During the reign of Alumut, in a city four days’ east from Tauris, lived a lord about the rank of a count, named Secaidar,[624] of a religion or sect named Sophi, reverenced by his co-religionists as a saint, and obeyed as a chief. There are numbers of them in different parts of Persia, as in Natolia and Caramania, all of whom bore great respect to this Secaidar, who was a native of this city of Ardouil,[625] where he had converted many to the Suffavean doctrine. Indeed, he was like the abbot of a nation of monks; he had six children, three boys and three girls, by a daughter of Assambei;[626] he also bore an intense hatred to the Christians. He frequently made incursions with his followers into Circassia, ravaging the country, and so brought away many slaves and much booty with him on his return, with great rejoicings, to Ardouil. Alumut Sultan having succeeded to the throne, Secaidar, wishing to return to his wonted expeditions into Circassia against the Christians, assembled his troops, and set out towards Sumacchia,[627] which he reached in eight days; from thence he took the road to Derbant,[628] where is the pass by which one enters Circassia, and was five days _en route_. Sultan Alumut and his lords hearing that Secaidar, with an army of four or five thousand Suffaveans, was marching into Circassia, joined by numbers of volunteers in hopes of plunder, quickly sent messengers to the king of the country, who was himself afraid of the number of troops Secaidar had with him, to tell him to use every means in his power to stop him. Secaidar and his Suffaveans had the previous year, with half the number of men, done great damage near that fortress, and so they feared he might do the same; therefore they wished to bar his passage, lest he should go on increasing his power, as he did every day on his march into Circassia, by being joined by such multitudes of volunteers for the sake of booty, by which means he would soon have become a great lord. Secaidar therefore, on his arrival at Derbant, found the pass closed by the order of Alumut Sultan. Derbant is a large city, and, according to their chronicles and traditions, was built by Alexander the Great; it is one mile wide and three in length, having on one side the Caspian Sea, and on the other a high mountain; no one can pass except through the gates of the city, as on the east is the sea, and on the west a mountain, so steep that not even a cat could climb it. Derbant, the name of this city, in Persian signifies “closed gate”;[629] and any one wishing to go into Circassia, must pass through the city which borders on that country, and the greater part of whose inhabitants speak Circassian, or rather Turkish. Secaidar finding his passage barred as I have said, was very indignant, and began to attack the fortress and pass; there being few soldiers in the place, and insufficient numbers to resist the Suffaveans, news of their necessity was sent in great haste to the