The province of Diarbec had always been subject to Persia, and therefore, Sultan Sciech Ismael having gained the throne wished to bring the whole country under his sway. Thus Sultan Calil,[645] the lord of Asanchif,[646] came in person to Ismael, put on the red caftan, and promised to be an obedient vassal, for which Ismael made him munificent presents, confirmed him in his realm, and gave him one of his sisters in marriage, so that he returned with great rejoicings to Asanchif. Another Natolian chieftain, named Ustagialu Maumutbec, who had come to the aid of Ismael with seven brothers, all valiant men, was granted for his services the fine province of Diarbec with the exception of Asanchif. Then Ustagialu made a conquest of this province, excepting the cities of Amit and Asanchif; and because Sultan Calil (as was said) had transgressed the orders of Ismael, the latter resolved that the whole province should be under the orders of Ustagialu, and sent commands to Calil to surrender the city and fortresses to Ustagialu. In like manner he ordered the latter to take possession of the city notwithstanding his relationship to Calil; for on setting out to conquer the province he had been given the second sister of Ismael as his wife, so that these two Chieftains were connected. But Sultan Calil was a Curd, and this people, though subject to the Suffaveans, are ill-disposed towards them, so Calil refused to give up anything to Ustagialu. Ustagialu then being moved with indignation, marched against him with 10,000 horsemen and waged continual war against him until the year 1510, which was that of my arrival from Azemia,[647] without being able to subdue him. The Alidulians were in the habit of making frequent incursions into this province of Diarbec and laying waste the country round Orfa, Somilon,[648] and Dedu. Orfa is a large city, the other two are fortresses; they also had in their possession a city named Cartibert,[649] governed by a son of Aliduli,[650] which Ustagialu had never been able to take. This city with its independent castle was in the realm of Persia, but the Alidulians had seized it during the reign of Sultan Jacob, and during the government of Ustagialu caused great damage throughout the country. On this account Ismael determined to march in person to destroy the Alidulians, and having recruited his army advanced to Arsingan, a fortress on the confines of Trebizond, Natolia, and Persia. Here he collected an immense force and took the place, which was held by one of the sons of the Grand Turk who had subdued Trebizond at the time of Sultan Jacob’s death; and rested forty days in the place, where he assembled a force of 60,000 fighting men, more than were sufficient to subdue the Alidulians, but because he distrusted the Ottoman and the Soldan of Cairo, between the borders of whose respective dominions the country of Aliduli was situated. During Ismael’s stay in Arsingan he sent two ambassadors,[651] one named Culibec to the Ottoman in Natolia, and the other named Zachariabec to the Soldan of Cairo, swearing solemn oaths to these monarchs, that he intended no harm to their dominions, but was only marching against his enemy Aliduli. After a halt of forty days, Ismael set out from Arsingan against the enemy, with his 60,000 men. It is only a four days’ march from Arsingan to the country of Aliduli; but Ismael took another route, passing by the Turkish city of Cesaria[652] in order to obtain supplies which he intended to pay for honestly. On his arrival, he caused proclamation to be made that everyone who brought provisions for sale should be liberally paid, and forbade his men under pain of death to take even as much as a handful of straw without paying for it, as it was a friendly city; having remained there four days, Ismael continued his march to the beautiful district of Bastan, where there is a fine river and numerous villages, just one day’s journey from Aliduli’s capital, a city named Marras.[653] Ismael having first ravaged Basten,[654] moved upon Marras, from whence Aliduli had fled with numerous followers to the high mountain named Caradag,[655] to which there was access by only one narrow pass. Ismael devastated the country, killing numbers of people, among them some of the sons of Aliduli who from time to time used to descend from the mountain to fall upon the Suffaveans, but were easily cut to pieces by them, as their descent was betrayed by the numerous scouts kept by Ismael, and also by some secret Suffaveans among the Alidulians themselves. It was the 29th July, 1507, when Ismael entered the country of Aliduli, where he remained till the middle of November, when he was forced to leave from want of provisions in the country, and from the snow and cold which prevented a winter campaign.