We Arrived On The 4th Of August At The City Of Ecbatana Or _Tauris_[3],
Which Stands In A Plain, And Is Surrounded By An Earthen Rampart In Bad
Repair.
There are high mountains in its neighbourhood, which are said to
be the Taurus of the ancients.
I here lodged with a very good man, who
gave us two sleeping chambers, a convenience we had been long unused to.
He was quite astonished how we should have been able to escape the
dangers of our journey, as all the roads were blocked up; and on asking
him the reason, he told us that Ogurlu Mohammed[4], the eldest son of
Uzun-Hassan, had rebelled against his father, and had taken possession of
_Sylas_[5] or Persepolis, of which he had appointed his younger brother
_Khalil_[6] as governor. Uzun-Hassan had assembled an army to reduce
Persepolis and his sons to obedience; but a certain satrap named
_Zagarli_ who commanded in the neighbouring mountains, favoured the cause
of Ogurlu, and had ravaged the whole country, to the very gates of Tauris,
with a body of 3000 horse, owing to which, all the roads were obstructed
and unsafe. He farther informed us, that the governor of Tauris had one
day issued forth to endeavour to put a stop to the marauders, but had
been defeated by Zagarli, with the loss of most of his troops, and had
even great difficulty in escaping back to the city. I inquired why the
inhabitants of Tauris did not take arms in their own defence, in a time
of so much danger; but he answered, although they were obedient to the
governor, they were quite unused to war.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 203 of 812
Words from 55509 to 55791
of 224388