Translated In the Name of GOD Soveraignly-Merciful And indeed the Arabian word Rahmen which signifies Merciful is an Incommunicable Attribute of GOD and which they never make use of but in speaking of the Divine Clemency All the Mahometans believe that this Invocation conceals great Mysteries and encloses an infinite number of Vertues For they have it always in their Mouths rising sitting taking a Book or an Instrument in their Hands or a Pen. In a word they believe they shall not prosper in any thing which they undertake if they do not begin with this Invocation They assure themselves that Adam and Eve spoke it before they went about any Business It is set at the beginning of every Chapter in the Alcoran And it is evident that it is in Imitation of the usual Sayings of the Jews and Christians the one always beginning thus Our Aid be in the Name of GOD who Created Heaven and Earth and the other with these words In the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost I shall speak in another place of the Seal which is fix'd to this Patent and of what is grav'd within The Figure under it is call'd Nishan that is the Signal and also the Flourish beneath the Subscription It is here drawn with a Ruler but in the Original it is made of the Tails of Letters The Secretary who is us'd to write this Subscription draws those Tails so streight and so equal that you would take 'em for Lines drawn by Rule and Compass The whole Subscription is in Colour'd Letters except the word which signifies Lord of the World and those which I have Translated Absolutely Commands which are in Letters of Gold The words Zels Ziouzoumis are ancient Turkish still in use in the Lesser Tartary They signifie properly My Words or I speak And Tamberlain being the first that made use of those words in his Patents the Kings of Persia have still retain'd the Custom The twelve Names which are in the middle of the Flourish beneath the Subscription are the Names of the twelve Pontiffs real and lawful Successors of Mahomet according to the Persian Belief 5. The Governours in Persia are distinguish'd into Great and Petty Media and Georgia for Example are great Governments Caramania and Gedrosia petty Governments Therefore they call Beglerbeg which signifies Lord of Lords the Governour of a Great Government and the Viceroy of a Petty Government they call a Kan 6. Deston Tahem-ten-ten and Feribours are the Names of the ancient Persian Heroes or if you please of the Old Giants which deriv'd their Being from the ancient Fables These are the Alcides's and the Theseus's of the Persians and as the Grecian Alcides had several Names so likewise has the Persian but the most common Name which they have alway in their Mouths is that of Rustem 7. Ardevon is the Name of an Ancient Giant or Hero who as the Persians say conquer'd all Asia and setl'd the Seat of his Empire in Persia Their Histories have not preserv'd the Memory of any of his Atchievements but their Romances feign an infinite Number which are altogether fabulous 8. In the Original it is Who unloose all sorts of Knots 9. There is no People in the World more sottishly devoted to Judicial Astrology then the Persians Of which being to speak in another place I shall say no more here but that the Persians rank all Penmen Books and Writings under Mercury whom they call Attared and hold all People born under that Planet to be endu'd with a refin'd penetrating clear-sighted and fubtil Wit 10. Caagon is the Name of an Ancient King of China Nor is there any one over the whole East whose Memory is more Venerable It seems by what they report that he was more particularly Illustrious in his Country for his Government in Peace and Administration of Justice then for his Feats of Arms. Therefore the Eastern Monarchs assume his Name to themselves as the Roman Emperors call'd themselves Caesars Moreover it has the same signification in Persia as August in English so that when the Persians would express any thing that is Great and Royal they say Caagoniè Thus I have explain'd the truth of this little Figure and I believe we shall be as little troubl'd to understand the whole Language of this Patent though Metaphor and Hyperbole are therein most furiously injur'd 11. The Term which I have Translated Flowre of Merchants signifies Exquisite Choice Elected or most Excellent The Persians use it commonly as an Epithet for all sorts and Conditions of Men Great Lords Foreign Ministers Merchants and bring it down even to Tradesmen 12. It is in the Persian Nor by Importunate Flatteries nor by Hanghty Demands 13. The word which I have Translated To Incourage signifies properly To Water 14. These words In Dignity and Virtue are not in the Patent only I have put 'em in the place of those that are which signifies the Seal of great Quality resembling the Sun 15. These words are to be referr'd to the words Absolutely Commands which are under the Flourish beneath the Subscription They are call'd here The Decree of the Lord of the World Tamberlain was the first that made use of these lofty Expressions Now the Grand Signior and the Indian Monarch make use of 'em as well as the King of Persia while every one maintains that it belongs to him only and assumes it as his most Glorious Title In the Persian Language it is Saheb-Cerani It may be also interpreted Master of the Age but the other Translation is more clear and intelligible and discovers more plainly the sottish pride that is contein'd in it 16. We shall speak more particularly in another place of the Marks by which the Persians distinguish Times and Seasons Here therefore I shall say no more then for the understanding of the Date that the Month Shavel is the tenth and that the Arabians have given Epithets to all the Months as for Example to the First the Epithet of Sacred to the Seventh that of Praise-worthy to the Ninth that of Blessed and to this here mention'd the Stile of Honourable The word Hegyra which is Translated Flight proceeds from a Verb which signifies to fly as also to retire So that the Hegyra of the Mahometans is the same thing with the Exodus of the Hebrews And without doubt Omar had that same Exodus in his Mind when he setl'd the Mahometan Epact from the time of Mahomet's departure from Mecca which was the place in Arabia where Idols and Idolatry were most in Esteem 17. In the Original it is Hamhager that is Flying together 18. As the Arabians as we have said gave Epithets to the Months the Persians also have given Epithets to the Principal Cities of their Empire Ispahan and Casbin are call'd The Seat of Monarchy Canhadar A Secure Retreat Asherif was call'd The Ennobl'd because Abas the Great built a Spacious and Sumptuous Palace and usually kept his Court there when he was in the
Patent I was fully discharg'd But I was afraid lest the Prince would make use of that pretence to view my Goods whether I would or no. And this was that which encreas'd my Fears and made me insist upon having an Officer to conduct me For my reason told me that such a Provision would render the Viceroy more responsible for any Accident that should befall me and that my Guide would secure both my Person and my Goods And indeed the greatest part of my Fears were dissipated when I saw my self quite free of Tefflis for then I began to conceive good hopes of all the rest of my Journey That Day I travell'd two Leagues through a Passage of the little Mountain that lies to the South of the City and lay at a Great Village call'd Sogan-Lou or the Place of Onions built upon the River Cur. The 1st of March I travell'd Eight Leagues in a fair Plain where the Road was indifferently streight leading to the North-East Within three Hours I came to a Village consisting of about a Hunderd and Fifty Houses call'd Cupri-Kent or the Village of the Bridge Because there is a very fair Bridge that stands not far from it built upon a River call'd Tabadi This Bridge is plac'd between two Mountains seperated only by the River and supported by Four Arches unequal both in their Heighth and Breadth They are built after an Irregular form in regard of two great Heaps of a Rock that stand in the River upon which they have laid so many Arches Those at the two ends are hollow'd on both sides and serve to lodge Passengers wherein they have made to that purpose little Chambers and Portico's with every one a Chimney The Arch in the middle of the River is hollow'd quite through from one part to the other with two Chambers at the Ends and two large Balconies cover'd where they take the cool Air in the Summer with great delight and to which there is a Descent of two pair of Stairs hewn out of the Rock Adjoyning to this fair Bridge there stands an Inn now ready to go to decay However the Structure is Magnificent having several Chambers with every one a Balcony that looks out upon the Water Neither is there a fairer Bridge nor a more beautiful Inn in all Georgia The Second we Travell'd Nine Leagues among Mountains very rugged and difficult to cross So that we were twelve Hours ere we got to our Journeys end though we Travell'd at a good rate About Sun-set we arriv'd at a great Village call'd Melik-Kent or the Royal Village built upon a point of one of those High Mountains The Third we Travell'd eight Leagues i' the Mountains where we were much perplex'd and where we did nothing but ascend and descend At length we lay at a Village as big as Melik-Kent The Fourth we Travell'd only three Leagues and before Noon we came to a Town that consisted of about Three Hunderd Houses call'd Dily-jan It is seated upon a River call'd Acalstapha at the Foot of a High and Dreadful Mountain which together with the rest that we pass'd the preceding days was a part of Mount Taurus There was every where great plenty of Water and here and there some Plains that were but small but very fertile The Goodness of the Soyl thereabout is not to be imagin'd nor the Number of Villages that are to be seen on every side There are several that stand so high-rais'd upon the points of the Rocks that you can hardly have a sight of ' em The most part are inhabited by Georgian and Armenian Christians but not intermix'd Those People having such an inveterate Antipathy one against the other that they cannot live together nor in the same Villages In all these Mountains are neither Inns nor publick Houses however Travellers are lodg'd in the Countrymens Houses very conveniently where there is plenty both of Meat and Drink For my part I wanted nothing for my Guide rode still before when we were got about half way so that when I came to the Village I still found a large Chamber empty Stables a good Fire and Supper ready The first days Journey I would have paid my Landlord but my Guide would not permit me telling me 'T was not the Custom and that I should rather give Him what I intended the Man of the House Which was the reason that the next Days I only caus'd something to be given in private to the People where I Lodg'd And indeed 't is very good Travelling with these Guides for they cause yee to be diligently attended All Night long my Chamber was guarded by the People of the Village who kept Watch as well in Obedience to the Commands which were laid upon 'em as for my Security though there was no danger to be fear'd The most part of the Houses of these Villages are in truth no more then Caverns For they are hollow places made in the Earth The rest are built of great Beams of Timber up to the Roof which is made like a Terrass and cover'd with Turf Only they leave a hole open in the middle to let in the Light and let out the Smoak which hole they stop up as they please themselves Which sort of Caverns have this Convenience that they are very warm in the Winter and cool in the Summer nor is it an easie thing for Thieves to break into ' em The Borough of Dily-jan and all the Country round about for six Leagues distance to the North and South and very far to the East and West belongs to Kamshi-Can and is call'd the Country of Casac It holds of Persia and depends upon that Kingdom after the same manner as Georgia that is to say it is always Govern'd by its own Natural Princes from Father to Son Abas the Great subdu'd it at the same time that he Conquer'd Georgia The Inhabitants of Casac are Mountaineers stout and fierce Originally descended from those Cosaques that inhabit the Mountains to the North-East of the Caspian Sea The Fifth we Travell'd five Leagues over that dreadful Mountain already spok'n of There are two Leagues from the Town of Dily-jan which stands at the very Foot of the Hill to the Top another of even Ground to the Top of all and two Leagues of Descent again A tedious Days Journey which I thought would have kill'd me For I was troubl'd with a terrible Dysentery which forc'd me to alight altogether and then two Men held me up as I went and a third lead my Horse The Mountain is most dreadfully laden with Snow there being nothing else to be seen at the Top neither Tree nor Plant. The Road also lay through a narrow Path of Snow hard'nd by the Feet of Horses and Travellers so that if they did but slip their Feet out of the Path they sunk up to the Belly in the looser Snow Nor is there any passing over this Mountain when the Snow-falls or when the Wind blows for then the print of the
are of a Peculiar sort of Workmanship and shew the curiosity of the Artist For they are built one over the other and the uppermost is much higher and larger in the Diameter then that below which serves for a Basis to the other There are also three Hospitals in the City very neat and well in repair however there is no body lodg'd within 'em only they give Victuals to those that come twice a day These Hospitals at Tauris are call'd Ach-tucon that is Places where they spend a great deal of Victuals At the end of the City to the West upon a little mountain stands a Hermitage a very neat piece of Workmanship which they call Ayn Hali or the Eyes of Haly. This Califf whom their Prophet made his Son-in-Law was as the Persians report the most lovely man that was ever seen so that when they would signifie any thing that is extreamly handsom they say t is Haly's Eyes This Hermitage serves the Taurisians for a place of Devotion and the way to it for a walk of Pleasure Without the City of Tauris to the East appears a great Castle almost gon to decay which they call Cala-Rashidé It was built above 400 years ago by Cojé Reshid Grand Visier to King Kazan The Story reports that their King had five Grand Visirs because he did not believe that one could suffice to dispatch all the affairs of so great a Kingdom Abas the Great seeing that Castle ruin'd and judging it advantageously seated as well to defend the City as to command it caus'd it to be repair'd about fifty years since but his Successors not being of his opinion let it go to Ruin There are also to be seen the Ruins of the Principal Edifices and Fortifications which the Turks built there during the several times that they were Masters of it So that there are very few Rocks or Poynts of Mountains joyning to the City where nothing but the Ruins of Forts and Heaps of Rubbish are to be seen Of which I carefully survey'd a great Part but I could not discover any thing of Antiquity There is nothing to be digg'd up but Bricks and Flint Stones The onely Edifice that remains most entire among the Turkish Buildings is a large Mosquee the inside of which is inlay'd or rather pargetted with transparent Marble and all the Outside variegated in Mosaic work But the Persians account the Place defil'd because it was built by the Turks whose Faith they abominate Among the heaps of Rubbish of which I have spoken without the City to the South appear the Ruines of the Palace of the late Kings of Persia And to the East those of the Castle where they say Cosroes lodg'd and where he laid up the Holy Cros for Security and all those other sacred Spoyles which he brought away from Jerusalem The Piazza of Tauris is the most spacious Piazza that ever I saw in any City of the World and far surpasses that of Ispahan The Turks have several times drawn up within it Thirty Thousand Men in Battel Toward the Evening this Piazza is fill'd with all the meaner sort of People that repair thither for Sport and Pastime Where some are for Gaming some for Tricks of Activity some for seeing Jack-Puddings and Mountebanks act their Drolleries some for Wrestling others for Bull and Ram-fighting others for repeating Verses some reciting Stories in Prose and some to see Wolves dance The People of Tauris take great delight to see that sort of Sport insomuch that they bring those Dancing Wolves a hundred Leagues an end after they are well taught And such as are best instructed are sold for five hunder'd Crowns a piece many times also great Quarrels arise about these Wolves which are not easily appeas'd Nor is this Piazza empty in the day time as being a Market for all sorts of Provisions and things of small Price There is also another Piazza at Tauris which appears in the Plate before the demolish'd Castle call'd the Castle of Jafer-Pacha This was a Place for the Rendezvous and exercise of the Souldiers belonging to the Garrison now it serves for the Shambles where they kill and dress all sorts of large Meat which is sold in all parts of the City I have with great diligence endeavour'd to understand the number of the Inhabitants in Tauris but could never have a just account but I think I may truly reck'n it to amount to 550 Thousand Persons yet several Persons in the City would make me believe there could not be less than Eleven hundred Thousand The number of Strangers also which are there at all times is very great for that they resort thither from all parts of Asia Nor do I know of any sort of Merchandize of which there is not there a Magazine to be found The City is full of Artists in Cotton in Silk and in Gold The fairest Turbans in Persia are there made And I have heard several of the Principal Merchants of the City affirm that there are above six thousand Bayles of Silk wrought out in Manufacture every year The Trade of the City extends all over Persia and Turky into Muscovy Tartary to the Indies and over the Black-Sea The Air of Tauris is cold and dry very good and healthy nor can any man complain that it contributes to any bad disposition of Humors The Cold continues there a long time in regard the City is expos'd to the North for the Snow lies nine months in the year upon the tops of the Mountains that surround it The Wind blows almost every day Morning and Evening It also rains very often unless it be in the Summer nor is the Sky but seldom without Clouds any season of the Year It is seated in 38. deg of Latitude and 82 of Longit. It abounds with all things necessary for human Support so that a Man may fare there deliciously and very cheap The Caspian Sea which is not above forty Leagues distant affords 'em Fish And some they also take in the River of Agi before mention'd but that is only when the water is low The usual price of Bread is three pound for a penny and of a pound of Flesh Three half pence In the Summer there is great plenty of Venison and water Fowl But they kill very little Venison or other wild Beasts There are also Eagles in the Mountains one which I have seen sold by the Country people for a groat Persons of Quality let fly the Sparrow-Hawk at the Eagle which is a Flight full of Curiosity and much to be admir'd For the Sparrow-Hawk soaring above the Eagle stoops of a sudden with that swiftness strikes her Pounces into his sides and with her wings continually beating upon his head sends him in a short time to the ground Yet sometimes it happens that both the Eagle and the Sparrow-Hawk come both to the Earth together In the same manner the Sparrow-Hawks will many times stop the flight of hunted Stags and render the Chace much
more easie to the Pursuers But if this were so observable that which I am going to say is no less remarkable which is That they assur'd me that in the parts adjoyning to Tauris there grow no less then threescore sorts of Grapes Not far from the City in the neighbouring Parts are to be seen great Quarries of white Marble of which there is a sort that is transparent The People of the Country affirm it to be the water of a Mineral Fountain congeal'd and hardne'd by degrees and indeed there are not far from it two considerable Mines the one of Gold and the other of Salt But there has been no working in the Gold Mine for this long time because they always found that the Profit never defray'd the Expences of the Labour There are also several mineral Waters Of which the most frequented are those of Baringe half a League from Tauris and those of Seid-Kent another Village which is six Leagues from the City These Waters are sulphureous but there are others that are cold others boyling hot I do not know whether there be any City in the World concerning the Original and first Name of which there is a greater Dispute among Modern Authors We shall produce the Opinion of the most celebrated only it will not be amiss in the first place to take notice that the Persians call the City Tebris and that when we call it Tauris as the People of Europe generally do it is only in compliance with the common Custom and to the end I may be the better understood Teixera Olearius and some other Authors maintain that Tauris is that City which Ptolomy in the fifth Table of Asia calls Gabris the G. being put in the stead of T. an Alteration frequent in the Greek Language as they assert Leonclavius Jovius and Aython will have it to be that City which the same Ancient Geographer calls Terva instead of Tevra by a transposition of the Letters of the word But Terva being plac'd in Armenia and it being certain that Tauris is seated in Media those two Names can never be appropriated to the same City So that without doubt the Resemblance of the word deceiv'd those Authors Tebris is a Persian word and was given to the City in the year 165. of the Hegyra as we shall declare more at large And therefore in regard it was several years ago since Ptolomy wrote we must believe that Terva and Gabris are both very different from Tauris Niger asserts it to be Tigranoama other Authors take it to be Tigranocerta Some there are of Opinion that it is the Susa of Media so famous in Scripture tho others believe it to be the City which in the Book of Esdras is call'd Acmatha or Amatha Some place it in Assyria as Ptolomy and his Interpreter Others in Armenia as Niger Cedrenus Aython and Jovius Marcus Paulus Venetus places it in the Country of the Parthians Calchondylas removes it a little farther that is to say into the Province of which Persepolis was formerly the Metropolis In short there is a strange Confusion in the Variety of Opinions upon this Subject But the most rational in my Opinion is that of Molets who has translated and commented upon Ptolomy of Ananias Ortelius Golnits Teixera de la Vall Atlas and almost all the modern Geographers that Tauris is the Ancient and Celebrated Ecbatana so frequently mention'd in Holy Writ and in the Ancient Sories of Asia Minadoi an Italian Author if I am not deceiv'd has set forth a Treatise to prove it However give me leave to add this that there are no Remainders to be seen at Tauris either of the Magnificent Palace of Ecbatana where the Monarchs of Asia kept their Courts in Summer nor of that of Daniel which was afterwards the Mausoleum for the Kings of Media of which Josephus speaks in his tenth Book and which he assures us stood entire in his time If then these stately and magnificent Palaces were standing not above sixteen Ages ago in the Place where Tauris now stands the very Ruins themselves are now not to found For among all those that are to be seen within the Circuit of that City there are none but what are of Earth Brick or Flint which were not Materials anciently made use of in Media for the building of sumptuous Palaces The Persian Historians unanimously agree the Time when the Foundations of Tauris were laid to be in the year 165. of the Hegyra but they do not concur in other particulars Some ascribe the Foundation of it to the Wife of Haron-Reshid Califf of Bagdad call'd Zebd-el-Caton which signifies the Flower of Ladies They report that she being desperately sick a Median Physitian cur'd her in a short time For which the Princess not knowing what Reward to give him bid him make choice of his Recompence where upon the Physitian desir'd that she would build a City in his Country to the Honor of his Memory Which after she had perform'd with great Care and Diligence he call'd the City Tebris as a Memorial that it ow'd its Original to Physick For that Teb signifies Physic and Ris is the Participle of Ricten to power forth scatter abroad or give a Largess This is what some relate to which there are others that tell a Story not much unlike For they say that Halacoucan General to Haron Reshid having been two years sick of a Tertian Ague of which he never expected to be cur'd was strangely deliver'd from his Distemper by an Herb which he found in the same place where Tauris now stands And that to perpetuate the Memory of such a fortunate Cure he built this City and call'd it Tebrift the Ague is gone For Teb signifies also an Ague and rift comes from the Verb Reften to go away But that afterwards either by Corruption or because it runs smoother upon the Tongue it was call'd Tebris instead of Tebrift Mirzathaer one of the most Learned Persons of Quality that are in Persia the Son of Mirza Ibrahim Treasurer of the Province gave me another Reason of the Etymology that is to say that at the Time when this City was built the Air was extremely wholesom and preservative against Agues Which extraordinary Quality drew a world of People to it and that therefore it was call'd Tebris as if man should say the Expeller of Agues The same Lord also further assur'd me that there are in the Kings Treasury at Ispahan certain Medals with the Inscription of that Zebd-el-Caton which were found at Marant a city near to Tauris with a great number of others both of Gold and Silver being the Coyns of the Ancient Kings of Media And that he had observ'd others with Greek Figures and Inscriptions wherein he remembred the word Dakianous And then he ask'd me if I knew who that Dakianous was To which I answer'd that I did not understand the name but that it might be very probably the Name of Darius In the 69. year after the
much Rain and that the Soil is fruitful of it self whatever ancient Authors have wrote to the contrary the Parthian Air is dry to the extremest degree insomuch that for six Months together you shall neither see any Rain or any Clouds but the Soil is sandy and Nature produces nothing without good Husbandry and Pains The Country of the Parthians which was so long the Seat of the Empire of Asia is the largest and principal Province of the Persian Monarchy It is all the proper demeans of the King nor has it any Governor as the most part of the rest of the Provinces The Persians bound it to the East by the Province of Corasson or Coromitrena to the South by that of Fars which is properly Persia to the West by Azerbeyan or Media to the North by Guilan and Maganderaan which compose the Province of Hyrcania This Province extends it self at least two hundred Leagues in length and an hundred and fifty Leagues in breadth The Air is very dry and and the most healthy for the most part of any in the world It is more mountainous then level The Mountains are also very bare and to speak in general terms produce nothing but Thistles and Briers but the Plains are very fertile and pleasant where there is any Water otherwise the Soyl is very barren This large Province contains above forty Cities which is very much in Persia as not being an Empire peopl'd proportionably to its Extent The Orientals call the Country of Parthia Arac-agem that is to say Persian Arack They call it likewise Balad-el-Gebel or the Country of the Mountains for the reason 's already recited My Opinion is that the Scythians from whom as ancient Authors hold the Parthians deriv'd their Original were the lesser Tartars that inhabit to the North of Persia now call'd Yuzbecs and formerly Bactrians and that that same Arsaces who founded the Empire of the Parthians was a Native of the same Country with Tamerlan Halacou and those other Tartar Princes that made such great and famous Conquests in the Ages last past The 3d. we travell'd four Leagues keeping on to the South as when we first set out of Tauris the Road was very good only we had Mountains very near us upon the right and left hand We lay at Sirsham which is a large Inn adjoyning to three or four small Villages but seated in a sandy and dry Soyl and there the Officers that gather the Duties upon Goods transported out of the Kingdom keep their Post The 4th we travell'd seven Leagues through bushy Plains and Sands and we were forc'd to make several windings and turnings by reason of several Mole-Hills and little Sand-Hills in our way Nevertheless both on one the side and t'other at a distance we could see a Champian Country very delightful and fertile and Villages here and there which yielded a very delightful Prospect the River Zenjan wat'ring those Villages We lay at a large Caravanseray call'd Nichè built between five spacious Villages The 5th we travell'd six Leagues through a Road more pleasant and less crooked and observing the same Course as the day before and lodg'd at Zerigan a little City that contains not above two thousand Houses It is seated in a very narrow Plain between two Mountains that enclose it not above half a League one from the other The Soyl of Zerigan is fertile and pleasant and the Air wholsome and cool in the Summer The City without is surrounded with Gardens that yield both Pleasure and Profit but within the Town there is nothing remarkable but the great Ruins SULTANIE The 6th Our road lay through a Country the most lovely delightful that every Eye beheld through a fair Plain where the road was level and very straight Several pleasant Streams glide through it that render the Soyl very fertil The whole Plain is so strow'd with Villages that they are hardly to be number'd with so many Groves and Gardens that for me the most pleasant Land-skips and charming Prospects in the World We alighted after a journey of five Leagues at a Caravanserai call'd Queurk-boulag over against and within a good Canons shot of Sultanie This City is seated at the foot of a Mountain as you may see by the Draught which I have made of it It seems a far off very neat and well built and inflames a Man with a Curosity to see it but when you approach near it it ceases to be the same thing and appears less beautiful then when ye are within it Yet there are some publick Buildings very remarkable as well for the Structure as the Architecture together with about three thousand Habitations The people of the Country affirm that this City took up formerly half a League of Ground more to the West then it does and that the ruin'd Churches Mosques and Towers which are to be seen at that distance on that side stood in the heart of the City Which probably may be true seeing that Histories assure us that it was once the Metropolis and biggest City of the Kingdom nor are there many Cities in the world where there are vaster Ruins to be seen Provision also is there very plentiful and very cheap The Air is likewise very wholesome but subject to change For in all the Seasons it changes almost every hour The Evenings Nights and Mornings being cold but all the day long very hot from one Extreme to another Sultany lies in 36. deg 18. min. of Latitude and 48. deg 5. min. of Longitude and is govern'd by a Sultan Some Histories of Persia relate that this City is one of the most ancient in all the Country of the Parthians but that it is not known who was the Founder Others on the other side affirm that the foundations of it were laid when the Sun was in Leo by the order and in the Reign of Ergon-Can the Son of Abkei-Can and Grand-child of Halacou-Can and that because it could not be finish'd in his days his Son Jangou-Sultan compleated the work and call'd it Sultania or the Royal City For Sultan properly signifies a King from whence comes Seltenet the usual Persian word for a Kingdom or Monarchy And the Monarchs of Asia who reign'd since the seventh Age assum'd to themselves the Titles of Souldans from whence came the Title of Soldan given to the last King 's of Egypt and that of the Emperors of Turkey who call themselves Sultans Nevertheless I have heard some learned Men say that this City was never call'd Sultanié or Royal till the time that the last Kings of Persia who also assum'd the title of Sultans came to keep their Courts in this Place On the other side if this City were built out of the Ruins of Tigranocerta as several Modern European Authors maintain it may be said that the name which now it bears was form'd out of that Ancient Name For Certa in old Prsian signifies a City so that Tigranoterta signifies no more then the City of Tigranes who
was King of Armenia as is well known to every ordinary Reader However I cannot tell how it is possible for us to take Sultanié for Tigranocerta since Tacitus tells us that Tigranocerta was but thirty seven Miles from Nisibis a City which every one knows to be seated in Mesopotamia upon the River Tigris 25 Leagues from Nineve And therefore I must say as I said before the Geography of the Ancients is the most confused thing in the world the Writers were misinform'd and it is impossible to bring 'em to agree together I should not assert this so confidently did I not see that other Modern Relators commit also very great Errors in what they publish either upon the observations or report of others so that there is not not any one from whom I might not produce examples sufficient to confirm this Truth This City has been several times laid in heaps First Cotza Reshid King of Persia whom other Historians call Giausan for that it had rebell'd and tak'n up Arms against him After that by Tamerlan and after him by several other both Turkish and Tartarian Princes The Predecessors of Ishmael Sophi kept their Court there for some time and it is said that some Ages before the last Kings of Armenia resided there at which time it contain'd above four hundred Churches And it is very true that there are a great number in it which are ruin'd but not one that is entire nor doe there inhabit in it any Christians The 7th we travell'd six Leagues in a Country more lovely then that already describ'd where we came to a Village at the end of every thousand paces and we could see at a distance an infinite number of others surrounded with Groves of Willows and Poplers and environ'd which delightful Meadows We lay at Hibié a very fair and fair and large Village and seated near to a Town that is wall'd and well peopl'd which is call'd San-cala which word being abbreviated signifies the Castle of Hasan The 8th Our Horses were so tir'd that we could get no farther then Ebher which is no more then two leagues from Hibié though we travell'd all the way over most of those delightful and pleasant Plains already mention'd directing our Course still to the South Now that which makes those places so delightful is the great Number of Rivulets with which they are water'd and the good Husbandry of the Inhabitants For as I have already said the soyl of the Parthians is dry and barren of it self nevertheless wherever it can be water'd it produces whatever the Manurer pleases to have it fair and good in its Kind Ebher is but a small City counting only the buildings for it contains not above two thousand five hundred Houses but to those Houses belong so many Gardens and those so large that it is good riding for a Horse-man to cross it in half an hour A small River that bears the name of the City runs through the middle of it from one end to the other It is said to be the same City which the Ancients call'd Barontha The situation of it is jolly and delightful the Air very wholsom and the Soyl produces plenty of Fruit and other Provisions The buildings are tolerably handsom and the Inns the Taverns and other publick Structures very well considering the Place It contains three spacious Mosquees and in the middle of the City are to be seen the Ruins of a Castle built of Earth It lies distant from the Equator 36 deg 45. min. and from the fortunate Islands 48. deg 30. min. Which Longitude and all others that I observe are tak'n from the new Persian Tables It is govern'd by a Darogué or Mayor and the Mirtshecar-bashi or Chief Huntsman has his Assignations of Money charg'd upon the Revenue of this City Which assignation is call'd Tahvil Of the signification of which word we shall speak more at large in another Place The Persian Geographers assert that Ebher was built by Kei-Cosrou the Son of Sia-bouch that Darab-Keihoni or Darius began to build the Castle that Skender-roumy that is Alexander the Great finish'd it and that the City has been ruin'd and sack'd as often as the rest which are near it However she has so well recover'd her self that at present there is but little appearance of those former havocks The same Geographers observe that it is one of the most Ancient Cities of that Province and perhaps it may be either Vologoo-certa or Messabetha or Artacana of which there is so frequent mention made in the Ancient Stories of Persia At Ebher they begin to speak Persian both in the Cities and Country whereas all the way before the Vulgar Language is Turkish not altogether as they speak it in Turkey but with some little difference From Ebher to the Indies they speak Persian more or less neat as the people are more or less at a distance from Shiras where the purity of the Persian Language is spoken So that at Ebher and in the parts thereabouts 't is but a rude and clownish sort of Dialect which the people make use of The 9th we travell'd nine Leagues over Plains delightful ev'n unto Admiration and indeed more lovely Vales are no where to be seen After we had rode three Leagues we pass'd through a large Town almost as big as Ebher call'd Parsac and a little farther we left Casbin upon the left hand five Leagues distant from us of which I made the following description in the year 1674. during a residence of four Months that I stay'd at Court Casbin is a great City seated in a delightful Plain three Leagues from Mount Alou-vent which is one of the highest and most famous Mountains in all Persia and a Branch of Mount Taurus that crosses the Northern Parts of Parthia as has bin already said and separates it from Hyrcania The length of this City is from North to South In former times it was surrounded with Walls of which the Ruins are still to be seen but at present it lies open on every side It is 6 miles in circumference containing twelve thousand Houses and a hundred thousand Inhabitants among which there are forty families of Christians and a hunder'd of Jews all very poor One of the fairest places that is to be seen in this City is the Hippodrome which they call Maydan-sha or the Royal Piazza 700 paces in length and 250 in breadth and made after the Model of Ispahan To the Royal Palace belong seven Gates of which the chief is call'd Ali-capi or the High-Gate on which there is an Inscription in Letters of Gold to this effect May this Gate always be open to good Fortune by that confession which we make that there is no God but God The Gardens belonging to the Palace are very beautiful kept in good order and planted Checquer-wise King Tahmas built this Palace at first a small thing according to a draught given him by a Turkish Architect Abas the Great quite alter'd and enlarg'd
it There are but few Mosques at Casbin The chiefest of which by them call'd Metshid-guima or the Mosque of the Congregation was founded by Haron-Reshid Califf of Bagdat in the year of the Hegyra 170. The Royal Mosque call'd Metshid-sha is one of the largest and fairest in all Persia being seated at the end of a spacious Street planted with fair Trees which begins from one of the Gates of the Palace Royal. This Mosque was almost all built at the expences of Tahmas and in his Life time his Father Ishmael having laid the Foundations but dying before they came to be even with the street There are also several handsome buildings among the Caravanserai's or Publick Inns. That which they call the Royal Inn contains 250 Channels has a large Fountaine planted with Trees in the middle of the Court and two Gates which the lead in the Court from two streets full of shops where the most costly sort of Merchandises are sold But chiefest Grace and Ornament of Casbin consists neither in Inns nor Baths nor in Bazars nor in Markets Tobacco Coffee or strong-water Houses where the Persians debauch themselves but in the great number of Palaces of the Persian Grandees which they keep in their possession from Father to Son by reason of the long residence of the Court at Casbin from time to time But there are not so many Gardens in Casbin as in most part of the other City of that Province because the soyl is Sandy and dry for want of water there being only a little River which is no more then an Arm of the River Charoud not sufficient to to supply the Grounds about it So that they are forc'd to bring their water from the Mountain in Subterraneal Channels which they call Kerises that empty themselves into Vaults thirty foot deep which though it be cool is nevertheless heavy and insipid Which want of water is also the reason that the Air of Casbin is heavy thick and not very healthful especially in Summer by reason that the City not having a running stream has neither any sinks to carry away the filth of the Town Yet notwithstanding this same scarcity of water the City abounds in Meat and all manner of Provisions for that the Plains that lie round about it are so well water'd that they feed a world of Cattel and produce a prodigious plenty of Corn and Fruits Among the rest the fairest Grape in Persia which they call Shahoni or the Royal Grape being of a Gold Colour transparent and as big as a small Olive These Grapes are dry'd and transported all over the Kingdom They also make the strongest Wine in the World and the most luscious but very thick as all strong and sweet wines usually are This incomparable Grape grows only upon the young Branches which they never water So that for five months together they grow in the Heat of Summer and under a scorching Sun without receiving a drop of water either from the skie or otherwise When the Vintage is over they let in their Cattel to browze in the Vineyards afterwards they cut off all the great Wood and leave only the young stocks about three foot high which need no propping up with Poles as in other places and therefore they never make use of any such supporters There is also great Plenty of Pistachio's in those parts where the Air is very hot in the Summer all the day long by reason of the high Mountain that lies to the North. But on the other side the Nights are so cold that if a Man expose himself never so little to the air after he is undrest he is sure to fall sick Casbin lies in 85. deg and 5. min. of Long. and in 36. deg and 35. min. of Latitude The most part of our European Chorographers who have discours'd of the Cities of Persia affirm Casbin to be the ancient Arsacia and that before it was call'd Europa till the Parthians gave it that name from Arsaces the first of their Emperors that is it the same with that City which the Greeks call'd Ragea and the holy Scripture Rages of Media Some are of opinion that it was that same Casbira of which Strabo makes mention but the Persian Histories will not allow it to be so ancient The History entitl'd Elbeijon or the Explication relates That this was founded by Shapour the Son of Ardeshir-babecon and that he gave it the name of Shaepour as much as to say the City of the Kings Son For Shae signifies a King and Pour in the ancient Persian a Son Whence the name of Sha-pour which the ancient Greeks call Sapores The History entitl'd Teduine affirms that the City which was call'd Shaepour was not Casbin and that it was not built on the same place where Casbin now stands but at least three Leagues above toward the West at the Concourse of two Rivers the one named Haroud already mention'd which springs from the Mountain Alou-vent and the other call'd Ebher-roud or the River of Ebher I have heard several Persons of Quality affirm that there are in that place vast heaps of Ruins to be seen and all Authors agree that the two Towns call'd Sartshé not far from thence were built in the Reign of Ardeshir-babecon Another Persian History compos'd by an Author call'd by the name of Ambdalla relates that Casbin had its first Rise from a Castle which the King last mention'd caus'd to be built to stop the Inroads of the Deilemites that came down from Mount Alouvent and ravag'd all the Territory That this Castle was seated in the middle of the City where is now the Royal Piazza of Casbin and that it was ruin'd by the Arabians in the time of Osman one of Mahomets first successors And indeed almost all their Histories make mention of this Castle and say that after it was demolish'd it was rebuilt again much larger then before and a great Town rais'd round about it Mousael-hadibilla the Son of Mahomet-mehdy Califf of Bagdat caus'd it to be surrounded with walls in the 170. year of the Hegyra and about a thousand paces from it built a little City which he call'd by his own name Medina-Moussi which name one large Ward or Quarter of Casbin carrys to this day Moubarec-suzbee one of the Califfs free'd Servants who had the Government of the Province and to whom the work was recommended built another City at an equal distance and call'd it Moubarekié for the preservation of his name which the Persians some time after call'd Moubarec-abad Moubarec signifying blessed abada habitation Haron-Reshid Brother and Successor to Mousa-elhadi joyn'd these three little Cities into one by filling up the void space with a great number of buildings and then order'd the whole to be encompass'd with Walls and Fortifications Which work was begun in the 190 year of the Hegyra Haron also had a design to have made it a Bull-wark against the Incursions of the Hircanians and Deilamites and a Magazine for the warr
Channels and built a spacious Mosque in the Eastern part of it upon the same Foundation where Suyed-Eshac the Son of Imam-Mousa-Cazem had built one several Ages before Close adjoyning to that Mosque stands the sumptuous Tomb of Bercordar-bec Grand Master of the Ordnance of Persia who dy'd of a Dropsie in that City about ten years ago Just over against Sava to the East at the distance of four Leagues stands a place of Pilgrimage the most famous for the Devotion of the Persians They call it Ech-mouil that is to say Samuel for they believe that Prophet was there interr'd over his Tomb there is built a most sumptuous Mausoleum in the midst of a magnificent Mosque Opposite to this that is Westward nine miles from the City under the same Parallel are to be seen some footsteps here and there of that famous City of Rey the biggest City in Asia The Wonders that are recounted of it are incredible nevertheless they are generally ascertain'd by all Historians and by some as if they had been Eye-witnesses The Persian Histories report that in the Time of Calife Medybilla-abou-Mahamed-Darvanich who liv'd in the ninth Age of Christianism the City of Rey was divided into 96 Quarters of which every one contain'd 46 Streets and every Street 400 Houses and ten Mosques That there were moreover in the City 6400 Colleges 16600 Baths 15000 Towers of Mosques 12000 Mills 1700 Channels and 13000 Inns. I dare not insert the number of Houses because I cannot believe there were half so many people Nevertheless our Geography is in that particular asserted and justifi'd by all the Oriental Authors The Arabian Writers affirm in like manner that in the third Age of Mahumetism which is exactly at the same time that Rey was the best peopl'd City in Asia and next to Babylon there never was any City so considerable either for the Number Wealth or Trade of her Inhabitants And hence it was that those pompous Titles were given her in Histories The first of Cities the Spouse of the World the Gate of the Gates of the Earth and the Market of the Universe Nor is the Original of Rey less remarkable The Chronicle of the Magi makes Chus the Grand-Child of Noah to be the Founder of it and adds that he laid the first Stone when the Sun was in Scorpio But the Vulgar Opinion is that it was founded by Housheing-Pishdadi or Chief Justiciary The Orientals give this Title to all the Kings of Persia of the first Race as being the first Governors and Legislators that came to their Knowledge Housheing was the second King of that Race Manouâ—sher the first King after Housheing greatly enlarg'd it and it continu'd in its Splendor till the Conquest of the first Mahumetans that destroy'd it Mehdi-billa surnam'd Mansour or the Victorious the third Califfe of Babylon rais'd it to be greater and more populous then before and under his Successors it was that it arriv'd to that degree of Grandeur which we have related The last destruction that befel it happen'd in the Time of the Civil Wars at what time the Tartars extended their Incursions into the Country of the Parthians The Religion of the Mahumetans was then divided into Sects as at this day so that the Sect of Shia which was that which the Persians stuck to and that of the Sunnis which the Turks follow'd divided the whole Country These two Factions were at War for sixty years together and the Sect of Shia being born down by the the Assistance of the petty Tartars who are Sunnis the victorious Sect sub-divided themselves into two other Opinions which they call from the Name of their first Broachers Shafai and Hanifei which flourish to this day among the Mahumetan Sunnis These Wars together with the Incursions of the Tartars destroy'd the Potent Rey and reduc'd it to nothing before the end of the sixth Age of the Mahumetan Epoche Threescore years after that Facre-Eddin Prince of Parthia having made a Peace with Gazen-Can King of Persia of the Race of the Tartars endeavour'd to rebuild this unfortunate City but could not accomplish his Design Ptolomy calls this City Raquaja and the rest of the greek Authors call it by such Names as seem to be form'd from the word Rey. It lies in 35. deg and 35. min. of Latitude and 76. deg 20. min. of Longitude The Soyl is fertil and pleasant and produces plenty of good Fruits The Air is unhealthy makes the Skin look yellow and breeds Agues nevertheless it is said the People liv'd there as long as in other places which is a wonder and occasion'd that Persian Distick Dreaming I saw and naked in his Shirt The Angel of the Dead Who of the City Rey by break of day Th' unwholsome Vapors fled This City has produc'd a great many Learned Men and hoarded within its own bosom for several Ages the chiefest part of the Riches of the East It is reported that during its Splendor the smaller Mosques had no less then a hundred Branches of all sorts of Metal furnish'd with burning Tapers and the larger Mosques five hundred that were kept lighted all night long The 13. we travell'd six Leagues through a plain and level Country but the Road was full of turnings and winddings by reason of the turning and winding of the River and the several Canals in several parts of the Plain that water the Grounds We pass'd over one large Bridge and several small ones and lodg'd at a great Inn built upon a flat piece of Ground near to four others which are not so big It is call'd Jafer-abad or the Habitation of Jafer from the name of a great Persian Lord who caus'd the first Inns to be built that ever were built in this place The 14. we travell'd five Leagues over the same Plain When we came about half way we rode along by the side of a little Hill call'd Couh-Telisme Couh signifying a Mountain and Telisme that which we call Talisman or Hyeroglyphic This Mountain has one thing remarkably peculiar to it which I never could believe till now Which is this That still as you approach nearer and nearer to it it shews a different form and varies both in its bigness and figure The Top or Point of it is always in sight and you would think that it turn'd that side which way soever you stood to look upon it which I have experienc'd to be true as having beheld this Mountain from all the points of the Compass Which natural Inchantment may proceed in my Opinion from the variety of the Optick Mediums through which that little Mountain is beheld Nature having there sported something that resembles those Ingenuous Pictures that vary the Object by turning the Posture of the Picture this or that way to the Eye It consists of a black Earth that crumbles like the burnt Mould at the foot of Mountains that vomit fire and it is full of Caves and blind Corners that seem to have been made of purpose This made
of her most glorious Ornaments in a sumptuous Mosque built all of Marble and Jasper embellished with Gold In this Mosque are to be seen the Tombs of the two forementioned Monarchs The Porphyry of which they are built is overlaid with Plates of Gold as if the Builders had striven to be profuse in the wast of that rich Metal We shall give you the description of it in our Persian Geography Now the Persians made choice of Kom Kachan Metched and Ardevil rather than of any other Cities for the interment of their Kings because they believe those Cities claim to themselves a secret and peculiar Sanctity above any of the rest by reason that the Martyrs and Men famous in their Religion have lived and been buried there For they hold that Kom and Kachan were always two safe Retreats for all the true faithful in their Law whom in the Primitive Times of Mahumetism the Arabians persecuted unjustly and therefore that the Imaans by whom they mean their lawful Prophets and High Priests retired thither to secure themselves from Persecution and there died This is that which makes them believe that these Cities are holy and happy and that in all their Contracts and Publick Writings they name the first Dar-el-mouve-el-Din or the Habitation of Persons revived in the Law and the second Dar-el-Moumenin or the Habitation of the truly faithful And for the two other Cities Ardivilis called Dar-el-Irkaar or the Habitation of direction For that a great Saint who lies buried there was as they say sent by God to direct men in the way of truth and Metched is called Mouheddès The Place where they give Testimony of the Law and of God In the first lies buried among many other Saints of their Law Cheik-Sefiè or the Pure Ancient the first of the Race of Kings that now Reign in Persia In the second lies the Imaan Reza whom the Persians reverence with an extraordinary superstition Insomuch that they believe the Body of that person who is buried by him is more secure of his Salvation than if he were buried near any other Saint less considerable For according to their Doctrine they that lie interred near the Tomb of any great and holy Personage lie under his Protection The King who had hourly intelligence of the Advance of the Grandees of the Kingdom understanding that they were arrived at Kachan sent an Express with Commands to the two Chief Physicians Mirza-Satrid that is to say Signior Just and Mirza-Kouchonk sirnamed also the Little to distinguish him from his Brother who was the chief Physician to retire to the Palace Royal at Kom which joyns to the Mosque where are the Tombs of the last deceased Kings to betake themselves to the Apartments allotted for them there to pray to God the remainder of their days for the Prosperity of his Throne in acknowledgment of his Clemency towards them in that he inflicted no heavier punishment upon them than only that slight disgrace since they had deserved to lose their lives for understanding no better to preserve the life of his Father and their Sovereign The same Messenger carried also Orders to Mirza-Massoon or the Lord without Blemish already mentioned and the Son also of the Prime Minister and Moutuely of Koom as much as to say Master of the Works and Judge of the Government to take an Inventory of the whole Estate of those two Physicians to give it under their Seals what they found in ready Money and to send the Inventory when they had made it up to the King Out of which he allowed them a Revenue of twenty thousand Crowns a year to live comfortably in the said City without stirring out of the Palace to which they were confined till the Supreme Power should dispose of their Lives The whole Body of the Court arrived at Ispahan within a Week after that which was three Weeks after the Kings Coronation And then it was that the great Officers were admitted one after another troubled in their minds and with hearts laden with sorrow Not one of them that knew what part to act in this new Court where every one flattered himself with making an Interest However still as they came to Town they went to kiss the Kings Feet and to pay him the Moubarek-Bached which is a Customary term which they use when they Congratulate the Prosperity of any great Person as if we should say Let such a thing turn to your blessing His Majesty as every Grandee had paid him his Submissions honoured him with a Calate or Royal Vest This Persian word according to its Etymology signifies Entire Perfect Accomplished to signifie either the Excellency of the Habit or the Dignity of him that wears it For it is an infallible Mark of the particular Esteem which the Sovereign has for the person to whom he sends it and that he has free liberty to approach his Person for when the Kingdom has changed its Lord and Master the Grandees who have not received this Vest dare not presume to appear before the King without hazard of their Lives In pursuance of this Custom the King sent a very rich Vest to that courageous Eunuch among others who was the only person who had set the Crown upon his Head With this Present he also sent him a Dagger richly set with Precious Stones Immediately upon this it was believed that he would be advanced to some high Employment but he refused all Preferment with a generous Constancy so that of all the Employments which his Prince offered him he only accepted of the Superintendency of the Affairs relating to the Princess his Mother All the Grandees being thus arrived the King for several days following held a Megeles that is an Assembly of his Lords where the Lords of the Old Court met to compose a New one The first day every one came in his Calate or Royal Vest which the King had bestowed upon them But the Nazir or Superintendant General was not there because he had not been honoured with that Vest So that when he found it was not sent him against the next Assembly he was then persuaded he had not long to live or at least that he should lose his Employment he feared that his Majesty had been informed how that at the time of the Election he had endeavoured to prefer his Younger Brother And this suspition of his was not altogether without ground for that indeed something had been whispered to the King about it Therefore he thought he could not do better than go himself and present his Head to the King himself before any one was sent to demand it for that if he thought to preserve it by concealing himself he should lose it without all hope of pardon but if he had the courage generously to lay it at the Princes Feet it might so happen that he might save himself nor was he deceived for this bold Resolution gained the heart of Sephiè the Second and wrought Compassion even in his
sort of Policy having neither Art nor Principles was as it were unapproachable insomuch that he seriously acknowledg'd That the Conduct of a Vizier was to him an Abyss of which he could not Fadom the Judgment the Foresight the Perspicacy the Secrecy the Cunning with all its Windings and Labyrinths He assur'd me That if had a Son he would send him to no other School then to the Ottoman Court where he could not too highly admire the Vizier who without speaking writing or so much as moving himself Govern'd one of the most Potent Empires of the World and had extended the Limits of it in several places During my stay at Adrianople I had the Honour several times to converse with this Venetian Ambassador and because that then our most general discourse was concerning the War of Candy I learnt from him and several other Eminent Personages of the Court divers Particulars worthy Observation of which I shall here set down the most Memorable One of the Principal Performances which the Law of Mahomet enjoyns is the Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina There is nothing that can legally dispence with it but an extream Poverty and it further lays a strict Injunction upon those whom either Sickness or Imployment or other Occasions will not permit to go in Person to make their Pilgrimage by Proxy that is to send to those Places of Devotion a Person on purpose to perform all those Duties which he himself ought to have done could he have gone thither himself The Ottoman Emperors are very punctual in the Discharge of this Duty as well for themselves as for their whole Families They send every year Considerable Presents to those Cities of which they esteem it a High Honour to call themselves the Lords and Protectors and these Presents are sent sometimes by Land and sometimes by Sea In the year 1644. they were put aboard a great Gallion which was to carry 'em to Cairo Several Eunuchs and Women of the Serraglio were embark'd in the same Vessel together with the Signior's Delegates and a great Number of Passengers and Souldiers This Vessel putting to Sea from Constantinople with several other Vessels under her Convoy was set upon not far from Rhodes by the Galleys of Malta and after a fierce Engagement taken Nevertheless the Galleys could not carry her off to Malta by reason that she leak'd in several places as having receiv'd several Shot in the Fight so that they were forc'd to carry her into a Port of the Island of Candy Where they stopp'd her Leaks the best they could and took all the care imaginable to have carry'd her Home but all to no purpose for she sunk by the way However the Cargo which they unladed into their Galleys was valu'd at a Million of Money The News of the taking this Gallion put the Grand Signior into a Rage insomuch that he threaten'd to exterminate all the Christians that were in Constantinople as well Ambassadors and Foreign Ministers as others And he thus menac'd all sorts of Nations because said he the Galleys of Malta were Mann'd with Christians and Souldiers from all parts of Christendom M. Soranzo the Venetian Ambassador at the Ottoman Court presently address'd himself to the Ministers of the Divan For he was in great hopes to divert the Storm from falling upon his Head and to appease the Grand Signior by giving him to understand that there was not any one Subject of the Republick who was a Knight of Malta The Ambassadors of England and Holland made the same Remonstrances So that in all probability the Tempest was like to fall upon M. de la Haye the Father then Ambassador of France And questionless he had severely felt the Barbarousness of the Turks and the Fury of the Grand Signior if Givan Capigi Bachi the Grand Vizier had not Warded off the Blow Who being a Person of great Wit of singular Worth and Illustrious for his Descent in Turkey as being descended from a Family famous for Six Grand Viziers took upon him to secure the Ambassador of France the French and all the Christians that were at Constantinople except the Venetians He gave his Highness to understand that the Venetians were the most guilty for having permitted the Galleys of Malta to bring in the Gallion into their Harbours and not securing it By which means he turn'd all the Signior's Wrath upon Candy who thereupon determin'd to make that the Seat of his War But this Resolution of his was privately carry'd and the better to conceal his Design he display'd his intended Revenge only against Malta To which purpose he proclaim'd open War against that little Island and order'd all his Forces to be in a readiness by the end of March 1645. The Ambassador of Venice spar'd neither Industry nor Presents to penetrate the Truth of this Design whether it were real or only a Trick to cover some Enterprize against the Republick On the other side the Ambassador of France assur'd him that it was only a dissembl'd Pretence and that the true Design was upon Candy But he gave no heed to his Intelligence suffering himself to be deluded by the Assurances which the Grand Vizier gave him from time to time to the contrary But toward the end of April the Ottoman Fleet consisting of Fourscore Ships and as many Galleys under the Command of Issouf Captain Basha putting to Sea from Constantinople Landed in Candy and in Ten Days took Canea They who were acquainted with that same General affirm'd him to be a great Commander and that he would have Conquer'd the Island in a small time had he not been depriv'd of his Life and the Conduct of the War For the Grand Signior being put i' th' Head that Issouf had Vast Treasures and that he could Conquer the rest of Candy without his Assistance caus'd him to be strangl'd at Constantinople some few days after his return However his Highness had not only a great loss by his Death but miss'd of the Treasures which he expected In the following Years he sent other Armies into Candy under different Generals and for the Success which they had it is too well known to speak more of it in this place For it was neither to the Strength of the Island nor the Weakness of the Turks that we are to ascribe the length of that War which lasted Four and Twenty Years but to the strange Revolutions that happen'd in the Ottoman Court almost at the beginning of that Enterprize and to the Wars of Transylvania and Hungary that lasted till the Year 1665. But the Prince who undertook the Conquest of Candy was Ibrahim then about Two and Thirty Years of Age who was advanc'd to the Empire Four Years before contrary to his own and the Expectation of all the World For he had been kept in a close Imprisonment during the Raign of Osman and Murat his Brothers the latter of which after he had caus'd his two younger Brothers to be strangl'd when he saw himself
aboard to search the Vessels But when a Ship drops her Anchor several Boats make from the Haven to carry those ashoar that are desirous to go Caffa is a great Town built at the bottom of a little Hill upon the Sea-shoar It extends it self more in length then breadth lying in length very directly from the South to the North encompass'd with very strong Walls that advance a little into the Sea which is the reason that when we take a Prospect of the City from the upper part of the Deck it seems to be built like a Half-Moon The Castle upon the South side stands upon a Rising Ground that commands all the parts thereabout being very large and the Residence of the Basha The other is not so big but well stor'd and defended with great Guns the Sea washing that side which is next to it They reck'n about 4000 Houses to be in Caffa of which 3200 are inhabited by Mahumetans Turks and Tartars and 800 by Christians Greeks and Armenians though the Armenians are more numerous then the Greeks The Houses are but small and all built of Earth as are also their Bazars or Market-places their Publick Structures Mosquees and Baths There is not one Building of Stone in all the City except eight Churches somewhat gone to decay formerly built by the Genoeses This Caffa was once call'd Theodosia which the Greeks built in the fifth Age. Afterwards it fell under the Dominion of the Genoeses with several other Sea-Port Towns in several parts of that Sea in the Thirteenth Age in the time of the Holy War and during the weak and low Condition of the Eastern Emperors But Mahomet the Second won all those Places from the Genoeses toward the end of the Sixteenth Age Caffa being taken in the Year 1574. The Soyl about Caffa is Dry and Sandy nor is the Water good but the Air is very pure and wholsom There are very few Gardens about it nor is there but little Fruit. However they bring great Quantities from the Neighbouring Villages though it cannot be said to be very delicious However I do not know whether there be any other City in the World where other Provisions are cheaper and better Their Mutton is exceeding well-tasted and not above one Farthing a Pound Their other Provisions of Bread Fruit Wild Fowl and Butter is sold proportionably at a cheaper Rate Salt is as good as giv'n ye and in a word whatever is necessary for Human Sustenance costs little or nothing Nevertheless by the way take notice that Fresh Fish is a very great Rarity and very small whatever that they catch in the parts round about the Harbour and that only at certain times as in Antumn and the Spring Almost all the Turks and Tartars that live in the Town wear little Bonnets of Cloath fac'd with Sheepskins But in regard that over all Asia Bonnets are most usually worn among the Christians those of Caffa are oblig'd to fasten to theirs a little piece of Cloath such as the Jews in Germany wear upon their Cloaks to distinguish 'em from the Mahometans The Road of Caffa is shelter'd from the Winds except it be to the North and South-East and the Ships lie at Anchor near the Shoar in Ten and Twelve Fathom Water Ouzie at the bottom and very safe There is also a great Trade driven there more then in any other Port belonging to the Black-Sea During the Forty Days that I staid there I saw come in and go out above Four Hunderd Sail of Ships not counting little Vessels that keep close to the Shoar The most usual and most considerable Trade which they drive consists in Salt Fish and Caveare which comes from the Lake Maeotis and is thence transported into Europe and as far as the Indies 'T is incredible what a World of Fish is caught in that Lake considering its extent And the reason which the Country People give for the Infinite Multitude of Fish there bred and taken is this For that the Water of that Lake being muddy thick and not very salt because of the Tanais that empties it self into it it invites not only the Fish out of Tanais and the Black-Sea but also out of the Hellespont and the Archipelago where they breed and grow fat in a small time Several Persons have assur'd me That they usually catch Fish in that Lake which weigh every one Eight and Nine Hunderd Pounds and of which they make between three and four Hunderd weight of Caveare 'T is true I never saw any such large Fish alive at Caffa however I am apt to believe it by the pieces of Fish which I have seen and the vast Quantities which they export into a Thousand Places Their Fishing lasts from October till April And perhaps it is the Mudd of that Water of Maeotis which makes 'em call it a Mersh for otherwise it would be more properly call'd a Lake in regard it bears Vessels of Burden nor do the Waters rise or fall and besides that it continually partakes of a great River and the Sea Next the Exportation of Caveare and Fish the most considerable Trade is driv'n in Corn Butter and Salt with which this City furnishes Constantinople and several other places The Caffa Butter is the best in all Turkey The Venetians have several times desir'd leave to Trade to this Town but it would never be granted In the Year 1672. Signor Quirini was at great Expences to obtain it and he had obtain'd it indeed but the Customer of Constantinople caus'd the Licence to be revok'd upon this Occasion All the Europeans have it agreed in their Capitulations That they shall pay no Customs but in such places where they unlade their Goods By Virtue of which Article the Venetians would pay no Customs at Constantinople for Goods that came in a small Vessel bound for Caffa which the Farmer of the Customs claim'd And Signor Quirini obtain'd an Order from the Defterdar to the Farmer not to take any Cognizance of what was in the said Venetian Vessel Which Defterdar is the High Treasurer of the Empire and has all the Customs under his Inspection But the Customer seeing this Order wrote to the Vizier That the Trade of the Venetians into the Black-Sea would be very prejudicial to the Grand Signior and the Port and that the particular Damage to his Highness was most visible in regard the Merchandize which is proper for the Black-Sea and brought from Venice pays Customs twice at their coming into the Port of Constantinople and going out That it was the same thing as to the Commodities that were brought out of that Sea and which the Venetians Export all which the Grand Signior would lose if the Venetians had Liberty to Trade thither in regard that by Virtue of their Capitulations they ought to pay no Customs but where they discharge their Merchandises Besides that to permit the Venetians an Entrance into the Black-Sea was to open a new way for the Christian Princes to Correspond
other part of which Nacchivan is the Metropolis The 12. we arriv'd at Nacchivan after we had travell'd five Leagues over Plaines very level and Fertile Nacchivan is a great City or rather a vast heap of Ruins which are repair'd and repeopl'd by degrees The heart of the City is at present rebuilt and inhahited having very large Bazars which are a sort of long Galleries or Streets that are cover'd full of Shops on both sides where they sell all Sorts of Merchandizes and Provisions There are in it five Inns or Caravanserays Baths Market Places large Publick Houses where they sell Tobacco and Coffee and two Thousand Houses or thereabouts The Persian Histories assure us that formerly it contain'd above Forty Thousand They also tell us that before the Arabians conquer'd this Country there were in it five Cities which had been built by Behron-Tchoubin King of Persia Without the City are to be seen the Ruins of a great Castle and several Forts which Abas caus'd to be destroy'd toward the end of the last Age not finding himself strong enough to keep 'em All which he caus'd to be ruin'd after he had taken Nacchiavan from the Turks and after he had ruin'd and dispeopl'd the City Which he did to prevent the Turks from Fortifying themselves in that Place and furnishing themselves with Provisions Most certainly the City is an Object of Pity considering in what a Condition it now lies The Histories of Persia would have us believe that it was one of the Greatest and Fairest Cities of all Armenia as has been already said But that History now kept in the Monastery of the Three Churches and which is chiefly spok'n of doclares that this City was the ancient Ardashhad call'd Artaxate or Artaxasate by the Greek Historians Other Armenian Authors make Nacchivan to be much more Ancient and assert that Noah began to build it and made it his Abode after the Deluge And they make the Etymology of the Name to agree with the Antiquity of the Original Affirming that in the old Armenian Language Nacchivan signifies the first Habitation Ptolomy makes mention of a City in these Parts which he calls Naxuane which might have been the same with Nacchivan I believe that Artaxate or Artaxasate was seated very near it For Tacitus observes that Araxes ran very near that City and we find it not to be above seven Leagues from Nacchivan The height of the Pole over it's Horizon is mark'd upon the Persian Astrolobes to be 38. deg 40. min. and the Longitude 81. deg 34. min. It is govern'd by a Kan and is the Capital of one part of Armenia Five Leagues from Nacchivan to the North lies a great village call'd Abrener which signifies the Fertil Field The inhabitants of that Village and of seven others near it are all Roman Catholicks Their Bishops and Curates are Dominicans and they perform their Church and Service in the Armenian language He was an Italian Dominican of Bologna that brought all this Country under Subjection to the Pope about 350. years ago And about twenty villages more that lay round acknowledg'd the same Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction But at length they return'd to their obedience under the Armenian Patriarch and to their first Religion and as for those that persist in the Romish Ceremonies their Number daily decreases by reason of the Persecution of the Patriarch and the Governors of Nacchivan Those poor people having drawn upon their own heads the Indignation and violent Usage of those Governors for having endeavour'd to withdraw themselves from their Jurisdiction Dependence To which purpose there arriv'd in Persia in the year 1664. an Italian Dominican in the Quality of an Embassador from the Pope From whom and from several other Potentates of Europe he brought Letters to the King He made great Presents to his Majesty and obtain'd effectually That those Roman Catholick Villages should every year send their Tribute to the Royal Treasure and whatever they were oblig'd to pay yearly according to the Rates set down in Writing in the Registers of the Superintendant and Receiver-General of Media Which being done that Orders should be sent to the Super-intendant and Governor of Nacchivan and all other the Kings Officers to acknowledge the Roman Catholicks to be absolutely independant from their Jurisdiction and that they should not presume to make any Levies within their Territories Which Regulation that did very little good to those villages was the occasion of many Mischiefs that afterwards befell em and will one day be the cause of their Ruin For the Governors of Nacchivan provok'd at these proceedings and the complaints that were made of 'em to Abas have lay'd a thousand heavy Impositions upon those poor People since the death of that good King and have made 'em pay three or four times the money which they sent to the Treasure Royal For which the oppressed people can have no remedy whether through the Remissness of the Government or for that their own Party is low and out of Credit The Treasurer of Media has done worse for he has sent to Court false extracts of the Registers of that Province by which it appears that those villages were to pay fourteen hundred pounds yearly which is just as much again as what they pretend to have always paid Every time they carry their Imposition of Seven Hundred Pounds into the Treasury the Officers give 'em a Receipt wherein they put that it is upon Account of what they ought to pay by which they keep a Door open for Arbitrary Impositions and Branglings to ruin 'em when they please themselves The Governor of Nacchivan was not in Town when I arriv'd there But this Son that was Deputy had soon notice of my arrival So that he invited me to Dinner and desir'd me to shew him some Watches and some Jewels But I was no way satisfi'd with his manner of dealing with me For after he had been civil to me and had giv'n me a dinner he left me with his officers who forc'd me in a manner to let him have that for fourty pounds for which I refus'd fifty at Erivan And without question they had us'd me more uncivilly but for the King's Pattent and Pass port which I had about me And indeed those Thorow-fairs are a sort of Places for the skinning of strangers who are reputed to be rich They must alway there pay Passage-money The 13. We departed from Nacchivan and travell'd seven Leagues At the end of the first League passing a River over a very broad Bridge to which the People of the Country give no other name then that of the River of Nacchivan The Country which we pass'd is dry and Stony where was nothing to be seen but little Hills of Stones We lay upon the Banks of the River Araxes which the Orientals call Aras and Ares We pass it at Esqui-julfa or Julfa the old a ruin'd City which some Authors beleive to be that City which the Ancients call'd Ariammene They call'd
of Ur or the Country of Fire And Ptolomy makes mention of a City in that Country which is call'd Urcoa that is to say the place of Fire ga with a long or a double a being a Persian word that signifies a Place or Part of a Country But the Ancient Names have been so corrupted by the negligence or ignorance of Transcribers or by the differences of Language and Pronuntiation of Authors and Translators that when we come to compare the Ancients with the modern Name we must not reject every thing that has not an entire Resemblance Now what we have already said shews us the Errors of those who have written that Azer-beyan is the Northern Part of Syria and that the word of Azer-beyan is deriv'd from Ardoebigara which was the Capital City of the Country The Persians divide it into three parts Azer-beyan Shirvan and Shamalei Strabo divides it only into two parts the greater and the lesser but as for Ptolomie and other modern Geogrophers they make no division of it at all The 14. we travell'd five leagues through a Country full of little Hills following the same course as the days before that it is to the North-West leaving that spacious Plain upon the left hand which has been the Stage of so many Bloody Battels fought in the last ages and in the beginning of this between the Persians and Turks The people of the Country shew you a great heap of Stones affirm it to be the Place where that Battel began between Selim the Son of Solymon the Great and Ismahel the Great Our days Journey ended at Alacou The Persians assert that this place was so call'd Alacou by that famous Tartar Prince who conquer'd a great Part of Asia and there founded a City ruin'd during the Wars between the Turks and Persians The 15. our Journey was not so long as the day before but the way through which we travell'd was more smooth and easie We lodg'd at Marant which is a good fair Town consisting of about two thousand five hundred houses and which has so many Gardens that they take up as much ground as the Houses It is seated at the bottom of a little Hill at the end of a Plain which is a league broad and five long and which is one of the most lovely and fairest that may be seen a little River call'd Zelou-lou running through the middle of it from which the people of the Country cut several Trenches to water their Grounds and their Gardens Marant is better peopl'd than Nacchivan and a much fairer Town There grows about it great plenty of Fruits and the best in all Media But that which is most peculiar to these Parts is this that they gather Cocheneel in the Places adjoyning though not in any great quantity nor for any longer time then only eight days in the Summer when the Sun is in Leo. Before that time the People of the Country assure us that it does not come to Maturity and after that time the Worm from whence they draw the Cocheneel makes a hole in the lease upon which it grows and is lost The Persians call Cocheneel Quermis from Querm which signifies a Worme because it is extracted out of Worms Marant is seated 37. deg 50. min. of Lat. and 81. deg 15. min. of Longit. according to the observation of the Persians Some take it for the City which Ptolemy calls Mandagarana I made no Platform of it no more then I did of Nacchivan because neither their Fame nor their Beauty seem'd to me to be worth any such Pains The Armenians have a Tradition that Noah lies buried there and that the Name of the City is deriv'd from an Armenian word which signifies to bury You may descry from Marant when the Air is clear the Place where the Ark rested which sav'd the Patriarch from the Deluge You may also see the same Mountain from Tauris in a serene Sky as the People of the Country assure us The 16. we travelled four Leagues turning always among the Mountains that come very close one to another in several parts but never joyn By ten of the Clock in the morning we arriv'd at Sophian a little Village seated in a Plain full of Rivulets and Gardens the Soyl of which is fertile to a wonder Some Authors believe it to be the Ancient Sophia of Media Others hold that it was call'd Sophian from the Sophi's who settled there when Ismael the First left Ardevil and remov'd his Court to Tauris That Evening Mr. Azarias the honest Armenian already mention'd went before with my Pasports and Letters of Recommendation from the Governors of Georgia and Armenia I ordered him to find out the Toll-gatherer of Tauris and to desire him in my Name to give order that I might pass with my Retinue and the next day I found he had discharg'd his Trust and that care had been taken to leave such orders at the Gates as I desir'd That day being the Seventeenth we arriv'd at Tauris after we had travell'd six Leagues upon the same Road as the preceding days through fair and fertile Plains where all the Lands were till'd and where we had a Prospect of a great number of Villages It is fifty three Persian Leagues every one of which makes five thousand Paces between Irivan and Tauris which may be easily rid on Horseback in Six days but the Caravans take double the Time The Camels seldom travel above four Leagues aday and carry six or seven Hundred weight the Horses and Mules seldom carry above two Hundred and Twenty weight with a Man and travel five or six Leagues a day There are in Tauris two hundred and fifty Mosques of which the Principal are mark'd in the Copper Plate I shall not say any thing of any one in particular because they are no otherwise built then the fair Mosquees in the Capital City of the Kingdom of which you will find in the following Volume both Descriptions and Platforms The Mosquee of Ali-sha is almost totally ruin'd Only they have repair'd the lower part where the People go to Prayers and the Tower which is very high and is the first that discovers its self to the Eye coming from Erivan This Mosque was built about 400 years ago by Coja Ali-sha Grand Visir to Sultan Kazan King of Persia who kept his Court at Tauris and was there buried His sepulchre is still to be seen in a great ruin'd Tower which they call by his name Monar can Kazan The Mosque which they call the Master Apprentise which lyes half in Ruins at present was built three hundred and twenty years ago by Emir-sheic-Hassen That which is mark'd with the Letter O in the Plate is the fairest in all Tauris all the inside and some part of the outside being guilt with Gold It was built in the year 878 of the Hegyra by a Persian King call'd Geoncha or King of the World That with two Towers is a very small one but both the Towers
which he was intending against Iberia and withal a place of Trade but dying not long after the work remain'd imperfect In the year 245 in the Reign of Muktadis-billa-Mousi Nufa's son who had shaken off the Yoak of that Pontiff and usurp'd the Royal Authority in Persia finish'd the Walls and Fortifications and gave to the City the name of Casbin or Casvin for the word is sometimes pronounc'd with a b and sometimes with a v from a word that signifies Punishment or pain because he imprison'd in that Gastle all his Grandees which he design'd to punish There is also another reason giv'n for the Denomination that is to say because this City was once a place of Exilement Tho Acemberg an Armenian Author is of a different opinion for he believes that the City of Casbin was so call'd by King Casbin after his own name In the year 364. a part of the Wall being fall'n down Saheb Califf Ishmael chief minister of state to Alié-fecre-deulet King of Persia caus'd the Ruins to be repair'd and being almost utterly destroy'd in the Civil Wars Emir sherif-abouali Jafer took care of its Restauration and in the year 411. caus'd the work to be follow'd so close that within two Years there was no signe of any Ruins The History of Casbin makes mention of two other fatal disasters that befell it occasion'd by Earth-quakes The first in the year 460. that overturn'd all the walls and a third part of the Buildings And the second which did not so much mischief as the first in the year 562. at what time Mahomet the Son of Abdalla-elmegare who reign'd in the Country of the Parthians remov'd his Court near Casbin to view the Ruins and take care of the Reparations And because that the walls which were then only of Earth did not seem sufficiently beautiful nor strong enough for so great a City he caus'd that which the Earth-quake had left standing to be pull'd down and rais'd up other Walls of red Brick The Walls were a hundred thousand and three hundred paces in compass and at the end of every five hundred paces fortifi'd with Towers The Tartars and Turks utterly ruin'd these Towers and Walls at several Times and those that were rebuilt in their Room after the destructions of every new invasion The Ruins of which are still to be seen as I have said already After all Casbin was restor'd and rebuilt as you see it has enjoy'd forabove these three hundred years both peace and plenty by the Advantage of its situation which renders it so convenient for the Trade of Iberia Hyrcania and Media with the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom In the 955. year of the Hegyra King Tahmas despairing to defend Tauris against Solyman retir'd to Casbin and made that City the Metropolis of his Kingdom finding it convenient for all Seasons in the Year There he spent the Winter in the Summer he retir'd three or four Leagues into the Country and liv'd in Tents at the foot of Mount Alouvent in a place abounding with cool Springs and pleasant Shades His Successors liv'd after the same Rate till Abas the Great who the first year of his Reign remov'd his Court to Ispahan And there are several Reasons alledg'd for this Change Some attributed it to the Air of Casbin which the King did not find so healthful Others affirm that he was frighted by the Astrologers who told him that the Stars threat'ned him with several Misfortunes if he staid at Casbin But others assert it was only the better to accomplish the design of building a new City as being over perswaded that it was the surer way to Eternize his Memory then all his great Actions But the most probable Reason was one which I heard from a great Lord who was highly esteem'd by that Potent Prince That when he had laid the design of those Conquests which he made with so much Renown as well to the East as to the South he forsook Casbin and remov'd to Ispahan that he might be nearer the Country which he intended to Conquer However it were the City is much decay'd since the Removal of the Royal Residence and that it has lost all those Perquisites that set forth the Pomp and Grandeur os a sumptuous Court The Successors of Abas have resided there for one or two years together and the deceas'd King was upon his way thither when he dy'd For the City had earnestly importun'd him by Presents and Requests and were so overjoy'd to understand his Majesty was coming that they presented the Messenger that brought the news with a Present of three hundred Tomans which amounts to about one thousand Guines Now the chief advantage which accrews to the City from the Court 's residing there is the consumption of a vast quantity of Provision which the Country produces and which they cannot export in regard the Countries round about have no need of supplies Now besides all that has been said that renders Casbin a famous City we must not forget rhat it has been a place celebrated for the Birth of several great men among the rest Locman highly esteem'd for the Fables which he so well compos'd in imitation of Esop that some learned Men uphold it to be the same Book The City is govern'd by a Darogué or Mayor who is chosen every Year and in that Year makes his office worth him six hundred Tomans or two thousand pounds In their Judicial Acts and Records they give to this City the additional name of Daral-Seltenet or the Seat of Royalty because the Kings of Persia who reign'd in the 15. and 16. Ages there kept their Court as has been said We ended our days Journey at Kiaré a large Village consisting of five hundred Houses in the midst of which upon a rising Ground stands a Castle of Earth half ruin'd The Remainder of several strong Places in this Country demolish'd in the 13. Age Before which time Invasions were so frequent and so sudden and the Civill Warrs so tedious and so furiously carry'd on that they were forc'd to fortify themselves every where and defend themselves from all sorts of Persons for such like Castles are to be seen in all the Villages and great Towns that are under the Jurisdiction of Casbin The 10. we travell'd four Leagues in a plain and pleasant Country as in the preceding days still directing Course to the South And our manner of travelling all the way particularly from Miané which is upon the Confines in the Evening an hour or two before Sun set rode a Journey of five or six Leagues by Midnight or thereabours Longer Journeys of eight or nine Leagues held us almost all night long which is the general way of travelling over all the East in Summertime to avoi'd the heat of the Sun which would melt both Man and Beast in the day time In the night we travell'd a greater pace and more at ease the Servants walk a foot with less trouble and the Masters themselves
are glad to walk sometimes when they find themselves sleepy and to shake off those little shiverings caus'd by the Coolness of the Air besides that it is a great ease to the Horses When you get to your Inn you go to Bed and fetch up that sleep in the day which you lost in the night Another advantage of travelling by night is this that the Beasts of Carriage rest all the time that the Heat and the Flies molest 'em and are better lookt after while the Servants dress 'em by day-light besides that in the day time Provisions both for Horse and Man are more ready to be had And then again the Hosts of the Caravanseray having slept almost all the day for want of Employment are then up and ready at all Commands The first thing which the Grooms do at the first coming into the Inn is to walk the Horses then they cloath them and loosen their Girts About an hour or two after they give 'em to eat and then the Grooms go to sleep about nine or ten a Clock every body rises and eats a light Breakfast after that the Grooms dress their Horses and the Cooks get ready their Victuals In the mean time the Master betakes himself again to his Rest or else otherwise employs himself About four a Clock they meat their Horses with Barley for they never give 'em Oats in the East and then put on the Saddle at which time Supper is serv'd in While the Master Sups the Cook cleanses the Kitchin Furniture and the Valet de Chambre puts up the Masra's which is a kind of Portmantle where the Bed and Bed-cloaths are put up with as much Convenience as in a Chest of which one Horse will carry two Then the Servants go to Supper while the Master gets himself ready and puts on his Boots When the Servants have supp'd which is soon done among the Asiatics the Cook puts up his Utensils and the Groom bridles and girts up the Horses and the rest fold up the Carpets or do what else belong to their Duties lastly they load and so depart They that have not seen the Fashions of the East will hardly believe with what Conveniency Men travel in those Parts However it is very great though a man may be said to carry a whole House a long with him and the reason is because every Servant knowing what he has to do every thing is dispatch'd in an Instant We lodg'd at Segs-abad which signifies the Habitation of Dogs being a Town as large as Kiare seated in a fair Plain where there are a great number of Villages There are no Inns at either of those two places but in each fifteen or twenty great Houses which the Owners keep open for the Entertainment of Travellers and which are kept much more cleanly than the Caravanserais There is also much better Accommodation but at a dearer rate For the Host not daring to demand either for his Lodging or his Trouble which is not the Custom he pays himself by the Provender and Provisions which he sells his Guests at his own price whereas in the Caravanserais every thing is tax'd The 11. we travell'd eight Leagues the first two over Mole-hills and little hills where the way was somwhat rugged the rest over a fair champaign Ground full of Villages and for the most part well manur'd It is said to be the place where the Battel was fought between Lucullus and Mithridates and which the defeat of Crassus render'd yet more famous in the Roman History We alighted at an Inn call'd Koskeirou one of the fairest and largest that ever was built in Persia There are belonging to it two Gardens two Cisterns a Bath and a small Canal being altogether the Gifts of the Chief Wife of Abas the Great She founded this place and settled a Revenue of Fourscore Pounds to pay four Servants that were to lodge in the Inn meerly to keep it clean and to wait upon Travellers But the fourscore Pounds have bin since converted to other uses through the Covetousness of the Trustees Which is the reason that the Caravanserai lies very nasty every where and runs to ruin for want of good keeping It cost four Thousand Tomans the Building which comes to eighteen thousand Pounds There are also in Persia other Inns besides Bridges Causeys and Hospitals remaining Monuments of the Charity of that Princess which have render'd her Name famous and if we may believe public Report she expended in Pious Works no less than a hundred thousand Tomans which make about four hundred thousand Pounds Sterling The 12. we travell'd eight Leagues three over the pleasant Plains where stands Koskeirou and five in a deep Country where the Road is somewhat crooked and rough Two hours before day we arriv'd at Sava and lodg'd in the Suburbs that lie upon the high Road. Sava is a great City seated in a sandy and barren Plain within sight of Mount Alouvent It is two miles in Circuit and girt with walls but thinly peopl'd for unless it be the Heart of the City the rest runs to ruin for want of Inhabitants The Walls are also in a bad condition nor is there any thing remarkable round about it tho formerly it has been a fair City as the ruins of several great Structures demonstrate There runs a small River through and a good number of Canals The Soyl is dry and sandy producing nothing without Art and Industry yet it is beautify'd with a great number of Gardens The Air is there very hot and unhealthy It lies 35. deg 50. min. of Lat. 85. deg of Longitude and is govern'd by a Derogué or Mayor The Histories of Persia unanimously consent that the whole Plain of Sava was formerly a Salt Marsh or Lake like to that Lake which is call'd the Salt-Sea not above twenty Leagues from this City to the East and which is cross'd over a Crusey thirty Eeagues in length as ye travel from Ispahan into Hyrcania but those Histories do not agree upon the time that this Marsh was dry'd up Some fabulously report that it was the same night that Mahomet was born Others that it was Haly his Son-in-Law who drain'd away the waters by a Miracle And the same Histories report that he wrought that Miracle onely by the pronuntiation of one word and that he did it in favour to the Inhabitants of Com who took his part against the Father-in-Law of Mahomet They also add that those People to preserve the Memory of so great an Accident built a City in the midst of that same drain'd Fenn and laid the first Stone upon the Sun 's entring into Gemini The northern People ruin'd it in the fourth Age of Mahumetism But Coja-Sehid-el-din the Son of Melec-Sheref-el-din-Savegi rebuilt it forty years after that much more stately than it was before its Destruction wall'd it and pav'd it with red Bricks Sometime after that Coja-Séhid-el-din enlarg'd it to the North and brought the water to it through ten
Remainders of the Splendour of the first Mahumetans who invaded Persia The Houses of Cashan are built of Earth and Bricks of which there few that are remarkable But the Bazars and Baths are lovely Structures well built and well kept There are also several Inns. That which is call'd the Royal Inn without the City joyning to the Gate that looks toward the East is the fairest not only in Cashan but in all Persia It is four square every front within-side being two hundred Geometrical Paces and two Stories with an Anti-Chamber or Hollowness below that runs all-along the length of the two Fronts rais'd about the height of a man above the Court and four Inches below the level of the Chamber It is eight foot deep pav'd with white Marble almost as transparent as Pophiry The Stories on the sides contain fifteen Chambers of the same Figure the two others had but ten with a large one in the middle having five Chambers The other Apartments consisted of one Chamber fifteen foot long and ten broad high and vaulted with a Chimney in the middle and a square Portico before ten foot wide cover'd with a half Duomo with a Contrivance for a Chimney on each side which was for the Servants to lodge in The second Story was contriv'd like that below with a Baluster four foot high that let in the the Light and ran round the Structure In the Geometrical Part of the Draught you may perceive a Hexagonal in the midst of the Entrance every Front of which is a large Shop where are to be sold all manner of Belly-Timber Wood and Forrage The Entrance is under a high and magnificent Portal adorn'd with Mosaic Work like all the rest of the Buildding and upon the sides runs a Portico where you may lie in the day time as conveniently and as pleasantly as in the Inn it self The Fountain in the middle of the Court is rais'd above five foot and the Brims of it are four foot broad for the Convenience of those that will say their Prayers after they have perform'd their Purifications THE GREAT INN IN CASHAN There is also somewhat that does not appear in the Draught that is to say the hinder part of the Carevanseray which is worthy to be observ'd in this place For it consists of very large Stables with places for Servants and Luggage built almost according to the same Symmetry as the Apartments already mention'd at least as to the Form and Bigness of store-Houses and Lodgings for the Poor and the Country people that bring their Goods to sell and the large Gardens that lie behind this lovely Palace of a Caravanseray no less famous for its Founder Abas the Great who caus'd this sumptuous Structure to be erected Near adjoyning to it stands the Palace Royal and over against it another design'd for the Lodging of Embassadors Both the one and the other with very large Gardens behind 'em were built at the Charges of that Renowned Monarch besides that there is in the middle a void Space for their Carousels and other Exercises on Horseback The Wealth and Trade of Cashan consists in the Manifactuary of all sorts of Silk Stufs and Tissues of Gold and Silver There is not made in any place of Persia more Sattin Velvet Tabby Plain Tissue and with Flowers of Silk or Silk mingled with Gold and Silver then is made in this City and the Parts round about it so that one single Borrough in this Territory contains a thousand Houses of Silk-Weavers That which is call'd Aron seeming at a distance to be a good big City as containing in it no less than two thousand Houses and six hundred Gardens It is about two Leagues from Cashan The City of Cashan stands in a good Air but violently hot insomuch that it is ready to stifle yee in the Summer Which extream Heat is occasion'd by its Situation as lying near a high Mountain oppos'd to the South The Reverberation of which so furiously heats the place in the Dog-Days that it scalds again Besides there is one greater Inconvenience more troublesome and more dangerous which is the great number of Scorpions that infest those parts at all times especially when the Sun is in Scorpio Travellers are terribly threatned by 'em And yet for my part thanks be to God I never saw any in all the time that I pass'd through the Country Neither could I hear of any great Mischief that they had done It is said that Abas the Great 's Astrologers in the Year 1623. invented a Talisman to deliver the City from those Vermin since which time there has not appear'd so many as before But there is no Credit to be given to these idle stories no more then to that same other that if Travellers stopping at Cashan are but careful at their entrance into their Inns to speak these words Scorpious I am a Stranger meddle not with me no Scorpion will come near ' em For these are meet Tales However certain it is that their sting is very dangerous And therefore it has given occasion to an Imprecation frequently in the Mouths of the Persians May the Scorpions of Cashan sting thy Golls However there is no Body but has by him several soveraign Remedies against the sting of this Creature This City lies in 35. deg 35. min. of Lat. and 86. deg of Longitude Cattel and wild Fowl are not very plentiful in those parts but it abounds in Corn and Fruits They carry from thence to Ispahan the first Melons and Water-Melons which are eaten in that City which they furnish with vast numbers as long as the season for Fruit endures Several European Authors hold Cashan to be same place which the Ancient Greek Authors call Ambrodux or else that which was call'd Ctesiphon of the Country of the Parthians The Persian Historiansaver that it owes its Restauration to Zebd-leca-ton the Wife of Haron-Reshid Califf of Bagdat They observe moreover that this Princess was a Virgin when she first began to build the City and that for that reason she laid the first Stone when the Sun enter'd Virgo She gave it the name of Casan in honour of Casan her Grand-father the Grand-child of Haly who di'd and was enterr'd in that Place of which there happened some alteration afterwards through the error of poining For it is well known to people versed in the Eastern Languages that such a mistake so easily committed changes the letter S into that which is call'd Shin Tamerlan being become Master of this City spar'd it in a Humour as they say when he had destroy'd almost all the other Cities of Persia It is call'd by another name Darel-mou-menin or the Habitation of the Faithful either because the Descendants from Aly and his first Followers made it a Sanctuary and Retreat during the Persecutions of the Califfs who would not embrace his Opinions but held a contrary belief or else because a great number of the Descendants of that Califf lie there enterr'd
notice of the Dismal Accident they assembled together to consider who the Person was whom Heaven had Elected to succeed the King Whereupon with an unanimous consent they had as soon named Him and caused his most Excellent Person to be acknowledged Lord of Kingdoms of vast Extent and only capable to supply the Throne of the Immortal Succession of Prince of the World Upon which they had put up their most ardent Prayers that God would be pleased to surround him with Glory and to prepare for him Triumphs worthy the high Honour to which he had called him Protesting at his Feet that they were his most humble and most obedient Slaves That to establish his most Magnificent and most Glorious Person in the Throne which resembled the Celestial they had deputed one of their Members the General of the Musquetteers to deliver him their most humble and miserable Letter who was accompanied with several other Persons elected to express by word of mouth in the name of the whole Assembly their Submissions and Vassalage and then to supply the places of the most humble Slaves of the Throne which is the true Seat of the Kalibat or Pontificate in the great Solemnity of his Coronation to be performed by the Imposition of the Sacred Imamic Tiara or Prophetick Tiara That the Body of his thrice Illustrious Father whose place is in Paradise whose bright shining Glory God encrease should be conducted to the City of Kachaan and that with the rest of the Court they who had taken the boldness to write these Presents would expect the most firm Orders which his Majesty would be pleased to send them as well for the Place of his Burial and for such other Duties to which their Vassalage of indispensable necessity engaged them This was the substance of the Persian Letter of which we have expressed the Stile and imitated the Strain as near as our Language would permit Moreover upon the Back and the lowermost Fold was set the Seal of the Prime Minister according to Custom The next day the General of the Musquetteers and the other Eleven Persons departed and made all the hast that possibly they could Yet not so fast as they could have desired or as Occasions of that nature required For considering the vast number that rode Post altogether it was not to be expected they should meet with change of Horses beside the danger of breaking or endamaging the Jewels by a violent Motion was a thing which the Officers of the Treasury were much affraid of Thus they travel the hundred and twelve Persian Leagues which make a hundred and forty French between Kosroesabaad and Ispahan where they arrived the seventh day after they set out upon a Saturday Which was the third of the Moon called Gumadi-el-avel which answers to our second of October according to the Computation known among us about seven of the Clock in the Evening at what time the Merchants and Tradesmen in the Bazars and Piazzas shut up their Shops and every body goes to his own home Some persons of Quality observing this numerous Troop that came Post and knowing the general of the Slaves at the head of them and the rest of the Commons which they had seen at Court believed that they rode before and were come to prepare all things ready in the Kings Palace by his Order for the Reception of his Majesty whose Return that City had long expected with great impatience Thereupon they enquired of the General as he passed by and of several others that followed him who made answer that his Majesty was at hand and in a little time would appear in the City Which equivocation was true and yet concealed the Secret which he had in Charge This numerous Train of Lords being arrived in the great Square before the Royal Palace alighted with all their Retinue at the principal Gate of that Magnificent Pile which they call Hali-Kapi or Haly's Gate or by another interpretation the High-Gate There they all Stopped except the General of the Slaves and the Prime Ministers Deputy For they too as soon as they were alighted went directly to the second Gate opposite in a direct line at some distance to the other as we shall shew in our Discription of Ispahan which second Gate is the Principal Gate of the Womens Apartment and is called the Sacred Gate Through that Gate it was that those two Lords went to the first Apartment without appointed for the White Eunuchs Eunuchs which in truth are posted there to Guard the Place where the Women are inclosed but never enter into it but upon some extraordinary and urgent Occasion There the general of the Musquetteers made known his Quality to the White Eunuch who came to receive him and desired to go and desire the Aga Nazir that he would be pleased to come forth with speed for his business would admit of no delay We have already observed that this Aga-Nazir had been entrusted by the Deceased King in his Life time with the Guardianship of Sephie-Mirza afterwards Elected Monarch and with the general Oversight of the Womens Palace which obliged him to take all the care imaginable of this Apartment which is as it were a Corps du Guard where the White Eunuchs are lodged that watch the entrance into the Womens Apartment However he hath a Magnificent Palace in the City but then he hapned to be attending on his Duty in the Palace He therefore understanding that a Lord of that high Quality desired to speak with him presently went forth to know what Commands he brought So soon as he appeared the General Musquetteers advanced alone to meet him while the Prime Ministers Deputy out of respect kept a distance behind The General having drawn the Eunuch aside whispered some words in his Ear which were never known what they were or at least I could never certainly learn what they were Some affirm that he discovered to him the Death of Habas and the Election of the Eldest Son of that Monarch whose Governour that Eunuch was Which he was forced to do because he had no Orders in writing from the King nor could have in regard he was Dead And yet this is always observed when any Grandee dispatched from the Court demands any person within to be let out he shews his Command to the Governour of the Place Others alledge that he said nothing to him of that weighty Affair for that it would have cost him his Head had he declared it to any other before he had declared it to the King However it were if he did make any discovery it was in few words For immediately those two Lords the General of the Musquetteers and the Seeing Eunuch went forward to the other more remote Apartment which joyns immediately to the last Entrance into the Apartment When they came to that Apartment where lie the Black Eunuchs who have Liberty to go up and down the inner House where the Women are lodged one of the Chief among them
the People dancing before with their Instruments of Musick and the horses being cover'd with Housses and gingling an infinite number of little Bells which together with the Acclamations of the Rabble made a strange confused and yet pleasing noise Some Villages there were that mutiny'd and refus'd to send in their Corn but the punishment of the Inhabitants of Ispahanimcha strook a terrour into the rest For the General had sent to this Place being a great Town consisting of four thousand Houses two Leagues distant from Ispahan one of his Officers with a Command from the King to send at the set Price two hundred Sacks of Meal to the Capital City for their present necessity The Townsmen made answer 't was nothing to them if there were such a Famine in the City for that they had paid all their duties and Impositions for the last Harvest that they had something else to do then to send their Corn and their Meal to Ispahan Market and that those that wanted might come to them for that they were not bound to sell but in their own Town Thereupon the Officer remonstrated to the Principal of the Village that it was the Kings pleasure and shew'd 'em the Kings Warrant which he had in his hands to which their answer not being with that becoming reverence which became 'em the Officer laid his hand upon his Sword thinking to have frighted 'em into obedience But the Country fellows not understanding his hard words fell upon the Officer beat him almost blind and tore the Kings Command crying out 't was a Cheat and Counterfeit The General highly offended at this Insolence of the Countrymen gave the King an account of it who order'd him to inflict such punishment as the Offence deserv'd Upon which he sent two hundred of his Guards who Drubb'd to excess the Principal of the Ringleaders He also set a Fine upon their heads of a hundred thousand Crowns which was mitigated to a third part tho after many Petitions and Submissions with a Present to the General of a thousand Pistols which was all paid down upon the nail At the same time the General also found a way to revenge himself upon the Armenians for refusing him a kindness which he ask'd 'em making use for his pretence of this Commission which the King had given him to furnish Ispahan with Corn. These Armenians are Christians born in Ispahan so call'd because they are originally Natives of Armenia from whence Habas the Great transplanted 'em into the heart of the Kingdom At present their principal Colony is without the Walls of the Capital City in a place adjoyning separated from the City only by the River the Persians also call 'em as we do Armeni for the same reason They also call the two Armenia's the one Armen the Great and the other Armen the Less Now Hali-Kouli-Kaan at his first coming to Court being in want of money to put himself into an Equipage and to go forward with his Buildings and not knowing where to have it one day that some of the Armenians came to him about business demanded of 'em which were accounted the most wealthy of all their Country-Folks Upon which they nam'd him five or six and among the rest Koga Zachara The General remember'd his name and two days after when another Armenian came to present him some Petition or other he ask'd him whether he knew the Merchant Zachara who making answer that he did the General bid him go and seek for him Now the Armenian little thought that the General had meant the rich Merchant which the former had mention'd but another of the same name who with his two Brothers manag'd the Kings Money and had always considerable Sums i' their hands to purchase in Foreign Countries such Curiosities of value which might please the King This latter therefore the Armenian fetch'd And the General believing him to be the Merchant Zachara caus'd him to sit down by him for two hours together and receiv'd him so civilly as to make him stay and dine with him After Dinner Koga-Zachara said the General canst not thou do me the kindness to lend me two hundred Tomans which are about a thousand Pistols I expect in a short time considerable Sums of Money and then I will repay thee with Interest and upon any occasion thou shalt see I know how to be grateful to those that oblige me To which the Armenian repli'd Not only two hundred but two thousand Tomans if your Lordship pleases This answer pleas'd the General insomuch that he shew'd himself highly satisfi'd and ask'd him if he could not send him in the money the same day To which the Armenian understanding what he had to do repli'd Sir said he the money shall be sent in when you please to command it but I must beg the favour first to give me the liberty to speak one word We are two Brothers and my self his Majesties Factors the one is in the Indies the other in Europe as for my self I reside here as you see all the Money that we turn and wind is the Kings and then it will be requisite that the Receipt which you give me should be seal'd with the Kings Signet and then you may have the Sum you desire The General then saw he was mistaken for he could not meddle with the King's Money and chafing in his mind dismiss'd the Merchant believing the Armenians had nam'd this person to him on purpose to baffle his request by putting him to desire a kindness of the King's Factor of whom it was not proper for him to borrow Money However it was only an Error caus'd by the mistake of the Person where there were two of a name For in regard that the Armenians are only call'd by the Proper names which they receive in Baptism never using any Sirnames it happens that there are several persons that go by one and the same Name However the General resolv'd to try once more and two days after he found an opportunity to make a second Request For the Keloanter or chief and sole Governour of the Armenians and who has therefore that Title given him which signifies Greatest having made some Presents to the King for which his Majesty sent him a Royal Habit put it on and being attended by the most considerable persons of his Nation went to return his humble Thanks to the King and to kiss his feet After that according to custom he goes with all his Company to pay his Visits to the Grandees of the Court and to return 'em his Thanks for having contributed to the Honour done him to have the Royal Vest bestow'd upon him When he came to the Generals House the Grandee caus'd him and all his Company to sit down and after the usual Complements he desired 'em to lend him two hundred Tomans assuring 'em that he would repay 'em again with Interest and be their Protector upon all occasions at Court But they who knew how usual a thing it
aim Presently several of the Officers ran with the news to the Armenians in the Gate but blinded by their Destiny instead of going home they thought it had been a snare only to draw 'em thence and arrest 'em when they had got 'em out of the Sanctuary so that they would not stir till they saw the King's Grace confirm'd under his Seal With this Resolve of theirs the same Officers return'd to the King but then the General finding his opportunity Sir said he had I not reason to represent to your Majesty as I did that the Armenians were a company of Dogs a rebellious sort of people that submit to your Majesty more for fear then force Does not your Majesty see that they despise your Royal Word Refusing to relie upon it or to obey your Orders But they would force your Majesty to give 'em in writing what your sacred Lips have pronounc'd Was ever such a matchless piece of Impudence ever heard of Thou speakâ—st reason repli'd the Prince they deserve my displeasure and to be punish'd Send and let their Guts be ripp'd up They are Dogs Upon these words the Officers were ready to execute the Monarchs Sentence but the General made 'em a sign to stay a little For besides that he had no design upon their Lives but only upon their Purses he consider'd that such a bloudy Execution and the loss of so many industrious and understanding Merchants would be very prejudicial to the Kingdom and therefore falling upon his Knees and imploring his Majesties Pardon in behalf of those miserable Creatures Sir said he they are unworthy your Majesties displeasure Let 'em live it will be a sufficient punishment to bleed their Purses of a round Sum of Money Well then said the King let their Fine be four times the value of the Meal which was demanded of ' em Which came to fifteen thousand pound sterling Immediately contrary to any president that had ever been seen in Persia the Armenians were hurri'd from their Sanctuary which till then had bene always held inviolable and committed into the hands of their Enemy who sent 'em prisoners to a fair Palace formerly belonging to the Mir-aab or the Prince of the Waters where they had order to remain till they had paid their full Fine This Imprisonment made 'em look about 'em so that they petition'd the General the same day for their Release and that in acknowledgment of his favour they would give him the two hundred Tomans which he had formerly desir'd to borrow and that for their Fine they would summon the whole Town of Julfa and cause a Contribution to be made for raising the Sum impos'd for that as for themselves they were not able to pay it How cri'd the General Dogs as they are do they think the Sum impos'd is to be paid by any other then themselves Do they imagine that they who are rich shall be exempt from the Burthen for the Poor to pay it They talk of making the Burrough contribute but 't is his Majesties pleasure that the Rich shall pay and not the poor Mechanicks and such as have no Trade The Merchants alone are able to pay a Fine of fifteen thousand pounds and therefore no more words nor no more contending unless they intend to have this Fine doubl'd Nevertheless the Armenians persisted to plead their want of Money and that it was impossible for 'em to raise such a Sum. But at length there were two Indians who whether out of their own good Nature or whether it were at the request of the Armenians who went to the General and offer'd to advance the said Sum of fifteen thousand pounds for the Armenians provided they would engage to repay it with Interest to which they agreed and so the business was concluded in four days and all the rest were releas'd but only the Governour who remained a Prisoner still for some Weeks till the whole Sum was fully paid that is to say four thousand Tomans for the King and five hundred to the General of the Army which make some eighteen thousand pounds And thus you see what these People got by being wedded so stiffly to their own Interests for refusing the crafty old General the thousand Crowns which was all at first by him desir'd This Fine so considerable was not paid neither by all the Armenians but by those only who are call'd Giculfali And here for his better Information the Reader is to understand that Giulfa which is a part of the Suburbs of Ispahan is inhabited altogether by Christians that came out of Armenia tho not at all from one part and therefore they are divided into two sorts of Colonies Of which the Principal is the Colony of the Giulfali so call'd as being once the Inhabitants of Jiulfa a small Town in Armenia built upon the Banks of Araxis who built this Burrough when they were transplanted to Ispahan and gave it the name of their former Habitation Since and in these latter times the other Armenians being constrain'd to remove from the Village where they had before seated themselves at one end of Ispahan came and settl'd at the end of this new Town adding new buildings to it which make four distinct Quarters the one call'd the Quarter of the Hirvanli the other of the Nakshivanli as being Peopl'd by the Native Inhabitants of two Cities in Armenia Nackchivan and Hirvan The other two are call'd Shams-abadi Sheik-Sabani in regard that they who inhabit 'em formerly liv'd in the two Suburbs of Ispahan Shams-abad or the Habitation of the Sun and Sheik-Sabana the Habitation of the Ancient Mason Now this Fine of eighteen thousand pounds was only paid by the first the rest against whom the General had no such Antipathy were discharg'd all together from the Imposition of Meal only for fifteen thousands pounds weight The Guebres who are the ancient Persians or Fire Worshippers and who live at the farthest end of the Town were wholly discharged upon their pleading Poverty it being well known that they were a miserable sort of People and under great distress The General of the Army within a small while after caus'd a Fine of thirty thousand pounds to be paid to his Majesty and indeed upon a much more rational and juster score by the Multani who are a sort of Indian Banians so call'd from Multan one of the chief Cities of India and the first that lies next to Persia toward Kaud-Dar because the first that frequented Persia came from that City Now two of these Indians had Intelligence several years since with the Ministers of the Indian King and serv'd him as Spies at Ispahan to give him private intelligence of all the Affairs and Intrigues of the Persian Court and Kingdom nor did they fail to write upon all opportunities and at that time taking hold of the opportunity of the Caravan which in the Spring time goes to the Indies they sent Letters by that Caravan among other things that Aureng-Zeb for that was the
a foot long and tho threescore and ten years of Age he never us'd Spectacles and all his other Senses equally as vigorous as his sight He perform'd his Exercises as duly as the young men nor was he inferiour to any other person whatsoever in handling his Bow his Sword and other Weapons which made him always to be look'd upon as a brave Souldier but the more Intelligent sort never believ'd him a good Captain looking upon him to be fitter for Counsel then Execution He was endu'd with a mixture of Qualities that rarely meet together on the one side haughty and Cholerick on the other subtle and a deep dissembler he knew the proper season to shew the violence of his Revenge and how to take his Measures to the ruine of his Competitors He could not endure to be contradicted and it was the misfortune and the greatest trouble in the World to his Servants that when he ask'd for any thing it was a crime to tell him it was not to be had for without reply they must either put a force upon the very Seasons of the Year and Fortune her self to satisfie him or else expect to have their bones broken with Bastinadoes Setting that humour aside he was affable enough especially to strangers to them he was easie of access and readily granted 'em the favours which they requested He could neither write nor read in any other Language then his own Natural Georgian He was a lover of Sciences tho he understood 'em not He was very much addicted to Predictions and Fortune-telling And out of an extraordinary want of judgment gave more credit to a Prognostication then to sound Reason The same day he di'd he was laid in a Mosque close by his Palace from whence some few days after he was carri'd to Metshed there to be interr'd under the protection of that great Mahometan Saint who formerly had liv'd there and made choice of that place for his Sepulchre It is a thing which we may well wonder at were it not a thing frequent among us in regard these sudden alterations are to be seen as well in our own as in the Eastern Courts For as soon as his dead body was carri'd out of his Palace about six hours after he had giv'n up the Ghost that very House which the day before could hardly contain the Croud that resorted to it was so wholly deserted that there was hardly one of all that numerous Family that environ'd him while alive left to tell a man what was become of their Master His death caus'd a great alteration at Court tho no body was troubl'd at it but the King who had a particular kindness for him But there were an infinite number that rejoyc'd at it especially they who having some share in the favour of which he depriv'd 'em the full Possession now hop'd to make more room for themselves So that the Grandees at Court began to take new Measures and in the midst of those delusions with which their Ambition flatter'd 'em every one fanci'd to himself more daring hopes The Death of this Person which did not a little afflict the King was accompanied with other Tidings no less unwelcome That the Kalmachs a fierce and untameable People had declar'd open War against Persia Whereupon the Governours of Ester-abaat which is the Eastern Hircania besought his Majesty to send 'em requisite Assistance And here it is necessary that we should say something concerning the People and the occasion of the War The Kalmac's derive their Name from Kalmack the principal City of the Country which they inhabit upon the Confines of the greater Tartary toward the Caspian Sea upon the East side Sometimes they are called Yusbeck-Kalmaki but for the most part no otherwise then barely Kalmac Now some years ago it hapn'd that a great number of Turkmans or Shepherds that wander together by thousands up and down the fields and live in Tents like Swallows changing their Habitations according to the Seasons got together upon their Frontiers between Orquenge and Esther-abaat and these People our Modern Autohrs call Tureomans which are properly Turks For these People and those that hold the Empire of Constantinople came at first from Turq-Estaan that is to say from those Provinces of Tartary which are very vast altho we have but little knowledge of ' em And this is also that Country which ought properly to be call'd Turkie and not the Provinces of Asia and Europe possess'd by the Ottomans For the Eastern People never call by that name the Inhabitants of those Provinces nor the Monarch that Commands 'em Great Turk And therefore it is an error of our Europeans in regard the People of Turkie acknowledge no such appellation deeming it Barbarous For that among them Turk signifies one that comes from those High-lands of Tartary let it be from what part it will The Persians therefore to define those Turkmans more distinctly call 'em Sara-Netshin Sara signifying a Plain or Down and Netshin those that abide there from the Verb Netshinen to rest or Repose So that Sara-Netshin signifies those that abide and repose in the Country Now ancient Historians and writers of Travels who understood not the Eastern Languages or at least had but a smattering understanding of 'em call these People Sarazens which word was never pronounc'd at first by a French-man who would surely have pronounc'd it Sarashins In regard French-men pronounce with less trouble the Shin of the Asiatics then some of their Neighbours especially the English who every where write it Zin But to make a true relation of a Country it is necessary that they who describe it should know the Language else they must commit a thousand errors not passable among persons of Judgment of which there needs no other proof then such Relations of Travels which we have seen printed in this Age Not to mention any other then those of Persia of which there are two which are indifferently tolerable Valle's and the Travels of Olearius though the first be full of faults which may be said to be Monstrous and the latter be not altogether exempt And yet they are better then the rest in regard those Authors understood the Persian Language and therefore it is my Opinion that whoever publishes his Travels and Observations of a Country of which he has not learnt the Speech shall never make any perfect and accomplish'd And this digression I did not think would be displeasing to the Curious But to return to our story this Colony of Turcmans was formerly Tributary to the Calmachs but about thirty years ago they took Sanctuary in Persia submitting under the Government of those Princes who commanded the Persian Empire to avoid the oppression of the Calmachs and to find out a less Barren Region and more proper to feed their Flocks During all which Interval of time the Calmachs had taken no notice of the Turcmans but in the year 1667. judging Persia to be in a weak condition under a young
Prince to the end they might have a pretence for a War they sent to demand Restitution of the Tribute which the Persian Monarch had receiv'd for thirty years together of the Turkman whom they alledg'd to be their Subjects So soon as their Commissioners were arriv'd at Esther-abaat which is the first considerable City of Persia on that side the Governor detain'd 'em and assur'd 'em he would both send to inform the Court of Persia concerning the occasion of their coming and give 'em an account of the answer back Immediately the Kings Council were all of opinion to reject with scorn a demand so affrontive to the Grandeur of the Empire Which Resolution was without doubt the most honourable and made most noise but not the wisest For the Calmachs no less highly offended when they understood the answer return'd came towards the end of the Campagne to the Frontiers that separate the two Dominions and there in a most solemn manner shot an Arrow into the Territories of the Persians which is the Signal they use in declaring open War against any of their Neighbours To which War what issue Heaven ordain'd we shall below make known All those Wars that threaten'd Persia in this same languishing and feeble condition wherein it was were the reason that the Court would not listen to the Propositions of the Basha of Basra vulgarly tho erroneously call'd Balzura a City seated at the mouth of the Persian Gulph wherein for several years together the said Basha had assum'd to himself a kind of Sovereign Dignity while he acknowledging no Supreme so well manag'd his affairs in the midst of those two Monarchs between whom he lay the Turk and Persian that the desire which both had to ruin him made for his preservation For when the Turk had a design to fall upon him he offer'd himself to the Persian at what time the Turk being unwilling that the Persian his Enemy should become Master of such a Territory and rather choosing that they should remain under Subjection to a Neuter Prince forbore to molest him and when the Persian summon'd him to give an account for breach of his promises with the same policy he threaten'd to surrender to the Turk And then the Persian fearing lest the Turk already two potent should enlarge his Empire by the addition of these Territories were unwilling to give him a disturbance so highly provoking and several of these tricks did the Basha play during the Reign of Habas II. After his decease the Turks desirous to take the opportunity of Sephie II. being come young and newly to the Crown to make an attempt upon Bas-ra in the same manner as thirty years before Sultan Mourad whom we call Murat took hold of the occasion Sephy I. being newly advanc'd to the Throne to Besiege Babylon so that altho he were then busied in the War of Candia he undertook that Conquest also and to that effect gave orders to the Bashas of Diarbekre Moussol Alep Merdin and other Governors on that side to march against Bas-ra every one with an embody'd Army of which he appointed the Basha of Bagdat or Babylon to be General Hossein-Basha for so was the petty Sovereign of Bas-ra call'd sends away into Persia to make the same Offer which he had already made so many times before to Habas II. But he was not in being and his Successor minded only his pleasures and had no inclination for War However the chief Ministers unwilling to discover the weakness of their present condition answer'd the Ambassadors that they had no encouragement to hearken to their Propositions after the Basha their Master had so frequently and so insolently baffled the Persian Monarchy That he had drawn his own misfortunes himself upon his own head and that his sufferings were no more then what he well deserv'd However the Basha nothing discourag'd for having miss'd the Succours which he expected on that side betook himself to another Stratagem and being a person that had heap'd a vast Treasure together by his Merchandize he now employs it to corrupt the Basha of Bagdat General of the Turkish Army and the rest of the Grand Officers Thereupon he treats with 'em upon condition of being Tributary for the future to the Grand Seignior to pay him every year a hundred thousand Crowns and to give him in ready Money two hundred thousand upon the naile some other conditions were likewise added of small importance and so the Siege being rais'd and the Basha sent his Son-in-law to Constantinople to have the Treaty ratifi'd which was all that happen'd in reference to this War in the year 1667. Toward the end of the same year arriv'd sad tidings at Ispahan from the Provinces adjoyning to the Caspian Sea that at Shirvan the Capital City of a Province of the same Name and which makes a part of Armenia the greater were Tefflis the Capital City of Georgia an Earthquake had overturn'd the greatest part of that City and ruin'd four Villages near adjoyning and and that above thirty thousand Persians had perish'd in the Ruines That in another City call'd Shama-Ki in the Province of the same name which is the Southern Media another Earthquake altogether as dreadful as the former had occasion'd the loss of twenty thousand Persons and swallow'd up three fourth parts of the City which two accidents had reduc'd those two Provinees to utter Desolation I do not believe there was any more then one person in the World that could rejoyce at these dismal tidings and that was Mirza-Ibraim already mention'd although as being Royal Farmer of the latter Province he ought to have been afflicted rather at his loss However he look'd upon the sad event with a joyful heart as being that which offer'd him more an opportunity to get rid of his troubles and persecutions which he sustain'd in the Court of Persia and to get out of Ispahan which he lookt upon as a kind of confinement or to speak more truly as his place of Torment nor did he neglect the opportunity but presented forthwith a Petition to the King and the Chief Ministers wherein he declar'd that Shamaky was dependent upon his imployment and therefore besought his Majesty that he might return thither to see what might be done to recover it out of its Ruins He back'd his Petition with several considerable Presents which he made to the chief Ministers and by that means obtain'd a Grant of his desires And thus did that unfortunate Lord delay for a time the bad effects of his unfortunate Ambition Certain it is that for six months that he staid at Court the King and Prime Ministers under various pretences got from him above sixty thousand Tomans which amount to two hundred and fifty thousand pounds and all the while they contemn'd him as a Cully and a Person of no value Infamy attended him every where and not only the Grandees but persons of ordinary condition took delight to make sport with him as if he had been
Grandees pay thee there is nothing that I should take thee for less than the King of Persia By the name of God does it become thee to run a rambling over these Mountains with a Covey of Women and at the same time cause the Lords of thy Kingdom to have their bones broken with ignominious Bastinadoes The King heard this Reprimand without seeming to be any way disturb'd only in a careless manner order'd an addition of Bastinadoes to be given him besides those of which he already complain'd Upon which Generous and Couragious as he was losing all manner of Patience he draws his Sword and throwing himself at the Kings feet Let 'em said he Bastinado me again here is my Sword to punish my self your Majesty may do with me what you please and put me to what Torments you think fit but if a Person of my Quality must be subject to Bastinadoes what must a poor Kest-Bash expect for so they call the Souldiers that compose the Persian Militia The Monarch pleased with this generous Repartee would neither Sentence him to Death as he deserv'd by the Laws of the Kingdom nor to the Cudgel but only Banish'd him to Casbin But he was joyfully surpris'd when he receiv'd the Patent for a Government which not only restor'd him to his Liberty but at the same time conferr'd upon him one of the most important employments in the Kingdom I confess I know not what may be thought of such Politicks as these as hunt in Jails for men of Merit to advance the disoblig'd by long Imprisonment to the most considerable places of Trust in the Kingdom and to commit to his care a Province and strong Hold which on that side the Country may be said to be the Key of the Kingdom Of necessity the King must be strangely assur'd of the fidelity of his Subjects For there is no question to be made but that if a Governor of Kandaar will call in the Indian and sell him that Place but that he may have several Millions of Money for his Service and have what advancement he pleases himself in that Empire as is apparent by one Example in the time of Sephi I. During these Revolutions in the Court of Persia four Commissioners arriv'd from the Muscovite Cosaques who but two Months before had made a most furious Inrode into Persia on that side where Hyrcania lies upon the Shore of the Caspian Sea But before we speak of the Invasion it will be necessary to tell the Reason In the year 1664. according to our account there arriv'd at Ispahan a famous Embassie from Muscovie wherein two Embassadors were concern'd with a Train of about eight hundred Men and the Presents which they made the King were valu'd by appraisment at five thousand Tomans or seventeen thousand five hundred pounds Sterling They consisted of two Coaches enrich'd with most sumptuous Embroideries Flanders Horses and Beasts of their own Country as black Foxes white Bears and Doynes But the chiefest wealth of the Present lay in the prodigious quantity of Sables which the Persians call Samur These Embassadors as it was believ'd came only to Traffick and to have permission by vertue of their Title of Embassadors to import and export what Goods they pleas'd without paying Custom And indeed 't was thought that they sold in Sables only at Ispahan as many as came to 280000 l. Ster by which you may judge of the rest Nevertheless the King of Persia entertain'd 'em very civilly at first and allow'd 'em their expences which was tax'd at ten Tomans or 35 l. Sterling per day which they rather chose to take in Money than in Victuals to the end they might lay up the best part To which purpose they liv'd most wretchedly and in the Magnificent Palace which the King had assign'd 'em they laid their tails among the Costly Moveables wherewith it was furnish'd like so many Dogs For which reason the Persians look'd upon the Moscovites as the most paltry narrow-soul'd and infamous among all the Christians and in derision call 'em the Yusbeks of Europe thereby expressing the small esteem they have of 'em for the Yusbeks are the most abject People of all the East The King therefore disdaining the Infamy of these Ambassadors and seeing that indeed they were sent by their Master for no other reason then to Traffick to sell their Furs and other Commodities and to carry away Stuffs Leather and other such like Merchandizes out of Persia but especially Mony abus'd 'em at length and made little account of ' em One of 'em dy'd and the other return'd home with his tatter'd Train without any honour shewn him or hardly any answer given him The Grand Duke highly resented this Affront but dissembl'd his Choler for the present in regard he durst not meddle with Habas but understanding at the beginning of the Year 1665. that he was dead and that the Scepter of Persia was fall'n into the Hands of a Young Prince he resolv'd to take his revenge tho he were unwilling to enter into open and declar'd Hostility and therefore that he might strike and not be seen he incites and encourages the Cossacks next adjoyning to the black Sea orders 'em to march along the Lake Moeotis and so to fall into Persia upon Hircania side with this Caution that they should take care how they mention'd him or acknowledg'd that they had any Correspondence with him but only that they had undertaken the Enterprize upon their own Heads which is no more than what was reported and believ'd at the Court of Persia The Cossacks were easily persuaded and therefore embarking to the number of six thousand in forty large Barques such as use the Caspian Sea which are long and broad Vessels but shallow built to avoid the Rocks that lie two or three foot under water and in each Barque carrying two Pieces of Cannon they cast Anchor first near Ereck a small City upon the Borders of Guilan or Hircania where they landed to the number of four thousand and finding the Place without Soldiers and the Inhabitants no way prepar'd for defence they pillage and plunder it and after a great slaughter of both Sexes retreat in great hast with all their Booty to their Vessels that lay out at Sea as far as they could for fear of being discover'd Moreover for the more crafty management of their Game they sent four of their chief Heads in the Nature of Embassadours with Letters of Credence to the Court and the Governour of Shamaky order'd his People to convey 'em to Ispahan where they arriv'd soon after the news of their Irruption They were civilly entertain'd a Lodging was assign'd 'em and their Expences defray'd as is usual for other Embassadours Soon after they demanded Audience of the King but that was deni'd 'em because they were not of sufficient Quality to claim that Honour However it was concluded that the Prime Minister should grant 'em Audience which they accepted There they set forth
is to be done they give Notice to the Deputies of the Nation who are Two Persons appointed to Act in the Name of the rest These Deputies examine and debate with the Ambassador or the Consul What is fit to be given What Journeys are necessary to be made to the Port and what is there to be transacted Not but that the Ambassador or Consul may not Act of themselves but they observe that method to acquit and justifie themselves and sometimes upon Emergent and Extraordinary Affairs they assemble the whole Body of the Nation So soon as they are come to a Result the Deputies give Notice to the Treasurer to provide what is necessary whether it be Money Toys or Curiosities This Treasurer also is setl'd by the Company and provides Money for every thing discharges punctually all manner of Charges and Expences and pays exactly the Wages of every Officer Thus the Ambassador and Consuls have no more to do but only to mind the Security of the English Nation and the good of Trade without being incumber'd and diverted by their own Interests There are also many other excellent Regulations and Orders for the support of their Trade in the Levant by which means they carry it on with Honour and Profit beyond any of their Neighbors The Hollanders also drive a great Trade at Smyrna and more then any other Nation of Europe but they have little to do elsewhere all their Dealing in all the rest of the Cities in the Levant amounting to little or nothing Their principal Profit consists in carrying the Armenians and their Goods into Europe and carrying 'em back again They also make great Advantage of their Money of which Turkie is very full This Money of theirs is made of base Mettle and notoriously intermix'd with Counterfeit pieces It chiefly consists of Crowns Half-Crowns Testons or Eighteen-penny pieces and pieces of Fifteen Sous The Crowns and Half-Crowns for the most part carry the Dutch Stamp Which the Turks therefore call Aslani that is to say Lyons in regard of their being mark'd on both sides with the Figure of a Lyon The Arabians either out of Ignorance or otherwise mistaking the Lyon for a Dog give em the Name of Abou-Kelb or Dogs The Quarter-Pieces are almost all Counterfeit or at Best but Half Silver However the Turks are so void of Judgment and Understanding that they esteem this Mony beyond that of Spain which they call Marsillies by reason that the Merchants of Marseilles first brought it in great Quantities into Turkie The States maintain a Resident at the Port with an Allowance of Four Thousand Crowns a Year Which Resident has besides the one Moyety of the Revenue of the Dutch Consulships in the Levant which sometimes amounts to a considerable Sum there being one Dutch Consul at Smyrna who got Fifty Thousand Crowns by Duties When I arriv'd there it happend that there was a great Quarrel between the Consul and the Merchants For he accus'd them for Cheats Appealing to their own Books for the truth of his Affirmation and desir'd they might be view'd to which the Merchants would by no means give their consent The Resident not daring to determine this Difference both Parties referr'd themselves to the States But at last for fear the coming of the Convoy should occasion farther disturbances the Merchants and the Consul agreed the Duties of the Consulship at Ten Thousand Five Hundred Crowns for all that the Convoy brought in and Shipt off The French are very numerous in Smyrna and over all the Levant there not being a Port of Turkie upon the Mediterranean Sea wherein there are not several They are for the most part all Provençalls But the Trade which they drive is so inconsiderable that one Merchant in each Place might dispatch all the Business At Smyrna for example there are above a Hundred Merchants and yet the Truth is that in some Years the Effects that came out of France consign'd to all those Merchants did not amount to above Four Hundred Thousand Livres and there are many that have not above Five Hundred Crowns Stock Besides that they agree but very badly together as being a sort of people that Love to harbour Division and Contention one among another So that it is no wonder if their Trade decrease and turn to loss rather then profit For they who better understand the Nature and Maxims of Trade affirm That that same Dis-union is the Thing which ruins'em in the Levant so that if we should compare the present with the former Trade which they drove we should find it more miserable and pitiful then ever They add moreover that the Provençalls have formerly had in Turkie those fortunate Chances and Luckie Opportunities that it is highly to be wonder'd that they did not fill their Country with Wealth in that happy Conjuncture One of those Lucky Seasons began about the Year 1656 and lasted Thirteen Years during which time they drove a Trade by which they gain'd Fourscore and Ninety per. Cent. This Trade which was really and truly a great piece of Knavery consisted in these Five-Sous-Pieces that have made such a Noise For the Turks took the first that were brought at Ten Sous apiece At which rate they held up for some time tho afterwards they fell to Seven Sous and a half There was no other Mony Stirring All Turkie was full of it neither was there any other Mony to be had for that the French carri'd all the other Money away This good Fortune so intoxicated their Senses that not content with such great Gains they still thirsted after more and to that purpose they set themselves to alter their own pieces of Five Sons and made others of the same sort but of base Mettle which they Coin'd first at Dombes then at Orange and afterwards at Avignon More then this they Stampt far worse at Monaco and Florence And lastly they made more of the same Stamp in the remote Castles belonging to the State of Genoa and other private places which were only Copper plated over The Merchants of Marseilles to utter this Money brought down the price themselves and put off their Pieces in payment and to the Mony-Changers at a lower Rate then the Current Value The Turks were a long time before they perceiv'd the Cheat that was put upon 'em though so palpable and of so great a Consequence but so soon as they found it out they were so incens'd that they laid most heavy Impositions upon the French using 'em no better then Counterfeiters of Money though the Dutch and Genoeses had a hand in it as well as they Thereupon they forbid 'em to utter any of those Pieces which they call'd Timmins but such as were stamp'd with the real Arms of France which they also brought down and put at Five Sous apiece So that all the European Merchants except the English were loaded at that time with great Quantities of those Timmins Their Warehouses were full whole Ships Loadings of
faigning a kind of surprise And what said he Are those Gentlemen still here Which was as much as to say They might go where they Pleas'd as it appear'd by the discharge of the Son which was order'd forthwith And so both the one and the other return'd to Constantinople without so much as seeing the Vizier's Face When it was known in France how unkindly the Grand Vizier has us'd Monsieur de la Haye the Cardinal dispatch'd a Gentleman to the Prime Minister to prevent the ill Consequences of such Proceedings Cuperly whose Malice augmented through desire of revenge as one that mortally hated the two Monsieurs de la Haye would fain have sent them back and oblig'd the Gentleman to have tak'n upon him the Title of Ambassador in their Room engaging to interpose so effectually that the Alteration should be approv'd in France But the Gentleman would not hear of that Proposition by any means excusing himself fairly and genteelly And it is moreover reported that he highly pleas'd the Vizier's Humor in all their Transacting together I am sorry I know not his Name which would have been an Honour to this Relation The Accompt which the Gentleman gave of his Negotiation caus'd Monsieur de la Haye to be recall'd However there was not any one sent to succeed him only he had orders to leave in his Place as Resident a French Merchant that had liv'd for several Years in Constantinople whose Name was Monsieur Rokely Nor had France any other Minister in those parts till the end of the Year 1665. The King who had then tak'n the Government into his own Hands and Rul'd with no less Renown then Success had already sufficiently reveng'd himself for the Affronts offer'd to the Family of his Ambassador and for the heavy Fines and Impositions laid upon his Subjects in Turkie by lending powerful Succours to the Enemies of the Ottoman Empire All which did but heighten the bad Understanding which was between the Two Empires and Things were arriv'd to that Point that there must either be an absolute Breach or a New Alliance The Importance of the Levant Trade advis'd the latter so that the King resolv'd to send an Ambassador to Constantinople to renew the Articles of Peace Monsieur de la Haye was then at Paris solliciting for Imployment and several Arrears due to him as Heir to his Father who had been dead in that City some years before Now in regard he understood better then any other Person the Gains and Advantages of a Constantinopolitan Embassie together with the Splendor and Authority that belongs to it he made great Friends for the Place and to remove all Opposition and Obstructions in his way he offer'd to quit all his Arrears to the Chief Minister Thereupon his Friends at Court alledg'd His great Experience in the Affairs of Turkie and that his Courage and Resolution was such as was requisite for an Embassie to the Ottoman Port. On the other side that it was for the King's Honour to send him thither were it only to humble the Grand Vizier who must now be constrain'd to honour that very Person whom his Father had abus'd and hated Meaning Cuperly Mahamed Pacha who dy'd in the Year 1662. after he had setl'd his Son in his Room Nor can I tell how this Counsel as bad as it was came to be embrac'd unless it were in prosecution of that Design which the Court always had to bring the Turks to a Compliance by force The Event of Affairs will shew that there was something of that Nature in the Management of this Business Monsieur de la Haye arriv'd at Constantinople in the Month of November 1665. He also made a Magnificent Entry and behav'd himself for five Years together that he continu'd Ambassador with as much State as could be expected from a Resolute Minister and one that bore the Character of an Ambassador from a Potent and Formidable Prince He discours'd of nothing in the Visits that he made to the Ministers of the Divan but of the Grandeur of the King his Master and the Invincible Strength of his Armies This offended the Vizier extreamly who lookt upon it as an Affront done to him and the Grand Signior even in his own Court and this Forestallment of his Honour caus'd him to treat the Ambassador with disdain and contempt So that when he gave him Audience he receiv'd him with that pride and scorn which was unsufferable not vouchsafing so much as to look upon him or to rise from his Seat according to the ancient Custom and the usual practice at the Reception of Ambassadors either from the Emperor or any other Crowned Heads And not content with that he upbraided him in bitter Language with the Succours which France had sent into Hungary and Candy and the Enterprise of Gigery Monsieur de la Haye dissembl'd his Resentment believing that when he took his leave the Vizier would shew him more Civility but he was deceiv'd for the Vizier dismiss'd him with the same Indifferency wherewith he had receiv'd him The Ambassador reflecting upon the Affront which the Vizier had done him at that Audience sent to him to demand another upon Condition that he should receive him standing and forbear any farther Reproaches The Raisquitab who is the High-Chancellor of the Empire and the Vizier's Kiaia or Chief Controller of his Houshold answer'd the Interpreter That he might assure his Master the Vizier would receive him as became him Thereupon the Ambassador relying upon a promise that indeed carry'd with it a manifest Equivocation went to his Audience but his Reception was nothing different from what it was before Which disgusted Monsieur de la Haye to that degree that he told the Vizier That the Emperor of France having sent him to the Port to Confirm the League of Amity between the two Princes he would not take the Audience which he had giv'n him for an Audience because he had not paid him those Honours which were due to the Ambassador of the Greatest and most Potent Monarch in Christendom Moreover he declar'd That he had Order to give him up the Articles of Peace and return into France in the same Vessel that had brought him if he did not treat him answerably to the Grandeur of his Master Which so incens'd the Vizier that he fell into a passion and vented his Choler in reviling and reproachful terms On the other side the Ambassador was so highly provok'd that snatching the Articles of Peace out of the Interpreters Hands he threw 'em at the Knees of the Haughty Minister and rising from his Seat flung out of the Room without speaking a word or vouchsafing to tarry for an Answer But he was stopp'd at the Door of the Anti-Chamber at what time the Vizier sent for the Mufti Vani Effendi the Signior's Tutor and the Captain Basha to deliberate what was to be done in an Accident of such Importance as this The Result was That they should inform the
was a signal that there were people come to sell either Slaves or other Merchandize Upon which they sent away their Long-Boat into which they who had a desire to come to the Vessel put themselves and their Wares and being brought aboard drove the Bargains as they could agree And indeed the War in Mingrelia was very favourable to our Merchants for the Abca's brought 'em all their Plunder and Booty to sell Among the rest there came one day to our Vessel an Abca of Quality having a Train of seven or eight Men at his Heels who seem'd to be the arrantest Rakehels in the World He brought three Slaves and his Men were loaden with Booty and among other Things they had got a Frame of an Idol all of Silver I caus'd 'em to be ask'd Where the Idol it self was To which they answer'd That they had left it in the Church not daring to carry it away for fear it should have kill'd ' em Our Vessel had Forty Slaves when I left it which the Turkish and Christian Merchants had bought for Arms Houshold-stuff and other Commodities They gave 'em what they pleas'd themselves and reck'nd twice as much as the Goods cost ' em They gave no more then Fifteen Crowns for Men from Twenty Five to Forty Years of Age and Eight or Ten for those that were older Handsom Maids from Thirteen to Eighteen were sold for Twenty Crowns others for less Women for Twelve and Childern for Three or Four A Greek Merchant that lay in a Cabin next to mine bought a Woman and a Child at her Breast She had incomparable Features in her Face and a truly Lilly-white Complexion and indeed I never saw more lovely Nipples and a rounder Neck nor a smoother Skin which created at the same time both Envy and Compassion So that I could not chuse but cast a mournful Look upon her saying this to my self Unfortunate Beauty neither would I envy or compassionate thee were I in another Condition and that I did not find my self just upon the Brink of Danger threaten'd with the greatest Miseries imaginable if there can be a greater Misery then that of Slavery But that which surpriz'd me was this That these miserable Creatures were no way cast down nor did they seem sensible of the misery of their Condition At length when they had bought 'em their Masters took from them the Rags that cover'd 'em clad 'em with Linnen and new Habits and set 'em to work the Men and the Boys to moyl in the Ship and the Women to sow Nor did they seem to be much dissatisfi'd with their Habit or the Food which was giv'n only they did not like Working so that the Cudgel was forc'd to walk now and then to quick'n their Laziness We had a good Wind and we made use of Oars as well as Sails in our Bark And for my own part all my discourse was with Father Zampi what course I should take to prevent my falling into the Enemies Hand and my being plunder'd and assassinated by the Mingrelians Which discourse at length brought us to talk of those Persons whose Letters I had sent him He told me the French Ambassador's Letter was a Duplicate of one which he had sent the last Year for Attestations of the Religion of Colchis but when he gave it into my Hands and that I had read it I was surpriz'd to find that having been giv'n me for a Letter of Recommendation there should not be the least mention of my Name Which made me afraid lest Father Zampi should think that the Ambassador had not that Value and Kindness for me which I pretended to make him believe And therefore I thought my self oblig'd to shew him the Letter which the Ambassador had done me the Honour to write to the Prince of Mingrelia of which this was a Copy Thrice Illustrious Prince THE Emperor of France my Master having Commanded me to make use of his Protection to support your Interests in the Ottoman Court upon all Occasions that should offer I am glad of this Opportunity not only to Confirm it by this Letter but for that these two Gentlemen also the Sieur Chardin and the Sieur Raisin will give you farther Assurances of the same Thing in my behalf You will oblige me to believe 'em and in Consideration of that Value which I have for their Persons to support and defend 'em with all your Authority so long as they shall sojourn in your Court and when they depart from your Court in order to their going forward into Persia I hope you will freely grant 'em that Favour and add to the rest that one more of believing me to be Thrice Illustrious Prince Your most Humble and Obedient Servant De NOINTEL Ambassador for his Most Christian Majesty the Emperor of France at the Ottoman Port. About Midnight we arriv'd at the Mouth of the River Astolphus call'd by the Mingrelians Langur and which is one of the biggest Rivers in Mingrelia There we stopp'd and sent to Anarghie two of our Seamen to know what News of the Enemy and to see whether the People were not fled and in what condition they stood This Anarghia is a Village two Miles from the Sea the most considerable in all Mingrelia consisting of a Hunderd Houses but so far distant one from the other that it is two Miles from the first to the last There are always Turks in this Village that come to buy Slaves and have Barks ready to carry 'em away And it is said that this Village is built in the same place where formerly stood a fair and large City call'd by the Name of Heraclea The fifth before day the two Seamen return'd and brought us word that the Abca's had made no Inroads within Fifteen Miles of Anarghia but that things were quiet without any Disturbance or Alteration Thereupon Father Zampi desir'd 'em to Row hard to the end we might come early to the Village and Land our Goods before we should come to be seen by any Person All things fell out to our Wish and we took a Lodging at a Country-Mans House which was one of the best Accommodations in the Town For we had a great many Chests the biggest of which was full of Books Thereupon Father Zampi advis'd me to open it and take out the Goods in the sight of the People of the House to the end they might have no suspicion that we carry'd any Treasure in our Chests but might be ready to give it out that we were only Persons in Holy Orders for which reason we loaded our selves with a great Number of Books for our particular use I follow'd his Advice and found it to be very good For the People of the House were amaz'd to see nothing in such a large Chest but only Books and I am apt to believe they conceited there was nothing else in all the rest The ninth a Lay-Theatin came to see us He was the Physitian and Surgeon that serv'd all Mingrelia
upon Mount Caucasus seated in a hollow place among twenty Hillocks or thereabouts from whence the Castle might be easily batter'd on every side though fortifi'd with double Walls and flanqu'd with Towers both built with Battlements after the Ancient Manner Adjoyning to this Fortress which is defended with only a few great Guns stand upon the Neighbouring Hillocks aforemention'd a large Town consisting of about 400 Houses all new and which seem to have been but lately built so that there is nothing of Antiquity to be seen but two Armenian Churches The Town is Peopl'd with Turks Armenians Georgians Greeks and Jews the Christians having their Churches and the Jews a Synagogue There is also in it an Inn newly built of Wood as are all the rest of the Houses in that place The River Kur runs along by it which derives it Head from the Mountain Caucasus and was call'd anciently Cyrus and by some Corus Strabo places the Head of it in Armenia Ptolomy in Colchis Pliny will have it spring from the Mountains of Tartary which are beyond Colchis which he calls Coraxicie because of the River Corax that springs from thence and discharges it self into the Black-Sea Which Opinions seeming so various may nevertheless be true and come all to one and the same thing For that Armenia has formerly included Colchis and because Colchis formerly was a great Kingdom as I have already observ'd The Basha of Akalzikè lodges in the Fortress and the Principal Officers and Souldiers quarter in the adjacent Villages This Fortress was built by the Georgians from whom the Turks took it toward the end of the last Age. The 13th about Two a Clock in the Morning I parted from Akalzikè travailing directly Eastward At the end of three Leagues the Plain of Akalzikè streightens to the breadth of half a League having the Mountains on both sides In that part stands a Castle built by the Turks upon a Rock on the right side of the River Kur This Rock below is encompass'd with a double Wall and round about it lies a little Village like Akalzikè which takes up all the Ground between the Fortress and the opposite Mountain and is call'd Usker having a Garison and a Custom-House under the Command of a Sanziac I was in great fear of being there stopp'd and examin'd but Thanks be to GOD they let me pass without saying a word to me For my Guide was born at Gory a City of Georgia So that upon his Answer to the Captain of the Guard who ask'd him What Countryman he was That he was a Georgian of Gory the Captain let him pass with all his Train without any farther Examination The reason is for that the Kaan of Georgia and the Basha of Akalzikè hold a very good Correspondence together which makes the Turks so kind to the Georgians Two Leagues beyond Vsker we cross'd a Mountain which parts on this side Persia from Turkey We travell'd along the Brow of this Mountain after we had cross'd it There are several Villages seated on the top of it the River Kur running below through the Vale where in several parts are to be seen the Ruines of Castles Fortresses and Churches the Footsteps of the Grandeur of the Georgians and of the Turkish and Persian Conquests After we had travell'd ten Leagues till it was Night we stopp'd at a little Village The 14th we travell'd not above four Leagues the way being very rugged in those Mountains where you meet with several narrow Paths and close Passages where you cannot force your way together with the Ruines of many Fortresses We stopp'd in the Plain of Surham at a great Town near the Fortress which is call'd by the same Name It is a very lovely Plain full of Copses Villages Hillocks Houses of Pleasure and little Castles belonging to the Georgian Lords The Country is all over well Till'd and in a word it is a very delightful Spot of Ground The 15th I travell'd ten Leagues nine through the Plain and the other at the passage of a Mountain somewhat high which parts it from Gory I saw nothing on every side but fair Villages lovely Fields well Manur'd and every where the Ground very fertile We left upon the right Hand before we ascended the Mountain a great City lying almost all in Ruines as not containing above Five Hunderd Houses inhabited whereas formerly by report it contain'd above Twelve Thousand However there belongs to it a Bishop and a great Church built before the Georgians were reduc'd under Subjection Night overtook me upon the Descent of the Mountain before I arriv'd at Gory I went directly to the Residence of the Italian Capuchins Missionaries of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide to whom I had Letters of Recommendation Not above three Years ago they had a Dwelling at Cotatis and then they thought also to have spread themselves into Mingrelia and to have settl'd there But the Continual Wars in that Country and the Robberies perpetually there committed the King either not being able or not caring to prevent 'em constrain'd 'em to retire back into Georgia So that the Opportunity of meeting with 'em was very acceptable to me in regard they were able to give me what Advice and Assistance I stood in need of For that reason I presently made my self known to 'em and told 'em That the King of Persia had sent me into France to do him particular Services that I had his Orders and a Command directed to all the Governors of the Empire to give me Respect and to serve me upon all Occasions and with all Conveniencies I should stand in need of Afterwards I acquainted 'em That having chosen to return into Persia by the Black-Sea and so through Mingrelia I had been surpriz'd by the Wars in that Country and had undergone a Thousand Hardships so that not finding any way securely to bring along with me those things which I had brought for the King I had left 'em in the Custody of my Comrade and was come into Georgia to desire Assistance and therefore I most affectionately besought 'em to give me the best Advice they could and to take that Compassion of my Hardships and Troubles to which Charity and other Considerations oblig'd ' em Upon which the Good Fathers were concern'd for my Misfortunes the hazards I had run and for the Person I had left in Mingrelia And they assur'd me to do for me what ever lay in their Power so soon as they should have permission from their General for that they had no Power to act without first consulting him and without his Approbation That he was at Trifflis the capital City of Georgia two small days journey distant and that my best way would be to go and waite upon him And indeed they gave me so many reasons to constrain me to go that I resolv'd it without any more to do and to that purpose hir'd Horses forthwith The Superiour also order'd a Lay-Brother whose Name was Angelo of Viterbo to
The Amazons lay bordering upon it above to the North. Wherein as well the Ancient as Modern Geographers agree Ptolomy fixes their Country in the Asiatic Sarmatia which is now call'd Tartary to the West of Volga between the River and the Hippic Mountains and there it is that the Northern part of the Kingdom of Kaket exactly lies Quintus Curtius says also to the same effect that the Kingdom of Thalestris was near to the River Phasis And Strabo is of the same opinion speaking of the Expeditions of Pompey and Canidius I confess I never saw any Person in Georgia who had been in the Country of the Amazons but I have heard many of 'em tell Stories of those People And they shew'd me in the Prince's Palace a large Female habit of a course Woollen Stuff and peculiar for its Fashion and Shape which they said was the Garment of an Amazon that was slain near Caket in the last Wars Shortly we may hear farther news of these Famous Warriours for the Capuchins of Tefflis told me they would send two Missionaries into their Country the Congregation having order'd that they should be dispatch'd thither I had once a long discourse with the Prince of Georgia's Son upon this Subject at what time among other things he told me that Five Days Journey beyond Caket toward the North there liv'd a Numerous People of whom they had no knowledge at all who were continually at War with the Tartars which they call Calmac and the same with those which we call Calmouqus that the several People that inhabit Mount Caucasus are continually at Wars one with another and that it signifies nothing to make any Peace or Truce with 'em as being a sort of Savages that have neither Religion Government nor Laws Therefore they that lie next to Caket make frequent Inroads into the Country which obliges the Viceroy who is the Eldest Son of the Prince of Georgia to be always ready in Arms to repel those Barbarians Upon the Information which I gave the Young Prince of what the Greek and Roman Historians related concerning the Amazons after I had discours'd for some time upon that occasion his opinion was that they were some particular People among the wandring Scythians as the Turcomans and Arabs who submitted themselves to the Soveraignty of Women like the Achineses that those Queens made use of Persons of their own Sex to serve 'em and to follow 'em where-ever they went And as for their riding a Horseback like Men it is easily apprehended and as easie to be credited and that they also were Arm'd For in the Eastern Countries all Women bestride their Horses like Men and some of 'em mount their Horses and ride 'em as well besides that the Princesses also wear Daggers at their sides But as for the Mutilation of their Breasts and other particulars reported of the Amazons we reject 'em and rank 'em among the Fables with which the leasing Greeks had the Impudence to fill their Histories according to the Sarcasm of the Latin Poet. The Province of Carthuel contains no more then Four Cities Gory Suram Aly and Tefflis Gory is a small City seated in a Plain between two Mountains upon the Bank of the River Curr at the Foot of a Hillock upon which there is a Fortress Built which is Garison'd by Native Persians It was Built in the last Gurgistan Wars about Forty Years since by Rustan Can General of the Persian Army and an Austin Monk who was then at Gory drew the draught of it However the Fortress is a place that is not able to make any great defence its principal strength consisting in its Situation having a Hunderd Men within it Nor is the City that lies under it but very small the Houses and Market Places being all Built of Earth The Inhabitants however are all very Rich and Wealthy And it is very well stor'd with all things necessary for Human support at a cheap rate Suram is indeed no more then a Town not above half as big as the City of Gory but the Fortress adjoyning is large and well Built having within it a Hunderd Men in Garison Near to Suram is the Country call'd Semashè Which in the Georgian Language signifies Three Castles The People of this Country boast That Noah dwelt in this Country after he came out of the Ark and that his three Sons built 'em every one a Castle I say nothing here of Aly because I have spok'n of it in another place The Temper of the Air is very kindly in Georgia being very dry cold in the Winter and hot in the Summer Their fair Weather does not begin till May but it lasts till the end of November The Soyl must be well water'd or else it proves very barren but that care tak'n it produces all sorts of Grain Herbs and Fruits in abundance Georgia is therefore as fertile a Country as any can be imagin'd where a Man may live both deliciously and very cheap Their Bread is as good as any in the World their Fruit is delicious and of all sorts Neither is there any part of Europe that produces fairer Pears and Apples or better tasted nor does any part of Asia bring forth more delicious Pomegranates Cattel are very plentiful and very good as well the larger sort as the lesser Their Fowl of all sorts is incomparable especially their Wild-Fowl Their Boars-Flesh is as plentiful and as good as any in Colchis The Common People live upon nothing else but young Porkers of which there are abundance in all parts of the Country and indeed there is no better Food in the World then this Meat beside that the People of the Country assure us that it never offends the Stomach let 'em eat never so much Which I believe to be true for though I eat of it almost every Meal yet it never did me harm The Caspian Sea which is next to Georgia and the Kurr that runs quite through it supplies it with all sorts of salt and fresh Fish so that we may truly say That there is no Country where a Man may have an Opportunity to fare better then in this And with the same boldness we may assert That there is no Country where they drink more or better Wine The Vines grow about the Trees as in Colchis and they daily transport great Quantities of Wine into Media Armenia and to Ispahan for the Kings Table As much as a Horse can carry which is 300 weight costs no more then Twelve Shillings I speak of their best Wine for the common sort is cheaper by half and all other Provisions are at a proportionable rate The Country of Georgia also produces a great Quantity of Silk tho not so much by half as most Travellers report But the People of the Country know not how to weave it and therefore they carry it into Turkey to Erzerum and the parts adjoyning where they drive a great Trade The Complexion of the Georgians is the most
to accustom the People to the sight of Mosques and of the Priests that call the Mahometans to Prayer from the Top of the Building Nor could the Georgians hinder the Building of this Mosque because they durst not enter Arm'd into the Fortress where there was always a good Guard But so soon as the Priest was mounted to the Top to make Confession of his Faith the People gather'd together into the Piazza and ply'd the Top of the Mosque with such Volleys of Stones that the Priest was constrain'd to come down again in more haste then he went up after which Mutiny the Persians would never suffer any of their Priests to appear at the Top of the Mosque any more The publick Buildings at Tefflis are very graceful Their Bazars or Market-places are very large built of Stone and in very good repair The Inns or Caravansera's for the Receipt and Entertainment of Strangers are no less beautiful There are few Baths indeed in the City by reason that every Body goes to the Hot-Baths that are in the Castle The Water of which Baths springs from a Sulphur-Mine and is very hot So that the People which make use of 'em for Diseases and Distempers are no less numerous then those that go for Cleanliness and Curiosity The Magazins also are well built and kept in Order being seated in an open place near the Grand Piazza The Prince's Palace is without contradiction one of the most beautiful Ornaments in Tefflis being adorn'd with spacious Halls and Rooms of State that look out upon the River and the Gardens which are very large It also contains several Aviaries full of Birds of several sorts a spacious Dog-kennel and the most lovely place to keep Hawks in that Eyes ever beheld Before the Palace lies a spacious Court sufficient to hold a Thousand Horse which is surrounded with Shops and joyns to a long Bazar right against the Palace-Gate So that it is a lovely Prospect which the Piazza and the Front of the Palace makes from the Top of the Bazar Moreover the Viceroy of Caket has a Palace at the end of the City which deserves to be well view'd and consider'd The Out-parts of Tefflis are adorn'd with several Houses of Pleasure and several beautiful Gardens The biggest of which is the Prince's where indeed there are but few Fruit-Trees but it is full of those that serve for the Ornament of Gardens and for Shade and Coolness There is also a Habitation of Missionary Capuchins at Tefflis where the Superiour of the Missions which that Order has and hopes to have in Georgia resides it being about Thirteen Years ago since they were sent from Rome The Title of Physicians which they give themselves and which every Body there gives 'em is the reason that they are well receiv'd where-ever they desire to settle For Physick and especially Chymistry which is very much esteem'd is little known in the Eastern Counties They settl'd first at Tefflis and afterwards at Gory Shanavas-Can gave 'em a House in each of those Cities with free Liberty to exercise their Religion They brought him Letters from the Pope and the Congregation de Propaganda Fide and in their own Names made Noble Presents to himself the Princess the Catholicos and the principal Grandees of the Court which they continue to do at the end of every two Years Whoever among 'em understands Physick best never stirs from the Person of the Prince to preserve his Protection which is their only Safeguard from the Persecutions of the Georgian and Armenian Clergy They have endeavour'd to expel these Missionaries from time to time as they saw their Endeavours to draw People to their Religion but in regard there are neither Physicians nor Surgeons in Georgia they make themselves necessary by the practise of Physick and Surgery which some of 'em understand very well and practise with very good success They have permission from the Pope to take Money for their Cures and they make good advantage of it Physick being their chiefest Subsistence They are generally paid in Wine Meal Cattel and young Slaves and some there are that give 'em Horses of all which they sell whatever they have no need of or whatever they have to spare Were it not for this support of Physick they could never subsist upon the Annual Pension which the Congregation allows 'em of 18 Roman Crowns for every Missionary which make but Five Pounds Ten Shillings Besides the Dispensation already mention'd these Missionaries have several others both in Spirituals and Temporals as to say Mass without any Body to assist at it to say it in several sorts of places and in all sorts of Habits to give Absolution of all manner of Sins to disguise themselves to keep Horses and Servants to have Slaves to buy and sell to pay and take Interest In a word they have Dispensations so ample and of that extent that they pretend a power to do and do in effect whatever is permitted to the most priviledg'd Ecclesiasticks Nevertheless these Missionaries with all their Artifices and notwithstanding all this Liberty make very little progress among the Georgians For besides that the people are very ignorant and take little care to instruct themselves it is so rivetted into their Heads that Fasting as they observe it is the Essential part of Christian Religion That they do not believe the Capuchins to be Christians because they are inform'd that in Europe they do not fast as they do This incredible Obstinacy obliges the Capuchins to fast as they do and to abstain from Creatures which the Georgians abhor as the Hare the Tortoise and others They fast Wednesdays and Frydays regulating themselves according to the Ancient Calendar that they may be said to be outwardly no more then Georgian Christians Many People at first repair'd to their Church at Tefflis drawn thither by the Novelty of their Service and a little Musick of four or five Voices accompany'd with a Lute and a Spinet But at present there go no more then only five or six poor People who get something by the Missionaries They have also set up a School but they have not above seven or eight Scholars the Children of poor Parents who go thither more for Vittles then Learning as the Fathers confess'd themselves They told me often that they did not keep up their Missions for any profit they got by 'em but only for the Honour of the Roman Church which said they would not be the Catholick Church had it not Ministers in all parts of the inhabited World In a word these Missionaries have no more in all Georgia then the two Houses already mention'd The Wars of Imiretta and Guriel and the Calamities of those Countries have forc'd 'em to quit several Settlements which they had made in those parts And their design was when I parted from Tefflis to visit Kaket in June and several other places upon Mount Caucasus Their Mission consisted of twelve Persons nine Priests and three
Lay-Brothers The City of Tefflis is very well peopl'd and there are as many Strangers resort thither as to any place in the World For it drives a great Trade and the Court is very Numerous and Magnificent beseeming the Capital of a Province being never without several Grandees of Note As to the Name of the City I could never learn the Etymology of the word They say the Persians gave it that Name Certain it is however that the Georgians do not call it Tefflis but Cala that is to say the City or the Fortress which is indeed a Name that they give to all Spacious Habitations encompass'd with Walls Which makes me think that because they have no other Wall'd City in all the Country they would give it no other Name but Cala. Some Geographers call it Tebele-Cala or the Hot City by reason of the Baths of Hot Waters within it or else because the Air is not so cold nor so boystrous as in the other parts of Georgia Neither could I learn the Time when the City was founded nor the most remarkable Revolutions that have befallen it For my part I do not believe its Antiquity surpasses Eight Hunderd Years It has been twice under the Power of the Turks Once in the Reign of Ishmael the Second King of Persia and the second time in the Reign of his Successor Solyman becoming Master of it at the same time almost that he took Tauris The Persian Tables place it in 83 Degrees of Longitude and 43 Deg. 5. min. of Latitude It is also call'd Dar el Melec or the Royal City as being the Metropolis of the Kingdom The 10th the Superiour of the Capuchins gave the Viceroy Notice of my Arrival I desir'd him so to do considering with my self that having Servants and Luggage and being lodg'd at the Capuchins House my Arrival could not be conceal'd from a Prince who had Intelligence even of the most trivial Things that pass'd in Tefflis much more of my Adventures in Mingrelia of which many People had spread a report Besides I was glad to see him and shew him the King of Persia's Passports directed to all the Governours of Provinces wherein I was effectually recommended For I made no Question but the Prince upon the sight of those Orders would make me Welcom and grant me a Convoy if I should have occasion for the rest of my Journey Shanavas-Can understanding who I was and that the deceas'd King had employ'd me into Europe upon his own Service and Affairs order'd the Superiour to tell me in his Name That I was Welcom that he was glad of my Arrival and that I would do him a Kindness to come and see him as soon as I could which I was neither in a Condition neither was I resolv'd to do so soon being resolv'd to stay till I was ready to depart because I would not be oblig'd to go every Day to Court Therefore I desir'd Father Raphael who was his Physician to tell him That I was overjoy'd at the Honour which he had done me and that I would not fail to pay my Duty to him so soon as I had put my self into a handsom Equipage but that I was so out of order that I could not stir abroad these Ten Days I know not whether Father Raphael made a true Report to the Prince or whether the Prince believ'd him for so it happen'd that about Twelve a Clock in the Forenoon he sent a Gentleman to tell me That since I was come to Town in a Week of Mirth and Jollity while he Feasted every Day at Court he desir'd that I would come and see him I was surpriz'd and troubl'd at the Message and therefore I desir'd the Superiour and Father Raphael to let the Prince know That I could not yet stir abroad and that he would be pleas'd to condescend that I might stay till the Sunday following before I receiv'd the Honour which he was pleas'd to do me Which Message the Capuchins promis'd to deliver but fail'd They went to the Court 't is true but return'd the next moment to tell me That the Prince was impatient to hear what News from Europe But the truth of it was that they had an extraordinary desire to produce me They were desirous to shew the King of Persia's Agent whom they asserted to be one of their own Nation to the end themselves might be the more respected and they desir'd my Comrade and my self to put on our most Sumptuous Habit and to enlarge for their sakes the Present which we intended for the Prince In which particular I was willing to gratifie 'em and in whatever else I might conveniently do as being glad of an Opportunity to acknowledge the signal Kindnesses they had done me It was almost Noon when we went to the Palace accompany'd by the Superiour and Father Raphael who attended to be assistant to us The Prince was in a Room of State a Hunderd and Ten Foot long and above Forty broad built upon the side of the River and all open on that side The Ceeling which was all of Mosaic Work was plac'd upon a great Number of Pillars Painted and Gilt between 35 and 40 Foot high The whole Room was spread with very fair Carpets The Prince and principal Nobility were sitting near three little Chimneys which with several Brasiers warm'd the Room to that degree that the Cold was not felt Shanavas-Can when people approach'd near him caus'd himself to be Reverenc'd the first time like the King of Persia Himself They fell upon their Knees Two or Three Paces distant from his Person and bow their Heads to the Ground Three Times one after another Which manner of Saluting the Eastern Princes the Europeans have always scrupl'd to observe And indeed it being impossible that a Man should prostrate himself in a more humble posture such a Prostration should only be us'd before GOD himself So that sometimes they excuse themselves from using this manner of Salutation by saying they are of another World and understand not the Complements of the Country For my part I made my Obeysance with three Bows without Kneeling Afterward two Gentlemen led me to take my place but I would not sit above the Capuchins though the Gentlemen press'd me so to do and the Steward of the Houshold who stood upon his Feet in the middle of the Room For I was willing to do 'em that Honour that they might have Honour done 'em by others Which the Superiour was so glad to see that he would needs have me take place of his Companion While I was paying my Obeysance a Gentleman who had receiv'd from me at the Hall Door the King of Persia's Letters Patents which I held in my Hand and the Present which I had brought for the Prince and lay'd 'em in order in a large Silver Voider set down the Voider at the Prince's Feet Presently he took the Patent open'd it and rising up from his Seat put it to his Lips and
he told me thus much that he was offended to see the Superiour Divertise the Company at a Festival with the same Hymns which he pretended were appointed for the Service of GOD in the Church Father Raphael also added That he took it very ill that the Viceroy had us'd his Authority so far to oblige the Superiour to play upon the Lute and sing at every turn to please his Humour only that their Security depended so much upon his Favour that they durst not deny him any thing About Midnight therefore as I told yee we left 'em after we had tak'n leave of the Prince with all due Reverence Nevertheless before he would let me go he ask'd me how his Kinsman the King of Spain did and drank his Health in a Bowl set with Pretious Stones and would needs have both the Capuchins and my self pledge the Health in the same Cup. Though I know not whether he did it out of Vain-glory or to honour the Superiour whom he knew to be a Subject of his most Catholick Majesty The 17th reflecting upon the Title of King of Spain which the Prince had assum'd to himself and finding that it was not incoherent with what several Authors alledge that the Spaniard Originally came out of Iberia I ask'd the Capuchins How the Prince claim'd Affinity with the King of Spain They answer'd That Clement the VIII having written to Taymuras and in his Letters call'd him Kinsman to Philip the Second and the Iberians and Spaniards Brothers his Successors ever since retain'd that Imaginary Kindred And upon that occasion they told me several Stories of the Pride and Vain-glory of the Georgians and of the Viceroy in particular and shew'd me the Copy of a Letter which he wrote about two Years since to the King of Poland Of which I have inserted the Translation in this Journal as being an Authentick Piece and proper to shew that the pride of the Georgians is not a little Extravagant and because the Crowd of Vain-glorious Titles with which it is stuff'd discovers plainly that the Fastern Nations beyond all compare surpass all others in the World in Vanity PRaise Glory and Adoration are to be given to GOD most Omnipotent who has Created and Preserves all Things who was neither Produc'd nor Engender'd Exempt from all Evils Ineffable Merciful to all as well the Dead as the Living who Commands with absolute Power both Great and Mean and Governs 'em with Clemency The most High the most Puissant Prince the King of the Georgians Lictimenians Litians Mesiulctians Shevians Sheviultians Suans Ossi Bualtians Circassians Tuscians Psianetians Tidisiceans Jalibusians the People both on this side and beyond the High Mountains and of all the places there inhabited Lord of the three Grand Tribes the Georgian term is Eristava Eris signifiing People and Tava Chieftain or Prince and of the Holy Seat of Schette Capital City of all the Provinces which God through his favour has given us in Heritage King of Iberia and Mucrania Sabatian Trialet Taschire Sometta Chianchia and Schianvanda and of several other Kingdoms which he possesses with settl'd and absolute Authority and over which he has full Power who is descended from Jesse David Solomon and who by the Grace and Power of GOD is loaden with Prosperity the Vanquisher of Vanquishers the Invincible King of Kings the most High Lord Shanavas-Can To you John Casimir who are laden with Honour and can replenish Men with it who are Famous in Peace and well edifi'd in Virtue who by the Mercy and Power of GOD are August Happy Born under a favourable Constellation most great in Magnificence who are always a doer of Good Who for your rare merit are most worthy of a Throne and a Crown most Potent Soveraign Victor over Victors Victorious over Enemies Celebrated Exterminator of Rebels Prince born a Christian and bred up in the Christian Religion Renown'd for feats of Arms Hereditary King of Poland Gothia Vandalia Lithuania Russia Prussia Livonia Mazovia Samotia Chiovia Ciarnacovia and several other Kingdoms and Provinces most Serene Lord whose renown is expanded over all and Reaches to the Sun To you I say Great King of Poland without Compare profound in Wisdom and all manner of Knowledge and Most Illustrious through all those just Elogies which are given you for having understood all the most noble Languages We salute yee withal our Affection and with as much ardour as the Obligation of our Hearty good will desires it we wish you perfect Content long Peace and multipli'd Prosperities We render infinite Thanks to God for having learnt the Estate of your Health by Letters brought us from the most Illustrious and most Excellent Lord John Lesezunshi Count of Lersno Great Chancellor in your Kingdom and Lieutenant General in upper Poland We humbly beseech his Divine Goodness that we may understand from time to time the continuance of your Health in its perfection that you tast without Molestation the Fruits of a Happy Peace and that you enjoy a perfect Felicity Your good Servant Burgibug-Danbec Officer of your Kingdom a Gentleman no less Illustrious for his Fidelity then Nobility is come hither in Quality of an Envoy from your Royal Majesty to renew the Peace and Ratifie the Friendship and good Correspondence between the happy King Sultan Soliman whose Grandeur is advanc'd to the Heavens and Establish'd over all the Earth a Prince most High Supream Incomparable Infinite in Power accustom'd to make himself by force ador'd by his most formidable Enemies who enriches the Universe no less then the Sea and who is worthy more Praises then it is possible for Men to give him Monarch of Persia Media Parthia Hircania the Persian Golph and the Islands therein contain'd Caramania Aracosia Margiana and other Innumerable Principalities and Lordships Your Agent has pass'd through our Territories without having suffer'd the least Inconvenience or receiv'd the least Molestation He has now taken his leave to depart by the Assistance of God toward your Royal Majesty I beseech you through the hearty good will and Friendship which we mutually bear one to the other that this good Subject and my Domestick may be as welcom to your self as he had been to your Predecessor At the Royal Palace of Tefflis March 26. 1671. of the Birth of Jesus Messia The Twentieth I desir'd the Prefect or Superiour of the Theatins and Father Raphael to return Thanks to the Prince for the Favours and Honours he had done me and to pray him that I might have an Officer to conduct me to Irivan the chief City of Armenia the Greater To which the Prince satisfi'd with the Complement and no less ready to grant me my request Commanded the Capuchins to tell me That he had a great Kindness for the Europeans and would have wish'd I could have stay'd longer at Tefflis to the end he might have made it more clear to me what he profess'd but that he would not presume neither had he any desire to stop me
Master of 2 Fortune and is now in 3 Heaven gave to Mr. Chardin and Mr. Raisin 4 French Europeans by Vertue of which the 5 Judges of Places Provosts of Highways Receivers of Tolls and all sorts of Officers of the Empire are oblig'd to Honour 'em and to take care that no Duty be exacted from ' em The said Emin-Aga shall make it his Business to conduct 'em safe to the Blessed City of Erivan without receiving any Damage or Molestation by the way that nothing may hinder 'em from arriving well satisfi'd at the Palace of the 6 Support of Human kind And all Persons to whom this Letter shall be shewn shall take care not to Contradict or Transgress it in any manner Given in the Month of Zialcadè the Sacred in the Year of the Hegyra 4083. 1. Emin has the same Signification as Mir and is all one They signifie Lord Noble Valiant Chief of a Family or Tribe We find Deut. 2. v. 10. That the Word Emim is very Ancient in some of these Significations Though properly in Hebrew Aim signifies Terrible and thence Haemim Gyants or Men of great Valour 2. To render it Word for Word it signifies Master of the Conjunction For the Persians doating as they do upon Judicial Astrology believe that Victory and all good Fortune proceed from the Conjunction of two Stars and therefore it is that they say a Man is Master of the Conjunctions when nothing but Prosperity and Happiness attends him 3. It is in the Persian Whose Nest is in Heaven For the Followers of Ali hold the Kings of Persia for Saints in the Quality of Mahomet's Successors and Lieutenants of GOD. And it is an Article of their Faith That their Kings go to Heaven by a Destiny as Uncontroulable and as Natural as the Birds fly to their Nests 4. The word which I Translated Europeans is Frangui for the Orientals call by that Name all that are born in the Christian Dominions of Europe except those of Moscovy Frangui is most certainly deriv'd from François the Turks having assuredly given that Name to all the Europeans because the French were the first among 'em with whom they had Commerce and Alliance 5. Homal which I have Translated Judges is as much as Petty Regents or Inferiour Officers Under which Names are comprehended the Daroga or Judge of Criminal Causes the Mustauf or Controller of the Exchequer The Sheic-el-Islam or Lieutenant Civil The Vasier or Receiver-General and the Kelonter or Provost of the Merchants 6. One of the most Ordinary Titles which the Persians give their King is Alempenha or the Support and Basis of the World 7. This is the Eleventh Month of the Year I gave the Chancellor's Secretary a Guinea as his Fee for Dispatches of this Nature Though there be no certain Rule for such Fees but only every one gives according to the Advantage which he receives by his Dispatch and according to his Quality and Condition Presently my Guide gave me to understand That he wanted a Horse which was as much as to say that he wanted four Guinea's to buy one Which I immediately knew to be a Trick to get Advance-Money out of me fearing lest when I came to Erivan that I should be so dishonest as to recompence him only with a Trifle or perhaps give him nothing at all For the Persians are not very prone to make Acknowledgments and for the Georgians they are ingrateful above measure The greatest Kindnesses make no Impression upon their Minds for they forget 'em and repay with shrewd Turns those to whom they owe their Advancement with as little Check of Conscience as if they were altogether Strangers For which reason it is that they desire payment before-hand standing very little upon the Nicety of a little Impudence but demanding a Reward for the smallest Service which they do The 28th I set forth from Tefflis about Eleven a Clock in the Forenoon the Polish Surgeon and some Georgians with whom I had made an Acquaintance accompanying me some part of my way My Guide rode before to prevent the Toll-gatherers or Receivers of certain small Duties which are taken upon all Horses that go loaden out of the City from demanding any thing of my Servants Which sort of Guides are call'd Mehemander a word which fignifies He who has care of a Guest and are granted to all Envoys Ambassadors and Strangers of Quality Their Duty is to provide Lodging Vittles and Carriage-Horses for the Persons whom they Conduct and in a word to discharge 'em from all the care of a Traveller They are like Stewards or Purveyors for those Persons to whom they are appointed for Guides For they make use of their Service in every thing send 'em upon Errands and to carry Messages to those Persons to whom a Man would not be troubl'd to go himself These Guides are well paid for their Service so that it is a Kindness to be recommended to such an Imployment The Villages where they pass make 'em Presents to be the more sparing in what Money they raise to defray the Expences of Travellers which they have in charge and to prevent their being too wastful and lavish They take into their protection such Merchants as are desirous to Travel along with 'em and besides that they secure 'em from Robbing and exempt 'em from paying several Tolls and Duties Which is worth 'em something more But their greatest Gain is the Present which must be made 'em when they are sent back I was very glad to see my self got safe out of Tefflis For I was afraid I should there be put to some kind of trouble for two Reasons The first was For that the Prince having sent to me two or three times to tell me that he had a great desire to see what I carry'd to the King I constantly refus'd to shew him alledging for my excuse that I had Orders from his Majesty not to expose 'em to any but himself Moreover I observ'd that this Prince is not altogether so much a Subject to the King of Persia nor so submissive to his Orders as the other Viceroys and Governours of his Empire besides that the Georgians are very perfidious and covetous of other Mens Goods I was therefore fearful lest if I should shew the high-priz'd Jewels which I had their Beauty and their Value might tempt him to take 'em from me or that other people might Murder me for the Lucre of such a Booty And this was one Consideration that prevented me from shewing ' em The Second Cause of my Distruct was this That the Capuchins to do me the more Honour out of a design to bring a greater Reputation to themselves had set me out for a Person that was very Rich and Powerful so that there ran a Report over all the City that I had immense Sums Which made the Customer look about me so that he demanded great Duties from me But those Duties were not the thing that disturb'd me for by the Kings
Blessing that I slept without Interruption all that Night and the next Morning found my self wholly cur'd of this Distemper IRIVAN A. The FOrtres B. The small Fort calld Guetshi-cala C. Deuf Sultan's Mosquee D. The Great Piatza E. An Old Tower F. The Bpps Church calld Two Fronts G. The Church calld Catovike H. The New Inn. I. The River Zengui K. The River calld Forty Fountaines L. The Mountain where Noah's Ark rested IRIVAN 'T is a hard matter to describe the true Road from Tefflis to this City in regard of the many Turnings and Windings and the frequent Occasions to ascend and descend the greatest part of the way Only I observ'd that we still kept on to the South-West From Tefflis to Erivan it is reck'ned to be about Eight and Forty Leagues Erivan is a great City but ill-favour'd and dirty and of which the Vineyards and Gardens make the greatest part there being no Ornamental Buildings within it It is seated in a Plain encompass'd with Mountains on every side Two Rivers run by it Zengui to the North-West and Queurk-boulak to the South-West Which Queurk-boulak signifies Forty Fountains the River being said to rise from so many Springs nor does it run a long course But we shall say no more of the City nor of its Figure the Draught being sufficient to give an Idea of it The Fortress it self may pass for a small City It is of an Oval Form being about Four Thousand Paces in Compass and containing Eight Hunderd Houses inhabited only by Natural Persians 'T is true the Armenians have Shops therein where they Work and Trade all the Day long but in the Evening they shut up their Shops and return Home to their Houses This Fortress is surrounded with three Walls of Earth or Bricks made of Clay with Battlements flank'd with Towers and strengthen'd with very narrow Ramparts according to the Ancient Manner and therefore without any Regularity after the Eastern Fashion And indeed it had been a hard matter to have made a Regular Fortification in a place that would not admit of it in regard the Fortress extends it self to the North-East upon the side of a dreadful Precipice broad and steep above a Hunderd Fathom to the bottom where the River runs And therefore this side being impregnable and inaccessible has no other Fortifications then Terrasses furnish'd with Artillery However a Garison of no less then Two Thousand Men is always kept in pay for the Guard of this Fortress which has as many Gates as Walls all plated with Iron and strengthen'd with Port-Cullices and Courts of Guard fortify'd The Governor of the Provinces Palace being within the Castle stands upon the Brink of the Precipice already mention'd and is very fair very spacious and very delightful in Summer Near to the Fortress about a Thousand Paces distant upon the North-side stands a Hillock which Commands it the upper part being fortify'd with a double Wall and planted with great Guns and capable to lodge Two Hunderd Men. This little Fort is call'd Queutshy-cala The City stands about Cannon-Shot distance from the Fortress but the space between is fill'd up with Houses and Market-Places but such pitiful thin Structures that they may be all remov'd away in one day There are several Churches in this City of which the principal are the Episcopal See call'd Ircou-ye-rize or Two Faces and Catovike Which two Churches have stood ever since the Raign of the two last Kings of Armenia The others were Erected since and are small sunk deep in the Earth and not unlike so many Cata-Combs or Burying-places Near the Episcopal See stands an old Tower built of Free-Stone of which you see the Draught in the Sculpture I never could learn when it was Erected nor by whom nor for what use Yet there are Inscriptions on the outside of which the Character resembles the Armenian but the Armenians could not read it The Workmanship of this Tower is all of Antique-Work and singular for its Architecture as may appear by the Figure The inside is all empty and naked but on the outside and round about it several Ruines so dispos'd as if formerly there had been some Cloyster there and that this Tower had stood in the midst of it An ancient Tower at Irivan There are many Baths in the City and in the Fortress and many Inns of which the fairest stands about Five Hunderd Paces from the Castle built by the Governor of Armenia some few Years ago The Portal is Eighty Paces in depth and forms a fair Gallery full of Shops where are sold all manner of Stuffs The Body of the Structure is square containing three great Lodgings and Sixty small ones with fair Stables and very large Warehouses Before it lies a Market-Place surrounded with Shops where are to be sold all sorts of Provision for the Belly and upon one side a fair Mosque and two Coffee-Houses The Elevation of Erivan is in 40 Deg. 15 Min. The Longitude in 78 Deg. 20 Min. The Air is good but a little thick and cold and the Winter lasts long so that sometimes it will Snow in April Which constrains the Country-People to bury their Vines in the Winter and never to dig 'em up again till the Spring The Country is delightful and very fertil The Earth produces her Fruits in great Plenty especially Wine which is very good and cheap The Armenians also have a Tradition That Noah planted a Vineyard near to Erivan and some there are who pretend to know the Place and shew it about a small League from the City The Soyl produces all sorts of Provision which is therefore sold at a very low rate The two Rivers that run by the side of it and the Lake of which we shall take an occasion to speak furnish the City with Excellent Fish and among the rest with Trouts and Carps that are wonderfully good and famous all over the East of which I have seen some that have been three Foot long And then for Fowl no place in the World where Partridges are more plentiful The Lake of Erivan lies three small days Journeys off to the North-West by the Persians call'd Deria-Shirin or the Sweet-Lake by the Armenians Kiagar-couni-sou which signifies the same thing and the reason why it is so call'd is from the extraordinary sweetness of the Water It is Five and Twenty Leagues in Circuit and very deep affording nine sorts of Fish which are there tak'n the fairest Trouts and Carps which are eaten at Erivan being caught in this Lake There is a small Island in the middle of it where stands a Monastery built about 600 Years ago of which the Prior is an Archbishop who takes upon him the Title of Patriarch refusing to acknowledge the Grand Patriarch Our Maps take no Cognizance of this Lake a wonderful thing to me that among all our Travellers into Persia not one should make any mention of it By which defect it may be judg'd that those Authors were little curious after
it Old to distinguish it from Julfa that is built over against Ispahan Nor is it without reason so call'd as being totally ruin'd and demolished There is nothing farther to be known of it except the Grandeur which it once enjoy'd It was seated upon the descent of a Mountain by the side of a River that ran close by it The Avenues to it which are naturally very difficult of Access were defended by several Forts It contain'd four thousand Houses as the Armenians report but if we judge by its Ruines it never could contain half the number At present there are nothing but Holes and Caverns made in the Mountains fitter for Beasts then Men. I do not believe there is in the world a more barren or hideous Place then that of Old Julfa where there is neither Tree nor Grass to be seen True it is that in the Neighbourhood there are some Places more happy and fertile yet on the other side it is as true that never was any City seated in a Situation more dry and stony But the Figure of it somewhat recompens'd the Situation resembling a long Amphitheater At present there are not above thirty Families in it which are all Armenians Abas the Great was the Prince that ruin'd Julfa and all that Art had contributed to its Fortification Which he did for the same reason that he ruin'd Nacchivan and other Places of Armenia to hinder the Turkish Armies from Provisions For he being a prudent and Politick Captain finding his Forces inferior to those of his Enemies and studious how to prevent their return every year into Persia their winning and preserving their Conquests resolv'd to make a Desart of all the Country between Erzerum Tauris upon the line of Erivan and Nacchivan which was the road which the Turks usually observ'd and where they fortifi'd themselves because they found provisions sufficient for the support of their Armies To that purpose therefore he transplanted all the Inhabitants and Cattel ruin'd all the Houses and Buildings fird all the Country burnt up all the Turf and the Trees poyson'd the very Springs as the History relates and they who have read the Story well know that it had an effect answerable to his wishes But to return to our lists Araxes is that famous River that separates Armenia from Media It takes its Rise from the Mountain where they affirm that Noah's Ark rested and perhaps it may derive its name from that Mountain From thence it empties its self into the Caspian Sea This River is very Large and very Rapid In it's Course it is augmented by several lesser streams that have no name as also by several Torrents Bridges have been built over it several times above Julfa but though they made 'em never so strong and massie as appears by the Arches which are yet intire they were not able to withstand the force of the River It becomes so furious when swell'd by the Thaws of the Snow that falls down melted from the neighbouring Mountains that no Damms or other Fortifications can withstand it And in truth the very Noise of the Waters and the Rapidness of it's Course astonish both the Ears and Eyes of all that come near it We ferri'd over it in a large Boat made to carry twenty Horse and thirty Persons at a time But I would not suffer any to go along with me at the same time but my own People and my own Baggage It had four men to manage it They row'd up about three hundred paces along the shoar a this side then let the Barque drive us back with the stream and so by the help of a long and strong Rudder guided the Boat to the other side The current carry'd it with an unspeakable Impetuosity so that we ran five hundred Paces in an instant And thus it is that the Ferrymen cross the River Araxes They allow themselves two hours to go and come by reason of the time they must spend in pulling up against the stream But in the Winter when the Waters are low you may pass it upon the Camels Backs the Ford being half a mile from Julfa in a part where the Channel being very broad the current is much more gentle We have said that Araxes separates Armenia from Media This Country that formerly rul'd all Asia with Imperial Dominion at present makes but one part of a Province of Persia which the Persians call Azerbeyan or Asupaican However it is one of the largest in the Persian Empire It borders to the East upon the Caspian Sea and Hyrcania to the South upon the Province of the Parthians To the West upon the River Araxes and the upper Armenia to the North upon Dagestan which is that Mountainous Country that consines upon the Cosaque Muscovites and makes a part of Mount Taurus It encloses all the Eastern Media call'd by the ancient Authors Azarca and the Western or lesser Media which they likewise call Atropatia or Atropatene Assyria is a part of the upper Armenia The Persians assirm that this Place was call'd Azer-beyan that is the Country of Fire by reason of the famous Temple of Fire which was there erected where was kept their Fire which the Fire-worshippers held to be a God and because the chief Pontiff of that Religion resided there The Guebres who are all that are left of the Fire-worshippers shew this place about two days journey distant from Shamaki They assure us for a certain truth that the sacred Fire is still there that it resembles a Mineral and subterraneall Fire and that they who repair thither out of Devotion see it in the form of a Flame Nay they add one particular more which is a sort of pleasant story that if you make a hole in the ground and set a pot over it that same fire will cause it to seeth and boyles all that is in the Pot. To return to the Name of Azer-beyan the Etymologie is true for Az is the Article of the Genitive Er or Ur in old Persian as in most part of the Ancient Oriental Idioms signifies Fire and Beyan signifies a Place or Country I am not ignorant that some people read and pronounce it Asur-paican and affirm that this geat Province wasso call'd because it contains Assyria which in the opinion of all Authors deriv'd its Name from Assur which is the same thing in my Opinion for I am apt to think that the Name of Assur comes from Az Ur that is of Fire Moses speaking of Nimrod that Idolatrous Prince who introduced the Worship of Fire and invaded Chaldea the share and Patrimony of Sem tells us that the Sons of that Patriarch retir'd thither and that Ashur was one Now 't is very probable that this Ashur was so call'd from his retiring thither or from the worship of Fire or from Chaldea which was then call'd the Country of Fire as appears C. 11. of Genesis and in all the ancient Authors who unanimously agree that Chaldea was call'd the Country
Foundation of Tauris the City was almost ruin'd by an Earth-quake But Montevekel Califf of Bagdad of the Race of the Abas's who then Reigned not only repair'd but enlarg'd it A hundred fourscore and ten years after that the 14 of the Month Sefer another Earthquake more violent than the former utterly ruin'd it in one night The Persian Geography relates how that at the same time there resided in the City a Learned Astrologer of Shiras call'd Aboutaher or Just Father who foretold that the said Earth-quake should happen upon the Sun's entrance into Scorpio in the year 235. of the Hegyra which answers to the year 849. of the Christian Epoche and should overthrow the whole City To which when he found the People would give no Credit he went and was importunat with the Governor to force the People out of the City The Governor who was also the Califfs Lieutenant over all the Province being always a great Admirer of judicial Astrology gave way to his Importunity and did all the could to send away the People into the Country But finding that they still lookt upon the Prediction of the Earth-quake to be a meer Chimera and suspected some mischievous Design in the Governor he could not perswade above one half of the People to stir which fell out to their Destruction For the Earth-quake happ'ned exactly at the Hour mention'd in the Prediction to the overwhelming of forty thousand Persons The next year Emir Diueveron the Son of Mahamed-Rondain-Aredi Vice-Roy of Persia receiv'd Orders from the Calif to rebuild it larger and fairer than it was before and to know of that famous Astrologer Aboutaker under what Ascendant he should begin to work Who bid 'em begin when the Sun was in Scorpio and assur'd 'em the new City should never be troubled more with any Earth-quakes but that it was threatned with great Inundations of Water To which the History adds that the Event has in all respects verifi'd the Truth of the Prediction After this new Restoration Tauris came to be wonderfully enlarg'd famous and flourishing They assure us that in the Reign of Sultan Cazan which is about 400 years ago it extended in breadth North and South from the little Mountain of Ain Ali to the opposite Mountain call'd Tchurandog and in length from the River Agi to the Village Baninge which is two Leagues beyond the City The same History also observes for a Proof of the multitude of the Inhabitants where-with that City was peopl'd that the Pestilence happening among 'em there dy'd 40 thousand in one quarter before they were miss'd In the year 896. of the Hegira and 1490. of Christ the Princes of the Race of Sheith-Sephi having invaded Persia remov'd the Seat of the Empire from Ardevil which was their own Country to this City In the year 1514. Selim took it upon Composition two years after the King of Persia who thought himself not safe there retir'd from thence and seated himself at Casbin Selim stay'd not long at Tauris but he carry'd away with him a wealthy Booty and three thousand Families of Artificers the most part Armenians whom he settled in Constantinople Soon after his Departure the Inhabitants of Tauris rebell'd and falling unexpectedly upon the Turks made a most famous havock of the Enemy and became Masters of the City But Ibraim Basha General to Soliman the Magnificent severely reveng'd this Rebellion in the Year 955. of the Hegyra and Year of our Lord 1548. For he took the City by Assault and gave the Plunder of it to his Army who committed therein all manner of Inhumanity even to an Excess unheard of before In a word all that could be call'd Cruelty Fire and Sword was there put in Execution The Palace of King Tahmas and all the most considerable Structures were destroy'd and levell'd with the Earth Yet notwithstanding all these Calamities the City lifted up her head again at the beginning of Amuraths Reign and with the Assistance of some few Persian Troops put to the Sword all the Turkish Garrison consisting of Ten thousand men Amurath dismay'd at the Courage of the Taurisians sent a powerful Army under the leading of Osman his Grand Visir utterly to destroy and wholly to subdue the Inhabitants This Army enter'd the City and pillag'd it in the Year 994. by the Mahometan Accompt and the Year of our Lord 1585. at what time the Visir caus'd all the Fortifications which the Turks had raised before to be repair'd But eighteen years after this Expedition in the Year 1603. Abas the Great retook Tauris from the Turks with a small Force but with that Policy Diligence and Bravery which is hardly to be credited He divided the stoutest of his Soldiers into several small Bodies who surpriz'd the Corps du Guard and cut their Throats in such a moment of time that they had no notice of it in the Town These Troops were follow'd by a Body of five hundred Men disguiz'd like Merchants who enter'd the City with a plausible Story that they had left the Caravan a days journey behind Which the Turks readily believ'd because it is the Custom of the Caravans that upon their Approach near to Great Cities the Merchants go before besides that the Turks never dreamt but that they had been examin'd by the Corps du Guard Abas follow'd close and seeing his men were enter'd flew into the City at the head of six thousand Men while two of his Generals did the same on two other sides of the Town So that the Turks finding themselves surpris'd surrender'd only upon condition of sparing their Lives And the History farther observes that in this Expedition it was that that same Potent Prince first order'd one Brigade of his Army to carry Musquets and finding the good Effect of 'em order'd a mixture of fire-Arms among all his Forces Whereas before the Persians never made use of Guns in any of their Wars Now that we may not omit any thing in the History of Tauris that is worthy Observation it behoves us also to let ye know what the Armenian Authors have wrote concerning it They report that this City is one of the most Ancient in all Asia and that it was formerly call'd Sha-Hasten or the Royal Place for that the Persian Monarchs there kept their Court and that afterwards a King of Armenia who was call'd Cosroes chang'd the Name of it from Sha-Hasten into Tauris which in the Armenian Language signifies a Place of Revenge for that he there defeated the King of Persia who had murder'd his Brother The Government of the Province of Tauris is the Chiefest in all the Empire and annext to the Dignity of the Captain General-ship It brings him in thirty thousand Tomans Yearly which amount to much above a Million sterling besides Casualties which are very considerable in the Asiatic Governments The Governor bears the Title of Beclerbec He maintains three thousand Horse and has under him the Governors or Kan's of Cars Oroumi Maraga Ardevil and
Villages But the Officers entrusted to raise the Money had so far out-stretch'd their Commission in the outrages and violences which they committed as to demand and levy double the sum which was impos'd All which the Patriarch well knew but conniv'd at it for the advantage he was to receive thereby And he would fain have been handling the first Money that was brought to Erivan but the Governor was so far from suffering him to meddle that he would not pay above half to the Customer of Constantinople's Trustees So that of three thousand five hundred pounds which were rais'd for his Satisfaction he would not part with above two thousand for the payment of the debts The Patriarch complain'd of this Injustice but could have no Remedy All the Governor said to him was this that if the Customer of Constantinople were pai'd in time 't was as much as he could require and that it did not belong to him to take Cognizance what was levy'd for that purpose But perhaps he could not chuse but be disturb'd with the Cryes and Curses of his own Nation for they were bitterly enrag'd against him and his Proceedings And therefore he resolv'd to appease 'em withdraw himself from the oppression of the Governor of Armenia which made him make his escape with a design to make his Complaints to the Court The Governor on the other side having notice of his flight sent away to the neighbouring Governors to stop him and he happen'd to be at Tauris when the Express arriv'd there But the Armenian Inhabitants of the City preserv'd him not so much by concealing him in any private absconding Place as by their Presents to the Grandees and for that the Injustice that was done him in his private affairs was so publickly notorious that it was no more then what was reasonable for them to let him have his Liberty to go to Ispahan for Redress The 6. Rustan-Bec Muster-Master General of the Army sent to give me notice of his being come to Town For he understood at the Governors house where he lodg'd that I was arriv'd at Tauris So that I went to visit him the same day and to renew the friendship which I had contracted with him in my first Travels He is a Personage the most eminent for his Witt and Valour of any other in the whole Kingdom He is Brother to the Governor of Candabar who was accus'd for being Accessory to the Robbing of the Indian Caravan His Father was Governor of Armenia and Abas had a great affection for this Rustan-Bec for the sake of his Learning his Courage and his Gracefull Aspect Nor was it above a year before that the King had given him a Commission to go into the Province of Azer-beyan to take a review of the Forces and Ammunitions there and now his Commission was out by which as I understood he had gotten above ten thousand pounds His Company and Discourse extreamly pleas'd me for he shew'd me several Mapps of the Province which he had newly made of which he promis'd me copies and reaching down a Plain-Sphere which had been lately printed in Europe he shew'd me several Faults in it I also supp'd with him nor would he let me go til midnight The 7. he did me the Honnor to give me a Visit and to spend all the Afternoon in my Chamber The 8 and the three days following I made it my business to fetch away such parcels of Goods from Tahmas-Bec and Mirza-thaer which they refus'd to buy after I had bargain'd with 'em for what they made choice of tho all that I sold to both came but to a thousand Crowns and that without Profit So that I had much ado to agree with 'em however I was paid when we all concluded The one pretended in abatement of my price his Fathers being a Favourite at Court the other the great Credit which his Brothers and his Unckle Mirza-Sadec being Lord High Chancellor had with the King and forc'd me to take Letters of Recommendation which they freely offer'd to compensate the Profit which I should have got by my goods For a man would hardly believe the Caresses the Flattery the engaging and familiar Behaviour which the Persians Grandees will condescend to for their own Interests how slight soever And they behave themselves with such an Appearance of Sincerity that a Traveller must very well understand the Genius of the Country and the Court to avoid being cully'd by their kindnesses The 13. I went to take my leave of Rustan-bec whose occasions call'd him to Ardevil two days after He did me the favour to permit me a long discourse upon the best way to manage my affairs at Ispahan and how to come off with most advantage and success To which purpose he gave me very good advice and Letters of Recommendation to his Kindred and for Cosrou-Can Collonell of the Musketeers who was one of the most powerful and considerable Lords at Court Of which the Translation follows word for word GOD. We send to the most illustrious Lord of the Earth and we give his most noble and generous heart to understand that Mr. Chardin a French Merchant the Flower of the Christians who had been sent into Europe by the deceased King who has now his a Habitation in Heaven to fetch from thence several costly Pieces of Jewellers work is now return'd and lately arriv'd at this Royal City of Tauris The Friendship and Confidence which we had formerly contracted together induc'd him to impart his business to me and he requested of me since the great King who sent him into Europe was flown away to the Kingdom of Spirits and become a Citizen of Paradice that I who am his Intimate Friend would b recommend him to a Person considerable for the Prudence of his Conduct and the Grandeur of his Dignity and who perfectly knew how to doe kind offices to the end he might make use of him as a Conveyance to bring him into the presence of the noble most high and most Holy King He has been also particularly inform'd by me who am your Intimate Friend of the Great and Royal Qualities which you possess and being charm'd by the Recitals which I made of 'em he discover'd to me his extream desire to have the c Honour to be recommended to the Favour of the d Slaves of your Highness I therefore who am his Real Friend recommend him to your Glorious Cares and whatever shall concern his Affairs and Interests He relyes very much upon your Royal Favour and assures himself that your Highness understanding his Business by this Letter from my self your Servant will use your endeavour that the Costly Jewels that he has brought shall come to the Blessed hands of the most noble King A Favour so generous will fill this Illustrious Christian with large hopes and all other Merchants of his Nation whom Trade and Commerce draws to this Kingdom a The word which I have translated Habitation signifies properly an Eagles
are the best Pasture-Grounds in Media if I may not presume to say in the world The Choicest Horses in the whole Province are there put to Grass to the number of about three thousand For it is the custom in Persia to put their Horses to grass for thirty five or forty days together from April to June Which both purges and refreshes fattens and strengthens 'em And they feed 'em thus with Grass as well in the Stable as in the Field but all the rest of the Summer they mingle Straw cut very small with the Grass When I beheld those lovely Pasturages I ask'd the young Lord with whom I travel'd whether there were any better in Media or whither any other Plains so large and so delightful Who answered me that he had seen as rich plains as those towards Derbent which is Media Atropatiena but none so large and spacious So that we may with good grounds believe that those Plains are the Hypopothon of which the Ancient Authors write and of which they say that the Kings of Media kept there in a Breed of fifty thousand Horses and here it is that we must search for the Plains of Nysa so famous for the Nysain Horses And Stephen the Geographer asserts that Nysa was in Media By the way I told the Gentleman my fellow Traveller what Histories related concerning these Horses and particularly what Favorinus reports that all the Nysain Horses were Isabella colour'd who answer'd that it was more then he ever read or heard of I made the same Enquiry all along as I travell'd of severall persons both of Learning and Quality but never could learn that there was any part in Media nor in all Persia where all the Horses were foal'd of an Isabella colour The 30. we travell'd a Road that was even enough but winding among Hills After two hours travel we pass'd by the Ruins of a great City which they said had flourish'd there in former times but being almost ruin'd was utterly destroy'd by Abas Upon the left hand of the Road are to be seen large Circles of Hew'n Stone which the Persians affirm to be a great sign that the Caous making war in Media held a Counsel in that place it being the Custom of those People that every Officer that came to the Council brought with him a Stone to serve him instead of a Chair And these Caous were a sort of Gyants Herodotus also reports somthing like to this of a Persian Army that went against the Scythians for he tells you that the Army being in Thrace Darius shew'd 'em a place and commanded that every one should lay a Stone therein as he pass'd along But that which is most to be admir'd after observation of these Stones is this that they are so big that eight Men can hardly move one and yet there is no place from whence they can be imagin'd to have been fetch'd but from the next Mountains that are six Leagues off We met upon the Road with three large and fair Inns and lodg'd at a Village call'd Caratchiman seated at the Foot of a little Hill it was not so big as Vaspinge but altogether as pleasant The 31. we travel'd four Leagues over Hills and Dales all fertil and delightful to admiration In the mid-way we pass'd through a Village full of Popler Groves and Gardens and well water'd It was call'd Turcman because that in the Fields that environ it there are a great number of Shepherds with their Flocks that are call'd by that Name We stopp'd at Pervaré another Village as handsome and as large as Turcman seated also in a bottom at the foot of a Hill all along by the Banks of a little River The 1. of June We travell'd two Leagues in a level Country as even as that we had cross'd the day before and four Leagues among the Mountains where the way was rugged and very uneasie A little River but very rapid passes through the Midst of it and by reason of it's winding course oblig'd us to pass it several times to shorten our way We alighted at Miana This is a Town seated in the middle of a fair and large Plain encompassed with Mountains which upon that Road separates Media from the Countrey of the Parthians Which is the reason that the Village carrys that Name for that Miane properly signifies the parting of several Countries To this Town there belongs a kind of Custom-House where the Officers are said to be very tyrannical in their exactions upon the meaner sort of People that travel that way But they understood who the Gentleman was who travel'd with me and who I was So that they durst not so much as shew themselves for there is that good order tak'n in Persia and almost all over the East that the Receivers of all Sorts of Tolls and Duties have no permission or Authority to demand any thing of any eminent Person of any Officer of the Kings how inconsiderable soever his office may be nor of any Stranger of Quality For should they be so bold as to examin what they carry'd the offence would be punish'd with Bastinados The 2. we spent so much time in fording the River of Miana and found the Mountain beyond it that we were to cross to be so rugged that we could not travel above three Leagues We were two hours before we could find the Ford and get our Sumpters over which at length we got over safe without any Damage thanks be to God and five hours crossing the Mountain which was very high and very steep being the Bounds between Media and Parthia These two spacious Provinces are parted by a Ridge of Mountains which are a Branch of Mount Taurus that extends it self from Europe to China crossing as has been said Circassia Mingrelia Georgia the Country of the Parthians Bactriana the Province of Candabar and the Indies At the top of the Mountain upon the point of a Rock we spy'd a large ruin'd Castle which the Persians call the Virgins Castle alledging that Artaxerxes caus'd it to be built to imprison therein a Princess of the Blood But Abas the Great caus'd it to be utterly demolished as serving only for a Retreat to a number of Robbers that made themselves as it were soveraign Lords of the Mountain On both sides of the Mountain are large Causeys which that great Prince caus'd to be made for the ease of Travellers in the Winter Towards the end of our journey we pass'd a large River call'd Kesil-beusè over a fair Bridge and lay at Semelé Which is an Inn or Caravanseray built near the Bridge to lodge Travellers that can reach no farther The River Kesil-beuzé is much larger and more rapid than that of Miana and serves to bound Media from the Country of the Parthians And now no sooner have you pass'd this River but you may easily perceive the change of the Air. For whereas the Temperature of Media is somewhat moyst and cloudy which is the reason of high Winds and
Revenue is employ'd to keep the Places clean and neat to repair the Decays of time in the Building and Moveables for the buying of Lights and maintaining several Churchmen and a great number of Regents and Governors of Students and poor People They distribute Victuals every day to all that come and to people that are hir'd And of all these Legacies and Revenues three Great Lords of Persia have the Superintendency every one being appointed his Chappel He that at present takes Care of the she-Saints Chappel is an illustrious Ancient Person who has been Courtshi Bashi or Collonel of the Courtches which is a great Body of the Militia consisting of thirty Thousand Men. And the same Person is also Governor of Com. This City contains also several other Edifices very beautiful and sumptuous It is a very pleasant Place but for the Heat which is very excessive In the Summer the River that passes by it is no bigger then a small Rivulet but the Winter Thaws swell it to that degree with the Water that falls from the Mountains that it not only fills its own Channel which is as broad as the Seine at Paris but overflows a great part of the City They call it generally the River of Com but the true Name of it is Joubad-gan This City lies in 85. deg 48. min. of Longitude and 34. deg 30. min. of Latitude The Air is wholsom but extremely hot as I said before for it scalds in the Summer there being no place in all Persia where the Sun scorches more violently It abounds in all manner of Victuals and Fruits particularly in Pistachios The people also are very courteous and civil The most part of Topographers will have Com to be the same place which Ptolomy calls Gauna or Guriana And his Translator asserts it to be the same with Choama tho others will have it to be Arbacte or Hecatompyle Several Histories of Persia likewise relate this City to be very Ancient and that it was built by Tahmas when the Sun entred into Gemini that it was twelve thousand Cubits in compass and as big as Babylon I must confess there is no doubt but it was very large for there are many Ruins and Footsteps of Habitations to be seen round about it but it is much to be question'd whether it were so Ancient as the Reign of Tahmas Other Persian Histories deduce its Original from the first Age of Mahumetism and affirm that in the time of Mahomet there were in that place seven large Villages and that in the 83 Year of the Hegyra Abdalla Saydon Califfe coming into that Country with an Army joyn'd those seven Villages together with new Buildings enclos'd 'em with a Wall and made 'em one City and that afterwards this City encreas'd to that degree that it became twice as large as Constantinople For Mousa the Son of that Abdalla came from Basra to Com and brought with him the Opinions of Haly which they call the Religion of Shia or Imamism which was always profess'd in that place even to Martyrdom nor would the People suffer any other and therefore Temur-leng being of a contrary Belief utterly destroy'd the City Nevertheless by degrees they repair'd one part of it again but it did not begin to reflourish until this last Age and since that Sephy was there interr'd Abas the Second his Son and Successor banish'd thither such Persons as were fallen from his Favour to the end they might pray to God for his person and give thanks to heaven for their Lives which he had spar'd ' em Soliman at present reigning had made use of it to the same purpose sending thither all those whom he thought convenient to punish with Exile and the great number of exil'd persons of Quality it was that has restor'd the City to that Splendor wherein now it stands In the Year 1634. an Inundation of Waters ruin'd a thousand Houses and it is but three Years since that an Accident of the same nature had like to have ruin'd it all together For two thousand Houses and all the Ancient Houses were laid level with the Earth The Name is pronounc'd with a double m as if we should write the word Komm It is also call'd Darel mouveheldin that is to say The Habitation of pious People The Governor bears the Title of Darogué or Mayor Kachan Kachan The 17. we travell'd five Leagues cross the Plain We found it all the way cover'd with a moving Sand dry without either Villages or Water We lodg'd in a place call'd Abshirin or Sweet Water because there is in that place a Fountain of fair Water and Cisterns in the midst of six Carevanserais The 18. our Journey reach'd to Cashan where we arriv'd after we had travell'd seven Leagues steering toward the South over the Plain already mention'd and at the end of two Leagues we found the Soyl delightful and fertile stor'd with large Villages We pass'd through several and about half the way left upon the left hand at a near distance a little City call'd Sarou seated at the foot of a Mountain The City of Cashan is seated in a large Plain near a high Mountain It is a League in length and a quarter of a League in breadth extending it self in length from East to West When you see it afar off it resembles a half Moon the Corners of which look toward both those Parts of the Heavens The Draught is no true Representation either of the Bigness or the Figure as having been taken without a true Prospect And the reason was the Indisposition of my Painter who being extremely tir'd with the former days Travel was not able to stir out of the Inn where we lay All that he could do was to get upon the Terrass and take the Draught from thence There is no River that runs by the City only several Canals convey'd under Ground with many deep Springs and Cisterns as there are at Com. It is encompass'd with a double Wall flank'd with round Towers after the Ancient Fashion to which there belong five Gates One to the East call'd the Royal Gate as being near the Royal Palace that stands without the Walls Another call'd the Gate of Fieu because it leads directly to a great Village which bears that name Another between the West and North call'd the Gate of the House of Melic as being near to a Garden of Pleasure which was planted by a Lord of that Name The two other Gates are opposite to the South-East and North-East The one call'd Com Gate and the other Ispahan Gate be cause they lead to those Cities The City and the Suburbs which are more beautiful then the City contain six thousand five hundred Houses as the People assure us forty Mosques three Colleges and about two hundred Sepulchres of the Descendants of Aly. The Principal Mosque stands right against the great Market Place having one Tower that serves for a Steeple built of Free Stone Both the Mosque and the Tower are the
Their Graves are confus'd among those that lie buried round bout the Monuments that were erected over 'em having bin beaten down by the Turks and Tartars that invaded those places and sacrific'd those structures to the honour of their Saints the grand Enemies and Persecutors of the Descendants of Aly. They made search for these Graves after the Califf became Master of the City again but how easily they may be deceiv'd in this search is no difficult thing to conjecture For in the Year 1667. they found out one that put the whole City into confusion For they affirm'd the Grave upon which a large Monument had been built a hundred years before out of an assurance that one of Aly's descendants was buried there to be the Sepulcher of one Yuzbec a Preacher The People enrag'd that they had worshipped for a whole Age together a Place in their Opinion more worthy of Execration ran in a heat to pull down the Monument dug down the Earth that was at the top and round about it and made a common road over it But what happen'd afterwards is much more Remarkable And that is this that one of the great Persian Doctors undertook to write a Treatise on purpose that there was never any such person as Yuzbec buried there Upon which the People again offended to see themselves made the sport of their Doctors fancies have left the place as indifferent and will neither pollute nor give it Reverence The Governor of Cashan carries the Title of a Darogué as do all the other Governors of the City 's of Parthia A Lord that was one of my good Friends call'd Rustan-bec Brother to several Governors Provinces had the Government of that City the first time that I pass'd through it The two years of his Government being ended the City was so well satisfi'd in his conduct that they sent some of their Members to petition that he might be continu'd two years longer but their Petition was rejected as being contrary to custom to continue such Officers longer then the usual time The 19. our Horses were so tir'd that we were forc'd to stay at Cashan We departed the 29. and travell'd seven Leagues the two first cross the Plain where the City was built the rest over a Mountain which was of a good height but not difficult to ascend At the top we met with a very large and fair Caravanseray and a little further with a wide Lake which serves for a Receptacle to receive the melted Snow and Rain that falls from the Parts thereabouts from whence they let go the water into the Plain of Cashan as they have need Abas the Great rais'd up two strong Dams about it to the end it might hold more Water and to prevent the Water from wasting He also caus'd several Causeys to be made in the same place for the Convenience of Travellers Being descended from the Mountain you enter into a deep Valley very narrow and about a League in length all which space of Ground is stor'd with Houses Vineyards and Gardens so close one to another that it seems to be but one Village of a League in length Several delightful and clean Streams derive their Springs from that Plain which preserve the Air wonderfully cool all the Summer so that it is a place the most charming and delightful that a man shall meet with in that scorching Climate For the Sun has so little Power there that the Roses were not then blown the Corn and Fruit were also then green and but half ripe and yet they had reap'd their Harvest and had eaten ripe Fruit a Cashan at month before We lodg'd at the end of that lovely Plain in a Caravanseray there built which they call'd Carou Some of our own modern Authors assert That this Valley was the Place where Darius was murder'd which is not improbable for that the History observes that Bessus and Nabarzanes after they had committed that Treacherous Murder upon the Prince took several Roads the one for Hyrcania and the other for Bactriana and Cashan is exactly the Place that leads directly to those two Provinces The 21 we travell'd eight Leagues two along the foot of the Mountains between which that Valley lies and six in a pleasant Vale stor'd with a great number of Villages where we met with several Caravanseray's upon the Road we alighted at one that was larger and fairer then the rest call'd Aga-Kemal from the name of a rich Merchant that built it and several other publick Structures about Ispahan The 22. our Journeys was not above five Leagues in the same Plain where Aga-Kemal stands We travell'd so hard that by nine a Clock at night we arriv'd at Moutshacour which is a large Village consisting of about five hundred Houses where there are several Inns and Gardens and great plenty of Water The 23. we set forward late to the end we might not come to Ispahan before day We travell'd the nine Leagues which we had to ride over lovely Plains still directing our Course to the South as in our former Journeys and pass'd by so many Caravanserays and Villages drawing near that great City that we thought our selves in the Suburbs two hours before we got thither We enter'd the City by five a Clock in the Morning all in good health Thanks be to God The end of the First Book THE INDEX A. ABas the Great ruins the Frontiers of Persia 348 Abca's a thieving people 77 Abrener peopl'd with Roman Catholics 346 Adoption the manner of it Mengrelia c by the women 146 Akalzikè the Description of it 168 Alexander K. of Imiretta 136 Alexander Son of Levan Prince of Mingrelia 136 Amazons 187 c. Anarguia a Town in Mingrelia 111 116 Arakilvank a famous Armenian Monastery Araxes the River 347 348 Archylus Son of Shanavas Can 139 crown'd K. of Imiretta by his Father 140 Armenia divided and bounded 242 c. Armenian Traditions fabulous 252 Aron 413 Author Author's departure from Paris p. 1. His Motives for the second Voyage to Persia 2. Made the King of Persia's Merchant ib. He designs for the Black-Sea and Colchos 16 c. His distress at Isgaour 108. He sends an Express to the Theatin Superior 109. His Answer ibid. The Author's Surprise 110. The Market-place fir'd 111. The Superior comes to him and carries him off 112. Amingreham Slave draws Compassion from the Author 115. The French Embassadors Letter in behalf of the Author 116. He arrives at the mouth of the River Astolphus 116. He takes a Lodging in Anarghia 117. Visited by a lay Theatin ibid. A Lady furnishes him with Provisions 118. He is advis'd to pretend himself a Capuchin ibid. He departs from Anargy 119. The Occasions of his Misfortunes ibid. Visited by the Princess of Mingrelia 121. She invites him to Dinner 122. The Consequences ibid. 123 c. He buyes his Goods 125. He is robb'd the by Mingrelians 126 c. He flies upon a Rumour of the Turks being entred into Mingrelia
131. The Authors Servant finds a great parcel of Jewels which he gave for lost 125 c. He demands Justice of the Prince 130. He is robb'd a second time by a Mingrelian 148. He resolves for Georgia 151 c. Tax'd 20 Crowns by Sabatar 152. His usage at Gony 158. His Goods arrive safe at Mingrelia 161 162 c. Advises with the Capuchins at Gory 170. His Journey from Gory to Cotalis 173 c. His dispute with one of his Servants there 178 He waits upon the King of Imiretta 180. He returns to Gori 183. His Reception by the Governor of Tifflis 224 c. By the Governor of Irivan 254 c. Azerbeyan 350. B. BAcrat Mirza King of Imiretta 136 Baptism of the Mingrelians p. 101 Basha of Akalzikè invades Imiretta dethrones one and set up another King 147 Bichni in Armenia and Monastery belonging to it 244 Black-Sea the Description of it 155 C. CAffa describ'd 68 The Kingdom of Kaket subject to the Persians 206 Carthuel a Province of Persia 188 Casbin the Description of it 378 Cashan the Description of it 411 Cassem-abad 411 Cherks a savage people 76 An Account of Christian Corsaires in the Archipelago 3. The grounds of the Candy War 53 c. The Caous a sort of Giants 371 Carashiman a fair Village in Persia 371 Casbin describ'd 378 c. Colchis the Description of it 77 c. Com the Description of it 390 Cotatis describ'd 177 Cotzia betrays Darejan 146. Slain himself by Treachery ibid Couh-Telisme a famous Mountain 389 Coolom-sha the King's Slave 257 Their Employment ibid. Cuperli Mahamet Basha made Grand Visir 15. He resents the French Embassadors slights 16. The most remarkable Passages of his Life 57 c. Cupri kent 239 D. DAdian the Title of the Prince of Mingrelia He is guilty of the Robbery committed upon the Author 131 Darejan Daughter to the last King of Georgia would have married her Son in Law 136. Her wicked Pranks to continue her self in the Dominion 137 c. She marries Vactangle one of her Lords 137 which causes a Revolt of the rest ibid. Bitray'd 138. her tragick End 145 Darejan Levans Aunt and Wife 134 She sets up her Son Vomeki 136 Deria-shirin or the Lake of Irivan describ'd 247 Dily-jan and the Country about it 240 E. EBber the Description of it 377 Echmiazin or the Monastery of the three Churches 249 Echmouil a place famous for the Pilgrimages of the Persians 387 F. FEast the order of a Nuptial Feast in Persia 226 Two Fryers Commissioners for the Holy Land their claim at the Port 39 c. Their large Offers to the Turk and the Reasons 45 G. GEnoeses maintain a Consul at Smyrna 11 George Prince of Libardian 134 his Wife is taken from him ibid. He dies for grief 135 Georgia the Description of it 186 c. the Religion of the Countrey 192 Conquer'd by Ishmael the the Great 193. The History of Georgia ibid c Revolts from the Persian and conquer'd by Rustan Kan 203 Gonie describ'd 185 Gori describ'd 188 Guriel the Description of it p 105 its tribute to the Turks 106 H. MOnsieur de la Haye French Embassador at the Port 15 16 16 19 recall'd 20 Monsieur de la Hay the Son Embassador 21 22 23 24 c recall'd 28 The best Horses in Persia where bred 370 Huns whence originally 106 I. I Miretta the Description of it 106 its Tribute to the Turks ibid The Title of the Prince 107 descended from David 108 Impositions upon the French at Constantinople 10 Ioseph the Prince of Mingrelia's Brother endeavours Levan's Assassination 135 his Eyes pull'd out 136 Irivan describ'd 245 Isgaour the Description of it 108 Julfa the Old otherwise Ariamene 347 K. KEsil-beusè a River 374 Koskeirou a famous Inn 385 Kotzia a Lord of Imiretta he procures the murder of Vomeki 140 L. A Copy of the Viceroy of Georgia's haughty Letter 230 A Letter of Recommendation from a Persian Grandee 222 another 367 Levan Dadian Prince of Imiretta the Story of him 132 c. M. MArant the Description of it 351. The place where the Ark rested not far from it 352 Marriages among the Mingrelians p 102 Matrimony in Persia 295 Media the Description of it 349 Miana a Persian Town 372 Mingrelians their opinion of Confession 102 of Ordination ibid. they understand not the Bible p. 103 Their Fasts ibid. their Opinion of the Sign of the Cross ibid. their Prayers ibid. their Sacrifices ibid they work on Sundays 104 their chief Festivals ibid their Mourning ibid their Tribute to the Turks 107 the Title of their Princes 107 descended from David 108 fearful of danger 152 Popish Missionaries slighted in Georgia 211 The Mountain where Noah's Ark rested 252 Moutshacour a large Village 416 Music not us'd in the Mahometan Religion 229 N. NAcchivan the Description of it 346 The Deputy Governor uncivil to the Author 349 Turkish Navigation 66 M. Noyntel French Embassador at the Port 28 c his Negotiation frustrated 44 O. OTta Chekaizè betrays Q. Darejan 138 Oyl Sacred call'd Myrone p. 101 P. PArthia the Air and Description of the Country 373 The Vice roy of Georgias Pass 236 The Governor of Irivan's Pass 342 Mirza-Thair's Pass 368 The King of Persia's Patent 236 The Patriarch of Armenia a Story of his Extravagance 333. ill us'd by the Governor of Irivan 365 Pervarè a Village of Persia 372 The River Phasis 156 Policy of the Turks surpasses the Europeans 51 The Plain suppos'd to be the place where Darius was murder'd 416 Pride of the Georgians and Eastern people 230 Q. SEnior Quirini Agent for the Venetians at the Port. 50 R. REy formerly a vast City in Persia 387 A great Robbery committed upon the Persian Caravan 363 Roman Catholicks in Persia 346. An Embassador from the Pope in their behalf ibid. how us'd in Georgia 350 Rustan-Can his vertues 366 S. SAbatar Owner of the Fortress where the Author secur'd himself 149 c. Sapias the Description of it 119 Sava a City of Persia describ'd 386 Scorpions where troublesome in Persia 413 Sephi-Kouli-Kan Governor of Irivan 256 Mahamed Sephi's Letter of Recommendation 343 Segs-abad 385 Mr. Sesè the French Embassador farms the Customs of Constantinople and Smyrna p. 10 Shaboni the fairest Grape in Persia 380 Shanavas Can Vice roy of Georgia 139. he is offer'd the Kingdom of Imiretta for his Son Archylus if he would expel the Mingrelians ib. He invades Imiretta 140 Shemashè 188. the place where Noah dwelt 189 Sirsham a Parthian Inn. 374 Slaves at what rate sold in Mingrelia 114 Several Persian Songs 402 Stones a wonderful Pile 371 Sophian thought the ancient Sophia of Media 352 King of Spain his health drank by the Governor of Tifflis 230 The Governor of Tifflis how akin to him ibid. Sultanie the Description of it 375 The Sun troublesome where the Snow lies all day 244 Suram in Georgia 188 T TAuris the Descriptivn of it 352 c.
Mount Taurus describ'd 166 Theatins their coming into Mingrelia 119. Their little progress in the Country 120. How they baptize in that Country ibid. They sing and play before the Governor of Tifflis at a Wedding 229 Tifflis describ'd 208 c. Toll-gatherers in Persia how regulated 372 Trade of the English at Smyrna 4. Hollanders Trade at Smyrna 7. French trade ibid Tshapars or Persian Curriers 257 Transubstantiation the Mingrelians Opinion of it p. 101 Travelling the manner of it in Persia 384 Turks easily cheated 9 Turkman a Village of Persia 372 V. VActangle married by Darejan and crown'd King of Imiretta 137. He is betrayed and looses his Eyes 137 138. Carryed Prisoner into Georgia 140 Venetians maintain a Consul at Smyrna 11 The Virgins Castle 374 Viaticum Bread how us'd and esteem'd among the Mingrelians p. 101 Vomeki set up by Darejan dispoil'd of his Principality 136 Vomeki King of Imiretta murder'd 140 W. WIne in Persia the best 380 Witzosky Polish Agent at the Port. 48 c. Women in Georgia not confin'd 226 Z. ZErigan a City in Parthia 374 Zetou-lou a River FINIS THE CORONATION OF SOLYMAN III. THE PRESENT King of Persia By Sir JOHN CHARDIN The CORONATION of SOLYMAN The Third of that Name And the Two hundred thirty fourth King of Persia SUch was the End of Habas the second of Glorious Memory that his Death may well be look'd upon to have been a Judgment of Heaven upon that Potent Empire which he all along so prudently governed and as a Misfortune that at the same time befel several Millions of People that were under his Dominion The Persians never speak of him but they give him all the Encomiums of a Magnanimous Prince whose Courage and good Conduct had already contributed in an extraordinary manner to the Re-establishment of their Country and who had questionless restored it to its ancient Splendor and to a perfect Prosperity had his Life been of a longer continuance In a word they had great reason to promise themselves that he would have rendred both the one and the other Diuturnal as well as Universal in regard his Heroic Vertues had Crowned him with Victory before he had arrived to the Age of nineteen Years by the Conquest of the City and whole Province of Kaud-dar bordering upon the utmost Confines of the whole Kingdom and that too from an Enemy no less Powerful than the Indian Monarch and afterwards when he defended it against the whole Force of the same Prince Mustered together in one Body to regain it The same Virtues they were that made him formidable to his Potent Neighbours the Duke of Muscovy the Monarch of the Tartars and the Puissant King of India himself Who being discouraged by the Ill success of his first Enterprize of which we have already given an account would never venture any more to molest him The same transcendent Virtues in a Brest so truly Royal even at the very time that Death surprized him spur'd him on to extend his Dominions towards the North and East And the Preparations which he had made for that purpose gave the whole World occasion to fear that his Design would infallibly succeed The Christians who had the happiness to live under his Subjection to this day lament in private his Decease not only as a King but as a Parent For his Justice and his Goodness would never suffer any violence to be offered them or that they should be disturbed for their Religion which they had free Liberty to exercise during his Reign as being a Person in whom those Royal Virtues were stedfast and unalterable which always prevented the Fury of the Cruel and Impious Mahometans from molesting the Peace and Tranquillity of their Lives or Estates And hence it is that Strangers still and ever will bewail his loss and bear in Remembrance his more than ordinary Endowments as He that by by his Affability and Liberality invited them continually to his Court and Cities under his Obedience and employed a great part of the Tribute which he drew from his Subjects in the purchase of their costly Merchandise which they brought along with them paying both generously and punctually what they in reason demanded Toward the Conclusion of that account which we have given of the Life of this Great Prince we have shewn that the cause of his Death was that same nauseous Distemper which good Manners will not permit to be named and of which the Pollution is yet more unseemly and which notwithstanding all the Endeavours of Art to conceal it displays it self in the Faces of the Diseased and publishes with Ignominy their frequent Converse with lewd Women We have also told you that his Death happened in one of his Houses of Pleasure seated in the Province of Teber Estoon two Leagues from Damagaan according to the Persian Geographers lying in 78. Degrees and 15. Minutes of Longitude and 37. degrees 20. Minutes of Latitude twelve days Journey from the Capital City of the Empire and nine days Journey from the Caspian Sea And this house of Pleasure inviting several of the Country People to settle round about it was the Reason that at length it grew to be a considerable Village to which the Persians gave the Name of Cosroe-Abaad or the Habitation of Cosroes who was a Prince formerly Governour of the Province where this Village is situated and the same that built this Palace of Pleasure in the Reign of Sefi the first Grandfather to the present King But not long after this Cosroes falling into Disgrace the King confiscated his House and all his Estate after he had put the Governour himself to Death of which I shall say no more at present as being a Subject not proper for this Place We have also in the same Relation set down the Time of this Prince's unfortunate Decease which happened upon the 26. of the Moon which they call Rabeia el Atier de l'Egere 1077. or according to the Christian Account upon the 25. of September 1666. about four a clock in the Morning at what time the first glimpse of Daylight-Dawn began to appear Eternal darkness closing the Eyes of that Great Monarch at the very Moment that Day began to give Light to his Subjects in their several Callings We have also farther related how that an Hour before the Principal Eunuchs observing in the Prince's Eyes the Signs of Approaching Death thought it fit to put out of the Room all the Women that were with him for fear lest at the moment of his last Gasp the Transports of their Grief and their loud Outcries might discover a Secret which it was so necessary at that time to conceal To that purpose they perswaded them that the King was asleep and desired them therefore to retire for fear of disturbing his Repose This had been prudently done if the persons that seemed to be so wise had had sufficient Resolution and Courage themselves But at the Fatal Moment they could not themselves forbear
very real At length the greatest part entertained a Proposal so acceptable to their wishes with great Joy and they who only had in their view their own particular Establishment were no less willing in pursuance of the Prime Ministers Counsel to be thought as well affected to the publick Welfare when indeed they minded nothing but their own Grandeur For the same Considerations that had sway'd the Prime Minister and the Chief Superintendant as we have said already had got possession of their Minds likewise and infused into them an Apprehension of the uncertainty of their Conditions if Sephie-Mirza were advanced to the Throne For that the Young Prince were it only to shew his Absolute Power would Rule according to his own Fancy and change his Officers as he pleased himself Nor could they think otherwise but that some secret Instigations of Revenge would govern his Proceedings against them as being perswaded that their Complacency had contributed to his Misfortunes and that they were so far from pacifying the displeasure and complaints which the deceased King his Father made against him that they had applauded and flattered his Indignation On the other side if the report were true of Habas's being poysoned by the Conspiracy of some of his Lords it was easie to conjecture how they that were guilty could not choose but feel a Remorse of Conscience and with what Terror they look'd upon a Successor who being naturally enclined to violence would readily lay hold upon a Pretence so plausible to revenge his Father's Death But from the Election of the Younger Son there was no such Apprehension of danger in regard all things would move in their usual Course and for that his Minority would give them leisure to provide for themselves and to make the best advantage of the Employments which they enjoyed Thereupon they weighed in the same Balance the Probabilities which the Prime Minister had set forth of the Death of the Eldest of the two Princes and the hazards which the Monarchy would run through a tedious Expectation And therefore they all with one Voice concluded upon the Election of Hamzeh-Mirza But among all the Grandees there was not any one that testified so violent a Passion for the Election of the Youngest Son as the Superintedant General nor indeed was there any one whose particular Interest had more reason to urge him to it as having more cause to fear the advancement of the Elder than anyof the rest And moreover he made no question that he would lay it to his Charge that he had not the Furniture the rich Cloaths and other things that he desired all which things by virtue of his Office of Superintendant were at his disposal On the other side he had done several kindnesses for the Mother of the Younger Son whose Officer he was in the outward Palace and then by the Assistance of the Eunuchs that attended her in the Womens Apartment he was in hopes to work himself so effectually into the Favour both of the Princess and her Son that he might be in a Condition to continue himself for a longer time in that high Credit wherein he had lived during the Reign of the Father To which purpose when it came to his turn in Rank and Dignity which was the third Place of Honour to give his Opinion it was with less indifference than those that preceded him had done He confirmed all that had been said by the Support of the Empire or the Prime Minister He added moreover that he could not precisely tell in what Condition Sephie-Mirza was at that time however that it could not be but very bad or rather so deplorable that it would not suffer either Himself or any others in his behalf to dream of the Empire That for the past Years of 1075. and 1076. after his Father had shut him up under a close Restraint He had been kept very private That for him that spoke he made no question but that Habas had caused the Eyes of the Prince to be put out as not believing him fit to Govern Of which there was nothing gave him greater Assurances than that there had been no mention made of the Prince since the Kings last Progress to Mazendaran at what time the deceased King being upon the Road not above eight Leagues distant from the Capital City brush'd of a sudden back again in great hast no man knowing either the Issue of his Return nor why he went And therefore there was no farther reason to doubt but that he did it at length with a full determination to rid the world of that Young Prince Nor did there need any other convincing Proof of what he said than the Eunuch who not long since had been dispatched with private Orders which could only relate to that Prince And therefore it was an irrational thing to deliberate to which of the two Sons they should offer the Crown since only Hamzeh-Mirza was by Heaven preserved to be their Prince Thus was this Royal Infant about to have been advanced to the Throne to the Exclusion of his Elder Brother All the Grandees gave their Consents for this Election nor had one of these who had right to speak denied him his voice There were only two Eunuchs that had not spoke a word And who would have thought they durst have presumed to have spoken a word especially the least in Credit of the two seeing that neither the one or the other having neither Right Title or Authority to speak could any one have imagined that they should have been so bold to entertain Sentiments contrary to all the rest of that Illustrious Family Or if they should have been so daring was there any likelyhood they should have the Confidence to declare them and to carry it against so many Voices Nevertheless it so came to pass in a Manner that may be thought to be almost Miraculous as well by reason of the Circumstances already observed as for those which we are going about to observe Which assures us that there is a Superior Providence which concerns it self in the Management of all human Affairs commands all Events and frequently brings things to pass contrary to all our Expectations as here it hapned where Sephie was Elected notwithstanding the confederacy of persons interessed and the favourable opportunities to advance their Designs Now this same Eunuch that broke all the Measures which these Lords had taken was Aga-Mubarek in great Credit at Court as we have already observed as being the person to whom the King had committed the Tuition of his second Son He I say was Tutor to Hamzeh-Mirza whom the Grandees all endeavored to advance to the Throne and whom it therefore behoved rather than any other to support and encourage their Suffrages since that in all likelyhood the Grandeur of his Illustrious Pupil would be a means infinitely to advance his Reputation and present him a Fortune the most glorious that a person of his Condition could hope for Nevertheless the
and yet that it should not be known till after the Son was seated upon the Throne and actually Crowned of which I had never read the like Example But this was one Master-piece of the Persian Wisdom never too much to be commended By means of which Address the State changed its Master without any alteration in Form and suffered one of the most dangerous Resolutions without being sensible of it insomuch that in all Ispahan there did not appear the least sign of Consternation They heard without any disturbance that Habas was dead without making a Will and with satisfaction received the Person whom they had Elected in his Place There was no body that appeared either very sad or overjoyed No body that plaid the Censurer to find fault with what was done much less any one that was mutinous For all things ran in their usual Course The Merchants opened their Shops as they did the day before and every one followed their Occasions as little concerned as if no such thing had hapned Methought that then Ispahan was one of the Places Republick above the reach of Fortune and exempted from those Accidents that trouble the Tranquillity of Mortals Our Europeans only took the Alarm upon the news of this great and sudden Revolution and they that were in their Houses in the City kept their doors shut all the first part of the Morning Among the rest the Hollanders who were retired to their own Home to the number of Forty With them was M. Hubert de Laresse who was sent by the Orders of the Holland Company in the Quality of an Embassadour to the deceased King with Commissions and Presents for his Majesty He was then just about to return but understanding the Change he who having been long employed by the Company had been in several parts of India and had there seen upon the death of Princes strange Commotions and dangerous Seditions wherein many Murders and Roberies had been with impunity committed He I say made cautious by this hazardous Experience was not a little fearful of the same Consequences of such a Change and therefore advised the Dutch to keep in to prevent the evil Accidents of mutinies upon such occasion in hopes of Booty and Pillage But the Ingenuity of the Persians and the Excellency of their Government might have spared him those Fears However when the Superiour of the Capuchins brought him word about nine of the Clock in the Morning that all was quiet that he might no longer discover his mistrust of the Publick Security he ordered the Doors to be opened This Superiour of the Capuchins was the Reverend Father Raphael of Mans. At the same time the New Monarch coming out of the Inner part of his Palace went and sate in the great Hall where he was Crowned the Night before and then it was that all the Grandees who were then at Ispahan qualified to receive that Honour were admitted to kiss the ground before his Feet This Ceremony lasted till ten of the Clock at what time his Majesty rising from his Seat took Horse and that was the first time that ever he rode out of the Place where he was born And according to the Custom of the Persians he made a Cavalcade round his Palace very leisurely and with little attendance riding in the middle at the distance of twenty Paces from them that marched before and those that followed after only twelve Footmen went of each side before and behind his Horse and all this to the end he might be the better seen by the People His Majesty had on a Cabaye or Georgian Vest of Sattin and Silver thick powdered with Violets the forepart of which upon his Breast was adorned with long Rows of Pearls and Diamonds six of each side Over his Vest he wore a short Justacore without Sleeves of Cloath of Gold faced with Sables Upon his right side stuck his Dagger of which the Sheath and Hilt were set with Emeralds and other Precious Stones nor was his Sword less gorgeously embellished Upon his Head he wore a Persian Cap or Dhul-bandt made of very fine Silk and Gold with a Royal Heron-Tuft fastened before in a Rose of Diamonds and Rubies The People from all Parts flock together in Heaps to see their New Sovereign who not being accustomed to see such Sholes of People as having always lived remote from Noise and Hurry seemed as he had done at the Coronation Ceremony to look like one that knew not well how to behave himself as being not a little dazled with so much sudden splendour However he still looked up so that all might see his Eyes where sweetness sate intermixed with Majesty which immediately begat both Love and Respect as did all the rest of his Body which was exactly shaped His Stature was Tall and withal proportionable and graceful his Face was round with a pleasing Air in his Lineaments a little marked with the Small Pox. His Eyes blue his Hair white which he therefore dyed black as being the colour most esteemed by the Persians They who know that all the followers of Mahomet shave their Hair will understand that I mean the hair of his Beard which at those years began to spread its early Down upon his Lips and Cheeks wherein he was very like his Father only that he had not so long a Nose nor so full and open an Eye The whiteness of his Complexion which the Sun had not at all altered as yet had something in it which I cannot express that was extremely charming In a word there was nothing in the Prince which did not then appear very graceful I say then for now he is very much changed and still changes every day His Majesty having been an Hour abroad returned into the Womens Apartment from whence he did not stir out all that day after he had given Orders or rather Leave to the General of the Musquetteers and the Nazir Eunuch who were then his chiefest Favourites to dispatch such business as required hast He did nothing more all the rest of that day nor was there any other Pomp or Show contrary to the general expectation For the King was willing to defer the time of Publick Rejoycing till all the Court should be arrived at Ispahan In the mean while there was no alteration to be seen in the City The Shops were open the Tradesmen followed their business in the publick Streets and the Markets were kept till a little before Night And this was observed not only in the Capital City but over all that Vast Empire So that this great Revolution made no change either in the Estate or Business of any Person It was an absolute Calm for which we may give two Reasons The one was the Prudence of the Great Ones who understood so well to conceal the Death of the deceased Monarch The other was the absolute Authority of the Kings of Persia and the terrible Awe that Superstition infuses into the People At the bare Command of the
would transport his Enemy to some other Act that would promote his ruine which was the only thing that he most cordially wish'd for and thus it fell out This Vazier of Mazenderan call'd Mirza-Hachem during the Reign of Habas II. was in good credit with his Prince And yet there was not in all Persia a person of a more scandalous Tongue He would talk of the Grandees to the King with a most dreadful sawciness call the Prime Minister Buffle-Head the Superintendant a Liar the Chief Justice downright Knave and then for the General of the Musquetteers he said he was both a Coward and a Robber And tho Habas gave little heed to his discourse nevertheless the persons concern'd were afraid they should make an impression in the King's mind to their disadvantage and therefore they all hated him with a perfect hatred But now the King his supporter being dead the General of the Musquetteers who was become the New Kings chief Favourite and had obtain'd a Commission to send all the Officers their Royal Habits resolv'd to be reveng'd as believing withal that it would be no less acceptable to the rest of the Lords To this purpose instead of a Royal Calate he only sent him a plain Habit worth not above forty Pounds not doubting but that the Vazier would commit some extravagance that would hasten his destruction Nor did he fail in his Conjecture For upon his going forth to meet and receive the Habit and to put it on that the People might see that he was confirm'd in his Employment when he saw it and found it to be a thing of no value he threw it away with scorn and indignation believing it to be a trick put upon him and done on purpose to disgrace him However his disdain carri'd him no farther for he conjectur'd it to be some snare laid to hurle him headlong into Ruine Not daring therefore to return to the City in that Habit and fearing least the People should despise him if they saw him so ill dress'd at the Kings Expence as one that had lost his Reputation at Court he sent home for a Royal Habit one of the Richest and most Magnificent that Habas had formerly bestow'd upon him and so having put it on he return'd to the City making the People believe that he had receiv'd it from the New Monarch This being known to all the Court the General of the Musquetteers was the first that open'd his Lips declaring that the Vazier of Makenderan was a Dog that he had thrown away the Kings Habit with reproachful Language not forbearing to say that he had no need of Sha-Sefiè's Habits whereupon he had made use of another which Habas his Father had sent him The King who understood not the Stratagems of Court look'd no farther then the bare Information not dreaming of any malice in the Contrivance And therefore upon the Prime Minister's first motion he sent an express Command to the Vazier's Controller to appear at Court So soon as the Vazier understood that the Controller was sent for he began to consider the bad condition of his affairs He knew well and upon good grounds that the Controller was a person that would not spare to inform the worst he could against him because they had been at variance a long time Habas the Second had joyn'd them both together in Commission of set purpose to the end that through the mistrust that they had one of another they might be the more careful how they demean'd themselves in the discharge of their duties and to prevent them from any combination to defraud him of his Revenues The Vazier therefore to prevent his Fall as much as in him lay dispatch'd away before the Controller set forward one of his own Servants with Letters to his Vikil or Agent at Court wherein he gave him order to spare for no expence in considerable Presents to such and such Lords But added he at the bottom beware of offering any thing to that Rascal of a Prime Minister or to that Dog of a General of the Musquetteers withal naming some others to whom he forbad him to make any addresses But by misfortune the Messenger crippl'd himself by the way so that he could not make that hast which was requisite by which accident the Controller who follow'd him close at the heels overtook him in a Caravanseray or publick Inn where finding him laid down and fast asleep he would not miss so favourable an opportunity but stole from under his Head the Purse wherein his Letters were He read them and carri'd them to Court to shew them to those persons whom they had so highly abus'd Who more enrag'd then before carri'd the Controller to his Majesty before whom he confirm'd the Information which had been already given him That the Vazier of Mazenderan had disdainfully flung away the Royal Habit which his Majesty had sent him saying withal these words I have no need of Sha-Sephiè's Habits and that he sent for one of Habas's Vestments which he wore upon his return to the City Upon which the King highly incens'd several times repeated the words Gidi and Segh or Dog and Scoundrel with several other more outrageous and bitter Expressions usual among the greatest Personages in that Country who think it no shame to utter them upon all occasions and before any persons whatsoever Presently the King sent to arrest the Vazier's Agent and at the same time dispatch'd to his Master a Chapar or Courrier extraordinary to arrest him and confiscate all his Goods The General of the Musquetteers not content with this the next Morning inform'd the King that this Vazier had been High Steward to Imaan-Kouli-Kaan that famous Prince honour'd with so many Encomiums and who is reported in the Life of Habas the Great to have wrought so many Miracles besides that he was Captain General of all Habas's Armies I say he inform'd the King that this Vazier was entrusted with all Imaan-Kouli-Kaan's Jewels and yet he would never discover to Sefiè the I. where that Prince had hid them before he was put to death protesting he knew nothing of the matter Which was a visible piece of knavery since there could be no other person in the world who could know that secret but himself and therefore there was no way to constrain him to tell the truth but by force Which Incentives so wrought upon the Young Prince that he dispatch'd a second Courrier with Orders to bring the Vazier with his Head and Feet bare and a Chain about his Neck and that every day they should give him forty drubs upon the soles of his Feet till he confess'd where the Jewels were The Messengers were punctual in the Execution of the Kings Commands upon the Vazier who not able to endure the Torment nor the hardship of the Journey for it was then in the depth of Winter when all the ways were cover'd with Frost and Snow died by that time he came half way had nine days
as if it had been only a frolick he put Spurs to his Horse and rode out of sight As for his Guards they had no mistrust at first till at length that they saw he made so little hast to come back But it was too late to pursue him and as vain to stay till he return'd their Horses being quite tir'd with Galloping up and down for four hours and more together Besides the resolute Prisoner flew with all the speed that Whip and Spur could make and arriv'd at Ispahan where he met all his friends at the appointed Rendezvouz to the number of Fifty persons and went directly to the King's Gate When he drew near the Place where the King was sitting the General of the Slaves met him who was not a little surpriz'd to see him there sooner then he expected Nevertheless without making any shew of having kept any correspondence together he ask'd him his business who answer'd That he came to lay his Head at the King's Feet It is very well done replied the General of the Slaves I 'll go and beg the Kings leave for your admission But Hali-Kouli-Kaan instead of staying for the Kings Answer follow'd the General of the Slaves so close that he could hear the King as soon as he heard his Name and that he was come make answer aloud Kouh-Gheldy Safa-Gheldy Let him be welcome let him come in a good Hour and then commanding him to enter he repeated the same kind words with a Countenance that testifi'd his satisfaction and then caus'd him to sit down Within a Minute after the King call'd for him and order'd him to draw near him and when he was close by him Hali-Kouli-Kaan said he what brings thee hither and what is thy request To which the Lord made answer with a wonderful quickness of Wit I am come hither Benefactor of Mankind to serve your Majesty because Slaves and Dogs ought always to be within their Masters call This Answer highly pleas'd the Youthful Sovereign insomuch that after he had dismiss'd him he gave Order to the Prime Minister to give him a splendid Entertainment the next day to provide him a Palace and to furnish him with money and all other necessaries whatever In pursuance of which Command the Prime Minister assigned him the Palace where lodg'd the Embassadour from Aurang-Zeeb King of the Indians in the years 1664 and 1665. But this Lord so soon as he became Master of it pull'd it down to the ground and built it up again far more magnificently then ever as you may see in our Description of Ispahan The next day as he sate at Dinner with the Prime Minister and was telling the Story how he made his escape out of his Confinement he added That a mad Dog the more you keep him chain'd up the more mad and extravagant he grows which he therefore said in regard he had incurr'd the Kings displeasure by hair-brain'd and violent actions and full of a Transportment that truly savour'd of Extravagance A while after the King summon'd a Megelès or publick Assembly for his sake There out of a magnificent humour not usual but among Sovereign Princes he caus'd to be spread upon the ground in the Garden where this Lord was to pafs to the very Hall seventy Pieces of Zer-baffe which is a very rich sort of Persian Tissue as much as to say a Weaving of Silver For baffen signifies to Weave or make Tissue Every Piece of this Tissue might be worth eighteen Tomans about threescore or threescore and ten pound amounting in all to some twenty thousand Crowns Such persons as are thus honour'd by the King walk without their Shooes upon the Stuffs which the King afterwards sends them home to their house for a Present as he did to this Person to whom at the end of a sumptuous Banquet which he gave him he spoke these words Hali-Kouli-Kaan hearken what they are going to read Upon that the Principal Secretary read a Patent wherein the King nam'd him Governour of Corassin or the ancient Bactriana of which the Capital City is Metshed which is one of the chiefest Governments in Persia But whether this Lord had heard some report of an Invasion threaten'd those Parts he would by no means accept the honour or whether it were that he did not care to leave the Court or which was more probable because he thought it beneath him to accept of a meaner Employment then what he had before his Confinement For he had been formerly Generalissimo of all the Armies and therefore after he had return'd the King his most humble thanks Benefactor of Mankind said he I am old and broken with Age Grant me the favour at the end of my life that I may spend my days at the Gate of your Majesty Some few days after he offer'd him the Government of Armenia of which Erivan is the Capital City but with his most humble Thanks to his Majesty he refus'd that likewise and questionless for the same Reasons At length the King caus'd Letters Patents to be made him to be General of all his Forces and Governour of Media of which Tebris that which we call Tauris is the Capital City in regard that Government is always annex'd to that Employment But at the very time that he had receiv'd so great and extraordinary a favour from his Majesty he took the boldness to shew that he was not yet content but that he still desir'd something more To that purpose Benefactor to Mankind said he since your Majesty does me the favour to call me to so high a dignity I humbly implore your Majesty to add to my Government such and such Villages to the end I may maintain the splendour of that High Rank to which your Majesty has call'd me that when any Stranger comes to visit me I may be able to entertain him with a Plate of Pelo or Rice and Flesh the usual Food of the Persians that receiving this favour at my hands he may be more ready to joyn with me in praying for your Majesty To which when the King had condescended he flung himself prostrate at the Kings Feet and gave him Thanks As he was retiring out of the Kings presence the King having spi'd certain white Hairs in his Beard which he wore up to his Ears Hali-Kouli-Kaan said he Go to the Treasury and bid 'em in my name pay thee three hundred Tomans which is about Eleven hundred Guineys and buy thee some Paint to colour thy Beard and let me see no more grey hairs in thy Face Which immediately he did according to the Kings Order and carried away the Money And this was another Accumulation of Favour which his liberal Sovereign added to the rest which he had bestow'd upon him Thus was he made General of all the Persian Forces Governour of Media and in a word the first and most powerful person in Persia at which all the Grandees were not a little astonish'd and they all began to grow jealous of him
even they who had been instrumental to his Advancement For they could not imagine he should arrive in so short a time to that Pinacle of Honour where they beheld him And indeed they had reason to be jealous of him For his Authority made him Master of their Estates and besides they knew him to be ill-natur'd and mischievously bent and as bold and daring as a Lion more then all this Cholerick without respect or consideration and resolute to enterprize whatever might satisfie his Fury or advance his Interests From this time forward till his death which hapned not long after as will appear in the Series of this Story he was always in great credit with the King who had a particular esteem for him so that there was hardly any thing which he refus'd him At the same time that Haly-Kouli-Kaan was under restraint the Princess Pehri-Rocksar-Begum the present King's Aunt was also restor'd to Favour For as it has been said in the Life of the deceased Prince whose Sister she was the King to punish her for having been too busie in some Intrigue which I know not what it was only that it was such a one as had highly offended him had married her to a Mulla Doctor of the Law who at that time liv'd at Ispahan the Son of Moute-Veli or the Steward of the great Mosque at Mitshed By him during the Life of Habas she had two Children to whom the Prince forbad her to give suck which is the manner of putting to death the Children of the Bloud Royal when the King resolves they shall not live But now this Lady understanding the death of the King went and threw her self at the feet of the New Monarch who receiv'd her kindly and assur'd her he would advance her Husband to some considerable Employment wherein he was as good as his word for some Months after he made her Husband Sedre-Kaassoh that is peculiar Poutiff being a very considerable Employment as he that is as it were the Kings Almoner or he that has the disposal of all the Gifts bequeath'd by the Kings of Persia to the Mosques which Employment was worth to him about fifteen thousand pounds yearly There remain'd another Sister of Habas II. in the Womens Palace who in the Kings absence was as it were Sovereigness of the Place for which reason they give her a Name that signifies the white Locks of the Sacred Place which is a figurative sort of Speech to denote the dignity of the person and the particular respect which is due to her This Lady being desirous to taste the Sweets of Wedlock as well as her Sister importunately besought the New Monarch that she might marry the Brother of her Sisters Husband a Molla or Doctor of the Law as he was For which reason the King made him Sedre-Mokoufaat or Pontiff of the Kingdoms which is a preferment almost like the other and very near equal to it in Revenue as he that has the disposal of the Legacies which are given to the Mosques by private Persons Which two Preferments for above two hundred years were both in one But the King for the satisfaction and advantage of his two Aunts divided them for the benefit of their Husbands who are persons of no merit and of very mean Capacities Nor is it likely the King will suffer them to hold their Places of too great Importance for their management And now his Majesty having supplied these two Pontifical preferments which were vacant during the late Kings Reign took care to fill up other vacancies also which he bestow'd upon persons of credit that were next about him or their Friends That of Kourtchi Bachi or General of the Kourtches one of the three Bodies of the Persian Militia and one of the highest Trusts in the Empire was conferr'd upon Hustein-Kouli-Kaan All the Kaanas or Governments of Persia were likewise bestow'd upon persons of worth In a word there was not a vacant place but what was fill'd up For the deceased King let them lie vacant for a secret reason which his Son understood not which was to reap the profit of their Revenues So great that it is reported the Employments which he supply'd and of which the King his Father had all the benefit brought into the Chequer a Million sterling Yearly However I do not report this for truth but as having heard it affirm'd by persons of great knowledge in Affairs and who could have giv'n a just account had they so pleas'd which they will not always do These were the Favours and Bounties of the Young Monarch during the Festivals of his Coronation Of which the mirth and jollity was not a little disturb'd by a sad accident that occasion'd the downfal of the Grand Provost In the description of Ispahan we have observed that for a long time that City has been divided into two Factions which are always quarrelling and fighting for Precedency and Antiquity And upon Festival Times there is always a great Concourse of the Rabble of both Factions in the old Maydan or Publick Place of the City where the two different Factions ranging themselves the one upon the South the other upon the North side batter one another with Stones and Clubs at a strange rate The Grand Provost all this while makes a shew of parting 'em but he does it so remissly that both Parties see well enough that it is only a Copy of his Countenance which makes 'em bolder and more violent in their mischief For the Grand Provost is not at all troubl'd at it by reason of the great Fines which afterwards he milks into his own Pocket Upon one of these fore-mention'd Festival days his Majesty being in the spacious and magnificent Hall which is built over the great Portal of his Palace that looks out into the Royal Square where he sate to behold a horse Race and several of his Lords shooting at a Golden Ball an Exercise much us'd among the Persian Archers news was brought that about two thousand of the Rabble were fighting in the Maydan or Publick Market place with that implacable animosity that there was like to be a great deal of mischief done Upon which his Majesty sent for the Daroga or Grand Provost of Ispahan and order'd him to take along with him a Guard of Sixty Musquetteers if he thought fit and go and disperse the furious Combatants Which was a Command too express to be dally'd withal But the Grand Provost could never accomplish it However away he flew at the Head of above two hundred Soldiers and commanded the Mutineers to part and disperse themselves But they believing the Provost did but only make a shew as he was wont to do fell a shouting at him and palting him with stones He would fain have giv'n 'em to understand he was then in earnest but because the Tumult and noise was so great that he could not otherwise be heard then by the thunder of his Musquets he order'd the Soldiers to fire without Bullets
which they did but to no purpose For quite contrary to his expectation the insolent Multitude perceiving nothing but fire and smoke were the more confirm'd in their Opinion that the Grand Provost was only come there to shew himself in discharge of his Office and that he did not desire they should part in good earnest In the mean time two Horsemen came from the King to see if the Tumult were appeas'd at what time the Provost gall'd to the heart that they should observe the little Authority he had over the Rabble who had put him to a Retreat with their Stones commanded about twenty of his Soldiers to fire with Bullets Of which Volley there was not a shot that miss'd So that Nine of the Multitude were kill'd upon the place and others were dangerously wounded The rest finding now that the Provost was not in jest fled with all the hast they could leaving their dead and wounded behind When word was carri'd to the King what had happen'd some of the Grand Provosts private Enemies which the great Lords are never without and who unfortunately for him were then at his Majesties elbow laying hold of the opportunity How comes it to pass Sir said they that a private Person and a Slave dares thus abuse the Inhabitants of your Capital City Has he nothing to do but thus to destroy your truly Loyal Subjects Cannot a Grand Provost prevent these disorders 'T is not well done to make such a slaughter of innocent and disarmed people This will cause a contempt of the Authority which your Majesty has over your Subjects and to lose the Respect and Reverence which they ought to bear your Majesty over all your Empire when they find such terrible extremities used under pretence of keeping 'em to obedience Upon this the King who of himself was already troubl'd at the Accident was far more incens'd by these exasperations Wherefore he immediately dismiss'd the Lord from his employment and sent him Prisoner to a House from whence he was releas'd some few days after at the earnest suit of the Queen Mother and some other persons that were concern'd at his Misfortune For indeed he was a man of courage eminent for his vertue and one that shew'd in all his Actions the Nobility of his Extraction for he was descended from the Bloud Royal of Georgia the last Sovereign Prince of that Country being his Grandfather whose name was Hemirè-Hamzeh-Mirza We shall speak more of him in the Progress of his Story fortune calling him again upon the Stage to act a part of more importance and of greater Authority The charge of Grand Provost was again suppli'd the next day and conferr'd upon a very worthy person the Son of Mir-Kassem-bek or Lord Prince Robust This same Mir-Kassem-bek had been Grand Provost before the last that was so lately put out and in the time of Habas II. by the craft of the Prime Minister had his Head cut off in the Royal Piazza of Ispahan His Son who was call'd Kelk-Hali-Bek or the Lord the Dogg of Haly during the little time that he enjoy'd this Employment most worthily behav'd himself in it and we must needs say that rais'd his Father made himself eminent again by driving out all the Thieves Pick-pockets and Rabble which infected that great City This happen'd at the latter end of the Year 1077. according to the Mahumetan account which answers to the beginning of our Year 1667. For their Year 1078. began with the Vernal Equinox which his Majesty made a great day of publick rejoycing according to the Custom of the Persians But this Year that began with so much rejoycing and with such lucky Omens was not so fortunate however in the Conclusion Scarcity War and Epidemick distempers afflicted the most part of the Provinces during the whole course of it The Court was turmoyl'd with several disorders which cost some persons many a troublesom Hour And through the negligence and remissness of the Sovereign the Grandees erected so many petty Tyrannies which trampl'd under foot and pillag'd the poor people as they pleas'd themselves So that there was not any person but was sensible of the miseries which ill Government occasions when the Prince only minds his pleasures and to content his Passions and the great ones following his example give themselves the liberty to follow the swinge of their own Arbitrary Wills The first thing remarkable at the beginning of the Year was the death of Mahammed-Kouli-Kaan-Divan-Beki or Lord Chief Justice He neither lay long sick nor was it long before his Place was suppli'd being conferr'd upon him that was Mirraab or Prince of the Waters or Steward of the Waters For in regard that water is very scarce in that Country this same Overseer of the Waters is a very considerable Employment However it was not thought that he would be the Person made choice of to succeed the Chief Justice but rather that he who had formerly executed the Place and had been banish'd by the deceased King to Metshed for his ill Government would be restor'd to the Kings favour and to his former Post Nor was the Conjuncture without great Probability in regard that Hali-Kouli-Kaan General of all the Kings Forces was then very powerful and that the other was his Nephew the Son of Rustan-Kaan his Brother However he was deceiv'd and the General quite contrary to his Expectation hinder'd all people to sollicite in his behalf out of the care he took of his own Reputation which he had sulli'd in a high degree had he been instrumental to restore a Person that was hated by all the world besides that his private enmity against him prevail'd beyond all the Considerations of Bloud and Consanguinity For which the Christians had reason to bless God because there was no man more their enrag'd and bitter Enemy then he And it was well for 'em during the time he held his Employment that Habas was not a young man and that he undertook their Protection For it is reported of him that when any Christian was Cited before his Tribunal by any Mahumetan he presently condemn'd him before he heard him and that he was wont to say It was Crime enough for an Armenian to have a suit with a Mahumetan for him to cause his head to be broken Why should he not suffer the Injuries that are done him Dog as he is that does not know that the Christian Religion is inferiour to the Mahumetan In the mean time the King held on his debaucheries every day at the same rate But his health did not keep at the same stay while he grew every day worse then other For the young Prince having plundg'd himself into the excesses of Wine and Women it was impossible he should hold out without some alteration So that during the whole course of this Year he was always ill what Physick soever his Physicians could prescribe him for he took little care of himself If he sometimes refrain'd Wine by their advice it was
far off So that the loss was valu'd at sixteen thousand pounds and the misery was that this accident happen'd when there was great scarcity of Corn. Here I cannot omit a small Circumstance which has some affinity with what I have already spoken concerning that spacious place full of Trees and Alleys that compose the Avenues to the Palace through one of which call'd the Royal Alley the King and his Train went always in and out to avoid passing through the City The other great Alleys were adorn'd with Beds and Borders planted with Flowers and sweet smelling herbs which together with the Fountains and Rows of Trees caus'd a very pleasant prospect In the mean time came certain intelligence that the Yusbecks were enter'd into the Province of Corason or Bactriana The Governour of the Province sent Courrier after Courrier to the King for Orders for that the Enemy was already enter'd the Kingdom burning and spoiling all before 'em and that unless speedily oppos'd the Province would be in danger to be lost The Yusbecks are a People that inhabit to the North of Persia Possessing all that Country between the Caspian Sea and the Indies under several petty Sultans or Princes absolute within themselves They are called Yusbecks at least if the Persian Etymology be true by reason of the great number of Sovereign Princes by which the Tartars are Govern'd for Yus as well in the Language of the Tartars as Turks which is but a Dialect of it signifies a hundred and Bek Lords to shew the great number of Masters by which they are Rul'd But those People reject that Etymology which they say is both false and injurious to 'em That the true Etymolgy is Yusi which signifies He in both Languages tho pronounc'd Yus by cutting off the last Vowel and Bek Lord. So that when they say Yusbek 't is as much as to say He the Lord or He is the Lord as if these People were the only People upon the Earth that are truly Lords Such is the pride of this Nation and the high conceit they have of their own merits One of the principal Lords of the Persian Court when he told me this he gave me an account of a certain petty King that Reign'd in the Molucca's in the time of Habas the Great who nevertheless assum'd to himself a Grandeur almost equal to his For he look'd upon himself to be the only lawful Lord of the East and assum'd to himself the Title of sole Monarch of it Saying withal that he knew not whether there were any other in the West but that he was well assur'd that He himself was Master of that part of the World where he inhabited For which reason he caus'd his Dominions to be call'd by way of Excellency Moulouk that is to say the true Kingdoms for tho we pronounce the word Molucca's after our Manner over all Asia they write and pronounce it Moulouk But among all those petty Princes that Govern Tartary the less there are three who are accounted the Principal That is to say the Prince of Bokora the Prince of Balke and the Prince of Carechme or Orquenge upon which the rest in some manner or other have have their dependence In the Reign of Sephi the Second which the Persians for distinction sake call Mazi the pass'd Reign he being Grandfather to the present King these Yuzbecks overrunning the Territories of Corasson or Bactriana and Margiana were pursu'd by the Persians who made a dismal slaughter among 'em after they had gain'd a most signal Victory over the Enemy killing twelve of eighteen Thousand of which their Body consisted and taking the rest Prisoners Among these Captives there was a young Prince one of the Cheiftaines of the Tartars descended from the Royal Line of Karechme or Orquenge who was call'd Abouel-Kazi or the Father-Arbiter This Prisoner being known to be what he was among the rest of the Prisoners was carry'd to Ispahan but his usage was quite different For Sephi did not look upon him as a Robber but as a Prince who was only a Prisoner of War and paid him all those Honours and Civilities due to a Personage of Royal Birth assign'd him a Revenue of fifteen hundred Tomans which amounts to six thousand pounds gave him a stately Palace furnish'd accordingly a number of Officers and a suitable Train to attend him And it was his Pleasure that the Vazier or Treasurer to the Governor of Ispahan should take care of his Person and perform the Office of a Mehmandaar who is the Person as we may say that takes care of the Guests and is the Master of the Entertainment This Mehmandaar for ten years together paid this Tartar-Prince by his Majesties Order all the Respect and Service which the rights of a most tender Hospitality could reasonably claim and such as there could not be any thing shew'd him more obliging in our best civiliz'd Provinces On the other side the Prince understood so well how to disguise the natural Savageness and Barbarity of the Tartars that you would have taken him for a Persian he behav'd himself with such a Grace and so much affability in all things So that his Majesty observing him endow'd with so many rare Qualities strain'd his affection for him so high that he admitted him into his Megeles or Royal Assemblies where he rank'd him equal with the Grandees of his Kingdom and for his maintainance assign'd him Pensions that were no way inconsiderable During his abode at Ispahan where he had liberty to go and come as he pleas'd only attended by his Mehmendaar and the Guards that were assign'd him more in honour to his Person then for a Watch on his Freedom he had still in his mind a natural hankering after his own Country his Kindred and that Sovereignty to which he was lawful Heir The Magnificence the Mildness the Beauty and delights of Persia could not eradicate out of his Breast this violent affection for the place of his Nativity For tho it were true that nothing but Barrenness and a hideous prospect overspread the Country for which he had such a lingring desire however it was the place where he was born and where he was to change the condition of a Slave for that of a Master Importun'd therefore by his own ardent desires he wrote privately to the King of Orquenge his Father and besought him to endeavour his Liberty Who having consulted what course to take pretends an occasion to send an Embassador into Persia who brought to the Prince the King his Fathers answer And at length the Prince and the Embassador agreed upon the manner of his escape And then the Embassador after a stay of six Months took his leave of the Court But then it was that the Prince when he thought the Embassador was got beyond the Bounds of Persia and that it was seasonable for him to make his escape laid his Plot in this manner He feign'd himself one day to be very ill and gave notice
other side he admires and embraces with a particular affection Probity Justice and whatever other eminent Vertues where ever they shine forth Therefore our Predecessors have always had a most particular esteem and affectionate good will for the glorious Kings of Persia but more especially for your Highness so famous over all the Earth for being adorn'd with all the splendour of vertuous Encomiums And as we have no less high thought and no less an esteem of your Merit we promise to our selves the same good will and kindness for Us as you had for Them In confidence whereof we desire your Majesty to grant your Protection to Father Stephen of Ameria and the rest of his Companions who are going into the Province of Georgia not in pursuit of their own Honour but only for the Glory of God and the Salvation of Souls And we beseech you to defend and shelter 'em by your Authority from the Injuries of the Schismaticks who follow the Ceremonies and Opinions of the Greeks to the end they may with freedom and unmolested employ themselves in the duty of their Function We desire and expect also from your signal Clemency the same favour and protection for all those other Catholicks that are dispers'd through the vast extent of the Kingdoms and Provinces under your Dominion Whom we recommend as far as in us lies to your Royal Generosity and Goodness In recompence whereof we pray continually to God with all our hearts that his Omnipotent Right Hand may send your Highness a particular knowledge of his Divine Truth that he will pour upon you all manner both of Spiritual and Temporal Blessings and to grant you perpetual prosperity Given at Rome in the greater St. Maries under the Seal of the Fisher March 8. 1668. and the first of our Pontificate We have already given an account in part of what the Cosaques did this year upon the Caspian Sea of the Commissioners which they sent to Court with whom the Council was not satisfi'd what means were us'd to discover their Intentions and whether there were not some deceit conceal'd under that Deputation We shall here add the second Inroad which they made and what spoyl they committed more in Persia the same year 1668. While they were therefore disputing at Ispahan whether they should take 'em for Friends or Enemies The Cosaques whose Commissioners were now returning back as all that they had done was only to amuse the Persians though they had been treated with good words and had receiv'd promises very advantageous for their Colony continu'd their design of plundering and pillaging all the Maritime Regions of Persia to the East To which purpose they quit Save and directing their March toward the more Eastern Provinces of the Caspian Sea they sail'd seventy Leagues without being descry'd from the Land and land at Ferhabaad the Capital City of Mazenderaan They landed in the disguise of Merchants went up and down the Market places and into the Shops like People that had no great skill in Traffick and yet had something both to buy and to sell They let go their Ducats of Gold for five Shayet which make not so much as two Shillings sold English Cloth for four Abasses or five shillings six pence the Ell. On the other side the Persians while this Trade lasted caress'd the Cosaques at a high rate finding 'em such admirable Customers and Chapmen both together and look'd upon 'em as Cullies and Novices which their kind Stars had brought among 'em But the sixth day continuing their Game at the hour prefix'd among themselves at what time they had scatter'd themselves in several parts of the City to avoid suspicion they drew their Swords slew all they met plunder'd the Houses and laden with Booty after they had kill'd above five hundred persons they return'd to their Vessels lying still out of ken at Sea The most considerable and a loss not to be repair'd was the ruine of the King's Palace a most stately Pile seated in the midst of the City wherein was kept a vast Treasure of Dishes and Basins of Porcellane or China Cornaline Agate Coral Amber Cups of Crystal of the Rock and other Rarities without number which those Barbarians either broke or carry'd away They also brake the great Haouse or Tangi being a Jasper Fountain cover'd with Plates of Gold and erected within the Palace Every time I think of the Magnificence and Delightfulness of that place where I was in the year 1666. I cannot but lament its hard Fate and had the Reader seen the Description which I have made of it he would acknowledge that such a wonder of Art deserv'd a kind of perpetuity In Ferhabaad and the parts adjoyning there are some few Christians still remaining of that vast number which Habas the Great formerly brought in to people that Country some sixty years ago which has so much lessen'd their Number that there is not the sixtieth part of what there was before and the most part of these for worldly Interests have embrac'd the Mahumetan Superstition Those few Christians that remain'd knowing that the Cosaques were likewise Christians to save themselves from their fury and their Houses from being plunder'd when they saw 'em coming cri'd out Christous Christous and the better to let 'em understand they were Christians sign'd themselves with the sign of the Cross from head to foot so that the Cosaques hearing 'em invoke that adorable Name and seeing how they cross'd themselves not only spar'd their lives but protected their Houses The Inhabitants of Ferhabaad who had sav'd their lives by flight return'd the next day betimes in the Morning to pick up what was left of their Goods but while they were thus busily employ'd the Cosaques landed a second time and now more greedy of humane Bloud than of Plunder kill'd about seven hundred and took as many Prisoners and then retir'd for good and all By this time Winter was come which they resolv'd to spend in Persia and to that purpose they sought out for a Place where they might quarter together in security Now just against the City of Ferhabaad there lies a Peninsula or Tongue of Land that runs forward into the Caspian Sea about ten or eleven Leagues This place did abound in Harts wild Boars wild Goats and other sorts of wild Venison It is also full of Forests and fresh Water nor does it want any thing that is convenient for the support of Humane Life and is therefore a most convenient place for Habitation The Persians call it Mionnè-Kellè or the Middle-siz'd Horn thereby denoting a Tongue of Land that runs out into the Sea there it was that the Cosaques entrench'd themselves To which purpose they made their Prisoners work day and night to dig a large Trench about their Camp and then with several great Trees pester'd one within another and fill'd up with Turf they rais'd a kind of a Bulwark upon which they planted their Badeliegè or great Guns for their better
defence This was that which the Persians desir'd for as soon as they understood they were fortifi'd in that place the same year notwithstanding the Winter season they attack'd 'em and being stronger by Land than the Cosaques they beat 'em retook all their Prisoners and constrain'd the Enemy to betake themselves to their Vessels with which after they had roam'd about the whole Peninsula on every side they found at the farthest end a more advantageous Post as being defended by a Marsh where they stopp'd with their Booty and their little Barks at which time I came away for Europe FINIS THE TABLE A A Bouel-Kazi a Tartarian Prince taken by the Persians Pag. 115. their civil usage of him 116. makes his escape into his own Country 117. his gratitude 118. Aga-Mubarek Tutor to Hamzeh-Mirza second Son to Habas II. 8. but much against his advancement to the Throne 19. his Speech upon the debate 20 21. a great Favourite of Sefie II. 57. an animosity between him and the High Chamberlain 108. Ali see Hali. Ambassador see Envoy and Embassador Ardevil a Persian City of more than ordinary Sanctity 69. Armenians hated by the Persian Lord Chief Justice 87. suffer great injustice fron Hali-Kouli-Kaan 92 93 94. Astrologers of great esteem in Persia 13. 25. 43. 131 132. Athemad-doulet chief Minister of Persia 13. his Speech upon the choice of a new Emperor 14 15. Audience of the Dutch Envoy 65. of the English 66. of the French 72. Audit of Address the Author of it grosly mistaken 49. Aureng-Zebe King of India keeps Spies in the Persian Court 98. his Embassador affronted at the Court of Persia 102. upon what motives diverted from a War 110. B Balke a petty Principality of Tartary 115. Basra corruptly Balzura the policy of the Basha there to preserve himself 125. offers to become tributary to the Grand Seignior 126. which will not be accepted 145. Bastinadoes bestow'd upon a Persian Nobleman 140. what followed thereupon 141. Bisin-Allah a Persian Acclamation 15. Bokora a petty Principality of Tartary 115. Bolluki a people bordering on Persia 136. abused by the Governor of Kandaar 137. their King slain ibid. C Calates or Vests presented by the King to his Noblemen 70. Camp of the Persian King the manner of it 12. Capuchin Friers a Mission of them to Georgia 151. Carechme a petty Principality of Tartary 115. Character of Habas the Second 1. of Sefie Mirza 6 7. of Hamzeh Mirza 8. of Koelar Agasia 25 of Hali-Kouli-Kaan 121 122. Cheik-Sefie the first of the Royal bloud of Persia 69. Chemchir or a Persian Sword the description 41. Christians kindly used by Habas II. 1. 58. Cities of the Persians of a peculiar Sanctity 69. Pope Clement his Letter to the Emperour of Persia 15. Clichs-Kaan one of the Persian Generals against the Yusbecks 120. Coffins several made alike at the death of the Persian Emp. 68. Coin of the Persian Emperour its Inscription 52. Comet its appearance 134. the Astrologers opinion of it 135. Conspiracy of the two chief Physicians of Persia to prefer the younger Son of the Persian Emperour 9. in which the Prime Ministers joyn 10. Speeches thereupon 15. Coronation of the Persian Emperour the Ceremonies thereof 42 to 48. resolv'd to be perform'd again 132. Cosroes a Prince of Persia his fall 2. Cossaks invade Persia 141. the occasion 143. their Embassadours how receiv'd 144. plunder Ferhabaad 153. are defeated by the Persians 154. Council holden for election of a Successor to Habas II. 12 c. another of the Noblemen with the Emperour 71 another where the French Envoy has his Audience 72. Convoy of the Persians surpris'd by the Yusbecks 121. D Dearth in Persia and especially at Ispahan 88. Death of Habas II. related by the Eunuchs to the chief Ministers 4. Dervicks a sort of Mahometan Mendicant 99. concern'd with the Indian Spies 100. punish'd 101. Description of the Emperors Apartment for Audience 37. of the Imperial Throne 39. of his Crown 40. of his Sword 41. of his Dagger ibid. of his Personage 57. Dhulbandt erroniously Turbant a description of that of the Persian Emperor 40. Divaan Beki Lord of the Council of Justice 13. Dutch Envoy obtains audience at the Persian Court 65. E Earthquake in Georgia overturns great part of the City Tefflis 126. another destroys Shama-Ki 127. Election of Sephie-Mirza Emperor of Persia from 12 to 23. of a Messenger to carry him the tydings 23 24 25. Embassador from India affronted at the Persian Court 102. those from Muscovy their sneaking carriage 142. slighted thereupon ib. which gives occasion to an Invasion from the Cossaks 143. English Envoy his Audience at the Persian Court 66. Enouch-Kaan King of Orquenge wars upon Persia 119. submits ibid. invades the Persian borders 120. Envoy from the Hollanders hath Audience of the Emperour 64. the English hath the same 66. the French likewise 72. F Ferhabaad the Capital City of Mezenderaan plunder'd by the Cosaques 153. Sir Stephen Flower the English Envoy at the Persian Court 66. hath Audience ibid. and 67. French Envoy hath Audience at the Persian Court 72. G Gangher or a Persian Dagger its description 41. Gemshed-Kaan Koular a perfidious Nobleman 103. his Character 104. Instances of his roguery 106. he is made Governor of Candaar 109. his Insolences there 136. shamefully put to death 140. his Personage ibid. Georgia the last King thereof how made a Feudatary of Persia 101. the Eldest Son of the Prince of it always grand Provost of Ispahan 101. Giulfa the place of habitation for the Armenians in Persia 97. Guebres or Persian Fire Worshippers 98. H Habas II. his Virtues and Character 1. his death 3. his last words 4. his cruelty 11. kind to the Christians 58 59 60. Habit of the Persian Emperour when he first appear'd in publick 57. Hakiem Bachi the chief of the Physicians 13. Hali-Kouli-Kaan escapes out of custostody 77. his reception at Court 77. highly advanc'd 82. his method of easing the People in the time of dearth 89. his injustice to the Armenians 93 94 c. his ill usage of Mirza Ibrahim 112. his death 121. his Character and Personage 122. Hamzeh-Mirza Son to Habas II. 8. his Character ibid. proposed for Emperour upon his Fathers death 15. begs heartily that his eyes may not be put out 67. Hossein Basha petty Sovereign of Basra 126. offers to become tributary to the Grand Seignior ibid. which is not accepted 145. I Ichigakasia-Bachi chief of the Masters of the Footstool to the Throne 14. Imaan a Persian Priest 69. Imaan-Reza a Persian Saint 69. Inscription on the Coins of the new Emperour 52. Instructions of the Dutch Envoy for his Negotiation at the Persian Court 63. K. Kachan a City of reputation for Sanctity 69. Kalmachs a Tartarian people invade Persia 123. Kand-dar the Province subdu'd by Habas II. 1. Koelar-Agasia Lord of the Slaves 13. his Character 25. Kom the Burial-place of Habas II. 68. reputed among the holy Cities 69. Kotbé or
Province of Mazenderan Which Province is call'd Tabar Estaan in all the Publick Acts in the Exchequer and Chancery but in common Discourse they call it Mazanderoon Tabar Estaan signifies a place of Wedges to denote that the Country is full of Wood for that where there is great plenty of VVood great store of VVedges are requir'd to cleave it 19. The Impression of the Seal which is at the bottom of the Date in the Translation is not only upon the back of the Patent but at the bottom likewise This is the Seal of the Prime Minister who is call'd Mahomet Mehdy The Persians never put their Qualities in their Seals nor any Title by which they may be known There is only their own Name their Fathers Name which serves in stead of a Sirname according to the fashion of the Hebrews and the Name of their Family when it has the Honour to be descended from Mahomet by his Daughter Fatima For the Mahometans acknowledge no other Nobility then to be the Original Branches of that Progeny I had also joyn'd to the King of Persia's Patent a Note of Recommendation from the High Steward of his Houshold which I was desirous the Viceroy should see as being assur'd that it would work more effectually then the Patent it self VVhich prov'd to be true insomuch that I understood afterwards that it was to that Note to which I was beholding for all the good Offices and Honours which I receiv'd at Tefflis which was as follows THe Commissioners of Governments the Farmers Royal Officers of Cities Receivers of Toll and Provosts of the High-Way will have the 1 Honour to know That M. Chardin and M. Raisin French Merchants the Flowre of Merchants having brought to the most High and Sublime Court Rarities and Curiosities set with Precious Stones worthy the 2 Wardrobe of the 3 Slaves of the 4 Distributer of Temporal Goods they are Commanded to fetch others and have express Order to cause to be made in their Country several Pieces of Workmanship for the Service of his Slaves to that purpose they are Honour'd with a Patent under the 5 Sacred Seal and that is the Reason they are forc'd to Travel Where-ever they come therefore it is absolutely requisite that they have Respect shewn 'em and that all Reasonable Assistance that shall be necessary be afforded ' em Care also must be taken that they be not molested or put to Trouble nor must any Persons whatever signifie in any manner whatsoever that they expect or desire any Duties from ' em For if it comes to the Ears of the Slaves of the Lord of Human Kind that they have claim'd any thing of 'em bad will be the Fruit of such an Information Written in the Month of Shaval the Ennobl'd 1076. of the Holy Flight To which be Honour and Glory In the Margent there was The Intention of this is to give all those whom it may concern to understand That the Bearers hereof are to be Treated and Respected according to the Tenour of the Patent to which all the World pays Homage The words of the Seal signifie Maxud the Son of Caleb the Delight of the Creatures 1. It is in the Persian They are Honour'd by that which they give 'em to understand For so the Grandees of Persia write to the Inferiour Officers especially when those Officers have their dependance upon ' em This they do to maintain the difference which their Authority and Imployment puts between 'em and that there may not be any confusion by their manner of Communication one with another 2 The Word which I have Translated Wardrobe is Sercar Which signifies properly Chief of the Workmanship and also a Magazine For the King and the Grandees of Persia keep in their Houses Manufactures of all sorts of Trades and Arts. They call those places Carconè or Work-Houses They are like the Gallery of the Grand Duke of Florence or the Galleries in the Louvre in France They maintain therein a great number of excellent Masters who have there a Pension and their Dyet as long as they Live and they find 'em Materials for their Work And they make 'em Presents or advance their pay upon every Curious Piece which they finish 3. 'T is out of Pride and Vainglory that they express themselves in these Terms Worthy the Wardrobe of the Slaves of the King As much as to say that the Kings Wardrobe is so full of rare and pretious Jewels that no body can bring any thing that is fit to be put therein And therefore Persian Eloquence makes very much use of this Circumlocution of Language upon all occasions So speaking of an Ambassador that has pay'd his Obeysance to the King they say That he has kiss'd the Feet of the Slaves of the King In like manner when they would say that the King has perform'd any great Action they say The Slaves of the Prince have perform'd such a great Action Forms of Speech that sufficiently discover the Vanity of the Eastern People I take 'em to be drawn from the Alcoran which the Mahometans affirm to be the source of true Eloquence There you shall meet with many such like Expressions As for Example speaking of the Works of GOD they call 'em The Works of the Angels The Angels Created the Heavens and the Earth VVhich say the Mahometans more clearly expresses the Power of GOD. For if the Angels have so much Power as to Create VVorlds how great must be his Power whose only Servants and Ministers they are In short all the Orientals are perfect Slaves their Soveraigns having a right to command their Lives and Fortunes their VVives and Childern But they are so far from being terrifi'd with their condition that they Glory in it The Grandees themselves count it an Honour to be call'd Slaves and Sha-Couli or Coolom-Sha which signifies the Kings Slaves is as Honourable a Title in Persia as that of Marquess in France 4. Valineamet which I have Translated Distributer of Temporal Goods is a compound Word Vali signifies a Soveraign and absolute Lieutenant who has the same Power in the place where he is settl'd as he that Rules the Empire The Persians also frequently call their King Vali-Iron to let yee understand that he is in Persia which they call Iron the true Successor Vicar and Lieutenant of Ali to whom GOD gave the Dominion of the VVorld after the Death of Mahomet Neamet is deriv'd from Inara which signifies a Present Favour Temporal Grace or Bountiful conferring of a Benefit So that by the VVord Vali-Neamet which is the most usual Title which the Persians give their King speaking to his Majesty they mean That he is GODS Lieutenant in the World to distribute in his behalf all the Benefits and Blessings of Fortune to Men and as it were the Conduit-Pipe through which Heaven Conveys it's Blessings to the Earth 5. It is in the Persian Moubarec-Nishan It has been said that the Subscription wherein are VVritten the Twelve Names of the