Mission to the Volga

by Ahmad Ibn Fadlan

  63   Men and women wash naked together in the river without covering themselves, and yet under no circumstance do they commit adultery. When they catch an adulterer, they set four rods in the ground and tie his hands and his feet to them, no matter who he may be. Then they take an axe, and cut him up, from neck to thigh. They treat the woman in the same manner. They hang the pieces from a tree. I spared no effort to exhort the women to cover themselves in the presence of the men, but that proved impossible. They kill a thief in the same way as they kill an adulterer.

  64   There are bees in the woods, and honey is abundant. They know where the bees are to be found and gather the honey. Sometimes they are surprised by an enemy tribe who kills them.

  65   Many merchants live there. They travel to the territory of the Turks and bring back sheep and travel to another land, called Wīsū, and bring back sable and black fox.

  66   There was one household of five thousand individuals, men and women. They had all converted to Islam and are known as the Baranjār. They had built a mosque out of wood to pray in but did not know how to read the Qurʾan. I taught one group how to conduct their prayers. A man named Saul converted to Islam under my supervision, and I gave him the name ʿAbdallāh, but he said, “I want you to give me your name—Muḥammad.” I did so. His wife, mother, and children also converted. They all took the name Muḥammad.49 I taught him the suras «Praise be to God» and «Say, He is God, One.»50 He took greater delight in these suras than if he had been made king of the Ṣaqālibah.

  67   We first encountered the king in an encampment at Khljh, a group of three unfathomable51 lakes, two large, one small. It was about a farsakh away from a large river called the Itil, which they used and which flowed to the realm of the Khazars. On the bank of this river there is a market, open from time to time, where many valuable goods are sold.52

  68   Takīn had told me that a giant lived in the king’s territory. When I arrived, I asked the king about this, and he replied, “Yes, he used to live among us, but he died. He was not one of the local inhabitants—in fact, he was not really human. This is his story. A group of merchants went to the Itil, one day away, as is their custom. Now, this river was in spate and had burst its banks. Barely a day later a group of merchants came back and said, ‘Your Majesty, there is a man who has followed the course of the river. If he is from a community close by, then we cannot remain in our homes. We will have to migrate.’ So I rode to the river with them. I was surprised by what I found when I got there—a man twelve cubits tall, using my forearm as a measure, with a head the size of a huge cookingpot, a nose more than a span in length, two great eyes, and fingers longer than a span. He unnerved me, and I was gripped by the very terror that had gripped the others. We tried to speak to him, but he did not answer. He just looked at us. So I had him brought to my residence and wrote to the inhabitants of Wīsū, three months distant, asking them for information. They wrote back: ‘He is one of the Gog and Magog, who live three months away from us in a state of absolute nakedness. The sea separates us. They live on the far side of the sea, on its shore. They mate with one another, like the beasts of the field. Every day the great and glorious God provides them with a fish from the sea. They come one by one with their knives and cut as much as they need to feed them and their dependents. If they take more than they need, they develop a pain in their stomach. Their dependents also develop a pain in their stomachs. Should he die, then they all die too. When they have what they need from the fish, it flips over and is taken back into the sea. This is how they live day by day. On one side we are separated from them by the sea. They are hemmed in by mountains on all other sides. A wall separates them from the gate from which they will swarm forth.53 When almighty God intends them to swarm forth into the inhabited lands, He will cause the wall to be breached, the sea will dry up, and the fish will no longer be provided.’”54 I asked the king about the man. He said, “He stayed with me for a while, but any boys who looked at him died, and pregnant women miscarried. His hands would crush to death anyone he took hold of. When I saw this happening, I hanged him from a tall tree and killed him. If you want to see his bones and skull, I will take you.” “By God, I would like that very much,” I said. So we rode out to a great wood, and he led me to a tree where the man’s bones and skull had fallen. His head was like a bees’ nest, and the bones of his ribs, legs, and forearms were larger than the boughs of a palm tree. I departed, filled with wonder.

  69   Ibn Faḍlān said: The king traveled from Khljh to a river called Jāwshīr, where he stayed for two months. When he was ready to leave, he sent a message to a people called Suwāz and commanded them to travel with him. They refused and split into two groups. One sided with his son-in-law W*rʿ, who had become their king. The king sent them a message: “Almighty God has given me the gift of Islam and granted me membership in the kingdom of the Commander of the Faithful. I am His bondsman. He has made me his emir. I will wage war on those who oppose me.” The other group aligned themselves with the king of the Askil tribe, who was under the king’s sovereignty, though he had not accepted Islam. When the king of the Bulghārs sent the Suwāz this epistle, they were afraid he might attack, so they joined him in his journey to the Jāwshīr river. This is not a very wide river—it is no more than five cubits wide, but the water reaches a man’s navel, and comes up to his collar-bone in some places. At its deepest point, it reaches the height of a man. It is surrounded by many trees,55 including khadhank trees.

  70   There is a wide plain near the river, where they say an animal smaller than a camel but larger than a bull lives. It has the head of a camel, the tail and hooves of a bull, and the body of a mule. It has a single, round, thick horn in the middle of its head. As the horn grows it becomes narrow and resembles a spearhead. Some of these animals are five cubits tall, some three, with a degree of variation. It eats succulent and tasty leaves from the trees. It charges any horseman it sees. A fleet mare will just about escape, with some effort. But if the animal overtakes the horseman, it unseats him from his horse and tosses him in the air with its horn. Then it rushes him with its horn again and again and kills him, though it pays no heed whatsoever to the horse. They hunt it to death on the plain and in the woods. They climb the tall trees in the wood where the animal lives, and a group of archers with poisoned arrows work together. When the animal is in their midst they shoot it, exhaust it, and kill it. In the king’s tent I saw three large bowls that looked as if they were made of Yemeni onyx. The king informed me that they were made out of the base of this animal’s horn. Some of the locals claim that this animal is the rhinoceros.

  71   Ibn Faḍlān said: I saw no one in ruddy health. Most of them are sickly, and the majority regularly die from the colic. Even the child at the breast suffers from it. When a Muslim dies and a woman from Khwārazm is present,56 they wash the body as the Muslims do and then bear him on a cart, preceded by a standard, until they come to his grave. Then they take him from the cart and place him on the ground, draw a line around him, and remove him. They dig his grave, build his tomb, and bury him inside the line they have drawn. This is their burial custom. The women do not weep for the deceased, the men do. They arrive on the day of his death, stand at the entrance to his yurt, and howl and weep in the ugliest and wildest way. And these are freeborn men! When they have finished weeping, the slaves of the deceased bring leather thongs. The men continue to mourn and beat their flanks and exposed parts of their bodies with the leather thongs, leaving weals like those left by the lashes of a whip. At the entrance to his yurt they are required to erect a standard, bring his weapons, and place them around his grave. They weep for two years and then take the standard down and cut off their hair. The deceased’s relatives hold a banquet to indicate that they have emerged from mourning. The deceased’s wife, if he had one, then takes a husband. Such is their custom for their chieftains. Ordinary folk do not do as much as this for their dead.

  72   Th
e king of the Ṣaqālibah is obliged to pay to the king of the Khazars a tribute of one sable skin for every tent in his kingdom. When the boat from Khazar territory reaches Ṣaqālibah territory, the king goes on board and counts its contents, taking a tenth of its cargo. When the Rūs or any other people come with slaves, the king of the Ṣaqālibah has the right to choose one in every ten. The king of the Khazars holds the son of the king of the Ṣaqālibah as a hostage.57 The king of the Khazars heard that the daughter of the king of the Ṣaqālibah was beautiful, so he asked for her hand in marriage but was refused. He sent some troops and took her by force, though he is a Jew and she a Muslim. She died at his court, so he demanded a second daughter. As soon as the king of the Ṣaqālibah heard this, he was afraid that the king of the Khazars might take her by force, as he had her sister, so he married her to the king of the Askil, who recognizes his authority.58 It was fear of the king of the Khazars that forced the king of the Ṣaqālibah to write to the caliph and petition him to build him a fortress.

  73   Ibn Faḍlān said: I asked him the following question one day and said, “You have an extensive kingdom, many belongings, and considerable wealth from taxes. Why did you petition the caliph for an unspecified sum of money to build a fortress?” He replied, “I could see that the realm of Islam was flourishing and that the wealth of the Muslims was acquired lawfully. That is why I asked for it. If I had wanted to build a fort using my own silver and gold, I could have. I wanted the money of the Commander of the Faithful to bring me blessings, so I sent him my petition.”

  The Rūsiyyah

  74   Ibn Faḍlān said: I also saw the Rūsiyyah. They had come to trade and had disembarked at the Itil River. I have never seen bodies as nearly perfect as theirs. As tall as palm trees, fair and reddish, they wear neither tunics nor caftans. Every man wears a cloak with which he covers half of his body, so that one arm is uncovered. They carry axes, swords, and daggers and always have them to hand. They use Frankish swords with broad, ridged blades. They are dark from the tips of their toes right up to their necks—trees, pictures, and the like.59

  75   Every woman wears a small box made of iron, silver, brass, or gold, depending on her husband’s financial worth and social standing, tied at her breasts. The box has a ring to which a knife is attached, also tied at her breasts.60 The women wear neck rings of gold and silver. When a man has amassed ten thousand dirhams, he has a neck ring made for his wife. When he has amassed twenty thousand dirhams, he has two neck rings made. For every subsequent ten thousand, he gives a neck ring to his wife. This means a woman can wear many neck rings. The jewelry they prize the most is the dark ceramic beads they have aboard their boats and which they trade among themselves. They purchase beads for one dirham each and string them together as necklaces for their wives.

  76   They are the filthiest of all God’s creatures. They have no modesty when it comes to defecating or urinating and do not wash themselves when intercourse puts them in a state of ritual impurity. They do not even wash their hands after eating. Indeed, they are like roaming asses.61 They arrive, moor their boats by the Itil, and build large wooden houses on its banks. They share a house, in groups of ten and twenty, sometimes more, sometimes fewer. Each reclines on a couch. They are accompanied by beautiful female slaves for trade with the merchants. They have intercourse with their female slaves in full view of their companions. Sometimes they gather in a group and do this in front of each other. A merchant may come in to buy a female slave and stumble upon the owner having intercourse. The Rūs does not leave her alone until he has satisfied his urge. They must wash their faces and their heads each day with the filthiest and most polluted water you can imagine.62 Let me explain. Every morning a female slave brings a large basin full of water and hands it to her master. He washes his hands, face, and hair in the water. Then he dips the comb in the water and combs his hair. Then he blows his nose and spits in the basin. He is prepared to do any filthy, impure act in the water. When he has finished, the female slave carries the basin to the man next to him who performs the same routine as his comrade. She carries it from one man to the next and goes around to everyone in the house. Every man blows his nose and spits in the basin, and then washes his face and hair.

  77   They disembark as soon as their boats dock. Each carries bread, meat, onions, milk, and alcohol to a large block of wood set in the ground. The piece of wood has a face on it, like the face of a man. It is surrounded by small figurines placed in front of large blocks of wood set in the ground. He prostrates himself before the large figure and says, “Lord, I have come from a distant land, with such and such a number of female slaves and such and such a number of sable pelts.” He lists all his merchandise. Then he says, “And I have brought this offering.” He leaves his offering in front of the piece of wood, saying, “I want you to bless me with a rich merchant with many dinars and dirhams who will buy from me whatever I wish and not haggle over any price I set.” Then he leaves. If he finds it hard to sell his goods and has to stay there too many days, he comes back with a second and a third offering. If his wishes are not fulfilled, he brings an offering to every single figurine and seeks its intercession, saying, “These are the wives, daughters, and sons of our lord.” He goes up to each figurine in turn and petitions it, begging for its intercession and groveling before it. Sometimes business is good, and he makes a quick sale. In that case, he says, “My lord has satisfied my request, so I need to compensate him.” He acquires some sheep or cows and kills them, gives a portion of the meat as alms, and places the rest before the large block of wood and the small ones around it. He ties the heads of the cows or the sheep to the piece of wood set up in the ground. When night falls, the dogs come and eat it all up, and the man who has gone to all this trouble says, “My lord is pleased with me and has eaten my offering.”

  78   When one of them falls ill, they pitch a tent far away and lay him down inside, with some bread and water. They do not approach him or speak to him. Indeed, they have no contact with him for as long as he is ill, especially if he is a social inferior or a slave. If he recovers and gets back on his feet, he rejoins them. If he dies, they set fire to him. They do not bury dead slaves but leave them as food for the dogs and the birds.

  79   When they catch a thief or a bandit, they take him to a solid tree and put a sturdy rope around his neck. They tie him to the tree and he hangs there until he eventually decomposes from exposure to the rain and the winds.

  80   I was told that they set fire to their chieftains when they die. Sometimes they do more,63 so I was very keen to verify this. Then I learned of the death of an important man. They had placed him in his grave, with a roof raised over him, for ten days while they finished cutting and sewing his garments. When the deceased is poor, they build a small boat for him, place him inside and burn it. When he is rich, they collect his possessions and divide them into three portions. One-third goes to his household, one-third is spent on his funeral garments, and one-third is spent on the alcohol they drink the day his female slave kills herself and is cremated with her master. They are addicted to alcohol. They drink it night and day. Sometimes one of them dies cup in hand. When the chieftain dies, the members of his household ask his female and male slaves, “Who will die with him?” One answers, “I will.” At this point the words become binding. There is no turning back. It is not even an option. It is usually the female slaves who offer.

  81   When the man I just mentioned died, they said to his female slaves, “Who will die with him?” One said, “I will.” So they put two other female slaves in charge of her, caring for her and accompanying her wherever she went, even to the point of washing her feet with their hands. Then they attended to the chieftain, cutting his garments and setting in order what was required for him. The female slave drank alcohol every day and sang merrily and cheerfully.

  82   I arrived at the river where his boat was moored on the day the chief and the female slave were
set on fire. I noticed that the boat had been beached and that it was supported by four khadhank props. These props were surrounded by what looked like huge structures of wood. The boat had been hauled on top of the wood. The Rūsiyyah approached, going to and fro around the boat uttering words I did not understand. The chief was still in his grave and had not been exhumed. They produced a couch and placed it on the boat, covering it with quilts and cushions made of Byzantine silk brocade. An aged woman whom they called the Angel of Death turned up. She spread the coverings on the couch. It is her responsibility to sew the chieftain’s garments and prepare him properly, and it is she who kills the female slaves. I saw her myself: she was gloomy and corpulent but neither young nor old.64

  83   When they arrived at his grave, they removed the soil from the wood. Then they removed the wood and exhumed him, dressed in the garment he was wearing when he died. I noticed that the coldness of the climate had turned him black. They had placed alcohol, fruit, and a ṭanbūr in his grave. They removed all of this. Surprisingly, his corpse had not begun to stink. Only his color had deteriorated. They dressed him in trousers, leggings, boots, a tunic, and a silk caftan with gold buttons. They placed a peaked silk cap fringed with sable on his head. They carried him inside the yurt that was on the ship and rested him on a quilt, propping him up with the cushions. They placed the alcohol, fruit, and basil beside him. Then they placed bread, meat, and onions in front of him. They cut a dog in two and threw it onto the boat. They placed all his weaponry beside him. They made two horses gallop into a sweat, cut them into pieces with a sword, and threw the meat onto the boat. They cut two cows into pieces and threw them on board. Then they produced a cock and a hen, killed them, and put them on board too.

  84   Meanwhile, the female slave who had expressed her wish to die came and went, entering one yurt after another. The owner of the yurt would have intercourse with her and say, “Tell your master that I have done this out of love for you.” At the time of the Friday late afternoon prayer they brought the female slave to an object they had built that resembled a door-frame. She stood on the hands of the men and rose like the sun above the door-frame. She uttered some words, and they brought her down. They lifted her up a second time, and she did what she had done before. They lowered her and lifted her a third time, and she did what she had done the last two times. Then they handed her a hen. She cut off the head and cast it aside. They picked the hen up and threw it onto the boat. I quizzed the interpreter about her actions and he said, “The first time they lifted her up, she said, ‘Look, I see my father and mother.’ The second time she said, ‘Look, I see all my dead kindred, seated.’ The third time she said, ‘Look, I see my master, seated in the Garden.65 The Garden is beautiful and dark-green. He is with his men and his retainers. He summons me. Go to him.’” They took her to the boat and she removed both of her bracelets, handing them to the woman called the Angel of Death, the one who would kill her. She also removed two anklets she was wearing, handing them to the two female slaves who had waited upon her, the daughters of the woman known as the Angel of Death.