26th of September 1476, Contarini came to Moscow, where he presented himself to the grand-prince, Ivan Vasileivich III (“il Duca Zuanne, Signor della gran Rossia bianca”), was well received, and astonished at the magnificence of the court. He describes the situation and architecture of Moscow, speaks of the cold there, of the trade in sables, ermines, fox-skins, badger-skins, lynx-skins, and those of other animals, which were brought thither from the farthest north, and makes some observations on the manners and mode of life of the Russians. Contarini quitted Moscow on the 24th of January 1477, and continuing his journey on sledges[1] through Novogorod, made his way homeward.
Copious accounts of Contarini and his travels will farther be found in—
Beckmann’s Liter. d. ält. Reisebeschr., I, 193-198.
Zurla di Marco Polo, etc., vol. ii, p. 230-235.
Editions of Contarini’s travels—
Questo e el viazo de misier Ambrosio contarin ambassador de la illustrissima signoria de Venesia al signor Vxuncassam Re de Persia. Impressum Venetia per Hannibalem Fosium parmensem anno 1487; 4to.
This first edition is very rare.
- ↑ His words are:—“Li detti Sani sono quasi à modo di una casa, et con un cavallo davanti si strascinano, et sono solo per i tempi del ghiaccio, et à ciascuno conviene haver il suo. In questi sani vi si siede dentro, con quanti panni si vuole, et si governa il cavallo, et fanno grandissimo cammino, et portansi anche dentro tutte le vettovaglie, et ogn’ altra cosa necessaria.”
