On the 22nd, as I have said, we left Tauris with the Cadi Lascher. A caravan consisting of a number of Azami, going our way, kept in our company for protection. As we travelled we found the country generally level, with the exception of a few hills, but very arid, as there was not a tree of any kind, except near some rivers. We passed, however, a few villages of no importance. Before midday we rested in the open air, and did the same at night. We procured provisions as we required them at the villages as we went along. Travelling in this way, we arrived, on the 28th, at Soltania, which, from its appearance, I should judge to be a good town. It has a large walled castle, which I wished to see. It contains a mosque, which has the appearance of being very ancient. It had three bronze gates higher than those of St. Mark in Venice, worked with knobs, made in damask work with silver, which are certainly most beautiful, and must, I should think, have cost a large sum of money. I saw nothing else worthy of note. This city is situated in a plain, but in the vicinity of some mountains of moderate height. The cold here in winter is said to be so severe that the people are obliged to remove to another place. There is a bazaar for the sale of provisions, and fustians of a common description. We remained here till the 30th, on the morning of which day we left, and travelled again over plains and hills, sleeping every night in the open air. The country forms part of Persia, which begins at Tauris. On the 4th of October, 1474, we arrived at a city called Sena, without walls, but with a bazaar as usual. It is situated in a plain near a river, and surrounded by trees. Here we slept in a very incommodious caravanserai. On the 5th, we left here; and on the 6th, while bivouacking in the open air, I was attacked by fever. On the morning of the 8th we rode on, I being greatly fatigued, and arrived in good time at a city called Como.[157] Here, when we had entered a caravanserai in a sort of inn, the fever increased and began to trouble me seriously, and the next day all my people were taken ill, except Pré Stephano, who attended to us all. Our illness, from what I was told, was of a kind that is accompanied by delirium, and we said many insane things. Cadi Lascher sent to me to make excuses for not staying longer, saying that he was obliged to hasten to his sovereign, but that he would leave me a servant, and comforted me with the assurance that I was in a country where I should not be molested. My illness kept me in this place till the 23rd. Como is a small but handsome town situated in a plain, and surrounded by a mud wall. It has an abundance of everything, with good bazaars for its manufactures and fustians. On the 23rd, as I have said, we left here, and I travelled with much suffering on account of my illness. On the 25th, we arrived at another city called Cassan,[158] having walls and bazaars like those of Como, but it is a finer city.