Ox-footed men with dogs' faces
Editorial contextTelling of Mongol campaigns in the far north, Carpini says the army passed the Samoyeds, who lived by hunting in tents of hide, and came to a land by the Ocean where they found monsters, 'as we were firmly told', with human bodies but ox feet and dogs' faces, who spoke two words like men and barked at the third.
Going on further they came to a land on the Ocean, where they found certain monsters, as we were firmly told, which had human form in every way except that their feet ended in the feet of oxen, and they had human heads but faces like dogs; they spoke two words in the human way and at the third barked like a dog
Working translation
Original wording
Indè ultrà procedentes venerunt ad quandam terram super Oceanum, ubi invenerunt quædam monstra, ut nobis firmiter dicebatur, quæ per omnia formam humanam habebant sed pedes desinebant in pedes bovinos, et humanum caput habebant sed faciem habebant ut canis; duo verba loquebantur more humano et tercio latrabant ut canis
About legendary peoples beyond the Samoyeds
Keep in mind
Carpini marks it as hearsay ('ut nobis firmiter dicebatur'); it echoes the dog-headed races of classical and medieval lore.
Raiding the Land of Darkness on mares with foals
Editorial contextFar to the north, Polo says, lies a Land of Darkness where no sun, moon or stars are seen. Tartars raid it riding mares whose foals they leave at the border, trusting the mares to find the way back to their young. The pale inhabitants hunt sables, ermine and black fox for the fur trade. Yule suggests the story garbles the Arctic winter night.
The Tartars however sometimes visit the country, and they do it in this way. They enter the region riding mares that have foals, and these foals they leave behind. After taking all the plunder that they can get, they find their way back by help of the mares, which are all eager to get back to their foals
About Tartars (Golden Horde raiders) and northern fur hunters
Keep in mind
Pure hearsay; the mare-and-foal trick is an old travellers' tale also told of Alexander the Great.
Old maps of Tartary drawn before even the Russians knew it
Editorial contextIn his preface Gerritsz attacks a German doctor, Helisaeus Röslin, who claimed ships could sail round Nova Zembla to Cathay. Röslin's 'absurdities', he says, rest on maps of Tartary drawn in very old times, when the Russians themselves did not know the country. A sharp early warning that the big 'Tartary' of old maps was guesswork.
This was also done by a certain Heliseus Röslin, a doctor of Hanau … in which (after many absurdities which he grounds on the maps drawn of Tartary from very old times, when the Russians themselves were unacquainted with it) he says: that the nearer the pole the warmer it is in summer time
About Tartary as a map label
Continue in this sourceMassa's report on the Russian road into Siberia, 'in Tartary'c. 1605 to 1609 · 8 passagesMen with ox feet and dogs' faces by the northern ocean
Editorial contextIn his account of Mongol campaigns Carpini passes on marvels: far north, beyond the Samoyeds who live by hunting and wear only skins, the Tartars met at the Ocean monsters shaped like men but with ox feet and dogs' faces, who spoke a few words and then barked. On the facing page are the Parossites, with tiny mouths, who live only on the steam of boiled meat.
From there they came as far as the Ocean sea, where they found monsters which in every other respect had the form of men, but they had the feet of oxen and faces like a dog.
Working translation
Original wording
De là ils paruindrent iusqu'à la mer Oceane, où ils trouuerent des monstres, qui en tout le reste auoient forme d'hommes, mais ils auoient des pieds de bœuf, & le visage fait comme vn chien.
About Tartars (Mongol armies) and fabled northern peoples
Keep in mind
Carpini never went to the far north; these are travellers' tales in the classical tradition of dog-headed peoples.
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