the disintegration of the empire 105
explanations for travellers of the time. even today, this advice illuminates
the structure and dynamics of the great trade route:
information regarding the Journey to gattaio189
for such as will go by tana and come back with goods
in the first place, from Tana to Gintarcan190 may be twenty-five days with an
ox-wagon, and from ten to twelve days with a horse-wagon. on the road you
will find plenty of Moccoli [= mongols] that is to say, of gens d’armes. 191 and
from Gittarcan to Sara192 may be a day by river, and from Sara to Saracanco,193
also by river, eight days. You can do this either by land or by water; but by
water you will be at less charge for your merchandize. from Saracanco to
Organci194 may be twenty days’ journey in camel-wagon. it will be well for
anyone travelling with merchandize to go to Organci, for in that city there is
a ready sale for goods. from Organci to Ioltrarre195 is thirty-five to forty days
in camel-wagons. But if when you leave Saracanco you go direct to Oltrarre,
it is a journey of fifty days only, and if you have no merchandize it will be
better to go this way than to go by Organci. from Oltrarre to Armalecco196 is
forty-five days’ journey with pack-asses, and every day you find moccoli. and
from Armalecco to Camesu197 is seventy days with asses, and from Camesu
until you come to a river called.. .198 is forty-five days on horseback; and
then you can go down the river to Cassai,199 and there you can dispose of
the sommi of silver that you have with you, for that is a most active place of
business. after getting to Cassai you carry on with the money which you get
for the sommi 200 of silver which you sell there; and this money is made of
paper, and is called balisci.201 and four pieces of this money are worth one
189 cathai [= china]; Gattaio (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Ghattaio).
190 astrakhan (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Ghattarghati).
191 moccoli, cioè gente d’arme (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Mocholi assai, cioè huomini
d’arme tarteri).
192 sarai (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Sara).
193 saraijïq [= ‛little saraiʼ] on the river Ural (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Saracingho).
194 Urgench on the lower amu darya (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Orchanegi).
195 otrar on the syr darya (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Oltarre).
196 almalïq (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Armalicchio); on its location see pegolotti/evans,
p. 397: “it has now been identified with mazar, northwest of Kulja, near the entrance to the
talki pass, in the ili valley at the northern border of chinese turkestan.”
197 Kamchu (Bautier, “relations,” p. 315: Chamesu, identified on p. 316 note 1 as “Quni-
sai, ajourd’hui hang chou”; cf. pegolotti/evans, p. 398).
198 Blank in text.
199 Kasai (Bautier, “relations,” p. 316: Chamesia; cf. its identification in Yule, Cathay, ii,
pp. 315–316 and pegolotti/evans, p. 398).
200 edler, Glossary, p. 273: “Soma; 1. a pack-animal load, the quantity by one pack-
animal (a unit of weight for spices, etc., transported by caravan). 2. a unit of weight for
precious metals (in pera, tana, and elsewhere; ca. 7–11 florentine ozs)”; pegolotti is clearly
using the second usage here.
201 the common form in near eastern records is balis or balish (Yule, Cathay, ii, pp. 196,
iii, 149 note 1, 2).