Description of the Hot-baths.
On the south side of the lower town (Robáth), on the Kiblah side, are several hot-baths; seven of them are covered with small cupolas, and in eight other places the water is boiling in the open air, each place being used for different animals, such as horses, mules, camels, sheep, and others. The water of these hot-baths is carried to distant places on camels, and those who are afflicted with leprosy are cured if they drink of it.
Three hours to the east from hence, we came to the village of Sefer Agha, consisting of one hundred Armenian houses, in the field of Pássin. Three hours further on, is the great Bridge of the Shepherds (Chobán Koprissí). It is called so because it was built by Melek Sultán, of the dynasty of the shepherds (Chobán). It is vaulted like a rainbow over the river Aras, which comes from the great Gok-yaila, and flows to the east; passes under Melázjerd, before the village of Artof, the castle of Khinis, beneath the bridge of Altún Khalkalí, supplies water to many hundred villages below the Bridge of the Shepherds, joins the Zengi river below Eriván, which falls into the Kúr (Cyrus), and with it disembogues into the Caspian Sea. The river Aras (Aranes) is an impetuous river, which, at the melting of the snow, rages like the sea. The army passed during three days over the bridge, with the Páshá himself in grand state. After seven hours we came to the village of Great Artof, in the sanjak of Khinis, a village of one hundred Armenian houses. Eight hours further to the east, is the village of Kúzúlí Sultán Baba, belonging to Khinis. The castle, which lies six hours further on, was built by Shah Shapúr, the uncle of Uzún Hassan, the Prince of Azerbeiján. It was conquered by Sultán Súleimán, and is now the seat of a sanjak Beg belonging to Erzerúm. The khass is forty-eight thousand four hundred aspers, two ziamets, and four hundred and twenty-five timárs, with the Jebellís, two thousand men, besides one thousand men of the Páshá’s troops, all Kurds of the tribe Mahmudí. The judge is appointed with one hundred and fifty aspers; there is no Serdár, Kiaya-yerí, Muftí, or Nakíb, but there is a Disdár.
Size and Form of the Castle of Khinis.
It is three journies distance (if you walk fast) from Erzerúm, and is a square, strong built castle, in the centre of a piece of high table land, surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains. The height of the castle wall is ten cubits, it is six thousand paces in circumference, with a gate to the north. In the eastern quarter of the castle is a clear fountain. Below the castle, at the foot of the wall, is an iron grating, which intercepts the stream, and distributes its water into the gardens. The gate of the castle is near this spring; there are within the castle twelve hundred Kurdish houses, and seven mosques, a khán, a bath, and some small streets; the houses are all covered with earth, and no bricks are to be seen. The inhabitants are all Mahmúdí Kurds, rich in sheep and goats; every year they repair with their cattle to the mountains of Boyúk-gol-yaila. Here the Beg of Melázjerd, in his quality of sanjak Beg of Erzerúm, came with three thousand well-armed Mahmúdí Kurds. He was invested with a robe of honour, and presented with a Chelenk, and took the van of the army. Ghazí Sídí Ahmed Páshá, commanding an army of fifty-three thousand men, with twelve guns and two culverins, directed his march from Khinis to Shúshík, and the Páshá, our master, remained with twelve hundred men on the field of Khinis. We now marched to the east, through precipices, for six hours, till we came to Khássík, a Kurdish village of two hundred houses, and I, poor Evliyá, advanced with two hundred horse to the castle of Zia-ud-dín, nine hours further; it is a strong castle in the territory of Azerbeiján, built by the Princes of that name. It is the frontier of the sanjak of Khinis; its keys were surrendered to the Ottomans after the conquest of Ván, and the inhabitants were exempted from all duties. There is no Serdár and Kiaya-yerí; there is a mosque and six hundred houses, with terraces and lower stories only, a khán, a bath, and from forty to fifty shops. The inhabitants are brave and honest.
Description of the Hot-bath.
Between the river Aras, the lake of Ván, and the castle of Arjesh, is a famous hot-bath, in the neighbourhood of the castle Zia-ud-dín. It is a curious fact that the springs rise in five or six different places; at some of them the water is as cold as ice, in others it boils like gruel. Here is a spring so cold that the hand cannot bear it, and close to it one in which eggs and sheep’s feet are cooked. Only one of these hot springs is covered with a cupola, the rest are exposed to the open air; every one is large enough to drive a mill. We now turned to the west, along the mountains of Súnjáb-Ainí, and arrived after nine hours at the castle of Atík, built like the former, by Zia-ud-dín, the Prince of Azerbeiján; it is a square castle on a rock.
Description of the Castle of Shúshek or Shúshík.
It was built by Zia-ud-dín, the son of Sultán Hassan, and is a square castle, on the top of a high rock. The camp was fixed at the distance of a gunshot from the castle, and the siege began immediately. As soon as the Mussulman victors opened the trenches, all the guns were fired from the castle, and seventy men fell to the ground as martyrs. The Commander, Sídí Ahmed Páshá, exhorting the Begs, Beglerbegs, and other officers, with sweet words and presents and himself making all possible exertions, brought four cannons on to the heights opposite the eastern side of the castle, which being fired, killed Chendán Beg, the nephew of the Beg of the castle. At the same moment a great lamentation arose in the castle, and the Ottoman victors began to ascend the breaches by ladders; in short, the siege lasted twenty-four hours, and the next day the flags of truce were planted on the battlements, and all the Kurds were crying Amán! Amán! O chosen family of Osmán! The commander, Sídí Ahmed Páshá, with his first Colonel, went to the gates of the castle, from which came out seven Kurdish Begs as hostages; they said, “On this night Mustafa Beg, our Beg, deserted the castle and fled to the Persians.” Sídí Ahmed Páshá gave no credit to this report, and told them to find their Beg, lest they might have their hands cut like sheeps’ feet; he fettered them, put seven hundred men into the castle, confiscated all the goods found in the palace of the Beg, disarmed the Kurds, collected three thousand muskets and six thousand swords and other arms, and sent the merry news to my Lord, Mohammed Páshá. The same day the Mohammedan shout (Allah) was proclaimed in the castle; two thousand muskets and many guns were fired as a salute; the whole district of Shúshík, up to the Persian frontier, was ravaged and pillaged, and the Moslím victors enriched with the booty of some hundred thousand sheep, oxen and mules. Men were sent into the interior of the country in search of the Beg, but only found a spy, whose nose and ears were in the first place slit, but at the moment the executioner was about to cut off his head, he implored the Páshá’s mercy, saying that he had something of importance to communicate to him. He said that the Beg of Shúshík had fallen into the hands of the Persian Khán of Magú, and was imprisoned there. Bákí Páshá, Katgáj Páshá, and Dilawer Páshá, with the Beg of Melázjerd, Mohammed Beg, with three thousand men, were ordered to go in search of the Beg of Shúshík at the castle of Magú. I, poor Evliyá, was also in the expedition. We marched across the Minváldereh amidst the mountains, and at the end of eight hours, reached the tomb of Tahmúrass Khán, a Persian, who was killed in the war of Cighálezadeh, and buried at this spot; here are two hundred Armenian houses, which pay tribute to the Beg of Shúshík, and to the Persians. We advanced for seven hours through a woody country, and for two more through flowery fields, and arrived at the castle of Magú, built by Núshirván. The Kurds submitted to Súleimán, who made a present of this castle to the Beg of the Mahmúdí tribe. The Persians took it from them, and it is now subordinate to the governor of Melázjerd. In the time of the grand Vezír of Sultan Murad IV. Kara Mustafa Páshá, after the conquest of Baghdád, went to Derne and Derteng, in order to settle the boundary; my lord, Melek Ahmed Páshá, my gracious protector, was then Governor of Diarbekr, and named on this commission for settling the frontiers and renewing the peace. The Ottomans had laid waste the castle of Zálim, in the province of Shehrzol, and the Persians that of Kotúr, in the province of Ván. The Ottomans also took possession of Magú, and transferred the Beg and the garrison to Melázjerd. Under the pretext of the rebellion of the Beg of Shúshík, the Persians laid hold of Magú, which is a fortress, like the castles of Ván, Márdín, Shuban Kara, Afiún Kara Hissár, A’adil Jiwás, Tokát, and Amasia.