With reference to the early Christianity of the Bulgarians, to which Yule refers in his note, the _Laurentian Chronicle_ (A.D. 1229), quoted by Shpilevsky, adduces evidence to show that in the Great City, _i.e._ _Bulgar_, there were Russian Christians and a Christian cemetery, and the death of a Bulgarian Christian martyr is related in the same chronicle as well as in the Nikon, Tver, and Tatischef annals in which his name is given. (Cf. Shpilevsky, _Anc. towns and other Bulgaro-Tartar monuments_, Kazan, 1877, p. 158 seq.; _Rockhill’s Rubruck_, Hakl. Soc. p. 121, note.)—H. C.] The severe and lasting winter is spoken of by Ibn Fozlán and other old writers in terms that seem to point to a modern mitigation of climate. It is remarkable, too, that Ibn Fozlán speaks of the aurora as of very frequent occurrence, which is not now the case in that latitude. We may suspect this frequency to have been connected with the greater cold indicated, and perhaps with a different position of the magnetic pole. Ibn Fozlán’s account of the aurora is very striking:—“Shortly before sunset the horizon became all very ruddy, and at the same time I heard sounds in the upper air, with a dull rustling. I looked up and beheld sweeping over me a fire-red cloud, from which these sounds issued, and in it movements, as it were, of men and horses; the men grasping bows, lances, and swords. This I saw, or thought I saw. Then there appeared a white cloud of like aspect; in it also I beheld armed horsemen, and these rushed against the former as one squadron of horse charges another. We were so terrified at this that we turned with humble prayer to the Almighty, whereupon the natives about us wondered and broke into loud laughter. We, however, continued to gaze, seeing how one cloud charged the other, remained confused with it a while, and then sundered again. These movements lasted deep into the night, and then all vanished.” (_Fraehn, Ueber die Wolga Bulgaren_, Petersb. 1832; _Gold. Horde_, 8, 9, 423–424; _Not. et Extr._ II. 541; _Ibn Bat._ II. 398; _Büschings Mag._ V. 492; _Erdmann, Numi Asiat._ I. 315–318, 333–334, 520–535; _Niceph. Gregoras_, II. 2, 2.) NOTE 3.—ALAU is Polo’s representation of the name of Hulákú, brother of the Great Kaans Mangu and Kublai and founder of the Mongol dynasty in Persia. In the Mongol pronunciation guttural and palatal consonants are apt to be elided, hence this spelling. The same name is written by Pope Alexander IV., in addressing the Khan, _Olao_, by Pachymeres and Gregoras Χαλαὺ and Χαλαοῦ, by Hayton _Haolon_, by Ibn Batuta _Huláún_, as well as in a letter of Hulaku’s own, as given by Makrizi. The war in question is related in Rashíduddín’s history, and by Polo himself towards the end of the work. It began in the summer of 1262, and ended about eight months later. Hence the Polos must have reached Barka’s Court in 1261.