Ramusio's Text, Moreover,
Says That The Lake Was Four Days In Compass, And This Description Will
Apply, I Believe, To None But The Lake Just Named.
This is, according to
Monteith, 47 miles in length and 21 miles in breadth, and as far as I can
make out he travelled round it in three very long marches.
Convents and
churches on its shores are numerous, and a very ancient one occupies an
island on the lake. The lake is noted for its fish, especially magnificent
trout.
(Tavern. Bk. III. ch. iii.; J. R. G. S. X. 897; Pereg. Quat. p. 179;
Khanikoff, 15; Moorcroft, II. 382; J. R. G. S. III. 40 seqq.)
Ramusio has: "In this province there is a fine city called TIFLIS, and
round about it are many castles and walled villages. It is inhabited by
Christians, Armenians, Georgians, and some Saracens and Jews, but not
many."
NOTE 7. - The name assigned by Marco to the Caspian, "Mer de Gheluchelan"
or "Ghelachelan," has puzzled commentators. I have no doubt that the
interpretation adopted above is the correct one. I suppose that Marco said
that the sea was called "La Mer de Ghel ou (de) Ghelan," a name taken from
the districts of the ancient Gelae on its south-western shores, called
indifferently Gil or Gilan, just as many other regions of Asia have
like duplicate titles (singular and plural), arising, I suppose, from the
change of a gentile into a local name. Such are Lar, Laran, Khutl,
Khutlan, etc., a class to which Badakhshan, Wakhan, Shaghnan, Mungan,
Chag-hanian, possibly Bamian, and many others have formerly belonged, as
the adjectives in some cases surviving, Badakhshi, Shaghni, Wakhi, etc.,
show[2] The change exemplified in the induration of these gentile
plurals into local singulars is everywhere traced in the passage from
earlier to later geography.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 475 of 1256
Words from 129569 to 129875
of 342071
