Marco Polo
translation: Henry Yule, Henri Cordier

THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO
Volume II.
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BOOK FOURTH.

WARS AMONG THE TARTAR PRINCES AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES.

XXII., p. 488.

RUSSIA.

"It seems that Russia [Chinese A-lo-sz' = Mongol Oros; the modern
Chinese name for Russia is Wo-lo-sz'] was unknown to the nations of
Eastern Asia before the Mongol period. In the Mongol and Chinese annals
the Russians are first mentioned after Subutai's invasion of Southern
Russia in 1223. The Yüan chao pi shi terms Russia or the Russians
Orus, as they are called even now by the Mongols. The Chinese of the
Mongol period write A-lo-sz', sometimes also Wa-lo-sz' or U-lu-sz'.
All these names evidently render the Mongol appellation Orus.

"In the Yüan shi, Russia is frequently mentioned…. I may notice here some other instances where the Russians are spoken of in the Yüan-shi. We read in the annals, s.a. 1253, that the Emperor Meng k'o (Mangu) ordered Bi-dje Bie-rh-k'o to be sent to Wu-lo-sz' in order to take a census of the people.

"It is an interesting fact recorded in the Yüan shi that there was in the first half of the fourteenth century a settlement of Russians near Peking. In the annals, chap. XXXIV., s.a. 1330, it is stated that the Emperor Wen Tsung (Tob Timur, 1329-32, the great grandson of Kubilai), formed a regiment composed of U-lo-sz' or Russians. This regiment being commanded by a wan hu (commander of ten thousand of the third degree), received the name 'The Ever-faithful Russian Life-guard.' It was placed under the direct control of the council of war. Farther on in the same chapter it is stated (...)

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