On the second Sunday in Lent we came to the head of the Araxes, and passing
the mountains, we
Came to the Euphrates, by which we descended eight days
journey, going to the west, till we came to a castle named Camath or Kemac,
where the Euphrates trends to the south, towards Halapia, or Aleppo. We
here passed to the north-west side of the river, and went over very high
mountains, and through deep snow, to the west. There was so great an
earthquake that year in this country, that in one city called Arsingan, ten
thousand persons are said to have perished. During three days journey we
saw frequent gaps in the earth, which had been cleft by the convulsion, and
great heaps of earth which had tumbled down from the mountains into the
vallies. We passed through the valley where the soldan of the Turks was
vanquished by the Tartars, and a servant belonging to my guide, who was in
the Tartar army, said the Tartars did not exceed 10,000 men, whereas the
soldan had 200,000 horse. In that plain there broke out a great lake at the
time of the earthquake, and it came into my mind, that the earth opened her
mouth to receive yet more blood of the Saracens.
We remained in Sebasta, Siwas, or Sivas, a town of the Lesser Armenia, in
the Easter week, and on the succeeding Sunday we came to Caesaria of
Capadocia, now called Kaisarea.
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