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The largest town of Kumania is Sara or Saray, which was large and of great renown, but has been ravaged, and almost entirely destroyed by the Tartars, who took it by storm. It is obvious, that Haitho here describes that part of the empire of the Mongals which was subject to Baatu-khan. The Euxine or Black Sea, he calls the Great Sea.

Near this isthmus of Zuchala, there are large salt water lakes, from which the salt crystallizes in summer, and is taken out in large quantities for the supply of the surrounding nations. Within the peninsula, and on the sea of Tabache or Asof, the first province we come to is Kumania, deriving its name from the people called Kumanians.

The next year, 1773, he visited the great Kabardia, the Oriental Kumania, examined the ruins of Madjary, visited Tscherkask and Asov, discovered the mouth of the Don, and was about to extend his researches to the Crimea when he was recalled to St. Petersburg. Guldenstædt's travels have not been translated into French.

Kumania and Gazzaria, here said to be provinces of the Crimea, or island of Kaffa, must have been small districts of that peninsula, inhabited by tribes of the Kumanians and Gazzarians of the country between the sea of Asof and the mouths of the Wolga, now frequently called the Cuban Tartary.

The plain of Tartary is bounded on the east by the great river Ledil, Edil, or Wolga; on the west by Poland; on the north by Russia; on the south by the Great or Black Sea, Alania, Kumania or Comania, and Gazaria, all of which border on the sea of Tebache . Alania has its name from the people called Alani, who call themselves As in their own language.

Kumania is of vast extent; but, owing to the inclemency of its climate, is very thinly inhabited. In some parts, the cold is so intense in winter, that neither man nor beast can remain in them; and in other parts the heat is so extreme, and they are so infested with swarms of flies, as to be quite intolerable.

The country produces abundance of corn, and very little wine. This empire borders on a desert of an hundred days journey in extent. To the west is the Caspian sea, to the north Kumania, and to the east Turkestan. The inhabitants are heathens, without letters or laws.

The whole of that country, together with the country between the Wolga and Ural rivers, often bore the name of Kumania. But the destructive conquests of the Mongals, has in all ages broken down the nations of those parts into fragments, and has induced such rapid and frequent changes as to baffle all attempts at any fixed topography, except of lakes, rivers, and mountains.