The Travels of R. Petaḥiah of Regensburg

These are the travels undertaken by R. Petaḥiah, who travelled through all the countries. He set out from Prague, which is in Bohemia, going to Poland, from Poland to Kiev in Russia, and from Russia he went in six days to the river Dnieper. On the other side of the river, he commenced his travels in the land of Kedar [i.e., Islamic lands; see Genesis 25:13, 1 Chronicles 1:29]. They have no ships, but sew together ten extended horse hides, and a thong on the border round; they then seat themselves on the hides, placing there also the wagons and all luggage. They then tie the thong, on the border of the hides, to the tails of the horses, which swim, and thus they pass over the water. They eat no bread in the land of Kedar, but rice and millet boiled in milk, as well as milk and cheese. They also put pieces of flesh under the saddle of a horse, which they ride, and, urging on the animal, cause it to sweat. The flesh getting warm, they eat it. They only travel in the land of Kedar under escort. This is the manner in which the sons of Kedar pledge their faith to each other. One thrusts a needle into his finger and invites the intended companion of his journey to swallow the blood of the wounded finger. He then becomes, with the person, as it were, the same blood and flesh. There is also another mode of taking an oath. They fill a vessel of cast copper in the shape of a human face, then the traveler and his escorter drink thereout, after which he never proves faithless to him. They have no king, but only princes and [noble] families. [ . . . ]

In the land of Kedar, there are no Jews, only heretics [i.e., Karaites]. And R. Petaḥiah asked them, “Why do you not believe in the words of the sages?” They replied, “Because our fathers did not teach them to us.” On the eve of the Sabbath, they cut all the bread which they eat on the Sabbath. They eat in the dark and sit the whole day on one spot. Their prayers consist only of psalms. And when R. Petaḥiah imparted to them our ritual and prayer after meals they were pleased. They also said, “We have never heard what the Talmud is.” [ . . . ]

At Nineveh [a city in Iraq], there is an elephant. Its head is not at all protruding. It is big, eats about two wagon loads of straw at once; its mouth is in its breast, and when it wants to eat it protrudes its lips about two cubits, takes up with it the straw, and puts it into its mouth. When the sultan condemns anybody to death, they say to the elephant, “This person is guilty.” It then seizes him with its lip, casts him aloft, and kills him. Whatever a human being performs with his hand, it performs with its lip; this is exceedingly strange and marvelous. Upon the elephant is the structure of a city, upon which there are twelve armed warriors; when it stretches forth its lip, they ascend as over a bridge.

At Nineveh there was an astrologer whose name was R. Solomon. There is among all the sages in Nineveh, and the land of Assur, none as expert in the planets as he. R. Petaḥiah asked him when the messiah would come. He replied, “I have seen this often distinctly in the planets.” But R. Judah the Pious would not write it down, lest he should be suspected to be a believer in the words of R. Solomon. [ . . . ]

A year before the arrival of R. Petaḥiah, R. Daniel, the head of the captivity [i.e., the exilarch—Ed.], died. He is a higher authority than the head of the academy. They all possess a book of genealogy up to the founders of the tribes; R. Daniel descended from the house of David. The monarch does not appoint a head of the captivity, save at the recommendation of the principal men among the Jews. There is no one there eligible to be head of the captivity, except the two princes of the house of David, and some of the principal men prefer R. David, and some R. Samuel. They have not yet come to an understanding. They are both of the disciples of the wise. R. Daniel had no sons, only daughters. R. Samuel has a book of genealogy going back as far as Samuel the Ramathean, son of Elkanah. He has no sons, but only one daughter. She is expert in the scripture and Talmud. She gives instruction in scripture to young men, through a window. She, herself, is within the building, while the disciples are below, outside, and do not see her. [ . . . ]

He stated that he did not see any woman while staying in Babylon [Iraq] because they were all veiled and modest. Everyone has a bath in his courtyard, and no one offered up his prayer before he had bathed. All travelers there travel in the night, on account of the heat. Everything grows there in winter as here in summer. Most of their labors are performed during the night. Babylon is, in fact, quite a different world. The Jews are devoted to the study of the law and the fear of God. The Ishmaelites also are trustworthy. When a merchant arrives there, he deposits his goods in a house and goes away. The goods are then offered for sale in the marketplaces. If the price demanded by the merchant is given, it is good. If not, the goods are shown to all the brokers. Should they become spoiled, they are sold. All that is done with honesty.