Chapter 36

was the chief city of the mountainous country of “Bestan”. We cannot fail to recognise in this “Setzulet”, or “Zulat”, the city of Joulad, where Timour, in 1395, gained a signal victory over Toktamish, after having annihilated a body of Kaitaks near Terky or Tarkou. Little enough is left to attest to the ancient splendour of Joulad, situated on the Terek, at no great distance from Yekaterynograd; but Güldenstadt found in its neighbourhood numerous remains, including Christian monuments, chiefly at a place called Tatar Toup—Hill of Tatars. Klaproth (_Voy. au Caucase et en Géorgie_, ii, 161) saw three minarets standing, that greatly resembled others at Joulad; also the ruins of two churches, which he attributes, as does Güldenstadt, to the 16th century, and to the Greek faith, whilst admitting the assertion of the Circassians, that those edifices were constructed by Franks, that is to say, by Europeans from the West, who had taken up their residence among the Tatars. This is confirmed by Barbaro (_Ramusio edition_, 109). “Caitacchi i quali sono circa il monte Caspio ... parlano idioma separate da gli altri. sono christiani molti di loro: dei quali parte fanno alla Greca, parte all’Armena, et alcuni alla Catholica.” In the face of such evidence, it is not strange that Schiltberger should have met, to the north of the great range of the Caucasus, a Christian bishop and Carmelites who worshipped in the Tatar tongue, although the Carmelites, an order of friars originated at Mount Carmel, were not introduced into Europe by St. Louis until the year 1328; and in alluding to the mountainous country of “Bestan”, in which was the city of Joulad, the Bishtag—Five mountains—where Ibn Batouta (_Lee edition_, 76) met the Khan Uzbek, Schiltberger must have had in view the environs of Yekaterynograd, still called Beshtamak, because the country is watered by five tributaries to the Terek (Klaproth, i, 327).—BRUUN.

(4.) “Zegre.”—This “Zegre” or “Zeggra”, was in all probability Tchekre, coins of whose reign, struck in 1414–1416, at casual encampments—at Bolgar, Astrahan, and Saraï, are preserved (Savelieff, _Mon. Joud._, ii, 337).—BRUUN.

(5.) “savages, that had been taken in the mountain.”—This couple may have been brought from northern Siberia, where the rigorous nature of the climate compelled the natives to wear, by night and by day, as they do now, clothing made of the skins of animals. Schiltberger somewhat assimilates them to monkeys, which reminds us of Herodotus, who described the Neurians as being transformed into wolves, during six months of the year, because they were in all probability clothed in wolf-skins, so long as winter lasted.—BRUUN.

(6.) “Ugine.”—One is liable at first sight to identify the “Ugine” with the Ung of Marco Polo (Yule, i, 276), whom he distinguishes from the Mongols proper; “two races of people that existed in that province (Tenduc) before the migration of the Tartars. _Ung_ was the title of the people of the country, and _Mungul_ a name sometimes applied to the Tartars.” Pauthier (Marco Polo, i, 218) explains, that by Ung are meant the Keraits, or subjects of Prester John, so named because, like them, he was a Nestorian. A descendant of this Prester John, named George, mentioned by Marco Polo, was converted to Catholicism by Giovanni di Montecorvino, who had numerous partisans in China during the stay in that country of Giovanni de Marignolli (_Reis. in das Morgenl._, 41); Pauthier is therefore of opinion that, in Schiltberger’s time, there were Christian Ung in Northern Asia, who, if not Catholics, were perhaps Nestorians. There could scarcely, however, have been anything in common between the Ung and the “Ugine”, for the author says that, although they worshipped the infant Jesus, they were not Christians; and this he makes more explicit in Chap. 45, where he includes them among the five classes of infidels known to him, being those who confessed the three kings before receiving baptism. None of the three kings became the founder of any religion whatsoever. Neumann’s views may, therefore, be accepted, viz., that Schiltberger alludes to Buddhism, introduced among the Mongols by Jengiz from Thibet. I should consequently prefer to associate the “Ugine”, not with the Keraits, but with the great Turk tribe, the Ung-kut, in whom Colonel Yule (Marco Polo, i, 285) recognises the real Ung of Marco Polo.—BRUUN.

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