440 A K AZEM-BEG, 
in which the Derbend-nâmeh was written, being heacy, irregular and difficult of compre- 
hension, he undertook to translate it for his friends into Persian etc. 
All these circumstances lead us to suppose that both Bayer and Klaproth, espe- 
cially the latter, wishing to explain, by means of some extra-historical hints, the text of 
the supposed original source of information concerning the Derbend-nämeh which they 
may have consulted, made their own additions without having examined the subject. 
However, giving full credit to the assertion of Bayer with regard to the substance 
of its contents, (which is, that the Derbend-ndmeh was composeéd in the Turkish language 
by a certain Muhammed-Awabi in consequence of an order given by one of the Gherai- 
Khans of the Crimea), — we shall here examine which of the khans of the Crimea is 
. meant by this assertion, and consequently to what period we are to attribute the first 
appearance of the treatise of Awabi on Derbend. | 
As we have remarked above, the earliest intercourse between the Crimea and Daghis- 
tan began about the close of the XVI century. It was during the famous expedition of the 
Ottomans to Aderbijän and their conquests in Shirwän and Dagbhistan, in the commencement 
of the reign of Sultan Murdd III. In the first year of the reign of Khud@-Bendeh the 
frontiers of Turkey were disturbed by a sudden incursion of the Persians, which ex- 
cited the Ottoman Porte to make great preparations for a protracted war. Mustafa Pasha 
was therefore dispatched with an immense army to Shirwän to encounter the Persian 
troops commanded by Toughmagh Khan, the late ambassador at the court of Murad HT. 
and now Serdär of Khudä-Bendeh; the Khan of the Crimea Muhammed Gherai was 
also invited, at the same time, by the Sultan to lead his Tartars through Daghistan 
and Derbend to aid the Ottoman troops in Shirwaän. 
This Khan, surnamed in history Semiz or the Fat, whose excessive stoutness con- 
tributed much to his natural indolence, and whose unbecoming pride prepared for him 
a wretched end, dared not disobey the first order which he received from his master 
after his establishment on the -throne of the Crimea. He collected his brave Tartars and 
left his country accompanied by his second brother and his Gkalgka (i. e. the heir to 
the throne) 4dil-Gherai, his son Sa’adat-Gherai* and his third brother Ghdzi- Gherai. 
They passed through Daghistan without any opposition and arrived at Derbend in the 
course of a month: this took place in 1578. 
After some time, Mustafa Pasha being recalled to Constantinople, his authority de- 
volved on his son Othman Pasha; the governor of Daghistan. In consequence of this, the 
ambitious Khan, who would not submit to the authority of one whose father he häd 
considered his equal, soon took his departure for the Crimea, without the permission 
of his sovereign, with the intention not again to return. — He left in Daghistan, how- 
ever, his two brothers, Adil-Gherai and Ghazi Gherai and his son Sa’adat Gherai with 
* Hammer makes Sa’adat-Gherai the brother of Adil-Gherai; — see Hist. de l’Empire Ott. T. VIL. p. 96. 
