DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5541#0214
Chap,xit.] ROAD TO KHORASAN. 185
is a vast vaulted stable, about twenty-five feet high, and
with five rows of arches on each side.
I have been told that there is, or has been, a line of
these splendid khans, extending the whole way from Tre-
bizond to Tabreez; and an opinion has gone abroad that
they were erected by the Genoese when they possessed the
trade of this country, and that a line of fortresses existed
along the same road for the purpose of defending their
caravans against the attacks of predatory hordes, and of
keeping up their line of communication. To the Genoese
also are ascribed the castles of Trebizond, Baibourt, Ispir,
Hassan Kaleh, and perhaps Erzeroum, and others with
which I am not acquainted. I cannot, however, agree with
this opinion; for, whatever may be said respecting the origin
of the castles of Trebizond and Hassan Kaleh, those of
Baibourt and Ispir, as well as the khan near Keupri Kieui,
are decidedly Saracenic, and I have no doubt they are of a
much earlier date than that of the Genoese or other Euro-
pean settlers in this country.
Leaving the khan, the road is soon confined to a narrow
pass between high hills on the left and the river on the
right, beyond which is a bridge of seven arches over the
united streams of the Aras, orPassan Sii as it is here called,
and the Bin Ghieul Su, from the south. At the bridge
where we left the great road leading across the river into
Persia, by way of Diadccn and Bayazid, our direction
changed to E.N.E., over an open alluvial plain, containing
large pebbles, and boulders of greenstone, basalt, &c, which
appear to rise up through the hills of indurated sandstone,
hy which it is bounded on the left. At twelve we again ap-
proached the river, and ascended low hills of lacustrine
sands and gravels, over which we rode four miles due cast,
the ground sloping gently towards the river, which flows
through an extensive plain on the right.
At one we passed a small mountain stream, in which we
saw a few fish totally unknown to us, but we had no means of
ascertaining what they were. These hills were covered with
is a vast vaulted stable, about twenty-five feet high, and
with five rows of arches on each side.
I have been told that there is, or has been, a line of
these splendid khans, extending the whole way from Tre-
bizond to Tabreez; and an opinion has gone abroad that
they were erected by the Genoese when they possessed the
trade of this country, and that a line of fortresses existed
along the same road for the purpose of defending their
caravans against the attacks of predatory hordes, and of
keeping up their line of communication. To the Genoese
also are ascribed the castles of Trebizond, Baibourt, Ispir,
Hassan Kaleh, and perhaps Erzeroum, and others with
which I am not acquainted. I cannot, however, agree with
this opinion; for, whatever may be said respecting the origin
of the castles of Trebizond and Hassan Kaleh, those of
Baibourt and Ispir, as well as the khan near Keupri Kieui,
are decidedly Saracenic, and I have no doubt they are of a
much earlier date than that of the Genoese or other Euro-
pean settlers in this country.
Leaving the khan, the road is soon confined to a narrow
pass between high hills on the left and the river on the
right, beyond which is a bridge of seven arches over the
united streams of the Aras, orPassan Sii as it is here called,
and the Bin Ghieul Su, from the south. At the bridge
where we left the great road leading across the river into
Persia, by way of Diadccn and Bayazid, our direction
changed to E.N.E., over an open alluvial plain, containing
large pebbles, and boulders of greenstone, basalt, &c, which
appear to rise up through the hills of indurated sandstone,
hy which it is bounded on the left. At twelve we again ap-
proached the river, and ascended low hills of lacustrine
sands and gravels, over which we rode four miles due cast,
the ground sloping gently towards the river, which flows
through an extensive plain on the right.
At one we passed a small mountain stream, in which we
saw a few fish totally unknown to us, but we had no means of
ascertaining what they were. These hills were covered with