Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. IIEvliya Çelebi
History
Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in the Seventeenth Century, Vol. II
Evliya Çelebi
Caucasus, South -- Description and travel; Istanbul (Turkey) -- Description and travel; Turkey -- History
inhabitants of Erzerúm, though they have the spring, called the Source
of Paradise, within their walls.
_Of the Form and Size of the Fortress of Erzerúm._
It consists of two castles of a square form, the distance between the
two walls is seventy paces; the ditch is eighty paces broad, and twenty
deep, but, on the side of the Gurjí and Erzenján gates, the ditch is
not so deep: the whole circumference is eighty thousand paces, and it
has three gates, that to the west is the gate of Erzenján, where the
ditch is crossed by a bridge; the second to the east, and the third
to the north, are likewise entered by crossing bridges. The first,
which is the Georgian gate (Gúrji), is double, like that of Erzenján;
but that of Tabríz, as it is close to the walls of the inner castle,
is only a single one. The guns are all pointed towards the quarters
of the town Dáragháj and Gumishlí Kunbed. Within the outer castle is
an immense tower reaching to the skies, known by the name of Kessik
Kulle, on the top of which is a high wooden Koshk; as it is one hundred
cubits high, ten guns pointed from thence in all directions, intercept
even the flight of birds. The height of the wall of the inner castle
is seventy cubits; the other walls are but from forty to fifty cubits
high; there are two hundred and ten strong towers, and two thousand and
eighty battlements round the castle, and seventeen hundred houses, all
covered with earth (_terrasses_) in the ancient style, so also are all
the villages which I saw in the whole government of Erzerúm.
_Praise of the Palaces of Erzerúm._
The palace of the Páshá has no less than one hundred and ten rooms of
various sizes, for the Diván and Koshks; of the last, the two finest
are those of Tayár Páshá, and of Benlí Páshá, with a bath and a fine
fountain. On the outside, above the stables, are the rooms for the
watchmen; the court-yard is a spacious place where they play the jeríd.
It has two gates, one is that of the Diván, opening on the great road,
the other is a secret gate, always kept shut. Erzerúm contains seventy
quarters of Moslíms, and seven of Infidels. There are no Armenians,
Copts, or Jews; if any make their appearance they run the risk of being
killed. In the quarter called the Source of Paradise the houses are
built of stone; most of them are only one story high, because the air
is sharp and the winter severe. It has been known to snow here for ten
or eleven months in the year, which is the reason that the greatest
part of the houses are built of one story, like a bath, with windows,
and a felt door on the top.
_Of the Mosques._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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