_ 314 _ over the top with flat roofs like the others. We put up in a large caravanserai at the entrance to the place as a shelter for travellers. They are for this purpose in every other place and city throughout Persia, Armenia and Turkey, and Moors and Christians usually build them. There are some in the lands of Turkey where food is given to travellers from the income left by those who had them built. From the city of Van there is another way to reach Betliz, which is another day’s journey on from this place, along another arm of the sea running to the west. In the depth of winter people do not travel by the one through Vastan which we had taken, and they go from Van along the sea, passing through a large place which lies in a northerly direction, peopled by Armenians and a few Kurds, which in Persian is called Bandemahi, meaning “port of fish”, because it is the main one where the sardines described before are caught. These die in the Sea of Van, where a river of fresh water flows into it. It rises in a mountain-range in Upper Armenia, called in Turkish Aladar, which means “painted mountains”, because they are very beautiful and cool in the summer, with many roses, flowers and very aromatic herbs of various kinds. It this river is to the north, and it flows into this sea. It is a large river, which in the winter is crossed by a bridge. It also passes through another large
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