_ 122 _ There are many bath-houses, large plantations and orchards with all kinds of fruit like our own. It must have five thousand Armenian citizens, Jacobites, Nestorians, dustimaria [? lovers of St Mary], white people who speak Arabic, a few Turks and Turkmens, Jewish natives of the area and merchants. It is in possession of the Turk, and there is always a Pasha and a good garrison of janissaries bearing muskets. It has a great, fertile province with fruit, meat, and the breeding of horses and mares. In the surrounding district there are many towns and villages inhabited by Christians and Turkmens. In the city there are some Moors married to Christian women, and each observes his/her religion. The women are daughters of Nestorians of Greek descent, the worst of all Christians, who more willingly give their daughters to Turks than to Christians. The Armenians are the best Christians. They do not marry their relatives and observe many fasts and abstinences. Among them there are Jacobites, who are more similar to the Armenians than the others. During the fasts of the Armenians they do not consume meat, milk, eggs, oil or fish, not only during Lent, for they also fast in Advent. When they are not fasting, they are very fond of eating, for their custom is to eat in large groups;
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