Bitlis

Bitlis, a town of Turkish Armenia, 120 miles SE. of Erzerum. It is situated at an elevation of 5470 feet above the sea, in a deep ravine traversed by the river Bitlis, one of the head-streams of the Tigris. Bitlis is a straggling, irregular place, covering a large surface of ground, and surrounded by bare limestone mountains, rising 2000 feet above the valley, which is filled with orchards and gardens, and watered by numerous streams and springs. The population numbers about 15,000, of whom two-thirds are Mohammedans and one-third Armenians. The Persians defeated Solyman the Magnificent near Bitlis in 1554.