_Description of the Castle of Báliklava._
Prevented by warlike expeditions from visiting with leisure the curiosities of Crimea, I dare not give a description of it; such is also the case with the castle of Báliklava. Having embarked here with three hundred persons on board of the Shaika of Úchelí Sefer Reis, I slept on board, troubled by heavy dreams; on the next day I went on shore, to do away the evil of the night by some alms, and next day got clear of the port in an evil hour, succeeded, as the text of the Korán says, by worse days. One day and one night we went straight before the wind, and were then about the middle of the Black Sea. The mountains of Báliklava and Súlúyár had disappeared, neither were those of Sinope and Amassra to be seen, and we were tossed about without well knowing where we were going to. All at once an easterly gale sprung up with thundering clouds, at the appearance of which the boatmen changed colour, and began to wring their hands; they looked at the compass, and then on each other, and already made up their minds to lose their souls. An old sailor said to them; “Lads (Dais!) don’t you see the forerunners of a tempest, what are you afraid of? Lower the topmast with the sail.” This they did, but the ship going too heavy, they threw the bags, mats, casks and trunks that were on deck into the sea; they stowed two hundred young prisoners below (Enbár) and closed the hatches. Thus the ship was lightened, but still terribly tossed by the effect of the currents. Verse:—
“If in the storm my bark drives on the strand, What shall I do? none can the winds command.”