It is situated in Azerbeíján and Armenia, and, according to some, erected by Núrshiván; but the truth is that it was by Erzenbaí Ben Softár Ben Kúndúz, of the dynasty of the White Sheep, whose ancestors had come from Mahán, and built the castle of Akhlát, on the borders of the lake Wán; they are all buried at Akhlát, and the ancestors of the Ottomans, Ertoghrúl and Súleimán, derive their lineage from them. Uzún Hassan, having become master of Azerbeiján, built the castle called Hassan, after his name, at Erzerúm. Envious of the conquest of Constantinople by Mohammed II., he began to trespass on the frontiers, and to violate the peace. Mohammed II., in defiance of him, conquered Trebisonde, and defeated him with twenty thousand men in the field of Terjeán. With great difficulty we traversed the rude pass of Iskefser, and in three hours we reached Shákhna, an Armenian village of two hundred houses, where the Armenian girls are wonderfully pretty. From Constantinople to this place we had constantly ascended towards the east, and all the rivers were flowing from that direction towards us; this will show on what high ground Erzerúm is situated. From Shákhna we crossed the Governorship of Erzerúm, which was our allotted province, in different directions to the south, north, east, and west, and shall now describe the stations of these our excursions. Tekine is a village in the jurisdiction of Iskefser, with one hundred houses, a ziámet. Five hours further on is the village of Chádár, of one hundred houses, in the jurisdiction of Koilí. The castle of Koilí was built by Usún Hassan, from fear of Mohammed II.; it belongs to the sanjak Shuban Kara Hissár, in the province of Erzerúm; it is situated on a high rock, and is one thousand three hundred paces in circumference. Inside are one hundred houses and magazines, an iron gate opens to the west; it has a commander and seventy men; the suburb outside consists of one hundred houses, a mosque and some shops. The castle saluted us with seventeen guns, and the inhabitants met us with presents; they slaughtered ten sheep as a sacrifice, for which they received ten ducats. Two stations north of this village, on the shore of the Black Sea, is Baihssa-bazárí, which a man on foot may reach in one day. In the reign of Ahmed I. the Cossacks of Oczakov pillaged this place: the environs being gardens and flowery meadows are extremely favourable to bees, and the honey of Koilí-hissár, scented with musk and ambergris, is famous; the inhabitants are a turbulent set of people. We descended a deep precipice, and after seven hours reached the village of Doirán. The river here issues from the mountains of Kerkúk, is joined by several streams from the mountains of Koilí-hissár, and below Chehárshenbe by the river of that name, which passes Amasia. The Kerkúk is an excellent freshwater river. The village of Doirán, situated on its banks, in the valley of Akshár, consists of one hundred houses.