Leaving Chiagri Towards Evening Of The 1st August,
We Came Next Day To An Armenian Village At The Foot Of
A mountain, where
we had to cross a river in boats, and were informed that Uzun-Hassan had
formerly gained
A great victory near this place over the Tartars, having
hemmed them into a corner, where their army wasted away with famine and
disease. The ruler of these Tartars, named Sultan _Buzech_[2], was made
prisoner, and was afterwards put to death. We here saw, on our left hand,
eleven Armenian villages, near each other, who were Catholic Christians,
their bishop being under submission to the Roman pontiff. The country is
extremely agreeable, and is the most fertile of all the provinces of
Persia. We arrived on the 3d of August at a large village called Marerich,
near which we passed the night, and had to ride all the next day through
a plain country exposed to great heat, which was greatly aggravated, as
we could not procure a single drop of water for ourselves or our horses.
On the way we met several Turkmans, whose custom it is to encamp here and
there about the country, wherever they can find pasture for their cattle,
and to change their residence as the pastures become exhausted. These
people are abominable robbers, and look upon rapine as their highest
glory; and as we had great reason to be afraid of them, I gave orders to
all my people to tell whoever we met, that I was journeying to wait upon
their sovereign, which was the only expedient for saving us from their
violence.
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