Part 15

It was wrested out of the hands of Kara Yússúf, the son of Uzún Hassan, by Sultán Mohammed II. The khass of the Vezír is fixed at one million, two hundred and fourteen thousand six hundred aspers; the whole province is divided into twelve sanjaks. The officers are a Defterdár of the treasury, a Kiaya of the Defterdár of the Timárs, a Kiaya and Inspector of the Chaúshes, an Alaï-Beg, and a Cherí-bashí. The sanjaks are as follows:—Kara-hissár, Akií, Pássin, Siper, Hassan, Melázgerd, Tekmán, Kúrúján, Túrtúm, Mujtekerd, Mámreván, and Erzerúm. The khass of the Defterdár of the treasury amounts to one million and fifty-two thousand nine hundred aspers; that of the kiaya of the fiefs to fifty thousand, and that of the Defterdár of the fiefs to twenty thousand two hundred. There are fifty-six ziamets, and two thousand two hundred and nineteen timárs; the feudal militia number five thousand two hundred and seventy-nine swords, and the Jebellís, in time of war, twelve thousand men, besides two thousand men who are furnished by the khass of the Páshá. The soldiers of Erzerúm are stout, brave fellows. The judge is a Molla, with a revenue of five hundred aspers, with three subordinate Naíbs or Vicars. An Agha of the Janissaries, an Agha of the artillerymen, and one of the armourers, who are all in the interior fortress. Abasa Páshá, the famous rebel, one night surprised this fortress, and put the whole garrison of Janissaries to the sword, except the Agha, who was absent that night by accident, and consequently escaped. Abaza remained in rebellious possession of it for ten years, in defiance of seven Vezírs, who marched against him with the power of absolute command, such as Cherkess Mohammed Dishlín Hossein Páshá, Timúr Kázík Khalíl Páshá, &c. but owing to the strength of the fortress, they were unable to reduce the rebel, until Khosrew Páshá assumed the command; he took Abaza prisoner, and carried him with him into the presence of Sultán Murád IV. He obtained a general pardon, and was first made Governor of Bosnia, afterwards of Bude, and finally of Ozakov, which he retained up to the time of the expedition against Eriván. The troops rebelling at that moment, called loudly for Abaza Páshá, which, coming to the ears of the Sultán, he ordered him to be killed, and buried in the tomb of Murád Páshá, near the market of the ink-makers. He escaped, however, and wandered for some time in Arabia and Persia, re-appearing at Erzerúm the same year that we came there. I saw his blood even before my own door, because Silihdár Súleimán Páshá cut his head off on the arrival of our Motessellím, or Páshá’s substitute. Since the rebellion of Abaza, the greatest attention has been paid to this important post by the government; it has been strengthened by an immense artillery, and six companies, so that the whole garrison amounts to two thousand five hundred men, a commander of the castle, Dizdár, and twelve Aghas. In the inner castle are one hundred and eighty cannons, and at the gate of Tabríz, in the centre of the two fortresses, are twelve large cannons, placed there by Murád IV. The fortress is situated at a gun’s shot from Mount Egerlí; on the north and north-west extends the plain of Erzerúm, two miles square, a fertile flowery field, covered with villages.

_Description of the great river Euphrates._

The great river Euphrates flows through the middle of the plain of Erzerúm. Its source is at the bottom of the pilgrimage of Dúmlibaba, on the east side of Georgia; it flows towards the west, causing in its way many marshes and canals, passes before the village of Kián, the castle of Kemáni, through the Yaila of a thousand lakes, inhabited by the Curds Izúlí, joins the Murád (the name of which it assumes), and passes like a sea in the neighbourhood of Malatia to Samosat, Kala’aí Rúm, Birejík, the bridge Búmbúja, Bálissa, Ja’aber, Rakie, Rahbie, Karkessia, Ania, Hita, Ebyár, Takúk, Helle, and Kúfa; it is joined at Kaverna by the Shatt-ul-arab (Tigris), and thus becomes an immensely large river, which is ascended by Indian ships from Bassra; the whole extent, with all its windings, is four hundred farsangs; it passes four hundred towns and villages. In the plain of Erzerúm its water is very sweet and palatable, well worth being recorded in the Korán by the verse:—“And we gave you to drink of the water of the Euphrates.” Besides the Euphrates no less than seventy-two rivers descend from the mountains of Erzerúm and Diárbekr. Makrisí says, that the Tigris and Euphrates were dug out by Daniel with the assistance of Angels. The Tigris is the Shatt, which rises east of Diárbekr, between Torjíl and Miafarekein, receives an infinite number of springs, and goes to Hossní Kaifa and Mossul. This river unites the upper and lower Zarb, and becomes a tremendous and roaring stream which is called the mad Zarb. It was of the river Euphrates that the prophet is reported to have said:—“O inhabitants of Cufa, your river Euphrates takes up two channels of Paradise.” Imám Ja’afer is reported to have said in praise of this river:—“If the inhabitants of Irák and Rúm were acquainted with all the excellent qualities of the Euphrates, they would build a wall on each side of it. Whoever bathes therein three times, may be certain of being cured of many diseases.” Another tradition on the Euphrates is reported by Abúhoreirí, as follows:—“The last day shall not arrive till the Euphrates flows not from a mountain of gold, on which men are killing each other; ninety-nine shall be killed out of each hundred, and yet every one shall say, ‘perhaps it is I who may be saved.’” The Euphrates and Orontis (A’assí), are the only two rivers which touch the frontier of the Holy Land. The Euphrates freezes in the winter so that during two months many caravans cross it, but it never freezes south of Erzerúm; it is a sweet clear water, and a great comfort to the inhabitants of Erzerúm, though they have the spring, called the Source of Paradise, within their walls.

_Of the Form and Size of the Fortress of Erzerúm._

It consists of two castles of a square form, the distance between the two walls is seventy paces; the ditch is eighty paces broad, and twenty deep, but, on the side of the Gurjí and Erzenján gates, the ditch is not so deep: the whole circumference is eighty thousand paces, and it has three gates, that to the west is the gate of Erzenján, where the ditch is crossed by a bridge; the second to the east, and the third to the north, are likewise entered by crossing bridges. The first, which is the Georgian gate (Gúrji), is double, like that of Erzenján; but that of Tabríz, as it is close to the walls of the inner castle, is only a single one. The guns are all pointed towards the quarters of the town Dáragháj and Gumishlí Kunbed. Within the outer castle is an immense tower reaching to the skies, known by the name of Kessik Kulle, on the top of which is a high wooden Koshk; as it is one hundred cubits high, ten guns pointed from thence in all directions, intercept even the flight of birds. The height of the wall of the inner castle is seventy cubits; the other walls are but from forty to fifty cubits high; there are two hundred and ten strong towers, and two thousand and eighty battlements round the castle, and seventeen hundred houses, all covered with earth (_terrasses_) in the ancient style, so also are all the villages which I saw in the whole government of Erzerúm.

_Praise of the Palaces of Erzerúm._

The palace of the Páshá has no less than one hundred and ten rooms of various sizes, for the Diván and Koshks; of the last, the two finest are those of Tayár Páshá, and of Benlí Páshá, with a bath and a fine fountain. On the outside, above the stables, are the rooms for the watchmen; the court-yard is a spacious place where they play the jeríd. It has two gates, one is that of the Diván, opening on the great road, the other is a secret gate, always kept shut. Erzerúm contains seventy quarters of Moslíms, and seven of Infidels. There are no Armenians, Copts, or Jews; if any make their appearance they run the risk of being killed. In the quarter called the Source of Paradise the houses are built of stone; most of them are only one story high, because the air is sharp and the winter severe. It has been known to snow here for ten or eleven months in the year, which is the reason that the greatest part of the houses are built of one story, like a bath, with windows, and a felt door on the top.

_Of the Mosques._

There are seventy-seven mihrábs; the oldest is the great mosque inside the gate of Tabríz, with a minareh in the ancient style, built by the Princes of the Akche Koyúnlí, two hundred feet square. The mimber and mihráb are also in the ancient style; it is supported by two hundred columns of fir-tree, and the cupola is also of wood; on one side of the mosque the biscuit for the garrison of Eriván is kept. On the east side of this mosque, close to the wall, is an old college with two minarehs; some say that they were built by the Princes of the Akche Koyúnlí, while others ascribe them to Uzún Hassán; in short, it is an old prayer-place, which has been cruelly damaged in the different sieges of Erzerúm, and never been repaired because it was never endowed. Within the gates of Tabríz are two tall minarehs, the shining porcelain of which dazzles the eyes of beholders; tumblers exhibit their skill on ropes extended between these two high minarehs. Sultán Murad IV. converted the ruined mosque into a cannon foundry. God grant it may be repaired! The mosque of Lále Mustafa Páshá, before the gate of the Seraï on the great road, built by the grand Vezír of Sultán Súleimán. Its cupola is built in the style of those of Constantinople, eighty feet square, and covered with lead. Its mihráb, mimber, and mahfíl are very simple. Outside is a stone bench, but the courtyard is narrow. It is the work of the great architect Sinán. Its sheikh is Wání Efendí, one of the most learned divines, and famed commentators, a second Na’amán, an eloquent man, whose renown is spread all over the empire; its Imám is a high-minded priest, who knows the whole Korán by heart, whose reading plunges those who listen into the depths of meditation. He is a most perfect musician, and is called the Imám of the Janissaries; and if the Muëzzin, a second Belál (the Prophet’s Muëzzin) ascends the minareh, and proclaims with David’s voice Mahommed’s shout, “God is great, God is great,” all hearers begin to tremble, every person leaves his business or repast, and hastens to the mosque. All the inhabitants of Erzerúm are devout, pious men. Ja’afer Efendi’s mosque is a pleasing new built mosque, with a high cupola and gate, a courtyard and a spouting fountain; the windows are guarded with iron gratings. In the inner castle is an old mosque much frequented. Outside of the gate of Erzenján is the Páshá’s mosque, covered with lead, and outside of the gate of Tabríz, on the edge of the ditch, is the mosque of Mohammed Páshá, with one minareh, and with a terrace. Besides these great mosques (Jami’í), there are also seventy-seven mesjíds, one hundred and ten schools for boys, convents, and houses for reading the Korán.

_Fountains._

On the market-place, is the Source of Paradise, Jennet-bunár; and outside of the gate of Erzenján is the Camel fountain; on the fountain of Mustafa Páshá on the edge of the ditch, outside the gate of Tabríz is this inscription from the Korán saying:—“there are flowing fountains in it (Paradise).” There are seventy Se-bílkháneh, or places where water is distributed.

_Of the Baths, Kháns, Market-places and Markets._

The most elegant bath is that of Ja’afer Efendí, there are seventy kháns, some of them for Caravans (Caravanseraï); some for merchants (Kháns, _par excellence_); some for unmarried workmen (barracks); of the latter there are ten, where foreign workmen find accommodation. The Bezestán has eight hundred shops, four gates and a stone cupola. The markets of the saddlers, goldsmiths, button-makers and tailors are very elegant. The mint is near the gate of Erzenján.

_Of the Inhabitants, Climate, Products, &c._

The inhabitants are all Turkomans and Armenian kurds, of lively complexion, middle size, stout, strong in youth, and vigorous in old age. From ten to twenty-five years of age they are extremely fine, but after that they quickly become hairy men, good natured and brave. The principal men dress in sable furs, the Ulemás in ferrájís of cloth and caftáns of Bogassin; the workmen wear abbas, and sometimes a caftán of Bogassin. During three months the air is mild and pleasant; the water is sweet and extremely wholesome for the women; whoever drinks of the spring called the Source of Paradise in the summer, understands in its full sense, the verse of the Korán, “Water vivifies all things.” Seeds ripen here in sixty days, and bring forth fruit from eighty to one hundred fold; there are seven sorts of corn, one of which is as white as camel’s teeth. The workmanship of the tailors and goldsmiths is very skilful. They make two kinds of pies here, one of chicken and the other of a sort of vegetable called Cheresh; white and excellent pastry (Chorek), white bread called Koláj, and meat roasted on stoves, &c. Their beverages are Sherbet of Ribbes, and excellent Búza.

The walks are the place of the Jeríd; at the mills in the meadow; the place of Gumishlí Kunbed (the silver vault), and the Convent of Abd-ur-rahman Ghází.

_Genealogies of Erzerúm._

Outside of the gates of the fortress on the east, west and north sides, is the suburb, inhabited by more than thirty thousand Rayas; on the south side, from the gate of Tabríz to that of Erzenján a wall has been begun, had it been finished, it would have made Erzerúm an amazingly strong fortress. Between this wall and the castle is the suburb divided into seven quarters. The suburb of the Tabríz gate extends from the quarters of Dáragách, and that of Dúlúkler to Gumishlí Kunbed. The suburb of the Georgians on the north side, is the quarter of the rich merchants; here is the custom-house where I was employed as clerk: round it are the houses of Persian, Indian, and Chinese merchants, next to the custom-houses of Constantinople and Smyrna, that of Erzerúm is the most busy. The suburb of Erzenján extends, on the eastern side of the castle-gate, from the Camel fountain to the mill of Alí. This suburb being mostly inhabited by Armenians, there are thirteen churches here. The Infidels wear variegated turbans, and blue coats, and the lower classes wear felt, with coarse shoes called Chárk; their women wrap white sheets round their heads, and the Musselmán women wear pointed caps of gold and silver stuff, velvet trowsers and yellow boots: they are extremely pretty, their teeth as well arranged as their words; with their beautiful hair, dragging a thousand lovers after them as slaves. The men are long-lived, in society may be found many men past seventy years of age, with full use of all their faculties. They generally speak a peculiar dialect, but their divines and poets speak with great eloquence, and their story-tellers delight intelligent people by their tales of Hamza, and by Chinese shades. There are also many Santons and holy men, of whom Allahán-dede was famous for his uxoriousness. Though the air of Erzerúm is cold, yet its vegetables are abundant, its soil being extremely fertile, and blessed with productions of all kind, which makes Erzerúm one of the cheapest places in the world. Though Erzerúm has neither gardens nor vineyards, yet it is famed for roses; some winter apples and pears are the only fruits which are found here. Plane-trees and willows are in abundance in all the walks and in the rose-gardens; on account of their long winter and short summer, the sowing and harvest is over in two months. At the time I was at Erzerúm there happened, in the month of July, when the horses were out at grass, such a storm of lightning, thunder, hail and snow, that all the horses broke away and ran half mad to the neighbouring villages. The length and severity of the winter here is explained by the following tale. They asked a Dervish “from whence he came?” he said, “from the snow of Divine Mercy;” they asked, “what was the name of the place;” “Erzerúm,” said the Dervish, which may be spelled Erezolúm (cruel to man); they continued to ask “whether he had seen any summer there.” The Dervish said, “By God, I remained there eleven months and nine and twenty days, the people said that summer was coming, but I did not see it. It happened, however, that a cat, which ran over the roofs of the houses, became froze there while in the act of running, and remained so for the space of nine months, when the spring arriving, the cat began to thaw, cried ‘Miaú!’ and fell down.” This tale has become a common proverb. It is really a fact, that if a man touches a piece of iron with his wet hand during winter, they freeze together, and cannot be separated without tearing off the skin. I have passed forty days in the coldest weather at Assov, and in the desert of Kipchák, but I never felt cold like this; the people are, however, very healthy. The fruits come from Isper, Tortúm, and Erzenján; peaches, apricots, and grapes are sold at the weight of an occa for a para; a waggon-load of melons or water-melons may be had for ten paras. Eatables are found here in great perfection, but there is no wood, the mountains being naked; wood is nevertheless very cheap, as it is brought from mountains at two journey’s distance; a mast of from thirty to forty cubits length is sold for forty aspers. The Páshá’s wood is brought to the town by the camels of the caravans, which arrive at the custom-house. An agha has the inspection of the wood; the poor people burn cow-dung. The Rayas place the stove in the middle of the house, on the sides of which the cattle stand; the house is as warm as a bath, and they cook their bones and offal on the fire.

_Description of Mount Egerlí._

This is a high mountain, at half an hour’s distance on the south side of Erzerúm, its name is derived from its form, which is like a saddle (Eger); its top is bifurcated, it abounds in medical herbs, particularly in the Tútia flower, the scent of which perfumes the air. Oculists come here to collect the plant Tútia, and with it cure people who have been diseased for forty years. The odour of aromatic plants and scented flowers fills the atmosphere.

_Praise of Balaam, the son of Baúr._

I once played Jeríd at the foot of this mountain, when I fell from the horse, and in falling said to myself, “Where art thou now, saddle-mountain (Egerlítág)?” Having recovered my senses I mounted another horse, and galloping full speed towards the mountain, I ascended it. I saw on the top a large tomb, on which I first said a fátihah, and having measured it by my steps, I found it eighty paces in length, with two columns, which marked the situation of the head and the feet. I was looking on the tomb, when a bad smell arose, very disagreeable both to me and my servants, who held the horses; I looked on the grave, and saw that the earth within it, being black and greasy, was boiling like gruel in a pan. I then returned, and having related my adventure in the Páshá’s company in the evening, Ja’afer Efendi of Erzerúm, a learned and elegant writer, warned me not to visit this place any more, because it was the grave of Balaam, the son of Baúr, who had died an Infidel by the curse of Moses, and whose grave was now boiling, both in winter and summer, by subterraneous fire. At the foot of the same mountain, Abd-ur-rahman Ghází, the standard-bearer of the prophet, lies buried. One day I ascended from the south side of the convent about two thousand paces, when I saw on the second top of this bifurcate mountain a tremendous dragon turned into black stone. It measured seven hundred and seventy paces from the head to the tail, the head looks to the field of Erzerúm, the tail to the castle of Meláz Kerd. If snow falls on the mountains, the figure of this black dragon is easily distinguished from the windows of the Páshá’s palace; the circumference of its body is two hundred paces, each of its four feet is as large as ten men put together, and its tail is raised like a minareh. It remained whole until the reign of Selím I. when it was broken by an earthquake, so that its fragments now lay scattered about. The head was then split asunder, and one of the eye-balls rolled down on the south side towards Melázguerd, where it lies on the plain like a cupola; the left eye-ball of the same size, yet remains in the petrified head, and is seen very distinctly with its ears, tongue, nose, and mouth every time it snows, because no snow will remain on this black stone, but melts away, and renders more prominent the black colour of it. In winter the stone becomes hot, and emits vapour; in summer it is cold, and exhales a pleasant odour. The legend reports that this most tremendous dragon was changed into stone by the Prophet’s standard-bearer, when it came to swallow up the inhabitants of Erzerúm as food for its young, who were shut up in a cave of Mount Siján, on the borders of the lake Ván.

_Pilgrimages; Tomb of Sheikh Kárzúní._

His name is Ibrahím, his surname Abú Ishak, a native of the town Kárzún, where he was born in the year 352 of the Hejira. In his travels he visited Brússa and Adrianople and returned to Erzerúm, where he settled in a great tower within the gate of Tabríz; his tomb-keeper is a white-bearded woman, whom I saw when I visited the tomb. Shehíd Murteza Páshá, who was shut up seven months in Eriván, is buried at the foot of Abú Ishak Kárzúní, with Abaza Páshá, who was killed by Dishlín Hossein Páshá. Opposite to the Páshá’s palace, in a pointed vault, lies Sultán Kássim, the son of Mahmúd Gazneví, and near him his sister Fírúzeh Khánum. Outside of the gate of Erzenján, above the camel’s fountain, Jánpúland-zadeh, lies Mustafa Páshá, who after the conquest of Eriván was killed by the grand Vezír Mohammed Pásha. He was a protector of my father and myself. Abd-ur-rahman, the standard-bearer of the Prophet, is buried at the foot of Egerlítágh, in a fine convent. Outside of the gate of Tabríz, at the place called Gumishlí Kunbed (the silver vault), because it was once faced with silver, reposes Sultán Mahmúd, the Gasnevide, on whose marble coffin is written only the word Mahmúd. There are besides many other pilgrimages, which I had no opportunity of visiting.

_Stations of our military expedition to the Castle of Shúshík._