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Leaving the city of Caracarum, and the mountain Altai, we enter the champaign country of Bargu , which extends northwards for about fifty days journey. The inhabitants of this country are called Medites , and are subject to the great, khan, and resemble the Tartars in their manners.
Bargu may have been on the Baikal, near which there still is a place called Barsuzin. Of Cursa no trace is to be found in our maps. Prester-John, Presbyter or Priest, or, as called by the Germans, Priester Johann, from which our English denomination, was prince of the Naymanni or Karaites, a tribe residing on tke river Kallassui or Karasibi, which, discharges itself into the Jenisei.
But by the description in the text, Marco appears to have comprehended the whole north-east of Tartary, to the north of the Changai mountains, under the general name of Bargu, in which he now includes Curza, mentioned separately at the commencement of the preceding Section, and where the situation of Bargu has been already more particularly described in a note. Metrites, Meclites, or Markaets.
Near this place the Tartars used to assemble in old times, and here therefore I shall explain the original of their empire. They dwelt at first in the northern parts called Curza and Bargu , where there are many vast plains without cities and towns, but abounding in pastures, lakes, and rivers.
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