_ 304 _ will be described. On Friday two hours before dawn we continued our journey also towards the west, over rough roads and places, all covered in snow. A league farther on, about another league from the road in a southerly direction, there is a large, high range of mountains called Galilea, at the foot of which there are two monasteries of Armenian monks, one large one called Varec, where about thirty of them live, and another smaller one with its bishops. On top of the mountains there is another, where there are no more than two or three monks, called Little Varec. Almost at nightfall we arrived in the city of Van. It is situated to the north of the road on a mountain, all very well surrounded by walls and barbicans, fortified with very good towers built of wattle and daub in the French style. The foundations to halfway up are of stone and lime. There are many small wooden castles in many parts of the wall, for the guards and their artillery-emplacements. A large moat surrounds it. It was all rebuilt by the Turks after they conquered and captured it from Shah Tahmasp. Night and day there are great watches for fear of the Persians, who sigh greatly for it the city and others farther on in Lower Armenia. The Turk captured it from him Shah Tahmasp.
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