Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403-1406 / translated from the Spanish by Guy Le Strange with an introduction.
- Ruy González de Clavijo
- Date:
- [1928]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Embassy to Tamerlane, 1403-1406 / translated from the Spanish by Guy Le Strange with an introduction. Source: Wellcome Collection.
320/420 page 288
![which are so famous: likewise armourers: also the craftsmen in glass and porcelain, who are known to be the beSt in all the world. From Turkey he had brought their gun-smiths who make the arquebus, and all men of other crafts wheresoever he found them, such as the silver-smiths and the masons. These all were in very great numbers, indeed so many had been brought together of craftsmen of all sorts that of every denomination and kind you might find many master- workmen established in the capital. Again he had gathered to settle here in Samarqand artillery men, both engineers and bombardiers, besides those who make the ropes by which these engines work. LaStly hemp and flax had been sown and grown for the purpose in the Samarqand lands, where never before this crop had been cultivated. So great therefore was the population now of all nationalities gathered together in Samarqand that of men with their families the number they said must amount to 150,000 souls. Of the nations brought here together there were to be seen Turks, Arabs and Moors of diverse sebts, with Christians who were Greeks and Armenians, Catholics, Jacobites and NeStorians, besides those [Indian] folk who baptize with fire in the forehead, who are indeed Christians but of a faith that is peculiar to their nation. The popula¬ tion of Samarqand was so vaSt that lodging forYhem all could not be found in the city limits, nor in the Streets and open spaces of the suburbs and villages outside, and hence they were to be found quartered temporarily for lodgment even in the caves and in tents under the trees of the gardens, which was a matter very wonderful to see. The markets of Samarqand further are amply Stored with merchandise imported from distant and foreign countries. From Russia and Tartary come leathers and linens, from Cathay silk Stuffs that are the fineSt in the whole world, and of these the beSt are](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31354932_0320.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
