They Are Worst Used By The Tanners, Who Pour Out The Filthy Water
In Which They Have Dressed Their Skins
Into the streets before their doors.
Yet, among the Jews there are some very rich men, as I have said
Before;
good and merciful men, who observe the commandments, and who patiently
endure the miseries of the captivity.
From Constantinople, Benjamin continued his journey to Tyre, Jerusalem, and
the Holy Land, and thence to Damascus, Balbeck, and Palmyra, which he calls
Tadmor, and in which, he says, there then were 2000 Jews. He next gives an
account of Bagdat, the court of the caliph, and the condition of the Jews
there. He afterwards gives an account of a country which he calls Thema,
where he places a whole nation of Jews, which some have deemed an entire
forgery[9]. He next proceeds to Botzra, Balsora or Bassora, on the Tigris,
and thence to Persia, of which he gives the following account.
The river Samoura[10] is esteemed the limits of the kingdom of Persia, and
near it stands the city of the same name, in which there are 1500 Jews.
Here is the sepulchre of Esdras, the scribe and priest, who died in this
place on his return from Jerusalem to the court of Artaxerxes. Our people
have built a great synagogue beside his tomb, and the Ismaelites, Arabians,
or Mahometans, have built a mosque close by, as they have a great respect
for Esdras and the Jews. It is four miles from hence to Chuzestan, which
is the same with the ancient city of Elam, now almost ruined and
uninhabited. At one end, surrounded by ruins, is the castle of Susa,
formerly the palace of Ahasuerus, of which there are still some remains.
In this place there are 7000 Jews and fourteen synagogues, before one of
which stands the tomb of Daniel. The river Tigris[11] runs through this
city, over which there is a bridge. All the Jews on one side of the river
are very rich, having well filled shops, and carry on great trade, while
those on the other side are very poor, having neither market, shops,
gardens, or orchards. This caused them once to make an insurrection, from
a notion that the glory and riches of those on the other side of the river
was occasioned by their having the sepulchre of the prophet Daniel on their
side. The insurgents, therefore, demanded to have his tomb transferred to
their side, which was vehemently opposed by the others, and war ensued
between them: But both parties growing weary of the war, it was agreed that
the coffin of Daniel should remain one year on one side of the river, and
next year on the other. This treaty was observed for some time, but was
cancelled in the sequel by Sanigar-Shah, son to the great shah of Persia,
who rules over forty-five princes. This great king is called in Arabic
Sultan Phars Al-Chabir. His empire extends from the river Samoura to
Samarcand, the river Gozan, the province of Gisbor, including the cities of
the Medes, the mountains of Haphton, and to the province of Thibet, in the
forests of which country are found the animals which produce musk; and the
empire is four months and four days journey in length.
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