Chapter XVIII: Conclusion (2)

_Pearls, p. 55._]--A belief in the influence of the rain on the formation of pearls, which NIEBUHR mentions as prevalent among the Arabs in his own days, (Descr. de l’Arabie) and among their ancestors in the time of BENJAMIN of _Tudela_, six hundred years ago, may be traced up clearly to the time of PLINY, if not much earlier. (Lib. ix. c. xxxv. see c. li. and the note from ARISTOTLE.) The Apologue of SADI is a beautiful illustration of the Eastern opinion. BRUCE says, “it is observed that pearls are always the most beautiful in those places of the sea, where a quantity of fresh water falls. Thus in the Red Sea,” &c. (vol. v. p. 226, app.) and it may be added, though the facts prove little without knowing the relative positions, that _Bahrein_, one of the most fertile pearl banks in the world, is likewise celebrated for the most extensive submarine springs of fresh water. See on those springs, IVES’S Voyage. NIEBUHR, p. 286. See also TEIXEIRA, in Mod. Univ. Hist. vi. 80. HOLE in his curious illustration of SINDBAD, regards these springs as the origin of “the river of fresh water that issued from the sea.” Sixth Voyage.

_Horses, &c. p. 63._]--The custom of tying horses by the leg in the stable, is traced in Persia even to the time of XENOPHON. Anab. lib. iii. c. 245. At the introduction of the Russian Embassador to SHAH HUSSEIN, the horses of the King of Persia were displayed in state as the procession passed: “they were all tied to a rope fixed to the ground at the extremities by a stake of gold, near which lay a mallet of the same metal for driving it. According to the custom of Persia the hind feet also were fastened to a rope, to prevent kicking.” BELL, vol. i. p. 100.

_Elauts, p. 77._]--The wandering tribes have in every age constituted a considerable portion of the population of the Persian and Turkish Empires. In Asia Minor they are called _Turcomans_; in Assyria and Armenia, _Curds_; in _Irak_ and Fars, _Elauts_; the _Vloches_ of HERBERT, p. 129, (by some considered the _Eluths_ or _Oigurs_.) Their general character is the same; and they have continued to follow the same hereditary occupations with unbroken regularity. EBN HAUKAL estimates the numbers included in their _zems_ or tribes in _Fars_ alone at five hundred thousand families, p. 83.

_Lion on the tomb, at Derees, p. 85; see also, p. 94_, &c.]--On the meaning of such an emblem, see NIEBUHR’S Doubt in his chapter on _Shiraz_, tom. ii.

_Bazar-a-Vakeel_, p. 100.]--SCOTT WARING reckons the length of this great work of KERIM KHAN, at half a mile! FRANKLIN, at a quarter of a mile, p. 58; and a later authority at between seven and eight hundred yards.

_P. 104._]--The Story of CHEIK CHENAN, may remind the reader of the Lay of ARISTOTE.

_The Bend-emir, p. 124._]--The Prince, from whose dyke thrown across it, the _Bend-emir_ is asserted to have taken its name, is sometimes said to be EMIR AZAD A DOWLAH, one of the _Buiya_ Sultans; and as the river occurs in the route of BARBARO, 1472, within seventy years after the reign of TIMUR, as the “_Bindamyr_,” it is probable that it acquired that name from the earlier Prince. On the word _Bund_, see a note in VINCENT’S Periplus, p. 157; and MOOR’S Female Infanticide, p. 110, &c.

_Persepolis, p. 129._]--The first account of _Chehel Minar_, that was brought to Europe after the revival of learning, occurs in the travels of JOSAPHAT BARBARO, Embassador from the State of Venice to the Prince whom he calls ASSAMBEI, (who may be recognised indeed as the “USAN CASSANES,” “of some called ASYMBEIUS,” in KNOLLES, p.409;) but who is better known as the UZUN HASSAN or CASSAN of D’HERBELOT. The rarity of the volume in which these travels are contained may justify the insertion of an extract, Aldus, 1543. JOSAPHAT BARBARO does not suspect that he is describing the _Persepolis_ of the Classics; and labours therefore to find in the sculptures at _Chehil Minar_, something which may rather accord with the Hebrew origin assigned to it by one of the traditions of the country. In the bridge leading over the _Bend-emir_ he had already discovered a work of SOLOMON; and he proceeds to point out, among the representations on the rocks, the figure of SOLOMON himself. Again, instead of RUSTAM, the HERCULES of Persia, or rather instead of the real heroes, ARTAXERXES and SAPOR, whom that name has supplanted at _Persepolis_, JOSAPHAT BARBARO perceives in a colossal image on horseback, the figure of SAMSON. The being in the air, which some have conceived to be the soul of a departed monarch, and which recurs in the engravings of the tombs by LE BRUN and CHARDIN, is thus described: “Sopra di tutte e una figura simile a quelle nostre che noi figuriamo Dio padre in uno tondo; laqual ha uno tondo per mano, e sotto laqual sono altre figure piccole,” fol. 51. 6. He continues; among the lesser figures there is one, who has on his head a Pope’s mitre, “una mitria di Papa;” and has his hands extended, apparently as if he would give his benediction to those beneath him, who are looking up to him in fixed expectation of the said blessing. Near SAMSON are several other figures dressed in the French mode, “alla Francese,” and having long hair. M.I. The description is curious, and characteristic of the age; but even in the seventeenth century, TAVERNIER in the same manner fancied that he saw in the Sassanian sculptures at _Kermanshah_, priests, surplices, and censers, tom. i. 316. This indeed was almost the earliest account that had been given of the spot; and therefore, this error is more excusable. But now, when so much has been written on the subject, (whether the sculptures be the works of SEMIRAMIS or of the Sassanian Kings?) and more particularly when DE SACY has definitively proved by the inscriptions, that the figures are connected with the history of the latter Princes of the house of SASSAN; we may be surprised that M. DE GARDANNE should have overlooked their design; and instead of recognising an object that had been illustrated by his countryman with so much learning, should pass it in his journal with the single remark: “Plus loin sur un rocher élevé, on voit une croix et les douze Apôtres sculptés.” p. 83.

Every nation has some proverbial expression of number, and “forty” seems popular in the East. Thus the palace of _Ispahan_ is the _Chehil Sitoon_; and another built in imitation of it, at _Moorshedabad_, is called by the same name. _Seir Mutagherin_, i. 301. _Chehil minar_ therefore signifies an indefinite number of pillars, whether more or less than forty; but even with all the allowance, which this expression may require, it is probable that in the time of SADI, six hundred years ago, the pillars standing at _Persepolis_ amounted really to forty. CHARDIN, tom. iii. 138. The remains at _Persepolis_ are designated by another still more comprehensive form, “_Hazar Sitoon_,” the one thousand columns. DE SACY, p. 1. If the fragment engraved in the Archœologia, from the original transmitted by RICHARD STRACHEY, Esq. to his father, be really of the size of that original, as the notice affirms, and if it formed part of the series of sculptures, we may thence learn the average proportions of the subjects at _Persepolis_. Archœol. xiv. app. 282. But LE BRUN sent over an entire figure from the reliefs; see the close of his work.

_Ispahan, p. 159._]--_Ispahan_ had been for ages one of the greatest cities of the East, and was possibly the _Aspa_ and _Aspadana_ of the ancients. In 1472 it contained one hundred and fifty thousand souls; a number which, according to BARBARO, was but the sixth of its former population. It had declined in political importance till SHAH ABBAS transferred thither the seat of Empire from _Casvin_. It rose rapidly to a second greatness: in extent it almost covered the plain. It was itself twenty-four miles in circumference, and according to CHARDIN, “a dix lieues à la ronde, on comptait quinze cents villages.” Tom. iii. 83. CHARDIN thought its population equal to that of London, and fixed it at six hundred thousand souls. TAVERNIER, almost at the same time, comparing it with Paris, says, it has but one-tenth of the population. (See on the relative population of Paris, London, and _Rhages_, Sir WM. PETTY’S Essay.) TAVERNIER is clearly wrong, and certainly much more inaccurate than the other extreme of one million and one hundred thousand, stated by the European merchants in _Ispahan_. Yet there is an error probably in both the larger estimates. The number of houses in CHARDIN’S estimate is a fixed standard, thirty-eight thousand: at fifteen in a house, the amount would not equal the population which he assigns as the lowest number; and it would require more than twenty-eight in a house, to justify the larger calculation. OLIVIER indeed remarks on another occasion, tom. v. 163, that “on doint compter en Perse au moins 7 ou 8 Persans par maisons;” but though this is much higher than the average of Europe, and much higher than Mr. MORIER has calculated throughout his travels, (with the single exception of _Bushire_), it will not give much above half the estimate of CHARDIN. It may perhaps be observed that the numbers in _Ispahan_ during the _Affghan_ siege, and which are variously stated from seven hundred thousand to a million, will confirm the general accuracy of the former statement; but it should be recollected, that the amount on that occasion was swelled by the fugitives from the whole country. OLIVIER reckoned the inhabitants of _Ispahan_ in his days at fifty thousand; its habitable circumference was reduced to a diameter of two miles; and he was riding for half an hour through the ruins which surrounded it. Tom. v. 175, 179. GARDANNE hears that the ruins extend for a march of more than four hours, p. 70. A later statement indeed gives the present population at two hundred and fifty thousand. But even in the decay in which OLIVIER found it, it retained sufficient evidences of original greatness to excite the liveliest sensations: “Tout ce que nous vimes, tout ce qu’on nous dit, tout ce que nous supposâmes nous en donna la plus grande ideé: tout nous persuada qu’elle fut sous les SOPHIS une des plus belles, des plus riches, des plus peuplées de l’Asie.” P. 180.

_SHAH ABBAS drinking wine, p. 165._]--GIBBON says, that “in every age the wines of _Shiraz_ have triumphed over the laws of MAHOMED.” In fact however, the use of spirituous liquors in general has depended, in Persia as in Turkey and other Mahomedan countries, less on the precepts of the _Koran_, than on the will and character of the reigning Prince. PIETRO DELLA VALLE gives a curious account of the alternations in the use of inebriating liquors, which the difference in the individual habits of the Sovereign produced in his day in the court of Persia: and TOURNEFORT remarks the same effect in Georgia; “of all nations the greatest wine drinkers.” Tom. ii. lettre vi. Eastern monarchs indeed, in this as in other points, have considered themselves unfettered by the prohibitions of the _Koran_: “Kings are subject to no law;”--“Whatever they do, they commit no sin,” were the maxims by which SHAH HUSSEIN, the last of the SEFFIS, was seduced into drunkenness. (Mod. Univ. Hist. vi. p. 22.) The exclusive prerogatives of an absolute Prince were, however, best exemplified in Hindostan. JEHANGEER, as we learn from his own commentaries, was accustomed to drink of the strongest spirits, a quantity equal in weight to ten _seers_ a day; while (as PETER the Great, and the rising PETER of the South Seas, TAMAHAMA, in TURNBULL’S Voyage, have done since) he issued as a standing regulation of his government, an order for the prohibition of spirituous liquors, and every thing else of an intoxicating nature, throughout the whole kingdom, “notwithstanding that I had myself,” he adds, “from the age of eighteen to thirty-eight, been constantly addicted to them.” Extracts by JAMES ANDERSON, from the _Toozuké Jehangeer_, Asiat. Miscell. vol. ii. p. 77. To evade the prohibition of wine, the Orientals have had recourse to compositions infinitely more inebriating: these are “the mixed wine,” “the strong drink mingled of the Scriptures;” see LOWTH’S ISAIAH, p. 12-13, p. 231, &c. See a Chapter of KÆMPFER, fasc. iii. obs. 15. The liquor thus substituted in Persia is the _Cocnos_ of DELLA VALLE. ABBAS the First, when he drank wine, drank it as in the text, publicly: for a purpose, as a contemporary traveller observes, like that of AGATHOCLES in DIODORUS of discovering the real character of his guests. DELLA VALLE, tom. ii. 341. See the entertainment in HERBERT, p. 171: “Most friendly ABBAS puld our Ambassador downe, seated him close to his side, smiling to see he could not sett (after the Asiatique sort) crosse-legd, and calling for a bowl of wine, dronke his Master’s health, at which the Ambassador uncoverd his head; and to complement beyond all expectation the Potshaugh,” (the _Padishah_) “puld of his turbant; by discovering his bald head, symbolising his affection; and after an houres merriment departed.” This object of ABBAS was again similarly attempted by SHAH SULEYMAN. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. vi. 16. SHAH SEFFI in a caprice chose to prohibit tobacco, and executed two foreign merchants for disobeying the order, as SULTAN MURAD did in Turkey for the same offence. RYCAUT, p. 59; see p. 43, against wine. SHAH SEFFI himself drank to excess; but having in a fit of intoxication killed one of his wives, he published a mandate through all his dominions, that no one should drink wine; and that the Governors should stave all the casks and spill the liquor wherever it was found. Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. v. p. 471-2, p. 475. SHAH HUSSEIN, vol. vi. 21, prohibited wine by his first act, though he afterwards was tempted to indulge in it; but when BELL was in Persia, the King was still sober and devout, and drank no wine, which in consequence was not used by his court. BELL, i. 107, see p. 116. NADIR SHAH and KERIM KHAN permitted the use of wine: but AGA MAHOMED, “cruel, feroce au dela de toute expression, faisait ouvrir le ventre à ceux de ces sujets Musulmans qui etaient accusés de boire du vin.” OLIVIER, tom. v. p. 136.

_Mourtchekourd, p. 176._]--The difficulty of ascertaining a fact in the ancient history of Persia, may be estimated by the contradictions in a very modern period, in an event of extreme importance, and in the relations of contemporary authors. The battle of _Mourtchekourd_, which decided the fate of Persia, was fought, according to JONES’S Life of NADIR, on the 13th November, 1728. OTTER, who accompanied an Embassy to NADIR, says November, 1730. GARDANNE, the French Consul, who was at _Ispahan_ at the time, says November, 1729. See OLIVIER, vol. v. p. 375.

_P. 186._]--Of the King of Persia’s own poems, see a specimen in SCOTT WARING. See also GARDANNE, p. 76.

_Lion and Bear, p. 187._]--In BELL’S time, there were two lions at the court of Persia, who couched to the Embassador as he passed, p. 100-1. When the Greek Embassador was presented to the CALIPH MOCTADER, A. D. 917, “one hundred lions were brought out, with a keeper to each lion.” GIBBON, 4to. v. p. 420.

_Introduction, p. 128._]--BELL’S description is striking, “at our entry into the hall, we were stopped about three minutes at the first fountain, in order to raise the greater respect; the pipes were contrived to play so high, that the water fell into the basin like thick rain. Nothing could be distinguished for some time; and the _Schach_ himself appeared as in a fog. While we moved forward, every thing was as still as death.” vol. i. p. 103.

_ZEIN LABADEEN, p. 176._]--The ZAIN LABADEEN, called in the text the brother of HOSSEIN, is probably ALI, his youngest son, called afterwards ZEIN ALAB’BEDDIN, “the ornament of the religious.” Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. ii. p. 101. FRANKLIN, p. 180.

_Punishment of Theft, p. 204._]--This was a punishment inflicted by the Emperor AURELIAN. GIBBON, i. p. 355.

_P. 217._]--GARDANNE complains in the same manner of the publicity of Persian diplomacy. “Les Gardes, les Secretaires, les curieux sont presens. Nous avons souvent demande de les faire eloigner, mais les Ministres gardent toujours du monde. On ne peut pas rester seul avec eux.” Journal, p. 54.

_Teheran, p. 224._]--It is interesting to trace the progress of a capital. At about the same distance from _Rhages_, (at which the present city of _Teheran_ may be placed from the remains of _Rey_) appears the town of _Tahora_, in the Theodosian tables: a sufficient presumption that _Teheran_ itself had an original and independant existence, and did not rise only from the ruins of the greater metropolis. Its continuance as a contemporary city cannot now be traced distinctly; it may indeed have borne a different name in Eastern geography, as it is the _Teheran_ or _Cherijar_ of TAVERNIER. It re-appears however under its present name in the journey of the Castilian Embassadors to TIMUR, at a period when the greatness of _Rey_ was still very considerable. At the end of two centuries, PIETRO DELLA VALLE re-visited it. He calls it the city of planes; tom. ii. 390: the soil is probably particularly adopted to the tree; for OLIVIER mentions one in the neighbourhood that measured round an excrescence at the root, seventy feet; tom. v. p. 102. About the same time with DELLA VALLE, HERBERT described it fully. It is the _Tyroan_ of his travels. TAVERNIER notices it more perhaps from the materials of others than from his own observation, tom. i. 313: and CHARDIN speaks of it only as “petite ville.” Tom. ii. p. 120. Its name occurs with scarcely a line of comment, in a route given by HANWAY, vol. i.; and though it was a place of some interest in the reign of NADIR, its actual state cannot be collected with any certainty till the accession of the present dynasty. It had long indeed been the capital of a province; and its name had been frequently connected with objects of importance in the history of the last two centuries; yet it owes its more immediate pre-eminence to the events of the last few years. It had been so much destroyed by the _Affghans_, (when after the battle of _Salmanabad_ they invested it, in the hope of seizing SHAH THAMAS, who had retired thither) that AGA MAHOMED, the late King, may be considered as almost its second founder. Its nearness to his own tribe and province; the facilities of raising instantaneously from the wandering tribes around it a large force of cavalry; and its central situation between the general resources of his empire and the more exposed frontiers, combined to justify his choice of _Teheran_ as the capital of Persia. It has risen rapidly. In 1797 OLIVIER describes it as little more than two miles in circumference, and of the whole area the palace occupied more than one-fourth. Tom. v. p. 89. In 1809, it is stated to be between four and a half and five miles round the walls. The population, according to OLIVIER, even with all the encouragement which AGA MAHOMED afforded to settlers, and including his own household of three thousand persons, amounted in 1797 to only fifteen thousand persons. GARDANNE describes it, ten years afterwards, as having more than fifty thousand inhabitants during the winter; though he notices the almost total desertion of the city during the heats of summer. Journal, &c. p. 55. In one of Mr. MORIER’S routes in the Appendix, _Teheran_ is represented as containing twelve thousand houses, a better estimate of its size than the number of inhabitants.

_Ark, p. 225._]--_Ark_ is obviously, _Arx_.

_Impress, p. 225._]--This impress was by no means peculiar to Persia. Many instances might be given from our own history down to the reign of ELIZABETH: but it is sufficient to refer to those connected with the subject in the text. HENRY VI. pressed minstrels “in solatium regis;” almost the very act of the King of Persia. EDWARD VI. thus supplied his choir, (BARRINGTON on the Statutes, p. 337); and in the reign of ELIZABETH, under one of the commissions to take up all singing children for the use of the Queen’s chapel, TUSSER, the author of the Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, was impressed. See LYSONS’S Environs of London, vol i. p. 92.

“Thence for my voice, I must no choice,
Away of force, like posting horse
For sundry men, had placards then
Such child to take,--”

_Female Officers, p. 225._]--SERADJ ED DOWLAH had a female guard of Calmucks, Tartars, Georgians, Negroes and Abyssinians. (_Seir Mutagherin_, vol. i. p. 146.) NASSUREDDEEN peopled a city entirely with women; all the officers being of that sex. He is said to have had fifteen thousand women. (GLADWIN, Hist. of Indostan, vol. i. p. 114.) It is very possible that some such caprice of an Oriental despot may have given rise to the cities of men and women on different sides of the Ganges, of which we read in PALLADIUS, p. 9; and St. AMBROSE, p. 54: at the end of BYSHE’S “PALLADIUS de Gentibus Indiæ,” and not very improbable that it may have produced the tradition so common in the early travellers, of the islands of men and women, and perhaps the whole fable of the Amazons. See of the islands the Arabian travellers of RENAUDOT, MARCO POLO, lib. iii. FRA MAURO in VINCENT’S Periplus, p. 671. See a curious note on the word _Hamazen_, “all women,” in MOOR’S Infanticide, p. 82.

_Fall in HAFIZ, p. 229._]--It is scarcely necessary to refer to more ancient divination; but the resemblance between the Persian trial and that of the _Sortes Virgilianæ_ must occur to every reader. The Mahomedans have another oracle in the _Koran_, which they consult in the same manner: and the Jews had similar recourse to the Scriptures of the Old Testament. SALE’S _Koran_. Prelim. Dissert. § iii. p. 69. The authority of VIRGIL (and indeed, though less currently, of HOMER also,) remained in full force to the middle at least of the seventeenth century, as in the first instance the appeal of CHARLES I. and Lord FALKLAND sufficiently proves: JOHNSON’S Life of COWLEY, p. 13. Even the Bible was thus opened for divination. Ars Magica, 1638, p. iii.

_Rags on Bushes, p. 230._]--This superstition was noticed in Persia by one of the earliest travellers, JOSAPHAT BARBARO, 1474, fol. 45, and was explained by him on the principle that (such was the scarcity of wood in the country) even a bush was a miracle. M. I.

_Change of Names, p. 230._]--The renaming of SHAH SEFFI, who then became SHAH SOLEYMAN, is related fully by CHARDIN and TAVERNIER; and in its ceremonies is not perhaps easily paralleled; but in its essential circumstance, a change of name from a belief in the unluckiness of the first, it may be supported by an example in our own history: when JOHN of Scotland took the name of ROBERT III. (see HENRY’S History, vol. viii. 372, from FORDUN;) because the Prince, who had borne the former appellation, had been unfortunate in the annals of the country. In the family of CATHERINE DE MEDICIS; EDWARD-ALEXANDER became HENRY III.: HERCULES became CHARLES IX. &c. See a note in the Life of CARY, Earl of Monmouth, p. 39. The Jews thus changed their names.

_Herrings, p. 231._]--The herrings of the Caspian are described by P. H. BRUCE. Memoirs, p. 261. TOOKE speaks of “a fish resembling a herring.” CATHERINE, II. vol. ii. p. 56.

_Coals, p. 231._]--MARCO POLO speaks of a combustible stone found in China; which is obviously coal. EBN HAUKAL mentions in Ferghaneh, “a stone that takes fire and burns,” p. 250; compare however, p. 272, which seems to imply a more distinct knowledge of coal.

_Demawend, p. 231._]--The distance to which according to the text, it is visible is paralleled by that at which Sir WM. JONES observed the _Chumalury_ mountains from _Bhaugalpore_. This distance is stated by him at two hundred and forty-four miles: but he adds, that the object might be seen much further. (Note in Lord TEIGNMOUTH’S Life of Sir WM. JONES, p. 253.) Another account gives the first distance from _Bhaugalpore_ at two hundred and fifty miles. P. H. BRUCE, (Memoirs, 282) saw _Ararat_ from _Derbend_ at a distance of at least two hundred and ten geographical miles, equal to more than two hundred and forty British measure, in a straight line by the compasses on Major RENNELL’S map. EBN HAUKAL mentions that _Demawend_ may be seen fifty _farsang_ round, (perhaps one hundred and seventy-five miles.) He adds, “I have not heard that any man ever ascended to its summit;” p. 172. HERBERT indeed relates his ascent (Travels), but OLIVIER can describe only an ineffectual endeavour. Tom. v. p. 125, &c. The difficulties which he encountered, seem to rival those of TOURNEFORT in the attempt to scale _Ararat_. Tom., ii. 357, &c. The fable of a plant which tinges the teeth of sheep with gold, is not confined to _Demawend_: it is attached to their favourite mountains by different nations, and may thus be traced to Mount _Lebanon_; to Mount _Elewnd_, &c. and the plant, which is convertible into gold, is found, if an alchemist may be believed, in the mountains of _Yemen_: it was supposed indeed by the Arabs, to constitute the real object of NIEBUHR’S Voyage. Description de l’Arabie, p. 123. A mountain so vast, and of a form so peculiar, was naturally connected with the traditionary mythology of the country: and accordingly _Demawend_ was believed to cover with all its weight ZOHAK, the usurper in the earliest dynasty of their empire. See CHAMPION’S _Ferdusí_.

_Rey, p. 232._]--The ruins of _Rey_ have never been described by any European traveller: if a brief and nameless notice of them by TAVERNIER, tom. i. 313, (who had no suspicion of their history, and perhaps never saw them,) can be considered an exception. From the Oriental authorities indeed he was enabled to compile a table of latitudes and longitudes; and to insert _Rey_ as 35° 35´ lat. 70° 20´. long. Tom. i. p. 404. But even the position of the ruins appears imperfectly known to CHARDIN; and they were sought in vain by one of the latest and most intelligent of his successors, OLIVIER, who looked for them considerably too much to the south. See tom. v. p. 160-1. GARDANNE, who was at _Teheran_, allots to _Rey_ only three lines; nor indeed does he state distinctly that he was writing from his own observation. Yet his account, however imperfect in itself, is striking in its close. “A l’est de _Teheran_, ruines de _Rey_, ancienne _Rhages_, et patrie de HAROUN EL RACHID. Les Persans disent que _Rey_ avoit trois millions d’habitans. _Le mot Revolution explique toutes les Calamités._” P. 72.

The history of _Rhages_ requires no illustration in the days of its greatness; and that greatness, with more than the fortune of other cities, has twice revolved. Its second rise under the Mahomedans, has indeed been less traced than its first origin, though it was the birth place of HAROUN EL RESCHID, and one of the favourite seats of his magnificence. It was then one of the capitals of the _Buiya_ Sultans; see DE SACY, Memoires, &c. p. 145, 147, &c. And was taken by MAHMUD, of _Ghizni_, when he destroyed their dynasty. Mod. Univ. Hist. iii. 195. It was subsequently one of the two great cities of the empire of the _Seljukians_; and as such demanded by the Emperor ROMANUS, who in the decline of the Roman power, imitated all the insolence of its greatness. With the Parthians and the Persians, his predecessors had indeed often used this tone of presumption, and as often failed in the wars of which it was the prelude. Thus CRASSUS, when he was marching to his own destruction, told the Parthian Embassadors that he would give his answer at their capital: JULIAN, in the midst of his own unhappy expedition, replied to the overtures of SAPOR, that he would himself visit the Persian court; and thus ROMANUS, with an insolence unparalleled and intolerable, required from ALP ARSLAN, before he would listen to any terms, the surrender of _Rey_, one of his capitals. The sequel of each event is too familiar to be noticed. _Rey_ still remained one of the greatest and most flourishing cities of the East; _Ispahan_, _Nishapour_, and _Bagdad_, alone rivalling it. EBN HAUKAL, in the tenth century, describes it fully; but in his day, though the commercial and civil greatness of the city was at its height, its defences had declined; and the wall around the suburbs was falling to decay; p. 176, p. 157, p. 172. Nevertheless it survived more revolutions; it was a very considerable city when it was taken by GENGHIZ KHAN, PETIT DE LA CROIX, p. 277: and still, two centuries afterwards, it was one of the seats of the government of SHAH ROKH, the son of TIMUR. Mod. Univ. Hist. v. 394. From his death, which happened there A.D. 1146, it ceases to maintain a conspicuous place in the history of Persia; and is now venerable only in the remains of its ancient grandeur.

_Taxation by hides, p. 236._]--This measure of taxation was not uncommon; it is sufficient to add, that it still seems to regulate the collection in other parts of the East: for in some extracts from MAHOMED SADUCK’S Journey to _Cabul_, it is said that “_Herat_ extends from the city of _Ferah_ to _Khaf_ and _Backhury_. Twelve lacks; supposed to be the net produce of as much land as twelve thousand pair of bullocks can plough, all expended in civil and military establishments.”

_The noose, p. 243._]--The noose was _Rustam’s_ ancient implement of war.

_Lamb Skins, p. 246._]--The most valuable lamb-skins are perhaps taken prematurely from the ewe killed for the purpose. The fabulous supplies of the _Barometz_ (“the vegetable lamb” of DARWIN, Loves, canto i. 282) were perhaps invented by the Tartars to conceal from their European traders the cruelty of the practice. BELL denies the existence of the _Barometz_, vol. i. 43, which however is well established, though its properties may be doubted. P. H. BRUCE, in his Memoirs, p. 336, asserts the fact that the ewes are killed before parturition for the sake of the lambs; the skins of which are then in their greatest beauty, with the hair lying “in short smooth pretty curls.” The trade is very profitable to the _Nagayan_ Tartars, who sell the best for ten shillings. CHARDIN mentions some in his day at fifteen franks. The wool even of those whose lives are spared for a fortnight, lies in waves, and resembles a piece of damask, the lamb having been guarded from its birth by linen sewed round it. TOOKE’S Nations of Russia, vol. ii. 136, 267.

_Shalwars, p. 247._]--“When they go a hunting, they wear _Shalwars_, or long trowsers which reach up to the arm pits, into which they cram all their clothes; and a _Kerguisian_ in this dress may be taken at a distance for a monstrous pair of breeches on horseback.” TOOKE’S Russia, ii. 280.

_Mountains between Teheran and Tabriz, Chap. XIV._]--The mountains seen in this direction were in the middle ages the seats of the Dilemites; the subjects of HASSAN, _Sheik al Jebal_, HASSAN “the chief or the old man of the mountains,” whose power is familiar to every reader, and from whose name the word _assassin_ has been derived, with an evil import, in half the modern languages of Europe. The constant recurrence of the tale of his enchanted palace in the old travellers, MARCO POLO, HAITHON, &c. is sufficient evidence of some general foundation in truth. HOLAKOU, the son of GENGHIZ KHAN, routed out the _Hassanites_.

_Tourchiz, p. 265._]--This place occurs in the route of FORSTER, who mentions _Mesched_, as said to be one hundred miles north-west of _Turshish_. Vol. ii. p. 154. It was held at that time by ABEDULLAH, an independant Persian chief, p. 165; but FORSTER, who spent above a fortnight in the town, does not allude to any wealth deposited there. In MAHOMED SADUCK’S journey, the capital of the district of _Turshiz_ and _Co Surkh_, is called _Sultania_, which is probably the _Sultanabad_ of FORSTER, another name for the old town of _Turshiz_. P. 165.

_Miaunéh, p. 268._]--At this spot died the celebrated traveller THEVENOT. See the note of his death, tom. v. GARDANNE says, “Ses Papiers et ses livres furent, dit on, enlevés et gardés par le Cadi.” P. 41.

_Number of oxen to a plough, p. 275._]--It is curious to trace in TOURNEFORT the encrease in the number of cattle thus employed, as he advances into Georgia: near _Arz-roum_, they will yoke three or four pair to one plough, p. 213; near _Cars_, ten or twelve, p. 216. Still farther on, in Georgia itself, fourteen or fifteen pair, p. 224. Vol. ii. of the translation.

_Prince Royal of Persia, p. 279._]--The character of ABBAS MIRZA, Prince of _Tabriz_, is so striking in Oriental history, that every support, which can be given to the accuracy of the description, is important. GARDANNE confirms some of the more remarkable traits in the text: “Il veut relever sa nation, et il a l’ambition de la gloire militaire. S’il perd un General on un Guerrier, il dechire ses habits et donne les marqués de la plus vive douleur. Il a perda dernièrement des enfans, et n’a temoigné aucun chagrin. Pour expliquer cette indifference, il faut connaître les mœurs. Nous demandons à un grand Seigneur le nombre de ses enfans. Il répond naïvement qu’il n’en sait rien, se tourne du côté de son Secrétaire et le lui demande; celui ci répond: dix-sept.” p. 36. The following anecdote is connected with the French character; it occurs in the account of an entertainment given to the French Mission by the Prince’s Minister. “Après le repas, les danseurs font des tours de force. Le Vizir nous dit: mon maitre n’aime pas les danseurs, il les a tous chassès de _Tauris_. J’ai appellé ceux-cé des villages voisins, ayant appris de l’Ambassadeur de Perse, que ce divertessement était agréable a votre nation.” P. 37. See others, p. 38-9.

_Ships on the Caspian, p. 287._]--Every reader of HANWAY will recollect the extreme importance which NADIR attached to the formation of a fleet in the Caspian, where the famous JOHN ELTON was induced to become his Admiral. The dock-yards in the Persian Gulph must import all their timber from India; but the southern shore of the Caspian contains on the spot the amplest supplies. The turbulent character of the Arabs of the Gulph, induced NADIR SHAH to meditate their removal from their own country; and their nautical skill and experience suggested to him the idea of transplanting them profitably into the provinces along the Caspian, and replacing them in their ancient seats by the people whom they thus dispossessed. But all his projects were overwhelmed in the confusion which followed his death; and the only naval power, (with the exception of a few small vessels against the Turcomans), which Persia had ever formed in the Caspian, was thus annihilated. NADIR SHAH collected a fleet in the Gulph also; and made _Bushire_ the port of _Shiraz_. NIEBUHR, tom. ii. p. 75. Here he had assembled from twenty-two to twenty-five ships, built for him at _Bombay_ and _Surat_, &c.; but these were all neglected and dispersed at his death.

_Language of Ghilan, p. 288._]--_Ghilan_, the country of the ancient _Gelæ_, was, according to EBN HAUKAL, p. 174, the level tract along the Caspian, of that province, which in its mountainous parts was called _Dilem_. Now _Dilem_ was with _Media Inferior_, _Mazanderan_, and the countries between the Caspian and the Tigris, one of the original seats of the _Pehlavie_. _Heeren_. Act. Soc. Gotting. tom. xiii. _Dilem_ was also a retreat of that language. In the breaking up of a great empire, the institutions of the conquered race always linger in the extremities. The Caucasus, the country of _Derbend_, _Segestan_, and _Kerman_, thus sheltered the ancient language and religion of Persia: and thus the mountains of _Dilem_ retained till the tenth century, the worship of fire; and perhaps, therefore, the _Pehlavie_, with which that worship had been connected. EBN HAUKAL observes of _Taberistan_, the adjoining tract, “they have a peculiar dialect, neither Arabick nor Persian: and in _many_ parts of _Deilman_ their language is not understood.” In a country separated by these circumstances, and by its local situation from the rest of Persia, it is not improbable that there may still exist some traces of a distinct language: and as to the imperfections incident to the want of written memorials, Sir WM. JONES, in his Discourse on the Arabs, has prepared us to think that Dr. JOHNSON’S reasoning is too general.

_The Cookery of the Turcomans, p. 290._]--Their cookery is something like that of the Arabs described by CAPPER. There is a full account of the two hordes, the Eastern and Western Turcomans, in a note by the French editor of the Genealogical History of the Tatars, p. 535-8. See also TOOKE, ii. 93. Their wealth in money in every age has been very great; because, like the Arabs, and every other pastoral people on the confines of great civilized empires, they sell the necessaries of life, and will not buy the luxuries. LA ROQUE, p. 157, remarks accordingly, that in the time of PLINY, the riches both of the Romans and of the Parthians were melted down among the Arabs. HARMER’S Observations, vol. i. p. 122. CHARDIN in his MSS. notes in HARMER, says, that they are like ABRAHAM, “very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.”

_CHAP. XVI._]--The country from _Tabriz_ and _Arz-roum_ may almost be considered as new ground in European description. GARDANNE is the only other traveller who has traced this route, (Journal, &c. p. 21-35); but the information which he collected in his passage is so limited, that he appears to know nothing of the Lake of _Shahee_; or rather in travelling along its shores, he confounds it with that of _Van_, which is at least one hundred miles from the spot where he places it; p. 35. The country between _Arz-roum_ and _Tocat_ is described by TOURNEFORT, tom. ii. and by TAVERNIER, tom. i. p. 12-19: and as one of the great roads from _Bagdad_, &c. falls in at _Tocat_, the further progress to Constantinople is continued on Mr. MORIER’S line, by TAVERNIER, i. 1-12. OTTER ii. 330-357. HOWELL, p. 102-132. JACKSON, p. 203-236. ABOO TALEB, ii. 256-264. GARDANNE, p. 114-119; see also p. 1-13.

_Khoi, p. 299._]--The singularity of the walls of _Khoi_, is noticed by GARDANNE, with a more singular illustration: “_Qu-oye_ est entouré de murailles et de tours, et ressemble exactement aux gravures de _Jerico_ que l’on voit dans les Bibles.” P. 34.

_Ararat, p. 306._]--The height of _Ararat_ can best be understood by considering the distance at which it may be seen. CHARDIN mentions that it is visible at _Marant_: tom. i. p. 253; BRUCE, that he saw it at _Derbend_, Memoirs, p. 282; STRUYS, whom OLIVIER well characterises as “Romanesque,” describes his ascent to visit a sick hermit at the top, p. 208, &c.; but TOURNEFORT, one of the first of travellers, has stated so fully the difficulties of his own attempt, that probably they have never yet been overcome. The mountain is divided into three regions of different breadths; the first, composed of a short and slippery grass or sand “aussi facheux que les Syrtes d’Afrique,” is occupied by shepherds; the second, by tygers and crows; the remainder, which is half the mountain “est couverte de neige depuis que l’arch y arreta, et ces neiges sont cachées la moitié de l’année sous les nuages fort epais. Les tygres que nous apperçumes ne laissérent pas de nous faire peur,” p. 358. It was impossible to go forwards and penetrate to the third region; and not easy to go back: at length, utterly exhausted, they reached the bottom, “nous rendîmes graces au Seigneur d’en être revenus, car peut-être que nous serions perdus ou que nous serions morts de faim sur cette Montagne,” p. 371. If these were the sensations with which TOURNEFORT regarded his enterprise, the common belief of the country may well be admitted, that no one ever yet ascended the _Ararat_ of the Armenians.

_P. 317._]--_Hassan Cala_ is the ancient _Theodosiopolis_. D’ANVILLE, Geogr. Anc. vol. ii. p. 100.

_Arz-roum, p. 320._]--This city has been more generally written, _Erz-roum_, as CHARDIN, &c.; but from the definition assigned to it by TOURNEFORT, tom. ii. p. 257, 276, and adopted by D’ANVILLE, Geogr. Anc. tom. ii. 99; that of the _Arza_ of _Rum_, (the Asia Minor occupied by the Roman Empire) the present reading is established. The plain, in which it is built, is included by TOURNEFORT, p. 325, in that district, which he regards as the site of the terrestrial paradise. Yet the cold of a region so elevated as that which contains the springs of the _Euphrates_ and the _Araxes_ must be extreme: nor can the beauty of the spot be at all assisted by forest scenery; Mr. MORIER has observed the scarcity of wood, and TOURNEFORT says, that there is no fuel but pine wood, and that is brought two or three days journey, p. 259. _Arz-roum_ was an early Christian bishoprick, in its civil history it was alternately subject to the Empire of Constantinople and _that_ of Persia. In the eleventh century it stood a siege of six days, when the assailants, expecting that it would be relieved, sacrificed their hopes of booty, and set fire to the place, consuming in it so many, that, with the destruction in the six previous days, swelled the total loss of lives to one hundred and forty thousand. In the thirteenth century it appears as the ARGYRON of MARCO POLO. The city contained in TOURNEFORT’S time (1700) eighteen thousand Turks, six thousand Armenians, and four hundred Greeks. The Jesuits reckoned eight thousand Armenians, and one hundred families of the Greeks. The present population is estimated by GARDANNE at one hundred and thirty thousand, p. 21. In the former commerce of Asia Minor it was, “le passage et le reposoir de toutes les marchandises des Indes.” TOURNEFORT describes the influence of the French; and seems pleased that the Turks pay more regard to the recommendations of the King of France, than to those of the Mufti of Rome.

_Mama Khatoun, p. 327._]--A spot near _Mama Khatoun_ is suggested by TOURNEFORT as the scene of the great battle between MITHRIDATES and POMPEY.

_P. 356._]--_Geredéh_ is the _Carus_ of the Romans. R.

_Canal from the Lake Sabanja, p. 360._]--The ancient Kings of Bithynia had left unfinished a canal from the _Nicomedian Lake_, the modern _Sabanja_. The younger PLINY, when Governor of the province, recommended the undertaking to TRAJAN. PLIN. Epist. x. 46. TRAJAN, in reply, desires him to take care that the lake be not exhausted by letting its waters into the sea. Ep. 51. PLINY, Epist. 69, suggests sufficient in answer to prove that this danger might be obviated; though his project, however practicable or profitable, was never realized. TRAJAN’S Letter, 70. At the end of sixteen centuries it was revived by the Grand Vizir, KUPRIGLI. It was destined to communicate with other rivers, and to open a water carriage into the centre of those immense forests, which in every age have supplied the arsenals of Constantinople. But the project was sacrificed to a timely bribe offered by those who had monopolized the conveyance of the timber by land; and KUPRIGLI, at the eve of the accomplishment, was deprived of the glory of completing that which PLINY and TRAJAN had projected in vain.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX, No. I.

_MONEY IN PERSIA._

(THOSE IN ITALICS HAVE ONLY A NOMINAL EXISTENCE. ACCOUNTS ARE KEPT IN _DINARS_ AND PIASTRES.)

5 _Dinars_ = 1 _Ghauz_.
20 _Dinars_ = 1 Beestee.
25 _Dinars_ = ½ Shahee.
50 _Dinars_ = 1 _Shahee_.
500 _Dinars_ = 10 _Shahee_ = ½ Groush.
1,000 _Dinars_ = 20 _Shahee_ = 1 Groush[130].
1,250 _Dinars_ = 1 Real[131].
2,500 _Dinars_ = 50 _Shahee_ = 1 Ashreffee.
10,000 _Dinars_ = 10 Piastres = 1 Tomaun.
3 _Shahee_ = 1 Shahee[132].
4 _Shahee_ = 1 _Abassee_.
8 Shahee = 1 Real or Rupee[133].
100,000 Rupees = 1 Lack.