JOURNEY TO THE CRIMEA.
I left Assov in company with the army of Geraï Khán of eighty thousand men, and twenty thousand Infidels of Moldavia and Valachia, and crossed the Tanais with them, which disembogues at the end of the sea of Assov. The water being shallow in the great Don, it was passed by eight hundred thousand horsemen without the least difficulty, the water reaching only to the stirrups. The Tátárs tied their jacks and luggage to the tails of their horses, and in the space of twenty-one hours, the whole army reached the opposite steppes of Heihát.
At the station of Búrebaí, opposite to the western side of Assov, a branch of the Don flows in its way to the sea of Assov, where it disembogues in three different channels; as it runs through reeds for a great distance, it is not very sweet: the complexion of the inhabitants on its shores is yellow, and they have a kind of excrescence or crop on the neck. The whole army halted here, as on a pleasant flowery meadow, and three hundred horses were slaughtered and eaten up that evening. It was here that I ate horseflesh for the first time. Though I belonged to the Tátár Khán, yet I lived with Kiá Beg of the tribe of Mássúrlí, who have their Yúrds (encampments) in Crimea; the district of Mankis Eli on the side of Gozlava is their Yúrd. Their horses are extremely fat, and their flesh can hardly be distinguished from roes’ flesh, and is easy to digest. Next morning the kettle-drums beat, and after a march of nine hours we arrived at the river Sud, which the whole army crossed, and halted on the other side, but the ground being extremely marshy, one hundred horses and fifty slaves were lost in the marshes. This river issues from the western mountains of Russia and here enters the sea of Assov. The name Sud or milk-river is derived from its whitish colour, which it contracts from the different metallic strata over which it passes in its course. It is not good for drinking, and causes crops or swellings on the necks of those who drink of it. There are seventy cultivated towns and villages on both sides of this river, but they are not very flourishing on account of the depredations of the Crimea Tátárs. These places all belong to the Russians.
We left this place and came to the river Mús, a large river which we passed over with the greatest difficulty at this cold season, the arms being all put in leather jacks. It is fresh water like that of the Don, Dnieper, and Danube, and contains excellent fish. It comes from the northern mountains of Russia. We crossed it, and next day when the Kettle-drums were beaten for departure, the snow had fallen three cubits deep. We slept that night on the snow of the field of Kipchák,and arrived next day at the station of Búrúmbaí; here we slept again on the snow, and on the following day after sixteen hours ride, reached the frontier of Crimea.
The moment we entered the castle of Orághzí, Kara Rejíb Aghá, the Courier of the great Vezír Kara Mustafa Páshá, with twenty horsemen arrived from Constantinople, and after having heard the sad story of the impossibility to take Assov, took letters from the Khán, and returned to Constantinople. I poor Evlíya entered the town of Bágcheseraï with the Khán, and was assigned a house there on the borders of the valley of Chúrúksú (rotten water) where I quietly passed the winter without travelling one step. But the Khán to prevent the Infidels sending reinforcements to the castle of Assov, made three excursions with between forty and fifty thousand horsemen even up to the guns of Assov, bringing back prisoners. His Vezír (the Kalgha Sultán) made also three expeditions into the interior of Russia, and returned with ten thousand slaves and a great deal of booty to Crimea. In the beginning of spring came Hassan Aghá the Chamberlain of the Sublime Porte bringing to the Khán twelve thousand ducats as boot-money, and an Imperial diploma commanding him to be ready to take the field, with the commencement of the fine season, against Assov. The Khán received the orders with all signs of submission and duty, the horses were put to feed in the meadows for forty days, after which the army broke up again to return to Assov, the garrison of which, weighing all the hardships of siege, their losses, and the impossibility of holding the fortress finally against the Ottoman power, abandoned it and fled with their arms and effects to different other Castles.
The Tátár Khán having arrived on the border of the river Sud, heard of the flight of the garrison from some prisoners he had taken, and made the greatest possible haste to reach the fortress. He found it empty, not only of men, but also of animals, neither dog, cat nor mouse being seen; only one Genoese tower remained standing. The Tátár Khán then sent the welcome news to Constantinople. On the eleventh day some Russian spies coming from Constantinople were taken and brought before the Tátár Khán. They confessed freely and openly, that there were forty spies at the Port, who, having been aware of the immense preparations of the Ottoman Army, had given notice to the garrison to leave the Castle, and that arriving there themselves, they had fallen into the hands of the Tátárs. These three spies were beheaded. On the 13th day of this month the Ottoman army arrived with great pomp, commanded by Chowán Kapújí-báshí Vezir Mohammed Páshá, and found the fortress empty. They ascribed it at first to some infernal stratagem of the Infidels, and waited three days, on the fourth day Moslim prayer was proclaimed, and all the Moldavians and Valachians werecommanded to work on the foundations and to build them anew. They dug three days till they came to springs of water; the ships were all busy carrying stones from an old Convent in the island of Timúrlenk, and the work of building was begun. In one month two towers were finished, stronger than the former Genoese towers, and the histories of Crimea record the date of its building and name of the builder. It was declared the seat of a Sanjak Beg belonging to the government of Kaffa, a Begler-Beg was left as commander with twenty regiments of Janissaries, six regiments of artillerymen, ten regiments of armourers, seven thousand Tátárs, seven Sanjak Begs, and twelve Alaï Begs, with twenty-six thousand men; seventy large guns on the bulwarks, and three hundred small ones on the border of the ditch. The complete repair and fitting out cost the sum of five thousand purses. During its building the Tátárs made seven inroads into Russia, and returned with from fifteen to twenty thousand prisoners to the Ottoman camp, so that the prisoners were sold for no more than ten piastres each. At last the King of the Moscovites imploring pardon and crying out, Amán! Amán! (pardon O Family of Osmán!) sent ambassadors to Constantinople. The building being nearly finished, the Commander-in-Chief Mahommed Páshá returned to Constantinople, and the rest of the army got permission to return to their homes. I again followed the tribe of Mássúrlí, and came with them to Crimea. We took our pleasure for twenty days in Bágcheseraï, then got permission from the Khán to return to Constantinople, with a present of a purse of piastres, three slaves, a sable pelisse, and a caftán. The Kalgha Sultán and Núr-ud-dín Sultán (the two first dignities of the Tátár court) and fourteen Aghás, gave me a slave each, so that I had a number of slaves and four purses of money; to these slaves I added the eighteen which I had acquired on my travels from Trebisonde to Mingrelia and Abaza, took leave of the Khán and all the great men, and mounted on the horses of the Kalgha-Sultán, began my journey in company with some friends, who remained with me till we arrived at Káchidere. There we parted, all my friends returned to Bágcheseraï, and I continued my way to the south for the space of six hours to Báliklava.
Prevented by warlike expeditions from visiting with leisure the curiosities of Crimea, I dare not give a description of it; such is also the case with the castle of Báliklava. Having embarked here with three hundred persons on board of the Shaika of Úchelí Sefer Reis, I slept on board, troubled by heavy dreams; on the next day I went on shore, to do away the evil of the night by some alms, and next day got clear of the port in an evil hour, succeeded, as the text of the Koránsays, by worse days. One day and one night we went straight before the wind, and were then about the middle of the Black Sea. The mountains of Báliklava and Súlúyár had disappeared, neither were those of Sinope and Amassra to be seen, and we were tossed about without well knowing where we were going to. All at once an easterly gale sprung up with thundering clouds, at the appearance of which the boatmen changed colour, and began to wring their hands; they looked at the compass, and then on each other, and already made up their minds to lose their souls. An old sailor said to them; “Lads (Dais!) don’t you see the forerunners of a tempest, what are you afraid of? Lower the topmast with the sail.” This they did, but the ship going too heavy, they threw the bags, mats, casks and trunks that were on deck into the sea; they stowed two hundred young prisoners below (Enbár) and closed the hatches. Thus the ship was lightened, but still terribly tossed by the effect of the currents. Verse:—
“If in the storm my bark drives on the strand,What shall I do? none can the winds command.”
“If in the storm my bark drives on the strand,What shall I do? none can the winds command.”
“If in the storm my bark drives on the strand,What shall I do? none can the winds command.”
“If in the storm my bark drives on the strand,
What shall I do? none can the winds command.”
On the fourth of Safer of the year 1055, the storm began to buffet us most unmercifully, nothing but thunder and lightning, hail and torrents of rain pouring down on us for three days and nights. The sailors exhausted by fatigue all crept into one corner of the ship. Of the passengers, some were vomiting, some praying, some vowing victims and sacrifices, some alms and pilgrimages. I, poor Evliyá, said: “Come, Servants of God, come and pray with me the Súra Ikhláss (deliverance) which God may be pleased to grant to us.” All having began to recite this Súra fervently, the weather cleared up, the storm ceased, but the tossing of the ship continued in a most dreadful manner; the ship now touched the highest heavens, and now descended into the deepest of hells. The waves of the Black Sea towered before us like the perpendicular walls of Mount Bisútún. At last we opened the magazine (Enbár) and threw all the heavy merchandize into the sea, but again to no purpose. We saw that the rudder was going to break, and to prevent this all the sailors united and began to cut with hatchets, first the stays, then the mast, which in falling into the sea killed eleven men. Until their bodies were thrown overboard, there was such a howling in the ship, that every body despaired of life, and felt that he must give up his soul. At this moment there again came a puff of wind (Sighinák) which threatening to tear the ship asunder drove all the prisoners and slaves crying and lamenting out of the magazine; some held together, clasping one another, some stripped naked, and all endeavouring to lay hold of a plank or a cask. I, poor Evlíyá, feeling myself in a state of agitation continued to pray the Súra-Yass, and recommendedall my things to God by saying the verse: “I recommend my business to God,” and that: “Who fears God shall find a place to walk out, and shall find his lot provided, from whence he did not expect it; and who trusts in God shall not be abandoned by him.” While repeating these prayers I saw that some Infidels (prisoners) got hold of the launch, and let it down by ropes, at the same time some other sailors were throwing themselves on the other side, with planks, into the sea. I, and seven of my companions watching the moment of the launch going down threw ourselves into it; the Infidels instantly cut the ropes, and two of them, attacked with a knife Ramazán Chelebí of Aintáb. My seven companions immediately drew their swords against the eight Infidels who had raised their hands against us, and killed four of them; the four others throwing themselves into the sea from fright, we remained masters of the launch. We threw all heavy luggage overboard, and the launch being now light and tossed by the waves, I saw how the great ship was cleft asunder from stem to stern, and three hundred and fifty passengers, merchants, and four hundred slaves were spread over the sea, some going to the bottom, some trying to be saved by swimming, some on planks, and some trying to reach our boat, of whom we took in the story-teller Emír Chelebí. When we laid hold of him, others came up swimming, and we were soon convinced, that if we took them in we should all go to the bottom together, we, therefore, sword in hand, kept off all those who offered to lay hold of the launch. The wreck of the ship had now disappeared with all the men, and while we continued tossing up and down, our turbans heavy with the water, we perceived the Judge of Menkúb, Alí Efendí, swimming like an angel of the Ocean. By the hand of Divine power he was brought near our boat, and we took him in, so that there were now ten of us in it. We continued to pray the Súra-Yass, and drove on, baling out the water, and all despairing of life. Thus we drove a day and night, all shivering with cold, naked and starved, crying and lamenting. The story-teller and the judge were attacked by a fit of apoplexy, we threw their corpses into the sea, and were reduced as before to eight persons; but we had the misfortune to have a large piece of timber twenty cubits length and one yard in breadth, which drove along with the boat, touching it from time to time without our being able to prevent it.
On the third day at noon a wave came which upset the boat, and I fell head-foremost into the sea; being a good swimmer I worked with all my strength, recommended myself to the Lord, to the intercession of the Korán, and all the Saints, all the great and pious men I had hitherto known on my travels, and by this kind of effort, keeping my head clear, I swam undaunted. I saw that the large piece of timber, which had before swam alongside our boat, was passing near tome, and instantly laid hold of it, encircling it like a serpent. Driving in this way, shivering and starved, all at once I heard a noise behind me, and looking round I saw two Georgian boys, two Circassian girls and a Russian slave, who had all laid hold of the long piece of timber on which I was driving. I was much afraid that their weight would sink the timber, and was just thinking how to get rid of my companions in misfortune, when an empty cask driving by, the Russian slave wished to get hold of it, and threw himself into the sea for that purpose, but not being able to reach it he was drowned, and only the four slaves remained. The storm was now completely clearing-up, the sea going down, and the next day land coming in sight, we were thrown on the shore exhausted and half-dead. I threw myself on the ground, to praise God and to thank his infinite mercy, who having taken away from me eighteen slaves acquired in my travels in Mingrelia and Abaza, again made me a present of four slaves, two fine boys and two pretty girls. Being thrown into an inlet of the rocks, some good people gave us dresses to cover our nakedness, and hoisted us up the rocks which appeared to pierce the skies. Having asked where I was, I was told that these were the mountains of Kilghra in the sanjak of Silistra. Thus I had been driven three days in the boat from the moment the ship went down, and after the boat was upset, twenty-four hours on the timber, till I was thrown on the shore at Kilghra, with the Dervishes of which place I immediately began a devotional conversation, and occupied the cells, which they assigned to me and my slaves.
This building is ascribed to Sárí Sáltik Sultán, who having been ordained a Dervish in the town of Yassú by Ahmed Yassúí, came with Hájí Begtásh and three hundred poor people to Sultán Orkhán, and was sent after the conquest of Brússa into Russia and Poland, Bohemia and Dobrúja. Hají Begtásh gave him a wooden sword, a carpet, a banner, a drum, kettle-drum and trumpet. Kilghra Sultán with seventy disciples spread the hide (on which they sat) upon the sea, and went, praying, drums beating and banners flying, from Rúmelí to Crimea, and from thence to the people of Heshdek in Moscovy and Lipka in Poland. At Danzig he conversed with Svíty Nicola the patriarch, whose name is the same as Sárí Sáltik whom he killed, adopted his habit, and by this means converted many thousands to Islám. Thus he travelled many years under the name of Sárí Sáltik, and being himself yellow-coloured (as Sárí Sáltik was) he obtained from Ahmed Yassúí the name of the yellow Beg. But his proper name is Mohammed Bokhara, and he settled afterwards at Paravadí. The King of Dobrúja requested a miracle from Sárí Sáltik in confirmation of his mission. There was then inDobrúja a terrible dragon, to which even the two daughters of the King were allotted as food. Sárí Sáltik agreed to deliver the two girls, on condition that they with their father would embrace Islám. He went to the column to which they were tied as victims for the dragon, accompanied by his seventy Dervishes, who were beating drums and swinging the banner; untied the Princesses, and then waited with his wooden sword, expecting the dragon himself, meanwhile the seventy Dervishes beat the drum. The dragon coming near, Sárí Sáltik addressed it with the verse of the Korán beginning;—“Greeting on Noe in both worlds,” and then cut off three of his heads, so that the dragon fled with the remaining four. Sárí Sáltik followed him up to his cave, at the entrance of which he cut off the remainder with his wooden sword, and followed the dragon into his den. The beheaded dragon began to struggle with the Saint and to press him against the rock, which gave way so wonderfully as to receive the Saint’s body, which place with the marks of his hands and feet are still actually shewn. The dragon having exhausted his strength fell to the ground dead, and the Saint, with his bloody breast and bloody wooden sword, now led the two girls to their father the king. Previous to their arrival a cursed monk, who had shewn to Sáltik Súltán the road to the column, and picked up there the tongues and ears of the three heads cut off, had laid them before the king, boasting that he had killed the dragon. Now, though the daughters asserted the contrary, yet the monk persisting in his boast, the Saint proposed as a proof, to be boiled with the monk in a cauldron, and though the monk did not like this kind of trial, yet by order of the king he was obliged to undergo it. Sárí Sáltik was tied up by his Dervishes, and the monk by his companions, and both put into a cauldron heated by an immense fire. It was at this hour that Hájí Begtásh, who was then at Kírshehrí in Anatolia swept with a handkerchief a dripping rock, saying: “My Sáltik Mahomed is now in great anxiety, God assist him!” Ever since that day salt-water has dropped from that rock, and from thence the salt called Hájí Begtásh is produced. The place where this cauldron was heated is shewn at the present day, and the mountain is called the mountain of the cauldron Kazán Balkání. The cauldron being opened Sárí Sáltik was found sweating and saying: “Ya Hayí, O all vivifying;” and of the monk nothing remained but black coals and burnt bones. The King of Dobrúja moved by this miracle, instantly embraced Islám, with seven thousand of his subjects; he sent ambassadors to Sultán Orkhán, and received from him in exchange, the appointment of a Judge, a tail and a banner. His name was Alí Mokhtár. In the same year Sárí Sáltik made his will, wherein he commanded seven coffins to be made, because seven kings were to contend for his body after his death. This happened indeed as he foretold, because being washed after death and put into the coffin, seven kings claimed to have the true body, which was found in every one of the seven coffins when opened. The seven kings who desired to be possessed of the true body were the King of Muscovia, where Sárí Sáltik is held in great veneration under the name of Svíty Nicola; the King of Poland, where his tomb is much frequented at Danzig; the King of Bohemia, where his coffin is shewn in the town of Pezzúnijah (?) and in Sweden at Bívánjah (?). The fifth King was of Adrianople, where his tomb is in the Convent of the town of Batúria which is now a large place called Baba-eskissí, and is visited by those, who travel from Constantinople to Adrianople. The sixth King was that of Moldavia, who buried it in a shady place near the Castle of Bozák, where Báyazíd II. after the conquest of Akkermán, built a mosque, an imáret, a college, a bath, a khán and a monument for Sárí Sáltikdedeh; this town is called Babatághí; a pleasant town all belonging to the endowments of Sárí Sáltik. The seventh coffin was taken possession of by Alí Mokhtár the converted King of Dobrúja, who buried it at Kilghra in the cave of the Dragon, and hence he is called Kilghra Sultán; Kilghra signifies in Latin a seven-headed dragon, it is the purest Latin. Of these seven burial-places of this Saint, three are in the Ottoman Empire, from which he is called Baba Sultán at Babatágh; Sárí Sáltik Sultán at Baba-Eskissí; and here, Kilghra Sultán; in Christian countries he is generally called St. Nicolas, is much revered and the Christian monks ask alms under his auspices.
The Convent is situated on a cape which extends into the Black Sea like the proboscis of an Elephant. The ships that sail from Constantinople to Kara Khirmen, Kostenjí, and Kilí pass along these rocks of Kilghra directly opposite to those of Sinope, and if the weather is clear, are mutually seen from both shores. The cave in which Sárí Sáltik killed the dragon is at the same time his burial place. The convent was built by Alí Mokhtár; the wooden sword of the Saint, his swing, half-drum, kettle-drum, drum, banner and sanjak are kept here, numerous cells surround it, occupied by learned and virtuous Dervishes, who reside here on their hides, all true Sunnis and faithful believers, more than one hundred. They read with me more than eight months according to the method of Hafss. The windows of the Convent, and of the monument, all look towards the sea. The magnificent kitchen like that of Keikavús is worth seeing; day and night the fire is kept up on the stove for passengers and strangers, they have no endowments but live on alms; they are all purified by mystic divine love. To the right and left of the mountain are many wells in the rocks. The rocks being perpendicular like those of Mount Bisútún are excavated at the base. The projecting rocks are so lofty that ships with topmasts an hundred yards high may enter here, and cometo an anchor. The masters of these ships take in barley and wheat which is brought in waggons to the mouths of the aforesaid shafts which are cut in the rock, and poured down them into the holds; these shafts were cut in ancient times by Infidel stonecutters, who were like so many Ferháds; and it is a peculiar sight not to be seen elsewhere, and saves a circuit of between three and four hours in bringing the barley to the foot of the rock. There are no such high and dreary rocks any where in the Black Sea. During southernly and easternly gales, the sea produces a roaring in the excavations, which is heard as far as Iflatár and Ilhánlar near Silistra, a day’s journey from hence. On the top of these rocks are nests of eagles each as large as a sheep, they are even killed and eaten by some for mutton. Near the Convent is the Castle of Kilghra, which was taken by Mússa Chelebí out of the hands of the Infidels. It belongs to the district of Bálchik in the government of Ozakov. It is a small but strong square castle on the seashore, twenty paces in circumference, with a gate opening to the west, it has neither mosque or khán, commander or garrison. Being situated on a limestone cliff it has no ditch on one side; on the east side is a precipice of one hundred fathoms; the lower part of this castle is also excavated, like the rocks of the convent. When Nassif Páshá Zadeh Hossein was governor of Ozakov, these shores were sometimes infested by the Cossacks and Infidel Russians, who made prisoners of the inhabitants. Hossein Páshá then renewed this castle at his own expense, and garrisoned it, so that the shores were protected from inroads; but the Great Vezír Kara Mustafa Páshá, having taken away the garrison in order to mortify Hossein Páshá, the castle remained deserted. Praise be to God, that after having escaped the dangers of the sea, and being delivered from it before, as the bird of the soul left the cage of the body, I passed eight months here in sweet conversation, till at the commencement of the spring I took leave of my friends and returned to Constantinople.
In the spring of 1054, I took leave of Kilghra Sultán and embarking with my four slaves coasted the shore of the Black Sea, so that at the least storm I could come to an anchor. Thus I passed on my road, Kavarna, Bálchik, Varna, Ahiebolí, Sízebolí, Missivra, Búrghás, Chenkina, the island of mirrors (Aina adassí or Inada) and the strong castle of Torkoz. Near this place is the flowery meadow, and pleasant place of Skúmrí-jair where the janissaries and kúrújis are encamped, and from hence watch over the security of the adjacent villages, because some years ago these shores were infested by Cossacks. From hence we came to the black stones (Cyanies), a rocky ground outside of the mouth of the Bosphorus.It was changed into stone by a woman’s distaff, and is a curious sight. We passed it, and in God’s name entered the channel of Constantinople, anchoring before the Castle of Kavák. I went on shore, and thanked God for the happy escape from the dangers of the Black Sea. The length of the Black Sea from the Bosphorus to Trebisonde at the mouth of the Phasus is fifteen hundred miles, the shores of the Abáza are seventeen hundred miles, and to the corner of the sea of Assov two thousand miles; seventeen hundred large and small streams fall into it. The largest is the Danube, which receives seven hundred rivers in its course, and disembogues into the Black Sea by five branches, at Kili, Túlja, Súlina, and Kara-khirmen; the Phasus, and Chúrúgh on the Asiatic side. The Kúbán near the castle of Tamán, the river of Assov, the river of Ozakov, and the Dniester; on the Asiatic shore the Kizil Irmák, the Wesnesday river, and the Sakaria. From Constantinople to Caffa is reckoned one thousand miles, to Báliklava eleven hundred, to A’kkermán fifteen hundred, to Varna five hundred; from the point of Kilghra to that of Sinope five hundred, from the mouth of the Bosphorus to Amassra one thousand, and to Heraclea one hundred. The whole circuit of the Black Sea, with that of Assov, is six thousand and sixty miles, and if made by land is one hundred and fifty days or five months journey, each day’s journey to be reckoned twelve hours. As soon as I arrived at Constantinople I hastened to Eyyúb to read once more the Korán there, having performed which I went to my parents, who received me with the greatest kindness. I swore never to try the navigation of the Black Sea any more. May God guard from its misfortunes all the faithful people of Mohammed. I then became the Imám of the Inspector of the mouth, and soon found by the presents from my friends, compensation for the loss I sustained in the Black Sea, of my eighteen slaves and other things.