The town of Aras was built by Keyúmerth, and conquered in the year 985 (1577), by Kara Mustafa Páshá, the Vezír of Murad III. Emír Khán arrived with forty thousand men to succour the town, and finding it taken he fought a battle, which terminated in his being made prisoner, and all his troops consisting of Turcomans, Koks, Doláks, and Georgians were dispersed. They were routed for the second time by the Kiaya of Uzdemir-oghlí on the banks of the Kúr river which swallowed up a great number of them, the bridge having broken down under the weight of the fugitives; their bones are yet seen in heaps, and the bridge still lies in ruins. The Turkish general having convinced himself of the importance of the town of Aras, situated between Genje and Shirván, collected masons and workmen, and enclosed the town with a wall, including the garden Sháh Khiabán, which was outside of the town; three gates led through this wall of clay, the circumference of which is nine thousand six hundred paces. It was finished in forty days, and the governorship, with the rank of a Begler Beg, conferred on Kaitáss-Beg, who had been brought up in the Harím of Sultán Murad. From its situation at the foot of a mountain, the town resembles that of Brússa, surrounded with gardens of fruits and flowers, vineyards and rosebeds. It consists of ten thousand houses with terraces, and forty mosques; in the castle are those of Murad III., of Ferhád Páshá, and of Kara Sinán. The Turkomans and Komúks of Dághistán, pronounce the name of this town Arash. In the beginning of the reign of Sultán Mustafa, this town like that of Merend fell into the hands of the Persians. Forty quarters may now be reckoned, and as many mosques, sixteen baths, eight hundred shops, and seven coffee-houses. The youth are gazelle-eyed, with faces shining like the sun, because their women are Georgians, Dadiáns, Achikbásh, and Shúshád. The air is mild and the water of the royal mountain (Sháhkúh) most excellent. Around it are seven great districts each of which reckons one hundred populous kents, the most populous is that of Levend Khán near Aras. On crossing the bridge of Uzdemir-oghlí Osmán Páshá, the traveller arrives at the district of Palvanaí, and the district of Shair Abadán, where a castle is seen on a rock, the name of which I do not remember. The royal mount, opposite the town, is the summer abode of the Turcomans. Amidst the districts of Aras is also that of Shekí, which is now governed by the governor of Aras, though it was sometimes ruled by the power of the Princes of Dághistán. The Khán of Aras leads twenty-three thousand men into the field. Twelve public officers keep order in the town. After a stay of three days in this town, we advanced to the north, and after two stations reached the castle of Shekí. _Description of the Castle of Shekí._