He returned with the same despatch to Damascus, whence he set out on his pilgrimage to Mecca, through Egypt. Of this pilgrimage no account is given in our manuscript copy, as it seems he died before he had completed the work. There is no question, however, as to the time at which it was undertaken, since in his account of the reign of Sultán Murád IV. he states that he was just in time, after his return from Mecca through Egypt, to share in the glory of the victory gained by Murtezá Páshá over the Druzes, in the year 1059. Now Evliyá’s account of this expedition commences in the month of Moharrem 1059, from which it may be supposed that he had just returned from Mecca, where the annual ceremonies of the pilgrimage take place in Zilhijeh, the last month of the year.
Evliyá was employed by Murtezá on various missions, the object of which was to collect debts and exact money. On such errands he was sent to Mount Lebanon, Karak, Balbek, Akka, Yaffa, and Haleb, whence he took a journey to Rakka, Roha, Bális, Meraash, Kaisari, and over Mount Arjísh (Argaus) to Ak-seráï, Sívás, Díárbekr, and in the year 1060 (1650) returned to Constantinople by Ainehbázár, Merzifún, Kanghrí, Kastemúni, and Táshkoprí.
He now entered the service of his uncle, Melek Ahmed Páshá, who, after having been Grand Vezír for some time, was removed to the government of Oczakov, and afterwards to that of Silistria, in the year 1061 (1651). Evliyá accompanied him, and this was his ninth journey, reckoning each journey by his return to Constantinople. He travelled over the whole of Rumelia, and made some stay at Adrianople, of which he gives a detailed account, and thus completes his description of the three Ottoman capitals, viz. Constantinople, Brousa, and Adrianople. He left Adrianople with his uncle and patron, Melek Ahmed, who was now raised to the rank of a Vezír of the Cupola at Constantinople; but being unable, notwithstanding his marriage to a Sultána, to maintain his credit in the Ottoman court during these revolutionary times, he was obliged to accept the government of Ván, to which he proceeded with great reluctance. Evliyá, who had been left behind, followed him a few days after, having been despatched by the Sultána, the lady of Melek Ahmed. He travelled through Sívás, Malátía, Díárbekr, Márdín, Sinjár, Míáfarakain, Bedlís, and Akhlát. A considerable portion of his narrative is devoted to the history of the warfare between Melek Ahmed Páshá and the Khán of Tiflís, the latter of whom was beaten and deposed; and his account of the Kurds, and their different tribes, is not less interesting than that in his second volume of the Abázas on the eastern coasts of the Black Sea.
Having already given proofs of his abilities in diplomatic affairs when employed by Defterdár Zádeh Mohammed Páshá, on missions to Tabríz and Eriván, and by Murtezá Páshá in his Syrian missions, Evliyá was now entrusted by Melek Ahmed with several missions to the Persian Kháns of Tabríz and Rúmia, with the view of reclaiming seventy thousand sheep, and the liberation of Murtezá Páshá, who was kept a prisoner by the Khán of Dembolí. From Tabríz he went through Hamadán to Baghdád, his description of which, and its environs, of Basra and of the ruins of Kúfa, contains some most important geographical notices. From Basra he travelled to Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, and returned to Baghdád by Basra, Váset, and Kala’i Hasan. In a second excursion he visited Háver, Arbíl, Sheherzor, Amadia, Jezín, Husnkeif, Nisibin, and returned to Baghdád by Hamíd, Mousul, and Tekrít. With the account of these the author concludes his fourth volume; and notwithstanding every endeavour, and the most careful search in all the markets and sales, no more of the work has been discovered. It may, therefore, be taken for granted that he never wrote any continuation of it. The fourth volume ends with the year 1066 (1655), and these four volumes embrace only a period of twenty-six years of the forty-one which Evliyá spent in travelling. Of the events of the remaining fifteen, the following notes may be collected from his own work.
In the year 1070 (1659) Evliyá accompanied the expedition into Moldavia, and assisted at the conquest of Waradin. The Ottoman armies extended their inroads as far as Orsova and Cronstadt in Transylvania, and Evliyá received twenty prisoners as his share of the booty. He then joined his uncle and patron, Melek Ahmed Páshá, then governor of Bosnia, who on the 12th of Rebi-ul-evvel 1071 (1660), was appointed governor of Rúmeili. With him, in the following year, Evliyá made the campaign into Transylvania, which was then disturbed by the pretenders to the crown, Kemeny and Apasty. He was at Saswár when the news arrived of the death of the Grand Vezír, Mohammed Kopreïlí, in 1071 (1660). After the battle of Forgaras he left Transylvania, and took up his winter quarters with Melek Ahmed Páshá at Belgrade. Melek Ahmed was shortly afterwards recalled to Constantinople in order to be married (his first Sultána having died) to Fátima, the daughter of Sultán Ahmed. He died after he had been a Vezír of the Cupola three months; and thus “poor Evliyá” (as he generally calls himself) was left without a protector. He, however, remained in the army, then engaged in the Hungarian war, till the year 1075 (1664), when Kara Mohammed Páshá was sent on an embassy to Vienna, and Evliyá, by the express command of the Sultán, was appointed secretary of the embassy. The ambassador returned in the ensuing year to Constantinople, as may be seen by his own report, published in the Ottoman Annals of Rashíd; but Evliyá having obtained an imperial patent, continued his travels through Germany and the Netherlands, as far as Dunkirk, through Holland, Denmark, and Sweden, and returned through Poland, by Cracovie and Danzig, to the Crimea, after a journey of three years and a half, thus finishing, on the frontiers of Russia, as he himself states, his travels through “the seven climates.”
Although he repeatedly mentions his travels through Europe, it is doubtful whether he ever wrote them; from doing which he was probably prevented by death, when he had completed his fourth volume. It appears that after having travelled for forty years, he spent the remainder of his days in retirement at Adrianople, where he probably died, and where his tomb might be looked for. It also appears that the last ten years of his life were devoted to the writing of his travels, and that he died about the year 1090 at the age of seventy.
This supposition is borne out by his mentioning, in his historical account of the reign of Sultán Mohammed IV., the conquest of Candia which took place in 1089 (1678); and further by his speaking of his fifty years’ experience since he commenced the world, which must refer to the year 1040, when, at the age of twenty, he entered upon his travels; during which he declares he saw the countries of eighteen monarchs, and heard one hundred and forty-seven different languages.
The motto on his seal, which he presented to a Persian Khán of his own name, was: “Evliyá hopes for the intercession of the chief of saints and prophets.”[4]
Judging from the chronographs and verses which he inscribed on several monuments, and the errors into which he frequently falls respecting ancient history, Evliyá must be considered as but an indifferent poet and historian. But in his descriptions of the countries which he visited he is most faithful, and his work must be allowed to be unequalled by any other hitherto known Oriental travels. Independent of the impression made upon him by his dream, that by the blessing of the Prophet he was to visit the tombs of all the saints whom he had seen in their glory, he found that his lot was to travel; and besides the name of Háfiz (knowing the Korán by heart), he well deserved par excellence that of Siyyáh or the traveller.