The tribe of Jájlar, of Erlán, of Chándalar, of great Chándalar, of Kechilar, of A’rtlar, of Kámishlar, of Sújelar, of Bozúrúk, of Kúnassí, of Ashuflí, of Yokarúlí, of Jembeh, and of Súntija. There are seventy Abaza tribes, who have made obeisance since the time of Sultán Súleimán, and who every year in token thereof, send in a tribute consisting of boys and girls, camphor, candles, pelisses, and a thousand pieces of coarse linen for towels for the Imperial kitchen, to the Páshá of Trebisonde, who then renews the treaty of protection with them. Envoys come every year from Mingrelia with this tribute to Trebisonde, according to the constitution of Sultán Súleimán. The Judge, a Mollá with five hundred aspers, extends his jurisdiction to forty-one districts, and makes annually a revenue of eight thousand piastres.
The Commanding Officers and Magistrates of Trebisonde.
These are the Páshá, Muftí, Nakíb, and instead of the Serdár of the janissaries a Chaúsh of high authority, a Kiaya-yerí of the Sipáhís, a Súbashí, an Ayák Náíb, a Mohtessib, an inspector of the Custom-house and of the fish-market, a Sháh Bender or chief of the merchants, an inspector of the dyers, of the wine, and wax, in short seventeen public magistrates appointed by an Imperial rescript. The inhabitants also possess an Imperial privilege which allows them to kill the Jews who enter the town, the reason of their being thus empowered shall, if it pleases God! be detailed in another place. The town is situate on the eastern side of the Black sea and is surrounded by delightful gardens. The distance from Constantinople is exactly a thousand miles. The mountains of the Lezgís are towards the south and the east; the name Lezgí has been corrupted into Laz. Mohammed II. having conquered this town, colonized it from all quarters and rendered it a populous place; the inhabitants are Lezgís and Janissaries, who inherit this right from father to son. Their names are, Alí, Welí, Khodaverdí, Ja’fer, Peshír, Feslí, Memí, Meizer, Fakhzád, and Memet, with the word báshá added to the end, which is pronounced here páshá. The surnames are, son of Fertúl, Fodúl, Fazár, Kashúmbúr, Katráz, Kalafát, Kosdúd, Júndah, Alialí, Súrmenelí, Pípolí, Kashíd-bárí, Siámí, Jorkájí, Khángí-chíchú, Kotúzmeslí, A’álí, Gúnelí; the names of the women, Omkhán, Esma Khán, Rábieh, Assieh, Hánifeh, Afífa, Saikha, Fátima, Khúftí, Túntí, Gulshákhí, Mihrmáh, Khiva, Khúma, Zákhila, and Ánifah; the names of the slaves, Ússuf, Paiván, Kananan, Allah-kúlí, Rostem, Apártí, &c. These names were originally pure Arabic names, but are spelt in such a way by the Lezgians, that they appear quite strange. Many of the inhabitants of the order of the Dervíshes Gulshení wear necklaces of coral, jasper and turquoise. Both Prose and Poetry are cultivated to a high degree, and there are in our age no less than eleven poets, every one of whom is the author of a Diván or alphabetical collection of Ghazels (Odes).
Praise of the Poets of Trebisonde.
Ghanayí Efendí was Secretary to Tayem-Páshá, and afterwards to Melek Ahmed Páshá. He knew the dictionaries of Kamús and Shemií by heart, as well as the discourses of Urfí and Túzúlí. Ghanayí went with Melek Ahmed Páshá to his government of Rúmelí, and is buried at Sofía in the mosque of Dervish Mohammed Páshá 1021 (1612). Alí-jání succeeded to his father’s office. He left three volumes in verse and prose, in comparison with which Weissi himself is but a stammering child.
Form and Size of the Town, and Description of its Monuments.
It consists of two great castles between the edge of Mount Bozdepeh and the shore of the Black sea, and is divided into three parts; the first is the lower castle, the second the middle castle, and the innermost or tower castle, it is extremely strong being protected by mount Bozdepeh. The ditch is very deep, and seventy paces broad, all cut in lime-stone; inside this castle is a mosque, barracks for the garrison, magazines and storehouses. On the north side a gate leads to the middle castle, which is the only open gate; a second secret gate (Oghrún Kapú) is always kept closed. The middle castle is an oblong square enclosed by walls. The gate on the east side which leads from the tower or innermost castle is called the New Friday’s gate, the second gate is also at the end of the same wall. The tanneries are outside of it, and it is therefore called the tanner’s gate. In front of it flows a rivulet which rises in the mountains of Bozdepeh and the Lezgían mountains on the east, and passes through the tanneries into the sea; it sometimes swells into a furious torrent. In the centre of the tanner’s market is a large bridge built of stone by Úzún Hassan the lord of the castle, it lies to the east of Erzerúm. The third gate of the middle castle is on the western wall and is called the prison gate, where the malefactors and debtors are confined. From this gate you pass over a stone bridge to the gate Za’anús. The fourth gate is on the northern side of the wall, and leads to the lower castle, or third division of the town, and is therefore called the lower castle gate.
Description of the Lower Castle.
The north wall abuts on the sea, the castle is of a square form, nineteen thousand paces in circumference. It has also four gates, viz.—the gate of Za’anús next the prison gate close to the walls, leading to a long bridge; the gate of Sútkháneh leading to the quarters of the Christians; the gate of Mevlúz which signifies in Greek (?) a small stone, from the abundance of pebbles that lie on the shore. In the language of the Lazes, Mevlúz is the name of spurs or piers which are raised to support ruined walls. The walls of the lower castle extend on both sides to the sea, so that the town is closed against hostile invasion, by a wall running along the seashore. The fourth gate is that of Múm Kháneh or the wax fabric, because all the candles, of which a great number are made at Trebisonde are manufactured outside of this gate. Three quarters of the town are inhabited by Moslims and Christians, but by no Jews. The houses rising one above the other are all faced with brick and look to the north or west.