Bulgar borders on the country Burtas.

Bulgarians live on the banks of the river, which flows into the Khazar Sea and is called Itil, flowing between the countries of the Khazars and the Slavs. The king of Bulgar, named Almush, professes Islam. Their country consists of marshlands and dense forests, among which they live. They are divided into three sections: one section is called Barsula, the other - Asgal, and the third - Bulgar. They all live in the same area. The Khazars are bargaining with the Bulgars, and the Rus also bring their goods to them. All of them (Rus or Bulgars?), Who live on both banks of the mentioned river, bring their goods to them (Bulgars), such as sable furs, ermine furs, squirrels and others.

Bulgar people are agricultural and cultivate all kinds of grain bread, such as wheat, barley, millet and others. - Most of them profess Islam, and in their villages there are mosques and elementary schools with muezzins and imams. Those of them, who are in paganism, prostrate themselves before every acquaintance they meet. The distance between the Burtases and these Bulgars is three days' journey. They (Bulgar) raid them (Burtases), rob them and take them prisoner. They have horses, chain mail and full armor. They pay tribute to their king with horses and others. From any of them who marry, the king takes for himself a riding horse. When Muslim merchant ships come to them, they take tithes from them. Their clothing is similar to Muslim; likewise, their cemeteries are like those of the Muslims. Their main wealth is cooney fur. They do not have their minted coin; the hardy coin is replaced by marten furs. Each fur is equal to two and a half dirgems. White, round dirgems come to them from Muslim countries by way of exchange for their goods. "

Slavs

"Between the country of Badjanaks and the country of the Slavs, the distance is 10 days. At the very beginning of the border of the country of the Slavs there is a city named Cuyab?. The path to their country goes through the steppes, through roadless lands, through streams and dense forests. The country of the Slavs is a flat country and wooded; they live in the forests. It has neither vineyards nor arable land. They make a kind of jugs out of wood, in which they also have hives for bees, and bee honey is saved. This is called sij by them and one jug contains about 10 cups of it. They graze pigs like sheep. When one of them dies, they burn his corpse. Their women, when they have a dead man, scratch their hands and faces with a knife. The next day, after the dead man is burned, they go to the place where it happened, they collect the ashes and put it in an urn, which is then placed on a hill.A year after the death of the deceased, they take twenty honey jars, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less, and carry them to the hill where the family of the deceased gathers oh, eat, drink, and then disperse. If the deceased had three wives and one of them claims that she (especially) loved him, then she brings two pillars to his corpse and drive them upright into the ground, then they put a third pillar across, tie a rope in the middle of this crossbar, stand on a bench and the end of this rope ties around his neck. When she did this, the bench is taken from under it and it remains hanging until it suffocates and dies, and upon death it is thrown into the fire, where it burns up. They are all idolaters. They sow millet most of all. During the harvest, they take millet grains into a ladle, raise them to heaven and say: Lord, you who provided us with food (until now), supply us with it in abundance now.

They have all sorts of lutes, gusli and flutes. Their flutes were two cubits long, and their lute was octagonal. The intoxicated drink is made from honey. When the dead are burned, they indulge in noisy fun, expressing by this the joy of their mercy, shown to him (the dead man) by God. Working cattle there are few of them, and only one mentioned person has riding horses. Their armament consists of darts, shields and spears: they have no other weapon.

Their head is crowned; they obey him, and do not retreat from his orders. His home is in the middle of the country of the Slavs. The aforementioned person, whom they call "the head of the heads," is called the holy king; this person stands above subanej (zupan), who is only his deputy. This king has riding horses, has no food other than mare's milk. He also has fine, durable and precious chain mail. The city in which he lives is called Jarvab (?), There is a monthly bargaining for three days 30. The cold in their country is so strong that each of them digs a kind of cellar in the ground, to which he attaches a wooden a gabled roof, like the (roof) of a Christian church, and overlaps the roof with earth. They move into such cellars with the whole family, and taking a few firewood and stones, they light a fire and glow the stones on the fire until they turn red.

When the stones are heated to the highest degree, they are poured with water, from which steam spreads, heating the house to the point that clothes are already removed. They stay in such housing until spring. The Tsar visits them annually. If any of them has a daughter, the king takes one of her dresses a year; and if there is a son, the king also takes one of his clothes a year. Whoever has neither a son nor a daughter, he gives one of the dresses of his wife or servant a year. The tsar will catch the robber in his state, order or strangle him, or will give him under the supervision of one of the rulers on the remote outskirts of his possessions. "

RUSS

"As for Rusia, it is located on an island surrounded by a lake. This island, on which they (Rusy) live, occupies the space of three days' journey: it is covered with forests and swamps; unhealthy and cheese to the point that it is worth stepping on the ground , and it is already shaking due to the abundance of water in it. They have a king who is called Khakan-Rus. They raid the Slavs, approach them on ships, disembark, take them (Slavs) prisoner, take them to Khazran 34 and Bulgar and sell there. They do not have arable land, but eat only what they bring from the land of the Slavs. When one of them has a son, he takes a naked sword, puts it in front of the newborn and says: "I will not leave you any inheritance, but you will only have what you gain with this sword. ”They have neither real estate, nor cities (or villages), nor arable lands; their only business is the trade in sables, squirrels and other furs, which they sell to those who wish; received by money is tied tightly in the belt sa own. They dress untidy; the men wear gold bracelets. Slaves are treated well and their clothes are taken care of because they are occupied in the trade. They have a large number of cities, and they live in the open. Guests are honored and treated well with foreigners who seek their protection, and with everyone who often visits them, not allowing any of their own to offend or oppress such people. In the event that any of them offend or oppress the stranger, they help the latter and protect him.

Their swords are Suleiman. When one of their clans asks for help, all appear in the field; there is no discord between them, but they fight unanimously against the enemy until they defeat him. If one of them has a case against another, then he calls him to judgment before the king, before whom they quarrel; when the king pronounced the sentence, what he commands is fulfilled. If both sides are dissatisfied with the tsar's verdict, then, by his order, they must present the final decision to the weapon: whose sword is sharper, he will prevail. Relatives (of both litigants) come to this fight armed and become. Then the rivals enter the battle, and whoever defeats the opponent wins the case at his request. They have sorcerers, some of whom command the king, as if they were their leaders (Rus). It happens that they order to sacrifice to their creator, whatever they want: women, men and horses, and even when the healers order, it is impossible not to fulfill their order in any way. Taking a person or an animal, the medicine man puts a noose around his neck, hangs the victim on a log and waits until it suffocates, and says that this is a sacrifice to God.

They are courageous and brave. When they attack another people, they do not lag behind until they destroy it all, rape the vanquished and turn them into slavery. They are tall, have a good look and courage in attacks; but they do not show this courage on horseback, and they make all their raids and campaigns on ships. They wear wide sharavaras: one hundred cubits of cloth goes for each. Putting on such sharavars, they collect them into assemblies at the knee, to which they then tie them. None of them defecate in private: three of his comrades will certainly accompany him and protect him. All constantly carry swords with them, because they trust each other little, and that deceit between them is an ordinary thing: if someone succeeds in acquiring even a small property, then a brother or comrade immediately begins to envy and covet how to kill or rob him. ...

When one of the nobles dies with them, they dig his grave in the form of a large house, put it there, and together with him put in the same grave both his clothes and the gold bracelets he wore; then they put a lot of foodstuffs, vessels with drinks and a minted coin there. Finally they put the deceased's wife alive and beloved in the grave. Then the opening of the grave is laid, and the wife dies in custody ".....