Page:The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier.djvu/34
defrays the Expences upon the Road; and the remainder is the Captain of the Caravan's Profit.
Having pass'd this Mountain, you come to lodge in a Plain which they call Gioganderesi, and from thence to Erzerom you meet only with three Villages by the way, Achikala, Ginnis, and Higia, which are the Caravan's Stages. During these three last days journeys, you keep all along the Banks of Euphrates for the most part, which is yet but narrow, taking its source Northward of Erzerom. 'Tis a wonderful thing to see the vast quantities of large Asparagus that grow all along the River, with which you may load several Camels.
A League on this side Erzerom the Caravan is constrain’d to stop; for the Officer of the Custom-House accompani'd with the Basha's Lieutenant, comes here and tyes all the Bales and Chests with a cross Cord, upon which he puts a Seal, to the end that when the Merchants come to the Town, they may not be able to take out any Bags of Money, or any pieces of Stuff on purpose to hide them till they go away. The particular Business of the Basha's Lieutenant in meeting the Caravan, is to see whether the Merchants be well provided with Wines. And if he desire any Bottles, whether it be then, or in the City, where they are not asham'd to visit every Merchant, there is no refusing them. For there grows no Wine at Erzerom, all that is drank there being a small Wine of Mingrelia, which is always green: which forces the Merchants to furnish themselves with Wine at Tocat, which they may do sufficiently to last them into Persia. The Officer of the Custom-House generally allows the Caravan three days to rest, during which time he sends to the principal Merchants some Fruit and other small Refreshments, by which he is no loser. After the three days are over, he comes and opens all the Bales and Chests, and takes a particular account of all the Merchandizes. This Search and the changing of Beasts, causes the Caravan to stay generally twenty or five and twenty days at Erzerom.
Erzerom is a frontier Town of Turkie toward Persia. It is situated at the end of a large Plain environ'd with Mountains, the Plain being beautifi'd with many fair Villages. If you take in the Castle and the Suburbs it may pass for a City, but the Houses are ill built of Wood, without any neatness or proportion. There are some Remains of Churches and of the ancient Buildings of the Armenians, by which you may conjecture that it never was very beautiful. The Fortress stands upon a high ground, with a double Wall, square Towers close one to another, and a pitiful Moat. The Basha resides there but in a very ill House, all the Buildings about the Fortress being in a bad condition. In the same Enclosure there is a little rising Ground upon which they have rais'd a small Fort, wherein the Janisary-Aga lives, and where the Basha has no Power. When the Grand Signor has a mind to the Head of this Basha, or any other considerable person in the Province, he sends a Capigi, with order to the Janisary to send for the Person to the little Fort, where the Execution is presently done. One Example hereof I saw in my last Travels into Persia: For the Basha of Erzerom not having sent Twelve thousand Men so soon as the Grand Signor requir'd them for his Wars in Candy, the same Capigi that brought the Sentence of his Death, had the same Order for the Execution of the Basha of Kars; and meeting this Capigi upon the Road in a Village, upon his return for Constantinople, he would needs shew me whether I would or no, the Heads of the two Basha's, which he was carrying to the Grand Signor in a Bag.
Between the first and second Gate of the Fortress are to be seen four and twenty Pieces of Cannon, most excellent Guns, but lying one upon another without Carriages. They lye at Erzerom to be ready upon all occasions when the Grand Signor makes War against the Persians.
There are in Erzerom several great Inns; this City, like Tocat, being one of the greatest Thoroughfares in Turkie. The Country about it bears Wine, but not very good, and in regard the People are strictly forbid to drink Wine, the Merchants are forc'd to buy it very privately, for fear it should come to the knowledge of the Cadi. Though it be very cold at Erzerom, Barley grows there in fourty days, and Wheat in sixty, which is very remarkable. The Customs paid there for the carrying out of the Gold and Silver, and upon all other Commodities, is very severe. Silk, that comes out of Persia, pays four and twenty Crowns for aCamel's