Part 7

The north wall abuts on the sea, the castle is of a square form, nineteen thousand paces in circumference. It has also four gates, viz.—the gate of Za’anús next the prison gate close to the walls, leading to a long bridge; the gate of Sútkháneh leading to the quarters of the Christians; the gate of Mevlúz which signifies in Greek (?) a small stone, from the abundance of pebbles that lie on the shore. In the language of the Lazes, Mevlúz is the name of spurs or piers which are raised to support ruined walls. The walls of the lower castle extend on both sides to the sea, so that the town is closed against hostile invasion, by a wall running along the seashore. The fourth gate is that of Múm Kháneh or the wax fabric, because all the candles, of which a great number are made at Trebisonde are manufactured outside of this gate. Three quarters of the town are inhabited by Moslims and Christians, but by no Jews. The houses rising one above the other are all faced with brick and look to the north or west.

_Description of the Mosques._

In the centre of the castle was an old Christian church, Mohammed II. having conquered the town in the year 865, turned the mihráb from the east towards the Kiblah. Its mihráb and minber are of ancient workmanship, and on the east side is an oratory (mahfil) of most elegant carving. The wood is cypress, nut, and box; it is always closed, and reserved entirely for the Emperor’s use. There are besides three other mahfils or oratories supported by pillars in this mosque, where people are also allowed to pray when there is a great crowd. It has two gates, an elegant mináreh, and cells for students in the courtyard outside; it is covered with lead. In the west suburb are also four mosques, and two in the eastern; the mosque of the tower castle is a beautiful structure with a mináreh much ornamented. The mosque of Khatúnieh was built by the mother of Selím I. who was born here, it is extremely well endowed, the market called Púlta-bazárí belongs to its foundation, with many cultivated villages. The cupola is illuminated by candles every night, its elegant mináreh pierces the sky. The gate and walls of this mosque are built of black polished stone, and white marble, in alternate rows; it was built in the year 920. The mosque of Súleimán Beg on the west of the mosque of Khatúnieh, but at a mile distance from it on the place of Kawák, has one mináreh covered with lead.

The mosque of Ayá Sofiyáh is on the seashore on the west side, it was built in the time of the Infidels. Kúrd Alí-beg took it out of the hands of the Christians, in the year 951 (1573), and adorned it with a fine minber and mahfil; it is beautified with many marble and granite columns, which cannot be described with sufficient praise. The mihráb and minber are in the ancient style, and it is surrounded by vineyards and plantations of olives.

The mosque of Wárdogdi-Beg stands half a mile distance south of the mosque of Khatúnieh in the quarter of Tekfúr-seraï, it was raised from a mesjíd into a mosque by Torghúd-beg in 985 (1577). It has a well proportioned gate and mináreh. The new mosque was formerly a church, and stands in a lofty situation. The mosque of Iskender Páshá, known by the name of Káfir-Meidání, (the Infidel’s place) has its cupola entirely covered with lead, with a well proportioned mináreh.

_Description of the Scientific Colleges, Baths, Market-places, &c._

Outside of the courtyard of the mosque of the middle castle is the college of Mohammed II. with a great number of cells and students. There is a general lecture (Dersí-a’ám), the lecturer holds the degree of a Molla; it is a mine of poets, and meeting-place of wits. The college of Katúnieh is adorned with cells on four sides; the students receive fixed quantities of meat and wax for their subsistence. The college of Iskender Páshá on the north side of the mosque, that bears the same name, is richly endowed with stipends for the students. The reading-houses of Trebisonde are those of the middle castle, at the mosque of Mohammed II., where reading after the manner of Ibn Kether is introduced; that of Khatúnieh, where works on the Korán are read after the seven established methods of Jeserí and Shátebieh; and that of Iskender Páshá close to its mosque. The abecedarian schools for boys are that of Mohammed II. in the middle castle; the school of the new mosque, a school so blessed, that a boy who has been taught here to read the Bismillah (in God’s name!) cannot fail to be a learned man; the elegant school of Khatúnieh on the west side of the mosque is built of stone, with a cupola, where orphans are supplied with mental and bodily food, with dresses on great festivals and presents besides; and the schools of Iskender Páshá; these are the most celebrated.

There is a pleasant double bath for the use of both sexes, in the middle castle near the gate which leads to the lower castle.

The bath of the tower is on the north wall of the innermost or tower castle; it is a single one, and is said to have existed in the time of the Infidels. The bath of the Imáret, built by Khatúnieh mother of Selím I. The bath of the lower castle is a single one, that of Iskender Páshá is double; the bath of the Infidels is between the New Friday quarter and the Infidels’ place, and the bath of Tekfúr-seraï. There are besides at Trebisonde two hundred and forty-five private baths, and a great number of Kháns. The Khán of Khátúnieh has a stable equal to that of Antar, which will accommodate one hundred horses; besides many other Kháns for merchants and single persons.

Of the Market-places, the first is outside of the gate of the wax-manufactory. There is a well-built Bezestán where the Arabian and Persian merchants reside, who are extremely rich and wealthy. In the middle castle the market called the small market, is furnished with every thing; its shops amount to the number of eighty.

The Imárets are those of Mohammed II. in the middle castle, accommodating both rich and poor. The Imáret of Khátúnieh, close to the mosque, is not to be equalled, even at Trebisonde; passengers and boatmen may dine here at their pleasure; there is an oven for baking white bread, and a cellar (kílár) for keeping the provisions of the Imáret. Near the kitchen is the eating-place for the poor, and the students have a proper dining-hall. Every day, in the morning, and at noon a dish of soup and a piece of bread is provided for each, and every Friday a Zerde Pilaw, and Yakhní (stewed meat); these regulations are to remain in force, as long as it pleases God.

_Description of the complexion of the Inhabitants of Trebisonde._

The climate and the air being extremely favourable, the inhabitants are all jolly merry fellows, who think of nothing but eating and drinking, of amusement and pleasure. Being all idle amorous fellows, their colour is red, and the women are fair, coming from Abaza, Georgia and Circassia; every one a moon or a portion of the sun.

_Occupations, Guilds, &c._

The inhabitants are divided from the earliest period into seven classes. The first are the great and mighty Princes and sons of Princes (Beg and Beg-zadeh), who are dressed in magnificent pelisses of sables. The second are the Ulemás, the sheikhs and pious men, who dress according to their condition and live on endowments. The third are the merchants, who trade by sea and land to Ozakov, into the country of the Cossacks, into Mingrelia, Circassia, Abaza and the Crimea; they dress in ferrájís of cloth and dolimáns called kontosh. The fourth are the handicraftsmen, who dress themselves in ferrájís of cloth and bogássín. The fifth are the boatmen of the Black Sea; they have their peculiar dress, with iron buckles, shalwárs, dolímáns of cloth, and a kind of lining (astár) wrapped round the head, ready, thus accoutred, to trade or to fight at sea. The sixth class are the men of the vineyards, because the mountains of Bozdepeh are all planted with vines, and in the register are set down no less than thirty-one thousand gardens and vineyards, so that if only one man is reckoned to each garden, there are thirty-one thousand gardeners, but in some there are two and three. The seventh class are the fishermen, a calling in which many thousand men are employed.

_Description of the principal Arts and Handicrafts._

The goldsmiths of Trebisonde are the first in the world. Selím I. being brought up in this town was taught the art of a goldsmith, and cut dies for the coin of his father Báyazíd, so skilfully, that they appeared as if engraved in marble; I saw some of this coin at Trebisonde. Súleimán (the great) himself was the apprentice of a Greek called Constantine, who was the foster brother of Yahya Efendí, who is buried at Beshik-tásh. From this time the goldsmiths of Trebisonde became the most famous in the world, and work vases for rose-water and incense, swords, daggers and knife-handles in most wonderful perfection. The knives of Ghorghúr-oghlí are the most famous of all; the hatchets of Trebisonde are a new and clever invention. The inlaid work of pearl-shells, with which tables, pulpits, inkstands, sand-boxes and chairs are ornamented in such perfection, that they cannot be equalled in any country, except it be by the pearl-shell work of India.

_Eatables and Beverages._

The water of Trebisonde is fresh as the spring of life; the must of the raisins of Bozdepeh is sweet, and gives no headache to those who drink it; the sherbets called the triple, the muscat, and the clove wine are the best. The gardens produce most exquisite fruit; fine flavoured grapes, cherries red as woman’s lips, pears of different kinds, apples called Sinope, figs called Bádinjíán-Injúr, which are not found so sweet any where else, different kinds of lemons, oranges of a deep purple colour, pomegranates and olives, of which alone there are seven sorts to be found nowhere else except at Damascus and Jerusalem. One of the small sorts is eaten before it is quite ripe and resembles a black cherry; this is also an exclusive production of Trebisonde. Another fruit, which is called the date of Trebisonde is roasted on stoves, and is exported to many places; it is a sweet fruit, and has two or three kernels. The ruby-coloured pink which grows here, is peculiar to this place, each blossom is like a red rose, and perfumes the brain with the sweetest scent, and weighs, without the stalk, from five to six drachms.

The fish which are worthy of mention are Lorek-bálighí, Kefál-bálighí (Cephalus), the Kalkán-balighí (Rhombus), which if eaten by women renders them prolific; the fish called Kiziljeh-tekerbálik, with a red head and delicious to taste; the gold fish, the Sgombro which is taken in the season Erbain (forty days). But the most precious of all, which frequently causes bloody strifes and quarrels in the Market-place, is the Khamsí-bálighí taken in the season of Khamsan, (the fifty days when southerly winds blow); these fish were formerly thrown on the shore at Trebisonde by virtue of a talisman erected, as is said, by Alexander, before the gate of the town, representing a fish of this kind in brass on a column of stone; but on the birth-night of the prophet, when all talismans lost their power, the same happened to this at Trebisonde; thus the fish are no longer thrown on the shore, but the sea abounds with them during the said fifty days. At this season boats loaded with these fish arrive in the harbour, and the dealers in fish cry them in a peculiar manner, at the same time sounding a kind of horn or trumpet; as soon as this sound is heard, the whole town is in an uproar, and people who hear it, even when at prayer, instantly cease, and run like madmen after it. It is a shining white fish of a span’s length, and is an aphrodisiac of extraordinary potency; strengthening and easy of digestion, does not smell like fish, creates no fever in those who eat it, and also cures sore mouths. If the head of this fish, Khamsí-bálighí, pronounced Khápsi-bálighí, is burnt, serpents and other venomous reptiles are killed by the smoke. The people use it during forty days in all their dishes, to which it gives a peculiar flavour, it is thus used with yakhní, roasts, pies, and baklava (mixed pies), a dish called pílegí is made of it in the following manner, the fish is first cleaned, then cut into slices on which is laid parsley and celery, then another layer of fish, the best oil is then poured on it, and it is cooked over the fire for one hour, it thus becomes quite a luminous dish, which may be said to illuminate those who eat it. But however this fish may be dressed and eaten, it is extremely useful to the stomach and the eyes, and is a dish of friendship and love. God the Almighty has blessed this town with all kinds of rare trees, including box, cypress, and Turkish nut. It is wonderful that in the mountains of Erzerúm, situated a great deal further to the south, all is winter and storm, while here are roses, syringas, lemons, oranges, and other sweet fruits. The winter and the air is mild, and the nature of the people partakes of this happy equality of the seasons; they are kind to strangers, but the Greeks and the Lezgians, the Chichú and Chifta are extremely troublesome people; the language of the Lezgís cannot be written or expressed in Turkish orthography; they have a peculiar dialect, which even the inhabitants of Trebisonde do not understand without an interpreter; they are for the most part boatmen, who navigate the river Chorúgh to Mingrelia, carrying boxwood and slaves, with which they trade to the harbour of Trebisonde, one of the best of anchoring grounds and ports; it is open to the west, and looks towards the harbour of Kaffa in Crimea, three hundred miles distance.

_Walks of Trebisonde._

On the place of Kawák outside of the gate of Za’anús, the Páshás play jeríd with their troops on days of recreation. Three masts are erected in the centre, one of them having a golden top which is shot at by arrows. There have been no Jews at Trebisonde since the time of Sultán Selím, who was governor of the town, the following circumstance was the cause; a Dervish discovered on a piece of leather (saffian), that was handed about for sale, an inscription, written in a way not to be observed by every body, which implored the assistance of all righteous Moslims, to deliver two innocent Moslim youths tyrannically shut up in the Jewish tanneries. The Dervish having explained the inscription to Prince Selím, a general search of all the Jewish tanneries took place by an armed force, when not only the two brothers, lost many years before, but many other Moslim boys were found, on whose backs the Jewish tanners had worked in tanning their skins. This discovery occasioned a general slaughter and banishment of the Jews, none of whom have since dared to show their faces at Trebisonde, the inhabitants of which town are a religious and devout people.

_Praise of the River Khosh-oghlán._

It rises in the province of Erzerúm, in the southern part of the District Kerkdeh, from the mountain called Yailak-mesjidí, and after supplying water to many gardens, passes on the right side of Trebisonde into the sea. On the mountain whence it issues, stands a castle built by one Khosh-oglán of the Chobanián family, but the mountain itself is called Agháj-bashtághí by the inhabitants; it is passed on the way from this town to Baiburd by a gate.

_Visit to the Monuments of Sultáns and Saints._

The mother of Selím I. is buried before the gate of Za’anús beneath a high cupola, ninety men are appointed there to be monument-keepers and readers of the Koran, which is read through three times a day. She was a pious lady, a second Rabia Adúyeh. The cupola is covered with lead as well as the mosque near the monument. God’s mercy upon her! I remained three months at Erzerúm making the acquaintance of all learned and distinguished men, and then accompanied Hossein-aghá, the kiaya of Ketánjí Omer Páshá, who set out with presents on an embassy to Mingrelia.

JOURNEY TO GEORGIA AND MINGRELIA.

We embarked in Lezgian boats with an escort of two hundred men, and, trusting in the Lord, sailed from the harbour of Trebisonde to the north. The station of Menzil Degermen Deressí is near Trebisonde, and is a large harbour. From thence we sailed northward to Shána where there is a harbour called Rútha. The forests are principally hazel, the nuts of which are everywhere famous. At the end of some miles from this place we arrived at the castle of Súrmena, built by the infidel Greeks, and conquered by Mohammed II. from whom it was taken by Hersek-oghlí; there is a Súbashí, a judge with an income of one hundred and fifty aspers, a Dizdár and a garrison; it has an excellent harbour sheltered against the wind from all quarters except the north-west, but when the wind blows from that quarter three or four anchors are required to enable ships to ride in safety. The district of Mahnúz consists of sixty villages belonging to Trebisonde, the whole mountain is covered with box-trees, the wood of which is made into handles for spoons. There is the large village Kalipravúlí, whose inhabitants are all Chíchú, and the large place of Khobán on the seashore, surrounded with gardens; the inhabitants of which are Lezgians. The strong town of Konia in the sanjak Batúm belonging to Trebisonde has thirteen ziámets and seventy-two timárs, the militia is ruled by a Cherí-bashí and Alaï-Beg, who in war time commands eight hundred men, three hundred are the Páshá’s private troop; the garrison of the fortresses on the frontier consist of a Dizdár and five hundred men. The judge has a salary of one hundred and fifty aspers, but his revenues are _in partibus_, because the inhabitants are all Chíchú Lezgís, who can only be controlled at the point of the lance. The revenues of the judge may amount to one thousand, those of the Beg to seven thousand piastres; the castle originally built by the Infidels, stands on a high square hill, it was conquered by Mohammed II. and has been many times plundered by the Cossacks. The houses are faced with brick, as are also the mosque and kháns. It lies on the river Júrúgh, the spelling of this word is corrupted from Júí-rúh, which rises in the mountains of Jánkha-Kawilí-hissár and Shín-kara on the west side of Erzerúm, passes through Baiburd, waters the country of the Lezgians, and enters the Black Sea near the castle of Konia.

It has neither ferry nor bridge, but is a river like a sea, covered with many thousand Lezgian boats, trading on this river to Mingrelia with salt, iron, and different sorts of linen, and bringing box, wax, honey, with slaves of both sexes, from Mingrelia and Georgia to Trebisonde. From Konia we advanced to the north, and only disembarked at the place Kemerler, then entered the river Júrúgh, and sailed eastward for one day.

_Description of Mingrelia._

The sanjak of Konia ends at Khánedá the frontier of the tribe Ada Khosh of Mingrelia. The mountains are covered with box, and the gardens are planted with box-trees. We slept one night in the village of the Beg, who did every thing to treat us kindly. We saw more than seventy Mingrelian villages, each one like a town, and then returned to Konia; our companions went back to Trebisonde, but I was commanded to go with the company of the Zenberekjí-báshí of Konia to the siege of Assov.

JOURNEY TO AZAK (ASSOV) 1050.

We embarked with three hundred fusileers of the janissaries, and five rowing boys of my own, in ten Lezgian barks called Munkesileh. These boats are made of the large plane-trees growing on the river Júrúgh, and consist of three planks, two of which form the sides, and the third forms the bottom; the sides are lined with reed twice as thick as a man’s wrist; this lining of reed keeps them afloat in the storms of the Black Sea, and they swim like sponges; they have neither stern nor forecastle, but are equal on both sides, and are called Munkesileh. On these boats I left Konia with a good wind, passed the river Júrúgh and arrived at the harbour Sofárí on the frontier of Mingrelia. The landing-place (iskele) of Khandra has no port (limán). The landing-place Súri has an old ruined port. The landing-place Yarissa is a ruined castle where goats are now kept. The landing-place Raijeh is without a port, but has an old ruined castle. These five landing-places are all on the frontiers of Mingrelia, they are only visited in the summer time by the merchants who carry on the slave trade. The mountains are inhabited by forty or fifty thousand warlike Mingrelians. We passed the said five landing places, and came next day, at a hundred miles distance from Konia, to the great river Fáshechai (Phasus). The Fásha (Phasus) is a great river like the Danube, in some places a mile, in others but half a mile broad, and from eight to ten fathoms deep, fresh as the spring of life; it disembogues in a gulf at the north end of the Black Sea, one thousand three hundred miles from Constantinople. It rises between Mingrelia, Georgia, Thágistán, Kabartaí, and Circassia, from Mount Caucasus (Kúhal-burz), Ubúr, and Sadasha, and passes between Mingrelia and Abáza into the Black Sea. On the east side are the Mingrelian villages, on the west the Abáza; and both shores being covered with thick forests, the two people mutually steal their children of both sexes and sell them as slaves. We passed the Phasus, marching to the west, and for a whole day went along the shore of the Black Sea.

_Description of the Land of the Abáza._

It forms the northern shore of the Black Sea, begins at the mouth of the Phasus, and ends at the castle of Anapa near the island of Tamán. The following tradition is related of the origin of Abáza. According to the most authentic historians Adam was created in Paradise in the true Tátár form, and having after his exile met Eva on mount A’arafát, they begat forty thousand children all in the form of Tátárs. Adam having spoken Arabic in Paradise, forgot it when on earth, and began to speak Hebrew, Syrian, Dehkilí (?) and Persian, which languages were spoken till the deluge, after which mankind divided into seventy-two nations and as many languages. The first who invented new languages was Edrís (Enoch) who first wrote and bound books, and hid them in the pyramids, whence they were taken out after the deluge by the philosophers, who by this means multiplied the languages to the number of one hundred and forty-seven. Ismail retrieved the Arabic and Persian originally spoken in Paradise, and Esau brought forward the Turkish as the language of Tátárs; the people belonging to them are:—the Hind, Sind, Moghání, Kurds, Múltáns, Baniáns, and twelve nations of fire worshippers, with as many languages; the Noghaí, Heshdek, Lipka, Chagataí, Lezgí, Georgians, Mingrelians, Shúrshád, Dadián, Ajikbásh, Armenians, Greeks, Turcomans, Copts, and Israelites or Jews. The Franks divided into Spaniards, French, Genoese, Portuguese, Venetians, Tuscans, Servians, Bulgarians, Croats, Italians, &c. Four children of Menúchehr, the old Persian king, having fled towards Erla (Agra), and being asked who they were, answered, “we are four” (Men chár is) which being corrupted remained the name of their descendants, Majár. Of the Arabs forty tribes first settled in Egypt, such as the Mogrebí, Fess, Merakesh, Afenú, Maibornú, Jíchel Khán, Aswán, Súdání, Fúnjí, Kara-mánkí, Bogháskí, Múnjí, Berbers, Nubians, Zenjí, Habeshí, Gulapshí, Alewí, Rompí, the Arabs of Yemen, Baghdád, Mekka, Medina, Badiah, and Ommán. All the Arabic tribes amount to three thousand and sixty; some say more. The principal, most noble and eloquent of them, is the tribe Koreish Hashemí of which the Prophet was born, for whose sake God created time and space, and who is entitled the Lord of Arabs and Persians.