led among the remote nations of the unbelievers,
where I saw and heard many great and wonderful things, I have thought fit
to relate all these things truly. Having crossed over the great sea[1] from
Pera, close by Constantinople, I came to Trebizond, in the country called
Pontus by the ancients. This land is commodiously situated as a medium of
intercourse for the Persians and Medes, and other nations beyond the Great
Sea, with Constantinople, and the countries of the west. In this island I
beheld a strange spectacle with great delight; a man, who led about with
him more than 4000 partridges. This person walked on the ground, while his
partridges flew about him in the air, and they followed him wherever he
went; and they were so tame, that when he lay down to rest, they all came
flocking about him, like so many chickens. From a certain castle called
Zauena, three days journey from Trebizond, he led his partridges in this
manner to the palace of the emperor in that city. And when the servants of
the emperor had taken such a number of the partridges as they thought
proper, he led back the rest in the same manner, to the place from whence
he came.

From this city of Trebizond, where the body of St Athanasius is preserved
over one of the gates, I journeyed into the Greater Armenia, to a city
named Azaron, which was rich and flourishing in former times, but the
Tartars have nearly laid it entirely waste; yet it still has abundance of
bread and flesh, and victuals of all sorts, excepting wine and fruits. This
city is remarkably cold, and is said to be situated on a higher elevation
that any other city of the world. It has abundance of excellent water,
which seems to originate from the great river Euphrates[2], which is only
at the distance of a days journey. Azaron stands in the direct road between
Trebizond and Tauris. In journeying farther on, I came to a mountain named
Sobissacalo; and we passed by the very mountain of Ararat, on which the ark
of Noah is said to have rested. I was very desirous to have gone to the top
of that mountain, but the company with which I travelled would not wait for
me; and the people of the country allege that no one was ever able to
ascend to its top, because, say they, it is contrary to the will of God.
Continuing our journey, we came to Tauris[3], a great and royal city
anciently called Susa, which is reckoned the chief city in the world for
trade and merchandize; for every article whatever, bo