[9] Assuredly The Sava Of Modern Maps, A City Of Irac-Agemi, Which Stands Upon One Of These Extraordinary Rivers, So Numerous In Persia, Which Lose Themselves In The Sands, After A Short But Useful Run.

- E.

[10] About sixty miles S. S. E. from Kom. I am disposed to think that Contarini has slumpt his journey on the present occasion; as it is hardly to be believed a person in the weak state he describes himself could have travelled with so much rapidity. Besides, so far as we can learn from his journal, he travelled always with the same set of horses. Indeed the sequel immediately justifies this suspicion, as the subsequent dates are more distant than the travelling days of the text would warrant. - E.

[11] See Travels of Josaphat Barbaro to Asof in 1436, in our Collection, Vol I. p. 501, in the introduction to which article, it will be seen that he had been sent on an embassy from Venice to Uzun-Hassan in 1572, two years before Contarini; and appears to have remained in the east for fourteen years in that capacity, after the departure of Contarini on his return to Venice. - E.

[12] This nowhere distinctly appears; but we may easily understand incidentally, and from the history of the period, that the Venetian republic endeavoured to stir up enemies to the Turkish empire in the east, being unable to resist its power, now exerted against them in the Morea and the Greek islands; and we may even surmise that Uzun- Hassan was subsidized by the Venetians to make war upon the Turks. - E.

SECTION IV.

_Contarini accompanies Uzun-Hassan from Ispahan to Tauris, where he finds Ambassadors from the Duke of Burgundy and the Prince of Muscovy, and gets leave to return to Venice._

The king left Ispahan with all his court on the 25th of November for Tauris, and we travelled along with him, passing through most of the places which we had seen in going to Ispahan. In this journey we always slept in tents in the fields, and the camp was well supplied with provisions, as many merchants had received orders to provide grain, victuals of all kinds, and all sorts of necessaries. On the 14th of November we arrived at Kom, where we remained two days under tents, exposed to extremely cold weather, and experienced much difficulty to procure a small house in which to shelter ourselves. We continued at this place till the 21st of March 1474, during which interval we went frequently to court, to pay our respects to the king, on which occasions we were generally invited to dinner. The Persian court is very magnificent, being attended by many high officers of state, and every day 400 persons dine along with the king. These are all seated on the ground, and are served in copper basons with boiled rice, or some other mess made of flesh and grain boiled together; but the king is served in great magnificence at a separate table, with a great variety of dishes of different kinds of meat.

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