Colmack Tartars The Crim's describ'd they deride the Russian worship The grounds why they do it HAving fetch 't this compass I thinâ— it fit to touch upon Tartaria anâ— tell you what account I have had from thence which though incompleat takâ— as you find it and be pleased to excusâ— the brevity of this Narration The Metropolis of Tartary is calleâ— Crim it is a strong walled Town upoâ— the Tartarian Sea from whence the greaâ— Cham is nam'd the Crim-Tartar Theâ— say the City is built of Stone and Briâ— very stately The people are tributaâ— to the Turk and Moscua was formerly tributary to them and paid ten thousand Sheep-skin coats yearly to the Duke of Moscovi's homage which was to feed the Crims horse with oates out of his Cap to this also he was sworn by a strict dath But within this ten years the tribute has been refused because the Tartar broke the League by invading the Confines And indeed they are troublesom neighbors like Flyes when they are routed they fly in a moment dispersing themselves one by one but at night rendezvous again and 't is almost as impossible to got one of their led horses which will not leave their companions They will march an hundred miles a day with changing their horses once or twice for every man is furnished with three at four at least If any of them tyre oâ— dye they share them among the troop and being sufficiently chased under the saddle they make an hearty meal of them If any of them fall sick they give him some Mares milk or fresh bloud from an horse which they blâ—â—d on purpose They bring no Salt nor Bread along with them nor do they eat any at all alledging that Salt makes them dim-sighted and Bread breeds a dull and heavy nourishment They are certainly as quick-sighted as any people in the world and will descry upon the Step or Wilderness where a man hath nothing to hinder his prospect thirty or forty miles round I say they will descry a single man when a Russ cannot see a whole troop of Tartars There are no better Horsemen in the world at full speed they will raise up themselves upon their stirrops and shoot behind them with their arrows which sufficiently gall their enemies Horse The Colmack Tartar-women are as good souldiers as their Husbands many of them acknowledge the Emperour for their Soveraign This year an an army of Women to revenge the taking of some Children and Captives by the Crim's people encountred the Tartars Army took many prisoners and routed the rest O brave Virago's worthy to be numbred amongst the Amazonian Worthies The Colmacks have a vast Countrey and live in Tents where they use grasing Tamberlane was born here They are larger siz'd than the Crim-Tartars and of an other feature but more swarthy The Crim-Tartars are flat-fac'd small ey'd have their eyes deep set narrow foreheads and low broad shoulders they are of a middle stature so shaped that 't is hard for them to conceal themselves in any place wheresoever they shew their faces They break the noses of their children being new born saying it is a foolish thing to wear a nose that stands in a mans sight They are all Mahometans and laugh at the Russians for worshipping a painted piece of board and say 't is better to worship the Sun because he has a glorious body does the world much good and none can injure him as they may a wooden Idol Your Gods say they to the Russes in a short time grow blind i. e. obliterate and then you throw them into the River with a Copeak or two and a piece of Olibanum tyed up in a string and so commit them to the Volgian stream which runs into the Caspian Sea and we take them up and broil a piece of Horse flesh upon them What is that for a God which is no better then a Gridiron and cannot resist the hands of them that destroy it Most rationally spoken Mosovitae non possunt respondere Argumento CHAP. XX. What the simpler sort of Russians are their Idolatry and ignorance what they think of St. Nicholas their high conceit of good works They are great Rogues Some are good among them The Poles are not so barbarous as the Russes The Poles characteriz'd their Laws their King how stiled he is very magnificent King Henry weary of the title How he made shift to get away out of Poland TRue it is the simpler sort of people in Russia are meer Idolaters and in the Northern parts as Archangele and Cola they know no other God but St. Nicholas whom they really imagine to to rule all the world They say he came to St. Nicholas a Port-town by Archangelâ— swimming from Italy upon a Milstone if any Russ should question the truth of this story 't is as much as life is worth They celebrate the Festivals of their own Saints with greater honour than the Apostles For they say of St. Nicholas he is Nasha Bradt one of our Brethern and has a greater kindness for us his Countrey-men than St. Peter or St. Paul who never knew us When they have extorted a vast Estate out of the bowels of poor people and grinding the faces of Strangers they think to expiate all their wicked actions at last by building a Church and endowing it with abundance of Images adorn'd with Jewels and furnishing it with a Ring of Bells this they account a meritorious work and indeed it is so when the glory of God is chiefly aim'd at and not selfinterest and vain applause sought thereby Greater Rogues there are not in the whole world yet there is many good people also Such as have improv'd their parts by conversing with Strangers are more civiliz'd yea those who have seen the Polish way of living which though I cannot much admire yet surely 't is not so barbarous as the Russian for they have a way to improve their wits by Learning which they are debar'd in Muscovia and may travel out of their own Countrey a thing prohibited to the Russians Notwithstanding all these improvements they are a scurvy nasty Nation as as ever I convers'd with proud and insolent hugely self-conceited alwaies extolling their own Countrey above all others vain and prodigal in their expences before company gawdy in their Apparel rich in their Horses and Trappings civil and hospitable to Strangers till they have seen all their pomp and have been drunk twice or thrice and then like Welshmen they are willing to be rid of them They are greater Drinkers than the Russes and so quarrelsome in their drink as few Gentlemen are seen without some eminent scars which they wear as badges of honour gotten in the wars of Bacchus Their Laws are the most barbarous of any people living for homicide is satisfi'd by a pecuniary mulct a Crown as I remember for killing a Peasant and so higher according to the quality of the person Their King may be stiled Rex Bacchatorum
look upon the Romish Statue-worship as Idolatry They kneel not in their devotions but lie prostrate and upon some great Vigils they stay all night in their Churches at certain times prostrating and crossing themselves and knocking their heads against the Ground At certain Intervals they discourse of business and most commonly the Emperor dispatches the Affairs in the time of their Service where he is attended with all his Nobility and if he miss any he makes inquiry after them At Whitsontide they fall prostrate upon Sycamore branches our Maple which they call Sycamore with us but falsely wherewith their Churches are strew'd upon a fond perswasion that the holy Ghost descends upon these leaves as Manna upon Oake-leaves They have no Instrumental Musick for the last Patriarch abrogated it because the Papists used it In their Prayers three hours after Sun-rising they call Obedny at Sun-set Vecherney about one a clock in the morning Zaoutrinys Miserere mei Domine which they call Hospody pâ—mele they repeat an hundred times and that Priest is counted the best fellow that can mumble most in a breath You shall have five or six reading confusedly together one a Chapter another a Psalm a third a Prayer c. A Parish-Priest they call a Pope as Pope Petro Pope Iuan a Bishop Metropolite a chief Pope Protopope The Popes go most commonly in Purple some in Green others as they fancy only distinguish'd with two flaps on both sides their breast and a purple Scul-cap to cover their shaven crowns They never cut the hairs of their heads or beards a thing not observed by any other Clergy in the world A Pope must be a married man and the Husband but of one Wife grounded on that Text a Bishop must be the Husband of one Wife Hereby it appears the Popes Priesthood is wrapped up in his Wives Smock for when she dies he must officiate no longer which makes them indulge their Wives more then ordinary for their Office sake They marry young that they may come early into a livelihood their Wives are also distinguish'd from others by a flap on each side their breast Their Baptism differs not from the Romish but only in dipping all over He that takes up the Russian Faith be he Lutheran or Papist must first renounce his former Baptism curse Father and Mother and spit thrice over his shoulder It was a custom to hire Strangers to christen the Russians but now they are grown wiser than to buy souls at that rate 'T is observed by some old Standers here that of two hundred English Scotch and Dutch who have renounced their Religion few or none have died a natural death CHAP. II. Of their Marriages the Clerks ceremony towards the Bride her manner of conduct the Epithalamium sung by Boys and Girls the old Womans advice to the Bride-folk the Bridal Room the Bride-Grooms Boots pull'd off by the Bride their severe Discipline to their Wives censured no process in Law against it the Parents contract with their Daughters Husbands Witchcraft used at Weddings abstinence from Venery the penalty for marrying a second or third Wife the Emperors second Son the manner of the Emperors electing a Wife his disappointment how punished his Salary to the wronged Virgin the Queens Relations of the Czaroidg not seen publickly till Fifteen of the Russian Children when and how weaned of their Fasts and Pennances THeir Marriages are not very solemn a few attend the Bride about three a clock in the afternoon and at their coming out of the Church the Pannama or Clerk strews Hops upon the Bride and wishes her children as thick as Hops another with a Sheep-skin coat turn'd outward meets her and prays she may have as many children as there are hairs on his coat The Bridegroom is led home by young Fellows and the Bride being cover'd all over by an old Woman and the Pope marches before with his Cross They sit a while down at Table with Bread and Salt before them but eat nothing In the mean time a Quire of Boys and Girls standing aloft sing Epithalamiums or nuptial Songs so bedawb'd with scum of bawdry and obscenity that it would make Aretines ears glow to hear them After this they are conducted by the Pope and Old-women to a Room where she advises the Bride to be debonair and buxom and exhorts the Bridegroom to bestow due benevolence and here they are shut up for two hours the old Woman in the interim attends for the tokens of Virginity which having gotten she goes triumphantly and demands Albricias of the Parents first tying up the Brides hair which before hung over her ears The married couple must have no earth over their heads a Ceremony strictly observed as if mortality then ought not to be the object of their meditations for you must know all warm Rooms are covered with earth half a yard thick to keep in the heat The Bridegroom has a Whip in one Boot and a Jewel or some Money in the other he bids the Bride pull them off if she happens upon the Jewel he counts her lucky and bestows it upon her but if she lights upon the Boot with the Whip in it she is reckon'd amongst the unfortunate and gets a Bride-lash for her pains which is but the earnest-penny of her future entertainment The Russians discipline to their Wives is very rigid and severe more inhumane in times past then at present Yet three or four years ago a Merchant beat his Wife as long as he was able with a Whip two inches about and then caused to put on a Smock dipt in Brandy three or four times distilled which he set on fire and so the poor creature perished miserably in the flames Certainly this person was a Monster not a Man born of a Tygress not a Woman and in no wise deserved the Epithete of good or wise For the Heathens themselves condemn such unchristian â—illany Hom. II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet what is more strange none prosecuted her death for in this case they have no penal Law for killing of a Wife or Slave if it happen upon correction but it is a strange chastisement to kill seeing the design hereof was never intended to end people but to mend them Some of these Barbarians will tye up their Wives by the hair of the head and whip them stark naked But this severity is not commonly used unless it be for Adultery or Drunkenness And I perceive it begins to be left off or at least the Parents endeavour to prevent it by their cautious contracting their Daughters For in their Joyntures they oblige their Husbands to find them with clothes suitable to their quality to feed them with good wholsom meat and drink to use them kindly without whipping striking or kicking them many more terms and tautologies they use not unlike the Common Laws of England Upon Forfeiture they put this in execution which is determin'd in one Court but not without
of Sables how kill'd The excessive coldness of this Countrey How they feed their Cows Of the River Ob. What Caviare is made of Of Samogeda their Dyet Sledges how drawn Hunting Indistinct habit Of their manners And oother remarkable observations concerning these Northernlings in general CHAP. XVIII Of the Southern parts of Syberia The Wilderness called Step full of Cherry-trees and fine Flowers Of Elks. Of the Koorick and Perivoshick The Countrey of Squirrels Of a little Bird like a Woodcock Another like a Hawk A third as big as a Swan The story of the Vegitable Lamb refuted CHAP. XI A brief account of Tartary It 's Metropolis To whom the Tartars pay Tribute The Muscovite formerly tributary to the Crim-Tartar How far they march in a day They eat horse-flesh but no bread nor salt the reason why They are very quick-sighted excellent horse-men Of the Colmack Tartars The Crim's describ'd they deride the Russian worship The grounds why they do it CHAP. XX. What the simpler sort of Russians are their Idolatry and ignorance what they think of St. Nicholas their high conceit of good works They are great Rogues Some are good among them The Poles are not so barbarous as the Russes The Poles characteriz'd their Laws their King how stiled he is very magnificent King Henry weary of the title How he made shift to get away out of Poland CHAP. XXI Of Lues Venerea Of the Polonian Plica a familiar distemper and very infectious yet they highly esteem it When hair first began to be powdred The Poles more honourable in keeping Articles than the Russes A comparison of the Polish and Russian Languages Their salutations are stately How the Tartars and Chircasses salute The Chircasses Religion CHAP. XXII Of the Present Czar his Father Grave Wolmer how disappointed in Marriage Czar Michaels death The story of Boris Juanoidg How the Czar elects a Wife Whom Boris preferr'd His height makes him envied Eliah exalted The Russians extol Marriage Eliah disabled Who succeeds him Nashokin a great Reformer Highly commended His words concerning the French and Danes supporting the Hollanders against England He is a great lover of the English How he censured a Bill of Mortality and some other discourse which he held CHAP. XXIII The Czars description His answer to a Stranger How he appears in publick He never visits any Subject His Court without noise He seldom dines publickly At Easter his Subjects kiss his hand How he pays his Strelsies What he has done to employ the poor The Czaritza governs the Women From whence the Emperour 's chief Revenues proceed CHAP. XXIV The Czar goes every year to a house of pleasure call'd Obrasawsky Of the curious tents erected there How cautious the Emperour is of letting the vulgar sort behold his pastimes This commended for several reasons None are to petition the Czar in the fields What hapned to a poor Russian Captain for so doing The Emperours resentment for his death Peter Solticove turn'd out of Office and banished the Court the cause why Nashockin put in his place The Czar in the night time visits his Chancellors desks He has Spyes in every corner 'T is death to reveal any thing spoken in the Court The Russians answer to inquisitive persons The Czars children how attended they are bound to keep secrecie CHAP. XXV The story of a Jew turn'd Mahometan he falsly accuses Nashockin and is lash'd for his pains Jews how crept into the Court. A Discourse of Bogdan Matfeidg the Czars great Favourite his Pandor and Amours His Ladies jealousie how she was made away The Czar reproves him He and Nashockin no good friends Of the Czars Religion vvherein he is very zealous and constant He fasts at several times eight months in a year disposes of all Ecclesiastical Preferments His high commendation CHAP. XXVI Trading in Russia very low English Cloth a drug why slighted The Authors Reflection If Persians trade there what English are like to suffer What the Russians are in general Concerning the Dutch what the English must do to out-vye them How much they abuse us to the Emperour 'T were convenient for England to undeceive the Czar How things should be represented to Nashockin and Bogdan The Russians mightily pleased with their peace with Poland CHAP. XXVII Of Caviare how and where made The length of the Fish Belluga Caviare of two sorts The Belluga swallows abundance of Pebbles it is an excellent meat Isinglass is made of his Sounds CHAP. Xâ—Xâ—â—â— Of several sorts of Mushrooms which grow in Russia their forms and qualities they are divided by Botanists into two kinds viz. Lethales and Salutiferae A SURVEY Of the present State of RUSSIA CHAP. I. Of the Russians nature in general their contempt of Learning their Clergy Liturgy Churches Ceremonies in Devotion hours of Prayer the Priests names Habit Wives Baptism The unnatural death of Apostates AS for the Situtaion of Russia it is so well known that it would be a needless labour for me to set it down my design at present is to Survey â—â—e Religion and Manners of the Inhabitants And to this purpose I have made a slender Essay the truth whereof I hope will excuse the plainness of the dress the stuff is course and the thread not fine but the matter I conceive will be both pleasant and profitable Having had therefore fair opportunities and good intelligence I am the more willing to give you an account of this Empire Indeed hitherto no man of parts or abilities has been suffered to travel the Country For the people are very jealous and suspect those who ask them any questions concerning their Policy or Religion they being wholly devoted to their own Ignorance and Education which is altogether illiterate and rude both in Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs look upon Learning as a Monster and fear it no less than a Ship of Wildfire and thus they verifie the old Saying Ars nullum habet inimicum praeter ignorantem In the year of our Lord 1560. the Art of Printing was brought in amongst them as Thevet relates in the life of Basil and a Latin School also was erected but the Tribe of Levi soon destroyed it Vi Armis I shall therefore commence my discourse with them who are not set apart for this Function as in other Nations but any Lay-man of a good life and conversation may take upon him the Priesthood This Nation received the Christian Faith about six hundred years since from a certain Priest of Chioff who is said to cure one of the Dukes of Musco by prayer upon which Miracle he and all his people were baptized They borrow their Liturgy from the Greek Church which is written in the Sclavonian Language and used in their devotion with as much knowledge as the Latin amongst the Papists They follow the Greeks though lamely in the Architecture of their Churches whose chief ornaments are Images adorned with rich Stones and Pearls wherein they admit no Sculpture but only painting for they