Part 22

Alexander closed this passage with an iron gate, which remained up to the time of Núshirván by whom it was renewed. Jezdejerd Sháh, Ismail Sháh and Uzdemír Páshá repaired the castle situated at the foot of mount Arghan and Deneb. The foundations of the western walls are washed by the Caspian Sea. The walls were built by Herzsháh, as is recorded by the Persian chronostick on the gate of the harbour. The remains of the wall of Alexander also, which was a broad thick wall, are still to be seen projecting from the Sea. If the government would undertake it, it would be easy to extend the harbour from these walls up to the fortress. The length of the wall from the sea to the high mountain is an arrow’s shot, and the breadth of the castle itself is the same. It is built in a pentagon form on a high hill, the strongest I ever saw during my travels; the intelligent architect distributed it into three parts, one of which looks eastward to mount Safah; the second gate is the entrance to the town. In the wall which looks to Mount Arghan are also two gates, and two others leading to the lower town; the first is called Meskúr because it opens towards the district of that name, persons leaving this gate in waggons, may arrive at Shamákhí in three days. Another gate leads towards Kipchák, Crimea and Circassia. In Dághistán, waggons with horses cannot travel, but the roads to Terek, Kazán and Desht Kipchák are all practicable for those vehicles. The third division of the fortress looks towards the sea; it is not so well inhabited as the other two, as the barracks for the garrison are the only buildings. The waggons of the merchants who come from Kílán and Bakú with goods are all put in array in this castle; the circuit of the whole fortress is eleven thousand paces, it has seventy towers, at each of which is a college and a mosque. The students are allowed Naphtha instead of candles, and are fed twice a day. In this way they have contrived to interest the Ulemás in watching the castle; there are besides these seventy towers, seven thousand and sixty battlements round the fortress; on dark nights the whole fortress is illuminated with Naphtha, which is a most necessary precaution, as the castle is continually threatened by no less than thirteen mortal enemies, the worst of whom are the Cossacks, who come in boats and ravage all these districts; they cannot, however, come near the border of the castle on account of seventy large cannons, which defend the avenue, and whose brilliancy dazzles the eyes of all the beholders. The other powerful enemies are the Tátárs, Kalmúks and the Ottománs on the west side; the Circassians on the south side; and the worst of all enemies, the Kúmúks of Dághistán on the south-east or Kiblah side; to the east is the inimical district of Georgia belonging to Tamaras khán: for this reason the men of the garrison pass the whole night on the walls crying Khoda Khob (all’s well!) There is also a post of fifty watchmen (Túlúngí) stationed on mount Deneb at a great distance from the town; if an enemy appears anywhere his arrival is made known to the town by fires lighted on the top of this mountain.

_Buildings within the Castle._

The stones of the wall are each of the size of an elephant, but cut square, and are so large that fifty men at the present day, could not lift one of them. In the castle are two hundred well terraced houses; close to the southern wall is a large palace, the architectural ornaments of which are not to be found in any other palace in Persia; near to it is a great mosque with a ruined minareh, and a bath built in the Ottoman style, and a fountain. Near the gate of boats opening to the east, is the mosque of Uzdemir-zadeh Osmán Páshá, with some kháns and shops. The suburb outside the castle consists of about a thousand houses, with no imáret, but kháns, mosques and baths. The people get their living by cultivating silk, they are Sunnís and Shafiís, rich men, and fine youths. On the opposite side of the Caspian Sea are the Russian provinces of Heshdek and Kazán; and further on Kipchák and Heihát, where twenty years ago Taissi Sháh, Moyunják Khán, and Kúba Kalmákh Khán with fifty or sixty thousand men wandering about in the steppes, pushed their inroads up to the bank of the Kemúklí river and there killed Gúrgí Mustafa Páshá; these Kalmúks are all Infidels, who have no idea of religion and faith, but are a careless slavish set of people, some of whom now begin to come with Russian merchants to the harbour of Derbend, which is frequented by Chinese, Tátárs, and Russians in great numbers.

When it was governed by the Ottomans its annual revenue was two hundred and forty-seven thousand aspers, besides the revenues of the seven Sultáns or sanjak Begs, and the annual sums given to the Prince of Dághistán for the preservation of peace. This is according to the description of Zál Mohammed, made after the conquest of Uzdemir-oghlí Osmán Páshá. The province of Shirván at present consists of seventy jurisdictions, seven khánliks, and twelve Sultánliks. May God bring it back to the possession of the Ottomans!

_Pilgrimages._

Yezíd Ben Abd-ul-Melek, son of Atika the daughter of Moavia, came from Damascus with a great army to make war against the heretic rebels (Khavarej); seven hundred moslim martyrs, who were killed on that occasion, are buried outside the western wall at a mile’s distance. Another army came in the time of Heshám Ben Abd-ul-Melek, which conquered the provinces of Dághistán, Kúmúk, Thábserán, Kaiták, and Derbend. The martyrs who fell on this occasion were also buried in this cemetery; their names are written on the tombs in Cufic characters and in Thúlúth writing; the inhabitants of Derbend boast that amongst this crowd of martyrs seventy-five doctors of true tradition are buried. Amongst these tombs some are to be seen with inscriptions in Jellí (great Neskhí) of Ottomans, giving an account of their lives and deaths.

_The Pilgrimage of the Forty._

There are forty tombs much frequented by visitors. The tomb of Derekhorkhot, a great Saint, in whom the people of Shirván had great faith. Several thousand great Saints are buried here, but I visited and made myself acquainted with those only that I have mentioned. God’s mercy upon them all! After having seen all the curiosities of this town I received from the Khán a horse of the race (Kádhibeg,) and a trotting horse (Chapár), ten pieces of cotton stuff of Guzerát, and two hundred guards to accompany me on the journey; I took leave of all my friends the Kháns and Sultáns, and set out on my journey to Gúrjistán, or Georgia.

JOURNEY TO GEORGIA.

After a march of sixteen hours to the south-east through woods, we arrived at the place called Kúr, of a thousand fine houses and a mosque, on the frontier of Dághistán, not far distant from Táyeserán, the residence of Mikhál Sháh, Prince of Dághistán. Every Friday people flock here together to buy and sell, not for money, but by exchange. There are ten thousand inhabitants, all Sunnís and Sháfiítes. I saw no women at all here; the women of Dághistán are not allowed to leave the house, excepting on a journey to Mecca, or to be carried to the cemetery after death. The men are hospitable. We left this place, passed a ruined castle in the midst of woods, and then entered the great district of the Avárs: it is a district belonging to the khass of the Prince of Dághistán, and during three days journey we saw seventy great kents with mosques and kháns.

_Description of the Castle Serír-ul-allán._

This ancient town was built by Hormúz the son of Núshirván; it was wrested from the hands of the Princes of Dághistán by the Persian Sháh Kor Khodabende, and fell into those of the Ottomans, who destroyed the castle that it might not be used as a defence against them; it is now a large ancient town situated on the border of Mount Caucasus, belonging to the government of Aresh. According to fabulous history it was in this town that Solomon set up his throne, which had been carried through the air by Genii, when he came with Balkis and an immense army to view Mount Caucasus; this is why it was called the throne of Lán, a Persian word signifying both a nest, and one who walks or travels. It is situated between the towns of the gate of gates, Shamákhí, and Niázabád, but is not much cultivated as it is on the extremity of the frontier, its gardens are few on account of the coldness of the climate; there are three thousand houses with terraces, and some mosques not much frequented, seven baths, eleven caravánseraïs, and seventy shops: as we remained here but one night, it was impossible to see much of it. It is the seat of a Khán, Judge, Kelenter, Darogha, and Munshí, and has a garrison of a thousand men; there are a great number of Sunnís, who get their living by cleaning cotton. The waters which give life to the plantations of cotton, all issue from the west side of Mount Caucasus, and fall into the Kúr. We marched for some hours towards the Kiblah, to the district of Khata a dependence of the Princes of Dághistán, a woody tract comprising three hundred kents, with mosques, kháns, and gardens. We remained here for three days as guests, and continued our journey on the fourth to the district of Zákhor, consisting of a hundred and fifty villages and large kents, governed by Yússúf one of the Princes of Dághistán, who commands seven thousand brave warlike men; the Beg, with whom we spent a night, presented me with fifty skins of wild cats, and I gave him three handkerchiefs embroidered by Sultána Kia.

_Tomb of Emír Sultán._

He was a great Saint. The Divines of this country, all learned Doctors, have no enmity amongst themselves, but they shun all communication with the Reváfes (heretic Persians). Here ends Dághistán, and the province of Georgia begins.

The frontier castle Ur belongs to the Persians; we passed it on our left, and skirted the boundaries of the castle of Shekí, which I formerly saw on my way to Shamákhí, and arrived at the kent of Zakhorie on the frontier of Tamarass-khán, belonging to the Khán of Tiflís; the inhabitants are all Georgians, Armenians, and Gokdúlák.

_Description of the Old Town of Kákht._

This town is situated on the frontier of Georgia and now governed by the Persians. It was built by Núshirván to keep the tribes of the Caucasus in order. It is a pentagon castle, fourteen thousand large paces in circumference, with one hundred and seventy bulwarks, three gates, two thousand houses within the castle, a mosque, a bath, and a khán. Its waters, so many springs of life, issue from the west side of Mount Caucasus, and after irrigating the gardens fall into the Kúr to the eastward. The climate being rather cold, its silk is not much praised. The inhabitants are Georgians, Armenians and Gokdúlák; the Sultán commands a thousand soldiers, all Shiís, and there are twelve civil commanders and a judge. Sháh Ismail liked its climate so much that he remained here three years before the battle of Cháldirán, and built a suburb outside of it, so that it bears much likeness to the town of Kaschau in the middle of Hungary. After the loss of the battle of Cháldirán, the Ottoman flying troops arriving at this town destroyed it, and since that time many thousand loads of stones have been carried away by Ferhád Páshá for the repairs of the Castle of Aras. The Sultán of this place accompanied me, out of kindness, to the next station, and we passed the night in Khodraí, a kent of a thousand houses, with a mosque, khán and bath, on the frontier of Tiflís.

_Description of Georgia or Shúshádistán, viz. Betlís._

According to the author of the Sheref-námeh, this town was first built by Betlís the Treasurer of Alexander, who also built the castle of the same name in the province of Ván; its name is now Tiflís, which for a long time was a great Persian government, till in the time of Sultán Murad III. Lala Kara Ferhád Páshá with an immense army undertook the conquest of Georgia, and conquered Chaldír and seventy castles. Daúd Khán, who was then governor of Tiflís, garrisoned it with forty thousand men, and fortified it in all possible ways. On the other side the Ottoman commander summoned the town to surrender to his Emperor; at an assembly held on this occasion it was advised to send back the bearer of the summons, and to put themselves into a state of defence, but the more prudent foreseeing that they would not be able to make resistance, they all fled away one night, and left the Castle without defence. The Ottoman commander pursued them with the greatest speed, and came up with the Khán of Tiflís at the Castle of Zekúm, where he had entrenched himself with all the treasures carried away from his capital. A great battle ensued, in which no quarter was given by the Ottoman victors, and forty thousand Persians were cut to pieces. The booty taken by the Ottoman army was immense; the Aghá of the janissaries with seven regiments of his corps was sent to garrison Tiflís, and the castle of Zekúm was taken in the year 956 (1578). A few days after, the Castle of Kerím also fell. I have not seen the Castle of Zekúm, but I saw that of Kerím without entering it, when passing through the plain of Kákht. Lala Ferhád pursued his victory as though he had been on a hunting party; he took twenty-six great and small castles, some of which he destroyed, and some he repaired, placing a Dizdár in each, and made his entry into Tiflís amidst the greatest demonstrations of public joy. He fortified this castle to such an extent, that no fortress of Georgia or Azerbeiján is equal to it, except that of Bakú and Megú. The province was given with the rank of a Begler Beg to Mohammed Páshá the son of Ferhád Páshá, then in possession of the sanjak of Kastemúní; its works were repaired, and its stores completed. He sent the keys of no less than seventy large and small castles to the Ottoman Court and then returned himself to Constantinople. After his departure the Persians besieged the town of Tiflís for the space of seven months. The garrison being in the greatest distress for food, eat their dogs first, and then the dead; the famine was so great that the dog belonging to the Súbashí Alí sold for seven thousand aspers. At last the governor of Erzerúm, Mustafa Páshá, arrived with a flying troop, put the Persian General to flight and relieved the garrison. Hassan Páshá the son of the Grand Vezír arrived with a caraván, bringing three thousand camel loads of provisions, which were placed in the Magazines of the small castle. In short, this fortress remained in the hands of the Ottomans from the time of Sultán Murad III. till that of Sultán Mustafa, when the Persians united with the Georgians took the castle by surprise, and gave it up to the Sháh; and it has remained ever since in the hands of the Persians. It is the capital of Georgia, to which belongs sixteen Sultáns, seventy judges, forty districts and seven tracts called Oimák. Three-tenths of Georgia are occupied by the province of Tiflís; the khán commands two thousand soldiers, it has also a judge and twelve public officers in honour of the twelve Imáms.

_Size and Figure of the Fortress._

It consists of two castles opposite to each other on the banks of the Kúr which separates the rocks on which they stand, and which are connected above by a bridge leading from one castle to the other. The great castle is on the south side of the Kúr and the small one on the north of it. This river rises in the mountains of Chaldir, passes Erdehán, Akhiska, and Azgúra and flows into the Caspian Sea; the Persian historiographers say, that its waters are supplied from a thousand and sixty sources; it is the largest river in these countries next to the Euphrates. The circumference of the largest castle is six thousand paces, the wall sixty cubits high, with seventy bulwarks, and three thousand battlements, but no ditch; the water-tower which supplies water to the garrison in time of siege is situated on the Kúr. In the castle are six hundred houses, terraced, some with and some without gardens, the palace of the Khán, a mosque and a bath. The small castle was built by Yezdejerd Sháh, it is of stone, in a square form with only one gate at the head of the bridge, and has no Bezestán or Imáret.

Three thousand watchmen light fires every night, and continually cry Khoda Khob (all’s well.) Though it is a Persian town, yet its inhabitants are for the most part Sunnís and Hanefis from the time of the Ottomans.

_Products._

The white bread of Tiflís, and the peaches are renowned; the vegetables exquisite; there is no silk, but most excellent grapes: all these productions prosper through the quantity of rain water which falls, and do not require water from the Kúr, this is the case with an hundred and fifty towns and villages, which it passes on its way.

_The Hotbath of Tiflís._

On the east side of the large castle a hot-spring boils out of the ground without the assistance of fire; sheep’s heads and feet are cooked therein. There are also several pilgrimages at Tiflís, as those of Imám Hossein Efendí, Rizwán Agha, Jem Alí Efendí, &c. Tiflís is five hours distance from Kiákht, from the Castle of Aras, four journies, and the same from that of Genje. We took from the khán two hundred men to accompany us, and received three tománs for the expenses of the journey.

_Description of the Castle Kúsekht._

It stands on a chalk cliff, is of a square form, and belongs to the district of Tiflís. The castle Lorí near Tiflís was seen on our right side in the mountains, but we passed it at a great distance.

_Description of Súrán._

Though a small castle on a hill, yet it is extremely strong and high: it is one of the oldest castles of Georgia built by Núshirván. Its inhabitants are Georgians, Gokdúlák and Armenians. We proceeded four hours to the west, and reached the old town Azgúr: according to the author of the Sheref-námeh, it is the oldest town in Georgia, and was built by Alexander. In the Georgian language Azgúr signifies the King of Kings. The immense blocks of stone used in the formation of the walls, show that it must have been built by Alexander, because five hundred men of the present age would not be able to move one of them; it stands on a high hill, and is of a square form; it has one gate opening to the south, a mosque, a bath, a khán, and forty small streets; the gardens are beautiful owing to the mildness of the climate; the river which passes below it, issues from the mountains of Akhiska through which it passes, and waters the gardens of the town, falling into the Araxes. This town being on the frontier of Gurgistán Shúshád, the inhabitants all speak Georgian.

_Specimen of the Georgian Shúshád Language._

One, _árí_; two, _úrí_; three, _sám_; four, _otkhí_; five, _khotí_; six, _egsí_; seven, _shudi_; eight, _revaí_; nine, _khújraí_; ten, _atí_; bread, _púrí_; water, _chígál_; meat, _kharj_; wine, _ghita_; cherries, _bák_; pears, _bishál_; figs, _lefi_; grapes, _kúrzení_; hazel-nuts, _inikhlí_; melon, _nesú_; &c.

_Genealogy of the Georgian Kings._

Their first kings were Jews, then Dadiáns and Shúshád, from whom originated the people of Gúriel, Achikbásh, and Mingrelia, who are all Christians. They speak twelve different languages, and only understand each other by the aid of interpreters. The purest language, according to their opinion, is that of the Shúshád and Dadián. If the dynasty of the Moscovites should be extinguished, the Princes of Georgia would succeed. The Aiza and Cherkessians who are an Arabic colony, have no books at all; according to the histories of their priests they descended from Keikavús, and then from David.

There was formerly here a Queen who pretended to reign unmarried; one night having drank with some young men, she was violated by one of them, and got with child, which happened to be a girl. To get rid of the ravisher, the Queen sent him fowl-hunting on a frozen canal, when the ice broke, and the man was swallowed up, so that all talk about the matter was at an end. The daughter married a Prince named Begdiván, and had three sons, who when of age, divided Georgia into three parts. The first Prince obtained the district of Cotatis otherwise called Básh Achik, and its inhabitants derive their descent from him. To the second, Simon, was allotted the district of Tiflís; and to the youngest, the province of Bághat; from the latter, the Dadiáns derive their lineage. This Dadián Prince was a just monarch, and even now the whole of Georgia pay homage to the Princes of Achikbásh and Dadián. When Sultán Selím I. was Governor of Trebisonde, he lived on good terms with the Beg of Achikbásh, and spent some time in the castle of Cotatis, and when he ascended the throne after Bayazíd II. he exempted by a Khattí-sheríf, the inhabitants of Achikbásh from all gifts and duties, a privilege they enjoy up to the present day; since that time it has only been the custom to send annually falcons and fine youths as presents to the Porte. We left the castle of Azgúr, and going westward through woods and fields, we arrived all well at Chaldirán and Akhaskha.

_Description of the Stronghold of Akhaska, Sultan Selím’s conquest._