Dinár-hezár, the vezír of Yakúb Sháh of the Germián family, having conquered this town gave it the name Germián-hezárí. Once a week there is a famous market chiefly of goats-hair spun and woven. It is now the Khass of the Muftí of Constantinople who appoints the Súbashí. The judge, appointed with an hundred and fifty aspers, may easily collect seven purses. There is a Serdár and Kiaya-yerí, but no Dizdár and garrison, the castle being too small to hold any. At the foot of it lies the town distributed over two valleys, and divided into twenty quarters. There are forty one mosques, three thousand and sixty seven elegant houses, all of mortar, but the roofs of wood, a room for reading the Korán, another for lectures on tradition, but no stone built colleges as in other towns, and seventy schools. There are more than seven hundred men and boys who know by heart the Korán, and the Mohammedieh, a Muftí and Nakíb-ul-eshráf; the inhabitants are for the most part Ulemás. This being a Turkish town the people are chiefly Oghúz, that is to say good men of the old Turkish simplicity. There are seven Kháns, pleasant baths, six hundred shops in which precious articles are found, but no bezestán of stone. On the bank of the torrent, which flows through the butcheries, a market is held every week; this torrent falls into the river, which runs below the town, and with this river into the Sakaria. The roads are strewn with sand and not paved. The young men are fine, and the girls very retired and modest, but not pretty. The gardens of Beg-bazárí are numerous; among its products is a particular melon much distinguished for its sweetness; the inhabitants make of it a Zerdeh (dish) with cinnamon and cloves, sweet as the Zerdeh which was first invented by Moavia; there is also a large green pear four or five of which go to an occa. Every year some thousand of them are sent in boxes to Constantinople as presents, such sweet pears are found but in Persia in the town of Nessú and are like the pears called Melje in the town of Bár. Black barley is produced here, which must be given with caution to horses, and there is a great quantity of rice. In the town is the tomb of Az-dedeh.
We had remained here three days when letters arrived for the Páshá from my uncles, Melek-zádeh and Abd-ur-rahím, giving notice of the death of my father, and that all his goods remained in my step-mother’s hands. They begged leave from the Páshá for me to make a journey to Constantinople in order to arrange my affairs, after which I might return to him. I received three letters from my relations with the same news, which I showed to the Páshá, who showed me those he had received. He gave me leave to go on condition I would come back again, called the Kiaya and Khazinedár, gave me five hundred dollars, two horses, and two slaves, a fine tent and three mules in addition to those which I had received as a present from the late Várvár Alí Páshá. With seven Mamlúks and eight servants attached to me, I took leave of the Páshá and set out at the end of Jemazí-ul-akhir in the year 1058 (1648) from Begbazárí for Constantinople.
Journey from Beg-bazárí to Constantinople.
We marched nine hours to the north through cultivated villages and open meadows to the village of Sárí-beg. Here a gigantic wall is seen, which is said to have been moved by the miraculous power of Hají Begtásh, and the spot is shown where he sat upon the wall. It has no foundation and therefore it is evident it must have been moved hither. Seven hours further is the village of Kostek-beg of an hundred houses in a ground intersected by valleys. The inhabitants are free from all duties. At the time of the rebellion of Kara Yazijí, Seid-ul-Arab, Kalender Oghlí, Jennet Oghlí, Delí Hassan and Sejiáh Oghlí in the time of Ahmed I. they assailed a great caraván here, which they plundered, killing more than two thousand men. The road then remained blocked up for some time, till Nassif Páshá built here a great khán and transported the inhabitants hither. There is a mosque, a khán, an imáret and a bath. The raisins of this place are celebrated for sour preserves. The khán has no equal in the whole of Anatolia unless it be the Khán of Katífa and Sa’asa’a in the neighbourhood of Damascus. The stable holds two thousand horses, there is besides a stable for camels, and all the buildings are covered with lead. Eight hours further to the north we arrived at Nállí Khán, a small affranchised mussulman village of an hundred houses in a valley, governed by a Mutevellí of Nassif Páshá. This khán is also his foundation and is built like that of Kostek-beg Khán, having an hundred and fifty chimneys with a kitchen like that of Keikavús. Travellers receive each a loaf in a brass plate, a dish of soup and a candle. In seven hours more we reached the village of Turbelí Koilik, which in the harsh language of the Turks is pronounced Torbalí Koiluk. Akshems-ud-dín is buried in this village. The castle, built by the Greek Emperors, was conquered by Ghazí Osmán in the year 712 (1312). It has a Kiaya-yerí and Serdár but no Dizdár. This place is surrounded on both sides by rocks from which the water of life flows through fir-wood pipes. Though its inhabitants are Turks, it is yet a sweet town of two thousand houses, all covered with fir-wood, eighteen mosques and eight quarters. The houses are overhung by the chalk cliffs, which from time to time fall down upon them, without doing the least harm to men or mice. The number of the houses, immediately overhung by the rocks, is two hundred, there is no college or house of tradition but twenty schools for boys; in the market-place are three kháns covered with brick, a bath, a good number of mills and seventy-five shops in which saddle-bags and horse-cloths are sold. No Jews can inhabit this place, because in it they die instantly.
Description of the tomb of the great Saint Akshems-ud-dín.
He was born at Damascus and derives his genealogy from Abúbekr, which was proved by the absence of one of the joints in his finger, because all descendants from him are born with that defect. He had conversed with Sheháb-ud-dín Sehrverdí, who is buried in the castle of Baghdád, and at Angora with Hájí Bairám. He accompanied Mohammed II. to the conquest of Constantinople, and foretold the day when the town would be conquered. He and his whole family lie buried here. It was he who discovered the tomb of Eyyúb and on whose admonition they dug on the spot indicated by him. He composed many volumes of books and was in medicine a second Lokman. His son Ahmed Chelebí is the author of Yússúf and Zúleikha, one of the most renowned of poems in the Turkish language, he did not accept of the directorship, which his father intended for him and which after his death devolved on Sa’ad Allah, another son of his, and who is buried near his father. Sheikh Núrallah his third son went to Brússa to finish his studies and killed himself accidentally, his pen-knife entering his stomach. Sheikh Chelebí Emrillah did not follow his father’s manner of life, and died of the gout; he composed an historical work. Sheikh Nasrollah his fifth son travelled for seven years in Persia and is buried at Tabríz; the Persians visit his tomb, and some erroneously believe him to be the son of Shems Tabrízí who is buried in the town of Khúí, whither he walked with his head cut off, carrying it in his hand. Sheikh Mohammed Núrolhúda the son of Akshems-ud-dín; his father having touched his mother’s womb when she was pregnant with him, she was immediately delivered on the salute given to the child, which returned it saying, “Esselám aleikum.” This ecstatic child (Mejzúb) when grown up could discern in the mosque those who would go to heaven from those who would go to hell. He is buried in the village of Evlek, which was given to him by Sultán Mohammed. Sheikh Mohammed Hamdollah, the abovesaid second son of Akshems-ud-dín, was also spoken to by his father when in his mother’s womb. At eight years old he was already author of a Diván. He composed Leíla and Mejnún, and Yússúf and Zúleikha, which has no equal in the Turkish language. He died when sixty-six years old. Among a great number of treatises he wrote one on physiognomy which is much esteemed. His son Mohammed Chelebí was a great divine and in caligraphy a second Yakút Mostea’assemí and Ibn Mokla. The tomb of Sheikh Abd-ul-kádir, the son of Sa’ad Allah; he is buried outside that of his ancestor. Sheikh Abd-ur-rahím one of Akshems-ud-dín’s followers, who lived forty years after him; he is the author of the work Wahdet-námeh (book of unity).
We remained here one day and then travelled seven hours to the north to Taráklí, built by the Greek Princes of Brússa and conquered by Osmán. The judge is appointed with an hundred and fifty aspers; there are fifteen hundred houses in a valley all covered with brick, eleven mihrábs, seven quarters, a bath, five kháns, six schools and two hundred shops; this town is called Taraklí because spoons and combs (Tarak) are made here from the box-trees which cover the neighbouring mountains. These spoons and combs are sent into Arabia and Persia. The torrent which flows through the village falls into the river Hármen and with it into the sea. Eight hours to the north is the castle of Kíva, properly Kekiva, a small castle for the sheep of a Greek Princess. It is the foundation consecrated to the famous bridge of Sultán Bayazíd II. here built over the Sakaria. It was formerly a large town, but ruined in the reign of Sultán Murad IV. by the inundation of the Sakaria, it consisted of three hundred houses, a mosque, a bath, three kháns, and seven schools for boys. It is now situated at an arrow’s shot distance from the river, and has a large khán covered with brick and twenty shops near it. The sour preserve of raisins and the melons of the district are famous, two melons are a load for a horse. The river Sakaria, which flows here under the bridge, comes from the town of Beg-bazarí and falls into the Black Sea near Irva. In this place reside a Serdár, Kiaya-yerí and Mutevellí, or administrator of the Wakf. Burhán, a companion of Osmán I. is buried here. We passed the bridge and to the north along the banks of Sakaria through the great forest, called Agháj-denizí (the sea of trees), a den of wild beasts and robbers, where many strangers have been lost. The trees are high firs and linden, which intercept the rays of the sun, and perfume the brain with their sweet scent.
These mountains are inhabited by some thousand unmerciful Turks, who live by cutting wood and loading it in ships, and sometimes by cutting passengers and unloading caravans. This forest extends through four Sanjaks, viz: Brússa, Ismíd, and Bolí, and a month is necessary to make the tour of it. In some places it is cut through like the road to Kíva. Three hours from Kíva we came to the castle of the shepherds (Chobán Kala’assí), a small castle towering to the skies. It is here that the shepherds of Princess Kekeva dwelled and took toll from those who passed; the passage being straightened between the mountains and the river Sakaria, they obliged every body to pay. We passed through it and continuing our way to the West along the bank of the Sakaria for seven hours we reached Sabánja, a cultivated place which has been already described on the way to Erzerúm. From hence we came to Nicomedia, also described in the journey to Erzerúm. We passed Herke, Gebize, the tomb of Gemiklí, Alí-bábá, Pendík, Kartál, the bridge of the Bostánji-bashí, and Kádíkoí, and arrived at the end of Jemazí-ul-akhir, 1058 (1648), in the great town of Scutarí, and at last, praise be to God! at Constantinople, with all my baggage. I kissed the hand of my mother and the eyes of my sisters, then mounted again on horseback to fulfil my vow by visiting the tomb of Eyyúb, where I immolated and distributed a victim, and returned home. In a dream I saw my father who wished me joy on my happy arrival and on my visit to the tomb of Er-Sultán. Having thrice said the Súra-et-tekátherí, I awoke and took a boat to visit the tomb of my father behind the arsenal, and my ancestors buried there since the time of Mohammed II, thrice said the above Súra, then returned home, took possession of my father’s heritage, and made a vow to consecrate two thousand zechins of it to the pilgrimage of Mecca; visited all my friends and acquaintances, and enjoyed with them the pleasures of conversation, when the great rebellion of the troops began on the eighteenth of Rejeb, 1058, and terminated in the dethronement of Sultán Ibrahím and the accession of his son Mohammed IV.
(Here follows the account of the dethronement of Sultán Ibrahím, which is nearly the same as has been given, in the first volume, under this Sultán’s reign, and is therefore omitted here.)
Evliya then relates how his master Mohammed Defterdár Zádeh came to Constantinople, and after a lively contest with Koja Mevleví, the grand vezír, obtained from him the nomination to the Governorship of Malatia, begging he would grant it him with the Kharáj (tribute), Awáriz (accidental duties) and the Mohassillik or collectorship, which was done. Evliya waited on him and with great difficulty obtained permission to go on the pilgrimage to Mecca. He then remained sometime at Constantinople, and attached himself to Silehdár Murteza Páshá, as Múezzin-báshí (chief proclaimer of prayer), he was also named Imám of the Mahmel (the Sultán’s annual present to Mecca), and went from Constantinople to Scutarí in the first days of the month Sha’abán, setting out with Murteza Páshá for the journey to Damascus. The Páshá’s Imám being an Arab whom Murteza disliked, the Arab performed prayers outside, and Evliya inside the Páshá’s tent and was continually in the Páshá’s company. During the time they remained at Scutari, the famous robber Hyder Oghlí, in whose hands Evliya had fallen when he lost his way in the pass as before related, was brought in by Hassan Aghá, and hanged at Parmak-kapú (finger-gate). The same night as the execution of the robber, Evliya slept in his paternal home at Constantinople, then took leave of his friends and relations and passed over to Scutarí, where he visited Mahmúd Efendí of Scutarí, and Saint Karají Ahmed and the tombs of all the great men in the burying ground, calling their spirits to his assistance in the Syrian voyage, which he was about to undertake.