our traveller was not without his apprehensions. After a voyage of eight days, however, they arrived at Caffa, in the Crimea, where, by the help of the Greek friend who had enabled him to laugh at the sultan's beard and embark without a passport, he eluded the exorbitant demands of the custom-house, and transported his merchandise on board another vessel bound for Mingrelia.
Setting sail from Caffa, where there was little to be seen but stinking Tartars and caviare, they arrived in twenty-four hours at Touzlah, or the Salt Marshes, a vast sweep of low shore, alternately covered by the waters of the sea, artificially introduced, and a white saline crust, looking like a sheet of snow from a distance. Here upwards of two hundred ships are annually freighted with salt; and it was for the purpose of taking on board a cargo of this useful merchandise that the vessel in which Chardin and his companion were embarked now touched at the place. On landing, the village was found to consist of about ten or twelve houses, with a small mosque, and a considerable number of felt-covered tents, which served for stables, kitchens, and dormitories for the slaves. Salt was by no means the only article of commerce obtained at this place. Every morning fires were observed lighted along the shore, as signals that the brigands of the country had laid violent hands upon a number of their fellow-creatures, and had them conveyed thither, chained together like cattle, for sale. These fires being observed, boats were immediately sent on shore; and when they returned, crowds of women and children, half-naked, or covered with rags and filth, but resplendent with beauty, were hoisted on board, where their wretched apparel was exchanged for clean neat garments, and where, perhaps, for the first time in their lives they tasted bread. The men and boys were chained two and two every night; the women, from whom no danger was apprehended, were per-
