It was the snow that prevented Tabáni Yassí Mohammed Páshá from passing the Deve-boiní, and as he did not arrive before Eriván soon enough, that fortress was taken from the Osmanlís after seven months siege by the Persians. Three hours further towards the east, we arrived at the village Ja’afer Efendí, where Ja’afer Efendí, its owner, gave a splendid entertainment to the Páshá, with a present of three horses, and three boys. It is a well cultivated Armenian village of three hundred houses. We marched five hours across the plain of Pássin to the strong fortress of Rúm Hassan, renovated by Uzún Hassan, the Sultán of Azerbeiján; it is a lofty castle which was taken by Sultán Súleimán out of the hands of the children of Kara Yússúf, and is now the seat of the sanjak Beg of Pássin, in the province of Erzerúm. The khass amounts, according to the canon of Sultán Súleimán, to twelve thousand four hundred aspers; there are six Zaims, and three hundred and twenty-five Timariots. An Alaï Beg, Cherí-bashí, and Yuz-bashí (Colonel, Captain, and Lieutenant), are the officers of the feudal militia. In the time of war, the number of the troops amounts to fifteen hundred, the half of which now joined the Páshá’s army. The castle saluted the Páshá, as soon as his tent was fixed, with a great noise of guns and muskets. The Páshá sent an order to the commander to place the whole garrison under arms on the walls, as he wished to enter in state. When we entered it shouts of Allah rent the skies, and the reports of the guns shook them, so that the Persian Envoy was quite perplexed, putting the finger of astonishment to his lips. In the inside of the castle, the space between the outer and inner gate was set round with armour and different kinds of weapons, and beginning from the hot-bath gate, both sides of the road were lined, two deep, by armed men, who gave the salute. The prayer of Friday was performed in the mosque, and when we left it all the walls were covered with flags and banners of different colours. The Páshá entered the inner castle, where the guns of Sultán Súleimán, of forty four spans length, were fired, and the balls were thrown as far as the Bridge of the Shepherds, Shobán Jissrí. Here the company sat down to a splendid dinner, after which the Beg and Dizdár were invested with robes of honour. The Páshá returned to his tent, where he received the visit of the judge (appointed with one hundred and fifty aspers), the Serdár of the Janissaries, the Kiaya-yerí of the Sipáhís, of the Muftí, the Nakib-ul-ishráf, and other principal men (Ayán.) _Size and Form of the Fortress Hassan._