Chapter xiii

, note 2. Near Kemakh was the temple of Jupiter, constructed by Tigranes, and the city afterwards became the principal seat of the worship of Hormuzd; it was also a state prison, and the burial-place of the Arsacidæ (Ritter, _Die Erdkunde_ etc., x, 782–789). Constantine Porphyrogenitus called this stronghold of the Byzantines, Κάμαχα. Kemakh was celebrated among the Turks for its fine linen, as Erzingan was noted for its good breed of sheep, and Baïbourt for the beauty of its women. “Kamahoum besy—Erdshenshan kousy—Baibourdin kysy.”—BRUUN.

(4.) “nobody knows where it goes.”—This observation on the peculiarities of the Upper Euphrates, is confirmed by other authors (Procopius, _De Bell. Pers._, i, 17; and Ritter, _Die Erdkunde_ etc., x, 736). On emerging from a narrow valley, the river completely disappears amongst reeds, which, though annually taken and burnt, again grow very fast, and so thickly, that carts might be driven over them to cross the river.—BRUUN.

(4A.) The recent survey of the Euphrates shows that the river really disappears in the Lamloun marshes, its width diminishing to 120 yards towards the town of Lamloun. It again widens at Karayem, where the Serayah branch on the western side, and the Nahr Lamloun branch on the eastern side, reunite with the main stream. Colonel Chesney makes no allusion whatever to an overgrowth of reeds, and adds (_Exped. to the Euphr. and Tigris_, i, 58, 59): “Being thus reunited to its former waters, and at the same time free from those marshes in which it had been supposed to be lost, the Euphrates suddenly reappears on its former scale, enclosed between high banks covered with jungle.”—ED.

(5.) “Karasser; it is fertile in vineyards.”—Several travellers and authors, such as Aboulfeda, Tavernier, Otter, Golius, Ritter, etc., have represented, that the best wines of the country were to be obtained at Amadia, fifteen miles from Kohrasar—“Karasser”—which Hammer (_Denkschr. d. Kön. Akad. d. Wissensch._, ix) fancifully transfers to Kara-hissar in Armenia. Kohrasar is quite uninhabited and deserted, but the ruins of what were at one time magnificent churches and other edifices, excited the admiration of Tavernier (_Six Voy. en Turquie_, etc., en 1642) and Ainsworth (_Trav. in Asia Minor_, etc., 1842). They indicate the site of the ancient city of Constantine. It is to be deplored that those travellers could not afford the time to explore the locality.—BRUUN.

(6.) “the people are warlike”.—The warlike inhabitants of Black Turkey were the Turkomans of the White Sheep, who, under Kara Yelek, their chief, seized upon Amid (Amed, Hamith, Karamid), the capital of Dyarbekr, in Mesopotamia, after the death of Timour; it is now known by the same name as the province, but was called Kara Amid—Amid the black—from the colour of its walls. Many traces of its grandeur are left. The academician, Baïer (_De numo Amid._, 545), shows that it was constructed by Severus Alexander, and fortified by Justinian.—BRUUN.

(7.) “Bestan.”—This name is probably intended for Bistan, near the eastern frontier of the pashalik of Soulimanieh. It is now a village of no importance, but near it are the ruins of an ancient castle, also the tumuli known as the Roustan tepe and Shah tepe, in which many objects of antiquity have been found. Judging by its style of architecture, the castle, constructed of bricks, is believed to be of the Sassanian period; but it may have been occupied at a later date, even to the time of Schiltberger, when it was, perhaps, the capital of Kourdistan. The pasha’s residence at Soulimanieh is a modern edifice, having been built towards the end of the 18th century (Ritter, _Die Erdkunde_ etc., xi, 566).—BRUUN.

(8.) “Zuchtun.”—The noxious nature of the climate on the eastern sea-board of the Black Sea, has been fully proved by Russian garrisons to their cost, and especially at “Zuchtun” or Soukhoum Kaleh. Near this place stood the ancient Dioscurias, subsequently called Sevastopolis, after an old Roman fortress in the neighbourhood. It was of great strategic importance to the Empire in the reign of Justinian (_Novell. constit._, 28; and Procopius, _De Bell. Goth._, iv, 4), and became a prosperous commercial port after the Black Sea was opened to the Italians. The Genoese established a consulate at Savastopoli, which was maintained until the year 1449 (_Zap. Odess. Obstschest._, v, 809).—BRUUN.

(8A.) “Zuchtun”, intended, as shown above, for Soukhoum, and named Soukhoum Kaleh in the year 1578, when Amurat III., as suzerain of Abhase, Mingrelia, Imeritia, and Gouria, arrogated to himself the right to fortify and occupy it as one of two points on the coast (Poti being the other), is the chief town of Abhase, and distant about sixty miles to the north of Poti. The yearly mortality, according to late official returns (1874), was reported as being at the rate of 3 per centum.

The small, square, flat cap seen by Schiltberger, is now in great measure substituted in Abhase by the g’h’tapt or bashlyk, a pointed head-covering of great antiquity, adopted in winter by the troops in Russia, and in fashion among the ladies in that country; but it is still extensively worn by the Imeritians and Mingrelians, who call it papanaky, and consider it sufficient covering for their heads of bushy hair, of which they are very proud, and which they periodically shave to improve the growth. The flat cap, or papanaky, is a small lozenge-shaped piece of leather, cloth, or silk, laid over the fore part of the head, and fastened with strings under the chin. When worn by nobles, the papanaky of velvet is made very ornamental, with gold and silver embroidery. Their Mussulman conquerors used to call the Imeritians, bashashyk—bare-heads (_The Crimea and Transc._, i, 120; ii, 35, 135).—ED.

(9.) “Kathon.”—There can be little doubt that Batoum is here intended, a place which appears as Vati or Lovati, in the charts of the 14th century.—BRUUN.

(9A.) In the present chapter, the capital of Mingrelia is called “Kathon”; in