhile they send missives one to the other, saying, “Be ye strong in the law of Moses, and do ye mourners for Zion and ye mourners for Jerusalem entreat the Lord, and may the supplication of those that wear the garments of mourning be received through their merits.”  In addition to the several cities which we have mentioned there are besides] Strassburg, Wuerzburg, Mantern, Bamberg, Freising, and Regensburg at the extremity of the Empire[212].  In these cities there are many Israelites, wise men and rich.

Thence extends the land of Bohemia, called Prague[213].  This is the commencement of the land of Slavonia, and the Jews who dwell there call it Canaan, because the men of that land (the Slavs) sell their sons and their daughters to the other nations.  These are the men of Russia, which is a great empire stretching from the gate of Prague to the gates of Kieff, the large city which is at the extremity of that empire[214].  It is a land of mountains and forests, where there are to be found the animals called vair[215], ermine, and sable.

[p.112]

No one issues forth from his house in winter-time on account of the cold.  People are to be found there who have lost the tips of their noses by reason of the frost.  Thus far reaches the empire of Russia.