certain time a certain number of people of
our blood--being convinced that he can get by that time the requisite
number. And these promises are always accurately fulfilled, as if those
who made them had always a supply of our people in their courtyards.
A Jewish money-changer, sitting at the gate of Tauris and seeing
constantly the countless multitude of our countrymen led in as captives,
asked us whether there still remained any people in our land, and whence
came such a multitude of them. The stronger of these captives, branded
on the forehead and cheeks and manacled or fettered, are tortured by
severe labour all day, and are shut up in dark cells at night. They are
kept alive by small quantities of food, composed chiefly of the flesh of
animals that have died--putrid, covered with maggots, disgusting even
to dogs. Women, who are more tender, are treated in a different fashion;
some of them who can sing and play are employed to amuse the guests at
festivals.

"When the slaves are led out for sale they walk to the marketplace in
single file, like storks on the wing, in whole dozens, chained together
by the neck, and are there sold by auction. The auctioneer shouts loudly
that they are 'the newest arrivals, simple, and not cunning, lately
captured from the people of the kingdom (Poland), and not from Muscovy';
for the Muscovite race, being crafty and deceitful, does not bring a
good price. This kind of merchandise is appraised with great accuracy in
the Crimea, and is bought by foreign merchants at a high price, in order
to be sold at a still higher rate to blacker nations, such as Saracens,
Persians, Indians, Arabs, Syrians, and Assyrians. When a purchase
is made the teeth are examined, to see that they are neither few nor
discoloured. At the same time the more hidden parts of the body are
carefully inspected, and if a mole, excrescence, wound, or other latent
defect is discovered, the bargain is rescinded. But notwithstanding
these investigations the cunning slave-dealers and brokers succeed in
cheating the buyers; for when they have valuable boys and girls, they
do not at once produce them, but first fatten them, clothe them in silk,
and put powder and rouge on their cheeks, so as to sell them at a better
price. Sometimes beautiful and perfect maidens of our nation bring their
weight in gold. This takes place in all the towns of the peninsula, but
especially in Kaffa."*

* Michalonis Litvani, "De moribus Tarta