Note 212 — TURKISH LITERATURE (continued 3)

The Circassians were at that time not yet Mohammedans, for they were converted later on by Ferrukh Pasha.

It appears from this passage that the Pilgrims' route from Central Asia to Mecca led in those days past Astrakhan, i.e., by Kharezm and the lower Volga, and from there across the Caucasus via Constantinople to Arabia, about the same as in modern times, when pilgrims travel by the Trans-Caspian line, via Batum Baku and Constantinople to Mecca.