and were one month and a half on the sea without being able to get to the land; and we ran short of food, and we had no more to eat and drink, until we got to a rock in the sea, where we found snails and crabs, which we picked off, and upon which we lived for four days, and were one month on the sea before we got to Constantinoppoli. And when we got there, I and my companions remained, and the kock passed through the strait for Italy. And as we were passing through the gate into Constantinopel, they asked us where we came from? We replied, that we had been prisoners amongst the Infidels, and that we had escaped, and wanted to return to Christianity. Then they took us before the Greek emperor, who asked us how we had escaped from the Infidels? We related to him from the beginning to the end, and when he heard it all, he told us not to be anxious; he would take care to send us home; and he sent us to the patriarch, who also lives in the city, and ordered us to wait until he sent a galley for his brother, who was with the queen of Unger, when he would help us into Walachy. Thus we were three months at Constantinoppel, which is surrounded by a wall eighteen Italian miles [in extent], and the wall has fifteen hundred towers. There are one thousand and one churches in the city, and the principal church is called Sant Sophia, which is built, and is also paved, with polished marble, so that when one who has not been before, goes into the temple, he imagines that the church is full of water, the marble shines so. It has a large dome covered with lead. It has three hundred and sixty gates, of which one hundred are quite of brass.(2) After three months, the Greek emperor sent us in a galley to a fortress called Gily, where the Tunow flows into the Black Sea. At this fortress I separated from my companions and joined some merchants, and went with them to a city called in German the White City, situated in Walachy. Then I came to a city called Asparseri;(3) then to a city called Sedschoff, the capital of Little Walachy; then to a place called in German, Limburgch, the chief city in White Reissen the Lesser.(4) There I lay ill for three months. After that, I came to Krackow, the capital of Polan. After that, to Neichsen in Saxony, and to the city of Bressla, which capital is in Slesy. I then came to a city called Eger; from Eger to Regenspurg; from Regenspurg to Lantzhut; from Lantzhut to Frisingen, near which place I was born; and, with God’s help, I returned to my home and to Christianity. Almighty God be thanked, and all those who have helped me. And when I had almost despaired of coming [away] from the Infidel people and their wicked religion, amongst whom I was obliged to be for XXXII years, and of any longer having fellowship with holy Christianity, God Almighty saw my great longing and anxiety after the Christian faith and its heavenly joys, and graciously preserved me from the risk of perdition of body and soul; therefore, I ask all who