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._