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This done, we presented the letters of the Pope; but the interpreter whom we had hired at Kiow, was not able to explain them sufficiently, nor could any one be found equal to the task. From this place post-horses were appointed to conduct us with all speed to duke Baatu, under the guidance of three Tartars. This Baatu is the most powerful prince among them, next to their emperor.
At his despotic command, Peround, the god of thunder, whom he had so long adored, was dragged through the streets of Kiow; and twelve sturdy Barbarians battered with clubs the misshapen image, which was indignantly cast into the waters of the Borysthenes.
With the emigration, union, or dissolution, of the wandering tribes, the loose and indefinite picture of the Scythian desert has continually shifted. But the most ancient map of Russia affords some places which still retain their name and position; and the two capitals, Novogorod and Kiow, are coeval with the first age of the monarchy.
Sophia were rudely copied in the churches of Kiow and Novogorod: the writings of the fathers were translated into the Sclavonic idiom; and three hundred noble youths were invited or compelled to attend the lessons of the college of Jaroslaus.
From the neighborhood of that city, the Russians descended the streams that fall into the Borysthenes; their canoes, of a single tree, were laden with slaves of every age, furs of every species, the spoil of their beehives, and the hides of their cattle; and the whole produce of the North was collected and discharged in the magazines of Kiow.
Yet their growing towns, however slight and imperfect, presented a shelter to the subject, and a barrier to the enemy: the monarchy of Kiow, till a fatal partition, assumed the dominion of the North; and the nations from the Volga to the Danube were subdued or repelled by the arms of Swatoslaus, the son of Igor, the son of Oleg, the son of Ruric.
I accepted of this offer most willingly; and we then sat down to a magnificent entertainment; at which the bishop of Kiow, who was brother to the governor, and many other persons of consequence were present. We wanted nothing which could contribute to make the dinner pleasant. Good company, good cheer, and music during the repast.
It is bounded on the east by a desert towards Khorasmia; to the west is the great sea, or Euxine, and the sea of Tenue, Tanna, or Azof; to the north, is the empire of Kaffia or Kiow; and to the south it extends to the great river Etile or Wolga, which passes the capital.
They afterwards passed the river, and the palatine of Kiow retiring towards Cracow, they took possession of Warsaw, where in their turn they plundered the palaces and houses belonging to the opposite party. During these transactions, the French king concluded a treaty with Spain and Sardinia, by which those powers agreed to declare war against the emperor.
You see united the most striking contrasts, and it is that which makes one predict great things of them; for generally it is only in beings of superior order that we find an union of opposite qualities; the mass is in general of a uniform color. I made at Kiow the trial of Russian hospitality.
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