_ 329 _ west. The city was ruled at this time by the brother of the Kurd who had killed his uncle, as described before. He was a doughty gentleman, feared throughout the land. He had usurped this city and another castle farther on from one of his nephews to whom it belonged. It is situated to the north-east of the road on an eminence. It consists of good buildings and two-storey houses in stone and French-style wattle and daub, with flat roofs. It has five or six hundred citizens, most of them Armenian Christians for they all are Christians and are obedient to the Holy Father, although this is not specified every time they are mentioned. They have the same language and clothes as those mentioned earlier, they live by cultivation and rearing livestock, and some by trade. They are favoured by the lord of the land, and he allows them to live in freedom, maintain churches publicly and practise their customs and law. There are also some Kurdish Moors, of whom there are many in the confines of this land. They have good relations with the Armenians, and they understand one another, although there is some difference in their languages. Above the city in the same direction, on a steep, rough mountain, there is a great, well-built castle. It is so rugged that it looks even stronger than the one at Betliz, very tall and
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy