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17 Cosmographies in Romanian 169

"BESARABIIA... M&rgind pre -firmurile m&rii, den a Stinga, s& veade Mesenwria, unde si sfir$e§te muntele Hemo. Vine apoi Varna, pus& pre lingi marginile unii vii (care o face acel munte)... / Trecind gura Dunirii, care au impiedecat 40 mile si intre la ceaia parte a Moldovii, c&rii-i dzic turcii Besarabiia (Bugeacul), unde-i tirgul Moncastro; de la gura apei Nistrului pini la gura apei Niprului pun ca 16 mile leęesti. §i intr-aceste locuri s& incep t3.rile craiului leęesc...” (f. 101^v—102).

Modem English version of tliis fragment:

The country which was callcd Dacia in the old times compriscs Transylvania, Trans-alpina or Wallachia and Moldavia today (f. 82^r”^v).

Moldavia goes as far as the Nistru and the Black Sea [...] A part of it is Bessara-bia — Bugeac, somewhere up from the sea where the town of Cetatea Alba — Moncastro exists [...] Bessarabia or Bugeac — where today the Tartars live who invaded the land in the recent years — has no woods; tliat is wliy they use for their fires straws and manure be-cause oxen are numerous and big and are sold in othcr countries too [...] (f. 83^v).

Then, when the Getae and the Dacians and the Iazigs became morę numerous they chased away other populations and chose a Voievode and built towns, and fortresses such as Hotin, Iassy, Suceava, Soroca, Dorohoi, Stefinesti, Czemowitz, Botosani, Vaslui, B&rlad. (f. 85).

Hotin, a harbour of importance on the Nistru (the Nistru is bordering Moldavia and Poland) which many merchants visited such as Polish, Hungarians, Cossacks, Wallachians, Mos-cowits and from other places (and now at God's wish to repent for our sins the Turks took it and transformed it into a Rayah in the year... an unhealed wound on the body of Moldavia). It had a stone fortress which was repaired by the Turks, a good land with rich crops. (f. 86)

The county of Lipuęna has no wines but a lot of grains and cattle. The people are brave, good horsemen against the Tartars.

Orhei is a county with all the riches: cattle, horses, grains and the people are good horgemen.

Soroca, on the Nistru used to be an important harbour. It has a border with the Cossacks, it has good land, a fortress still exists but it is damaged by the Turks.

Czernowitz is situated on the Prut. It has no wines, but it produces mead and espe-cially beer. The land holds grains, cattle, horses, sheep and a lot of fish. (f. 87^r”').

Besarabiia [...] situated by the sea coast to the left where one can see Mesembria where the Hemo monntains end. Next comes Varna situated near the brinks of a valley. If you cross the mouth of the Danube which stopped 40 miles short of the entering of that part of Moldavia which the Turks cali Bessarabia (Bugeac) where Moncastro town lies; the terri-tory situated between the Nistru and the Nipru, approximately 16 Polish miles long. In these places the land of the Polish King begins. (f. [101—102).

N.B. The beginning of the chapter entitled Tara Moldovei (Moldavia) in the nianu-script 3515 (f. 84 and the following) must be compared with Kromka Polska written by Joachim Bielski (see P. P. Panaitescu, Influenfa polond.. . p. 134 and the following pages). The text of ms. 1267 (f. 255 — 258) was published by G. Nicolaiasa in "Revista arhivelor \ , 1924—1926, pp. 373—377).

¹ Written fonu: a^.

³ Empty place in the manuscript. It is about the events of the years 1712—1713. See for this part: Dimitrie Cantemir, Descriptio Moldaviae translation from Latin by Gh. Gufu, introduction Maria Holban, historical commentaires N. Stoicescu, cartographic study by Vintili Mihiilescu, index by Ioana Constantinescn, with a notę to this edition by D. M. Pippidi, Bucharest, 1973, pp. 78—81; łon Nistor, Drepturile noastre asupra Hotinului, Chi-?iniu, 1918, pp. 26. 29; ibidem, Istoria Basarabiei, 4th edition, Czernowitz, 1924, p. 202; Basarabia. Monografie edited under the care of $tefan Ciobanu, Czernowitz, 1926, p. 126; Ioan St. Petre, Axinte Uricariul. Studiu si text_t Bucharest, 1944, pp. 35—36 (study) and pp. 150-157 (text).

⁸ According to Ioan §t. Petre, op. cit._t pp. 151: “The seizure of Hotin, like a wound caused weakness and decay to the country”.

N

* Written form: a^uSck. For de_t possible wrote A*k. see above notę 1.

⁵ Written form: Apb.