Egyptians/Gypsies (1487); Pistachio; Kvass

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TRAVELS TO TANA AND PERSIA
by Josafa (Giosafat--ed.) Barbaro and Amrogio Contarini
   Translated from the Italian by William Thomas, Clerk of the Countil to Edward VI, and by S. A. Roy, Esq.
   And edited, with an introduction, by Lord Stanley of Alderley
London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society
1873

(The book appears to have been finished on 21 December 1487--ed.)

Pg. 7:  ...bread made of MIGLIO....
(Margin note--ed.)  Miglio is a graine almost as small as mustard seed.

Pg. 18:
   And if it shulde be demaunded wheather they go, like the Egiptians or no?*
* This perhaps is one of the earliest occasions of gipsies being mentioned.
(OED has 1514 for "Egyptian" meaning "gypsy"--ed.)

Pg. 31:
   This countrey is verie fertyle of corne, fleshe, honye, and divers other things: and their drynke is called BOSSA,* which signifieth ale.
* Buzah, Turkish and Persian, a kind of beer; here it means Kwass.
(OED has c.1553 for "kvass"--ed.)

Pg. 79 (margin note):
   Pistacchi is a kynde of delicate nuttes.

Pg. 152:
   We took a little rice with which a mixture is made with milk dried in the sun, and called thur, which becomes very hard, tastes rather sour, and is said to e very nourishing.  We also had onions and garlic, besides which I obtained with much trouble a quart of biscuits made of very good wheaten flour, and a slated sheep's tail.


TRAVELS OF A MERCHANT IN PERSIA
(1500s--ed.)
(Same Hakluyt Society book on same NYU microfilm reel as above--ed.)
Pg. 145:
   Round the castle is a town of houses dug into the mountain like grottoes, in which the peasants live: a low race like gipsies.

--------------------------------------------------------
A JOURNEY FROM ST PETERSBURG TO PEKIN, 1719-22
by John Bell
Barnes & Noble, Inc., NY;
Edinburgh University Press
1966

Pg. 56:
   The lakes abound with various kinds of fishes; such as pikes, perches, breams, eels; and, particularly, a fish called karrass, of an uncommon bigness, and very fat.

Pg. 62:
   A zimovy is a house or two, built in a place at a grea distance from any town or village, for the convenience of travellers; and is a sort of inn, where you generally find a warm room, fresh bread, and a wholesome and agreeable liquor, (Pg. 63--ed.) called quass, made of malt, or rye-meal, steeped and fermented; with hay and oats, at easy rates.

(I was looking for Pekin duck.  Maybe I missed it--ed.)