îzz Travels into the Levant. Part II. 
are Circafians^ they make Wine and fell it, but they have the Grapes from Maain^ 
of which we ftiall Treat in its proper place. 
Y Next Morning about half an hour after Four we went on our Journey, and 
* Travelled in a way covered with Snow, and full of holes : but we found it worfc 
when the Sun was up, and the ground began to Thaw, efpecially about Eleven of 
the Clock when we entered amongft the Hills, which being full oi Dirt and Stones, 
made the way as bad as it could be. This paffage makes that they goe not that way 
in the Winter-time, for in the Summer all thefe ways are good ■■, we kept on always 
afcendinga little till about One a Clock, that we went down Hill a good way, at 
the the bottom of that defctnt a great Brook rifes out of the Ground, a good Fa- 
thom in breadth, the water whereof is very clear i this Brook runs by a Village 
Afoufas. called Afoupas^ where we arrived half an hour after two in the Afternoon, and there 
we were very ill Lodged in a mik^ Ker van ferai-, this Village is Iwe A^atfch êà&dint 
(rom Keufch^zer ■■> and has a forry old ruinous Caftle upon a little Hill: the Inha- 
bitants are Circajjians^ who were Tranfported thither, as well as thofe of Keufchk^er 
by Schah Abbas, who took their Country, and gave them good Lands to Culti- 
vate in this place ; they make Wine, but their Grapes come from Maain. 
We parted from thence IVedmfday t\\t fourth of March, half an hour after five 
in the morning, and at our fetting out, faw on our right hand two good Fields 
watered with feveral Brooks that come from Springs^ which are plentiful in that 
Country, where the people live in Villages. We marched on through a Plain, in 
good way, until Noon, when having paffed over a Bridge of feven Arches, under 
Oudgioun. which a River runs i we came to a Village called Oudgiom, four Agatfch from Afou' 
pas : we found a Kervanferai there, butit ftank foby reafon of the great quantity of 
Carrion and filth that was in it, that we could not Lodge therein, fo that we were 
fain to encacRp hard by under Carpets, which we pitched inflead of Tents. A 
River fix or feven FathotTi over runs through this Village, the water of it is very 
muddy, and has a Biidge of feven fmall Arches over: there is Wine alfointhis 
place, and the Grapes are brought from Maain. Within a Mofque there, lyes 
Schah-Zddeh^ Enf erred the Son of a King, czW&à Scbah Zadeh-Imam-Vgiafer, whom they reckon 
Imam-Dgiafer. a Saint, the Dome is rough caft over : before the Mofque there is a Court well 
Planted with many high Plane- Trees, on which we faw a great many Storks> 
that haunt thereabout all the year round. 
We parted from Oudgionn, Ihurfday the fifth of M^rc^), half an hour after tWo 
in the Morning -, and having advanced a quarter of an hour through Grounds full 
of water, we had the way good, till half an hour after Four, that we went up an 
. extraordinary high and uneaile Hill, becaufe of the ftones that lay in the way : it 
Chotd imm- is czWcdChotal-Imam-Zadeh-Ifmael, f that is to fay,) the Hill of Ifmael, the Son of 
Zadeh-Jfmael. Imam -, and we were above an hour in mounting it- We found on the top a great 
nnany Camels coming from SchiraSy loaded with Tabacco, which is brought from 
Beban : after that for above two hours we went down Hill in pretty good way, 
iave that here and there we met with fome ftones \ one would have thought that 
we had changed the Climate when we came to the top of the Hill, for the fide by 
which we came up was all covered with Snow, and on this fide there was none at 
all-, on the contrary, it was full of wild Almond-Trees, that bear a bitter fruit, 
and other Trees, which with their Verdure, delighted the fight. When we were 
a good way down, we came to a Mofque where that Ifmael, the Son oi Imam, 
who gives the name to the Hill, is Enterred. The outfide of that place looks 
like a Cafile, with a round Tower at each corner i within there is a Court, at 
one end of which is the Mofque whofe Frontifpiece is a Portico fix Arches ia 
length, and in the middle of the Mofque, there is a Dome rough caft ; clofe by it is 
a Village with a great many Gardens, watered by a lovely Brook that runs hard by. 
We then continued our Journy in ftony way, till Eleven a Clock, that we found 
a River about a Fathom and a half over, which divides it lelf into many Piivulets, 
that water all the Grounds thereabout, being very good Land and all fowed. The 
water of that River is very clear, and has many Trees growing on the fides of it, 
The River of which r^rnder it a very pleafant place; it is called the River of Main, becaufe it 
Main, ox Ben- runs by Main, but it is the Bendemir -, and I was told that its right name was Kur, 
dtmir, or Y^m, f^^j^ which the Son of Cyrus, who there was expofed, took his name. Bendemtr 
fignifies the Princes Dyke, and it is fo called, becaufe of a Dyke or Bank that a 
Prince made there i confult as to that the Geography of Diagiaib Makplouear. This 
River 
