orner, where their army wasted away with famine and
disease. The ruler of these Tartars, named Sultan _Buzech_[2], was made
prisoner, and was afterwards put to death. We here saw, on our left hand,
eleven Armenian villages, near each other, who were Catholic Christians,
their bishop being under submission to the Roman pontiff. The country is
extremely agreeable, and is the most fertile of all the provinces of
Persia. We arrived on the 3d of August at a large village called Marerich,
near which we passed the night, and had to ride all the next day through
a plain country exposed to great heat, which was greatly aggravated, as
we could not procure a single drop of water for ourselves or our horses.
On the way we met several Turkmans, whose custom it is to encamp here and
there about the country, wherever they can find pasture for their cattle,
and to change their residence as the pastures become exhausted. These
people are abominable robbers, and look upon rapine as their highest
glory; and as we had great reason to be afraid of them, I gave orders to
all my people to tell whoever we met, that I was journeying to wait upon
their sovereign, which was the only expedient for saving us from their
violence.

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, wit