Two days’ journey from Orfà is a castle named Jumilen,[546] which is on a mountain, with walls not very strong, and with a small fosse dug out of the rock. Round the castle is a town of houses dug into the mountain like grottoes, in which the peasants live: a low race like gipsies. This district is very arid, and has no water; but in the grottoes they have excavated they have made deep reservoirs, which they fill with water in the spring, and which serve them the whole year. Three days’ journey from this castle is the great city of Caramit,[547] which, according to their chronicles, was built by the Emperor Constantine, and has a circuit of ten or twelve miles.[548] It is surrounded by walls of black stone, so placed, that it appears painted, and has in the whole circumference three hundred and sixty towers and turrets. I rode the whole circuit twice for my pleasure, looking at the towers and turrets of very different forms and sizes;[549] still no one who is not a geometrician would not be pleased to see them, so marvellous are the structures; and in several parts on them I saw the imperial arms carved with an eagle with two heads and two crowns.[550] In this city are many wonderful churches, palaces, and marble monuments, inscribed with Greek letters. The churches are about the size of that of SS. Giovanni and Paulo or the Frati Minori at Venice. And in many of them are relics of saints and particularly of Saint Quirinus, which, at the time the Christians had the upper hand, were shown openly; and in the church of St. George I saw the arm of a saint in a case of silver, which they say was the arm of St. Peter, and which they keep with great reverence. In this church is also the tomb of Despinacaton,[551] the daughter of the King of Trebizond, named Caloianni,[552] who is meanly buried under a portico near the door of the church in the earth, and above the tomb is a thing like a box one cubit high and one wide and about three in length, built of bricks and earth. There is also a church of St. John, beautifully built, and several others of great beauty and splendour; and while I remember, I must not pass over one of them named the church of St. Mary, the account of which will interest my readers. It is a large edifice,[553] with sixty altars, as one sees before chapels; the interior is built up with vaults, and the vaults are supported by more than three hundred columns. There are also vaults above vaults, equally supported by columns; and, as far as I could judge, this church was never covered in, in the middle, as taking into consideration the mode of its erection, and, above all, the sacred christening font, which I saw was in the open air. This baptismal font is situated in the middle of the church, and is of fine alabaster, made like an immense mastebe,[554] carved inside with various designs and most splendidly worked. It is covered by a magnificent block of the finest marble, supported by six columns of marble as clear as crystal, and these columns also are worked with fine and gorgeous carvings, while the whole church is inlaid with marble. Nowadays, the eastern part of this church has been made a mosque, while the other part is in the same state it always has been, as it was the convent where the priests lived; in it there is a wonderful fountain of water, as clear as crystal. This church is so nobly built that it appears like a paradise, so rich is it in fine and splendid marbles, having columns upon columns, like the palace of St. Mark at Venice. There is also a campanile with bells, and in many other churches there are steeples without bells.

This city abounds in water, as springs rise in many places; and it is partly on a plain and partly on a mountain—in the midst of a great plain, round which many fresh-water springs gush forth. It has six gates,[555] well guarded by corporals and soldiers; the corporal of every gate has ten, twelve, or twenty men under him, and by every gate there is a large clear fountain. There are here, also, people of many religious persuasions in greater numbers than Mahometans, namely, Christians, Greeks, Armenians, and Jews. Each religion has its separate church with its own service, without being molested by the Mahometans.

Among the other rivers flowing through this city is one from the East named the Set,[556] which, in the spring, rises wonderfully and flows rapidly towards Asanchif and Gizire,[557] in Bagadet, entering the river Euphrates, and the two then fall into the Persian Gulf. Custagialu Mahumutbec rules this city with the whole province of Dierbec, Sciech Ismael having given it to him as his relative, being his sister’s husband, and most devoted to him. This province has six great cities and five large fortresses, as I have said; of which cities there were three, namely, the one we have been relating about, i.e., Caramit,[558] the second Orfà, and the third Cartibiert, formerly ruled over by Aliduli,[559] who had subdued them. At the time that Jacob Sultan passed from this life, they were occupied by Aliduli; although it cost him dear, as, when Sciech Ismael gave the fine province of Dierbec to Custagialu Mahmutbec, he commanded him at all hazards to recover Orfà and Cartibiert, and this commission he, as a faithful vassal, prepared to execute. Therefore, he siezed Orfà, cutting all within it to pieces, but could not take Caramit,[560] since Sultan Custalumut had surrounded it with walls, neither could he take Cartibiert. Custagialu, seeing this, left Orfà, and came to Mardin,[561] which he took without bloodshed or resistance, as they surrendered voluntarily. While Custagialu remained at Mirdin, Aliduli advanced and endeavoured to recover Orfà, ravaging the country, plundering and slaying the inhabitants, and threatening to do great things against Sciech Ismael, who then came to subdue Aliduli, as shall be related at the proper time and place, to the satisfaction of those who desire to hear of the origin of Sultan Sciech Ismael.