THE JOURNEY OF AMBROSE CONTARINI, AMBASSADOR FROM THE REPUBLIC OF VENICE TO UZUN-HASSAN, KING OF PERSIA, IN THE YEARS 1473, 4, 5, AND. 6, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. INTRODUCTION. This relation of a journey into Persia, between the years 1473 and 1477, is from a collection of voyages and travels, principally in Asia, made in the _twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth_, and _fifteenth centuries_, which was published at the Hague, in the French language, in 1735. That collection usually goes under the name of _Bergeron_, whose name appears on the title somewhat equivocally as the author; but who is mentioned in the advertisement as a writer belonging to the middle of the preceding century; and the only part of the work that can, be attributed to him, is a _Treatise of Navigation, and of the Modern Voyages of Discovery and Conquest, especially those made by the French, &c._ which serves as an introduction to this compilement. The editor of this collection gives no account of himself, or of the sources from whence he has derived his different articles; and only says, that the journal of Contarini was translated into French, that it might be published along with the other contents of his volume. From the _Bibliotheque Universelle des Voyages_, by G. Boucher de la Richarderie, a new work of great research, published at Paris in 1808, we learn that the journal of Contarini was published in Italian at Venice, in a duodecimo volume, in 1543. So far as is known to us, it now appears for the first time in an English translation. This article might have been more aptly placed towards the close of _first_ part of the present collection, but escaped notice in proper time and it appears of too much importance, both in itself, and as an early document, to be omitted from punctilious attention to rigid systematic arrangement. PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR. "The illustrious republic of Venice, having done me the honour to appoint me ambassador to Uzun-Hassan, king of Persia, I accepted the employment with much pleasure, both that I might do acceptable service to my own country and for the general good of Christendom. I neither considered the difficulties nor the dangers of the journey, but placed my trust solely on the assistance of God; preferring the interests of my country, and of the Christian world, to my own ease and safety. On purpose to render my discoveries useful to the public, I have carefully and briefly recorded every circumstance deserving of attention, that occurred during my long and laborious journey; as relative to the provinces, cities, and places through which I travelled, and the manners and customs of the different nations among whom I sojourned. In short, I have omitted nothing deserving of notice, that occurred during my three years journey, having left Venice on the first day of Lent, in the year 1473, and having returned to my beloved country on the 24th of February in the year 1476[1]." SECTION I.