Page:The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier.djvu/58

verted into Mosquees; and if you will beleive the Armenians, they will tell you, that there were in Sultanie near eight hundred Churches and Chappels.

Three Leagues from Sultanie stands an Inn, and a League farther a great Town call'd Ija, where there is another very commodious Inn, and most excellent Wine.

From thence you go to Habar, an ancient City and of a large extent, but very much ruin'd, inhabited by Armenians for the most part: Here, for the good Wines sake the Travellers stay to recruit their Bottles.

From Habar, after seven hours travel you come to a Village call'd Partin. From Zangan to Partin you reach in two days. It stands in a fertil Plain, where there are several other Villages. It is not above three Leagues broad, being enclosed on each side, to the East and West, with a row of high Mountains.

Having pass'd this Plain, you come to a barren Country and ill inhabited, which lasts all the day, till you come to Sexava. You pass by the Ruines of a Village, where there are but two Houses standing, with the Tower of a Mosquee, which is very high and slender. Then you come to a Mud-wall'd-Inn, built some few years since; and near to that a Castle call'd Khiara, upon the peek of a Hill, but very ill built.

Sexava is a little City in a Soil that bears excellent Nuts. The Inns that are there, being built of Earth, and being but little, are very handsom and convenient, their number supplying the defect of their smalness.

From Sexava, after seven hours travel, you come to a great Inn, call'd Idgioup, which was formerly a nobler place than now it is, standing alone in a Field. Three Leagues from thence you meet with another spacious Inn, call'd Cochkeria; and four hours farther you come to the Inn Denghé, where the two Roads meet which I spake of in the foregoing Chapter.

From Denghé to Kom, are three days journey, over a barren, dry, and desert Country, where there is no Water but Cistern-water, except in some very few places, where it is very good. Four Leagues from Denghé is a fair Inn and three Leagues farther stands another, about a Mile from a Village to the South, where there grows excellent good Wine, white and red. From this last Inn to Sava is not above three hours travel with the Caravan.

Sava is a good City in a fertil Plain, where there are several Villages. The greatest Trade of the Town is in little grey Lamb-skins, the curl whereof is very neat, of which they make Furrs. Two or three Leagues beyond Sava the Country is very well manur'd, and after you have forded a River half a League from the City, after two hours travel, you come to one of the fairest Inns in all Persia, which was finish'd when I went last to Ispahan. From thence to Kom it is about seven or eight hours journey, through a dry and sandy Road: but half a League on this side Kom the Land is very good and fruitful.

Kom is one of the great Cities of Persia, in a fat Country abounding in Rice. There grow also excellent Fruits, particularly large and excellent Granates. The Walls are only of Earth, with little Towers close one to another; and the Houses being only of Earth, are never the handsomer within-side. At the entry into the Town you must cross a River, over a stone Bridge, and then turning to the right hand over a fair Key, you come to an Inn very well built and very convenient.

That which is most remarkable in Kom is a large Mosquee, no less in veneration among the Persians, than the Mosquee of Ardeüil. There it is that you may see the Sepulchers of Sha-Sefi and Sha-Abas the Second; as also the Tomb of Sidi-Fatima, the Daughter of Iman-Hocen, who was the Son of Haly and Fatima-Zuhra the Daughter of Mahomet. The great Gate of the Mosquee answers to a Piazza more long than broad, where stands an Inn and certain Shops, which without-side are somewhat beautiful. One of the sides of the Piazza is clos'd up with a low Wall, over which appears the Shore, and a River which you cross at the end of the Piazza. Over the great Portal of the Mosquee stands an Inscription, in Letters of Gold, in the Praise of Sha-Abas the Second. The first place that you enter into is a Court of more length than breadth, which may be term'd a Garden, in regard that on each side of the Alley in the middle, which is pav'd, there are several square Beds of Flowers; yellow Jasmin, and other Plants; which are rail'd in by a Rail that runs all the length of the Alley on each side. It is not an easie thing for the Christians toget