for letters, that he might return as he came. “Here,” said Ipshír
showing Várvár’s dead body, “is the man from whom you may ask your
expedition.” Evliya begged to be spared as he was no rebel and no
Sanjak Beg. Ipshír Páshá laughed and said, “What art thou doing at thy
master’s; wert thou not previously with Melek Ahmed Páshá?” “By God,”
I, poor Evliya, answered, “I am the common servant and joint subject of
two Vezírs, whom I accompany alternately as they come into high offices
for the pleasure of travelling. Defterdár Zádeh must now be removed
from office at this place, and your Excellency is most likely to go
as Governor to Damascus or Baghdád, in which case I attach myself to
your service.” “No,” said Ipshír, “go and follow Melek Ahmed.” “Well,”
I, poor Evliya, replied, “there is no difference between you three.
Is not the mother of my present master the nearest relation of Melek
Páshá’s and your mother?” “Look here,” said the Páshá, “he reminds me
of my relationship with Mohammed Páshá, in order to become the mediator
of peace between us.” I got up, kissed his hand and begged he would
give me a letter to My Lord the Páshá, to give him some solace in the
present state of his affairs. He ordered me a tent, seventy secchins, a
horse (being an extremely avaricious and low born Abázá) and a letter,
with which I got under way.
From Cherkesh (where Várvár’s defeat had happened) I rode for eight
hours to Dúlúshja, a village of an hundred and fifty houses with
gardens and a mosque; eight hours further to Mestibeg, a village of
an hundred houses, a ziámet; and nine hours further to the village of
Alí Zaím, a Súbashilik in the plain of Múrtát, a ziámet of an hundred
houses, where I met the Páshá, who had heard of the defeat of Várvár,
Kor Hossein, and Hájí Oghlí, but knew not as yet of their deaths,
which I related to him as it happened three days ago. The Páshá read
Ipshír’s letter, and hearing at the same time that Bákí Páshá had left
him and joined Ipshír’s camp, he became very melancholy and prepared
for attacking Ipshír, who from Cherkesh moved towards Karamania by
the side of Keskin. The Páshá followed him at three day’s distance,
took a great deal of booty of the baggages of Várvár, Koprilí and Kor
Hossein and arrived in three days at the river Sakaria. At the village
of Merja in the district of Begbazárí the Diván Efendí of Várvár Páshá
was overtaken with forty-three thousand zecchins and seven purses
of money. He confessed to ten thousand zecchins besides and a sum
deposited at Angora of forty purses of money, after which confession
his head was cut off, and sent to the Porte as being that of a rebel.
According to the assignation of Khalíl, the Divání Efendí, on Hassan
at Angora in whose hands the money was deposited, Alaja Atlí Aghá was
despatched with three hundred horsemen to take possession of it. We
marched along the bank of the Sakaria river to the village Shikenjí
Ahmed Aghá in the district of Ayásh, a village surrounded with gardens.
We passed the village of Istanos and after seven hours reached Erkeksú
at last arriving at Angora, where Atlí Aghá was lodged in the house of
Hassan, from whom he demanded the money deposited by the beheaded Diván
Efendí, and I lodged with my old friend Kedr-zádeh who returned to me
all my things and effects, which I had left in his hands. The next day
Hassan Chelebí was obliged to pay the sum mentioned by the beheaded
Diván Efendí and to accompany us in irons. My friend, Kedr-zádeh made
me a present of two pack-horses to facilitate the transport of my
things. We left Angora, passed as before through Istanos, then during
eight hours along the pass of Ayásh; Ayásh is a foundation belonging
to the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina. It is a jurisdiction of
an hundred and fifty aspers, and contains a thousand houses and ten
mosques; the castle is in ruins, but there is a Serdár and Kiaya-yerí;
the air is heavy because the ground is uneven. I here visited the tomb
of Emír-dedeh, and on the opposite side that of Sheikh Bokhara buried
under a cupola on the mountain.
_Description of the town of Beg-bazárí or Bebek-bazári._
Dinár-hezár, the vezír of Yakúb Sháh of the Germián family, having
conquered this town gave it the name Germián-hezárí. Once a week there
is a famous market chiefly of goats-hair spun and woven. It is now the
Khass of the Muftí of Constantinople who appoints the Súbashí. The
judge, appointed with an hundred and fifty aspers, may easily collect
seven purses. There is a Serdár and Kiaya-yerí, but no Dizdár and
garrison, the castle being too small to hold any. At the foot of it
lies the town distributed over two valleys, and divided into twenty
quarters. There are forty one mosques, three thousand and sixty seven
elegant houses, all of mortar, but the roofs of wood, a room for
reading the Korán, another for lectures on tradition, but no stone
built colleges as in other towns, and seventy schools. There are more
than seven hundred men and boys who know by heart the Korán, and the
Mohammedieh, a Muftí and Nakíb-ul-eshráf; the inhabitants are for the
most part Ulemás. This being a Turkish town the people are chiefly
Oghúz, that is to say good men of the old Turkish simplicity. There
are seven Kháns, pleasant baths, six hundred shops in which precious
articles are found, but no bezestán of stone. On the bank of the
torrent, which flows through the butcheries, a market is held every
week; this torrent falls into the river, which runs below the town,
and with this river into the Sakaria. The roads are strewn with sand
and not paved. The young men are fine, and the girls very retired
and modest, but not pretty. The gardens of Beg-bazárí are numerous;
among its products is a particular melon much distinguished for its
sweetness; the inhabitants make of it a Zerdeh (dish) with cinnamon
and cloves, sweet as the Zerdeh which was first invented by Moavia;
there is also a large green pear four or five of which go to an occa.
Every year some thousand of them are sent in boxes to Constantinople as
presents, such sweet pears are found but in Persia in the town of Nessú
and are like the pears called Melje in the town of Bár. Black barley is
produced here, which must be given with caution to horses, and there is
a great quantity of rice. In the town is the tomb of Az-dedeh.
We had remained here three days when letters arrived for the Páshá
from my uncles, Melek-zádeh and Abd-ur-rahím, giving notice of the
death of my father, and that all his goods remained in my step-mother’s
hands. They begged leave from the Páshá for me to make a journey to
Constantinople in order to arrange my affairs, after which I might
return to him. I received three letters from my relations with the same
news, which I showed to the Páshá, who showed me those he had received.
He gave me leave to go on condition I would come back again, called the
Kiaya and Khazinedár, gave me five hundred dollars, two horses, and
two slaves, a fine tent and three mules in addition to those which I
had received as a present from the late Várvár Alí Páshá. With seven
Mamlúks and eight servants attached to me, I took leave of the Páshá
and set out at the end of Jemazí-ul-akhir in the year 1058 (1648) from
Begbazárí for Constantinople.
_Journey from Beg-bazárí to Constantinople._
We marched nine hours to the north through cultivated villages and open
meadows to the village of Sárí-beg. Here a gigantic wall is seen, which
is said to have been moved by the miraculous power of Hají Begtásh, and
the spot is shown where he sat upon the wall. It has no foundation and
therefore it is evident it must have been moved hither. Seven hours
further is the village of Kostek-beg of an hundred houses in a ground
intersected by valleys. The inhabitants are free from all duties. At
the time of the rebellion of Kara Yazijí, Seid-ul-Arab, Kalender
Oghlí, Jennet Oghlí, Delí Hassan and Sejiáh Oghlí in the time of Ahmed
I. they assailed a great caraván here, which they plundered, killing
more than two thousand men. The road then remained blocked up for some
time, till Nassif Páshá built here a great khán and transported the
inhabitants hither. There is a mosque, a khán, an imáret and a bath.
The raisins of this place are celebrated for sour preserves. The khán
has no equal in the whole of Anatolia unless it be the Khán of Katífa
and Sa’asa’a in the neighbourhood of Damascus. The stable holds two
thousand horses, there is besides a stable for camels, and all the
buildings are covered with lead. Eight hours further to the north we
arrived at Nállí Khán, a small affranchised mussulman village of an
hundred houses in a valley, governed by a Mutevellí of Nassif Páshá.
This khán is also his foundation and is built like that of Kostek-beg
Khán, having an hundred and fifty chimneys with a kitchen like that
of Keikavús. Travellers receive each a loaf in a brass plate, a dish
of soup and a candle. In seven hours more we reached the village of
Turbelí Koilik, which in the harsh language of the Turks is pronounced
Torbalí Koiluk. Akshems-ud-dín is buried in this village. The castle,
built by the Greek Emperors, was conquered by Ghazí Osmán in the year
712 (1312). It has a Kiaya-yerí and Serdár but no Dizdár. This place is
surrounded on both sides by rocks from which the water of life flows
through fir-wood pipes. Though its inhabitants are Turks, it is yet a
sweet town of two thousand houses, all covered with fir-wood, eighteen
mosques and eight quarters. The houses are overhung by the chalk
cliffs, which from time to time fall down upon them, without doing
the least harm to men or mice. The number of the houses, immediately
overhung by the rocks, is two hundred, there is no college or house
of tradition but twenty schools for boys; in the market-place are
three kháns covered with brick, a bath, a good number of mills and
seventy-five shops in which saddle-bags and horse-cloths are sold. No
Jews can inhabit this place, because in it they die instantly.
_Description of the tomb of the great Saint Akshems-ud-dín._
He was born at Damascus and derives his genealogy from Abúbekr, which
was proved by the absence of one of the joints in his finger, because
all descendants from him are born with that defect. He had conversed
with Sheháb-ud-dín Sehrverdí, who is buried in the castle of Baghdád,
and at Angora with Hájí Bairám. He accompanied Mohammed II. to the
conquest of Constantinople, and foretold the day when the town would
be conquered. He and his whole family lie buried here. It was he who
discovered the tomb of Eyyúb and on whose admonition they dug on the
spot indicated by him. He composed many volumes of books and was in
medicine a second Lokman. His son Ahmed Chelebí is the author of
Yússúf and Zúleikha, one of the most renowned of poems in the Turkish
language, he did not accept of the directorship, which his father
intended for him and which after his death devolved on Sa’ad Allah,
another son of his, and who is buried near his father. Sheikh Núrallah
his third son went to Brússa to finish his studies and killed himself
accidentally, his pen-knife entering his stomach. Sheikh Chelebí
Emrillah did not follow his father’s manner of life, and died of the
gout; he composed an historical work. Sheikh Nasrollah his fifth son
travelled for seven years in Persia and is buried at Tabríz; the
Persians visit his tomb, and some erroneously believe him to be the
son of Shems Tabrízí who is buried in the town of Khúí, whither he
walked with his head cut off, carrying it in his hand. Sheikh Mohammed
Núrolhúda the son of Akshems-ud-dín; his father having touched his
mother’s womb when she was pregnant with him, she was immediately
delivered on the salute given to the child, which returned it saying,
“Esselám aleikum.” This ecstatic child (Mejzúb) when grown up could
discern in the mosque those who would go to heaven from those who would
go to hell. He is buried in the village of Evlek, which was given to
him by Sultán Mohammed. Sheikh Mohammed Hamdollah, the abovesaid second
son of Akshems-ud-dín, was also spoken to by his father when in his
mother’s womb. At eight years old he was already author of a Diván.
He composed Leíla and Mejnún, and Yússúf and Zúleikha, which has no
equal in the Turkish language. He died when sixty-six years old. Among
a great number of treatises he wrote one on physiognomy which is much
esteemed. His son Mohammed Chelebí was a great divine and in caligraphy
a second Yakút Mostea’assemí and Ibn Mokla. The tomb of Sheikh
Abd-ul-kádir, the son of Sa’ad Allah; he is buried outside that of his
ancestor. Sheikh Abd-ur-rahím one of Akshems-ud-dín’s followers, who
lived forty years after him; he is the author of the work Wahdet-námeh
(book of unity).
We remained here one day and then travelled seven hours to the north
to Taráklí, built by the Greek Princes of Brússa and conquered by
Osmán. The judge is appointed with an hundred and fifty aspers; there
are fifteen hundred houses in a valley all covered with brick, eleven
mihrábs, seven quarters, a bath, five kháns, six schools and two
hundred shops; this town is called Taraklí because spoons and combs
(Tarak) are made here from the box-trees which cover the neighbouring
mountains. These spoons and combs are sent into Arabia and Persia. The
torrent which flows through the village falls into the river Hármen and
with it into the sea. Eight hours to the north is the castle of Kíva,
properly Kekiva, a small castle for the sheep of a Greek Princess. It
is the foundation consecrated to the famous bridge of Sultán Bayazíd
II. here built over the Sakaria. It was formerly a large town, but
ruined in the reign of Sultán Murad IV. by the inundation of the
Sakaria, it consisted of three hundred houses, a mosque, a bath, three
kháns, and seven schools for boys. It is now situated at an arrow’s
shot distance from the river, and has a large khán covered with brick
and twenty shops near it. The sour preserve of raisins and the melons
of the district are famous, two melons are a load for a horse. The
river Sakaria, which flows here under the bridge, comes from the town
of Beg-bazarí and falls into the Black Sea near Irva. In this place
reside a Serdár, Kiaya-yerí and Mutevellí, or administrator of the
Wakf. Burhán, a companion of Osmán I. is buried here. We passed the
bridge and to the north along the banks of Sakaria through the great
forest, called Agháj-denizí (the sea of trees), a den of wild beasts
and robbers, where many strangers have been lost. The trees are high
firs and linden, which intercept the rays of the sun, and perfume the
brain with their sweet scent.
These mountains are inhabited by some thousand unmerciful Turks, who
live by cutting wood and loading it in ships, and sometimes by cutting
passengers and unloading caravans. This forest extends through four
Sanjaks, viz: Brússa, Ismíd, and Bolí, and a month is necessary to make
the tour of it. In some places it is cut through like the road to Kíva.
Three hours from Kíva we came to the castle of the shepherds (Chobán
Kala’assí), a small castle towering to the skies. It is here that the
shepherds of Princess Kekeva dwelled and took toll from those who
passed; the passage being straightened between the mountains and the
river Sakaria, they obliged every body to pay. We passed through it and
continuing our way to the West along the bank of the Sakaria for seven
hours we reached Sabánja, a cultivated place which has been already
described on the way to Erzerúm. From hence we came to Nicomedia, also
described in the journey to Erzerúm. We passed Herke, Gebize, the tomb
of Gemiklí, Alí-bábá, Pendík, Kartál, the bridge of the Bostánji-bashí,
and Kádíkoí, and arrived at the end of Jemazí-ul-akhir, 1058 (1648),
in the great town of Scutarí, and at last, praise be to God! at
Constantinople, with all my baggage. I kissed the hand of my mother and
the eyes of my sisters, then mounted again on horseback to fulfil my
vow by visiting the tomb of Eyyúb, where I immolated and distributed
a victim, and returned home. In a dream I saw my father who wished
me joy on my happy arrival and on my visit to the tomb of Er-Sultán.
Having thrice said the Súra-et-tekátherí, I awoke and took a boat
to visit the tomb of my father behind the arsenal, and my ancestors
buried there since the time of Mohammed II, thrice said the above
Súra, then returned home, took possession of my father’s heritage, and
made a vow to consecrate two thousand zechins of it to the pilgrimage
of Mecca; visited all my friends and acquaintances, and enjoyed with
them the pleasures of conversation, when the great rebellion of the
troops began on the eighteenth of Rejeb, 1058, and terminated in the
dethronement of Sultán Ibrahím and the accession of his son Mohammed IV.
(_Here follows the account of the dethronement of Sultán Ibrahím,
which is nearly the same as has been given, in the first volume, under
this Sultán’s reign, and is therefore omitted here._)
Evliya then relates how his master Mohammed Defterdár Zádeh came to
Constantinople, and after a lively contest with Koja Mevleví, the
grand vezír, obtained from him the nomination to the Governorship of
Malatia, begging he would grant it him with the Kharáj (tribute),
Awáriz (accidental duties) and the Mohassillik or collectorship, which
was done. Evliya waited on him and with great difficulty obtained
permission to go on the pilgrimage to Mecca. He then remained sometime
at Constantinople, and attached himself to Silehdár Murteza Páshá, as
Múezzin-báshí (chief proclaimer of prayer), he was also named Imám
of the Mahmel (the Sultán’s annual present to Mecca), and went from
Constantinople to Scutarí in the first days of the month Sha’abán,
setting out with Murteza Páshá for the journey to Damascus. The Páshá’s
Imám being an Arab whom Murteza disliked, the Arab performed prayers
outside, and Evliya inside the Páshá’s tent and was continually in the
Páshá’s company. During the time they remained at Scutari, the famous
robber Hyder Oghlí, in whose hands Evliya had fallen when he lost his
way in the pass as before related, was brought in by Hassan Aghá, and
hanged at Parmak-kapú (finger-gate). The same night as the execution of
the robber, Evliya slept in his paternal home at Constantinople, then
took leave of his friends and relations and passed over to Scutarí,
where he visited Mahmúd Efendí of Scutarí, and Saint Karají Ahmed and
the tombs of all the great men in the burying ground, calling their
spirits to his assistance in the Syrian voyage, which he was about to
undertake.
Amen, by the grace of the Lord of Apostles.
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
* * * * *
Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
There are many variations in the spelling, hyphenation and accents of
proper names and other non-English terms. Except in cases where there is an
obvious dominant spelling and a variant that may legitimately be seen
as a typographical error, these remain unchanged.
Italics are represented thus _italic_.