Setting sail from Caffa, where there was little to be seen but stinking Tartars and caviare, they arrived in twenty-four hours at Touzlah, or the Salt Marshes, a vast sweep of low shore, alternately covered by the waters of the sea, artificially introduced, and a white saline crust, looking like a sheet of snow from a distance. Here upwards of two hundred ships are annually freighted with salt; and it was for the purpose of taking on board a cargo of this useful merchandise that the vessel in which Chardin and his companion were embarked now touched at the place. On landing, the village was found to consist of about ten or twelve houses, with a small mosque, and a considerable number of felt-covered tents, which served for stables, kitchens, and dormitories for the slaves. Salt was by no means the only article of commerce obtained at this place. Every morning fires were observed lighted along the shore, as signals that the brigands of the country had laid violent hands upon a number of their fellow-creatures, and had them conveyed thither, chained together like cattle, for sale. These fires being observed, boats were immediately sent on shore; and when they returned, crowds of women and children, half-naked, or covered with rags and filth, but resplendent with beauty, were hoisted on board, where their wretched apparel was exchanged for clean neat garments, and where, perhaps, for the first time in their lives they tasted bread. The men and boys were chained two and two every night; the women, from whom no danger was apprehended, were permitted the free use of their limbs. These Circassians did not fetch a great price. A Greek merchant, whose cabin was contiguous to that of Chardin, purchased for twelve crowns a woman of extraordinary beauty, with an infant at the breast. What chiefly surprised our traveller in the circumstances of this affair was, the coolness and serenity with which these honest people submitted to their fate. Had not the women, much against their will, been compelled to occupy themselves with needlework, and the men with such little matters as they could perform on board, they would have been perfectly happy. Idleness was their _summum bonum_; and this the most beautiful among the women knew they were about to enjoy in the harems of Turkey.