[387] If this refers to Sofia in Bulgaria, Dr. Covel’s geography is rather astray. No maps give a Sta. Sofia near the source of the Arda.
[388] Dr. Covel here probably refers to the tribulus terrestris, a caltrap, which is supposed to be the tribulus translated “thistle” in Matt. vii, 16, and Heb. vi, 8. It grows in quantities in the East, and is also known as “the Turkey plant”. It is very prickly, and the fruit is used medicinally.
[389] Turkish eshek = a donkey.
[390] Orta-cui, lit. “middle village”, is twenty miles S.W. of Adrianople, on a hill three miles from the Arda.
[391] The oke then equalled half-a-pound. (Ricaut.)
[392] Compasse = compost, in agriculture. The term for a mixture of earthy substances suitable for manure.
[393] Rhodope, now called Despotodagh, lies almost due west of Adrianople.
[394] The Hemus range corresponds to the modern Balkans.
[395] A branch of the Arda rises at Dari-Dere in the Rhodope range, about that distance from Ortacui.
[396] Clenched = clinched, or clincher-built, lap-jointed work—a mode of building in which the lower edge of each plank overlaps the next one below it.