jish,
will be found in Polo's contemporary Abulfeda. (See _Buesching_, IV.
303-311.)

NOTE 3.--Paipurth, or Baiburt, on the high road between Trebizond and
Erzrum, was, according to Neumann, an Armenian fortress in the first
century, and, according to Ritter, the castle _Baiberdon_ was fortified by
Justinian. It stands on a peninsular hill, encircled by the windings of
the R. Charok. [According to Ramusio's version Baiburt was the third relay
from Trebizund to Tauris, and travellers on their way from one of these
cities to the other passed under this stronghold.--H. C.] The Russians, in
retiring from it in 1829, blew up the greater part of the defences. The
nearest silver mines of which we find modern notice, are those of
_Gumish-Khanah_ ("Silverhouse"), about 35 miles N.W. of Baiburt; they are
more correctly mines of lead rich in silver, and were once largely worked.
But the _Masalak-al-absar_ (14th century), besides these, speaks of two
others in the same province, one of which was near _Bajert_. This
Quatremere reasonably would read _Babert_ or Baiburt. (_Not. et Extraits_,
XIII. i. 337; _Texier_, _Armenie_, I. 59.)

NOTE 4.--Josephus alludes to the belief that Noah's Ark still existed, and
that pieces of the pitch were used as amulets. (_Ant._ I. 3. 6.)

Ararat (16,953 feet) was ascended, first by Prof. Parrot, September 1829;
by Spasski Aotonomoff, August 1834; by Behrens, 1835; by Abich, 1845; by
Seymour in 1848; by Khodzko, Khanikoff, and others, for trigonometrical
and other scientific purposes, in August 1850. It is characteristic of the
account from which I take these notes (_Longrimoff_, in _Bull. Soc. Geog.
Paris_, ser. IV. tom. i. p. 54), that whilst the writer's countrymen,
Spasski and Behrens, were "moved by a noble curiosity," the Englishman is
only admitted to have "gratified a tourist's whim"!

NOTE 5.--Though Mr. Khanikoff points out that springs of naphtha are
abundant in the vicinity of Tiflis, the mention of _ship-loads_ (in
Ramusio indeed altered, but probably by the Editor, to _camel-loads_), and
the vast quantities spoken of, point to the naphtha-wells of the Baku
Peninsula on the Caspian. Ricold speaks of their supplying the whole
country as far as Baghdad, and Barbaro alludes to the practice of
anointing camels with the oil. The quantity collected from the springs
about Baku was in 1819 estimated at 241,000 _poods_ (nearly 4000 tons),
the greater part of which went to Persia. (_Pereg. Quat.