Cordier)
speaks also of the great trade of Tabriz.] Tabriz maintained a large
population and prosperity down to the 17th century, as may be seen in
Chardin. It is now greatly fallen, though still a place of importance."
(Quat. Rash., p. 39; I. B. II. 130.)
[Illustration: Ghazan Khan's Mosque at Tabriz. - (From Fergusson.)]
NOTE 4. - In Pauthier's text this is Touzi, a mere clerical error, I
doubt not for Torizi, in accordance with the G. Text ("le peuple de la
cite que sunt apeles Tauriz"), with the Latin, and with Ramusio. All that
he means to say is that the people are called Tabrizis. Not recondite
information, but 'tis his way. Just so he tells us in ch[*illegible*]u
that the people of Hermenia are called Hermins, and elsewhere that the
people of Tebet are called Tebet. So Hayton thinks it not inappropriate to
say that the people of Catay are called Cataini, that the people of
Corasmia are called Corasmins, and that the people of the cities of Persia
are called Persians.
NOTE 5. - Hamd Allah Mastaufi, the Geographer, not long after Polo's time,
gives an account of Tabriz, quoted in Barbier de Meynard's Dict. de la
Perse, p. 132. This also notices the extensive gardens round the city,
the great abundance and cheapness of fruits, the vanity, insolence, and
faithlessness of the Tabrizis, etc. (p. 132 seqq.) Our cut shows a relic
of the Mongol Dynasty at Tabriz.
CHAPTER XII.
OF THE MONASTERY OF ST. BARSAMO ON THE BORDERS OF TAURIS.
On the borders of (the territory of) Tauris there is a monastery called
after Saint Barsamo, a most devout Saint. There is an Abbot, with many
Monks, who wear a habit like that of the Carmelites, and these to avoid
idleness are continually knitting woollen girdles. These they place upon
the altar of St. Barsamo during the service, and when they go begging
about the province (like the Brethren of the Holy Spirit) they present
them to their friends and to the gentlefolks, for they are excellent
things to remove bodily pain; wherefore every one is devoutly eager to
possess them.[NOTE 1]
NOTE 1. - Barsauma ("The Son of Fasting") was a native of Samosata, and an
Archimandrite of the Asiatic Church. He opposed the Nestorians, but became
himself still more obnoxious to the orthodox as a spreader of the
Monophysite Heresy. He was condemned by the Council of Chalcedon (451),
and died in 458. He is a Saint of fame in the Jacobite and Armenian
Churches, and several monasteries were dedicated to him; but by far the
most celebrated, and doubtless that meant here, was near Malatia. It must
have been famous even among the Mahomedans, for it has an article in
Bakui's Geog. Dictionary. (Dir-Barsuma, see N. et Ext. II. 515.) This
monastery possessed relics of Barsauma and of St. Peter, and was sometimes
the residence of the Jacobite Patriarch and the meeting-place of the
Synods.
