only some words which I acquired in the course of trading; I have
written them as I could, but there is a great difference between the
speaking and writing, the pronunciation being extremely difficult,
like the chirping of birds. A great deal of judgment and sagacity is
required to converse with them, but a traveller who knows something
of the world, and of God, and desires to travel quietly, must have a
sufficient idea of every language to understand whether good or evil
is intended to him, whether they are going to offer him bread or a box
of the ear; the proverb says, “Men speak according to their intellect,
and, therefore, it is very prudent to learn some languages for the
use of the world;” such a man easily makes his way through strange
countries, and returns safely into port.
We left the harbour of the Kútassí, and at the end of two days journey
along the seacoast, reached the castle of Anapa. It is said that
Alexander the Great, when commanded by God to build the wall of Gog
and Magog, arrived at this place, he was so much pleased with its air
and situation, that he built here a pentagon castle of immense stones
(Shedádí, Cyclopean); the room of the diván was paved with rubies,
emeralds, turquoises and cornelians, and for that reason was called
the Castle Kevherpaí Anapaí. It afterwards fell into the hands of the
Genoese, and when Timúr laid waste the towns of Dadián, Heshdek, and
other towns amounting altogether to the number of seven hundred, in
his expedition against Tokhatmish the Lord of Crimea, he also wasted
the suburbs of the castle of Anapa, but the castle itself was spared.
In the reign of Sultán Bayazíd II., the great Vezír Gedek Ahmed Páshá,
leading the expedition against Kaffa, took this castle also from the
Genoese, and put troops into it. It is situated at the extremity of
the Cape which divides the territory of the Abáza from Circassia, on
a clay cliff; it is a strong castle without a garrison, and has been
several times ransacked by the Cossacks of the Tanais. Outside of the
castle are one hundred and fifty houses built of reed; this village is
called Kabák. North of the castle are the mountains of Anapa. The ships
which go to Assov sail past these mountains, which extend as far as the
Cossacks of Assov. The castle of Anapa is well built, and in such good
preservation, that it appears as if it had just come out of the hands
of the builder. Sheep and goats are kept inside during the winter.
According to the description of Demir-oghlí Osmán Páshá, Anapa is the
seat of a Voivode of the sanjak of Tamán in the province of Caffa. The
people of Shefákí, which is the name of the inhabitants, only pay their
tithes at the point of the halberd, and are three hundred rebellious
subjects. This castle has a large port where a thousand ships tied
together with one rope may ride in safety. It is a large harbour,
sheltered against the wind from all quarters. There is no port like it
in the Black Sea; a kind of pearl was formerly fished for here; the
shells still lie on the shore; another reason why the castle is called
Kevhergán (jewel-mine). The Russians anchor here every year, without
the least apprehension, and fish for pearls. If this castle was put
into good condition, with a sufficient garrison and ammunition, it
would be easy to keep all Abáza and Circassia in complete obedience.
The Noghais also bring merchandise to this port in complete security.
While I, poor Evliyá, was remaining at Anapa with the Yenicherí-agassí
of Konia, the Imperial fleet made its appearance in the Black Sea,
and came to anchor at noon in the port of Anapa. They stayed three
days, during which time all the small craft which had been left behind
arrived, and took in water. I and the Aghá of Konia waited on the
Kaima-kám of the Aghá of the Janissaries with some presents. I then
waited on the Lord High Admiral Delí Hossein Páshá, who assigned me a
tent and rations, made me his Múezzin and gave me a passage on board
the galley of his Kiaya Welí. On the following day the 12th Sha’bán,
1053, the Imperial flag was hoisted, and at noon, the gun for departure
being fired, we left Anapa and made sail for Assov.
Sultán Murad IV. had planned a great expedition against the Maltese,
who alone remained to be subdued after the conquest of Baghdád, when
he was removed by death; amongst the fleet fitted out for the purpose
there were two immense large ships, called Kara Maona, of three hundred
guns. After his death the Infidels everywhere raised their heads
against the Ottoman Empire, and the Khán of the Crimea reported to Kara
Mustafa Páshá, the great Vezír of Sultán Ibrahím, that the Russians
had overran and plundered the districts of Crimea and Assov. At last
one hundred thousand Cossacks took the fortress of Assov after a siege
of forty days. Eighty thousand Cossacks remained in possession of it,
and one hundred and fifty boats, manned by the rest, infested all the
shores of the Black sea. This news having spread to Constantinople,
Imperial rescripts were sent throughout the whole of Rúmelí. Kojá
Gurjí Canaan Páshá, the governor of Ozakov, and the Governor of Rúmelí
with twenty-eight sanjak Begs, forty thousand Tátárs of Búják, and
forty thousand infidels of Moldavia and Valachia, and twenty thousand
Transylvanians, surrounded the fortress of Assov on the land side. On
the seaside came the Imperial fleet of one hundred and fifty galleys,
as many frigates, two hundred shaikas and karamursal, altogether four
hundred ships having forty thousand men on board, which had weighed
anchor in the port of Anapa, passed the mouth of the river Kúbán, and
the castle of Tamán; on our left hand was the Crimea with the point
of Kilissejík, and opposite on the right, the point Chúcka on the
peninsula of Tamán. These two points are but a mile distant, and the
inside of this strait is called the sea of Assov. We entered it with
a favourable wind, and came to an anchor in the port of Bálisíra.
Here all the ammunition and provisions were embarked in small boats,
called sandal, sacoleva, sarbúna, and túnbáza; and carried thirty miles
further on to the castle of Assov, because galleys and chaiks drawing
five feet water cannot be used here, as the water is but from two
to three feet in depth. Bálisíra is on the western extremity of the
steppes (Heihát Sahrassí) a lonely place; but the army and fleet having
arrived, many thousand houses for men and wares were built, and it had
the air of a large town, being the harbour of Assov. There arrived here
from Circassia, which belongs to the Governorship of Caffa, of the
tribes of Shagák, Shána, Meshúkh, Takafer, Bozúdúk, Pultakaí, Khatukaí,
Kabartaí, and of the troops of Shám-khál Sultán the Lord of Taghistán
forty thousand men, excellent troops, with seven thousand waggons,
which served to transport a part of the munitions and provisions to
Assov. The troops entered the trenches on the 21st of Sha’abán, and
the 25th of the same month arrived from Anatolí seven Vezírs, eighteen
Begler-Begs, seventy Sanjaks, and two hundred Alaï Begs with all the
Zaims and Timariots, who with their men (Jebellí) were forty-seven
thousand men. The Tátár Khán was ordered to keep the look-out, and
he surrounded the camp with his army of Noghaí, Kechin-noghaí,
Shedák-noghaí, Urúmpit-noghaí, Shirínlí, Manssúrlí, Sebhúnlí, Mankitlí,
Nakshi-vánlí, Chekeshke, Irbátlí, Úlí, Olánlí, Badrákli, Arslán Beg
Ilí, Chobán Ilí, Deví Ilí, Nevrúz Ilí, all Tátárs.
On the same night the Infidels in the fortress, made an immense
noise by shouts and fireworks, which was caused by the arrival of
ten thousand Cossacks, who came by the Tanais to the assistance
of the castle, and did not cease firing all night, so that seven
hundred men were killed. The next day the Tátár Khán and the Páshá of
Silistra placed watches on the shore of the Tanais to prevent further
reinforcement of the Infidels, foraging parties were sent out, the
trenches opened in seven places, and on the side of the monument of
Yogúrdí-Baba pushed to the edge of the ditch. The camp of the Moslims
was out of reach of the cannon-shot from the castle. Next day Hossein
Páshá, prepared twelve large cannon for the attack in the trench of
Yogúrdí-Baba; and at the same time the Admiral Seyawúsh Páshá landed
troops from a hundred boats, who entered the trenches from the side of
the water tower. These boats (firkata), guarded the side of Úlúton,
Deriton, Kánlijah, Uzegí and the island of Timúr. Above the water tower
the troops of Anatoli with eight large guns, and ten regiments of
janissaries entered the trenches; at those on the south was posted the
troops of Karamania with six regiments; on the western suburb of Tayák,
the governor of Silistra Canán Páshá led ten regiments of janissaries,
one of armourers, and one of artillerymen, with ten large guns in the
trenches. In short the castle was battered on seven sides by seventy
large and small cannon, and the Infidels firing on their side, a
terrible contest ensued during seven hours till daybreak, with an
incredible noise and roaring. In the morning seven hundred martyrs were
found, whose goods were consigned to the revenue. The fire was renewed,
and the houses of the town dashed to pieces, but the walls having been
strongly built by the Genoese, continued to resist. This lasted seven
days, during which the Commander-in-chief continually made the round of
the trenches, encouraging the Moslim warriors with words and presents,
and carrying every thing on with deliberation. Several breaches being
opened some volunteers ascended one of them, without order, and planted
the Ottoman banner on the wall, which being seen by the Cossacks, they
rushed on in superior numbers, and crushed many of them by throwing
down a leaden basket. The rest, however, defended their post so well
on the walls, that in the end the Ottoman banner was planted on seven
places, and the Mohammedan prayer proclaimed. The Infidels getting
new strength and rushing on like a herd of swine, with the cry “Ne
bose,” drove back the Moslim victors, so that many standards and bodies
remained on the breaches, and the victors solaced themselves with
the idea that the conquest was predestined for another day. For ten
days more the Infidels were kept in continual anxiety. Four thousand
Cossacks who came to the assistance of the fortress in forty boats
(firkata) were attacked by Canán Páshá, who brought his guns to bear
upon them so completely, that more than a thousand men perished, and
the Moslíms made an immense booty, which was some comfort for the
hardships they had to struggle with. They rejoiced in the idea that the
general assault was near, because of all the towers of the town there
now remained but one, all the rest having been levelled with the dust
by the seventy pieces of artillery. But the Infidels now intrenched
themselves underground like so many Ferháds, and again fortified
themselves in such a manner, that whenever an attempt was made to
overwhelm them by a mine, they averted it, and threw the earth dug up
for an intrenchment into the river. They were most able miners also,
and continued to make mines even underneath the river, with resined
boats. Thus they stopped the Ottoman army for the space of forty days,
during which, notwithstanding great vigilance, many thousand Infidel
Cossacks found means to enter the Castle by throwing themselves naked
into the Tanais, and swimming across under water with a reed in their
mouths; their arms and ammunition were put into leathern jacks, which
they threw behind them while swimming, and thus relieved the fortress.
To prevent this the Moslims shut the Tanais with a wall of stakes
impenetrable even to fish, and by this means got great riches from the
Infidels, who now having lost all hope of succour continued the war
underground, killing a great number of the besiegers. A rumour began
to spread that the Czar of Russia was coming with twenty thousand men,
and this rumour, though it was only an invention of the enemy, caused a
great deal of disturbance. A great council of war of all the commanders
and officers was assembled to take into consideration, that though
there was now no walls left, yet it had hitherto been found impossible
to take the Castle; that a sedition of the janissaries, who are not
obliged to continue above forty days in the trenches, was to be feared;
that the winter was drawing near, when the Sea of Assov freezes, when
all communication would be intercepted, and no safety for the fleet
after the day of Kássim (S. Demetrius); that there would be no shelter
nor provisions for the army, the country of the Infidels being on the
north, and the salt steppes of Heihát on the east and south. After a
long consultation, in which all these topics were touched upon, Canán
Páshá and Piále Aghá, the Kiaya of the Arsenal, proposed to fix the
general assault for the next morning. The Fátíhah being read on this
resolution, great joy was spread in the Ottoman camp; seven thousand
swords, two thousand shields, two thousand muskets, five thousand bows,
forty thousand arrows, six thousand halberds, five thousand granades,
and many thousand other articles of arms were distributed amongst the
army, the cannons fired from seven sides and the shout of Allah raised
so that it filled the steppes of Kipchák. The Moslims rushed into the
castle and penetrated into the inmost recess of it, where they hoisted
the banner and proclaimed the prayer of Islám.
The guns were now silenced, and the swords alone were clashing. During
seven hours and a half the Mussulmáns were raging in the castle like
wolves amongst sheep, and stained with blood like butchers. It was
a complete victory to which none can be compared excepting those of
Kossova and Mohacs. The rest of the Infidels hidden beneath the ground,
now set fire to the mines, and sent by that means great numbers of the
Moslim besiegers to Heaven; others shot them from the loopholes so that
they were in great distress. It being now near sunset, and the victors
being exhausted by fatigue and hunger, were called on to retire by the
Chaúshes, who admonished them to leave the end to the next day. They
carried an immense deal of booty with them, arms of all kinds and three
thousand heads of Infidels, besides one thousand and sixty prisoners.
A general salute was fired, and the martyrs buried, after the funeral
prayer was said over them. The wounded and maimed received pensions,
and were given into the hands of the surgeons. Those who brought
heads received a reward of a hundred piastres, and those who had made
prisoners were allowed to keep them. Chelenks, ziámets, timárs, and all
kind of military rewards were distributed, and the property of seven
hundred janissaries who were killed was made over to the revenue. Of
the troops on the seven sides of the attack one thousand two hundred
men became martyrs and ascended to Heaven. On this night the Infidels
made incredible efforts to repair the works of the castle, by raising
walls and digging ditches, opening loopholes and pointing guns. The
foundations of the castle resembled the wall of Gog and Magog, to the
great consternation of the Moslims, who solaced themselves, saying:
“Man proposes and God disposes,” recommending their business to God.
They continued the war, but not with the same unanimity, though not
with less zeal than before. A great council of war was held, under
the consideration that there now remained only forty days to Kássim
(S. Demetrius). The result of the council was, that Geraï-Khán, with
seventy thousand regular troops, and eight hundred thousand horse,
was ordered to ravage the provinces of Russia. So they did, and this
Tátár army returned on the 14th day to the Ottoman camp at Assov, with
forty-five thousand prisoners and two hundred thousand horses as booty,
besides a great number of valuable things, pelisses, rich cloth, &c. By
this arrival, the hearts of the Moslims were comforted, and those of
the Infidels afflicted, when they saw the triumphal procession with the
prisoners fettered, and the crosses upset. Since the time of Jenguíz
Khan the Tátárs had not made a richer booty. This sight raised a howl
among the Infidels in the castle, who pierced the skies with their
lamentations. The same night seventy Infidels, hungry and sad, left the
castle, and were brought into the presence of the Commander-in-Chief,
Hossein Páshá. Some of them embraced the Islám, and received presents,
then were sent altogether to the castle of Khoros Kermán near Assov.
By this immense booty every thing became immensely cheap in the Ottoman
camp, so that a horse was sold for one piastre, a girl for five, and a
boy for six piastres. The safe return of the Tátár army was celebrated
by a triple salute of muskets and guns, and the whole camp illuminated
during the night. But winter drawing near, a new council was held, all
the seniors of the regular troops and of the Tátárs agreed, and signed
unanimously a petition of three hundred signatures of Vezírs, and
officers of all ranks, saying: “that for this year it was impossible to
take the castle, that one of the Russian Capitals had been laid waste,
that seventy thousand Infidels had been taken prisoners, and more than
one hundred thousand destroyed by the sword.” At the same time two of
the prisoners, who had been instructed accordingly, were sent back into
the castle to say; “that if the Turks had intended to take the castle,
they might have taken it in a month, but their object was to pillage
the Russian countries, and to return with a rich booty, which they
had now accomplished.” The same night as the messengers went off to
Constantinople there was such a hard frost that all the Moslim warriors
thought they could not stand it, and by this specimen found out that
the salt steppe of Heihát was as unmerciful as the Black Sea. At last
the despair of conquering the castle becoming general, the whole army
at once resolved to raise the siege. The trumpets were sounded, the
artillery and ammunition embarked and carried to Bálisíra, where the
fleet was lying at anchor. The army returned by different ways, some by
sea and some by land, to Constantinople; some by the desert of Kipchák
in six days and nights to the river Kúbán, to Circassia, Taman and
Crimea; some through the steppes (Heihát), returned by the north into
their native country Circassia. When the Imperial fleet weighed for
Constantinople I got permission, from the Commander-in-Chief Hossein
Páshá, to accompany the Khán of Crimea into his country, and the
Imperial fleet sailed, trusting in God, through the sea of Assov.
JOURNEY TO THE CRIMEA.
I left Assov in company with the army of Geraï Khán of eighty thousand
men, and twenty thousand Infidels of Moldavia and Valachia, and
crossed the Tanais with them, which disembogues at the end of the sea
of Assov. The water being shallow in the great Don, it was passed by
eight hundred thousand horsemen without the least difficulty, the water
reaching only to the stirrups. The Tátárs tied their jacks and luggage
to the tails of their horses, and in the space of twenty-one hours, the
whole army reached the opposite steppes of Heihát.
At the station of Búrebaí, opposite to the western side of Assov,
a branch of the Don flows in its way to the sea of Assov, where it
disembogues in three different channels; as it runs through reeds for a
great distance, it is not very sweet: the complexion of the inhabitants
on its shores is yellow, and they have a kind of excrescence or crop on
the neck. The whole army halted here, as on a pleasant flowery meadow,
and three hundred horses were slaughtered and eaten up that evening. It
was here that I ate horseflesh for the first time. Though I belonged to
the Tátár Khán, yet I lived with Kiá Beg of the tribe of Mássúrlí, who
have their Yúrds (encampments) in Crimea; the district of Mankis Eli on
the side of Gozlava is their Yúrd. Their horses are extremely fat, and
their flesh can hardly be distinguished from roes’ flesh, and is easy
to digest. Next morning the kettle-drums beat, and after a march of
nine hours we arrived at the river Sud, which the whole army crossed,
and halted on the other side, but the ground being extremely marshy,
one hundred horses and fifty slaves were lost in the marshes. This
river issues from the western mountains of Russia and here enters the
sea of Assov. The name Sud or milk-river is derived from its whitish
colour, which it contracts from the different metallic strata over
which it passes in its course. It is not good for drinking, and causes
crops or swellings on the necks of those who drink of it. There are
seventy cultivated towns and villages on both sides of this river, but
they are not very flourishing on account of the depredations of the
Crimea Tátárs. These places all belong to the Russians.
We left this place and came to the river Mús, a large river which we
passed over with the greatest difficulty at this cold season, the arms
being all put in leather jacks. It is fresh water like that of the
Don, Dnieper, and Danube, and contains excellent fish. It comes from
the northern mountains of Russia. We crossed it, and next day when
the Kettle-drums were beaten for departure, the snow had fallen three
cubits deep. We slept that night on the snow of the field of Kipchák,
and arrived next day at the station of Búrúmbaí; here we slept again on
the snow, and on the following day after sixteen hours ride, reached
the frontier of Crimea.
The moment we entered the castle of Orághzí, Kara Rejíb Aghá, the
Courier of the great Vezír Kara Mustafa Páshá, with twenty horsemen
arrived from Constantinople, and after having heard the sad story
of the impossibility to take Assov, took letters from the Khán,
and returned to Constantinople. I poor Evlíya entered the town of
Bágcheseraï with the Khán, and was assigned a house there on the
borders of the valley of Chúrúksú (rotten water) where I quietly passed
the winter without travelling one step. But the Khán to prevent the
Infidels sending reinforcements to the castle of Assov, made three
excursions with between forty and fifty thousand horsemen even up to
the guns of Assov, bringing back prisoners. His Vezír (the Kalgha
Sultán) made also three expeditions into the interior of Russia,
and returned with ten thousand slaves and a great deal of booty to
Crimea. In the beginning of spring came Hassan Aghá the Chamberlain
of the Sublime Porte bringing to the Khán twelve thousand ducats as
boot-money, and an Imperial diploma commanding him to be ready to take
the field, with the commencement of the fine season, against Assov. The
Khán received the orders with all signs of submission and duty, the
horses were put to feed in the meadows for forty days, after which the
army broke up again to return to Assov, the garrison of which, weighing
all the hardships of siege, their losses, and the impossibility of
holding the fortress finally against the Ottoman power, abandoned it
and fled with their arms and effects to different other Castles.