tion, for they faid, the Tarters were no lefs than thirty thoufand, and that in a few Days more, would be one hundred thousand strong.

The Ruffian Governour fent out Meffengers to appeale them, and gave them all the good Words imaginable; he affured them, he knew nothing of it, and that there had not a Soul of his Garrifon been abroad; that it could not be from as ny Body there; and if they would let him know who it was, they fhould be examplarly punish'd. They return'd haughtily, that all the County reverenc'd the Great Cham-Chi-Thaungu, who dwelt in the Sun, and no Mortal would have decreed to offer Violence to his Image, but fome Chriftian Mifcreant, fo they call'd them it seems; and they therefore denounc'd War against him, and all the Ruffians, who they faid were Mifcreants and Chriftians.

The Governour still Patient, and unwilling to make a Breach, or to have any Caufe of War alledg'd to be given by him, the Czar, having ftraitly charg'd them to treat the conquer'd Country with Gentleness and Civility; gave them fill all the good Words he could, at laft he told them, there was a Caravan gone towards Ruffia that Morning, and perhaps it was fome of them, who had done them this Injury; and that if they would be fatisfy'd with that, he would fend after them, to enquire into it; this feem'd to appeafe them a little, and accordingly the Governour fent after us, and gave us a particular Account how the Thing was ; intimating withal, that if any in our Caravan had done it, they fhould make their Escape: but that whether they had had done it or no, Z z

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we should make all the Hafte forward that was poffible; and that in the mean Time, he would keep them in Play as long as he could.

This was very friendly in the Governour; however, when it came to the Caravan, there was no Body knew any Thing of the Matter; and as for us that were guilty, we were the least of all fufpected; none fo much as ask'd us the Question; however, the Captain of the Caravan for the Time, took the Hint that the Governour gave us, and we march'd or travell'd, two Days and two Nights, without any confiderable Stop; and then we lay at a Village call'd Plothus; nor did make any long Stop here, but haften'd on towards Farawena, another of the Czar of Mufcovy's Colonies, and where we expected we fhould be fafe; but it is to be observ'd, that here we began for two or three Days March, to enter upon the vast nameless Delart, of which, I fhall fay, more in its Place; and which, if we had now been upon it, 'tis more than probable, we had been all deftroy'd: It was the fecond Day's march from Plotkus, that by the Clouds of Duft behind us at a great Distance, fome of our People began to be fenfible we were purfued; we had enter'd the Defart, and had pais'd by a great Lake call'd Schacks Ofer when we perceiv'd a very great Body of Horfe appear on the other Side of the Lake to the North, we travelling Weft: We obferv'd they went away Weft as we did, but had fuppofed we would have taken that Side of the Lake, whereas, we very happily took the South Side, and in two Days more, we faw then not, for they believing we were ftill before them, puth'd on till they came to the Ri

ver Udda; this is a very great River when it paffes farther North; but where we came to it, we found it narrow and fordable.

The third Day, they either found their Miftake, or had Intelligence of us, and came pouring in upon us, towards the Dusk of the Evening: We had to our great Satisfaction, juft pitch'd upon a Place for our Camp, which was very convenient for the Night; for as we were upon a Defart, tho' but at the beginning of it that was above five hundred Miles over, we had no Towns to lodge at, and indeed expected none but the City Jarawena, which we had yet two Days March to; the Defart however, had fome few Woods in it on this Side, and little Rivers which ran all into the great River Udda; it was in a narrow Strait between two little but very thick Woods, that we pitch'd our little Camp for that Night, expecting to be attack'd in the Night.

No Body knew but our felves, what we were purlued for; but as it was ufual for the Mongul Tartars to go about in Troops in that Defart, fo the Caravans always fortify themselves every Night against them, as against Armies of Robbers, and it was therefore, no new Thing to be purfu'd.

But we had this Night, of all the Nights of our Travels, a moft advantageous Camp; for we lay between two Woods, with a little Rivulet running just before our Front, so that we could not be furrounded or attack'd any Way, but in our Front or Rear; we took Care alfo to make our Front as ftrong as we could, by placing

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placing our Packs, with our Camels and Horfes, all in a Line on the Infide of the River, and felling fome Trees in our Rear.

In this Pofture we encamp'd for the Night, but the Enemy was upon us, before we had finifh'd our Situation:They did not come on us like Thieves as we expected, but fent three Meffengers to us, to demand the Men to be delivered to them, that had abus'd their Priests, and burn'd their God, Cham-Chi-Thaungu with Fire, that they might burn them with Fire; and upon this, they faid they would go away, and do us no farther harm, otherwife, they would burn us all with Fire; our Men look'd very blank at this Meflage, and began to ftare at one another, to fee who look'd with moft Guilt in their Faces, but no Body was the Word, no Body did it; the Leader of the Caravan fent Word he was well affur'd, it was not done by any of our Camp, that we were peaceable Merchants, travelling on our Bufinefs; that we had done no harm to them, or to any one elfe; and that therefore, they must look farther for their Enemies who had injur'd them, for we were not the People; fo defir'd them not to difturb us, for if they did, we fhould defend our felves.

They were far from being fatisfy'd with this for an Anfwer, but a great Crowd of them came down in the Morning by break of Day to our Camp, but fecing us in fuch an unaccountable Situation, they durft come no farther than the Brook in our Front, where they stood and fhew'd us fuch a Number, that indeed terrify'd us very much, for thofe that fpoke least of them, fpoke of ten thoufand; here they stood and look'd

at

at us a while, and then fetting up a great Howl, they let fly a Cloud of Arrows among us, but we were well enough fortify'd for that; for we fhelter'd under our Baggage, and I do not remember, that one Man of us was hurt.

Some Time after this, we fee them move a little, to our Right, and expected them on the Rear; whena cunning Fellow, aCoffack, as they call them, of Farawena, in the Pay of the Muscovites, calling to the leader of the Caravan, faid to him, I'll go fend all these People away to Siheilka; this was a City, four or five Days Journey at least to the South, and rather behind us; fc he takes his Bow and Arrows, and getting on Horse-back, he rides away from our Rear directly, as it were back to Nertfinskoy; after this, he takes a great Circuit about, and comes to the Army of the Tartars, as if he had been fent Exprefs to tell them a long Story; that the People who had burnt the Cham Chi Thaungu,were gone to Siheilka, with a Caravan of Mifcreants, as he call'd them, that is to fay, Chriftians; and that they had refolv'd to burn the God Schal Ifar, belonging to the Tonguefes.

As this Fellow was himself a meer Tartar, and perfectly spoke their Language, he counterfeited fo well, that they all took it from him, and away they drove in a most violent Hurry to Siheilka, which it feems was five Days Journey to the North, and in lefs than three Hours, they were entirely out of our Sight, and we never heard any more of them; and we never knew whether they went to that other Place call'd Siheilka, or no.