The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch/Volume 1/Part 1/Book 1/Section 1
Book I.
Sect. I.
Aleppo.—Antioch.
Our Father and Lord the Patriarch, with the fairest purpose and upright intent, having fixed his determination upon turning his face and travels towards the city of Constantinople, we prepared accordingly, and took what was necessary for presents and offerings, and provided ourselves with other requisites; confiding in Almighty God, and trusting to his protection.
On the evening of Thursday the ninth day of the month Tamouz, he (may God prolong his existence!) went up from Aleppo towards Ladikia and Gebileh, to collect his dues in those parts, and then return to Antioch. I, his poor historian, and the rest of his companions, went forth on the Tuesday morning, the Feast of the Prophet Elias, and came in the evening to a town called Maarethwan. The next morning we arose and came to Hadim and Gotrarin; which last is a town in the neighbourhood of the new bridge, Jisr al Jadid, on a bank of the Aasi, where we slept, We entered Antioch on Thursday the twenty-second of Tamouz; and there assisted at mass, on Sunday, the seventh after Pentecost. We then set off on a visit to the Convent of Saint Simeon, the Worker of Miracles, the Sailor, by the straight old Roman road, which they have opened anew within these few years, after it had been entirely forgotten for a length of time. How often, in former years, when we started for a visit to this convent, were we taken along the Soueidieh road, by the Church of Saint Spiridion, built on the spot where his enemies cut off the heads of his asses; and having passed a night in the town Zeitounieh, continued our pilgrimage to the convent on the following day, over a very difficult road, through an immense forest! This road, on the contrary, is smooth, straight, and near; and our Lord the Patriarch, from the information he drew of it from the history of the Saint, had frequently inquired about it. Till the present year, however, it was not discovered nor opened. But now, thanks to God! we enjoyed it exceedingly: for on the evening of the same day we passed on to the Great Convent of the Saint, and performed Ἀγρυπνία (Vigils) and Παράϰλησις in the Katholic Church there: for there are seven churches in all. The greatest part of the buildings are of stone; and in the surrounding wall are four gates: the largest looks towards the Gulph of Soueidieh. This place is exceeding strong; the river Aasi descending on its eastern sides, along the bottom of the valley. This stream appears to enter the sea close to the mountain Akra, and the ships are supplied from it with fresh water.
After having said mass here, we returned to Antakieh (Antioch); whither also, on Thursday the twenty-ninth of Tamouz, came our Lord the Patriarch. Here, during a residence of six days, he performed as many masses: after which we hired horses, and left the town on the evening of Thursday the fifth of the month Ab; and passing the next morning through Bilan, arrived in the afternoon at Iskanderouneh. It happened to be the eve of the Feast of the Transfiguration, and we were received by the Kabarisa with the greatest honour. In their church we assisted at the Ἀγρυπνία. At the time of the Εἴσοδος, all the Clergy came in; and taking a blessing, they changed their robes, and, according to custom, went round in the Εἴσοδος, chaunting, "O resplendent light!" In the morning, our Lord the Patriarch said mass. In the evening we left this place; and arrived early the next day, which was Saturday, at Bayas, where the Patriarch performed mass on Sunday, the eighth after Pentecost; afterwards, on the Monday and Wednesday. Towards evening we took our departure; and, having halted the next morning at Jisr Albarnas, we passed on to Karn Capi. The road here is frightful, being a narrow defile, attended with every kind of danger.
On the morrow we arrived at Khan Kourd Koulak, or Wolf's Ears; for in the khan is a mosque with two cupolas, exactly resembling that animal's ears. Hence we departed at midnight, in company with eighteen carabiniers, Christians from Bayas; and early in the morning entered Misseyisa. The Castle of Heyat was on our right hand. At midnight we resumed our march, and passed over a bridge of the River Gihon, called Elchihan. In the morning, which was Saturday the fourteenth of the month Ab, we arrived at Adana, and alighted in the gardens of our Greek Church or Community, which forms a town of great size, and has within it many gardens. In each of them are more than three or four hundred stocks of the orange-tree, equal in size to the largest mulberry-trees: the rent of each is four piastres. Sweet lemon-trees, and other kinds of orange-plants, are also very abundant. As to our Lord the Patriarch, he went to collect his revenues at Tarsus and the smaller towns of Trimor and Jafer Pasha, and the towns of the Kabarisa in that direction. Then he returned to Adana: and we departed thence in the night of the twenty-ninth of Ab, in the company of an Aga of Turkomans from Damascus. Before noon we came to Khan Bairam Pasha, and alighted on a bank of the river Jakut. In the evening we arose, and marched the whole night through woods and over stony ground. It was very dark, and we suffered the greatest terrors. The morning brought us to the Fort Kolik; and we passed Kozlook Khan, that is, "The Khan of Walnuts," for around it are walnut-trees in great numbers. Before noon we alighted at Takir, which is the celebrated Eilet of Ibn Ramazan.
Early next morning we arose, and passed through Sultan Khan; the fort of Anasha remaining on our right hand. We then passed Ak Kupri, that is, "the White Bridge," which was formerly the limit between the Emperors of the Circassians and the Othmans. Thence we crossed the River Kirk Ghetchi, or the Forty-Ford River; for we forded it forty times, well counted. Before noon we arrived at Chifta Khan, that is, Coupled Khan. It is certain that these roads are impassable in winter, from their narrowness, and by reason of their overflowing waters and numerous rivers. We halted for the space of two hours; and then arose to march on to the Khan Mohammed Pasha, which is Yenghi Khan, or Olen Kushluk; and the evening came on before we had yet reached it: we therefore alighted at some houses of the Turkomans; being, as I have mentioned, in the company of their Aga, and slept this night with them. Early in the morning of Wednesday the first of the month Iloul, the commencement Of the year of the world seven thousand one hundred and sixty-one, we arose, to come to Bor; and began our march through its territory, which is properly named Bor (uncultivated). For a day's journey, either in length or breadth, there is not a green herb to be seen, but the earth is burnt black. During this day we suffered extreme affliction, till we arrived in the evening at Bor, which is a beautiful village, of cheap supplies, abounding in streams of water, and multiplied in riches. Every thing here is cheap. The Ritl, Litre, or Pound, Aleppo weight, of flesh-meat is four Paras: and the Ritl of bread, three. A Ritl, or Litre, of the best old wine is five Paras: the new is sold at one. There is abundance of rob, or treacle, of grapes. Here is also a very wonderful manufactory of gunpowder, worked by wheels, similar to those of a water-mill for corn: they are very large; and, as the streams of water turn them, they raise and sink beams of wood placed in a row, to pound the powder, which only one man is employed to stir and move by day, and another by night. It is a great and effectual contrivance, attended with little fatigue. The Christians in this place are very religious, and their language is the Turkish. They made us alight with them, and gave us the handsomest reception.
We performed mass in a church they have, in the name of the Five Moons or Lights, Eugenius and his Companions, on Sunday, the thirteenth after Pentecost. There is a very small cave under the altar of this church. We staid with these people eight days; and on the eve of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lady, the eighth of Iloul, we departed with an escort of Turkomans, whom they hired to go with us, from that evening till the afternoon of the next day, a distance of twenty hours. It was a long and frightful stage, over a land burnt up with drought; in which we suffered, from the greatness of the heat and from thirst, sufficient to perish both ourselves and our beasts. We had indeed given ourselves up to despair; but, by the favour of the Creator, (blessed be his name!) and the intercession of the Virgin his Mother, we arrived in the afternoon at a village of the Turkomans, called Kirwan. We were very near yielding up our souls; and our cattle in particular were at the extremity of death: but they immediately conducted us all together to the water, and our breath returned to us. For sake of the abundant water in this town, we made a halt with them on Friday. In the evening we proceeded with them over dreadful roads, and the next day arrived at Kara Yenar. From Chifta Khan we had passed along the Imperial Road to Constantinople, whither it leads through Khan Mohammed Pasha Yenghi Khan; and from this place through Erekli and Kara Yenar: whence we set out before midnight, and came to Esmil in the forenoon.