Avril's journey took him through Rome, Cyprus, and Syria to Armenia where he met Louis Barnabe, another Jesuit with extensive knowledge of the Central Asian trade routes. From there they proceeded to the Caspian and sailed to Astrakhan in Russian territory. Here they interviewed merchants who had traveled the old Silk Road across Central Asia to Xinjiang and entered China from the West. The travelers tried unsuccessfully to join several caravans, but received permission to go to Moscow. Here their travels came screeching to halt. The Russians wondered if the Jesuits were insidiously clever spies trying to throw them off balance by telling them exactly who they were and what they wanted. The Russians replied with the most powerful weapon at their disposal; bureaucratic delay. After a full year in Moscow, the government not only refused them permission to go any further East, it ordered them out of the country.
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