Rus people, Turkic peoples described by Ahmad ibn Fadlan famous Arab chronicler

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Ahmad ibn Fadlan was a 10th century Arab traveler, famous for his account of his travels. Ibn Fadlan wrote a book about the nations he visit in his journeys , called a Rihlah Ibn Fadlan رحلة ابن فضلان.

description of the Al-Rus:

I have seen the Rus as they came on their merchant journeys and encamped by the Aatl river. I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blonde and ruddy; they wear neither tunics nor caftans, but the men wear a garment which covers one side of the body and leaves a hand free. Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife and keeps each by him at all times. The swords are broad and grooved, of Frankish sort. Every man is tatooed from finger nails to neck with dark green (or green or blue-black) trees, figures, etc.

Each woman wears on either breast a box of iron, silver, copper or gold; the value of the box indicates the wealth of the husband. Each box has a ring from which depends a knife. The women wear neck rings of gold and silver, one for each 10,000 dirhems which her husband is worth; some women have many. Their most prized ornaments are beads of green glass of the same make as ceramic objects one finds on their ships. They trade beads among themselves and they pay an exaggerated price for them, for they buy them for a dirhem apiece. They string them as necklaces for their women.

They are the filthiest of God's creatures. They have no modesty in defecation and urination, nor do they wash after pollution from orgasm, nor do they wash their hands after eating. Thus they are like wild donkeys. they come from their country and anchored on, or ties up at the shore of the Aatl, which is a great river, they build big houses of wood on the shore, each holding ten to twenty persons more or less. Each man has a couch on which he sits. With them are pretty slave girls destines for sale to merchants: a man will have sexual intercourse with his slave girl while his companion looks on. Sometimes whole groups will come together in this fashion, each in the presence of others. A merchant who arrives to buy a slave girl from them may have to wait and look on while a Rus completes the act of intercourse with a slave girl.

Every day they must wash their faces and heads and this they do in the dirtiest and filthiest fashion possible: to wit, every morning a girl servant brings a great basin of water; she offers this to her master and he washes his hands and face and his hair -- he washes it and combs it out with a comb in the water; then he blows his nose and spits into the basin. When he has finished, the servant carries the basin to the next person, who does likewise. She carries the basin thus to all the household in turn, and each blows his nose, spits, and washes his face and hair in it.

When the ships come to this mooring place, everybody goes ashore with bread, meat, onions, milk and intoxicating drink and betakes himself to a long upright piece of wood that has a face like a man's and is surrounded by little figures, behind which are long stakes in the ground. The Rus prostrates himself before the big carving and says, "O my Lord, I have come from a far land and have with me such and such a number of girls and such and such a number of sables", and he proceeds to enumerate all his other wares. Then he says, "I have brought you these gifts," and lays down what he has brought with him, and continues, "I wish that you would send me a merchant with many dinars and dirhems, who will buy from me whatever I wish and will not dispute anything I say." Then he goes away.

If he has difficulty selling his wares and his stay is prolonged, he will return with a gift a second or third time. If he has still further difficulty, he will bring a gift to all the little idols and ask their intercession, saying, "These are the wives of our Lord and his daughters and sons." And he addresses each idol in turn, asking intercession and praying humbly. Often the selling goes more easily and after selling out he says, "My Lord has satisfied my desires; I must repay him," and he takes a certain number of sheep or cattle and slaughters them, gives part of the meat as alms, brings the rest and deposits it before the great idol and the little idols around it, and suspends the heads of the cattle or sheep on the stakes. In the night, dogs come and eat all, but the one who has made the offering says, "Truly, my Lord is content with me and has consumed the present I brought him."

If one of them get sick they put him in a tent apart with some bread and water and people do not come to speak to him; they do not come even to see him every day, especially if he is a poor man or a slave. If he recovers, he returns to them, and if he dies, they cremate him. If he is a slave, he is left to be eaten by dogs and birds of prey.

If the Rus catch a thief or robber, they hang him on a tall tree and leave him hanging until his body falls in pieces.

I heard that at the deaths of their chief personages they did many things, of which the least was cremation, and I was interested to learn more. At last I was told of the death of one of their outstanding men. They placed him in a grave and put a roof over it for ten days, while they cut and sewed garments for him.

If the deceased is a poor man they make a little boat, which they lay him in and burn. If he is rich, they collect his goods and divide them into three parts, one for his family, another to pay for his clothing, and a third for making intoxicating drink, which they drink until the day when his female slave will kill herself and be burned with her master. They stupify themselves by drinking this beer night and day; sometimes one of them dies cup in hand.

When the man of whom I have spoken died, his girl slaves were asked, "Who will die with him?" One answered, "I." She was then put in the care of two young women, who watched over her and accompanied her everywhere, to the point that they occasionally washed her feet with their own hands. Garments were being made for the deceased and all else was being readied of which he had need. Meanwhile the slave drinks every day and sings, giving herself over to pleasure.

When the day arrived on which the man was to be cremated and the girl with him, I went to the river on which was his ship. I saw that they had drawn the ship onto the shore, and that they had erected four posts of birch wood and other wood, and that around the ship was made a structure like great ship's tents out of wood. Then they pulled the ship up until it was on this wooden construction. Then they began to come and go and to speak words which I did not understand, while the man was still in his grave and had not yet been brought out. The tenth day, having drawn the ship up onto the river bank, they guarded it. In the middle of the ship they prepared a dome or pavillion of wood and covered this with various sorts of fabrics. Then they brought a couch and put it on the ship and covered it with a mattress of Greek brocade. Then came an old woman whom they call the Angel of Death, and she spread upon the couch the furnishings mentioned. It is she who has charge of the clothes-making and arranging all things, and it is she who kills the girl slave. I saw that she was a strapping old woman, fat and louring.

When they came to the grave they removed the earth from above the wood, then the wood, and took out the dead man clad in the garments in which he had died. I saw that he had grown black from the cold of the country. They put intoxicating drink, fruit, and a stringed instrument in the grave with him. They removed all that. The dead man did not smell bad, and only his color had changed. They dressed him in trousers, stockings, boots, a tunic, and caftan of brocade with gold buttons. They put a hat of brocade and fur on him. Then they carried him into the pavillion on the ship. They seated him on the mattress and propped him up with cushions. They brought intoxicating drink, fruits, and fragrant plants, which they put with him, then bread, meat, and onions, which they placed before him. Then they brought a dog, which they cut in two and put in the ship. Then they brought his weapons and placed them by his side. Then they took two horses, ran them until they sweated, then cut them to pieces with a sword and put them in the ship. Next they killed a rooster and a hen and threw them in. The girl slave who wished to be killed went here and there and into each of their tents, and the master of each tent had sexual intercourse with her and said, "Tell your lord I have done this out of love for him."

Friday afternoon they led the slave girl to a thing that they had made which resembled a door frame. She placed her feet on the palms of the men and they raised her up to overlook this frame. She spoke some words and they lowered her again. A second time they rasied her up and she did again what she had done; then they lowered her. They raised her a third time and she did as she had done the two times before. Then they brought her a hen; she cut off the head, which she threw away, and then they took the hen and put it in the ship. I asked the interpreter what she had done. He answered, "The first time they raised her she said, 'Behold, I see my father and mother.' The second time she said, 'I see all my dead relatives seated.' The third time she said, 'I see my master seated in Paradise and Paradise is beautiful and green; with him are men and boy servants. He calls me. Take me to him.' " Now they took her to the ship. She took off the two bracelets she was wearing and gave them both to the old woman called the Angel of Death, who was to kill her; then she took off the two finger rings which she was wearing and gave them to the two girls who had served her and were the daughters of the woman called the Angel of Death. Then they raised her onto the ship but they did not make her enter the pavillion.

The men came with shields and sticks. She was given a cup of intoxicating drink; she sang at taking it and drank. The interpreter told me that she in this fashion bade farewell to all her girl companions. Then she was given another cup; she took it and sang for a long time while the old woman incited her to drink up and go into the pavillion where her master lay. I saw that she was distracted; she wanted to enter the pavillion but put her head between it and the boat. Then the old woman siezed her head and made her enter the pavillion and entered with her. Thereupon the men began to strike with the sticks on the shields so that her cries could not be heard and the other slave girls would not seek to escape death with their masters. Then six men went into the pavillion and each had intercourse with the girl. Then they laid her at the side of her master; two held her feet and two her hands; the old woman known as the Angel of Death re-entered and looped a cord around her neck and gave the crossed ends to the two men for them to pull. Then she approached her with a broad-bladed dagger, which she plunged between her ribs repeatedly, and the men strangled her with the cord until she was dead.

Then the closest relative of the dead man, after they had placed the girl whom they have killed beside her master, came, took a piece of wood which he lighted at a fire, and walked backwards with the back of his head toward the boat and his face turned toward the people, with one hand holding the kindled stick and the other covering his anus, being completely naked, for the purpose of setting fire to the wood that had been made ready beneath the ship. Then the people came up with tinder and other fire wood, each holding a piece of wood of which he had set fire to an end and which he put into the pile of wood beneath the ship. Thereupon the flames engulfed the wood, then the ship, the pavillion, the man, the girl, and everything in the ship. A powerful, fearful wind began to blow so that the flames became fiercer and more intense.

One of the Rus was at my side and I heard him speak to the interpreter, who was present. I asked the interpreter what he said. He answered, "He said, 'You Arabs are fools.' " "Why?" I asked him. He said, "You take the people who are most dear to you and whom you honor most and put them into the ground where insects and worms devour them. We burn him in a moment, so that he enters Paradise at once." Then he began to laugh uproariously. When I asked why he laughed, he said, "His Lord, for love of him, has sent the wind to bring him away in an hour." And actually an hour had not passed before the ship, the wood, the girl, and her master were nothing but cinders and ashes.

Then they constructed in the place where had been the ship which they had drawn up out of the river something like a small round hill, in the middle of which they erected a great post of birch wood, on which they wrote the name of the man and the name of the Rus king and they departed.

It is the custom of the king of the Rus to have with him in his palace four hundred men, the bravest of his companions and those on whom he can rely. These are the men who die with him and let themselves be killed for him. Each has a female slave who serves him, washes his head, and prepares all that he eats and drinks, and he also has another female slave with whom he sleeps. These four hundred men sit about the king's throne, which is immense and encrusted with fine precious stones. With him on the throne sit forty female slaves destined for his bed. Occasionally he has intercourse with one of them in the presence of his companions of whom we have spoken, without coming down from the throne. When he needs to answer a call of nature, he uses a basin. When he wants to ride out, his horse is brought up to the throne and he mounts. If he wishes to dismount, he rides up so that he can dismount onto the throne. He has a lieutenant who commands his troops, makes war upon his enemies, and plays his role vis-à-vis his subjects.





the arabic version of the description
http://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/رحلة ابن فضلان

the word al-rus الروس in arabic today is used for the russians

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Turks

And we left the City of the peace (Bagdad) on Thursday, when passed eleven nights of the (month) Safar, the year three hundred ninth (21 June 921 - Translator's Note). We stayed in an-Nihravan one day and (further) went strenuously, until we reached ad-Daskara. In it we stayed three days. Then we went straight, not turning off for anything, until we arrived in Hulvan and stayed there for two days, and went from it to Karmisin and stayed there for two days, then we went, until we arrived to Hamadan, and stayed there for three days, then we went until we reached Sava and stayed there for two days, and from it went to ar-Ray, and remained in it for eleven days to wait for Ahmad ibn-'Ali ahu-Su'luk, as he was in Huvar-ar-Ray, then we went to Huvar-ar-Ray and remained in it for three days, and further went to Simnan, then from it to ad-Damgan. In it we accidentally met Ibn-Karan, the supporter of ad-Da'i, and therefore we hid in a caravan and went rapidly until we reached Nayshabur. Laila ibn-Nu'man was already killed, and we found in it (Nayshabur) Hammavayh Kus, the commander of the Khurasan army. Then we went to Sarahs, then from it to Marv, then from it to Kushmahan, and that is the edge of the Amul desert, and stayed in it for three days to give a rest to the camels before going to the desert. Then we crossed the desert to Amul, were we crossed Djayhun and arrived to the Afirabr-rabat Tahira ibn-'Ali. Then we went to Baykand, then we drove to Bukhara and arrived to al-Djajhani. He is a secretary of the Khurasan Emir, and his nickname in Khurasan is sheikh-support. First of all he obtained a manor for us and appointed for us a man who would satisfy our needs and satisfied our requirements in all that we would wish. So (with him) we remained (a number) of days. Then he asked for us an audience with Nasr ibn-Ahmad, and we went to him. And he is a beardless boy. We greeted him as Emir, and he ordered us to sit down, and the first with what we started was that he said: "How did you left my lord, the ruler of the righteous, let Allah extend his stay (in this world) and the peace in his soul, his servants, and his court". We said: "In good state". He said: "Let Allah give him well-being!" Then was read the letter to him concerning the transfer of Artahushmatin from al-Fadl ibn-Musa an-Nasrani (i.e. the Christian), manager of Ibn-al-Furat, and transfer of it (the village) to Ahmad ibn-Musa al-Huvarizmi (i.e. Horezmian), and the delivery of us and the letter to his (i.e. Emir's) governor in the Khoresm, (a letter) about the removal of obstacles for us, and the letter to Bab-at-Turk with escorting us and with removal of obstacles for us. He said: "And where is Ahmad ibn-Musa?", and we said: "We left him in the City of the peace (Bagdad) so that he would leave in five days after us". Then he said: "I listen and obey what my lord, the ruler of the righteous, ordered me, let Allah extend his life". He said: "The message (about it) reached al-Fadl ibn-Musa an-Nasrani, manager of Ibn-al-Furat, and he started his sly moves about Ahmad - ibn-Musa, he wrote to the chiefs of police on the Horasan road (at the sites) from the district city of Sarahs to Bajkand that they should sent scouts about Ahmad's ibn-Musa-al-Huvarizmi (being) in the caravan-serais and customs posts, and he (Ahmad) is a man with such and such appearance and description, that who would seize him, should hold him, until he gets our letter, to which he should obey. So, he was seized in Marv and tied down. Also we stayed in Bukhara for twenty eight days. Al-Fadl ibn-Musa also agreed with 'Abdallah ibn-Bashtu and others of our comrades who began to say: "If we extend our stay, the winter will suddenly come and will miss time to go (to the new country), and Ahmad - ibn-Musa, when he comes to us, will follow us".

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: I saw dirhams of Bukhara of different grades (colors), including the dirhams called al-gitrifi. They consist of copper, red copper and yellow copper, from which is taken a quantity without weight. Hundred of them (dirhams) are equal to one dirham of silver. And here are the conditions about the kalym for the women (it is said): "Marries a son of such and such on the daughter of such and such for so much and so much thousand gitrifian dirhams". And also in the same way (takes place) the purchase of real estate and purchase of their slaves: they do not mention other (grades) of dirhams. They (still) have dirhams, (for which) only yellow copper is used. Forty of them are equal to (one) danak. They (still) have dirhams, (for which) only the yellow copper is used, called Samarkandian. Six of them are equal to one danak. So, when I heard the words of 'Abdallah ibn-Bashtu and the words of others, warning me about unexpected approach of the winter, we left Bukhara, coming back to the river, and hired a ship to Khoresm. And the distance to it from the place where we hired the ship, is more than two hundred farsahs, so we went for a few days. For us the travel on it (river), as a whole, was not the same, owing to the cold and its severity, until we arrived in Khoresm. We came to its (Khoresmian) Emir. It was Muhammad ibn-'Irak Horezm-shakh. So he honored us, gave us gifts, and arranged for us a stay. He ordered us to come after three days, discussed with us the (question) about (our) entrance to the country of the Turks and said: "You do not have a permission for it and (I) should not let you to leave and blindly risk your blood. I know, that it is a trick that was arranged by this adolescent, Takin, as he was a smith here and he is already familiar with the sale of iron in the country of infidels, and he was the one who has deceived Nadir and induced him to address the ruler of the righteous and to send to him the letter of the Kipchak malik. The Great Emir, that is Emir of Khurasan, had more rights to erect the sermon for (for the benefit of) the ruler of the righteous in this country, if he would find an opportunity, because you are far and as between you and the country about which you talk, (is) one thousand tribes of infidels. And it is (all) distortion of the truth concerning the Sultan. So, I advise you: it is necessary (to send) the letter to the great Emir that he should communicate with the Sultan, let Allah help him, by correspondence, and you shall stay (here) till that time, as we receive the answer". And so we left from him that day. Then we again came to him and did not cease to please him and to flatter him, saying: "It is the order of the ruler of the righteous and his letter, what is sense to write him on this occasion", so he gave us his permission. So, we went down from Khoresm to al-Djurdjania. Between it and Khoresm by water are fifty farsahs. I saw the Khorezm dirhams chopped and lead, and light-weighted and copper. And they call dirham "tazidja", when its weight is four danaks and a half. Their money-changers (from their place) sell bones (for game) and inkwells and dirhams.

They (Khorezmians) are the most rough of the people in speech and in the nature. Their speech is like a cry of starling. Near (al-Djurdjania) is a settlement at a (distance) of a day (travel), called Ardaku. The population of it is called al-Kardalia (Kardalians). Their speech is like the croaking of frogs. They renounce the ruler of the righteous 'Ali ibn-Abu-Talib, let Allah be pleased with him, at the end of each pray. So, we remained in al-Djurdjania (many) days. Also the river Djayhun from the beginning to its end has frozen, and there was a thickness of ice seventeen quarters, and horses and mules and camels and carriages pass on it as if on the roads, and it was firm and did not shake. And it remained in such condition for three months. And we saw the country (such), that we thought it is not nothing other than the gates of az-Zamharir opened from it to us. The snow does not fall in there other as with gusty strong winds. If a man from its (country) inhabitants would give a present to his friend or would want (to make) him something good, he tells him: "Let's come to me to talk, I have a good fire". And (thus) he renders him the greatest blessing and a favor. But only the great Allah had mercy to them about the firewood, he made it cheap for them: the cargo of a wagon of fire wood at-tag costs only two dirhams, the weight of it is three thousand ratlas. The custom of their beggars is that the beggar does not stop at the doors, but enters into the somebody's house and sits some time at his fire to warm up. Then he says: "Pakand", which is "bread". Our stay in al-Djurdjania extended, we remained there the days (months) of Radzhab, Sha'ban, Ramadan month, Shavval (from 5 November 921 till 2 March 922 - Translator's Note), and the length of our stay depended on the cold and his strength. Really, a story reached me that twelve camels (went) for two people to bring on them the firewood from some floods, and both overlooked to take with them a flint and a tinder. And they had a night without fire. When they rose in the morning, the camels were dead from the cold. And really, I saw the cold air and that the market and streets from it (such air) really become empty, so that a person walks most of the streets and markets and does not find anybody, and is not met by any person. Once I came from the bath, and when I came into the house and looked at my beard, it was one chunk of a snow until I approached the fire. And really, I was the whole time in the middle of the house, and in it was a yurt from the Turkish felt, and I arrange for myself a nest from the clothes and furs. And sometimes my cheek was glued to the pillow. And really I saw, as the cisterns covered with sheep furs cracked and broken at night, so it (winterizing) helped nothing. And really I saw the ground cracked and in it split (were formed) big ravines from the force of the cold, and a huge old tree really broke up in two half from it.

When passed a half of the Shavval of the three hundred ninth (2 Feb 922 - Translator's Note), time began to change, the river Djayhun thaw, and we started attending the necessary supplies for travel. We bought Turkish camels and ordered road bags of the camel leather for crossing the rivers which we will have to pass in the country of the Turks. We provisioned for three months (for the road) bread, millet, dried meat. We asked those from the inhabitants (of this) country with whom we were friends, to assist with clothes and in acquiring them in quantity, and they frightened us with this enterprise and exaggerated the story about it, but when we faced it, it turned out twice greater than how it was described to us. So, each person of us had a jacket, atop of it was haftan, atop of it a fur coat, atop of it a felt cap and burnus from which were visible only his two eyes, and sharovars ordinary and the others double (lined), and gaiters, and sapogs of kimuht and atop sapogs other sapogs, so each of us, when riding a camel, could not move because of the clothes which we wore. And behind us fell the fakih and mu'allim and the youths who left with us from the City of the peace (Bagdad), being afraid to enter that country. And went these: I, and the ambassador, and the brother of his sister, and two youths Takin and Faris. That day when we dared to depart, I told them: "Oh, people! With you is the youth of the malik, and he is familiar with your task. With you is the letter of the Sultan, and I do not doubt that in it (is) a message about him sending four thousand musayyab dinars for him (malik). And you will arrive to the foreign-speaking malik, and he will demand from you the payment of it". Then they said: "Don't be afraid of it. Really (probably) he will not demand payment from us". And I warned them and said: "I know that he will demand the payment from you", but they did not agree. The task (of outfitting) the caravan was completed, we hired a guide by the name Falus from the inhabitants of al-Djurdjania.

Then we relied on Allah mighty and great, placed in him our enterprise, and set out from al-Djurdjania on Monday after two nights of Dulka'd (month) of three hundred ninth (4 Mar 922 - Translator's Note) and have stopped at rabat, called Zamdjan, and it is Bab-at-Turk (Turkish Gates). Then we went for another day and stopped at a stop called Habab. We were overtaken by snow, so the camels stepped in it to a knee. So, we stopped at this stop for two days, then we streamed into the country of the Turks, not turning off at nothing, and we met nobody in the deserted steppe without any mountains. So, we went in it for ten days, and had disasters, difficulties, strong cold and consecutive snowfalls, when the cold of Khoresm felt like summer days. And we forgot everything that passed by us, and were close to the loss of our souls. Really, during several days a strongest cold fell on us. Takin was riding next to me, and next him was a man from the Turks, who talked to him in Turkish. And Takin started to laugh and said: "Really, this Turk tells you: What our lord wants from us? He kills us with a cold, and if we knew what he wants, we would surely give it to him". Then I said to him: "Tell him, he wants from you to say: "There is no god except Allah". He laughed and said: "If we knew (it), we would surely do it". After that we arrived to a place where was a huge quantity of a at-tag tree. I took it down, made a fire (in the) caravan, and they (co-journeyer) were warmed, removed their clothes and dried them …
Then we went and rode without stopping with the most strenuous and intense driving what only happens, every night from the midnight till the dusk time immediately after the midday. Then we stop. When we passed fifteen days, we reached a big mountain with a lot of rocks, from which the springs are flowing if you excavate for water. When we crossed them, (we) came to a tribe of the Turks known under a name al-Guzziya. And they are coachers; their homes are from hair (from koshma) and they (Guzzes) halt or leave. You see their houses (once) in one place, then the same houses in another place, as do the nomads in their coaching; and here they are in a pitiful position. At the same time they are as wandering donkeys, do not submit to Allah, do not use a reason and do not worship anything, but call their oldest their lords. So, when one of them asks advice from the leader, he tells him: "Oh, my lord, what I shall do in such and such (case)?". And rules them a council between them. But (as soon as) they spend for something or decide something, then comes the most insignificant and the most pitiful of them and destroys what they already agreed. And I heard them saying: "There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah", trying to come with these words nearer to those Moslems who pass by them, but not believing in it. And if injustice fells on one of them or happens something unpleasant, he lifts his face to the sky and says: "Bir Tengri", and that in Turkish is "One God", as "bir" in Turkish is "one", and "Tengri" is God (Allah) in the language of the Turks. They do not clear of excrements and from urine, and do not wash from the sexual uncleanness and (do not do) other similar things. They do not do anything with water, especially in the winter. Their women do not cover from their men and from others of them, and also a woman does not cover anything of her body from anybody of the people. And really, in one of the days we stopped at a man of theirs and sat down, and the wife of this person sat together with us. And, talking to us, she opened her faraj "vulva" and scratched it while we looked at her. Then we closed our faces and said: "My God, Forgive me!" The husband of hers laughed and said to the translator: "Tell them, - we open it in your presence and you see it, and she protects it so, that there is no access to it. It is better, than if she would cover it and (at the same time) would concede it to somebody". They do not know fornication, but if they find out anything about somebody, they break off him in two halves, namely: they pull together an branches of two trees, then tie him to the branches and release both trees, and the one between the unbending (trees) is ripped apart. One of them said: "Let me hear the reading". So, he liked the Koran, and he started to tell the translator: "Tell him: "do not stop reading". Once this person told me with the language of the translator: "Tell this Arab: "Is our God mighty and great a woman?". I was stunned by that, gave a glorification to Allah and asked for the pardon. And he also gave a glorification and asked for the pardon, the same as I did it. And this is (in general) exactly the rule of the Turk, every time he hear a Moslem saying glorification and saying "There is no god except Allah", he says the same as he.

Their rules of marriage are such: if one of them is asking another for any woman in his family, his daughter or his sister or anybody from those whom he owns, he presents him for so and so many of the Horezmian clothes. And when he pays it, he carries her to him. And sometimes the bride money are the camels or horses or something similar. And nobody can copulate with his wife until the bride money, agreed with her (woman) owner, is paid. And if he paid it, he goes without shyness, until he enters the premise where she is, and takes her in the presence of her father and her mother and her brothers and they do not interfere with him. And if a person with wife and children dies, the oldest of his children marries his wife if she was not his mother. No merchant or some one else can make ablution after uncleanness in their presence, but only at night when they do not see him. And this is because they get angry and say: "This one wants to bewitch us: don't you how he was staring into the water" and force him to pay money.

And no Moslems can pass through their country until they appoint to him from their people a friend with whom he stays, and until he brings him from the country of Islam the clothes, and for his wife a cloak, a little pepper, millet, izüm and walnuts. And so, when he arrives to his friend, that puts for him a yurt, and delivers to him as many as he can sheep, so the Moslem only needs to slaughter them, as the Turks do not slaughter them. Really, some one of them beats the ram on the head until it dies. And if that person wants to leave, and he needs any of his (Turk) camels, or his horses, or he needs money, he leaves what had remained with his Turk friend, and takes of his camels, horses and property what is necessary for him and leaves, and when he comes back from that direction where he went, he compensates to him the money and returns to him of his camels and horses. And exactly the same, if a person whom he does not know passes by a Turk, (and if) then that would tell to him: "I am your guest, and I want (to receive) from your camels and your horses and yours dirhams", he gives him what he wanted. And if the merchant in that travel would die, and the caravan comes back, the Turk meets them and says: "Where my guest?". And if he is told: "He has died", then the caravan unloads. Then he goes to the most outstanding of the merchants whom he sees among them, unties his property in his view, and takes from his dirhams accordingly to his property (that was used) from this (diseased) merchant without an extra grain, and also takes from the horses and camels and tells: "It is your cousin (literally, the son of your paternal uncle) and you more than others should pay for him". And if he (the first merchant) fled, he does the same, and tells him (to the second merchant): "He is the same Moslem as you; you take from him". And if (this) Moslem would not agree to compensate for his visitor in this way, he will ask about a third one, where he is, and he is directed to him, he would go, looking for him, at a distance of a few days, until he arrives to him and takes away his property from him, and also what he gave as a gift. The same is the Turkish custom also: if he drives to al-Djurdjania and asks about his guest, he would stay with him until he leaves (back). And if the Turk would die at his Moslem friend, and (if) his friend would be a caravan, they would kill him and say: "You killed him, putting him in prison, if you did not put him in prison he certainly would not die". And exactly the same, if he would give him to drink nabil and he would fall down from a wall, they would kill him for him. And if he is not in the caravan, they take the most outstanding one who is among them, and kill him.

The gay acts they (punish) very seriously. Really, once a certain person from the inhabitants of Khoresm stopped among the Kudarkin's tribe, and the Kudarkin is a deputy of the Turkic malik, and remained with the host for some time to buy sheep. And the Turk had a beardless son, and the Horezmian did not cease to court him and attract him, until he agreed to his desire. The Turk came and found both of them in a connection. Then the Turk made a complaint about it to Kudarkin. He told him: "Gather the Turks". And he gathered them. When they gathered, he said to the Turk: "Do you that me judge by the law or for nothing?" He said: "By the right". He said: "Bring your son". He brought him. He said: "Both him and the merchant should be killed". From this the Turk came to anger and said: "I shall not give up my son". He said: "Then the merchant will give you a ransome for himself". He did it and paid to the Turk with sheep for what he did with his son, and paid Kudarkin four hundred rams that he has removed from him (the punishment), and left from the country of the Turks.

The first of their maliks and leaders whom we met was Yanal (yynal?) the younger. Before, he already accepted Islam, but he was told: "If you accepted Islam, you are not our head any more". Then he forsake his Islam. When we arrived to that place where he was, he said: "I shall not allow you to pass, as it is such a thing about which we did not hear at all, and we do not even imagine that it exists". Then we wormed to him so that he would agree to (receiving) a Djurdjan haftan costing ten dirhams and a piece (of cloth) paybaf, flat breads, a handful of izüm, and a hundred of walnuts. When we handed all this over to him, he bowed (to the ground) to us. And this is their rule, if the person is honored (with gift) by a person, he bows to him. He said: "If my houses were not far from the road, I would surely give you sheep and wheat", and he left us. We set out, and next we met one person from the Turks, a contemptible creature with a shabby appearance, a puny built, with a pity essence. And a heavy rain fell on us. He said: "Stop", and the whole caravan has stopped, that is about three thousand horses and five thousand people. Then he said: "None of you will not pass!" And we stopped, obeying his order. We said to him: "We are friends of Kudarkin". He started to laugh and said: "Who is Kudarkin? I defecate on the Kudarkin's beard". Then he said: "Pakand", which is "bread" in the language of Khoresmians. Then I handed over to him the flat breads. He took them and said: "Pass, I took pity on you".

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: And if a person who has she-slaves and slaves falls ill, they serve him, and nobody of his members of household would come nearer to him. A yurt is set up for him away from the houses and he remains in it, until he die or recover.

If he was a slave or a poor man, they abandon him in the desert and drive off from him.

And if the their person has died, they dig a big tomb like a house for him, take him, dress him in his jacket, his belt, his bow, put in his hand a wooden bowl with nabid, leave in front of him a wooden vessel with nabid, bring all his property, and lay all this in this house. Then they sit him there, and cover the house with wooden planks above him, built above him a kind of a yurt from clay, take his horses depending on their number and kill from them a hundred heads, or two hundred heads, or one head, and eat their meat, except for the head, legs, skin, and the tail. And really they stretch this (all) on wooden stakes and say: "It is his horses on whom he will ride to paradise". If he has killed a man and was brave, they cut out images from a tree in the number of those whom he killed, and place them on his tomb and say: "Here are his youths who will serve him in paradise". Sometimes they fail (do not care) to kill horses for a day or two. Then comes to them an old man from their elders and says: "I saw such, that died, in a dream and he said to me: "You see, I am already overtaken by my comrades and my legs are cracked from following them, and I cannot catch up with them and I remained alone". Under these circumstances they take his horses and kill them and stretch them on his tomb. And when a day or two would pass, this old man comes to them and tells: "I saw that man, and he says: "Tell my members of household and my comrades that I have already caught up with those that left before me, and that I have found the calm from the weariness".

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: All Turks pluck out their beards, except for moustaches. Sometimes I saw a decrepit old man from their number who plucked his beard and left a little bit of it under his chin, and he wears a fur coat, and if a man sees him from afar he would not doubt that is a goat. The malik of the Turk Guzzes is called Yabgu or (truer) it is a title of the ruler, and everyone who reigns above this tribe, is called with this title. And his assistant is called Kudarkin (Kudar-Khan - Translator's Note). And thus everyone who substitutes a leader of theirs is called Kudarkin.

Then we, (already) leaving from the area of these (Turks), called on the commander of their army. His name is Atraksyn al-Kat'ana. He set for us the Turkish yurts, and we stayed in them. And he has servants and retinue and big houses. He brought us sheep, and were brought horses that we would slaughter sheep and ride the horses. He invited all members of his household and the sons of his (paternal) uncle and slaughtered for them plenty of sheep. And we have already (earlier) presented him with gifts of clothes, izüm, walnuts, pepper and millet. I saw his wife who was a wife of his father. She took the meat and milk and some things that we added, went from the house into the desert, dug up a hole and buried in it what she brought, and said (some) words. I said to the interpreter: "What is she saying?" He said: "She says: "These gifts presented by the Arabs are for al-Kat'an father of Atrak". When the night came, I and translator came to him, and he sat in the yurt, we had a letter of Nadir al-Hurami which suggested to him to accept Islam (lit: "orders submission to him", i.e. to Allah), induced him to it, and send him fifty dinars among which was a lot of Musayyab dinars and three miskals with muskus, the whole leather skins, two merv clothes, and we made out of both of them (this and another) for him two jackets and whole sapogs, parcha clothes, five silk clothes, and we handed over to him presents for him, and handed over his wife a cloak and a ring. I read him the letter, and he said to the translator: "I shall not tell you anything until you come back. I shall write to the Sultan (i.e. to the Caliph) what I would decide about it". And he took off the brocade he wore, to put on the presented clothing which we mentioned. And then, I saw a jacket under it ( parcha), and it was torn (saturated) with filth, as they have (such) customs, that none of them remove clothes contacting his body until it would decay into shreads. And he plucked all his beard and moustaches and remained as a eunuch. I saw, as Turks said, that of them he is the most dexterous equestrian. And really, once I saw him when he went next to us, riding a horse, and a goose flew by. He tensed his bow while his horse run under it (goose), then shot at it, and here he already brought it down. In one of the days he summoned the leaders who are close to him, and they are the following: Tarhan, and Yanal, and the son of Dzhabh, and Bagliz. Also was the Tarhan the most noble of them, and he was lame, blind, and one-armed. So he (Atrak) told him: "Really, these are the ambassadors of the malik of the Arabs to my son-in-law Almas (ALMS in the original, the Russian scientists distort it to Almush, apparently to make this name different from the widespread Türkic name Almas, i.e. diamond, and the Russian word "almaz", diamond - Translator's Note) son of Shilka (=Djilka=Horse - Translator's Note), and it would be not good if I let them go without an advice from you". Then Tarhan said: "We never heard or saw of such am affair, and by us never passed any ambassadors of a Sultan since we and our fathers lived here. And what I think, is that Sultan is making tricks and sends these (people) to the Khazars to raise them to war against us, and (my) opinion is, let him (Atrak) cut these ambassadors into halves-and-halves (everyone into halves), and we shall take what they have".

Also another of them said: "No! But we should take what they have, and leave them naked, for them to come back from where they came". And (still) another said: "No! But the Khazar malik has our captured. So we shall send these to redeem those". And thus they did not stop arguing among themselves about these things for seven days, and we were in deadly situation, until they united in that opinion to release us and let us pass. We presented Tarhan with a Merv haftan and two pieces (of cloth) pajbaf, and his comrades with a jacket, and also to Yanal, and handed them pepper, millet, flat breads. And they left us. We went until we reached the river Bagnadi. People pulled out their road bags, and they are from camel leather. They spread them and took the female Turkish camels as they are round, and placed them in the cavities until they stretched. Then they loaded their clothes and belongings, and when they were full in each road bag sat a group of five, six, four, more or less. They took in their hands wood sticks of hadang (white poplar) and held them as oars, striking continuously, and the water carried their road bags and they were spinning until they crossed. And they shout at horses and camels and they cross by swimming. A group of the fighters with weapons has to cross first before any from the caravan crosses. They are an avant guarde for the people behind them, (for protection) from the Bashkirs, (so) that they (i.e. Bashkirs) would not capture them when they cross. So, we crossed Bagnadi by the method we described above.

Then we crossed after that the river Djam, also in the road bags, then we crossed Djahash, then Adal, then Ardan, then Varish, then AdalAhti, then Vabna, and all these are big rivers. After that we came to Bajanaks, and they stayed by the water similar to a sea, not flowing, and they are dark brunettes with completely shaved beards, they are poor in comparison with Guzzes. In fact I saw some Guzzes that owned ten thousand horses and hundred thousand heads of sheep. Most frequently sheep graze in the snow, kicking with hoofs and searching for a grass. And if they do not find it, they gnaw snow and grow excessively fat. And in the summer they eat grass and grow thin. We stayed with Bajanaks for one day, then we went and stopped at the river Djayh, and it is the biggest river what we saw, the widest and with the strongest current. And really, I saw a road bag which overturned in it, and those who were in it sunk, and many men died, and a quantity of camels and horses sunk. We crossed it with difficulty.

Then we went for some days and crossed the river Djaha, then after it{her} through the river Ajan, then through Badja; then through Samur, then through Kabal, then through the river Sukh, then through the river Ka(n)djala, and we came to the country of the Türk people called al-Bashgird. We were mindful of them with the greatest precision, because they are the worst of the Turks, dirtiest of them and more than others inclined to murder. A man meets a man, cuts off his head, takes it with him, and leaves. They shave the beards and eat louses when they catch them. Some of them in checks in detail the seam of his jacket and cracks louses with his teeth. Really, one of them, who has already accepted Islam, was with us and served us, and I saw one louse in his clothes, he crushed it with his nail, and then ate it.
He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: (Here is) the opinion deviating (from the truth), each of them chops off a piece of a wood sized about a fall and hangs it on himself, and if he would want to journey or would meet an enemy, he kisses it (the piece of a tree), prays it and says: "Oh, Lord, do me that and that". And I said to the translator: "Ask some of them, what is the explanation of it and why he made it his God?" He said: "Because I came out from a similar to this and relating to myself I do not know another Creator, except for this". Some of them say that he has twelve Gods: a winter has a Lord, a summer has a Lord, a rain has a Lord, a wind has a Lord, trees have a Lord, people have a Lord, horses have a Lord, water has a Lord, night has a Lord, day has a Lord, death has a Lord, land has a Lord, and the Lord in the sky, is the greatest of them, but he is uniting with them (other gods) in a consent, and each of them approves what his companion does. The Allah is above what say the impious, in height and greatness.

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: We saw how one (group) worships snakes, (another) group worships fish, (third) group worships cranes, and I was told that they (once) waged a war with a people from among their enemies, that they (enemies) turned them (Bashkirs) into flight, and that cranes cried behind them (enemies) so that they were scared and themselves turned to flight after they had turned (Bashkirs) to flight, and consequently they (Bashkirs) worship cranes and say: "These (cranes) are our Lord as he turned into flight our enemies", and consequently they worship them (and now).

Bulgars

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: So, we went from the country of these (people) and crossed the river Djaramsan, then crossed the river Uranus, then crossed the river Uram, then crossed the river Ba(b)a(n)adj, then crossed the river Vati, then crossed the river Banasna, then crossed the river Djavashin. Distance from the river to the river, which we mentioned, is two days, or three or four, more or less.

(FromYakut) Bulgar is a city of Kipchaks, far in the north, in a strong cold, the snow almost does not clear from its land in the summer and winter, and its inhabitants seldom see a dry ground. Their buildings are only from wood, namely, they set logs atop logs and rivet them together with dowels of same wood, very strong. Fruit and bread in their soil does not grow well. Between the Itil, the Khazar city, and Bulgar the steppe road is about one month, and sailing up to it by the Itil river is about two months, and at sailing down (the river) is about twenty days. And from the Bulgar to the nearest border of Byzantium is about ten marches, and from it to the Kuyab, the city of Ruses, twenty days, and from the Bulgar to the Bashdjird twenty five marches. The malik and population of the Bulgar have already accepted Islam in the days of al-Muktadir-bi-llah and have sent ambassador to the Bagdad, notifying al-Muktadir about it and asking him about sending somebody who would teach them prayers and laws (Sheriyat). However, I (still) have not learned the reason of their acceptance of Islam. (FromYakut)

When we were at a distance of a day and night march from the malik of the Kipchaks, to whom we were coming, he sent to meet us four maliks under his power (lit. under his arm), his cortiers and his children, and they met us with bread, meat and millet, and joined us. When we were from him at two farsahs, he met us himself, and when he saw us, he dismounted and dropped to the ground, bowing with gratitude to Allah great, mighty. In his sleeve he had dirhams, and he has showered us with them. He set up for us domes and stayed in them. Our arrival to him was on Sunday when passed twelve nights of the muharram (month) three hundred tenth (12 May 922 - Translator's Note), and the distance from al-Djurdjania to his country is seventy days. So, we remained Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in the tents which were set for us, until he gathered maliks, leaders and inhabitants of the country to hear the letter. When Thursday came and they gathered, we unfolded two banners we had with us, saddled a horse with saddle delivered to us, dressed him (malik) in black and crowned him with a turban. Then I took out the letter of Caliph and told him: "We should not be sited when this letter " is read". And he raised on his feet, he and (also) the nobles present there from the inhabitants of his state, and he is a man very heavy and big-bellied. Then I began, read the beginning of the letter, and when I reached the place: "I call peace on you and truly I shall glorify to you the Allah except whom is no other god", I said: "Reply with a wish of peace to the ruler of the righteous". And he answered and all answered together. The translator continuously translated word for word. When we finished, they proclaimed " Allah is great!" with such exclamation that the ground trembled. Then I read the letter of the Vezier Hamid ibn-al-'Abbas while he (malik) was standing. Then I ordered him to sit down, and during the reading of the Nadir al-Hurami letter he was sitting. When I ended, his followers showered on him (malik) numerous dirhams. Then I took out the gifts (consisting) of aromas, clothes, jemchug for his wife, and I kept putting on him and on her one thing for another until we finished with it. Then I have dressed his wife into a (honourable) khalat in the presence of the people while she sat next to him, that is their law and custom. And when I khalat on her women showered her with dirhams, and we departed.

When some time has passed, he sent for us and we came to him when he was in his tent. The maliks were on his right side, he ordered us to sit on his left side, while his children sat in front of him, and he alone on a throne covered with Byzantian parcha. He directed to serve a table. It was brought, and on it was only a fried meat. And he began, took a knife and cut off a slice and ate it, and then a second, and the third, then cut a piece and handed it to the ambassador Susan, and when he received it a small table was brought to him and put in front of him. Also the rule is that nobody extends his hand to the meal until the malik hand him a slice. And as soon as he receives it, he is served with a table. Then he handed (meat) to me and a table was brought to me, then he handed to the fourth malik, and to hin was brought a table, then handed over to his children, and to them were brought tables, and we ate everyone from his table, not being a companion at a table with somebody else, and except for him nobody took anything from his table and when he finished with his meal anything that remained on the table was taken back to their lodging places. When we had eaten, he (malik) ordered to bring a drink of honey, which they call as-sudjuv, (using it) day and night, he drunk one goblet, then rose up and said: "This my joy is about my Lord, the ruler of the righteous, let Allah prolong his days". And as he has risen, also rose four maliks and his children, and we rose also as he did it three times. Then we departed from him.

Even before my arrival for him at his minbar was already being proclaimed a hutba: "Oh, Allah! Save the malik Baltavar, the malik of Bulgar". And I said to him: "Malik, in truth, this is Allah, and at a minbar nobody is called by this name, except for Him, great and mighty. And your Lord, the ruler of the righteous, was himself satisfied with that on the minbars in the east and the west was proclaimed about him: "Oh, Allah! Keep your slave and viseroy (Caliph) Dja'far imam al-Muktadir-bi-llah, the ruler of the righteous", and in the same way (did) his fathers Caliphs before him. And the prophet said, let Allah bless him and save: "Do not praise me without a measure as Christians praise Jesus of son Mary, in fact I am a slave of Allah and his envoy". And he told me: "Then how the hutba should be proclaimed for me?" I said: "By your name and the name of your father". He said: "But really my father was infidel, and I do not want to mention his name from the minbar, and me too, and I do not want that my name was pronounced the way it was when I was infidel. But, however, what is the name of my Lord, the ruler of the righteous?" I said: "Dja'far". He said: "Would it be proper if I was called by his name?" I said: "Yes". He said: "(So), I have already renamed myself Dja'far, and renamed my father 'Abdallah, so give an order about it to hatib". I did it, and he (hatib) began to proclaim for him (malik) hutba: "Oh, Allah! Save your slave Dja'far ibn-'Abdallah, the ruler (Emir) of Bulgar, a dependant of the ruler of the righteous".

When passed three days after the reading of the (Caliph) letter and delivery of the gifts, he sent for me. He news about four thousand dinars reached him, and what was the trick of the Christian for their delay. About them (dinars) was mentioning in the letter. So, when I came to him, he ordered to me to sit, and I sat down, and he threw me the letter of the ruler of the righteous and said: "Who brought this letter?" I said: "I". Then he threw me the letter of the Vezier and said: "And this too?" I said: "I". He said: "And the money mentioned in both of them, what happened with them?" I said: "Tt was difficult collecting them, our time was constrained, we were afraid to miss (opportunity) to come (here) we left (them) so that would follow us". Then he said: "Really, all of you came together, and what my Lord has spent for you, he spent it for the delivery of this money, for me to build from them a fortress which would protect me from Jews who have enslaved me, as to the gift, my servant could deliver it nicely". I said: "It is true, but only truly we also have tried". Then he said to the translator: "Tell him, I do not know those people, and really only know you alone, and that is because these people not Arabs and if the ustad (? - Translator's Note) knew , let Allah help him, that they would deliver what you delivered, he would not send you that you would save it for me and would read the letter to me and would listened to my answer. I shall not ask for any dirhams from anybody, except for you, so return the money and this is the best for you". So, I left from his face frightened, depressed. And this man had (such) appearance and stateliness, he was thick and wide, so he spoke as though from a (big) jug. So, I stepped out from him, and collected my co-journers and relayed to them, what took place between him and me. And I told them: "I warned you about it".

The muezzin, calling for a pray, proclaimed ikama to him twice. And I said to him (malik): "Truly, your Lord, the ruler of the righteous, in his house proclaims ikama once". Then he said muedzinu: "Accept that he tells you, and do not disagree with him". Thus muezzin made a pray according to this instruction for some days while he (malik) asked me about money and disputed with me about them, and I drove him to dismay about it and defended by evidence in it. When he was driven to resignation about it; he gave an order to the muezzin to proclaim ikama twice, and he did it. And he (malik) wanted to cause a dispute with me. So, when I heard that muezzin doubled the ikama, I forbade it to him and shouted at him. The malik learned about it, ordered me to come and my co-journeyrs ordered to come. When we gathered, he said to the translator: "Tell him, - that is me, - that you will you say about two muezzins one of which proclaimed ( ikama) once, and another twice, then both of them prayed with people, - is it admissible or not?" I said: "The pray is allowable". He said: "With a dissentions (of mudjtehids) about it or with common opinion (bil-idzhm)?" I said: "With common agreement". He said: "Tell him: and what will you tell about a man who handed over the money (intended) for people deprived, besieged, enslaved, to a somebody, and about those who have deceived him?" I said: "It is inadmissible and these are people are awful". He said: "With a disagreement or with a common opinion?" I said: "With common agreement". Then he said to the translator: "Tell him: Do you think, if Caliph - let Allah prolong days (in this world)! - would send against me an army, would he overcome me?" I said: "No". He said: "And the Emir of Khurasan?" I said: "No". He said: "Is it because of long distance and a large number of infidel tribes between us?" I said: "Yes". He said: "Tell him: So, Allah be the witness, I am really in the remote location, where you see me, but I really respect my Lord, the ruler of the righteous, and I particulerly afraid that he would hear about me something that he would consider disgusting, so that he would damn me and I will perish in my far location, while he would remain in his state and between me and him would be the expenses of the far countries. While you constantly ate his bread and carried his clothes and saw him, you have deceived him about the size of a packet which he sent me with you, to the people poor, you have deceived Moslems, I do not accept (help) from you in respect to the faith, until such (person) would come to me who would be truthful with me in what he tells. And if such a man comes, I shall take from him". Thus he shut our mouthes, we did not say anything in the return, and departed from him.

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: After that conversation he (malik) favored me, has brought me closer, has distanced my co-journers, and named me Abu-Bekr As-Saduk.

I saw in his country so many amazing thing, that I would not list them because they are so numerous, for example, in the very first night we spent in his country, I saw before the sunset, in the usual hour, the heavenly horizon to redden extensively, and heard in the atmosphere strong noise and loud grumbles. Then I raised my eyes and, there's a cloud like fire, not far from me, and this grumble and noise come from it, and, likes of people and horses in it, and, spears and swords in it in the remote figures like people, which sometimes seemed to me completely clear and sometimes only imaginary. And another piece similar to these (figures) in which I also saw men, horses and weapons, and this piece started to fall on that piece, as a squadron would attack another squadron. We've got scared of it and started to plead and to pray, and they (inhabitants) are laughing at us and are amazing by what we are doing. He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: And we looked at the squadron attacking another squadron, and they mixed together for some time, then were separated and this way the action continued for a part of the night. Then they disappeared. We asked malik about it, and he divulged that his ancestors were telling that these (horsemen) belonged to believers and non-believers djinns, and they battle every evening, and that they do it as long as they live, every night.

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: (Once) I and a visiting malik tailor, of the inhabitants of Bagdad, who happened to be in this area, came to my tent for a talk. So, we talked for so long, that a man would not even read a half of one seventh (of the Koran). We were waiting for the night azan. But after azan we left the tent, and was already a dawn. Then I asked muezzin: "What azan did you call?" He said: "Dawn azan". I said: "And the last night (azan)?" He said: "We read its pray together with the sunset pray". I said: "And night one?" He said: "See for yourself. They were even shorter than this one, but they already began to increase in length". He said that for month he does not sleep, afraid to miss the morning pray, and is because the man puts a caldron on fire at sunset, then he reads the morning pray and the caldron does not begin to boil.

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: I saw, that their day is very long, during a part of the year it is long, and the night is short, then the night is long, and the day is short. So, next night, I sat outside of the tent and observed the sky, and saw there only few stars, I think like fifteen stars, because of low darkness, so (at night) a man recognizes another man from a distance greater than a flight of arrow.

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: I saw, that the crescent does not reach the middle of the sky, but shows up at its edges for short time, then the dawn comes, and the crescent disappears.

The malik told me, that behind his country at a distance of three months travel are people which called Visu. Their night is less than an hour. He said: I saw that during sunrise in that country everything is turned red, whatever is there, the land, and the mountains, and everything what a man sees, and the ascending sun is like a cloud in size, and this redness lasts until it reaches the meridian. The inhabitants of that settlement told me, that really, in the winter, the night is the same length as the summer day, and day becomes as short, as the night, so if one of our men would really leave during the dawn to the place called Atil, - and between us and it the road distance is less than a farsah, he would reach it only by the nightfall time, when appear there all the stars so they are covering the sky. And we do not leave the city while the night is long, and the day is short.

I saw, that they believe howl of the dogs is very favorable for themselves and are pleased by it, and forecast a year of abundance, blessing and well-being. I saw that they have so many snakes, that on a branch of a tree, truly, would be wound ten of them or more. They do not kill them, and they (snake) do not harm them, so, truly, once I saw in one place a long tree which length was more than a hundred feet (lit. elbows). It has already fallen, and so I see, that its trunk is extremely huge. I stopped, looking at it and then it started to move, and it frightened me. I looked at it closely and then, a snake on it of thickness and length similar to it. When it saw me, it went down from it (tree) and disappeared between the trees. I returned scared. So, I told that to the malik and those who were at his reception. They did not give it any significance, and he (malik) said: "Do not worry, it would not do you any harm".

We stopped (once), together with the malik, for a stopover. I and my co-journers Takin, Susan and Baris, and with us a man of the malik's retinue, came and in (a certain place) between trees, and he showed us a little bush, small, green, and so thin as a spindle, but with a longer blade. At the top of the fork it carries a leaf on each arm, a wide, spread on the ground, where the plants are like spread out, and among leaves are berries. Who eats them, does not doubt that it is a pomegranate fruit. So, we ate them and found that it is a great pleasure, so we did not stop looking for them and eat them.

I saw that they have apples of very green color and of even greater acidity, like wine vinegar, which girls eat and grow fat from them. I did not see in their country anything in larger quantity than the walnut trees. Really, I saw forests of them such that each forest had forty farsahs (length) at similar (width).

I saw that they have a tree, I do not know what kind, extremely tall, its trunk does not have leaves, and its top is like a top of a palm, and and it has brunches. And he (Ibn-Fadlan) said: however they (brunches) join, coming to a known to them (inhabitants) place on the trunk. They (inhabitants) drill it and put under it a vessel, and a liquid (water) more pleasant than honey flows from this hole. If a man drink it, it will intoxicate him as wine, and even more.

Their food is millet and horsemeat, but they have plenty of wheat and barley, and everyone sow something, takes it for himsel, and the malik does not have any rights on it, except that they pay him each year a skin of a sable from each house. If he will order his troops to raid a country, and they would bring booty, he has together with them his share. Everyone who has a wedding or calls a feast with invitations, has to make a tribute (of products) to the malik, depending on the size of the feast, and then he would bring (for the guests) the honey nabid and bad wheat, because their ground is black and smelly, and they do not have storing places where to keep their food, so they dig in the ground wells and keep food in them. Thus only a few days pass as it spoils and attains a smell, and it cannot be used.

And they do not have (olive) oil, or hemp oil, or any fat, and they really use instead of these the fish oil, and everything that they use with it, is strongly smelling. They make of barley a flour drink, which drink girl and adolescents by small gulps, and sometimes they cook barley with meat, and the masters eat the meat and feed the girls with barley. But only in the early morning she eats some meat.

All of them wear hats. So, when the malik rides, he rides alone, without a servant, and nobody is with him, and when he passes a market, nobody remains sitting, but removes the hat from the head and puts it under armpit, when he has passed them, they put the hats on the heads again. And exactly the same, everyone who enters to the malik, small and great, inclusive of his children and brothers, as soon as they appear before him, they immediately remove their hats and put them under armpit. Then they gesture him with their head and sit down, then they stand until he orders them to sit down, and everyone who sits in front of him, truly, sits kneeling, and does not take out his hat and does not show it, until he exits from him (malik), and then he puts it on. All of them (live) in yurts, with the only difference that the malik's yurt is very large, with space for one thousand humans, with most part covered by the the Armenian carpets. In the middle of it is a throne covered with Byzantian parcha. Of their customs one is such, that if a son of a man has a child, he is taken away by his grandfather, before his father, and he (grandfather) says: I have greater rights on a share of him than his father, until he becomes a man; if their man dies, his brother inherits him ahead of his son. So, I instructed the malik, that that is not allowed, and taught him what are the correct rights of succession, until he completely comprehended them.

I saw many thunder-storms in their country, and if the thunder-storm will strike a house, they do not come near it and leave it as it is, and all that is in it, people and property and everything other, until time destroys it, and they say: This is a house on whose inhabitants an ill-fate lays.

And if a man of them would will kill a man intentionally, they execute him, and if he would kill unintentionally, they make for him a sunduk of hadang (white poplar) wood, put him inside of it, nail it, and put with him three flat breads and a cup with water. They set for him three wooden poles like the thills (of a plough), suspend it between them, and say: "We are suspending him between heaven and earth so he will be subjected to rain and sun, maybe, Allah will take pity on him". And it remains suspended, until time would wear it out and winds would fluff it.

And if they see a man with mobility and knowledge of things, they speak: "This has a right to serve our Lord". So, they take him, put on his neck a rope and hang him up on a tree until he dies. And really, the malik's translator told me that some sindian stopped in this country and remained with the malik for long a time in his service. And he was handy, quick-witted. And so, one group of them (inhabitants) wanted to to set off by their routs. And so, this sindian asked for a malik's sanction to go together with them. And he (malik) forbade it to him. And he (sindian) insisted (on it) until he allowed to go. So, he left together with them on a ship. And they saw that he is mobile, sharp-witted. So, they agreed between themselves and said: "This is excellent for service to our Lord, so we shall go with him to him (Lord)". They passed on their way by a forest, and they lead him ( sindian ) into it, put a rope on his neck, tied him at the top of a high tree, left him there, and went on.

And if they are on the road, and one of them gets an urge to urinate and he urinates, armed with weapons, they would rob him, taking his clothes and everything that is with him, and it is their custom. And who would disarm the weapons from himself and would put them aside and (then) urinates, they do not interfere with him.

Men and women go down to the river and bathe together naked, do not cover one from another and do not commit adultery in any way and there is no possibility. And who of them committed adultery, whoever he was, for him are staked four thills, his hands and legs are tied to them and he is dissected with an axe from his nape to his hips. And the same way they deal with the woman too. Then each piece of him and her is suspended on a tree. I did not cease to try that women would be covered from men, but that I did not manage to correct. And they kill a thief the same way as they kill a fornicator.

In their woods is a lot of honey in the dwellings of bees, which they (inhabitants) know and are go for gathering it, and sometimes people from among their enemies attack them (inhabitants), so they kill them. They have a lot of merchants who journey to the land of the Turks, and bring sheep, and to the country called Visu, and bring sables and black foxes.

We saw members of a household of one "house" known under a name al-Barandzhar, in quantity of five thousand souls of women and men, they all have already accepted Islam. For them was built a wooden mosque, so that they would prayed in it. They can not read, so the crowd does how (others) pray. Really, once one man by the name Talut accepted Islam under my supervision. So, I named him "Abdallah", and he said: "I want you to name me with (your own) name Muhammad", and I did it. And his wife, and his mother, and his children also accepted Islam, and all of them began to be called Muhammad. I taught him: "Praise Allah" and "Say: Allah is one", and his pleasure from these two suras was more than would be his pleasure if he became a malik of the Kipchaks. When we arrived to the malik, we found that he stayed in so-called Haldja (i.e. Sulcha, see M.Zakiev - Translator's note), and these are three lakes, from which two are large, and one is small. But only among all of them is no one which bottom could be reached. Between that place and their huge river flowing to the country of Khazars, called river Atil, is about a farsah. And on this river at any time is the market place, and in it a lot of useful goods are sold.

(Per Yakut) Itil is the name of the huge river similar to Tiger, in the Khazar country. It also flows through the countries of Ruses and Bulgars. Also, Itil is the capital of the Khazar country and the river is named on its name. I read in Ahmad Ibn-Fadlan book ibn-al-'Abbasa ibn-Rashida ibn-Hammada, the ambassador al-Muktadira in the countries Kipchaks are inhabitants of the Bulgar.(Per Yakut)

Takin had told me that in the country of the malik there is a man of extremely huge built. So, when I arrived to that country, I asked malik about him. He said: "Yes, earlier he was in our country, and has died. He was not of the inhabitants of this country and even not from people. His history is this, some merchants went to the river Atil as they usually do. And this river rose, and its water overflowed its banks. I did not have time to rouse that day as a crowd of merchants already arrived to me and said: "Oh, malik, on the water went a man, and if he from the neighboring people we cannot remain living in these settlements, and have no choice but to move". So, I went astride together with them, until arrived at the river, and there, I came near this man, and he, measured with my elbow, is twelve elbows, and his head is a biggest caldron that ever existed, and his nose is more than a quarter, and both eyes are huge, and every finger is more than a quarter. His appearance has frightened me, and I was seized by the same fear, as those people had. And we started talking with him, and he did not talk, but just looked at us. I transported him to my quarters and wrote to Visu people, and they are from us at three months' travel, asking them about him. They wrote to me informing me that this the man is from (people) Yadjudj and Madjudj, and they are from us (Visu) at three months' travel, between us (Visu) and them is a sea on which coast they are really located, and they, like cattle, copulate with each other (Visu are presumed to be Veps (Vepslaine, Bepslaane, Lüdinik and Lüdilain), an exceedingly decimated nation of Baltic-Finnic language group, akin to Finns and Estoninas, reportedly illiterate before the advent of the Russian civilization, but somehow literate in 922, before the incipience of the same Russian civilization. The Bulgarian Kan and Vesps must have had a common alphabet to write, and either Veps knew Türkic, or Bulgars knew Finnish to communicate in writing - Translator's note). Allah mighty and great brings them every day a fish from the sea, and then, each of them comes and has a knife, and carves from it for himself as much as is enough for him and for his family. If he will take more than they need, his stomach will ache, and stomaches at his family will also ache, and sometimes he would die and all of them would die. When they take from it what they need, it turns and returns to the sea. So, they live by that every day. And between us and them is the sea, (which they have) on the one side, and the mountains surround them from other sides, and the wall is also between them and a gate through which they usually went. And when the Allah mighty and great would want to lead them to the inhabited lands, he will open the barrier and dry the sea, and the fish will end for them".

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: Then I asked him (malik) about this man, and he said: "He lived with me for some time. So, it happened, a boy could not look at him without dying, and a pregnant without ejecting her fruit. Also it was happening, if he would seize a person he would compress him with both arms until he killed him. When I saw that, I hung him up on a high tree until he died. If you want to look at his bones and his head I shall set out with you for you to look at them". I said: "I swear by Allah, I want it very much". So, he went astride with me to a large forest with huge trees. And already decayed on the tree..., and his head under it, and I saw, that the his head is like a big vat, his ribs are like big dry branches of a fruit palm, and so are the bones of his shins and of his both elbow bones. I amazed by it and departed.

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: The malik moved from the water called Haldja (i.e. Sulcha, see M.Zakiev - Translator's note) to the river named Djavashir, and remained near it for two months. Then he again wanted to move and sent to the people called Savan (i.e. Saban - Translator's note) an order to go together with him. But they refused, and divided into two groups: one group with some clan with a malik by the name of Virag (?). Then the malik (of Bulgar) sent to them and said: "Truly the Allah mighty and great has already favored me, giving me Islam and the Supreme authority of the ruler of the righteous, so I am his slave, and resolved that (?).... who (?) would contradict me I will face him with a sword". Another group from a certain tribe was with a malik whose name was malik Askal. He (Askal) was subordinated to him (malik of Bulgar), but only he (Askal) has not accepted Islam yet. So, when he (malik of Bulgar) sent to them that message, they were afraid of his intentions and went all as a whole together with him (malik Askal) to the river Djavashir. And this is a river of small width, its width is five elbows, and its water to a navel, and in places to the neck, and in the most part it reaches a height of a man. Around it are trees, and many of these trees are hadangs (white poplar) and others, and near it is a wide steppe about which is told, that in it is an animal, in size smaller than a camel, but higher than a bull. Its head, is a head of a sheep, and its tail is a tail of a bull, its body is a body of a mule, its hoofs are like the hoofs of a bull. In the middle of the head it has one thick round horn, as it raises it becomes thiner, until becomes like a tip of a spear. And some of them are five elbows to three elbows long, according to the bigger or smaller size (of the animal). It grazes on the leaves of trees with excellent sprouts. When it sees a horseman it goes to him, and if a racehorse is under him (horseman), it (racehorse) runs for rescue from it in a fast flight, and if it would catch up with him (horseman) it grasps him with its horn from the back of the horse, then throws him into the air and catches him on its horn, and does not stop doing it until it kills him. And it causes no harm to the horses in any way. And they (inhabitants) search for it in the steppe and forests until they kill it. So, they climb high trees between which it is. A few shooters with poisoned arrows gather for this purpose, and when it appears between them they shoot at it, until they wound it and kill it. And really, at the malik I saw three big bowls, similar to the Yemen (shells) "jaz", he told me that they (bowls) are made from the base of the horn of this animal.

Also some people from the inhabitants of the country tell that this is a rhinoceros.

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: I did not see among them (any) person who had a fever, however the majority of them are ill, and die from it. A majority of them has cramps, and even, truly, their baby children have it.

And when their Moslem, or when any Horezmian woman dies, they are washed with Moslem ritual, then carry them on a cart which carries slowly with a banner, until arriving to the site of the burial. And when he arrives there, they take him from the cart and lay him on the ground, then mark around him a line and move him aside, then dig out the grave inside this line, make a lateral recesses for him and bury him.

And in the same way they treat their dead. Women do not cry over diseased, but their man cry over them. The) come the day he died. So they stop at the doors of his tent and shout the most awful cries that can only be produced, and the most wild. These are free people. When their crying ends, come the slaves, carrying) braided leather, and continuously cry and lash the side and back parts of their bodies with these sables, until their bodies are scarred by the scourges. They (inhabitants) have to set up on the doors of his yurt a banner, they bring his weapons and lay them around his tomb and do not stop crying for two years. When the two years end, they remove the banner and cut off from their hair, and the relatives of the diseased call a commemoration meal which signal the termination of their grief and if he had a wife, she re-marries. It is if he was one of the leaders, as to the simple people, they do with their diseased (only) something from this (ritual).

On the Kipchaks' malik is imposed a tribute he pays to the malik of Khazars, a skin of a sable from each house in his state. And when arrives a ship from the Khazar land to the Kipchak country, the malik rides out and accounts what is there, and takes from everything a tenth part. And when arrive Ruses or others from other tribes, with the slaves, the malik truly chooses for himself one head from each ten heads. The son of the Kipchak malik (is) a hostage with the Khazar malik. Still earlier a news about the beauty of the daughter of the Kipchak malik reached the Khazar malik. So, he (Khazar malik) sent to ask to marry her, and he (Kipchak malik) cited reasons against it and refused him. Then that sent to take her by force, though he is Jewish, and she is a Moslem. So, she died while in his possession. Then he sent, demanding in a second time. And, as soon as that reached the Kipchak malik, he hastened, and she was married to Askal, one of his subjects, who did it for his malik, as he (Kipchak malik) was afraid, that he (Khazar malik) would take her away from him by force as he has done with her sister. And, really, the Kipchak malik called (secretary) to write to the Sultan (Caliph) and to ask him that he has constructed for him a fortress, as he was afraid of the Khazar malik.

He (Ibn-Fadlan) said: Once I asked him and said to him: "Your State is extensive, and your (monetary) means are plentiful, and your income is numerous, so why have you asked the Sultan that he has constructed a fortress on his unlimited means?" Then he said to me: "I saw, that (state) of Islam stands ahead of (others) and that their (monetary) means are taken by everyone who rules them, and therefore I have addressed with the request for it. If, really, I wanted to build a fortress from my means, for silver or gold, there is no difficulty for me in it. And truly I only wanted to receive a blessing from the money of the ruler of the righteous, and asked him about it".