Fo_XXI_66-1
author: DeBode, Clement August

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een

RUINS OF A BRIDGE OVER THE T/iB NEAR ARREJAN.

London, Published by J. Madden &C¢

TRAVELS

IN

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN

BY

THE BARON C

A. DE BODE

VOL

Il v’y a point de description de voyage sans défaut, ni aucun voyageur exempt

de tout préjugé, ainsi le parti le plus sage c’est de ne pas défendre ses opinions avec

opiniatreté.”—NIEBUHR

N

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INTERIOR OF AN ARAB TENT NEAR THE TOMB OF CYRUS {SOUTHERN PERSIA

LONDON

J. MADDEN AND CO

)

EADENHALL STRI

1845,

pa—

S

Fo i

XX/

PREFACE.

S

Ir a traveller who had visited Switzerland,

or the banks of the Rhine, or any other part

of Europe, were to think it necessary first

to acquaint the

reader

where those

couns-

tries lie, before he entered on the descrip-

tion

of his

travels,

he

would be

consi-

dered impertinent, and would, indeed, deserve

censure.

But a similar condemnation would by

no means rest on him who, having penetrated

into some obscure regions of the Fast, should

conceive it necessary to indicate their position

on the map to his countrymen of the West,

before he could expect them to follow him

patiently through the details of his journey.

YOL: 1.

a

1v

PREFACE.

Such

is the case with the author of the

present volumes, which he has entitled ¢ Travels

n Lawistan and Arabistan.”

With the exception of those who have

travelled

11

the Kast,

or who

have made

geography their particular study, are there

many who know where Liwristan is situated 2 or

who will not contound Arabistan with Arabia ?

Nor is it matter of wonder that this should

be the case, considering the scanty sources of

information which we possess concerning those

countries, and the comparative if not total neglect

to which they have been doomed.

The author

will, therefore, not be supposed to underrate the

accomplishments of his readers, if he presumes

them to be ignorant of the geographical posi-

tion of Luristan and Arabistin, and hopes that

he shall not be taxed with presumption, if he

takes the liberty of giving them a preliminary

insight into those countries.

Luristan, then, or the land of the Lurs,

embraces the greater portion of the moun-

tainous country of Persia, extending from the

PREFACE.

v

Turkish boundary on the west, to the limits of

Isfahan and Fars on the east and south-east.

These mountains are occupied by an uncouth

and wild race of men, bearing different appella-

tions, but apparently springing from one original

stock,—the old Zend.

The low country, lying to the south of this

chain of mountains, with the towns of Shiashter,

Dizfal, and others, together with the land of

the Cha’b-Arabs, is denominated Khuzistan or

Arabistan.

These regions, which in general now offer

to the eye the melancholy spectacle of decay,

of devastation, and even spread out at intervals

into utter wildernesses, were not so in former

ages.

There was a time when they must have

teemed with an industrious population, as the

vestiges of ruined towns plainly denote.

The names of some of these have survived,

and live in the traditions of the natives; others

can be recognised in history, but a greater

number lie scattered over the waste, without

leaving any records behind, or bequeathing

a2

Vi

PREFACE.

to posterity their names, the nations to which

they belonged, or the time at which they flou-

rished.

There they crumble into dust, like

bones bleaching on a forgotten field of battle,

or like a solitary plank on the heaving wave,

a sad wreck of some noble vessel sunk in the

unfathomable depths of ocean.

Shtshter is greatly fallen from its former

importance.

Ahvaz, the winter capital of the

Arsacidee or Parthian kings, is a heap of

ruins.

The plough is levelling with the soil

the only remaining mounds which point to

Jondi-Shapar ; while Stsa, the rival of Babylon

and Ecbatana, the vernal residence of the King

of Kings, hides its ancient ruins under thick

grass and waving veeds, as if ashamed that

common mortals should

see

how low it has

fallen from its pristine greatness.

But even prior to the dawn of profane

history, before the sun of Nineveh and Babylon

had risen in the east, Klam, as Scripture tells

us, was already a nation; whilst in later

days. the same country, under the name of

vil

PREFACE.

Ulymais, attracted towards its rich temples

the cupidity of the Greek and Parthian con-

querors.

It is with the view of rescuing from a

second oblivion

this

once

classical ground,

that the

Author

has endeavoured to draw

aside a corner of the veil which still covers

this mysterious region.

The general reader will perhaps blame him

for dwelling on the topographical features of

the country more minutely than the nature

of a common narrative may seem to warrant.

The Author readily admits that he has laid

himself open to this imputation, but believes

it his duty to add, in self-justification, that as

that tract of country has been seldom fre-

quented, and may, perhaps, be now again

closed to Furopean travellers, he had rather

in view to state facts than to fill the pages

of his volumes with his own impressions.

Neither must he omit to state, that in his

progress through the more western portion of

the route, he has been often guided and mate-

viil

PREFACE.

rially aided by the valuable notes of Major

Rawlinson on Khzistan; and he hopes that

distinguished scholar, with whom he has had

the advantage of meeting more than once in the

Fast, will pardon him for making frequent quo-

tations from those notes in thc. course of the

present narrative.

It is owing to his convic-

tion of their great accuracy that he always felt

more confident whenever his own observations

could have the benefit and the concurrent tes-

timony of such an authority.

As the early part of the journey from

Teheran to Isfahan, and from thence to Shiriz

and Kazertm, has been frequently visited by

Furopeans, the Author has nothing particular

to observe on that portion of his narrative.

But if the interest created by historical

recollections will absolve the Author from in-

troducing ancient Elymais, with its adjacent

countries to the notice of the public, he fears

he has not the same chance in presuming to

address his readers in a language not his own.

His short stay in this country has had the effect

PREFACE.

1X

of making him sensible of his deficiencies in

this respect, without giving him time to supply

them.

However, the indulgence with which some

extracts from his notes on the Fast have been

listened to at the Meetings of the Society of

Antiquaries, the Ithnological, and the Royal

Geographical Societies, added to the advice

in this

and

encouragement of his friends

country, have emboldened him to arrange his

scattered notes in the form now offered to the

public.

He owes great obligations to the learned

Secretaries,

Colonel Jackson and the Rev.

Mr. Renouard, as well as to Mr. Shillinglaw,

the ILibrarian,

of the

Royal Geographical

Society of London,

fox

the facilities they

have afforded him

mn

his

researches,

and

the use

of the Society’s valuable library;

but in particular to the Rev. Mr. Renouard

tor his kind assistance in comparing the nar-

rative of Timar's march with several manu-

scripts of the origihal work of Shéreft-d-din,

X

PREFACE.

in the possession of the Honourable Fast India

Company.

The Author feels a peculiar pleasure in

being able thus publicly to express his hearty

thanks to Mr. J. A. St. John, the eloquent

author of

“ The Manners and Customs

of

the

Ancient Greeks,”

and of

“ Travels

m

the Valley of the Nile,” and to his son, Mr.

Bayle St. John, for the patient attention they

have lent him during the perusal of his MS.,

and their judicious hints, of which he has

frequently availed himself.

Neither ought he to allow this opportunity

without

recording

his

sense

of

to pass,

obligation for the civilities and attentions he

has invariably met with from the gentlemen

of the British Museum, during his attendance

at the Reading Rooms.

THE AUTHOR.

Lo~NDON,

16th November, 1844.

CONTENTS OF VOL. 1.

CHAPTER L.

ROUTE FROM TEHERAN TO KARAVANSERAI OF PULI-DELAUK.

Page

Preparations previous to undertaking the journey

from Teheran to Persepolis—Modes of travelling

m

the East contrasted with

the

conveniences a

traveller meets with in Europe.—Account of the dis-

interment of the victims who fell during the mas-

sacre of the Russian Mission at Teheran in 1829.

—A thunderstorm

in the month of December.—

Inconveniences

attending

travelling by post at

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

B

.

night .

CHAPTER 1I.

FROM PULI-DELAUK TO ISFAHAN.

Mysterious village of Kim-riid —Persian superstition

about the ghils, or land mermaids of the Kabir or

Great Desert.—Mr. Morier’s

account

of them.—

Ruined karavanserais of Deir and Kodj in the

same desert.—Return of the zuvir from a pﬂ-

grimage

to Mecca and Kerbelai. — Distinction

between the

Meschedi,

Kerbelai,

and

Hajji.—

x1i

CONTENTS.

Page

Relative importance attached to those names.—

Arrival at Kém.—Institution of the chapar-khanehs

or post-stations in Persia.—Remarks on the ruins

of Sinsine.—Melons and wheat grown on the same

beds at Kashan.—Reputed cowardice of the inha-

are

bitants,.—They

good

coppersmiths. — Velvet

manufacturers

of Kashan.—Summer

and winter

road to Isfahdin.—Kiahrad, with the dyke of Shah-

Abbas.—Account of Kihrid.—Passage

through

the snow.—Buran

karavanserai

of Ak-Kemel.—

Village of S6.—Night accident on crossing a river

—Murchehar.—Ghez.—Arrival at Isfahan.

.

.

20

C}IAP'[‘ER III.

FROM ISFAHAN TO THE KARAVANSERAI OF DEHBID.

A school established at Julfa for the instruction of the

Armenian youth.—Religious tolerance of the Isfahani

Mussulman clergy.—Reasons for it.—Progress of Suf-

feism,—Lutis of Isfahdn.—Bast, or places of’ refuge.

—Form the project of visiting Shishter and the

mountains of the Bakhtiyaris.— Quit Isfahin.—Kal’ch

Rustim. — Cheshme-Multan. — Mayar. — Brilliant

night meteors.—Kumisheh.—Account of a battle

fought near it at the accession of Mohammed Shah

to the throne.—Gum-ammoniac plant.— Description

of the fortress and village of Yezdehast.—Summer

and winter road to Shirdz.— Abadeh.—Surmeh.—

Karavanserai of Dehbid .

.

.

.

.

.

.

44

xiii

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

FROM THE KARAVANSERAI OF

DEHBID

TO THE VILLAGE OF

SEIDAN.

Page

Arrival at the Village of Meshedi-Murgab.—Arab

Settlers.—Fertility of the Plain of Murgab.—Boun-

dary.—TRiver of Murgib, the Medus of the Ancients.

—View of the ruins from

an elevation.—Goher-

Shah.—Takhti-Madre Soliman.—Custom among the

Eastern Monarchs of giving audiences in the open

air.—Zindan or Dustagh-Khaneh.—Visit the Tomb

of Meshedi Madre Soliman.—Supposed Tomb of

Cyrus.—Opposition made by the Iliyats.—Evening

spent in their Tents.—Karavanserai of Murgéab, the

supposed abode of the Magi.—The Pilaster with the

Cherub.—Discovery of a dial cut on the white stone

steps of the Tomb of Cyrus.—Hieroglyphics.—

Traverse the Ak-Gaduk and Valley of Kamin.—

Arrival at Seidan

71

CHAPTER V.

RUINS IN THE PLAIN OF PERSEPOLIS.

Rock with bas-reliefs at Nakshi-Rustim.—The four

Royal tombs.—Entrance into the first and third of

these tombs, with descriptions of them.—Manner of

ascent and descent.—The parents of King Darius killed

in their attempt to visit one of the tombs.— Gebr

explanation of the circlet often found in the hands

of the Sasanian monarchs on the bas-reliefs of Persia.

—Definition of the Costi by the Baron Silvestre de

X1V

CONTENTS.

Page

Sacy, according to the Zoroastrian faith.— Observa-

tions on a golden cup with figures on it, found in a

tumulus near the Caspian Sea, in reference to the

Costi, and the distinction between Iran and Aniran,—

Night visit to the rock of Istakhr.—Disturb an

Hiyat encampment.—Account of the rock and ruined

fort on its summit.—Historical recollections.—Greek

captives brought before Alexander on approaching

Persepolis.— Description of the plain of Merdésht.

—Its fertility.—Nakshi-Kejeb.—Formation of the

rocks.—First impression on seeing the ruins of

Takhti-Jemshid

.

.

97

CHAPTER VI.

SUBJECT CONTINUED.

Ruins of Takhti-Jemshid or Persepolis.—Progress of

destruction observable in the gradual fall of the

pillars,—Buildings on the different platforms.—Dis-

covery of the statue of a bull.—Accumulation of the

soil on the platform.—Subterraneous passages.—

Remarks on the late Mr. Beckford, the author of

“ Vathek.”—Lord Byron’s opinion on that book.—

Adventures of the Caliph Vathek in the subterranean

halls of Istakhr.—Subterraneous corridors at Per-

sepolis, now occupied by porcupines.—The royal

tombs in Mount Rahmed.—Feruers, or guardian

angels of the old Gebrs.—Figure of the moon

among the bas-reliefs.—Conjectures on it.—Interior

of the first and second tomb.—General reflections on

the monuments of Persepolis

.

.

132

CONTENTS.

XV

CHAPTER VIL

ROUTE FROM PERSEPOLIS TO SHIRAZ

Page

Visit to the Cave of Shalh-Sharmu with Pehlevi in-

seriptions.—Mussulman grave in a recess of the

mountains, —Seat of the town of Istakhr.—DBirth-

place of the impostor Mozdac.—Discovery of old

coins. — Extract from Professor Heeren. — Band-

Amir, —Thomas Moore. — Road to Shirdz.— Stop

at the Nabob’s house.— State of Shiraz and the

province of Fars.—Rival parties.— Short sketch of

160

the history of Madame de La Marriniere

CHAPTER VIIL

FROM SHIRAZ TO KAZERUN.

Different roads leading from Shirdz to Behbehin.—

Furnished with artillery horses through the kind-

ness of the Prince Ferhad-Mirza.— Kind feeling

and hospitality of the Persians.— Quit Shirdz. —

Precaution to be adopted

in travelling

during

winter through the snow.—Desht-Arjan.—Contrast

in the climate at Piri-Zen and Kuteli-Dokhter, —

Sculptured rock.—Overtaken by night.— Arrival at

Kazerin

188

CHAPTER IX.

FROM KAZERUN TO FAHLIYAN.

Deseription

of Kazertn.—Valley

of Kazeriin.—

Gilevand guides.—Ruins of

ShapGr.— Mamaseni

XVl

CONTENTS.

Page

encampment of the Dushmen-Ziyari tribe.——Scene

on arriving there.— Vanity of earthly grandeur.—

Visit the cave of Shaptr.— Giveh, sort of sandals

worn by the mountaineers.—View from the entrance

of the cave of the adjacent country.—Valley of

Kuh-Mereh or Dasht-i-Ber.— Course of the Shapir

river.—Encampment of Jehangir-Khan, a Mamaseni

chief.—I am passed on from one chief to another in

return for a written certificate.— Chenoshejan. —

Winter residence of the Dushmen-Ziyari Mamaseni.

—Circuitous road for wheeled carriages to avoid

the Kutel-i-Dokhter. — Quit Chenoshejan.—Mune-

moun-

nahl.—Lurking-place of the

marauding

taineers.—Proof of the unsettled

state

of

the

country. — Sahrai-Bahram. — Sculptures

m

the

rock.—River of Behriam.—Ruins of Nobenjan.—The

fort of Niurabad.—Residence of the Bekesh Ma-

maseni,— Kal’eh-Sefid.—My new Bekesh guides.

—Turaj birds.—Valley of Sha’b-bevin.—Iields of

Narcissuses.—Arrival at Fahliyan.

203

CHAPTER X.

FROM FAHLIYAN TO BEHBEHAN.

Description of Fahliydn.—Cultivation of the soil.—

Taxation.—Visit an Imam-Zadeh.—Description of

the plain of Fahliyin—Extract from M. Quatre-

meére on

Sha’b-bevan.—Remarks thereon. — Enter

the territory of the Rustemi Mamaseni.—Course

of the river Ab-Shar, or Sheker-ab.—The valley

of

Ser-ab-Siyah.—Rencontre with

the Rustemi

Chief.—Unlucky display of horsemanship.—Pass

CONTENTS.

Xvii

Page

the Ab-Shiir, and enter the Khogilt territory.—

Reception at Basht by Allah-Kerim-Khan, Chief

of the Bovi tribe.—General character of the Tliyat

Chiefs.—Resume my journey.—Travelling Tliyats.

—Karavanserai of Daghtmbezim.—Pass the night

under arms.— Cross the rivers of Shem-si-Arab and

Kheirabad.—IMindian.—Arrive at Behbehin

23

CHAPTER XI.

ACCOUNT OF THE MAMASENI AND KHOGILU TRIBES.

Boundary of the Mamaseni encampment.—Observations

of M. de Quatremére on the country of Shulistdn.—

The Mamaseni are of Lir origin.—Conjectures

respecting the Mamaceni of Quintus Curtius.—

Lohr, or Lur-asp, one of the ancient kings of Persia.

—Laiir, a name of one of the great-grandsons of the

Patriarch Abraham.-—Divisions of the Mamaseni: 1.

Rustemi ; 2. Bekesh ; 3. Dushmen-Ziyari ; 4. Joi.

—Population.—The Mamaseni are great robbers.—

History of Veli-Khan Bekesh.—Reduction of some

of their strongholds.—Khogila tribes.—Boundary of

their encampments.—Are likewise of Lir extraction.

—Note on the Lek, Lur, and Kurd races.—The

Governor of Behbehan Chief of the Khogilt.—

Divisions of the IChogilG : 1. Bovi ; 2. Borahmed ;

3. Nui; 4. Tenghebi; 5. Bakhmei.—The latter a

wilder and more savage tribe than the rest.—A few

observations on their customs and manners.—Other

tribes

of Behbehin.—Taxation

of Behbehdn.—

Arrears.—Critical position of the Chief Mirza Kémo

XViii

CONTENTS.

Page

in respect to the Governor of Fars.——-l"rcpamtions for

resistance.—Offer my advice to Mirza Kamo.—Sad

fate which befalls him and his family

262

CHAPTER XIL

ANTIQUITIES

OF

BEHBEHAN.

Description of Behbehdn.—Limits.—Former and pre-

sent possessions of Behbehin.—Soil.—Produce.—

residences of the

Climate.— Winter

and summer

Governor.—Ruins of Arrejdn.—Remains of two

splendid bridges over the river Kurdistdn.—Fire-

temple of Ardjin.—Volcanic mountain.—Mumia.—

Arrején probably the former emporium of trade

between India and the interior of Persia.—The ports

of Mahrubén and Hindiyén.—The name of Arrejin

attached to the province in the tenth century.—Town

of Cobdd.—Different cities of Ardea.—The ancient

town of the Ardi, natives of Ardekiin.—Identity of

Ardekin and Paratacene, &c.—Alexander penetrates

into those mountains.—Caves

of the Mardi.—

Asylum Persarum.—Iedypnes of Pliny.—Ver-

effshue the abode of bliss of the Zend-Avesta.—

Annual migrations of the Persepolitan porcupine.—

Notes

.

.

.

.

290

CHAPTER XIIIL

ROUTE FROM BEHBEHAN TO TASHUN.

Learn the existence of some old sculptures in the moun-

tains, and in consequence change my route. — Various

routes to Shishter. — Prevail on Mirza Kamo to

CONTENTS.

Xix

Page

honour Government barats.—Three French travellers

ill-treated at Behbehin.—Take leave of my host.—

Method of training Arab horses in spring.— Account

of the country.—ILaws on inheritance among the

Iliyats. — Some curious enactments in the Zend

legislation.—Course of the Kurdistin river.—Treated

with fresh dates at the village of Kai-Katis.—Ruins

of a town close to it.—Village of Tashun.—Tradition

concerning the Patriarch Abraham, said to have been

thrown into a burning furnace by Nimrod.—Conjec-

tures as to the locality of Ur of the Chaldees.—

Sacred fish at TashGin.—Anecdote of similar fish

preserved at an Imam-Zadeh near Isfahdn.—Further

account of Tashin

330

CHAPTER XIV.

FROM TASHUN TO TENGI-SAULEK.

Set out for the valley of Tengi-Satlek.—Necessary

precautions against the Bahmei mountaineers. —

Description of the road.—Black rock, with bas-reliefs

and inscriptions in unknown characters.—Another

sculptured stone in the same recess of the mountains.

—Passage of a letter from M. K. Boré on the subject

of the above inseriptions.—Conjecture as to their

resemblance to the 7'amul character.—Cypress Grove.

—Elymite worship of Anaitis.—Landseer on Sabaean

antiquities.—Curious analogy between the second bas-

relief at Tengi-Satlek, and a passage in « Vathek.”—

Communication with Isfahén.— Worn-out pavement.

—Night spent in the open air.~—The young Teshuni

pehlevan

. 851

VOL. 1.

b

XX

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.

FROM TENGI-SAULEK TO MAL-AMIR.

Page

Imam-Zadeh of Baba-Ahmed. — Bal-feriz, — Persian

medicine.—Pursued by Bahméi highlanders.—Sahrai-

Petek.—Daltin.—The

Allar

river.—A poisonous

plant.—Sarila and its inquisitive inhabitants.—Ruins

of an ancient town.—Impudent Mollahs.—Anecdote

of a Dervish.—The Tezeng river.—Mei Dovid.—

Ruins of a Sasanian toll-gate.—Line of communica-

tion between Susiana and Central Persia.—Local Tra-

ditions.—A Talisman.—Rustam’s stables.—Behmei

guide.—Food of the wandering tribes.—Ruins of

Manjanik.—The Abi-Zerd.—Baghi Malek.—Kal’eh-

Tal.—Meet an Englishman there.—Proceed together

to the camp of the Bakhtiyar chief.—Bakhtiyari

tombs.— Symbolical animals of Persia.—Ruins of the

371

plain of Halegtin.—Arrival at Mal-Amir

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y-— =

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

CHAPTER 1.

Preparations previous to undertaking the journey from

Teheran to Persepolis.—Modes of travelling in the East

contrasted with the conveniences a traveller meets in

Europe.—Account of the disinterment of the victims

who fell during the massacre of the Russian Mission at

Teheran in 1829.—A thunderstorm in the month of

December. —Inconveniences attending travelling by post

at night.

Duriné my stay in Persia it had been my

constant and most ardent wish to visit the far-

famed ruins of Persepolis; but circumstances,

over which mortals seldom can exercise any

control, prevented me for a long while from

seeing that wish fulfilled. At length, towards

YOL.

I

B

{

™

2

TRAVELS IN

the close of the year 1840, all impediments

being removed, I prepared myself for the

journey. In order to lose as little time on the

road as possible, I preferred going by post to

the more convenient method of travelling with

my own horses.

To an FEuropean, who has

been accustomed only to the comforts, and even

luxuries, of locomotion in our civilized coun-

tries, it will hardly appear intelligible that

nothing in the shape of coaches, trains, or

steamers, is known in the East, at least as

far as Persia is concerned. There, if you wish

to travel in the least ostentatious manner, or

even with the bare semblance of ease, you

must have riding horses for yourself and ser-

vants, whatever length the journey may be;

next you require other horses or cattle, such

as mules, camels, &c., to carry your bedding

and your servants’, kitchen, and the bedding

of your horses (mot a trifling encumbrance),

because you find on the road no hoétels-garnis,

no inns, not even taverns.

In tracts where no

villages are seen on the high road, the usual

LURISTAN

AND

ARABISTAN.

3

halting-places

are karavanserais, stone buildings

With one huge entry

into a spacious yard, round

which are sm

all cells with doorways, but no

doors; without windows, and with ju

st sufficient

room to pass a comfortless night in. Betwee

n the

inner court and the outward walls of the kara-

vanserai are the dark vaulted stables for cattle,

by far the most comfortable part of the building.

This is the sum total of

all the accommodations

you can expect in the best karavanserais; but

the same advantages do not exist in all, and you

may often reckon yourself very fortunate in

meeting with a much less favoured abode after

a fatiguing day’s Journey through a desert

country. 'This is not a very favourable picture

of Persian travelling; it is,

nevertheless,

a

correct one. Again, when travelling with your

own horses, very little progress is made in a

day’s march,

and I certainly should not recom.-

mend it to any

one pressed for time,

This

mode of advancing would not have suited me

on the present occasion,

The distance from

Teheran to Persepolis, is,

in round numbers,

b

4

TRAVELS IN

one hundred and twenty ’farsangs, or four

hundred and fifty English miles; and reckoning

six farsangs per day, according to the usual

mode of travelling, I could not have reached the

latter place in less than twenty days.

Being

sufficiently inured to hard riding, I determined

to travel post.

My first step was to procure a

written order to the Postmaster-General, to the

effect that the necéssary number of horses

required at every station should be furnished

me

This was soon accomplished, and Shefi

Khan (the name of the Postmaster-General),

who happened to be an acquaintance of mine,

appointed one of his chapars, or postillions, to

accompany me, and see that no delay took place

in the relay of horses on the road. By his sug-

gestion, likewise, I further applied to the

Minister of State to have a clause introduced

into the Royal firman (or usual passport),

addressed to the chiefs of provinces, districts,

towns, tribes, villages, &c., recommending the

traveller

to

their

protection,

namely,

that

wherever post-horses could not be had, the

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

5

chief of the place should procure me the

cattle necessary for pursuing my route. T after-

wards found this precautionary measure of some

service,

My

impatience to commence

the

Jowrney was so great, that regardless of the

menacing aspect of the skies, which foreboded

a storm, and the non-appearance of the post-

horses, with the guide, till late in the evening,

I still persisted in setting off, and issued from

the gate of Teheran at sunset, on the 23d of

December, 1840,

On turning the south-eastern angle of the

walls, T came to a raised ground which forms

the glacis beyond the contre-scarp of the city

ditch. With this spot is associated the recol-

lection of the melancholy catastrophe which

befell the Tmperial Russian Mission at Teheran,

in 1829, when the Envoy, with his suite and

attendants, were barbarously massacred by the

savage rabble of the town.

It appears, that after the bloody deed was

perpetrated, the palace of the Minister plun-

dered, and the dead bodies stripped of their

6

TRAVELS IN

clothes, certain Armenians who lived in the

neighbourhood were compelled to carry away

the corpses, and bury them out of the town.

In consequence, a narrow trench was dug in

the glacis, facing the south-eastern extremity

of the city wall, in which the dead bodies were

deposited, and then covered over with earth.

The transient stay the new Mission made at

Teheran, in 1833, and subsequently the death

of Abbas-Mirza, the Naib-Sultan or heir pre-

sumptive, and of the old Shah, as well as the

succeeding events which took place on the

accession of the reigning Sovereign to the

throne, and the cholera, which raged at Teheran

in 1835, prevented the Imperial Mission from

rendering to their predecessors the last honours

due to their memory.

It had even become a delicate question

to determine whether it was desirable to re-

vive disagreeable reminiscences which for years

had been consigned to oblivion, especially

as a gracious pardon had emanated from the

Imperial Court.

But, in the summer of 1836,

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

7

the Russian Mission, profiting by the tempo-

rary absence of the Shah, who was encamped

in the mountains, thought the opportunity

favourable to have the mortal remains of their

deceased countrymen dug up, and removed to

some consecrated Christian burial-grouﬁd.

As the Armenian cemetery was within the

precincts of the town, it was necessary to apply

to the Beglerbeg, or Governor of Teheran, for

permission to introduce the corpses into the

city, there existing in the East, as well as in

many Furopean States, a positive prohibition

against dead bodies being conveyed within the

city-gates. Several years previous the body of

Mr. Rich, the late British Political Agent at

Bagdad, who died near Shiraz,

in southern

Persia, was refused admission into the city

under that very plea, and w

as in consequence

interred outside, in the garden where the Per-

sian poet Hafis lies buried,

In the present case the Beglerbeg acceded to

the request of the Russian Minister, and T was

intrusted with the sad

yet consoling office of

8

TRAVELS IN

fulfilling the last Christian duties to my de-

parted countrymen.

The day had been sultry, and, as we were

encamped at some distance, I could only reach

the city wall about an hour and a-half before

sunset.

Grave-diggers were already in attend-

ance, and on my arrival proceeded to re-open

the trench.

After the upper layer of earth had

been removed, the trench became apparent;—

it was just broad enough to contain two bodies

abreast, but in length may probably have ex-

ceeded thirty or thirty-five feet. At this distance

of time I can only speak from memory, but

the horrible spectacle which presented itself to

view had too great an effect on me, ever to be

forgotten.

The corpses had not been placed in

coffins, but lay two by two in a row, the heads

of the second pair close to the feet of the

foremost.

Some were wrapped up in shrouds,

others stretched out naked. Time had, how-

ever, not been idle, and its ravenous tooth had

already gnawed away the fleshy parts; the

skin likewise was gone, and the bare ghastly

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

9

skeletons alone remained.

Even these were

not perfectly preserved ; with some a leg,

with others an arm or the skull were missing,

showing, even when all traces of human fea-

tures had been nearly effaced by time, how

barbarously those bodies had been treated, when

the soul still animated them, or just after death

had closed their eyes for ever.

In the second row, below the first, the black

earth was greasy and moist; the shrouds nearly

black and spotted with mould, gave w

ay at

the touch of the spade and fell to pieces.

Tufts of hair which had been clogged together

by the coagulated blood, lay detached but close

to the skulls.

On examining more minutely,

I found that some of the hair was of a red

colour, a circumstance which made me

suspect

that I had before me the skeleton of the

young

physician of the Mission, who was red headed,

and had fought,

it is said, to the last with

uncommon bravery,

His skull was fractured

in several places;

nor was his the only one,

10

TRAVELS IN

for T found others which had been deeply in-

dented by sabre cuts.*

The three large boxes that were procured

for carrying away the bodies were twice filled

with the bones of the deceased, while the work

was going on, and taken to the Armenian

cemetery, to be there emptied into one common

grave of capacious dimensions, which had been

dug out and the walls worked in masonry for

the purpose.

They were preceded by the

Armenian priest in his pontifical robes, bear-

ing a cross in his hand, and accompanied

by several furashes or servants, whom the

Beglerbeg had sent to maintain order in case

* It is well known that the body of Mr. Griboédoff,

the Minister, was recognised from among the rest by his

uniform, and after being dragged along the bazaars by the

infuriated populace, was secured by the authorities when

order was re-established, and at a later period reclaimed

by the Imperial Goyernment.

He lies at present Tnterred

at Tiflis in Georgia, where a superb monument is erected

to his memory at the top of a hill close to the convent

of St. David, if my recollection serves me right.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN,

11

of accident. The precaution, although a very

prudent one, turned out to be superfluous, for

the people of the town who met the proces-

sion, passed quietly on, without any hostile

manifestation.

In the meanwhile the sun had set, and as

in the East it is very soon followed by dark-

ness, we were obliged to continue our work

by the aid of lanterns and flambeaux dipped

in naphtha.

Having procured a fourth box,

we contrived to place the remaining bones

in it, after having likewise replenished the

former three, thus making ten chests in all,

and commenced the final procession towards

the town by the light of torches. Being late,

the gates had been closed, but they were

soon re-opened, and the whole party entered.

We

moved on slowly along the street in

solemn silence ;

the few persons whom we

found in the dukans (shops), or met on the

road, gazed at us as we advanced, and followed

with their ey

es the procession, but remained

quiet.

12

TRAVELS IN

I could not help contrasting this dead silence

with the tumult which had raged in this very

street seven years before.

How different the

scene was then!

When it had become apparent that Mr.

Griboédoff refused to deliver up the individuals

who had sought an asylum at the hotel of

the Mission, and whom it was his sacred duty

to protect as Russian subjects, the mob were

instigated by the clergy, and by those whose

interest it was to have the fugitives given up,

to assail the palace of the Minister, and by

their clamour to intimidate him into a com-

One of the Cos-

pliance with their demands.

sacks placed to guard the entrance, being hard

pressed by the mob, fired and shot a man

among the assembled crowd, who, it is said,

dispersed for a short time, but only to increase

their numbers.

The corpse of the deceased

Persian was placed on a bier in the court of

the mosque, and a hue and cry being raised

that the blood of a Mussulman had been spilt,

nothing short of the blood of the Kafirs, or

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

13

Infidels, could quench their thirst for revenge.

With feelings like these, so soon kindled in the

fiery and revengeful breast of an Asiatic,

worked up to the highest pitch, it is easy to

conceive that it could not end otherwise than

in a tragedy. To the sentiment of vengeance

was added the prospect of plunder, in which,

no doubt, the mob was effectually assisted by

the lawless Bahtiyars, a great number of that

wild tribe being domiciliated as hostages at

Teheran, close behind the walls of the house

which had been allotted for the reception and

temporary residence of the Imperial Mission.

To proceed, however: when the contents of

all the boxes had been emptied into the grave,

which they nearly filled, all who were present

approached the brink, while the priest read the

funeral service.

The silver moon illumined the

solemn scene, and threw some faint gleams over

the glossy skulls and bones that lay in a heap

before us.

I reckoned about twenty-six skulls,

more or less mutilated ; so that we were engaged

in consigning to the earth, in one mutual grave,

14

TRAVELS IN

the wrecks of as many bodies.

At the close

of the passage, “Dust ye are, and to dust

shall ye return,” we joined the priest in

strewing earth into the grave, which was then

closed with planks, and covered by a marble

slab.

Although to the souls who have quitted their

mortal tenement it must be, in all probability,

a matter of little moment where their bones may

rot, and in what way their ashes are dispersed,

yet it is far from being so to those whom they

leave behind; and respect to the dead seems

to be a natural feeling among the living.

But

perhaps nowhere is this feeling so deeply rooted

as among the inhabitants of the Fast.

The

custom which prevails among Mussulmans of

carrying the dead to be buried in places reputed

sacred, such as Mesched, Kum, Kerbelai, and

Mecca, is partly founded on the feeling of re-

verence they bear to the deceased.

The Per-

sians, therefore, far from being astonished at our

disinterring the mortal remains .of our coun-

trymen and removing them to a consecrated

~

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

1

P}

Christian burying-ground, were only surprised it

had not been done before.

A circumstance which occurred at the very

time will give an idea how Mussulmans think

on this subject.

While we were engaged in

digging up the bones, a caravan of zuvars, or

pilgrims, came out of the Shah-Abdul-Azim

gate, each leading a horse having two coffins

swung across the packsaddle, with dead bodies

in them, which they were transporting to Kum

and to Kerbelai, there to be buried. As they

passed near our party, they were curious to

know what we were about, and, on learning

that we were engaged in disinterring the dead,

in order to replace them in holy ground, some

observed that that was right, and that it seemed

Christians knew likewise it was a duty to re-

spect the dead. I subsequently heard the same

opinion confirmed by others.

To return, however, to my journey. We had

not advanced far, when the impending black

clouds which had been thickening over our

heads burst, and we were visited by a most

16

TRAVELS IN

tremendous storm of hail, accompanied by

thunder and lightning, notwithstanding the ad-

vanced season of the year.

The rain poured

in torrents, and we were soon beset by utter

darkness.

In this predicament we could not

proceed long without losing our way, although

our new guide persisted for some time that he

was leading us by the right path.

The vivid

flashes of lightning showed at intervals but

too plainly that we were in a desert plain,

without traces of a road or any dwelling to

protect us for the night.

At last the barking

of a dog revived our hopes, and following the

direction from whence the welcome sounds

proceeded, we arrived at a village, where after

some difficulty, we got admittance into an

old barn.

Next morning, the rain having ceased, we

remounted our horses and came to Kenare-

gird, where they were to be changed; but as

no fresh cattle were forthcoming, the place,

moreover, being nearly deserted, we had to wait

until our own beasts were refreshed, and then

LURISTAN

AND

ARABISTAN.

¥i

proceeded with them.

I could not complain

of my steed, who was steady, and ambled

along pleasantly,

Next to the long quick

pacer,

the ambling horse in Persia is the

most esteemed ; and the animal, whether horse

or mule, possessing that quality, (which is

acquired,) fetches a higher price in the market.

The Persians pay as much attention to the

easy paces of their horses, as we do to the easy

springs of our equipages.

Our next halting place was Hauz-Sultan, a

karavanserai, on the skirts of the great Salt

Desert, or Kabir, which separates T

eheran from

Kam, and extends far to the east, between

Khorasan and Yezd,

There being no post-

station at the karavanserai,

we were com-

pelled once more to allow our horses to fetch

breath ; and thgreforc could not reach the next

karavanserai of Puli-Delauk before pitch dark,

after having again lost our way in the wilder-

ness.

I have often tried to break through the

VOL. 1.

C

18

TRAVELS IN

Persian prejudice, as I used to call it, or lazy

custom of halting at night-fall, although urged

by pressing business; but I have invariably

found by experience, that little or nothing is

gained by pushing onward.

The nights in

the

Fast are

dark,

especially in

autumn

and winter ;

and

as no hand-posts or any

other

sign mark

the

way,

nothing is so

easy as to get astray in the uniform plains

barren hills.

or the intricate defiles of the

It has been

lot on

some occasions to

my

stick fast

in the deep

snow without

the

possibility of advancing or retreating until the

dawn of day came to rescue me from the

uncomfortable position.

At other times, after

toiling the entire night in search of the right

path, I have returned, towards morning, to the

spot from whence I had started the preceding

evening, where I was exposed to the provoking

smiles of those who had vainly dissuaded me

from the useless enterprise.

My observations, however, are only applicable

LURISTAN

AND

ARABISTAN.

19

to such as venture in very small parties, because

the caravans, in summer, usually prefer travel-

ling at night to encountering the heat of the

day; but then the muleteers and their mules

seem to know their road by instinct.

c 2

CHAPTER IL

Mysterious village of Km-rGd.—Persian superstition about

the ghtls, or land mermaids of the Kabir or Great Desert.

—Mr. Morier’s account of them.—Ruined karavanserais

of Deir and Kodj in the same desert.—Return of the

zuvir from a pilgrimage to Mecca and Kerbelai.—Dis-

tinction between the Meschedi, Kerbelai, and Hajji.—

Relative importance attached to those names.— Arrival at

Kam.—Institution of the chapar-khanehs or post-stations

in Persia.

Remarks on the ruins of Sinsine.—Melons

and wheat grown on the same beds at Kashan.—Reputed

cowardice of the inhabitants.—They are good copp\er-

smiths.—Velvet manufacturers of Kashan.—Summer and

winter road to Isfahan.— Kihrad, with the dyke of Shah-

Abbas.—Account of Kﬁhrﬁd.—l’assage through the

snow.—DBuran karavanserai of Ak-Kemel.—Village of S6.

—Night accident on crossing a river.—Murchehar.—

(ihez.—Arrival at Isfahan.

Tue river which flows close to the karavansarai

in which we passed the night, and over which

the Puli-Delauk, or bridge of the barber, is

thrown, runs in a north-eastern direction, and,

joining the river of Kercj, which we had crossed

TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

21

at Kenare-gird, with a few more streams coming

from Veromine, loses itself in the Salt Desert,

converting a vast space of country into swamps.

Near the junction of these rivers is a strong

fortified village, called Ktm-rtd, of which

strange tales are related.

The inhabitants, it is

said, belong to a distinct race, never associating

with others.

Some maintain that they are

jealous

followers of the Ali-allahi

doctrine,

recognising the divinity of Ali, the cousin of

the Arab Prophet: others think they are the

descendants of the ancient Parsi, or Gebrs, the

disciples of the Zoroastrian Creed, who have

always triumphantly resisted the adoption of the

Mussulman tenets.

As none of those whom 1

questioned had been at Kam-rad, or seen any of

its inhabitants, and only spoke from hearsay,

their information was very vague and unsatis-

factory. At a later period, when I visited the

mountain of Siah-Kih, in the great Salt Desert,

I was desirous of extending my excursion to

Kam-rad; but after penetrating some way in

that direction, and exploring the ruined building

of Deir, an edifice of the Sasanian epoch, I

22

TRAVELS IN

could go no further on account of the intense

heat, and the total absence of drinkable water.

Want of opportunity prevented me from prose-

cuting this design afterwards; but I believe

that KGm-rad, with the ruins of Koj, which

are in the same vicinity, are more accessible

from Puli-Delauk than from any other points;

and I think both deserve the attention of future

travellers, were it merely to ascertain what

sort of men these Kam-rtdi are, who have

adopted the Chinese system of secluding them-

selves from the rest of the world.

As they live in the desert, the common

people of Persia connect them with all the

absurd accounts current concerning the ghuls

and other evil spirits who are said to haunt

those dreary and dismal wastes.

These superstitions are very old, and appear

to have existed in remote antiquity among the

Zend and other Asiatic races.*

I cannot give a better account of these ghtls

than by quoting the passage of Mr. Morier on

the subject, in his humorous and pleasant style

¥ Wee note at the end of the chapter.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

23

of narration, when travelling over the same

ground.

“ The following day,” says he, “ we passed

over it (part of the Salt Desert,) without in-

convenience, though the Persians were mnot

without some apprehensions of the goule, a

species of land mermaid, which they affirm

entices the traveller by its cries, and then tears

him to pieces with its claws.

They say that

the goule has the faculty of changing itself

into different shapes and colours; sometimes

that it comes in a camel’s form, sometimes as a

cow, then as a-horse; and when on a sudden

we had discovered something on the horizon

of the desert which we could not define, all

the Persians at once exclaimed that it was a

goule. 'With the gravest faces we were in

-

formed of the spells by which they had kept

them at a distance, the most efficacious of which

they said was loosening the string

of their

shalwars, or riding trousers.”

* See Morier’s « Seéond Journey through Persia,” &o.

p. 168.

24

TRAVELS

IN

The name of Kodj is usually mentioned with

that of the karavanserai of Deir, making it

Deiri-Kodj.

We find them noticed by the

Arab writers,* and they were probably on the

direct line of communication which existed in

former ages, between the southern parts of the

empire and its

Caspian

provinces,

passing

through the Greek towns in Veromine.

On approaching Kam the next morning, the

25th December, I met a numerous caravan of

pilgrims returning from Kerbelai, where they

had been to offer their prayers at the shrine

of Husein, the martyred son of Ali, and to

carry the dead bodies of their relatives to be

interred in that holy city of the Shiah Mus-

sulmans.

A great concourse of people had

quitted the walls of the town: they were the

friends of the pilgrims, and came out to con-

* Dir-Kard-Shir, says Ya Kiti, is a monastery, situated

in the midst of a barren plain, between Rei and Km.

It owes its foundation to Ardashir, the son of Babek, is

very strong, and surrounded by high walls,

It has a cistern

cut in the rock.

See ¢ Notices et Extraits des Manuserits

de la Bibliotéque du Roi,” tom. ii.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

25

gratulate the travellers on their safe

return,

and on the acquisition of the title of Kerbelai.

There are three places to which the Persian

Shiahs resort in pilgrimage.

The town

of

Mesched is reckoned the least in the scale of

sanctity ; and those who have been there to

the tomb of Imam-Riza, obtain the name of

Meschedi.

The next after them are the Ker-

belai, who stand a degree higher in estimation ;

while those only who have visited the Caaba

and the tomb of the Arab Prophet at Mecca

and Medina, can lay claim to the title of Iajji.

It is quite ludicrous at times to observe the

importance which is attached to these distine-

tions, especially among the inferior classes of

the community.

A man will feel offended if you call him

Meschedi, when he has a right to the superior

degree of Kerbelai, or the still higher and

more pompous appellation of Hayjji.

Thus Mes-

chedi, Kerbelai, Hajji, become titles of distinc-

tion, of which the possessors are not a little

vain, and often foolish enough to suppose that

26

TRAVELS IN

they add to their personal merit.

But instead

of condemning the deluded judgment of others,

we ought to look to ourselves, and see whether

we are not actuated by the same impulses, and

labouring under the same lamentable infirmities

in respect to our worldly notions of rank and

titles.

At Ktim, the Holy City, with the shrine of

Fatmeh, sister to one of the great Imans, I

stopped for a short time only, at a ruined kara-

vanserai, now turned into a chapar-khaneh, or

place where post-horses are held. The post in

Persia is kept up by Government, which pays

for the maintenance of each chapar-khaneh, or

post station, in money and in kind; the admi-

nistration of it is in the hands of the Post-

master-General, who farms the chapar-khanehs,

separately or collectively, on a given line of

communication with the capital.

There are chapar-khanehs on all the principal

roads leading to Teheran, but the towns in the

The

interior do not enjoy the same advantage.

here

is not instituted as in

post,

however,

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

27

Furope, for the vegular conveyance of letters

and parcels.

It is only for the transmission of

orders from the central authorities to the different

governors of provinces, and for reports sent up

On such

by the latter to the Supreme Court.

occasions a golam (literally, a slave), or contfi-

dential servant, is intrusted with the packets and

despatched chapari, which means by post.

Indi-

viduals who have letters to forward in the same

direction, take advantage of these opportunities

by paying a trifling remuneration to the bearer,

who takes charge of their correspondence. Seven

is the usual number of horses at each station,

although it varies according to the exigences

of the times or the importance of the line of

communication.

The three principal points

with which Teheran keeps up a continued cor-

respondence are, Tabriz to the west, Isfahan, to

the south, and Mesched to the east.

With the exception of one or two horses at

each station, which are sometimes, but not

always, tolerable, the rest are in a most miser-

able condition ; and the poor rider who has the

28

TRAVELS IN

bad luck to bestride one of them

is more

knocked up by his jade than he is by the legiti-

mate fatigues of the long journey.

If, not-

withstanding all his endeavours, his horse will

not or cannot advance, he has the privilege of

cutting off its tail and flourishing it before the

face of the zobet, or keeper of the next post-

station.

This is the satisfaction granted him

for having had to walk perhaps half the way on

foot, with his saddle on one shoulder and his

bag of despatches on the other.

~The road from Kiam to Kashan offers few

objects of interest, if we except the ruins of

Sinsine, which must once have been an ex-

tensive town,

but

when,

is a question, T

believe, which has not yet been well settled.

As I was running chapari—as the Persians

express one who travels post—I could not be

expected to attend to these ruins; but by what

I learned from an intelligent missionary of the

Propaganda, who discovered some subterranean

chambers hid among the heaps of rubbish of

the town of Sinsine, it is more than probable

LURISTAN

AND

ARABISTAN.

29

that the antiquary would find here an inte-

resting field for investigation. I take the liberty

of pointing out to future travellers places where

few researches have yet been made, but which

seem to deserve attention,

because

it often

happens that in our hurry to pay homage to the

historical and more prominent monuments of

past ages, we often pass unheeded the less appa-

rent, but perhaps not the less curious remains

of antiquity.

This observation is chiefly ap-

plicable to Persia; for, notwithstanding the vast

number of travellers whom curiosity leads to

visit one of the most ancient and most powerful

monarchies of the world, Persia has still been

very imperfectly explored.

On approaching Kashan, we passed by consi-

derable fields dug up and laid out in melon

beds.

Not to lose an inch of ground, or a

drop of the water used for irrigation, the

inhabitants of Kashan grow wheat on the

same beds, which are accordingly encircled

by a green fringe.

The blades, moreover,

shooting up, yield in thick clusters shade

‘

[2

30

TRAVELS IN

and freshness to the melons, while they at

the same time afford an agreeable object for

the eye to rest on.

I do not recollect having

witnessed this peculiarity elsewhere in Persia.

The inhabitants of the towns are of very

industrious habits, which partly compensates

for their want of courage, for a Kashi is

synonymous with a coward, and many are the

tales that are told illustrative of their timorous

dispositions, by their more courageous neigh-

bours.

These accusations are only true, rela-

tively speaking, for, in the absolute sense of

the word, all the Persians are more or less

Kashi.

Among other traits of cowardice laid

to their charge, the Kashi are said to be

always the best equipped from head to foot

with defensive armour and offensive weapons,

when on their

pilgrimage to Mesched or

Mecca, and to be loud in the praises of

their own undaunted valour until the hour of

danger arrives.

When, however, the enemy,

in the shape of Turcomans or Arabs, make

their appearance, they are always the first to

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PAVILION OF FINN, NEAR KASHAN (PERSIA)

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LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

31

As the town of Kam is noted

run away.

for

1ts

sacred

shrine of TFatimeh and

1ts

earthen pots which preserve water cool in

summer, so is Kashan celebrated for the skill

of its inhabitants as coppersmiths, and for its

silk and cotton velvet manufactories.

A short ride to the right of Kashan is a

pretty spot called Finn, to which the late

Feth’-ali-Shah used sometimes to resort.

The

gardens are laid out in pleasant walks, shaded

by elegant cypress and poplar trees, as well

as by the majestic chinar.

The pavilions are

light and fantastic, with fresh crystal waters

running through the lower apartments, while

the upper stories are open on all four sides,

to allow a free passage for the current of air,

which is such a luxury in the hot plains of

Kashan.

But what lessens considerably the favourable

impression Finn would otherwise produce is,

that before reaching it, the traveller must pass

close to a pyramid of white mortar, with a

32

TRAVELS IN

number

of Beluchi

heads stuck

into

1t—a

most appalling sight!

At Kashan we changed horses.

The one

I rode had brought me from Kim, a distance

of twenty farsangs, and was still quite frisky;

but my servants did not fare so well, although

they had obtained fresh horses at the inter-

vening stages.

Two roads lead from Kashan to Isfahan,

one over the mountains, passing by Kihrad,

the other over Natens.

The latter, although

the more circuitous of the two, is the usual

winter road, as it avoids the high mountains,

which are generally covered with deep snow

season.

Kahrad, nevertheless,

during that

offering a shorter cut across the hills, the

post stages are established along this line, a

circumstance of which I was not sorry, for

I had already traversed the former road in

the spring of the same year; moreover, 1 did

not mind having a little seramble in the

snow; for an inhabitant of the north it was

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KIOSK OF FINN, NEAR KASHAN (PERSIA).

i

3.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

3

.

more pleasing than otherwise to meet with

an old friend and hoary companion of one’s

youthful days.

i

entertained, likewise, the

hope of examining the famous dyke which

was erected by Shah Abbas the Great, to

gather the melting snow into one immense

reservoir, out of which the water flows into

the plains of Kashan, which it serves to

fertilize.

I was, however, rather disappointed

in my expectations, as I passed the spot

during the night, and, although the moon

added much to the picturesque effect of the

scene in the mountains, it did not yield suffi-

cient light to enable me to follow the artificial

work of the Bendi-Kahrad in all its details.

The plains of Kashan are among the hottest

places of Persia in summer, and are said to

breed quantities of scorpions of the large black

species, which are more venomous than the pale

grey ones.

Chardin has already observed, two

centuries ago, in his admirable work on Persia,

that one of the modes of expressing one’s hatred

to an enemy was to wish him to be bitten by

VOL.

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D

34

TRAVELS IN

a scorpion of Kashan, or to be made Governor

of the province of Ghilan; the latter, on the

Caspian, being reckoned the most unwholesome

province of Persia and the most subject to

malignant fevers.

On leaving Kashan the weather was quite

warm,

but the atmosphere grew gradually

cooler as we rose up the mountains, and, on

reaching the dyke of Kiahrad, we found our-

selves in the depth of winter.

The crests and

the flanks of the hills were covered- with snow ;

under our feet there was less, but the road was

slippery ; and the horses, not being sharp-shod,

moved with great difficulty up the steep ascent,

stumbling and sliding at every step.

At some

distance from the village of Kahrad, I was

surprised at seeing, at that time of night, a

light burning in a burying-ground to our right.

It issued from a low temporary hut, constructed

over a tomb, and the shadow of a human form

was seen moving to and fro in slow measured

cadence.

On nearing the spot our ears were

struck with low incantations and most guttural

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

sounds.

They proceeded from a Mullah who

was reading the Kiran.

It is sometimes customary in Persia for the

relatives of a deceased person to engage a

Mullah to recite prayers over his tomb, or to

read the Ktran for a certain number of days for

the repose of the departed soul.

The district of Kihrid, together with Natens,

which is distant from the village of Kihrad

about ten farsangs to the Kast behind the

mountains, has sixty-three villages, which, at

the time I passed through that country, were

in the hands of a relative of the Prime Minister,

by name Abdullah-Ihan.

Kahrad has many

orchards with fruit-trees, but is deficient in

fields for sowing corn, which is brought from

Josheghdn, a small district about three farsangs

to the West.

The houses are large, mostly built with two

stories, and have an appearance of cleanliness

about them which is not often observable in the

villages on the plain.

The people likewise are

a fine race of men and women, who seem to be

D 2

36

TRAVELS [N

well off. In this particular also they are an

exception to the less fortunate occupiers of the

lowlands.

The Kihridi speak a peculiar cor-

ruption of the Persian language, a patois of

their own.

The direct road to Sé, the next station, being

completely choked up by deep snow, a more

easy path was pointed out to us by the kara-

vanserai of Ak-Kemal, which took us, by a

roundabout way, first to S.S.'W. by S., and from

the karavanserai to S.E. by E.S.E.

I do not know in what state the direct road

may have been, but the one we followed was

anything but easy. First of all there was no

road; a caravan which was said to have pre-

ceded us in the same direction that morning,

had, it seems, the start of us of several hours,

and the wind being strong in these alpine regions,

had obliterated the traces of their march by

drifts of snow, just as sand is shifted about by

the whirlwinds of the desert.

We moved on

accordingly at random, the poor horses sinking

up to their girths at every step they took, until,

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

37

after much plunging and rearing, we came on

the traces of the caravan, and soon espied it

at a distance, moving like a string of geese

along the snowy ocean.

Pushing onward, as

well as the path would allow us, we at last came

up with the party, which consisted of a dozen

chalvadars, or muleteers, who were carrying

some bales of merchandise to Isfahan on the

backs of their horses and mules.

The difficul-

ties of the march soon recommenced; we had

not yet reached the high table land, and the

intervening space was hill and dale.

The snow,

although lying deep on the former, could not

be compared to what had accumulated in the

narrow valleys, and the poor beasts who led

the van of the column and served as pioneers,

sunk so completely into the snow that they

could advance no further.

What was to be

done ?'—the whole caravan was obliged to halt.

The men gathered together to extricate the poor

animals out of their uncomfortable position, and

I admired the ingenious plan they had recourse

to

After freeing the beasts of their burthens,

38

TRAVELS IN

they stripped themselves of their felt great coats,

and, spreading them on the ground, got the feet

of their horses upon them.

Although the felted

garments gave way beneath the weight of the

animal, still it in this manner got some sort of

footing.

In this fashion we got over the most

deep and difficult portions of the road, and it may

easily be conceived how slowly we advanced. It

was lucky that the weather cleared up, and the

wind abated, for a buran, or snow-drift, in these

bleak and barren wastes is at times attended

with fatal consequences.

The chalvadars usu-

ally when overtaken by a buran, throw their

goods in the middle of the way, and themselves

seek for safety with their cattle in the nearest

village or karavanserai, only returning when the

weather clears up, to fetch their bales of mer-

chandise, which are sufficiently safe during their

absence, as no one will venture out as long as

the buran lasts, which is sometimes several days.

After swallowing a few cold boiled eggs, and

some greasy cold pillau, in a corner of the

karavanserai of Ak-Kemal, we again vaulted

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

39

into our saddles, and as the country presented

fewer obstacles, arrived at the pretty village of

S6, about sun-set.

As we had gone over so little ground this day,

and I wished to arrive in the course of the follow-

ing day at Isfahan, a distance of from eighteen

to nineteen farsangs, we only allowed ourselves

time to snatch a few hours’ rest, and, taking

fresh post-horses, set off at night.

All went

well, until we arrived at a mountain-river, which

We

we had to cross, just above a cataract.

had before us a considerable sheet of water,

which had been frozen up, presenting here and

there broad crevices and pools, which in the

day-time could easily be avoided, but at night

We had, of course,

were hardly discernible.

to dismount, and lead our horses by the bridle;

but as they were not sharp-shod, they slipped

from right to left, dragging us after them, and,

before the passage could be effected, both myself

and my horse got up to our middle in water.

On gaining the other shore, I had to change

my shirt and under dress, “a la belle étoile,”

40

TRAVELS IN

and squeezing out the water from the cloth

trousers, pulled them on as well as I could.

As the wind was fresh and the night frosty, my

clothes got stiff and stuck to the body. To crown

the discomfort of this night’s journey, the animal

I rode stumbled dreadfully, so that as soon

as 1 set it into a canter, we regularly came

down together to the ground. We arrived at

Murchehar in the morning, and I was shown

into the inner court of an Imam-Zade, where

I had the great luxury of changing my apparel

and taking some rest and food.

Murchehar is a very considerable village, and

has often been described.

It is celebrated for

a battle which was fought on its plains between

Nadir Shah and the Affghans, who were routed,

and after their defeat retired from Isfahan and

left the country. From Murchehar we came

to Ghez, likewise a large village, with a

thousand houses, and a very fine karavanserai,

and at last reached the gates of Isfahan some

time after sunset, having travelled from Teheran,

a distance of fifty-eight or sixty farsangs, equal

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

41

to two hundred and twenty-five miles, in five

days.

T had to traverse the whole breadth of the

town from north to south; first by cut-throat

lanes between high-raised walls which enclose

the gardens of the suburbs; then by covered

bazaars, which, being mostly untenanted, were

pitch dark, and fast crumbling into ruins;

next through broader bazaars, lit up here and

there, by some solitary lamp, till I reached

the chebar-bagh of Shah Abbas, that cele-

brated alley, bordered by Fastern plane-trees,

which brought me to the magnificent stone-

Here I felt more

bridge over the Zoyenderad.

at home, as I had so frequently crossed the

river over this bridge in the spring and summer

of the same year.

On the opposite side is the

suburb of Julfa, the Armenian quarter of

Isfahan, and thither I hastened to take up my

abode with my friend M. Fugéne Boré, whom

I found still up, and much surprised to see

me arrive so late.

He received me with his

usual cordiality, and after some delicious cups

42

TRAVELS

IN

of hot tea, which are as welcome to the stomach

after the fatigues of a tedious journey as the

society of a friend after a long absence is

to the heart, I felt quite happy at being

able to stretch my limbs, for so many hours

cramped in the saddle, and betake myself to

rest.

———————"

NOTE TO CHAPTER IL

Page 22.—We find a curious description of these evil

spirits of the desert in Marco Polo’s “Travels through

Central Asia, in the Thirteenth Century” :—

“ It is asserted,” says the author, “as a well known fact,

that this desert (Kobi, in the vicinity of the town of Lop)

is the abode of many evil spirits, which amuse travellers

If

to their destruction with most extraordinary illusions.

during the day-<time, any person remains behind on the

road, either when overtaken by sleep, or detained by their

natural occasions, until the karavan has passed a hill, and

is no longer in sight, they unexpectedly hear themselves

called to by their names, and in a tone of voice to which

they are accustomed.

Supposing the call to proceed from

their companions, they are led away by it from the direct

road, and not knowing in what direction to advance, are

left to perish.

“In the night time they are persuaded they hear the

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

43

march of a large cavalcade on one side or on the other of

the road, and concluding the noise to be that of footsteps

of their party, they direct theirs to the quarter from whence

it seems to proceed : but, upon the breaking of day, find

they have been misled and drawn into a situation of danger.

Sometimes likewise during the day, these spirits assume

the appearance of their travelling companions, who address

them by name, and endeavour to conduct them out of the

proper way-road.

It is said also that some persons in their

course across the desert have seen what appeared to them

to be a body of armed men, advancing towards them, and

apprehensive of being attacked and plundered, have taken

to flight ; losing by this the right path, and ignorant of the

direction they should take to regain it, they have perished

miserably of hunger.

Marvellous, indeed, and almost pass-

ing belief, are the stories related of these spirits of the

desert, which are said at times to fill the air with the

sounds of all kinds of musical instruments, and also of

drums and the clash of arms, obliging the travellers to close

their line of march, and to proceed in more compact order.”

—(See the English version of Marco Polo’s Travels, by

Marsden, chap. xxxv., p. 159.)

CHAPTER ITI.

A school established at Julfa for the instruction of the

Armenian youth.—Religious tolerance of the Isfahani

Mussulman clergy.—Reasons for it.—Progress of Suf-

feism.—Lutis of Isfahan.—Bast, or places of refuge.—

Form the project of visiting Shushter and the mountains

of the Bakhtiyaris.—Quit Isfahan.—XKal’eh Rustim.—

Cheshme-Multan.—Mayar.—Brilliant night meteors.—

Kumisheh.—Account of a battle fought near it at the

accession of Mohammed Shah to the throne.—Gum-

ammoniac plant.— Description of the fortress and village

of Yezdehast.—Summer and winter road to Shirdz,—

Abadeh.—Surmeh.—Karavanserai of Dehbid.

UnpEr the hospitable roof, and surrounded by

the friendly attentions of my host, M. E. Boré,

I rested a few days at Isfahan before I resumed

my journey to Persepolis.

The time that was

not employed in visiting those acquaintances

with whom I had associated on my former stay

in this town, was spent in the edifying com-

pany of this worthy disciple of Christ, who had

willingly given up his worldly prospects, the

TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

45

comforts and pleasures of his native land, to toil,

the cross in hand, for the spiritual regeneration

of his benighted brethren in the Fast.

I met likewise at his house an intelligent

French traveller, Monsieur le Comte de Sivrac,

who had visited Turkey, Egypt, Nubia, Abys-

sinia, and Arabia, and was now travelling

through Persia with the object of acquiring a

comprehensive idea of the state of Muhamme-

danism in the

three

old continents of the

world.

The second day of my arrival, M. Boré

showed me the school he had established for

the Armenian youth at Julfa.

Although hardly

five months had elapsed since its foundation,

there were already thirty-one pupils, of whom

five were Mussulmans.

The progress they had

made during this short period in reading, trans-

lating from French into Armenian and Persian,

as well as in the first clements of geography,

was quite surprising, and showed what perse-

verance in a good cause, with God’s assistance,

is able to effect.

A munshi (a teacher) taught

46

TRAVELS IN

them the Persian, an Armenian master the

Armenian language, although both under the

immediate direction of M. Boré (well versed

in most of the Oriental languages), who took

upon himself the task of teaching the children

the French language and geography, but, above

all, to instruct his young Christian flock in the

sublime doctrines of our revealed faith, whilst

the young Mussulman scholars had their own

Persian Mullah.

The fact of Mussulman

parents sending their children to learn at a

Christian institution, and that too at Isfahan,

the seat of Mussulman orthodoxy, is a great

proof of the tolerance of the Persians in reli-

gious matters, to which even the chief priest

set an example.

The former

Imam-Juma

(lately deceased), to whose ancient family the

people of Isfahan bear a profound veneration,

attaching an idea of sanctity to it, used to take

a peculiar delight in the conversation of the

(Catholic missionaries of Julfa on religious sub-

jects.

Sayyid Mohammed Baghir, the first

Mushteid, or propounder of the law, to whose

47

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

decisions on 'pbints of Mussulman doctrine all

Persia looks up, is also distinguished for the

spirit of toleration, justice, and impartiality,

with which he treats the Christian population

of Julfa whenever they address themselves to

his tribunal.

Independently of the personal character of

the individuals mentioned, several other causes

may have wrought this beneficial change in the

policy of the Mussulman clergy.

Firstly, the progress Suffeism has made of

late years in the kingdom.

The followers of

this sect, who formerly dared not avow their

sentiments, now openly profess their doctrines,

the main object of which is to keep more to

the spirit than to the letter of the law;

although many have gone beyond the prescribed

limits, and have become Freethinkers, or else

indifferent, on matters of religion.

Even many

members of the clergy profess, if not out-

wardly, at least in private, the tenets of the

Suffi.

Secondly, it may be attributable to the start

48

TRAVELS IN

which the secular power has gained over the

clerical in late years; for even during the reign

of the late King, the influence of the clergy

over public opinion was still very great, and

at times overbearing. As an instance of the

change which has taken place in favour of

Royalty, we may here mention, that although

Fet’h-Ali-Shah was infinitely more proud than

the reigning sovereign, and notwithstanding

that in Persia all is based on etiquette, still

he always paid the first visit to the Mushteid

whenever he went to Isfahan.

In 1841, when

Muhammed-Shah was approaching that city,

the same Mushteid came out of the gates to

congratulate his Majesty on his arrival.

The

old King, it is true, to keep up appearances,

usually made believe that chance alone brought

him into the vicinity of the Mushteid’s dwelling,

and that, being so near, it would be unkind

not to see his old friend after a long absence ;

but then this chance had become a rule from

which the King never deviated, and which the

Mushteid reckoned as his due.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

49

A circumstance which has tended likewise, in

a great measure, to paralyze of late years the

power of the Isfahan clergy, is the successful

blow that has been levelled against the Lutis.

The Lutis are a band of the most unprin-

cipled and worst description of individuals, who

club together, and are mixed up with all the

broils which happen in Persian towns where

At TIsfahan

the police has not much power.

they once formed a regular gang, committing

outrages in open day with impunity, because

they were protected by the clergy. Their

excesses and audacity had arrived at such a

pitch, that after the death of Fet’h-Ali-Shah,

one of these Lutis,

named Ramazan, was

proclaimed King by his associates, and styled

Ramazan-Shah.

Gold and silver

coins were

even struck in his name, and it was only by

a rival Luti that he was put down.

This was

all a farce; but the people suffered by it, and

the civil authorities of the town were brought

into contempt.

Khozrow-Khan, one of the old

king’s principal eunuchs, succeeded in estab-

VOL,

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B

50

TRAVELS IN

lishing some order ; but at his recall the Lutis

again obtained sway, during the weak adminis-

It is

tration of Isfahan by Fazl-Ullah-Khan.

reported that at his approach the Isfahan

Lutis, who are known for their ready wit and

daring spirit, went out in a body to meet

him, and being aware with whom they had

to deal, welcomed Fazl-Ullah-Khan, assuring

him that the golden days of Isfahan had

returned, for at the bare notice of his approach,

the Lutis had left the town in a body.

Since the administration of Mantcher-IKChan,

the Moétemid Daulet, the Lutis, as well as

the other disturbers of the peace, have been

brought to book, and hunted out of their last

places of refuge.

Formerly the whole mahaleh, or quarter of

or

a sacred

Bidabad, was

reckoned Bdst,

asylum * for all sorts of malefactors who wished

to avoid the law, because the house of the

Great Mushteid is situated in that part of the

town.

The Moétemid, in the stern pursuit

* See Note at the end of the chapter.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

of justice, broke through this privilege, which

time and public opinion had sanctified ; and

many were the culprits who were sent to

Teheran to expiate their misdeeds by being

publicly executed.

On visiting the Moétemid, I learned that he

was making preparations for a military tour

into the other provinces under his control,

namely, Luristin and Arabistan, or Khazistan.

The Moétemid being acquainted with my roving

propensities, (as we had already met on former

occasions, once in the province of Ghilan, next

on the Turkish frontier, and later on the limits

of Turkomania,) proposed that I should accom-

pany him, or, if I were unwilling to relinquish

my trip to Persepolis, that T should, at least,

before T returned to Teheran, visit him at

Shﬁsh}ter, promising, at the same time, to show

me a short cut through the Bakhtiyari moun-

tains, between that town and Isfahan.

I had often entertained a wish to penetrate

into the Bakhtiyari country, so little known,

yet so replete with interest, as connected with

B2

*

)

2

TRAVELS IN

the expedition of Alexander the Great, and his

successors ; and more especially as the country

south of the great chain probably formed the

site of the ancient Klam of Scripture, a powerful

nation in the early days of Abraham, before

the kingdoms of Assyria and Babylon rose into

notice in the east.

The learned men of Europe

have for some years past turned their attention

to this quarter, and expressed a wish to know

whether it contains any monuments of anti-

quity.

But the turbulent and unruly tribes

who inhabit these mountainous regions have

till now nearly precluded all access to them,

not only for European travellers, but even for

the native Persians themselves.

The circumstance of the Governor of Isfahan

going among them with an armed force, ap-

peared so favourable an opportunity to explore

this wild country, that I. readily accepted his

offer, and promised to visit him at Sh{shter, as

soon as I had satisfied my, curiosity at Takhti

Jemshid.

This new scheme introduced a great modifi-

53

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

cation into the plan T had previously chalked

out for my journey.

I could no longer set

apart the number of days 1 wished for Perse-

polis, and the ruins on the plain of Murgab,

and I had to make up, by speedy travelling,

the time I should necessarily lose by the cir-

cuitous route I intended to pursue on my return

to Teheran.

On the 1st of January, 1841, at noon, I left

Isfahan, directing my course to the south, by

the road leading to Shiraz.

My amiable host,

M. Boré, accompanied me beyond the broken

ground of Hezar-derre, the scene, according to

Persian romance, of the chivalrous feats of their

hero Rustam.

The ruins of his palace are

shown to this day, perched on the peak of a

lofty and precipitous branch of the hills to the

west.

In the spring of the preceding year,

my friend and myself had ascended these rugged

heights, and visited the ruins, which consist of

several apartments, the walls of which are in

part broken.

The building is of the modern

style of Persian architecture, with pointed

o4

TRAVELS IN

The walls and

arched windows and doorways.

the ceiling are covered with white stucco, and

the masonry so well preserved, that we climbed

to the top of the building in order to command

a better view of the plain of Isfahan, spread

below our feet.

With the exception of the

valley of the Gurghan, with the plain of Tur-

komania, from the heights of the Alburs, I

never recollect to have witnessed a more splen-

did panorama than that which we enjoyed from

Kal’eh Rustam. The ZoyenderGd river was

seen pursuing its meandering course from the

west, through -the green fields and numerous

villages of the fertile districts of Linjan and

Marbin, whilst to the north and north-east,

from our elevated station, we had the advantage

of embracing the whole circumference of Isfa-

han, with its palaces, gardens, cupolas, minarets,

pigeon-towers, groves, bridges, and ruins scat-

tered in grand and lyric confusion.

Chains of

mountains forming fantastic groups, traverse the

back ground in different directions, and at

various distances, thus offering materials for

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

55

judging better of perspective, whilst their va-

riegated hues give colouring to the landscape.

If, to please the national pride, we admit with

the Persians, that the ruins in question formed

once the abode of their favourite hero, then I

can only add that Rustam’s taste at least

equalled in amount the bravery for which they

gave him credit.

For there is no spot in the

neighbourhood of Isfahan from whence a better

view can be obtained of the country than from

Kal’eh Rustam, not even from Kihi-sefa.

On the south-western side of the same hill

are some natural caves

in the rocks called

Chesme Multdn, where the old Gebrs, it is said,

buried their dead. Here are the remains of a

few low buildings, evidently for the purpose of

containing dead bodies.

A peculiarity which I

had not before noticed in other buildings

was, that together with the cement serving to

join the stones, there were rags. 1 found like-

wise some calcinated bones in these buildings,

which makes me doubt that these catacombs

could ever have belonged to the ancient Gebrs,

56

TRAVELS IN

who never burned their dead.

It would have

been an act of impiety and a sacrilege to sully

the pure essence of Ormfzd, typified by fire,

by bringing it in contact with an unclean thing.

Fresh dead bodies were held as such among the

Zend race, just as they were with the Hebrews

according to the laws of Moses.

It is a curious

fact, that many enactments on this head, as

well as on other points in the Zoroastrian Creed,

perfectly correspond with the laws of the

inspired legislator of Israel.*

May not the sepulchres at the Cheshme, or

springs of Multdn, be, with more probability,

attributed to those Indians who

in former

ages carried on a considerable land commerce

between Persia and India, through the town of

Multin,t on the Indus, which formed the

These merchants were

depdt of their traffic?

settled in Isfahan, and went by the name of

Multani.

It is well known that the custom

* See Rhode—Die Heilige Sage des Zend Volks,

&e

t See note at the end of the chapter.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

57

of burning the dead is still prevalent 1in

India.

I arrived at Mayéar, the first station from

Isfahan, at six in the evening, having made

eight farsangs,* or thirty miles, at a brisk trot.

Wishing to reach Yezde-hast the next day, I

left Mayar at night and had for my entertain-

ment on the road some splendid fireworks in

the heavens.

The sky was beautifully clear—

the stars shone brightly; the falling stars were

very frequent, leaving behind them a Iuminous

path as they shot across the firmament in a

curved line; one in particular, a very bright

meteor, burst in the air, scattering its dazzling

fragments towards our sphere.

I am not aware

whether this meteorological phenomenon was

noticed at any observatory.

It happened on

the night between the Ist and 2d of J anuary,

* We find in one of the books of the Zend Avesta the

following definition of a farsang :—

“ A farsang, it is said, is a distance within which a long-

sighted man can see a camel, and distinguish whether it be

white or black.”— Bundehesch, cap. xxvi.

58

TRAVELS IN

1841, and probably from two to three in the

morning.

The distance from Mayér to Kamisheh is five

and a-half or six farsangs, the road leading

through a sufficiently level tract, with a con-

tinuous chain of hills to the west, but having

a more open country to the east, intersected by

low and detached hillocks.

Kiamisheh is situated at the southern extre-

mity of a plain of several farsangs in extent,

on which there are some villages, and much

cultivated ground; the country being inter-

sected by the kerize, or canals for the irrigation

of the fields.

The town is reduced to a small

fortified place, surrounded by a high wall in

good condition, and flanked by bastions; but

Kamisheh must have been at some former

period a very considerable city, for the ruins

which

now surround it are extensive.

The

traces of a number of old aqueducts like-

wise prove that the neighbourhood must have

been at one time well populated.

A rivulet

which flows out of the valley to the south below

e)

E

9

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

Mahstad-beg, and from the direction of Isferjan,

passes close to the eastern walls of the city,

and is afterwards drained of its waters for the

irrigation

of the

fields.

On approaching

Kamisheh, we passed by the Imam-zadch

Shah-Riza, a lovely spot, with fine chinars (the

Oriental plane-tree).

Our direction from Kamisheh to Yezde-hést

lay S.S.E. nearly the whole way through a valley

from two to three farsangs in breadth, between

two ranges of low hills, having beyond them to

the west another high chain of mountains

covered with snow, namely, the Bakhtiyari

mountains, or, as I

shall later have to call

them, the Ardekan Chain.

At Mahstad-beg, a neat village, four farsangs

distant from Kamisheh, I changed horses, as

I had yet full six farsangs to travel before

I could reach Yezde-hast.

It was on the plain between Mahsiid-beg

and Kimisheh that, in the spring of 1835, an

engagement took place between the forces of

the

reigning Shah, who had then Ilately

60

TRAVELS IN

ascended the throne, and the troops of his

uncle the Ferman-Ferma of Fars.

On assuming the reins of government in the

Kajar capital of Teheran, Muhammed-Shah

found it necessary to pacify the southern pro-

vinces of his kingdom, where his two uncles,

Husein Ali Mirza, the Ferman-Ferma of Iars,

and Hasan Ali Mirza, Governor of Kerman,

refused to acknowledge his title to the crown

of Persia, and were making preparations to

oppose him by force of arms.

On the part

of the King, FirGz Mirza, his step-brother,

was mnominally appointed Chief of Fars,

but

the real authority was vested in the hands of

Manucher Khan the Moétemid Daulet.

While the Royal troops were moving towards

the south, Hasan Ali Mirza, who had placed

himself at the head of a small army to uphold

the pretensions of his elder brother to the

throne, had left Shiraz and was hastening to

Isfahan.

As the inhabitants of the latter city,

instigated by the clergy, and by one of the

old ministers of the late Shah, were inimically

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

61

disposed to the young King, it became a matter

of material importance to prevent this junction

from taking place, which was within a hair’s-

breadth of occurring.

Both armies had entered the valley of K-

misheh without knowing they were so near

each other.

The rebels had taken the upper

road, along the foot of the western range, or

the Kuhi Tang(n; while the troops of the

Shah were following the skirts of the Kuhi

Dumbula, or the eastern range of mountains.

Although the rival camps were not more than

three or four farsangs asunder, the mist was

so thick that they were prevented from seeing

each other.

Hasan Ali Mirza was in advance of

the Royal troops, nearer to Kamisheh than they

were.

An imprudent shot which was fired in

his camp awakened the suspicions of the oppo-

site party.

It was the more delicate ear of

a female that first caught the sound, rendered

very indistinct from the denseness of the fog,

and gave the alarm.

This female was an Arme-

nian lady, the wife of an Tnglish officer, then

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in the service of the Shah, and though a

woman of a very diminutive figure, was still

possessed of great personal courage and a fear-

less rider.*

The shot was fired by order of

Hasan Ali Mirza, as a signal to apprize the

inhabitants of Kamisheh of his approach, for

they likewise were enlisted in his cause, and

only waited for his arrival to open the gate

for his reception.

Proper measures were in-

stantly adopted by Sir Henry Bethune (General

Lindsey, or Linji, as the Persians called him),

who headed the troops of the Shah, to take

the enemy by surprise, and they proved so

effectual that the rebel troops were soon routed.

It was a sauve qui peut, Hasan Ali Mirza being

one of the foremost to take his flight into the

mountains.

The valley of Kamisheh possesses a con-

siderable number of villages, too tedious to

enumerate, and well cultivated fields on the

western bank of the rivulet, previously noticed,

but the eastern side is chiefly a barren plain.

* The widow of the late Captain Shee.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

63

I here gathered the gum of a resinous plant.

It still adhered to the stem in the form of

congealed drops.

This is the gum ammoniac

which grows in great profusion on the plain.

I collected several specimens of the plant,

although it was dry at this season, and sent

them to my much esteemed friend, Mr. de

Fisher,

Director of the Imperial Botanical

Garden at St. Petersburgh.*

Leaving behind us Aminabad and the ruins of

Gidehgil, we arrived at Yezde-hast near sunset,

and were introduced into the gates of this

* The elegant author of ¢ The History of the Manners

and Customs of Ancient Greece,” in enumerating the

various articles which were introduced into Greece by its

trade with foreign countries, mentions, among others, the

gum ammoniac, which, he says, ¢ Distils in a milky juice

from an umbelliferous plant, growing in the Desert, near

the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon, as well as on the confines

of Cyrene ; whence it appears to have been chiefly ex-

ported.” (See Mr. St. John’s ¢ History of the Manners

and Customs of Ancient Greece,” vol. iii. chap. xiii. p. 388.)

This gum derived its name of ammoniac, or ammonium,

probably from the circumstance of the plant’s growing in

the vicinity of the Temple of Jupiter Ammon.

64

TRAVELS IN

original fort by a drawbridge lowered down for

our reception.

The fortress of Yezde-hast is

perched on the summit of an isolated rock,

standing in a ravine, with abrupt perpendicular

banks on its several faces.

A steep ascent leads

up to the gate, from which you are still

separated by a yawning chasm, over which the

inhabitants throw a drawbridge to allow en-

The fort has two

trance into the stronghold.

rows of houses, which are two stories high,

and separated by a narrow street.

The people

of theplace took me to an ancient edifice, where,

according to tradition, there once stood a temple,

and pointed out some fragments of columns, but

it had grown so dark, and I felt, moreover, so

fatigued from the day’s journey, that I did not

Yezde-hast is

pay much attention to the place.

certainly prior to the Arab conquest, and is

traceable to Gebr origin by the very name it

bears, the Zend-word Yezd-hast being interpreted

by God willed it.

I found the inhabitants rather impudent, and

very rapacious; probably because they feel

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

65

themselves moye secure than their neighbours

in

their stronghold, and can with more safety defy

the authorities,

Although accustomed to hard

riding,

and fond of the exercise, I felt bruised

all over by the last two days’ ride, from the pre-

ceding halting-place at Mayar.

The distance to

Yezde-hast is sixteen farsangs,

miles ;

equal to sixty

but it was not so much the distance as

the jolting paces of the post-horses.

The people of the place showed me the

spot from whence their forefathers had,

m

the last century, exercised

a summary and retri-

butive justice on the person of Zeki-

Khan, the

brother of Kerim-Khan-Zend.

Unlike the

latter, who governed Persia after the death of

Nadir Shah, under the title of Vakil, and was

a man distinguished for his humane and bene.

volent character,

Zeki-Khan was cruel and op-

pressive,

Displeased at the

inhabitants of

Yezde-hast for refusing to pay a certain contri-

bution which he endeavoured to force on them,

he ordered several of theip chief men to be

thrown down the precipitous rock of the castle

YOL. 1.

F

66

TRAVELS IN

in his presence.

This act of barbarity so exas-

perated the rest, that they seized on the tyrant,

and inflicted on him the same punishment he

had caused their fellow-citizens to suffer, by

casting him out of the window of his apartment

which overlooked an abyss, so that he was

dashed to pieces by the fall.

My night was rendered restless by revolving

in my mind all the black and sanguinary deeds

which had been perpetrated within these walls,

and I rose in the morning without feeling re-

freshed. While the horses were getting ready,

I descended the steep hill to examine at the foot

of it the numerous caverns excavated in the

same rock, which upholds the fort of Yezde-hast.

They are partly the work of nature, aided by

the hand of man, and sufficiently spacious to

contain the flocks of the inhabitants, as well as

the horses, mules, and camels of the caravans

Some have

that stop here during the night.

been turned into dukans, or shops, provided with

the necessaries for travellers.

This day, 3d January, I made fifteen farsangs,

LURISTAN AND - ARABISTAN.

67

or fifty-six and a-half miles, passing first through

Shulgestan, distant six farsangs from Yezde-hast ;

then Abadeh, reckoned five farsangs from the

former, and Swurmeh four farsangs more.

I now

moved along the lower or winter road lying to

the east of the summer route to Shiraz.

The

country as I advanced became less barren than

I had found it around Yezde-hast.

Abadeh,

although surrounded with some ruins and aban-

doned gardens, still preserves a neat appearance.

It is the chief place of a district, which, bearing

the same name, is encompassed by a mud wall

protected by turrets, and pays an annual tax of

six thousand tomans, or about three thousand

pounds, to the Divan.

The general direction of the road is south-

east, the four last farsangs leaning rather E.S.E.

About Surmeh the country is particularly well

cultivated, and abounding in villages.

Nine farsangs distant from Surmeh, in a

direct line to the east, lies the town of

Abergith, a fortified place, which has many

villages under its control, and falls at present

i),

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TRAVELS IN

under the jurisdiction of Isfahan, to which a

road leads through the desert. It is governed by

the brother-in-law of the Il-Khani of Fars, by

name Mohamed Kasim Khan, whom the late

Ferman Ferma of Fars, deprived of his sight,

on account of his having favoured the interests

of the deceased Naib-Sultan,

Abbas-Mirza,

father of the present Shah.

The 4th

of

January brought me to the karavanserai of

Dehbid, close to a huge heap of earth, which

in some remote time must have been a large

edifice.

The

natives call it the Gumbed-i-

Behram, and add, that

it was one of the

eight pleasure palaces built by that sportsman,

Shah Behram-Gur.

I found the night at the

karavanserai bitterly cold, as no fuel could

be procured; neither was there a door to the

little cell I occupied, so that the piercing

wind blew freely in during the whole night.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

69

NOTES TO CHAPTER iII.

Page 50.—The custom prevailing in the Fast, of having

places of asylum,

owes its origin probably to the Mosaic

law concerning the six cities

of refuge, which were

allotted to such who had

slain any person at unawares.

“Then shall ye appoint you ecities to be

cities of refuge

for you; that the slayer may flee thither

r, which killeth

any person at

unawares,

And they shall be unto you

cities for refuge from the avenger ;

that the manslayer

die not, until he stand before the congre

gation in judg-

ment,” &c., &ec.

Numbers xxxv. 11, 12. (See likewise

in Joshua xx.

1—9, for the names of the six cities of

refuge, and the rules laid down for them.)

Independently of the mosques, the stables of the Shah

are reckoned sacred places, more particularly

close to the

manger of the King’s riding horses.

In the Yyear 1837, before the

campaign of Khorassan,

one of the Persian foot regiments happening to be dis-

satisfied with their Chief, took their station among the

Royal horses piquetted mnear the

garden of Negaristan

(close to the walls of Teheran),

where the King was at

the time residing,

and remained there, with the

ir planted

colours, several w.

eeks, until their commander was changed,

and another one g

ppointed more to thejr liking,

The huge gun that stands on an eley

ated platform in

the great Maidan,

Teheran,

or outer court-yard of the palace at

is likewise considered g sanctuary to which the

milit

ary repair sometimes when they become clamorous

about receiving the arrears of their salary.

TRAVELS IN

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN,

70

A place of refuge, somewhat similar to these Persian

basts, as they are called, existed formerly in the city of

London, where debtors could not be molested by their

creditors, and were out of reach of pursuit.

This place

bore the name of Alsatia, and embraced, if I am not

mistaken, the space between Blackfriars-bridge and Temple-

bar, leading to the water side.

In Pennant’s account of

London we read the following passage:—“1Its precincts

(the great house of Black friars, or Dominicans) was very

large, had four gates, and contained numbers of shops,

the inhabitants of which were subject only to the King,

the Superior of the house, and their own Justices.

It

also became a sanctuary for debtors, and even malefactors,

a privilege which it preserved even long after the repres-

sion of religious houses.”

Page 56.—Chardin, in his description of Isfahan, men-

tions the following :—

“Le caravanserai des Multaniens est situé a coté d’un

beau bazar qui porte le meme nom de Multaniens qui

sont les Indiens de Multan—Ila 1re ville des Indes, du

coté de la forteresse de Candahar, qui est sur la frontiére

de la Perse, vers le nord.

Tout le Commerce des Indes

en Perse se faisait communément par I, avant la navi-

gation "des Européens au sein Persique.”—(Voyages de

Chardin en Perse, &c., tom. vii, p. 360, edition de

Langles.)

CHAPTER 1IV.

Arrival

at

the Village

of Meshedi-Murgab.—Axrab

Settlers.—Fertility of the Plain of Murgab.—Boundary.

—River of Murgab, the Medus of the Ancients.—View

of

the

ruins

from

an

elevation.—Goher-Shah,—

Takhti-Madre Soliman.— Custom among the Eastern

Monarchs of giving audiences in the open air.—Zindan

Tomb of Meshedi

or . Dustagh-Khaneh.—Visit the

Madre Soliman.—Supposed Tomb of Cyrus.—Oppo-

sition made by the Iliyats.—Ivening

spent

in their

Tents.—Karavanserai of Murgab, the supposed abode

of the Magi.—The Pilaster with the Cherub.—Dis-

covery of a dial cut on the white stone steps of the

Tomb of Cyrus.—Hieroglyphics.—Traverse the Ak-

Gaduk and Valley of Kamin.—Arrival at Seidan.

ArteR a fatiguing and cold morning ride, first

along the plain of Kunkuri, in a southern

direction, then over a hilly country, we de-

scended into a fine plain, encompassed by

lofty mountains, and alighted at the village

of Meshedi-Murgab, seven farsangs (twenty-

six and a-half miles) distant from Dehbid.

72

TRAVELS IN

It is inhabited by an Arab tribe, who have

been settled at this place ever since the time

of the Muhammedan conquest of Persia.

The

men are very brown, but well proportioned,

and of a fine stately appearance.

Some of

the women are beautiful, with delicate features,

and comparatively fair. The weather being warm

and pleasant, I found them sitting outside

their dwellings weaving carpets.

I had been

accustomed to find the Iliyats, and the half

sedentary tribes generally,

very filthy,

and

was, therefore, not a little surprised to see

so much

cleanliness around me.

The only

inconvenience 1 experienced was, that the

obliging housewives, in their anxiety to make

the room destined for my reception look still

cleaner, raised such a dust that it was some

time before I could venture to occupy it.

The soil of Murgab is very productive,

being well watered; but, for want of hands,

it is not much cultivated. The Arabs assured

me, that in consequence of the scarcity of

population, great tracts of very rich and fertile

i

3

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN,

land have not been touched by the plough

for upwards of fifty years.

On newly tilled

ground, well watered by artificial means, the

crop yields from twenty to twenty-five fold of

barley and wheat; under less advantageous

circumstances,

the harvest does not exceed

from twelve to fifteen fold.

The

soil of

Murgab belongs to the Divan, that is to say,

is Crown property, and leased, together with

The Divan

the

water,

to the peasantry.

furnishes them, at the same time, with the

necessary grain for seed.

Out of the profits

of the harvest, the husbandman pays two

parts to the land-owner, retaining one-third

for his labour and the use of his oxen and

implements of husbandry.

The soil in general is of a clayey substance,

rendering the roads across the plain scarcely

practicable during the rainy seasons of autumn

and winter.

The plain of Murgab extends from four to

four and a-half farsangs from east to west,

and about three farsangs from north to south.

14

TRAVELS IN

A hilly country separates it on the north from

the extensive plain of Kunkuri; a range of

mountains on its eastern side divides it from

the buluk or district of Baynéd, rich in exten-

gsive orchards

full of fruit trees.

Another

belt of high hills severs it from the valley of

Kamin to the south; while the Bulverdi hills

close it in on the west and south-west, beyond

which rise the lofty heights of the Ardekan,

capped with eternal snow.

The valley of Murgab is traversed in its

whole extent by a river which bears its name.*

It takes its rise in the Bulverdi, or, perhaps,

even the Ardekan hills, and after running

across the southern extremity of the Kunkuri

plain from west to east, and passing by the

karavanserai of Khineh Karsin under a bridge,

which I had crossed on coming from Dechbid,

it bends to the south, and, disappearing for a

while behind the mountains, makes its reappear-

* Tt is the same which in Sir Robert Kerr Porter’s

“Travels in Persia,” &c., is called the Kur-ab, the Medus

of the ancients.

See vol. i., pp. 484, and 512.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

5

ance in the plain of Margab, through which

it flows along the eastern wall which separates

It then

the town of Murgab from Baynod.

turns to the west, crossing the plain till it

reaches Tengi-Sivend, or the defile of Sivend.

Having ploughed its way through the hills

in a south-western direction, the Murgab river

reappears in the district of Hafrek, where it

assumes the name of Polvar.

Passing close to

the ruined city of Istakhr, it enters the plain

of Merdasht, having the Husein-Kuh, with the

sculptures of Nakshi-Rustam to the right, and

the Kuhi-Rahmed,

with

the bas-reliefs

of

Nakshi Rejeb and the ruins of Takhti Jemshid,

to the left.

The Polvar

runs

in a south-

westerly direction across the plain, and joins

the Kam-Firuz (ancient Araxes) mnear the

bridge of Pali Khan,

serving, in its latter

course, as a line of demarcation between the

districts of Merdasht to its left, and Hafrek to

the right.

Independently of the waters of the Margab,

which fertilize the plain to a great extent, there

76

TRAVELS IN

are several springs.

Canals likewise intersect

the country in various directions, especially on

the western side of the valley. 'This abundance

of water produces fine pastures, on which droves

of mares are turned out to graze.

When we consider these natural advantages,

we are not surprised that the plain of Margab

attracted the attention of men in the earliest

ages of the world; and the grand relics scat-

tered over the ground attest that the people who

erected them must have attained a considerable

degree of civilization, although we may lose

ourselves in conjectures as to the probable time

when they flourished.

Teaving one of my servants with the baggage

at the village of Murgab, I took the other,

together with a native guide, to explore the

curiosities of the plain.

We traversed some

canals in a south-westerly course, and came

near two low piles, which, I was told, bore the

name of Goher-Shah, and was formerly an

Atash-Kadeh (fire-altar).

I was prevented from

bestowing close examination on it by a stream

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

g

which separated me from it, and was difficult

to cross on account of the swampy nature of

the ground, covered with reeds.

From thence

we rode up a hillock, which had, till then,

intercepted the sight of the plain with the ruins.

It was meant probably as a surprise for me by

my Arab Cicerone, for the view from this com-

manding spot over the whole country is truly

beautiful. The hillock is advantageously situated

for taking the different bearings of the ruins

and the villages on the plain.

Its summit is

flattened, and presents a spacious arena.

It

may have been here that those immense piles

of fuel were accumulated, and set on fire, which

are mentioned in Appian’s ¢ History of the

Mithridatic wars.”

It was a custom, he says,

among the Persian kings, to offer such sacrifices

I did not, however, observe any

at Pasargada.

calcined remains.

Opposite to this mound, in an easterly di-

rection, rises the known Takhti Soliman, or

Throne of Solomon, on the edge of a hill.

It would be superfluous to enter into any

8

TRAVELS IN

lengthened description of this or the other

monuments on the same plain, as former tra-

vellers have already amply treated of the

subject.

I shall confine myself, therefore, to

a few remarks only, as I proceed.

I feel much

inclined to concur in Sir William Ouseley’s

opinion,

that

Takhti Soliman presents

the

throne of the ancient kings of Persia,* or at

least the place where they used to sit in

public; for this custom is perfectly in unison

with the Oriental taste, even to the present

day

I often witnessed the reigning Shah

at the commencement of his reign, take his

seat on an elevated mound in the plain of

Teheran, with a simple awning over his head,

and at times even without any, in order to be

seen by the assembled multitude, and there

hold his salam, or public audience, surrounded

by his courtiers, with all the pomp and pa-

geantry of Eastern magnificence.

At that time

the Deputies from the distant provinces of the

* See Sir W. Ouseley’s “ Travels in various Countries of

the East,” &ec., vol. ii., page 435.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN,

79

kingdom, and the Chiefs of the Nomadic tribes,

with their numerous retinue, were assembled

to pay homage to their new Sovereign ; and

it may have been the same with Cyrus, on the

plains of Pasargada, when he received the

oaths of fealty and allegiance from the dif.

ferent sections of the Persian race, as well as

from the representatives of the other conquered

nations.

The huge blocks of which the monument is

constructed, are partly white, partly yellow,

and of a rusty colour; but they have little or

no polish, and none of the transparency of

the Yezd and the Maragha (commonly called

the Tabriz) marble. T learnt from my guide

that quarries of a similar stone are found near

Deh-bid, about nine farsangs to the north of

Murgab, but none nearer.

Having taken a

front and a side sketch of this imposing struc-

ture, we moved to the next monument, which

the couhtry-people call the Zindan, or Dustagh-

Khaneh (the prison), but which by antiquaries

is denominated the fire-altar.

It resembles the

TRAVELS IN

80

building close to Nakshi-Rustam, on the plain

of Persepolis, which goes by the name of

Zerdusht-Khaneh, or abode of Zoroaster.

It

is a curious square edifice, built of the same

sort of stone as Takhti Soliman; and the hollow

niches in the walls justify, to a certain extent,

the comparison an old traveller makes between

the structure of this building and the pigeon-

houses near Isfahan, when seen from a dis-

tance ;

although the latter have generally a

circular form, while the

Zindan-Khaneh 1is

square.

I was so much taken up with ex-

amining and sketching the ruins, that I did

not notice how time stole on, till I was re-

minded that it was getting late, and that I

had a ride of six miles to return to the village.

I had not yet seen the principal relic of

Murgab—the supposed tomb of Cyrus, a white

monument, which was visible from a distance.

I therefore determined to spend the night at

the black tents of the Iliyats, which I could

discern

in the

same direction.

Before dis-

missing my guide for the night, I took him to

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

81

their encampment, that he might give me over

into the charge of the Sheikh, or elder of

the tribe, having learned that the Iliyats on

this plain were not to be trusted.

He had

then to return to Meshedi-Murgab, and direct

the postillion and my servant, who had re-

to

mained behind with the travelling bags,

As soon as we arrived at the en-

join me.

campment, we were surrounded by the Iliyats,

whom curiosity had brought to the spot; and

whilst they were listening to the reports of

my guide about the strange Frengi, I placed

the bridle of my horse into the hands of

my Persian

servant,

and hastened

to the

mausoleum close by.

1 was aware, from ac-

counts of previous travellers, that no man is

allowed to enter the interior of the sepulchre,

it being supposed by the natives to contain

the remains of the mother of King Solomon

(hence its name of Meshedi-Madre Soliman).

I was apprehensive that, if followed by any of

the Iliyats, I should be prevented from so

doing, and I felt very desirous to view the

VOL.

1

G

82

TRAVELS IN

interior of this curious building.

It is a square

edifice, covered by a sloping roof, and resting

on a pyramidal basis, formed of white marble.

To enter at the door of the sepulchre, you are

I made

obliged to climb up seven high steps.

all the haste I could, but as the building from

its height and position is exposed to view, I

had scarcely entered when loud cries assailed

my ears.

I judged it therefore prudent to

retreat, after throwing a glance around the cell

to convince myself that it was empty.*

The

women were clamorous in their vociferations,

the men, with menacing gestures, threatened

to pull me down the steps.

1 signified to them

that they need not be in such a hurry, as I

could descend without their help; and that

they appeared to be very brave, probably be-

cause they saw I was alone.

If T had profaned

* 1 was not aware at the time that Sir Robert Kerr

Porter had visited the interior of the tomb of Cyrus by

the permission of the two old women who were then the

guardians at the shrine of Kabri-Madre-Soliman.

See

Travels in Georgia, Persia, &e., vol. i. page 500.

ARABISTAN.

83

LURISTAN AND

(as they deemed it) the sanctuary, they were

themselves to blame, for not apprizing me

sooner; as a Frengi and a stranger, | was not

obliged to know their customs and modes of

faith, but, now that I was informed they had

a particular veneration for the spot, I would

not enter

more.

This reasoning had some

effect, for the mob became less vehement, and,

wishing to draw their attention into another

channel, I added that probably there was a

mullah to guard the temple, and if so, it was

his duty to prevent strangers from entering

the shrine ; observing that undoubtedly he never

failed to claim his tithes from the community ;

whereas, when it was necessary to perform his

duty; he was absent from his post. This charge-

against the mutaveli (the guardian of a sacred

place), pleased the lliyats; they acquiesced in

the justness of the remark, and laughed at the

expense of their white-turbaned mullah, who

had been foremost in his gesticulations, but

looked at present rather sheepish. Turning to

the old Sheikh, my host, who had just arrived,

G 2

84

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I told him that, if he wished to appear before

me with a white face,* he should show his

authority by dispersing the rabble, as they

hindered me from sketching the exterior of

the tomb. The old Arab made some bustle

among the crowd, which gave way, but soon

resumed their former station, prompted by

curiosity to see the drawing.

What chiefly

attracted their notice, was the lead-pencil.t

The rest of the evening I spent pleasantly

enough in the tent of the Sheikh.

The Iliyats

dropped in one by one, and took their seats

around the canvass walls of the tent, while the

women and children thronged at the entrance or

As we had

peeped through the apertures.

already made friends at the foot of the tomb,

they soon became very communicative, and

although their manners were uncouth and their

* A Persian expression signifying irreproachable, whilst

to appear with a black face means to have incurred the

displeasure of one’s superior.

t A leaden-pencil in the Russian language is Karan-

dash, evidently of Turkish origin.

Kara meaning black,

and dash a stone.

85

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

minds, as it may well be supposed, perfectly

uncultivated, they evinced a great fund of

natural sense and ready wit.

They recounted

many anecdotes, discoursed on the tatooing of

their women, a practice very prevalent in

Persia, laughed very loud, inquired into the

habits of Europeans, and sang some wild airs

to the accompaniment of a flageolet.

Their

songs consisted chiefly of commemoration of

the daring exploits of a Mamaseni robber, who

had gained some celebrity among the moun-

taineers of Fars, but had been

seized and

imprisoned at Tabriz with his eldest son, where

they are still detained. His name is Veli-Khan,

and that of his son Bagher-Khan.

I

shall

hereafter allude to these brigands, having sub-

sequently passed through the country which

had been the scene of their lawless pursuits,

The

and visited their tribe, the Mamaseni.

old Sheikh, my host, pleased me the least of

the party; he lacked that blunt frankness so

often met with among these wild children of

nature.

There lurked something sinister and

86

TRAVELS IN

false in his looks, as he sat wrapt in his felt

coat, with his long beard, dyed orange, ﬁqwing

down to his waist, which contrasted with the

open countenance of his son, a man of thirty

or thirty-five, who won my heart by the affec-

tion he showed to his little daughter, a baby

of two years old, which he caressed and danced

on his knees till she fell asleep.

The Persians in general care little for their

daughters; and it would be reckoned almost

an affront to wish them joy on the increase of

their family if it prove a female child.

As the night was far advanced, I gave up

the hope of seeing my attendants arrive from

Meshedi-Murgab, and not wishing to avail

myself of the dirty pillows of my Iliyat friends,

I preferred laying my head on my saddle, the

more so as I had my brace of pistols in a belt

attached to it, such precautions not being

superfluous in the country through which I was

travelling.

My only companion in the tent

when the party broke up was a donkey, tied

up in a corner and surrounded by a heap of

TWO INSCRIPTIONS

2f Ho ontrarece g/% %WMWL/

AT MESCHEDI MURCAS,

Close to Hhe Tomd of Cyrecs

i

N\

¢

9

9 ¢

A

g

e °§q

PR T=;

'i@\\xg

%

\&

E@jin

el

\

77

=

%

o

%

CRANS

&

VY

C.rs

Wﬂﬂ/%

%W

G i of W Yat

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

87

The

bags of all sizes piled one on the other.

night was cold, and I felt rather chilly under

my light riding cloak.

At break of day the son of the Sheikh took

me over the demolished karavanserai, around

which the tents of the Arabs were pitched,

while some families, with their cattle, occupied

the cells of the building.

It is supposed to

have been the abode of the magi who were

appointed to guard the tomb of Cyrus; but

however that may be, the remains of the edifice

appear of more recent architecture than the

other ruins in the plain.

What is preserved

of the gateway is quite in the Saracenic style,

and has even an Arab inscription, which I

copied.*

I next went on horseback to examine

some ruins which I had not visited the pre-

ceding day, among others the pilaster, with the

figure of an angel with four wings, of which

Sir Rober Kerr Porter has given a faithful

drawing. It is, however, by close examination

only that one can trace the features on the

* See the two Cufic inseriptions,

88

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marble pilaster.

Some Arab Iliyats, who stood

gazing on while I was trying to make out the

figure, only became aware of its existence on

the stone after they had seen the copy on paper.

They owned they had never observed it before,

although in the daily habit of frequenting the

ruins.

In the meanwhile,

my

gservant and the

chapar-shagird, or post-boy, arrived with the

horses, but before quitting the place, I once

more went to bid farewell to the majestic white

mausoleum.

This time the Iliyats willingly accompanied

me

On ascending the steps and making a tour

round the upper building, I found on one of the

angles facing the south a dial cut in the stone,

with Arab characters on it.

The gnomon was

wanting, but on sticking into the hole a small

peg in its stead, I explained to the astonished

Tliyats the use of the dial, and recommended

them not to be too hasty in future against the

Frengi, who far from wishing them any evil, are

ever ready to teach them what is useful.

I do

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

89

not know how far the lesson will be remem-

bered; but my new friends seemed highly

satisfied with this unexpected discovery.

1

must not here omit a much more important

discovery which was made a few years ago

by the Catholic missionary of the Propaganda,

Padre Giovanni, of Isfahan,

of some hiero-

glyphics among the marble slabs on the tomb

of Cyrus.

As T became apprized of their existence only

on my return to Teheran, I greatly regret

having missed the opportunity of directing a

particular attention to them whilst on the spot,

because the rough sketch the good Padre kindly

communicated to me of the hieroglyphics which

he drew from memory, can give but an imperfect

idea of their meaning.

It would be, therefore,

very desirable if any Furopean traveller, whom

chance or love of antiquarian pursuits might

lead to Murgab, should favour the friends of

ancient Persia and Fgypt with a correct copy

of them.

According to the Padre’s description and the

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drawing before me, it appears that the upper

part of the stone has a long figure in a reclining

posture with some ornaments on the head,

amongst which is the head of a bird with a

hooked beak. At the feet is another figure,

standing erect with extended arms, long legs,

and a dog’s muzzle, or a hog’s snout, with a long

tube projecting from its mouth to the feet of the

couching figure.

May it not present the Ha-

rami, or Siriosh, the evil spirit (div) who, ac-

cording to the cosmogony of the ancient Parsi

comes to torment the dead?

Behind it are two

small figures, one quite unintelligible, and the

other a little four-legged animal springing into

the air.

On the other side of the same stone is a

group of six figures in a row; the three first

from left to right are quadrupeds, but it is diffi-

cult to guess of what species.

The first is repre-

sented in a running attitude; over the second

is a long serpent with its head just above the

head of the animal, which is drawn only with its

fore-feet ; the third may possibly be a horse,

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

91

on which a thick clumsy figure is seated

astride.

The fourth resembles somewhat the figure

mentioned with a dog’s muzzle, or hog’s snout,

It has a

and a robe descending to the ankles.

long pole in its hand held in a horizontal

position.

All the four figures have their faces

turned to the right.

It is impossible to say

what the meaning of the fifth figure may be;

perhaps the bust of a human being down to the

waist.

The sixth and last of the group is

another quadruped, with the head turned towards

the figure first described; but both head and

legs are mutilated, whilst the tail is curled up

over the back.

I am aware that from this imperfect delinea-

tion no satisfactory idea can be gleaned, and

that the stone with these curious carvings will

require a closer inspection and more accurate

drawings, before any judgment can be pro-

nounced on them.

But if no decisive opinion

can be formed on the subject, some specu-

lation may be entertained, and, at all events,

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the presence of hieroglyphics in the plain of

Murgab gives an additional weight to the

observations which have already been made with

respect to the winged cherubim ; namely, that

an Intimate connexion must have existed be-

tween the two countries of Persia and Egypt

at some remote time of history; at all events

since the reign of Cambyses,

the

son of

Cyrus, who made an expedition into the latter

country.*

From the tomb of Cyrus we travelled over

the plain in a southern direction for about a

farsang, crossing the Murgab river halfway ;

we then commenced a steep ascent, and went

along a belt of mountains which separates

Murgab from the julgeh, or valley of Kamin.

It bears the name of Ak-Gadik (or white

mountain pass), on account of the chalky nature

of the hills, and is rather less than a farsang

in breadth, pierced by two defiles, the one to

* The hieroglyphies just described are, in some respects,

not unlike the symbolic figures that arve found among the

ancient ruined cities of America.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

93

the right called 7Tengi-Sivend, through which

the Murgab river finds a passage;* the other

to the left, denominated the 7Tengi-Gilelek,

very narrow and hardly practicable.

We next

descended into the valley of Kamin by a steep

declivity, passed through the village of Halilek,

or Kamin, a considerable place, and moved on

in a S.S.W. direction.

The julgeh of Kamin, a farsang in breadth

from north to south, and about three in length

from east to west, is a well-cultivated valley,

The

with pasture-ground, and several villages.

most considerable, after Halilek, appeared to

be that of Kal'’eh Begum, defended by strong

mud walls.

We ascended another belt of

mountains, similar to the one we had just

passed, and came down by the bed of a

torrent, stumbling over rugged rocks, or sliding

down the slippery stones, washed by the moun-

tain streams, at the risk every moment of

* Mr. Morier calls it likewise the Rood Khaneh Sewund,

or river of Siwend. (See his first “Journey in Persia,”

p. 142.)

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breaking our necks.

The rain had set in and

we were drenched to the skin before we could

gain our resting-place at the village of Seidan,

situated near the foot of the hill in the Buluk,

or district of Hafrek, after passing the village

of Poru, at the southern entrance of the defile

we had just crossed. A blazing fire, which

I kept up during the whole night, served to

dry the wet clothes, while a dish of hot

pillau arrived very apropos, 1 having made but

a scanty breakfast on pomegranates.

The next morning turned out fine, and on

rising my heart throbbed at the idea that I

was going to behold the ruins of Persepolis,

those splendid and mysterious remains of hoary

antiquity.*

It is a strange feature in the

nature of man, that he either looks forward

to the future, or clings to the past.

All that

* We find in Mr. Rich, when speaking of Persepolis,

an expressioP so exquisitely true to nature, that we cannot

resist the temptatiou of repeating it.

“I was,” he says,

“in the moment of enjoying what I had long wished for,

and what a delightful moment that is !”

(¢ Narrative of a

Residence in Kurdistan,” &e., vol. ii. p. 219.)

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

95

we possess of poetry in our hearts is conse-

crated to these two points; the present is the

prose of life.

Our course lay in a western direction, through

the plain of Hafrek, which is bounded on the

north by the chain we had crossed the pre-

ceding day, and is the continuation of the

Husein-Ruh, where the Nakshi-Rustam sculp-

tures are found, and the hills Rahmed-Kuh

on the south.

The breadth of the plain does

not exceed one farsang; it is well irrigated by

canals, cut in various directions, and is well

cultivated ; the villages are, for the most part,

situated on the skirts of the hills to the north

and south of the valley.

After a ride of half a farsang, we crossed

the Murgab river, which here assumes the

name of Polvar, issuing from the defiles of

Sivend, and joined by the stream coming from

Poru.

On the opposite side of the river is

the ITmam Zadeh Abdullah. A farsang more

brought us to the village of Hajji-Abad,

the residence of the chief of the district of

96

TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN,

Merdasht, and the spot on which the ancient

city of Istakhr once stood.

The distance from Hajji-Abad to the bas-

reliefs of Nakshi-Rustam is one farsang; here

I stopped to sketch the external face and visit

the interior of the Royal tombs, hewn high in

the rocks, before I took possession of my night’s

lodging at the village of Husein-Abad, half a

farsang further to the west.

CHAPTER V.

Rock with bas-reliefs at Nakshi-Rustam.—The four Royal

tombs.—Entrance into the first and third of these tombs,

with deseriptions of them.—Manner of ascent and descent.

—The parents of King Darius killed in their attempt to

visit one of the tombs.—Gebr explanation of the circlet

often found in the hands of the Sasanian monarchs on

the bas-reliefs of Persia.—Definition of the Costi by the

Baron Silvestre de Sacy, according to the Zoroastrian

faith.— Observations on a golden cup with figures on it,

found in a tumulus near the Caspian Sea, in reference to

the Costi, and the distinction between Iran and Aniran.—

Night visit to the rock of Istakhr.—Disturb an Iliyat

encampment.—Account of the rock and ruined fort on

its

summit.—Historical recollections.—Greek captives

brought before Alexander on approaching Persepolis.—

Description of the plain of Merdasht.—Its fertility.—

Nakshi-Kejeb.—Formation of the rocks.—First impres-

sion on seeing the ruins of Takhti-Jemshid.

THE rocks on which the bas-reliefs of Nakshi-

Rustam are sculptured bear the name of Kuhi-

Husein.

They form the continuation of the

ridge lying south of the valley of Kamin, and

VOL. 1.

H

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serve for a northern boundary to the buluk or

district of Hafrek.

These cliffs of white and yellowish marble

are very rugged, with hardly any slope towards

the plain.

It is on the face of these rocks

that the ancient generations of men have com-

mitted to posterity their feats of glory and the

tokens of their knowledge in the arts and

sciences.

These sculptured rocks form the

archives of time.

Here the lover of antiquity

comes to pay his homage to the relics of former

ages ; the philologist to decipher an unknown

alphabet, and rescue from oblivion a language

perhaps the primitive mode of speech in the

world : here the artist repairs to study the rules

of architecture in their pristine simplicity and

grandeur, while the historian distinguishes the

different dynasties, as they followed in order of

time, by analyzing the various styles of the

sculptured remains.

The more ancient sculptures are known by

the name of the Royal tombs. They are seven

in number, of which four are at Nakshi-

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

99

Rustam, and three at Takhti-Jemshid.

The

former are supposed to have contained the first

four Persian monarchs after Cyrus, namely,

Cambyses, Darius I., Xerxes, and Artaxerxes I.

The remaining three kings of the Achemenid

race are supposed to have been interred in the

three other tombs in the rock of Rahmed, at

Takhti-Jemshid.

The first of the tombs at Nakshi-Rustam,

beginning from the north-west side of the

mountain, has been visited by several travellers,

presenting less danger in the ascent than the

others; and Sir Robert Kerr Porter has given

a detailed description of its interior.

I like-

wise commenced with the more accessible of

the four tombs.

The kedkhuda of the vil-

lage of Huseinabad, with whom I was to

lodge, came to volunteer his services; and I

found his presence of great assistance.

The

above-mentioned tombs

at

Nakshi-

Rustam have the form of a Greek cross, of

which the lower part is cut much deeper into

From the lower

the rock than the upper.

H 2

100

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division my Cicerone climbed up the stone wall

with such dexterity that it gave me confidence

in the man.

From the platform of the second

division, where the wings of the cross extend

horizontally, a door-way leads into the interior

When the kedkhuda had reached

of the hill.

this, a rope was thrown to him from below

by our party, one end of which he kept in his

hand, while the other was tied round my waist ;

and in this way I was drawn up.

The swing

was not very agreeable, the height being con-

siderable, measuring, according to Sir R. K.

Porter, upwards of sixty feet.

Having reached the interior of the cave I

observed three vaulted niches in its

further

end, having in each recess an excavation,

which probably served for a coffin, covered

by a stone convex lid.

Large holes have

been made into these lids from curiosity to

see what was contained within.

They are

now empty, but there must have been a time

when they were occupied, either by the mortal

remains of kings or their treasures, perhaps

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

101

both, as we learn from ancient historians, that

the riches amassed by the Persian sovereigns

during their lifetime were

at their death

interred along with them. (See Strabo xv. 3.)

The first spoiler of these tombs may have

removed the coverlids without breaking them,

and after emptying the contents, have replaced

them over the untenanted cavities.

It certainly

required great manual force to displace them,

but those who had the means at their com-

mand of breaking through the wall and thus

entering the closed cavern, could surely achieve

the more easy task of removing a stone lid

from a coffin.

I make this observation because

it has been asserted, that since the apertures

in the lids are too small to have allowed of

the removal of a corpse, hence these empty

stone reservoirs did not contain any, when

they were originally closed.

I do not know how great the holes may have

been at the time when Mr. Hercules, of whom

Niebuhr makes mention,* visited the spot, or

* See Niebuhr’s “Voyage en Arabie et en d’autres pays

circonvoisins,” tom. ii. p. 128,

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whether they have been widened at a later

period, but I found one sufficiently large to

admit of the passage of a man.

In fact I con-

trived to enter the middle sarcophagus facing

the door, and stretch myself down at the bottom

of it.

The sensation of lying in a strange

grave, and that, too, of one of the proud

monarchs of the East, whose dust was all that

had remained on earth after 2,000 years, can

be better imagined than described.

I found

nothing in the tomb save some white crust from

the walls which crumbled at the touch.

The

spot is

peculiarly well adapted for serious

meditations, and the tomb at Nakshi-Rustam

might have furnished an eloquent chapter to

“Young’s Night Thoughts on the Instability

of Human Grandeur.”

All the nine excava-

tions in the third cave are uncovered, with

the stone coverlids broken and lying close

by

I wished to visit all the tombs in succes-

sion, but my guide assured me it would be

a neck-breaking concern, and, therefore, not

very desirable to be attempted.

He would,

103

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

however, try, he said, to take me up to one

It was the third, if

of the remaining three.

we reckon from the north-west, or the second,

if taken from the south-eastern side of the

hill, namely, the tomb with the cuneatic in-

scriptions, supposed to have contained the body

of Darius Hystaspes.

We proceeded to it accordingly, and our

guide gave us fresh proofs of his nimbleness

and fearlessness in climbing the flat and per-

pendicular rocks.

The same process of hauling

up was repeated, only I took the precaution,

before commencing my swing, of having another

man hoisted up in order to assist the kedkhuda

in holding the rope, lest I should slip from

his hands, while suspended in the air, in the

same manner as the unfortunate parents of King

Darius, who having, according to Ctesias, the

curiosity to visit the tomb prepared for their

royal son during his life time, were killed on

the spot.*

* The passage of Ctesias, given by Larcher, in his

French version of “ Herodotus,” runs thus :—

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I found the interior of the cave more spacious

Neither the

than that of the one I had just left.

room nor any one of the niches is arched like

the one above mentioned, as the accompanying

sketch will show.

Instead of there being only

one excavation in each recess, there are three in

every one of them, making nine stone excava-

tions in this one cave.

So striking a discre-

pancy between the interiors of the only two

caves which have until now been examined at

Nakshi-Rustam,

shows,

that

although the

external face of the rock presents the same

sculptures, the inner part may vary in all the

.

s

“ Darius se fit faire un tombeau sur le mont & deux

cimes.

Lorsqu’on P'eut achevé, il lui prit envie de le voir :

mais il en fut dissuadé par les Chaldéens, et par son pére et

par sa mere.

Quant & ceux-ci, ils voulurent contenter leur

curiosité,

Il leur en couta la vie.

Les prétres qui les

guindaient au haut de la montagne, ayant apper¢u des

serpens en furent si effrayés, qu’ils lachérent les cordes.

Le Prince et la Princesse se tucérent en tombant.

Cet

accident causa beaucoup de chagrin & Darius.

11 fit couper

la téte aux quarante personnes chargées de guinder au haut

de la montagne son pere et sa mere.”

(See ¢ Histoire

d’Herodote,” by Larcher, tom. vi., page 225.)

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

105

four; and it becomes the more desirable that

the two remaining tombs should be explored,

if possible, as the facts just adduced prove that

the analogy Sir Robert Kerr Porter wished

to establish between them can no longer stand

good.*

The cavities are

open,

and contain

nothing more than the fragments of the cover-

lids, parts of which lie on the surface of these

Trecesses.

On the western extremity of the cave are

two high steps cut in the rocks, and on the

side, forming the continuation of the wall with

the three recesses, is a shallow niche close to

the ceiling. Between this niche and the steps

is a fissure in the rock from the ceiling to the

floor, where it presents a hollow aperture,

descending into the bowels of the mountain.

It is not artificial, and could never have served

the purpose of a communication from below.

* Sir R. K. Porter says :— These four sepulchres differ

in no way exteriorly : hence we may suppose they vary as

little within, and the description of one may generally

describe them all.” (See his *“ Travels,” vol. 1., page 518.)

106

TRAVELS IN

7

My guide, who was not backward in offering

his conjectures, maintained that this must have

been the corner for the priest appointed to read

prayers for the repose of the souls of the

deceased inmates.

The steps served him for a

seat, whilst the lamp may have been placed

in the niche close by.

But the question

naturally arises, if the entrances of the tombs

were closed hermetically, as it appears they

were, how could any living being have been

I must here

left in these abodes of death?

plead guilty to not having ascertained whether

any holes were visible to receive the pivots of

the blocks of stone, of which the door consisted,

similar to those Porter had observed in the

smaller tomb.

At this great height the wind was very

strong, and, as the space between the entry

and the flat perpendicular rock below is very

narrow, I was obliged to keep close to the

wall in going in and coming out, until I could

reach the small platform on the eastern side,

forming one of the horizontal wings of the cross.

107

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

In the first tomb I had had some food for the

soul, here 1 required some for the body, and

took my luncheon, consisting of cold rice-pillau,

on the platform, while my obliging kedkhuda

pointed out to me the position of the different

bulitks, or districts in the plain of Persepolis.

Below our feet was the buluk of Hafrek,

extending from east to west.

To the south

extended the buluk of Merdasht; further on

to south-east that of Kurbal ( Kulbar).

To the S.S.W. the buluk of Zarghan on the

way to Shiraz, with the bridge of Puli-Khan

in the same direction, near the junction of the

Polvar and the Kam-Fir(z rivers.

The protruding hill of Nakshi-Rustam pre-

vented us from seeing the remaining two dis-

tricts ; namely, Ramjird to the west, and Moin

to the north-west.

The

descent was more difficult than the

ascent had been.

With my Persian servant we

were lowered down in the same manner as we

had been hoisted up, by means of a rope

twisted round our bodies, with the end com-

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TRAVELS IN

mitted to the charge of the person who stood on

the upper platform ; but as no one could keep

the rope for the kedkhuda who remained there

the last, and there were no means of fastening

it at the top, he was obliged to come down by

himself, clinging in his descent to the vertical

rock, which offered very few rough places on

which he could lay hold with his hands or fix

his feet.

It was a nervous spectacle to look

upon the man as it were hanging in the air, full

seventy feet from the ground, just touching the

edge of the rock with his tip-toes, and cautiously

examining and feeling every trifling projection

of the mountain, to ascertain if it would afford

any support to his weight.

The muscles of his

bare arms and legs were completely contracted

from the exertion, and the least cramp would

We stood

have brought him headlong down.

gazing from the lower platform, still at a con-

siderable distance from the ground, in breathless

anxiety, offering prayers for his safe descent.

I reproached myself for having urged him to

this rash enterprize, and if a fatal accident had

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

109

befallen him it would have weighed heavily on

my conscience through life.

I should mnever

have forgiven myself for having sacrificed a

human' being to the mere gratification of a vain

curiosity after all.

But God is ever watchful

and merciful to his creatures.

At length we

had the satisfaction of seeing the daring climber

Join us in safety amid the loud Mashallah, and

Burikallah (God be praised! and bravo !) of the

party, who had just before been ejaculating,

Yah Allah, Yah Ali (God help ! Ali help!).

Concerning the bas-reliefs of the Sasanian

epoch, I shall venture to make one observation

only, as they have been already often described.

It is in respect to the plate No. xxmr. in Sir

R. K. Porter’s travels.

The subject of this bas-relief, observes the

author, is two men on horseback meeting each

other, the one bestowing,

the other receiving

a circlet, the badge of sovereignty. (See vol. 1.

P- 549.) On showing one day to an intelligent

Gebr acquaintance of mine from Yezd a draw-

ing of an altar I had found sculptured on a

110

TRAVELS IN

rock in the mountains near Behbehan, at Tengi

Satilek (and of which I shall speak hereafter),

having a fillet tied round it in a knot with the

two ends hanging down, I learned that there

exist similar Parsi temples at Yezd to thé pre-

sent day. On this occasion my Parsi friend

favoured me with some particulars on the

subject.

All Gebrs are obliged to wear a sort of

sash or cord round their waist,

under their

clothes.

It forms the distinctive sign of their

being the followers of Zoroaster, as the cross

is worn by the Roman Catholics and Greeks,

to show that they are the disciples of Christ.

Those Gebrs who renounce their religion to

embrace Muhammedanism, tear asunder the

sacred cord.

It is by this sign that Hafed makes himself

known as

a Gebr to the affrighted Arab

maid, in Moore’s poem of the Fire-worship-

pers . —

¢« < Hold! hold !—thy words are death !’

The stranger cried, as wide he flung

LURISTAN

AND

ARABISTAN,

111

His mantle back, and show’d beneath

The Gebr belt that round him hung.”*

~

It is the Kosti,4+ or cincture of the Zend-

Avesta, terminated by two small tails at each

end denoting the four seasons; three knots on

each tail present in the aggregate the twelve

The cord is twisted of

months of the year.

seventy-two threads, such being ‘the number,

* ¢ Lalla-Rookh,” see page 191.

¥ Mr. Thomas Moore, in a note to the foregoing passage

of his poem, calls the Kosti, Cushee.

He says,—* They

(the Gebrs) lay so much stress on their Cushee, or girdle,

as not to dare to be an instant without it.”

I mention

this circumstance, because the word Cushee, used by the

Parsi of India, § bears some resemblance to Ciskak,

the Russian word for girdle, and which, by the way, is

of pure Mogol origin.

This is, therefore, water to Dr.

Westergaard’s mill, who is occupied in establishing the

common origin of the Mogol and Sanscrit languages, as that

of the latter with the Zend is placed, I believe, beyond a

doubt.

The success

of his endeavours will settle the

question whether Thibet was the cradle of the human

race, after the Deluge.

1 See “ Zenda-Avesta,” 1. iii.

§ See Grose’s “ Voyage to the East Indies,” vol. i., p. 223.

112

TRAVELS IN

according to Gebr interpretation, of the known

kingdoms of the world at the time of Husheng,

their first legislator.

Herodotus assigns the

same number to the nations under the sway

of the Persian monarchs; and it is a no less

curious circumstance, that the same number

of columns should once have supported the

throne of Jemschid at Persepolis; and that

the religious book of the Parsi, called Yzeschne,

or Yag¢na, should likewise have been divided

into seventy-two chapters.

The Mobed, or High-Priest, bestows this

cord on every Gebr boy at the age of seven

years (fifteen years according to the Sadder).

The two priests, on approaching the fire-

altar, observe the following ceremonial :—The

arm of one priest must be linked with the

arm of the other by this cord, to show that

they act in harmony, else their prayers would

not be accepted.

To render an oath binding between two

contracting parties, the Gebrs form a circlet

of this cord or tape, which each holds, standing

113

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

opposite one to the other, and allowing the ends

of the kosti to flow downwards.

May we not explain by this custom, still in use

among the surviving followers of Zoroaster’s creed,

the symbolic action of the figures which occur

on the bas-reliefs of Takhti-Rustam, Nakshi-

Rejeb, and Nakshi-Rustam, holding the circlet,

from which two bandelets are seen flowing

downwards ?

It is the ratification of a treaty

of peace between two independent sovereigns,

in conformity with the Gebr fashion of ren-

dering an oath binding.

We find a very satisfactory account of the

Kosti in Silvestre de Sacy’s “ Memoire sur

diverses Antiquités de la Perse,” p. 184, which

runs thus :(—

“ Le texte,” says this author, « est tiré de la

dixiéme porte du chapitre du Sadder.

I auteur

qui recommande aux disciples de Zoroastre,

l'usage du Kosti. Cest une ceinture que tout

Parse, parvenu & 'age de quinze ans, doit porter

et quil doit mettre sur lui chaque jour au

moment de son lever. ILe Kosti met en fuite

YOL: I,

1

114

TRAVELS IN

les demons ; il est le signe de 'union des fidéles.

Toutes les bonnes ceuvres de celui qui n’en est

point ceint, deviennent nulles et sans aucun

mérite aux yeux de la loi.

Ie Parse doit faire

quatre nceuds an Kosti; par le premier il con-

fesse T'unité de Dieu, par le second il reconnait

la vérité de la religion de Zoroastre; la troisiéme

est un témoignage qu'il rend a la divinité de

sa mission, et a sa qualité de prophéte; enfin

par la quatriéme il atteste la ferme resolution

quil a prise de faire le bien, de vouloir le

bien, de penser le bien, et de s'éloigner du

mal.

Les anges méme ont apparu au Roi

Menotchehr et a Zoroastre ceints du Kosti.

Apreés ces details, l'auteur ajoute,—Si tu ne

connais pas Iran et Aniran, je vais t'apprendre

Aniran

un signe auguel tu le reconnaitras.

n’a point ceint le Kosti, comme il convient de

le faire, mais Iran s’en est ceint, et I'a 6té de

dessus son visage, comme les hommes de bien,

les saints, les hommes parfaits dans la religion ;

il a ceint le Kosti de la maniére que prescrit la

doctrine veritable.”

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

115

From the above we may infer, that since

the external sign by which Ilran was to be

recoguised, consisted in its having removed the

kosti from the forehead, Awiran must, therefore,

have retained the custom of wearing it on the

head.

In investigating the monuments of antiquity

we ought not to overlook this distinction, as it

is of some importance, for by the mode in

which the Fkosti

was worn,

we may judge

whether the figure we may happen to be ex-

amining, is to be ranged among the followers

of Ormuzd, or whether it belongs to a nation

that was inimical to the creed of Zoroaster.

Acting up to this principle, we feel authorized

to say, that the figure of the man embossed

on a goblet (which forms one of the objects

lately discovered in a tumulus to the south-

east of the Caspian Sea*), and wearing the

* A detailed account of this discovery was communi-

cated by the author to the Society of Antiquaries of

London, and inserted in the ¢ Archmologia,” volume XXX.

Pp. 248 —255.

12

116

TRAVELS IN

kosti on the forehead, must belong to Awiran

and not to Iran.

It is uncertain whether the sling, which,

according to Q. Curtius,* adorned the head

of the Mardi, and served them likewise for

a weapon, was the kosti, or not.

If we incline

to the affirmative, we may suppose that these

wild highlanders, living, as described by the

historian, in caves and inaccessible mountains,

had disdained to embrace the religious tenets

preached by Zerdusht, and therefore retained

the distinctive feature of Aniran, namely, the

kosti on their foreheads.

Notwithstanding my impatience to behold

the ruins of Persepolis, I postponed my visit,

until I had seen the other interesting places

in the neighbourhood, reserving the majestic

Takhti-Jemshid

“ pour

la bonne bouche.”

Among other excursions, I had in view to

perform a trip to the hill of Istakhr, which

reared its brow at a distance in a north-western

* See Q. Curtius’s “ History of Alexander,” L. v. c. vii.

PRI TR

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

g

direction from Persepolis, in the hope that I

might contemplate from its summit the rays of

the rising sun, as they shot through the clus-

tered pilasters and broken pillars of Takhti-

Jemshid.

Independently of the splendid sight

I anticipated to behold, the height and situa-

tion of the isolated rock of Istakhr were such,

that I fancied I should be on one of those

favoured spots to which the zealous followers

of Zoroaster resorted every morning, in order

to catch the first glimpses of the returning

luminary, on which they looked as the pure,

bright symbol of the Deity.

As I had a ride of two farsangs to make, I

left Husein-Abad at three o’clock in the morn-

ing, while it was still perfectly dark, and took

the kedhuda of the place for my guide. Having

crossed the plain in a north-western dil'ection,

we touched at the tents of some Amaleh Iliyats,

to warm our benumbed limbs, the night being

piercingly cold, before we resumed our journey.

With the exception of one or two tents, in

which the shepherds kept watch, the rest of

118

TRAVELS

IN

the encampment was wrapt in sleep, but the

loud and incessant barking of the dogs on our

arrival soon roused the whole community.

Lights were kindled ; lengthened shadows were

seen moving to and fro; men, women, and

children, all equally curious, kept peeping

through the apertures of their tents; others came

out to ascertain the cause of all this noise,

and must have thought us half crazy to travel

at such a time of night, and disturb their

slumbers.

It was some time before they could be made

to believe that I was seriously intent on ascend-

ing the mountain, as they could not understand

for what earthly purpose it could be; at length,

by coaxing and promises of remuneration, some

Iliyats consented to show us the way up the

hill.

This wandering tribe belongs to a Lur stem,

and was transplanted into Fars by Aga-Mu-

hammed-Khan, the uncle of the late Feth-

After his

Ali-Shah, from Lristan Kuchuk.

death, many returned to their primitive en-

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

119

campments in the Zagros chain, but some have

remained behingd.

The ascent was steep and difficult, and after

having proceeded half way on horseback, the

path became so narrow and precipitous, that

we were obliged to dismount, leave our horses

behind, and proceed to climb up on foot.

Luckily the dawn of day overtook us, and

warned

us

to avoid many a chasm which

yawned beneath our feet.

We were so long

toiling up the devious path, that the sun was

high in the heavens before we could attain

the summit of the hill, and my desire of seecing

it rise above the ruins of Persepolis was thus

thwarted.

Nor could 1 well distinguish the

latter in the distance.

Notwithstanding the disappointment, I did

not regret the trip I had undertaken, as it

afforded me an opportunity of examining this

curious rock, and acquiring a correcter notion

of the country, than I could have obtained from

the plain below.

Istakhr can only be ascended by one path,

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TRAVELS IN

like Kal’eh-Sefid, in the country of the Mama-

seni, from the north-eastern side ; everywhere

else it is so steep, and in many places so nearly

vertical,

that an involuntary shudder comes

over one, on looking down into the plain.

A

stone wall, now partly overthrown, formerly

ran across the path, and defended the approach

to the summit.

On arriving at the top, I

found a dilapidated tower, with heaps of broken

bricks, tiles, pottery, and glass strewed about,

as likewise a few ruined habitations, denoting

that this had in former times been the inhabited

part of the hill.

Amongst the rubbish, and

nearly buried underground, I dug out a curi-

It has an

ously-wrought vessel of black stone.

oval form, tapering at one end, with an aperture

at the other, where it has suffered some injury.

The interior is hollow, while the external part

bears carved ornaments in relief, resembles in

shape a scooped-out cocoa-nut, and is quite as

large.

It bears likewise some resemblance to

the large oval ornaments suspended on a chain,

and hanging down the sides of the horses in

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

121

the sculptured equestrian figures at Nakshi-

Rustam, the

use of which it is difficult to

divine,*

Further in the interior of the hill, where

a declivity exists towards the east, I found an

immense reservoir for water, divided into three

compartments ; the banks are lined with stone,

and the floor paved. The breadth is unequal,

The

but it measures 205 paces in length.

melting snow of winter, and the rains at other

seasons

of the

accumulate

in

this

year

and another

reservoir

on the

south

side ;

this was the only means the inhabitants had

of procuring water at so great an elevation,

the hill possessing no springs.

It has, how-

ever, several oak trees, if I recollect right,

and the crags and caves abound with wild

goats and rams.

* Sir William Ouseley is of opinion these ornaments

may

represent

vessels

containing

incense.

See

his

“ Travels.”

In Sir Robert Kerr Porter’s Sketches, they are repre-

sented as tassels, which appears the most natural.

See

his “ Travels,” vol. i. p. 550.

122

TRAVELS IN

(Close to the second reservoir I found

the

following inscription cut in the rock—

/"\

N

|

) )

dlpna

-

The fort of Istakhr seems to have served

We

at times the purpose of a state-prison.

find in Sir John Malcolm’s History of Persia,

that * Zenghi, the son of Saad Attabeg, of

Fars, was sent prisoner to the hill-fort of

Istakhr,

from

which

he was not

released

till the return of Sultan-Jelal-a-din (Sultan

Mahmud of Khaurizm) from Scind to Irak.”

(See chap. xi. p. 387, on the Atabegs of

Fars.)

At a later period Uzzun Hasan confined in

the same fort of Istakhr, Sultan Ali Ibrahim

Mirza, and Sultan Shah Ismail, sons of Heyder

(Sefevi), where they remained four years. (Idem,

chap. xiv. p. 499.)

This isolated hill of Istakhr is the key of the

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

123

pass which opens into the plain of Persepolis

from the hilly country of Ardekan.*

* T took advantage of the elevated spot on which I stood

to mark a few bearings of the compass, relying on the words

of my guide, and on my own sight, to determine the relative

distances of the several places.

Bearings taken from the south side of Kuhi-Istakhr.

The bridge of Puli-Khan and direction of the river Kéim-

Firtiz, due south ; distance of the former, between three

and four farsangs.

To the west of the Kim-Fir(z extends

the district of Ramjird, bounded to the west by a moun-

tainous country, forming the buluk of Baiza.

To the east

of the same river is the district of Hafrek.

Direction of the

hill at Nakshi-Rustam, E. by E.S.E., distant about two

farsangs,

Bearings taken from the north-east side of the hill of

Istakhr.

The hill of Kuhi-Shakrek, N.W.by W.N.W., two farsangs

distant,

The Kam-FirGz flows from the same direction.

It has its source in the snowy range of Ardekan, near a

place called Runje- Gambil, and is the Araxes, or Cyrus of

the ancients, which Alexander had to cross before he reached

Persepolis,

It is joined in the plain by the river Moin,

coming from the village of the same name in a N.N.W.

direction.

The summer road from Isfahan to Shiraz passes

through Moin.

The extremity of the mountain ridge of Husein-Kth, a

continuation of the Nakshi-Rustam hills, lies to the north-

124

TRAVELS

IN

Not far from Kihi-Istakhr, in a south-eastern

direction, 1is

another

hill which

cannot be

ascended on account of its steepness; it is

barren, and has a very grotesque appearance.

At the distance of two farsangs to the west,

inclining to north, is a third isolated hill, on the

summit of which some ruins are seen, said to

have been an ancient fort, but time would not

allow of my visiting the spot, much to my

regret, as hitherto no traveller appears to have

described it.

1t bears the name of IXuhi-Shahrek.

I was standing on classical ground. The

Kam-FirGz river, which laves the foot of the

rock, is the Araxes of the ancients; the snowy

Ardekan mountains, from which it flows, are

the same with those whose crest presented so

SO S SR AR S D Rl

west.

The villages Germ-abad (one farsang), and Kazim-

abad (one and a-half farsangs distant) are to E.N.E. by E.

The bridge of Puli-no over the Kiim-Firiz is situated to

the south-east, at no great distance from Kuhi-Istakhr.

The bridge Alexander the Great had to throw over the

Araxes, before he could enter on the plain of Persepolis,

was probably somewhere in the same neighbourhood.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

125

formidable a barrier to Alexander’s progress,

and by whose slopes he descended into Persia.

It was likewise, in all probability, on the plain

of Moin that he threw a bridge over the

Araxes, which he had to cross before he could

enter on the plain of Persepolis,

and we may

same

ascribe, perhaps, to the

vicinity, the

between him

pathetic scene which took place

came out to

and some Greek captives, who

meet him on his approach to the city.

‘At his (Alexander’s) near approach to the

city,” says his historian, ‘his eyes were shocked

with a spectacle which has few parallels in

history.

It was a procession of Greek captives,

amounting almost to 4,000, whom the Persians

had deplorably mutilated.

Some had their feet

cut off; others had been deprived of their

hands and ears; and all their bodies were

branded with barbarous characters.

Thus they

had been reserved for the diversion of their

inhuman enemies, who, seeing themselves on

the eve of foreign subjection, did not oppose

their desire to go out and meet Alexander.

126

TRAVELS IN

They resembled uncouth images, distingnishable

only as men by their noise.

They excited more

tears than they shed.

In a calamity which

capriciously marked every individual, it might

be seen at once that they all shared; but their

punishment had been so diversified,

that

1t

was impossible to pronounce who was most

miserable.

When they cried out that Jupiter,

the avenger of Greece, had at last awoke, all

the auditors sympathised in their sufferings as

their own.

The King, having dried his tears,

said to them,

¢ Resume

courage,

you shall

again see your native land, and your wives.’

Then Alexander entrenched his camp two stadia

from the city.” *

On our way back, my communicative and

well-informed kedkhuda entertained me with

some agricultural information, in respect to the

cultivation of the soil about Persepolis.

The extensive and rich plains, to which the

name of Merdasht is improperly given, is divided

into several buluks, of which Merdasht forms

* See Q. Curtius, book v., chap. v.

127

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN,

only a part; namely, the buluk nearest the ruins

of Persepolis, or Takhti-Jemshid.

The space

between the rivers Polvar (the Murgab) and

Kum-Firuz,

or,

as the ancient geographers

would have termed it, between the Medus and

the Araxes, forms the buluk of Hafrek. We

have mentioned already that to the west of

Kum-Firuz, or on its right bank, lies the buluk

of Ramgird, while between its left banks in its

upper course, and the right banks of the Moin

river, is the buluk of Moin.

From the ruins of

the city of Istakhr (lying between the sculptured

rocks at Nakshi-Rustam, and which must not

be confounded with the rock of Istakhr), com-

mences the buluk of Merdasht, which extends

along the left banks of the Polvar river, until

its junction with the Kum-Firuz at Puli-

Khan.

To the south, Merdasht is bounded by the

latter river, down to Bend-Amir, from whence

a line drawn towards the ruins of Takhti-

Jemshid, or the extremity of Kah-Rahmd,

The buluk of

forms its eastern boundary.

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TRAVELS IN

Kurbal, or, as the peasants commonly pronounce

it, Kulbar, extends to the east of Merdasht,

lying between the Kuhi-Rahmed and the lower

course of the Kam-Firuz, which, after its junc-

tion with the

Polvar, assumes the name of

Bend-Amir.

Finding that my loquacious friend was better

acquainted with the buluks of Hafrek and

Merdasht than with the other three, I directed

my questions more particularly to what con-

cerned the former two.

The buluk of Hafrek has thirty villages, that

of Merdasht twenty.

The annual grain sown

in both amounts to twelve thousand harvars, a

harvar being equal in weight to what an ass can

carry. Some fields are subjected to irrigation—

others left to be supplied by rains alone.

The

production from fields watered by artificial

means is divided into three portions; one-third

of which is paid to the Crown, the other to

the landowner, and the remaining third to the

tenant.

From lands belonging to the State

called Shahi two thirds are abstracted from the

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN,

129

crops for the benefit of the Divan, and one-

third for the use of the tenant.

From fields called Deimi, where no irriga-

tion is used, and the crop depends on the dry

or wet season, the Divan receives only one-fifth

of the harvest.

The usual return of barley

and wheat is from ten to fifteen fold; in fields

better watered and attended to, it rises from

twenty to twenty-five.

About the Novriiz, in the beginning of spring

the villagers assemble, and proceed to clear the

canals 'by means of which the waters of the

Polvar river are drawn into their fields.

They

next elect a Mirab (confirmed by the Divan—

water being Crown property) whose duty con-

sists in distributing equitably the portion of

Water required for every field, according to its

extent,

From the beginning of spring up to

harvest time, the fields require to be watered

every week. The same process is necessary for

fields on which rice is sown, but those on which

rice is planted must be inundated. The latter

fields are more productive, and yield sixty and

YOL: T

K

130

TRAVELS IN

eighty-fold, while the return of the former is

only twenty-fold.

The plains of Merdasht and Hafrek consist

principally of a clayey soil, and are abundantly

supplied with water.

The peasantry make use

here of three different sorts of wheat, and two

of barley, the black and the white.

Corn

springs up better in a black vegetable soil,

while rice, peas, and beans prosper ‘in the

clayey ground.

In the afternoon, having sent my baggage

and servant on before, to secure a lodging at

Kenore, the nearest village to the ruins of

Persepolis, I rode across the country with my

of

native guide to examine the sculptures

Nakshi-Kejeb, in the mountains of Rahmed.

We forded the Polvar, and entered the buluk

Merdasht.

Not far from the left bank of the

river is an elevated stone platform, which

must have been once the basis of a spacious

square building. The stones have been hewn

from the adjacent rock, which near Nakshi-

Kejeb presents a curious configuration.

I have

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

131

generally observed

the granite strata lying

parallel to each other, and inclined to the

earth at a certain angle.

Here the rock presents

an undulating appearance, and the curve seems

to have been 'produced by some hidden power

from below, which has raised the strata from the

centre, allowing the sides to fall off in a slope.

Perhaps the following sketch, drawn from

memory, will best explain what I mean :

N

i

S

A

X

S

S

i,

=

‘§

Y

5

S84

PR

S

2

af

gt

z,

e

Y 7

=

0

The different layers of the rock in being thus

forcibly raised have given way and split. This

circumstance must have considerably facilitated

the task of the workmen employed in the con-

struction of Persepolis, as they could choose

the size of the blocks they required in the

hatural quarries of the mountain without being

obliged to hew them out of the solid rock, and

RZ

132

TRAVELS IN

had only to give them the necessary shape and

polish.

The sculptures of Nakshi-Kejeb are in a

recess of the rock, half way between Nakshi-

Rustam, and Takhti-Jemshid. They consist of

three bas-reliefs, one in front of the entry, the

two others to the right and left of it.

They

are of the Sasanian epoch, and have been fre-

quently described.

The indefatigable French artist, M. Eugene

Flandin, who lately visited this spot, has dis-

covered a long inscription in Pehlevi characters,

which had been hid from sight by the branches

and foliage of a tree protruding out of a fissure

in the rock.

It was getting dusk when we turned our

steps towards the village of Kenore, and, in

passing the fields, T caught a glimpse of the

colonnade and the granite pilasters on the high

platform of Persepolis, at the foot of the Rahmed

hill to the east.

I must own, however, that the

first impression they produced on me, although

a very agrecable one, was not what I had been

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

133

led to expect.

I fancied T should have been

overwhelmed by the imposing grandeur of the

massive buildings.

But then, T must admit, I

Saw the ruins to their disadvantage at a certain

distance and in the dusk of the evening. The

next day, on a nearer inspection, I was fully

reconciled to the previous idea I had formed

of Persepolis, and gratified even beyond my

most sanguine expectations.

The longer I

gazed on the ruins the more I found cause for

admiration.

CHAPTER VI.

Ruins of Takhti-Jemshid or Persepolis.—Progress of de-

struction observable in -the gradual fall of the pillars.—

Buildings on the different platforms.—Discovery of the

statue of a bull.—Accumulation of the soil on the plat-

form.—Subterraneous passages.—Remarks on the late

Mr. Beckford, the author of ¢ Vathek.”—Lord Byron’s

opinion on that book.—Adventures of the Caliph Vathek in

the subterranean halls of Istakhr.—Subterraneous corri-

dors at Persepolis, now occupied by porcupines.—The

royal tombs in Mount Rahmed.—Feruers, or guardian

angels of the old Gebrs.—Figure of the moon among the

bas-reliefs.—Conjectures on it.—Interior of the first and

second tomb.—General reflections on the monuments of

Persepolis.

Tue 9th January, as soon as I had finished my

early breakfast, we rode off to the ruins, distant

rather less than half a farsang from the village

of Kenore. The nearer we approached the more

majestic the relics rose before us, till we ar-

rived at the foot of the staircase leading to the

platform on which Persepolis stands.

TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN. 139

An indescribable feeling of awe prompted me

to get off my horse in order to ascend the

steps on foot, but my guide stopped me with

the prosaic observation that I should have

sufficient walking, and that I had, therefore,

much better remain in my saddle, as the

stairs were amply broad and sloping enough

for horses to ascend with ease.

This staircase

consists of a double flight of steps of black

marble, and so broad that eight or ten horse-

men can advance abreast.

The platform to

which the staircase leads is an oblong square,

measuring 1,200 feet from north to south, and

1,690 feet from east to west, according to

Chardin. It faces the plain of Merdasht, on

the west, and is flanked by the hill of Rahmed

on the east.

On reaching the platform we came to an

immense portal, formed of huge blocks of

8ranite or marble, with two gigantic figures

of bulls in front, and two sphinxes on the

Opposite side, with two high columns between.

I remember when I visited for the first time

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the splendid gallery of paintings of the Imperial

Hermitage, in the Winter Palace of St. Peters-

burgh, my eyes rolled from wall to wall as I

moved mechanically on from one hall to the

other in silent rapture, at intervals only uttering

some short exclamation of surprise and admi-

ration at the magnificent productions of the

great masters; but when I had left the gallery

I could not recollect one single painting in

particular out of the whole collection I had

just been admiring.

The impression Persepolis

produced on me was very similar to this.

I

moved from one group of ruins to another like

one under the influence of wine; my head

felt quite giddy. Not that each separate monu-

ment was a master-piece by itself, it was the

tout ensemble which kept the mind and the

imagination in a continual state of excitement.

But these feelings, however delicious and grate-

ful they might be to oneself, were yet so vague,

so undefined, so confused even, that it would be

impossible to bring them into any tangible form,

for words are inadequate to give them expression.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

137

I can only point “out the elements which

It was

served to give birth to those feelings.

the originality of the scene before me, so

totally different from everything one is daily

accustomed to meet; the chaste simplicity of

the monuments, beautifully harmonizing with

their gigantic proportions ; the Titanic rocks of

marble and granite, evidently piled up with

the presumptuous thought of struggling with

Time, as to who should have the mastery; and

although nearly vanquished by the latter, the

lofty columns still rearing their proud heads

toward the skies.

The mystery attached to

the origin and design of Persepolis ; the isolated

Position it now occupies ; the awful silence that

breathes around it ; the generations of men and

empires which have rolled over its head, and

sunk into oblivion ; the events it has witnessed ;

the vicissitudes undergone ; the noise and bustle

of which once it must have been the centre,

Compared with the unearthly quiet which at

Present pervades its clustered pillars and pilas-

ters, were all fit subjects for meditation, and

138

TRAVELS IN

capable of raising the soul above its ordinary

level of indifference and apathy. Nor could

the eye, while gazing on these memorials of

past grandeur, help casting a look upward to

the Throne of Omnipotence, where

all was

immutable and eternal.

The pure, bright sky

of the Fast, which had smiied upon the birth

of Persepolis, and witnessed its pristine glory,

was the same which now looked down on its

fallen grandeur,—still pure, bright, and serene

as the Spirit which dwells there !

But if it be difficult to give an adequate idea

of the varied impressions these ruins give rise

to, it will be not less impracticable to enter into

a minute description of all the details; for, to

do justice to Persepolis, it would require weeks,

nay months, perhaps years, of diligent study

and close examination ;

added to which,

an

ample store of previous information, relating

to the history, religion, customs and manners,

arts and sciences, of the ancients, would be

necessary before one could venture to pass a

judgment on the precious antiquities before us.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

139

My superficial knowledge of these matters, and

the few days I could bestow on Persepolis, are

sufficient drawbacks to deter me from entering

the lists; and if, in giving a summary sketch

of the leading features of this splendid piece of

antiquity as we advance, [ venture to offer some

observations, it is with the greatest diffidence

that 1 do so.

Another flight of stairs, the walls of which

are full of bas-reliefs, leads to the second plat-

form, on which the principal edifices of Perse-

polis once rose.

Here only thirteen columns

are found standing erect out of the seventy-two

of which the splendid temple was originally

composed.

It would be, perhaps, curious to

trace the progress of the work of destruction as

it gradually has proceeded in the Palace of Jem-

shid. Pietro de la Valle found, in 1621, twenty-

five columns standing. 'When Mandelso visited

these ruins in 1638, there were only nineteen ;

in the days of Koempfer (1696) and Niebuhr

(1765), the number was reduced to seventeen ;

and, in 1811, Sir W. Ouseley met only with

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TRAVELS IN

fifteen columns, excluding the two on the lower

platform.

The pedestals of a great number are

remaining, while the lines of the colonnade

evidently show where the rest had been.

These

columns are fluted, and surmounted by capitals

of various styles of architecture.

One of these capitals, nearly detached from

the pillar, probably by an earthquake, and

menacing every instant to fall down, represents

the head, chest, and bent legs of a bull, which

figure is united at the back to a corresponding

bust of a similar animal.

This appears to have

been the favourite ornament of the Persepolitan

order, for we find it reproduced on the bas-

reliefs of the Royal tombs of Takhti-Jemshid

and Nakshi-Rustam, as well as among the ruins

of the town of Istakhr in the plain.

Proceeding still in a southern direction, I

passed an elevated mound of earth, which Sir

R. Kerr Porter supposes may represent that part

of the edifice which was burnt by the Mace-

donian madman,* and to which the great Zend

% « Porter’s Travels,” &e., vol. i, page 646.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

141

scholar, Lassen, assigns the name of the banquet-

hall, or hall of reception. *

In a southern and eastern direction are nume-

rous pilasters, formed into different compart-

ments, with fluted architraves.

The walls are

covered with Cuneatic inscriptions and bas-

reliefs, representing human figures,

animals,

&c., the number of which, according to some

travellers, exceeds thirteen hundred.

A thick crust of earth,

which

has been

accumulating for ages, now covers the platforms

of Takhti-Jemshid, and hides probably many

an interesting relic of antiquity.

In confirma-

tion of this opinion, I may state, that recently

two French artists, MM. Flandin and Coste,

have brought to light a black marble statue

of a bull, which, although mutilated, is still a

beautiful specimen of ancient Persian sculpture

in that style, and, I believe, the first instance of

a similar statue discovered in Persia, with the

exception of that of Shapr, in the mountains of

* ¢« Allgemeine Encyclopedie,” vol

xvil.,, page 356,

art. Per'sepolis.

142

TRAVELS

IN

Kazeran.

The workmanship of the latter

statue cannot be compared, however, to the

It

finished style of the bull at Persepolis.

certainly would be a Herculean task to clear

away the accumulated

soil heaped on the

mansions of Jemshid, but the enterprise is not

beyond the reach of possibility; and Persepolis

disencumbered of the dust of more than two

thousand years, would, in its revived state, offer

a no less gratifying sight for the antiquary

than the Roman cities of Herculaneum and

Pompeii.

In the surface of the platform are

apertures leading down into subterraneous pas-

sages.

At the mere mention of the

sub-

terranean passages of Takhti-Jemshid every

imagination is involuntarily carried away to the

scenes

in Vathek;

and

who has not read

“ Vathek ?”

Yes, independently of the attrac-

tion, which the antiquity, and plastic beauty of

Persepolis afford to the poet and the lover of

antiquarian research, Istakhr (which is another

name for Persepolis) has gained a peculiar

charm in the eyes of the general reader from

143

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

the mysterious halo which has been thrown

around it since the appearance of the fantastic,

yet fascinating little work, entitled ¢ The History

of the Caliph Vathek,” a hook which, I under-

stand, has obtained in this country a deserved

popularity.

It was Istakhr that could alone

satisfy the unbounded curiosity, and slake the

thirst for novelty, of the Commander of the

Faithful.

In the

subterranean mansions of

Istakhr was placed the region of wonders; there

he was to receive the diadem of Gian-ben-Gian,

the talisman of Soliman, and the treasures of

the pre-Adamite sultans.

The author of this witty tale has the happy

talent of imparting to his reader nearly the

same degree of panting curiosity which impels

his hero and heroine on to destruction; as he

leads Vathek from the banks of the Tigris to

those of Bend-Amir, until he is ushered into

the presence of FEblis, and meets, in company

with his mistress, with his final doom.

“ Vathek,” says Lord Byron, ¢ was one of

the tales I had a very early admiration of—

144

TRAVELS IN

for correctness of costume, beauty of descrip-

tion, and power of imagination, it far surpasses

all European imitations, and bears such marks

of originality, that those who have visited the

Fast will find some difficulty in believing it

to be more than a translation.

As an eastern

tale, even Rasselas must bow before it; his

¢ Happy Valley’ will not bear a comparison

with the Hall of Eblis.”

After such an encomium coming from such

a quarter, we may, without hesitation, intro-

duce here some lengthy extracts from the

account of Vathek’s arrival with his young

bride, and his visit to the subterranean halls

of Istakhr.

“ A death-like stillness reigned over the

mountain and through the air.

The moon

dilated, on a vast platform, the shades of the

lofty columns, which reached from the terrace

almost to the clouds.

The gloomy watch-

towers, whose number could not be counted,

were veiled by mno roof; and their capitals,

of an architecture

unknown in the records

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

145

of the earth, served as an asylum for the

birds of darkness, which,

alarmed at the

approach of such visitants, fled away croak-

mg

“The chief of the eunuchs, trembling with

fear, besought Vathek that a fire might be

kindled.

‘No,” replied he, ‘there is no time

left to think of such trifles:

abide

where

Hav-

thou art, and expect my commands.’

ing thus spoken, he presented his hand to

Nouronihar, and ascending the steps of a vast

staircase, reached the terrace which was flagged

with squares of marble,

and resembled a

smooth expanse of water, upon whose surface

not a leaf ever dared to vegetate.

On the

right rose the watch-towers,

ranged before

the ruins of an immense palace, whose walls

were embossed with various figures.

In front,

stood forth the colossal forms of four creatures,

composed of the leopard and the griffin, and

though but of stone, inspiring emotions of

terror,

Near

these were distinguished by

the splendour of the moon, which streamed

L

VOL,

I

146

TRAVELS IN

full on the place, characters like those on the

sabres of the Giaour, that possessed the same

virtue of changing every moment.

These,

after vacillating for some time, at last fixed

in Arabic letters, and prescribed to the Caliph

the following words :—

“¢Vathek! thou hast violated the conditions

of my parchment, and deservest to be sent

back; but in favour to thy companion, and

as the meed for what thou hast done to

obtain it, Eblis permitteth. that the portal of

his palace shall be opened, and the subter-

ranean fire will receive thee into the number

of its adorers.’

“He scarcely had read these words, before

the mountain, against which the terrace was

reared, trembled; and the watch-towers were

ready to topple headlong upon them. The rock

yawned, and disclosed within it a stair-case of

polished marble, that seemed to approach the

abyss.

Upon each stair were planted two large

torches, like those Nouronihar had seen in her

vision ; the camphorated vapour ascending from

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

147

which, gathered into a cloud under the hollow

of the vault.

“This appearance, instead of terrifying, gave

new courage to the daughter of Fakreddin.

Scarcely deigning to bid adieu to the moon,

and the firmament,

she abandoned, without

hesitation, the pure atmosphere, to plunge into

these infernal exhalations.

The gait of those

impious personages was haughty and deter-

mined,” &e.

After describing the hall into which this

precious pair were ushered, the author goes

on

—_—

“In the midst of this immense hall, a vast

multitude was incessantly passing, who severally

kept their right hands on their hearts, without

once regarding any thing around them. They

had all the livid paleness of death.

Their

eyes, deep sunk in their sockets, resembled

those phosphorical meteors, that glimmer by

night in places of interment.

Some stalked

slowly on, absorbed in profound reverie; some,

shrieking with agony, ran furiously about, like

12

148

TRAVELS IN

tigers wounded with poisoned arrows; whilst

others, grinding their teeth in rage, foamed

along, more frantic than the wildest maniac.

They all avoided each other; and, though

surrounded by a multitude that no one could

number, each wandered at random, unheeded

of the rest, as if alone on a desert, which no

foot had trodden.”

The descriptions are all so splendid, that,

having once begun, we do not know when to

stop, or what passage to leave out; but, if

possible, the picture of Eblis himself surpasses

all the rest.

«“ After some time, Vathek and Nouronihar

perceived a gleam, brightening through the

drapery, and entered a vast tabernacle, carpetted

An infinity of

with the skins of leopards.

elders, with streaming beards, and afrits, in

complete armour, had prostrated themselves

before the ascent of a lofty eminence, on the

top of which, wpon a globe of fire, sat the

formidable Iblis.

His person was that of a

young man, whose noble and regular features

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

149

seemed to have been tarnished by malignant

vapours.

In his large eyes appeared both pride

and despair; his flowing hair retained some

resemblance to that of an angel of light.

In

his hand, which thunder had blasted, he swayed

the iron sceptre that causes the monster Oura-

nabad, the afrits, and all the powers of the

abyss, to tremble.

At his presence the heart

of the Caliph sunk within him, and, for the

first time, he fell prostrate on his face.

Nou-

ronihar, however, though greatly dismayed,

could not help admiring the person of Eblis,

for she expected to have seen some stupendous

giant.

Eblis, with a voice more mild than

might have been imagined, but such as trans-

fused through the soul the deepest melancholy,

said : ¢ Creatures of Clay, 1 receive you into

mine empire; ye are numbered amongst my

adorers; the treasures of the pre-Adamite sul-

tans, their bickering sabres, and those talismans

that compel the Dios to open the subterranean

expanses of the mountain of Kaf, which com-

municate with these,—there, insatiable as your

150

TRAVELS IN

curiosity may be, shall you find sufficient to

gratify it.

You shall possess the exclusive

privilege of entering the fortress of Aherman,

and the halls of Argenk, where are portrayed

all creatures endowed with intelligence, and

the various animals that inhabited the earth,

prior to the creation of that contemptible being

whom ye denominate the Father of Man-

kind.””

The new comers are allowed to roam for a

time through the subterranean mansions; they

visit the cells of the pre-Adamite sultans, and

converse with King Solomon.

The peculiarity

of the multitude which flits before their eyes,

with the right hand constantly pressed on the

heart, is a fit illustration of ¢ the worm that

never dies.”

At length their doom is fixed,

and as it was pronounced — ¢ Their hearts

immediately took fire; and they at once, lost

the most precious of the gifts of heaven: Hope.

These unhappy beings recoiled, with looks of

the most furious distraction.

Vathek beheld,

in the eyes of Nouronihar, nothing but rage

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

151

and vengeance; mnor could she discern in his,

but aversion and despair.*

“Such was, and such should be, the punish-

ment of unrestrained passions, and atrocious

actions !

Such

18,

and such should be, the

chastisement of blind ambition, that would

transgress those bounds which the Creator

hath prescribed to human knowledge; and,

by aiming at discoveries reserved for pure

Intelligence,

acquire that infatuated pride,

which perceives not that the condition ap-

pointed to man is, to be ignorant and humble.”

But to return to the vaults of Persepolis.

Having procured lights, my guide took me

down into dark corridors, which are so low

in some. parts, that not only was I obliged to

advance in a bending posture, but even to

crawl,

In one direction I proceeded as far

as eighty-five paces, in another seventy.

These

corridors are cut in the rock, and are covered

by huge granite blocks, which circumstance

makes me suppose that they were hewn pre-

* See Note at end of the chapter.

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TRAVELS IN

vious to the construction of the massive buildings

on the platform.

These subterranean walks in-

tersect each other at right angles, and branch off

in various directions.

Some even, I was told,

communicate with the tombs in the mountain.

This may explain the non-existence of a door

into the royal tombs of Rahmed from the external

face of the rock; but how are we to account

for the absence of a similar entry into the

caves at Nakshi-Rustam?

Water appears like-

wise to have been conducted by means of these

subterranean canals.

In summer, the vaults

of Persepolis form the residence of herds of

porcupines, which breed there in vast num-

bers, the ground being strewed with the dry

manure and bristles of this animal.*

This is

all T saw in the lower regions of Takhti-

Jemshid, and although it fell short of what

Vathek and his fair companion had witnessed

many centuries before me, of the infernal

grandeur of the court of Eblis, I took warning

* See chapter xii. on the migrations of the Persepolitan

porcupines.

1563

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

from their example, not to push my inquisitive

investigations any further, but hastened to

exchange the dark abode for the pure light

of heaven, and quit the loathsome atmosphere

of the cells below, to inhale the fresh air of

the plain of Merdasht.

The three royal tombs of Kihi-Rahmed (the

Kior-Ahmed of Dupré), resemble those at

Nakshi-Rustam.

The tomb opposite the co-

lonnade, and of which Diodorus* makes mention,

is the most perfect of the whole.

In the upper part of the front bas-relief,

at the top of the sarcophagus, which is sup-

ported by two rows of human figures, fourteen

in each row, stands the mobed or high priest

(supposed to be Ormuzd, or the figure of the

departed king), holding a bow in the left

hand, while the right is extended forward.

Before him is the Atesh-Kadeh, or fire-altar,

and above a winged figure, the feruer, or spirit

of the departed king ; because according to the

* Diodorus Siculus, liv. xvii. part 2, sec. lxxi., in

Miot’s French translation.

154

TRAVELS IN

Zoroastrian creed, every created being in the

universe had his guardian angel.* Even ex}ery

inanimate thing had its prototype in heaven.

This belief among the most ancient Zend

nations, may have given rise to the mythology

of the Greeks and Romans, who peopled every

corner of the globe with their protecting gods

and goddesses.

High wupon the right is the

ball of the sun, the brightest and purest em-

blem of the Deity in the Gebr cosmogony. It

is shorn of its rays, and has in its lower part

the curve of the moon.

I mention this latter

circumstance, because M. Lassen seems to doubt

the fact of the figure of the moon appearing on

any of the sculptures at Persepolis.t

I found another emblem of the moon in one

* We read, in the Gospel according to St. Matthew,

chap. xviii. 10,—¢ Take heed that ye despise not one of

these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their

angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in

heaven.”

t See Lassen’s profound and highly-entertaining article

on Persepolis and the Persians, in the Allgemeing Ency-

clopedie, &c., vol. xvii., p. 365.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

155

of its quarters, on the side wall to the left of

the sarcophagus, on which several figures are

The moon is

represented with long spears.

above the head of the figure, in the middle com-

partment.

As the waters of springs and brooks were

particularly sacred to Amshashpand Khordad,

(one of the three forms of the ¢ refulgent lamp

of night,” Khordad, Sapondomad, and Moh*)

the repl'esentation of the moon on this rock

may have proceeded from the circumstance that

there is a spring of water in Mount Rahmed,

which passes through this royal tomb.

The upper cornice, which separates the sar-

cophagus from the lower part of the sculptured

wall, is ornamented with eighteen figures of

lions, with tails curled up like dogs.

There

are nine in one direction and as many in the

The lower cor-

other, meeting in the middle.

nice is supported by four bas-relief columns, two

on ecach side of the door.

The architrave is

elegantly fluted, and the frame of the door

* See the Zend-Aresta, b. 2., p. 141, in Kleuker.

156

TRAVELS N

entirely adorned with delicately-sculptured roses.

The capitals of the columns are the same

double figures of bulls we have described before,

and which are represented supporting on their

joint crests the upper bas-reliefs, with the

sarcophagus.

I found great difficulty in penetrating into

the interior of the cave, on account of the

accumulated sand which choked the entrance.

On digging close to the aperture a quantity of

water rushed forth; and it was not until it had

time to run out that I could crawl into the

recess of the mountain.

I found in an arched

niche only one excavation in the rock similar to

that at Nakshi-Rustam.

Judging, however, by

the depth of the niche, there may have been

two excavated tombs; but it was impossible to

ascertain the fact on account of the accumulated

sand in the cave.

The water seems to have

penetrated into it through some fissure in the

rock above, and must pass through some bed

of sand, as it has brought down a quantity

with it.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

157

The second cave to the south has three

It

vaulted niches, each containing a tomb.

now serves as a granary for cut straw piled in

the embrasures, while the lower part is covered

with water and wet sand.

The natives call

the first cave the meschid, or mosque, and the

second the hammam, or bath.

At some distance to the south in the same

mountain is the third tomb,

similar to the

former two, but in its lower part it has been

left incomplete.

Much interesting matter has already been

written on Persepolis ; many ingenious conjec-

tures* have been made as to the probable date

and object of its foundation, and still the

subject is far from being exhausted.

The questions connected with it still remain

* We do not mean to class among the ingenious con-

Jjectures the surmises of Samuel Simon Wette, that Perse-

polis and the Pyramids owe their origin to some volcanic

eruption, although we certainly must range them among

the strange conceptions of the human brain, probably pro-

duced by what the erudite Wette would call a “ mental

voleanic eruption.”

B —_——=

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unsolved, and some time will probably elapse

before they can be satisfactorily cleared up, if

they are ever destined to be so at all.

How-

ever, if anything is more likely than another to

promote the success of these researches, it is

the study of the Zend texts, which has resulted

already in the unravelling of many of the sym-

bolic representations on the monuments of Per-

sepolis ; whilst the progress the learned men of

Europe are making in the deciphering of the

arrow-headed characters, of which the Perse-

politan walls present such a splendid library,

will, it is to be hoped, lead, although by a

different course, to the same result, and assist

in offering to the world the solution of this great

enigma of past ages.

NOTE TO CHAPTER VI.

Page 151.—The Kholaussat-ul-

Akbar gives a somewhat

different account of Vathek’s death ; but though it does not

partake of the supernatural character of romance,

the circum-

stance which put a period to his life is not less strange. It

states, that “ Labouring under the effects of a dropsical

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

1569

intemperance, it was prescribed to Ul-Wauthek by his

physicians, towards the concluding period of life, that he

should seat himself in a hot stove, or oven, as soon after

the embers should have been withdrawn as it should be

endurable.

The experiment is said to have been attended

with singular success ; but finding such unlooked-for and

unexpecied relief, the monarch was not to be satisfied

without a further application to the remedy, with a more

violent degree of heat.

In this he was obeyed, and per-

ceiving, when too late, that it was beyond his endurance,

he beckoned to be taken out of the stove, and expired on

the same day, in the latter part of Zelhudje, or the year 232

(A.D. 846), at the premature age of thirty-six, and after

exercising, according to the expression of the or}ginal, a

power repugnant to the orthodox principles of Islam for the

period of five years seven months and some days.”

(See

Price’s “ Chronological Retrospect ; or, Memoirs of the

Principal Events of Mohammedan History,” &e., vol. ii.,

page 150.)

.

CHAPTER VII.

Visit to the Cave of Shah-Sharmu with Pehlevi inscrip-

tions.—Mussulman grave in a recess of the mountains.—

Seat of the town of Istakhr.—Birth-place of the impostor

Mozdac.—Discovery of old coins.—Extract from Pro-

fessor Heeren.—Band-Amir.—Thomas Moore.— Road to

Shirfiz.—Stop at the Nabob’s house.—State of Shiriz

and the province of Fars.—Rival parties.—Short sketch

of the history of Madame de La Marriniere.

Havine ascertained the existence of a curious

cavern, at no great distance, with some re-

markable inscriptions, I desisted for some hours

from the pleasure of admiring the beautiful

remains of Persepolis, and took my Persian

This cave

kedkhuda to guide me thither.

is behind Nakshi-Rustam in the hills of Kahi-

Husein.

To lose as little time as possible, we started

two hours before sun-rise, and arriving at the

entrance of the defile,

left our horses and

proceeded on foot up a narrow cleft in the

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

161

mountain by a very steep and stony ascent. At

a considerable height we found in the recess

of the hill a lonely grotto, from whence flowed

a spring of crystal water.

In the inside, near

the entrance, stood a tomb formed of white

marble slabs, which had partly given way,

and were covered with Arabic inscriptions,

denoting that it was the last abode of a follower

of Islam.

A single willow-tree sprung at the

foot of this lonely monument, while the massive

and naked rocks, which rose perpendicularly

above the head, shut out the glaring light of the

sun, and threw their lengthened shadows down

the craggy path by which we had ascended.

The imposing grandeur of the scene, the un-

earthly calm which breathed around wus, in-

voluntarily inspired feelings of devotion, and I

almost envied the lot of the silent tenant of the

grave. The sight of a tomb usually raises serious

ideas even in an ordinary cemetery close to the

habitations and the buzz of the living; but

that pensive disposition of the mind is en-

hanced, when we meditate over a grave-stone

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in some secluded shade, far from the busy

throng and haunts of men.

There the mind

feels less distracted by external objects, and

the heart enters more freely into communion

with its God.

On retracing our steps half way down the

hill, we turned to the left, and entered a

spacious cavern, the depth of which, on account

of the obscurity of the place, it was impossible

to fathom.

In another part of the same

grotto, were several niches in the wall; in

two of them I found long inscriptions in the

Pehlevi character; the one, however, differing

somewhat from the other.

I was not aware

at the time of their having been already copied

by Sir R. Kerr Porter, and congratulated my-

self on the discovery. I even payed an extra

ducat to the kedkhuda for conducting me to

the place.

I immediately set about taking a

copy of these inscriptions, but, as I had never

before made any attempt of that nature, it

was full two hours before I could complete

the task.

The first inscription has sixteen

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

163

lines, the second only fourteen.

The caves

bear the name of Shasharmi, and lie N.N.W.

of the village of Hajiabad and W. by W.N.W,

from that of Pora.

I afterwards learned, from

a well-informed Persian scholar, that this place

is supposed to have been sacred to Zoroaster.

The nature of the mountain seems to be

the same as at Nakshi-Rustam, being formed

of white marble, with grey and yellowish

streaks.

On our way back, we visited the remains

of the town of Istakhr, the fluted columns

of which, with ornamental capitals in the Per-

sepolitan style, as well as the massive blocks

of a gate-way, have been repeatedly described

by travellers, which dispenses me from making

any further comments, save that it is my

impression that these remains are coeval with

the ancient structures at Takhti-Jemshid, and

probably formed part of the city to which the

Greeks gave the name of Persepolis.

A thick layer of earth has covered the greater

part of the ruins, but deep excavations, similar

M 2

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to those at Rhey, near Teheran, continue to be

made by the neighbouring villagers for the

purpose of procuring bricks for the construction

of baths and houses.

‘We learn from Greek historians, that Istakhr,

or Persepolis, was always a favoured spot among

the Persians.

It was the cradle of the Ache-

menid race, who were exempted from paying

the ordinary tribute to which the rest of the

nation was subjected;* while each female of

Persepolis, since the reign of Cyrus, possessed

the privilege of claiming as her due a golden

coin from the Sovereign whenever he returned

to his capital after an absence of some dura-

tion. ¥}

This ancient city, whose name is associated

in native romance with the glory of Jemshid

during the heroic ages of the world, previous

to the dawn of history, and which had presided

over the birth of the mighty empire of the King

of kings, was doomed, by a sad reverse of

* Herodotus vi. 97.

t Plutarch de mulier. virtutib., lib. viii., et Alex.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

165

fortune, to witness likewise the last struggle

for its independence before it sunk beneath the

For it was in

overwhelming power of Islam.

the neighbourhood of Istakhr that Yezdijird,

on his return from Khorasan, placed himself,

for the last time, at the head of his subjects,

and was defeated by Abdullah, the son of Omar,

in the year 650 of J. C.*

Among the celebrities of Istakhr, we may

mention the famous impostor Mazdac, who

propagated the absurd doctrine of the com-

munity of women, which in our days has

been renewed by the Saint Simonians. Mazdac

was a native of that town, and flourished in

the reign of the Sasanian monarch Kobad,

in the sixth century of the Christian era.

During my stay at Kenore, I made diligent

inquiries whether any ancient coins were ever

found in the ruins of Persepolis or in the

neighbourhood, and ascertained that a shepherd

tending his flocks among the mountains, had

* See Rouzul-ul-Suffa, and Habeib-Usseyr, in Price’s

“ Retrospect of Mahomedan History,” &ec., vol. i., page 159.

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lately discovered in a recess of K{h-Rahmed,

a considerable number

of brass

coins.

I

naturally felt very anxious to get them, but

as the proprietor lived at a distance, some

time elapsed before I could obtain a sight

of them.

¥

soon became aware that the

master of the house where I lodged, having

observed that I betrayed some eagerness to

possess those coins, took immediate advantage,

by extorting money for the hire of Cosids or

foot-messengers, whom he made me believe

he sent in different directions in search of

the shepherd.

The latter at length came

with his treasure, and I purchased of him

the whole lot, consisting of nearly 200 brass

coins.

Most of them are of the Teymdrid

dynasty,

with

Arabic

inscriptions

of the

fourteenth centqry.

As far as my limited

knowledge in Numismatics goes, I believe

coins of this dynasty are reckoned very scarce

in cabinets of medals.

On the 11th of January I left Kenore,

regretting exceedingly that I was obliged to

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.,

167

part so soon with Persepolis.

Casting a long

lingering look in the direction of the clustered

columns, I bade them an affectionate farewell.

Persepolis was only a new acquaintance, and

yet I felt as if I were separating from an old

friend whose intrinsic worth had gained my

esteem and commanded my respect.

There is so much grandeur and simplicity

about these ruins, such a tranquil greatness in

them ; there is so much soul in these silent, yet

eloquent memorials of the past, that I can

only draw my comparisons from living—human

beings: it is the placid, dignified calmness of a

virtuous woman, combined with the majestic

look of a man, with the furrows of age and

adversity on his brow, yet firmly resigned to the

will of God.

But before we take a final leave of Persepolis,

let us attend to what has fallen from the eloquent

pen of the great German writer, Ieeren, on the

subject.

“ Not only,” says Heeren, “is Persia Proper

memorable on account of its historical asso-

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ciations, but also for the architectural remains

The ruins of

which it continues to present.

Persepolis are the noblest monuments of the

most flourishing era of this empire which have

survived the lapse of ages.

As solitary in their

situation as peculiar in their character, they rise

above the deluge of years which for centuries has

overwhelmed all the records of human grandeur

around them or near them, and buried all traces

of Susa and of Babylon.

Their

venerable

antiquity and majestic proportions, do not more

command our reverence than the mystery which

involves their construction awakens the curiosity

of the most unobservant spectator.

Pillars

which belong to no known order of archi-

tecture ; inscriptions in an alphabet which con-

tinues an enigma; fabulous animals, which

stand as guards at the entrance; the multi-

plicity of allegorical figures which decorate the

walls, all conspire to carry us back to ages of

the most remote antiquity, over which the

traditions of the Kast shed a doubtful and

wandering light.

Iiven the question what Per-

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

169

sepolis really was, is not so perfectly ascertained

as to satisfy the critical historian.

An answer to~

this question may, however, be fairly expected,

when we consider the ample materials which

the traveller and the artist have already con-

tributed.” *

I did not take the direct course to Shiraz,

over Pali-Khan, but chose the road over Bend-

Amir, a name rendered classical by the Irish

bard, in one of the happy effusions of his

poetical muse :—

“ There’s a bower of roses by Bendemeer’s stream,

And the nightingale sings round it all the day long :

In the time of my childhood *twas like a sweet dream,

To sit in the roses and hear the bird’s song.

That bower and its music I never forget,

But oft when alone, in the bloom of the year,

I think—TIs the nightingale singing there yet ?

Are the roses still bright by the calm Bendemeer ?

“ No! the roses soon wither’d that hung o’er the wave

But some blossoms were gather’d, while freshly they

shone,

* See Heeren’s ¢ Historical Researches into the Politics,

Intercourse, and Trade of the Principal Nations of An-

tiquity,” vol. i., chap. i., page 141, of the English version.

170

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And a dew was distilled from their flowers, that gave

All the fragrance of summer, when summer was gone

Thus memory draws from delight, ere it dies,

An essence that breathes of it many a year ;

Thus bright to my soul, as twas then to my eyes,

Is that bower on the banks of the calm Bendemeer.”*

No more did I find the roses hanging o’er

the wave,

nor did the season admit of the

song of the nightingale; and although in spring

Bend-Amir,

I 'have mno doubt,

must be a

when

embosomed

in the

delightful

spot,

transparent foliage of its gardens, with its

picturesque cascades, and the

fantastically-

shaped rocks, which overhang the village ; still

it would require a powerful imagination to find

it half so lovely as it appears in the bewitching

strains of the poet.

The pleasing impression

Bend-Amir produced on me, was owing chiefly

to the agreeable recollections it brought with

it, of the time when I first read ¢ Lalla-

Rookh,” and all those endearing associations of

* Thomas Moore’s Veiled Prophet of Korassin, p. 63,

in the Poem of ¢ Lalla-Rookh.”

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

171

the heart, so closely linked with youth—poetry

I felt all the force and the truth

and hope.

of what Moore has so beautifully expressed,—

“ Thus memory draws from delight, ere it dies,

An essence that breathes of it many a year,” &c.

From XKenore, which we left at a-quarter

past six a.m., in a S.S.W. direction, we reached

Bend-Amir at half-past eight a.m., after passing

the village of Reshmnoji, half-an-hour’s ride from

last night’s halting-place, and from which the

bridge of Pali-Khan lies W. by W.S. W,

Bend-Amir consists of sixty houses, with

twenty-one water-mills, erected on the river of

the

same name.

Here is the famous dyke

which was constructed in the tenth century

by Amir Uzun-Deylemi, from whom the river

Kam Fertz, after its junction with the Margab

(the Polvar and Medus of the ancients), has

derived its name, Bend-Amir signifying the

Dyke of the Chief. A flat bridge of thirteen

arches is thrown over the stream, the waters of

which form a beautiful cascade just under it.

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As the bed of the river is very deep, seven

other dykes have been constructed in its lower

course to procure water for the irrigation of the

fields.

Of these dykes, that of Bendi-Talekan,

four farsangs lower down the stream, has a

At

bridge similar to the one at Bend-Amir,

present the fields around this village are left

uncultivated, because the dyke is out of repair,

and the water does not rise high enough to the

surface of the ground; hence the inhabitants

have turned their attention to other pursuits,

and have become millers, grinding flour for all

the adjacent villages.

We left the place at a quarter to ten, the

road leading due west, with a chain of steep

and fantastically-shaped mountains to the left,

and the buluk of Merdasht, from which we

were separated by the river Bend-Amir, to the

right.

After an hour’s ride the road makes a

turn to W.S.W. From this point Puli-Khan is

to N. by N.N.E.; the mountains of Nakshi-

Rustam N.N.E.; while the plain in front con-

tinues to extend in a western direction.

It was

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

173

here that the immense studs of the late Prince

of Shirdz, Husein Ali-Mirza, used to graze.

Having crossed a belt of mountains, we

descended into another plain, covered with large

At

patches of high reeds and fine pastures.

eleven we turned to the south.

In an eastern

direction from this point, close to some heights,

is situated the rich village of Zergan, the

nursery of the greater majority of the chalvadars,

or muleteers, who are spread all over Persia,

forming a distinct class, with laws, habits, pre-

judices, and superstitions peculiar to themselves.

The fields around Zergan are very well cul-

tivated.

A large karavanserai stands close to

the village, which is about five farsangs distant

from Shiraz, Persepolis being between nine or

ten farsangs from the latter city.

.

The road first took us to W.S.W., and then

inclined to S.S.W., over a hilly, stony, and

barren country.

A farsang from Zergan we

passed a fortified place, now empty, but which

had been garrisoned a few years past‘in order

to protect the traveller from the marauding

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IN

propensities of the wandering tribes during the

unsettled state of the country.

One farsang

further brought us to another karavanserai;

and on nearing Shirdz, we came to a rahdar-

khaneh, or toll-gate, established for collecting

duty on merchandise, but which has been

done away with by the chief Mushteid, or

head of the clergy at Shirdz, Sheikh Abd-

Turab.

Near the rahdar-khaneh I was met by the

eldest son of Muhammed Ali Khan Navob, a

very intelligent and interesting young lad, in

whose father’s house I meant to stop, he being

an old acquaintance of mine, and a most excel-

lent man into the bargain.

Half a farsang distant from the gates of

Shiraz is the narrow passage which leads down

into the plain, and is called Tengi Allah Akbar,

from whence the town, with the adjacent

country, first bursts upon the sight, offering a

magnificent panorama of buildings and gardens,

filled with dark and graceful cypresses.

On the brow of the Tengi Allah Akbar, we

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

175

passed under an arch-way, over which there

are several apartments fitted up, and in one

of them the Shirazi religiously preserve as a

relic the Koran of Sultan Ibrahim, son of

Sultan Rokh, and grandson of Amir Timur.

The merit of this Koran is greatly owing to

its bulk, and is said to weigh upwards of ten

mani, or about eighty pounds.

By the way I was shown the brook of

Ruknabad, celebrated in verse by the greatest

native poet.

Had it not been pointed out to

me, I never should have mnoticed this insig-

nificant’ stream, to which Hafis has given such

renown, that its name is repeated by a greater

number of mouths than its meagre waters could

quench the thirst of.

The same exaggeration

prevails in the moral world, and many a mortal

who has been extolled to the skies, will, perhaps,

when weighed in the balance of eternal justice,

be found wanting.

We could only reach Shirdz about sun-set.

I was received in the most friendly manner by

the Navob, under whose hospitable roof I re-

!

>

{

6

TRAVELS IN

mained the few days of my stay in this

town.

After my host and his friends, who were

assembled in the reception-hall, had finished

their evening Namaz, or prayers, and the latter

had taken their leave, he conducted me into

an interior apartment, where a table was laid

out with viands suited to a European palate.

Here we spent a most pleasant evening,

passing in review the various events we had

witnessed together a few years before at Teheran,

at the accession to the throne of the reigning

Sovereign of Persia, His Majesty Muhammed

Shah.

The next day was occupied in visiting the

different gardens for which Shiraz is celebrated.

The season of the year was not favourable for

their inspection, although the weather was

particularly fine, but with a little imagination

I could take for granted all that the natives

have written in praise of these lovely abodes

of the nightingale.

I readily indeed allow that

in spring these gardens must be beautiful.

177

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

The pure brilliancy of the Persian sky, the

brightness and transparency of its verdure,

the delicious odours that are wafted through

the air from the groves of fruit-trees, rich in

their vernal blossoms, and the rippling sounds

of the crystal cascades, must enrapture the senses,

and involuntarily steal away the heart of all

such as are susceptible of the charms of nature ;

and, as all is relative here below, the beauty

of these little oases is enhanced by the aridity

of the rocks and plains that surround them.

I pass over the description of the gardens

of Saadi and of Hafis with the monumental

remains of these two poets and philosophers,

the pride of their countrymen; that of Dil-

kusha and the garden, with the palace called

Takhti-Kajar,

these

places

having

been

enlarged upon by most of our western travellers,

who have visited Shiraz.

However, before I quit this city to enter

on my new journey, I may be allowed to

bestow a few remarks on the state in which

I found it, as well as the province of Fars.

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Since the death of Fet’h-Ali-Shah, which

happened in the latter end of the year 1834,

six different Governors have succeeded each

other in the administration of the province.

After the removal of Husein-Ali-Mirza, who

had been the Ferman Ferma, or Vice-roy of

Fars, for many years, during the life time of

his father, the old King, and had governed it

almost as an independent sovereign, Manucher-

Khan, the Moétemid-Daulet, was enjoined by

the present Shah to establish order in that

province, under the nominal authority of Firuz-

Mirza, one of the younger sons of Abbas

Mirza, the late Naib-Sultan.

In 1836, another son of that Prince, Feridan-

Mirza, former Chief of Aderbeijan, and favourite

pupil of the Prime Minister,

was named

Ferman Ferma of Fars, while Manucher-Khan

was appointed to the Government of Kerman-

shah, with Lbristdn and Arabistén.

Symptoms

of discontent soon became manifest, and at

length reached to such a climax, that the

Shahzadeh was forced to fly from Shiraz, and

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

179

Mirza Nebi-Khan, the Divan-Begi (President

of the Civil and Criminal Court), was sent

In the

to re-establish order and tranquillity.

summer of 1840, he was succeeded by a near

kinsman of the Shah, Nasrullah Khan Kajar,

who soon after his arrival fell sick and died.

Another step-brother

of the King, Ferhad

Mirza, replaced him.

From the rapid succes-

sion of Chiefs,

the province

had

suffered

materially ;

each of these Governors, inde-

pendently of the sum paid to the Crown for

the farming of the province, had been ex-

posed to other considerable expenses, in those

gratuities which are generally attendant in

acknowledgment of State favours.

The first object of a Governor, therefore, after

taking possession of his new government was

to repay himself as well as he could at the

expense, and to the injury of the inhabitants,

without regard to the regular taxation of the

country.*

* On visiting the palace of Kerim-Khan, I met there an

old man, I believe a contemporary of the Vakil, who, with

N2

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Althoﬁgh Fars is one of the richest, if not

the richest, province of the kingdom, the arrears

extended to a great amount, and the exhausted

contributors were unable any more to meet

the

demands of Government.

The annual

assessment of Fars is 360,000 tomans, or about

180,0007., which, with good management, might

be doubled.

The soil being rich, the produc-

tions various, the country requires only a good

administration and some security.for property,

to be in a flourishing state.

But unfortunately

this desideratum is felt all over the kingdom,

and it is not probable that it will be soon

attained.

I found Shirédz divided into two rival camps.

At the head of one party was the Il-Begi,

tears in his eyes, pointed to the work of destruction and

spoliation, which had been practised on the ornamented

walls of the apartments.

Venetian mirrors, and portraits

painted on glass, which formerly decorated the halls, had

been removed, and such as had resisted the hand of the

spoiler, by sticking firmly to the walls, had been wantonly

shattered to pieces.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

181

whose elder brother, the Il-Khani, or chief of

a great number of the Nomadic tribes of Fars,

resides at T'eheran.

At the head of the other,

was the Kalentar or Civil Governor of the city,

Hajji Mirza Ali Akbar.

He

is the son of

the famous Hajji Ibrahim, who betrayed the

cause of Lutf Ali Khan, the last of the Zend

dynasty, in favour of Aga Muhammed Khan

Kajar.

The power of the Kalentar seems better

established in the precincts of the town, than

that of his antagonist, whose influence is greater

in the country among the Iliyats.

The Shah-

Zadeh and his Vizier hope to uphold their

own authority by keeping alive the animosity

between the two rival parties, and in this

respect they only follow the policy pursued

all over the empire, and that which appears

from time immemorial to have been the system

of government in Persia.

It happens still

oftener that the Prince, who is named governor

of a province, embraces the cause of one party,

while his minister sides with the adherents of

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the other.

One can easily imagine what sort

of order and harmony can exist, when such

elements compose the administration.

As a stranger and a guest, allied to no party

in particular, I was welcomed and entertained

by the leaders of the two opposing camps, and

spent a most pleasant time, especially in the

company of the worthy Muhammed Khan-

Navob.

I must say, that I have seldom met

with a Persian of more enlarged and liberal

views on most subjects, or a man more amiable

and prepossessing in his manners.

I was likewise agreeably surprised to meet,

at Shiraz, a chief of an Arab tribe, whose

acquaintance I had formed in 1837, at Ker-

manshah, where I had been fortunate enough

to render him a trifling service.

This Ali-

Khan Boseri (the name of the Iliyat chief)

had not forgotten;

and as soon as he was

apprized of my arrival, he came to see me, and

on the eve of my departure, invited me to a

splendid banquet.

of the

former

1 found there two sons

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

183

Ferman Ferma, Imam Kuli Mirza, and Nadir

Mirza, who, although greatly fallen from their

former consequence, kept up for awhile their

princely importance.

This, however, gave way

by degrees, as they helped themselves to the

sparkling Aulari, till at length one of them who

sat next to me, became very communicative,

and even affectionate.

He liked the Frengi, he

said, and had always courted the acquaintance of

the Furopeans who came to Shiraz.

To the

company he boasted of his knowledge of the

languages of the Frengi, and appealed to me to

decide whether that was mnot the case, as he

went on repeating at every bumper he took

up, the words, I lave you, I tank you, Sir!

From Ali-Khan Boseri I learned many par-

ticulars which proved very useful to me in the

course of my journey through Luristan, he

having twice travelled through the country.

The surname of DBoseri is attached to his

name, and to that of the Arab tribe of which

he is the chief, on account of their descent

from those Arabs who first settled near Basra,

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and from thence extended their conquests into

Persia.

Before leaving Shiraz, I visited the tomb of

poor Madame de La Mariniérre, which had

been raised to her memory by the friendly

care of her countryman, in the service of the

Shah.

This French lady had resided for a number

She was rather an eccentric

of years in Persia.

woman ; and the fact alone of having come to

this country by herself, would be sufficient to

stamp her character with originality;

but

though singular, she had many excellent quali-

ties, with a warm and generous heart, which

few were aware of,

and therefore knew not

how to appreciate her worth. Among some of

her oddities, I may mention the following :—

Whilst in the service of Abbas-Mirza, the Naib

Sultan, or heir-presumptive, in the quality of

governess and teacher of the French language

to his sons, Madame de

La Mariniérre had

contrived to cast the moulds of the wrists and

ankles of all those young women of his and his

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

185

sons’ harems who were most remarkable for their

slender forms, and carried them about wherever

she went,

Had this curious collection been

preserved it might have formed an interesting

study of this branch of the human form, but

unfortunately the Persian chalvadars or mule-

teers, who are no respecters of persons’ limbs,

on unloading their animals one fine morning,

flung down on the ground the chest which con-

tained these precious relics, and on the cover

being opened, lo! they presented one sad heap

of desolation.

At the time the cholera raged

in Persia, Madame de La Mariniérre showed

much courage and self-abnegation in attending

on the sick, and ministering to their wants as

much as lay in her power, although she was

just herself recovering from the same complaint.

The death of Madame de la

Mariniérre is

ascribed to her own imprudence.

She had

already once performed the journey from Tabriz

to Shiréz, and had written a description of her

travels,

with an account of the remains of

Persepolis in Persian, which she presented to

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the Shah, together with many sketches of the

ruins drawn by a native artist, whom she had

engaged to accompany her to Takhti-Jemshid

for that purpose.

In the spring of 1841 being

at Isfahan, she formed the project of exploring

Fesa

and Darabjird,

notwithstanding

the

weighty objections that were raised by her

friends, to dissuade her from undertaking the

journey, or, at least, to engage her to postpone

it during the unhealthy summer season in these

hot districts.

But Madame de L.a Mariniérre

was not a woman to be easily dissuaded when

she had once made up her mind, and found to

her cost, when it was too late, that the warning

she had received was well grounded. She had

not been long in those parts before she was

attacked by the prevailing fever ‘of the country,

which put an end to her existence on her return

to Shiriz.

It appears that Madame de I.a Mariniérre

belonged to a noble family in France, which had

suffered by the great revolution of 1789; in

later years, according to her account, she had

LURISTAN

187

AND ARABISTAN.

been lectrice to the Queen of Naples, the sister

of Napoleon, and Murat’s wife.

And although

she had been much injured by her country, she

felt and expressed herself on all occasions

warmly in favour of her native land.

CHAPTER VIII.

Different roads leading from Shirfz to Behbehén.—Fur-

nished with artillery horses through the kindness of the

Prince Ferhad-Mirza.—Kind feeling and hospitality of

the Persians,—Quit Shirdz.—Precaution to be adopted

in travelling during winter through the snow.—Desht-

Arjin.—Contrast in the climate at Piri-Zen and Kuteli-

Dohter.—Sculptured rock.—Overtaken by night.— Arrival

at Kazertn.

On arriving at Shirdz, I made the necessary

inquiries concerning the road I was to follow,

in order to reach Behbehan, to the Governor

of which place I had a letter of introduction

from the Moétemid, requesting him to furnish

me with the means of reaching Shushter in

safety.

I learned that three different roads lead to

Behbehan.

The first passes through the valley

of Hular, celebrated for its vineyards, which

yield the best sort of Shirdz wine.

By this

road the distance to Behbehin is not much

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

189

above fifty farsangs, an.d it has the following

stations :(—

Farsangs.

From Shiriz to Guyin

In the limits of

to Shil

o)

Shiriz.

to Kal’eh Haroverjan .

In Shilistan or

to Husein-Khan

territory of the

to Faliyan

to Ser-Abi-Siah

v W T

Mamasenis.

to Basht

>

In the territory

to Dughumbedén or

of the Khogilu

Dughumbezin

to Kheirabad

dependency of

Behbehan.

to Behbehin

._(é.

5

This route was followed by Sir John M‘Donald

Kinneir, on his journey from Shushter to Shi-

raz, and leads through the pass of Kal'eh-

Sefid.

The

second road conducts to Abu-Shehr

over Kazerin, from this by sea to Hindiyan,

and then by land to Behbehén; this is the

usual route followed by travellers bound for

Behbehéan ; though there exists another road,

190

TRAVELS IN

which, before reaching Abu-Shehr, turns to the

right, and follows the sea-beach.

The third route, instead of pursuing the

direct line to

Abu-Shehr,

strikes

off from

Kazertn to the north, and, passing by the

ruins of Shaptr, penetrates into the heart of

the Mamaseni country, and only joins the first

route at Faliyan.

Not being aware that a description of this

latter road existed, and learning, moreover, that

the ruins of Shapar and Naubenjan lay on my

way, I preferred it to the two former, although

each of them would have been replete with

The stations of the third run

novelty for me.

thus (although I did not keep strictly to

them ) :—

Farsangs.

From Shiriz to Khaneh-Zenian

to Desht-Arjin

Karavanserai Kutel-i-Dohter

to Kazertn

to Diriz

;(4:

to Nudin

to Ntrabad

to Faliyén

5

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

191

Farsangs.

From Shiridz to Kal’eh-Ali Veis-Khan,

or Ser-Ab-i-Siah

to Basht

to Dughumbezin .

to Kheirabad

to Behbehan

!Q«@@AO\

68

With the help of my hospitable host, Mu-

hammed-Ali-KXhan

Navob,

and his

friend,

Sardar Hassan-Khan, I was soon furnished

with the necessary papers to the different petty

chieftains of the Mamaseni tribes, independently

of the Firman of the Shah, which was couched

in general terms, and addressed to the governors

of provinces and to the kedkhudas of vil-

lages, in whatever direction I might chance to

proceed, and a Rakam, or order from the

Governor of Fars, Behbehan being under his

jurisdiction.

I had performed my journey from Teheran

to Shiraz by post, this being the swiftest mode

of conveyance, though far less convenient than

192

TRAVELS

IN

riding one’s own horses.

But as there are no

Chapar-khanehs, or post stations, established

between Shirdz and Behbehén,

the young

Prince Ferhad-Mirza, the Governor of Fars,

kindly offered to supply me with horses from

the Artillery-park, one for myself, two for my

servants, and a fourth for my baggage, appoint-

ing, at the same time, an artillery sergeant,

well acquainted with the country, to conduct me

in safety to Behbehan.

I have a pleasant duty to perform,

m

expressing my heartfelt acknowledgments for

the marks of kindness and attention I have,

with very few exceptions, met with, as well

from the highest as from the lowest class of

Persians, with whom I have come in contact

during my sojourn in that country; and the

grateful feelings such conduct has kindled in

my breast, are the choicest gems the Fast could

bestow on me.

On the 18th of January, 1841, I left Shirdz

before sunrise.

The morning was excessively

cold.

The snow which had fallen the day

LU R-ISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

193

before, and had been swept off the terraced

roofs of the houses, was heaped up in the

streets and much retarded our progress.

The

wind blew from the north-east; and emerging

out of the city gate, I found the plain of

Shirdz, which the native poets compare with

the gardens of Paradise, bearing ~a great

resemblance to the

Siberian tundra* in the

When the sun rose, the

depths of winter.

dazzling brightness from the snow became so

glaring, that I had recourse to my coloured

spectacles, but an unlucky jerk of my horse

threw them down

and broke the glasses.

Had I not taken the precaution to provide

myself with a green crape veil I should have

I therefore recom-

been much inconvenienced.

mend all who chance to travel during winter

in Persia, always to provide themselves with

coloured spectacles or green crape, because

without this precaution, the refraction from

* Tundra, a provincial word in use among the in-

habitants of Siberia, designates the low country, which

extends to the frozen ocean.

YOL. 1.

194

TRAVELS IN

the rays of the sun on the snow is so great,

and acts so powerfully on the eyes, that in-

flammation easily ensues, causing incredible

pain.*

We pursued a westerly direction, first over the

plain of Shirdz, and then along hillocks till we

reached the village and karavanserai of Kal'eh-

Zenian, about eight farsangs from the town.

Close to the village flows a petty stream pro-

ceeding from the mountains in a north-western

direction, and continuing its course into the

plain of Shiraz.

The road from hence winds

through a hilly country, covered with shrubs

and dwarfish oaks.

To the right are the

elevated mountains of Ardekan, capped with

* The best cure for it, as far at least as my experience

goes, is that recommended by the natives.

This consists in

holding the face over steam, as hot as one can bear it.

The steam can be procured by putting some red coals or

red iron into a bucket with snow ; likewise steam from

the infusion of black tea, but one must take the pre-

caution of isolating oneself with the steam apparatus from

contact with the external air, by wrapping oneself over

completely with a cloth.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

195

SNOow.

From the summit of Sine-Sefid, or the

white breast, (where a round tower is erected,

in which the weary traveller may find some

shelter,) the hills slope to the west, into the

valley of Desht-Arjan, while the great chain

continues its course to the south-east.

It took

us a considerable time to reach the edge of the

valley, and the sun had long set ere we arrived

at the ruined karavanseral

of the

deserted

village of Desht-Arjan.

After a ride of twelve farsangs, which are

equal to forty-five English miles, over a very

difficult and unpleasant country, none of us felt

much inclined to prepare supper, and even had

any one evinced a desire to help his neighbour,

his charitable intentions would have been inef-

The

fectual, as there was nothing to be got.

best thing, therefore, I could do, was to wrap

myself up in my cloak and lay down for warmth

close to the horses, where I soon sank into

profound sleep.

We were up by daybreak, and followed the

valley of Desht-Arjan in a southern direction.

.

02

196

TRAVELS IN

The ground was covered with snow, and, to

judge by the surrounding mountains, and the

country I passed through later in the course

of the day, I think Desht-Arjan must form

.LA-

small rivulet

a very high table land.

(near the source of which 1is situated the

karavanserai above mentioned) runs along this

valley, and a farsang further to the sputh-

east it forms a lake, or a marsh overgrown with

rushes.

Desht-Arjan yields fine pastures, on which

the studs of the former Ferman Ferma used

to graze.

The Prince himself often visited this

spot for the purpose of sport, there being

abundance of game in the mountains.

The wild

boar also is met with in the Kamish. After a

ride of two hours, we had a short ascent to per-

form, and then descended by a very rapid and

prolonged declivity.

This chain of mountains is

the Piri-Zen, (or the hill of the old woman,)

which extends from N.N.W. to S.E. From its

summit [ witnessed a striking contrast in nature.

The valley of Desht-Arjan, with the snowy

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

197

heights behind it, and the eastern declivities

of the Pir-i-Zen, were covered with snow, and

bore all the features of winter; whilst on the

western side of the same chain, towards Kutel-

i-Dokhter, (or the mountain of the maiden,)

the vegetation was green, the air balmy and

warm, and not a particle of snow was to be

seen.

I even plucked a few spring flowers

which grew among the stones close to the road.

Thus the abrupt chain of Pir-i-Zen served as

a line of demarcation

between winter

and

spring.

It is very likely that the appellation

of Old Woman and the Maiden, given by the

Persians to these two chains, is a poetical

allusion to the diversity of climate which so

strikingly distinguishes the one from the other.

After leaving the

karavanserai

of Miéan-

Kutel, half-way down the Pir-i-Zen, and crossing

the Valley of Deshtber,* which divides the

* The same which Mr. Ainsworth calls the Valley of

Abdui, from a village of that name near the foot of the

Piri-Zen.

See his ¢ Researches in Assyria, Babylonia, and

Chaldea,” &c., page 230.

198

TRAVELS IN

two chains, and is partly cultivated, but mostly

covered with forest-trees, I rode up the Kutel-i-

Dokhter, from the height of which I obtained a

splendid view of the plain of Kazertn, closed to

the west by the Kimerij mountains. The descent

from Kutel-i-Dokhter is very steep, and a stone

pavement, consisting of steps, runs in a zig-zag

line down to the foot of the hill.

It has so

often attracted attention, and been described

by

European

travellers,

that I may dis-

pense with giving a detailed account of

I

1t

shall only express

my doubts

as

1ts

to

representing

the

climax megale of

Pliny, as some writers suppose, because Pliny

expressly mentions that this great ladder road

was

in the

interior

of the

country in a

direction towards Media,* which is not the case

here.

At the extremity of a projecting mountain,

close to the road, is an wuncouth sculpture,

* See ‘ Histoire Naturelle de Pline,” traduite par M.

de Sivry, tom. ii. lib. vi. chap. xxvi. p. 775, and my further

observations on it in chapter xvii.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

199

representing Timur Mirza,* one of the sons of

the late Ferman Ferma of Fars, with his

favourite lion, which the young prince had

brought up from a whelp, and had taught to

follow him like a dog.

What disfigures the

bas-relief still more is, that the figures are

painted in colours like the modern group of

near

figures in the cave of Takhti-Bostan,

Kirmanshah, where the late Muhammed-’Ali-

Mirza caused himself to be represented, sur-

rounded by his courtiers, above one of the

ancient sculptures of the Royal chase.

There is a copious spring of water in this

mountain,} which discharges itself into a lake at

some distance to the left of the road.

I had sent my guide on before to prepare a

lodging for us at Kazertn, whilst our little

party, consisting of myself and my two servants,

* Timur Mirza was one of the Persian princes who visited

England in 1839.

t Mr. Ainsworth supposes that the waters of the river

of Desht-Arjan, which have no visible outlet, may find

their vent at this spot.

See his “ Researches in Assyria,”

&e., p. 230.

200

TRAVELS 1IN

advanced leisurely, the horses of the latter being

quite knocked up.

But this slow pace could

not suit me long, and, setting my steed into

an easy trot, I soon lost sight of them. As

long as it was light I did not care, but when

it grew dusky, and still no sign of the town

appeared, I halted and got off my horse,

in the expectation that my fellow-travellers

would soon come up.

The time, however,

waxed late without their making their appear-

ance.

The sun had already set, and night

was creeping with its lengthened shadows over

the earth.

I recollected this was generally the

time for prowling beasts to quit their hiding-

places and approach villages and towns in

quest of prey, and as there are lions and

leopards in the plain of Kazertn, I did not

feel myself quite safe, sitting alone on a heap

of stones in the middle of the plain.

I there-

fore got on horseback, and pursued ‘my way,

half bent from the saddle, with my eyes fixed

on the ground, in order not to miss the beaten

track.

It had now become pitch-dark, and still

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

201

no sounds were heard denoting the near habita-

tions of man, nor were any lights discernible in

the distance.

All on a sudden my horse started,

and nearly brought me down.

Something had

swiftly crossed the path close in front of the

horse, which set off in a gallop—perhaps the

spur had done its duty,

by an instinctive

pressure of the leg.

The

dingling of a bell

soon greeted my ear;

no

music could have

proved more pleasant at

that moment, and

after a few minutes’ ride in the direction from

whence the sounds came, I joined a party

of Chalvadars (Persian muleteers) driving along

several strings of camels, loaded with cut

straw, which is stuffed into net bags and

thrown over their

backs.

Luckily the men

were proceeding to Kazern, which was still

at some distance.

As we approached, a horse-

man came to meet me on behalf of the chief

of the place to show me the way to my

lodging, where I soon alighted, fatigued and

bruised all over, having made that day up-

wards of nine farsangs, or forty-three miles,

202

TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

on a jaded animal.

My servants had had a

still more tedious day of it, as they were

obliged

to dismount and lead their

tired

horses the latter part of the road.

They did

not reach Kazeran until late at night.

CHAPTER IX.

Description of Kazertin.—Valley of Kazerin.—Gilevand

guides.—Ruins of Shaptr.—Mamaseni encampment of

the Dushmen-Ziyari tribe.—Scene on arriving there.—

Vanity of earthly grandeur.—Visit the cave of Shaptr.—

Giveh, sort of sandals worn by the mountaineers.—View

from the entrance of the cave of the adjacent country.—

Valley of Kuh-Mereh or Dasht-i-Ber.— Course of the

Shaptr river.—Encampment of Jehangir-Khan, a Ma-

maseni chief.—I am passed on from one chief to another

in

return for a written certificate.— Chenoshejan.—

Winter residence of the Dushmen-Ziyari Mamaseni.—

Circuitous road for wheeled carriages to avoid the

Kutel-i-Dokhter. — Quit

Chenoshejan. — Mune-nahl, —

Lurking-place of the marauding mountaineers.—Proof of

the unsettled state of the country.—Sahrai-Bahram.—

Sculptures in the rock.—River of Behram.—Ruins of

Nobenjan.—The fort of Nuarabad.—Residence of the

Bekesh

Mamaseni.— Kal’eh-Sefid.— My new Bekesh

guides.—Turaj birds.—Valley of Sha’b-bevan.—Fields of

Narcissuses.—Arrival at Fahliyan.

Janvary 20.—The next morning, while pre-

parations were making, and the horses were

204

TRAVELS IN

being saddled for our departure, I ascended

the terraced roof of my lodging in order to

obtain a view of the town.

Kazertn stands in a plain, and must formerly

have been of some extent; but it is at present

in a very dilapidated state, owing in a great

measure to an earthquake, but partly to the

ravages of war.

The buildings are of stone,

joined together with white cement; and the

walls of most of the houses are whitewashed,

which imparts to the town a very clean ap-

pearance, unlike the generality of Persian cities.

This reminded me of the neat white habitations

of the peasantry in Little Russia, or the

Ukraine; and I learn that similar hamlets form

the characteristic of Wales and the south-west

parts of Hampshire.

In nearly every yard

there are palm-trees, a feature quite peculiar to

Kazertin, which is the first place to the west of

Shir4az where the palm prospers.

Independently of the Muhammedan popula-

tion, which may amount to a few thousand

souls, Kazertn contains about forty houses

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

205

belonging to the Jews, but it has no Armenian

inhabitants.

The present chief of the place is of Turkish

extraction, by name Muhammed Hasan-Khan,

from Tabriz, a sartip or general in the service

of the Shah, and has under his command a

regiment of infantry, composed of 400 men

from ‘Faraghl’m, Kesoz, and Meloir, with two

field-pieces, and forty or fifty well-appointed

cavalry.

On obtaining from Muhammed Hasan Khan

four well mounted armed men, we left the town

and proceeded in a northern direction, along

the plain of Kazertn, having the range of

the Kutel-i-Dokhter to our right, and that of

Near the foot of the

Kumarij to the left.

latter mountain several villages were discernible,

viz., Kasekin, Kaleh Sayid, and Riza-Khan.

Not far from the latter we passed considerable

ruins,

many grave-stones,

and

several water-

courses.

This spot is half-way between Kaze-

rin and the village of Diriz; but as we were

hurrying onward, I could not stop to examine

206

TRAVELS IN

these remains.

From Diriz, which is probably

one and a half farsang N.N.W. from Kazertn,

we arrived at Taleghtn, one farsang further

to the north.

This miserable village is the

winter residence, or Kishlak, of the Gilevand

tribe, and is well guarded against all surprise

by a troop of fierce shaggy dogs, which came

out to meet us with loud barking and other

demonstrations of no very friendly nature.

(A

very fine specimen of this species of Persian

shepherd dog is exhibited in the Zoological

Gardens, Regent’s Park.)

The Gulams of Muhammed IHasan Khan

handed me over to a dozen of the Gilevand

tufengchi (musketeers), who were to conduct

me into the country of the Mamaseni; and

protect me, moreover, on the road against the

assaults of those rough mountaineers themselves

should they prove troublesome.

The plain of Kazertn, which runs up to

the Shapr river in a northern direction, may

be two farsangs in width by three in length,

and is well cultivated.

On approaching the

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

207

ruins of Shaptr, the country becomes more

wild,

and 1is covered with brush-wood

and

clusters of trees, among which the Gerchek

(Rhicinus Palma Christi, from which castor-oil

is extracted), grows wild, and, instead of being

a plant, resembles a moderate-sized tree, from

twelve to fourteen feet in height.

Diverging from our northern direction, we

now moved towards N.N.E., and, on nearing

the mountains, passed close to a tank of clear

spring water, covered in several places with

reeds and other water plants, shaded by tall

trees.

The borders of this basin are partly

inlaid with large blocks of polished granite,

of very good workmanship, resembling in nature

the stones of the square building that M. Mo-

rier speaks of among the ruins of Shapir.

could not stop to examine with attention the

ruins of the latter, scattered over the plain,

and concealed by rich, luxuriant, and even

rank vegetation ; nor could I spare time for

sketch

on the

a careful

of the bas-reliefs

porphyry sides of the rocks at the entrance

of the valley of Shaptr, as my guides seemed

208

TRAVELS IN

very reluctant to remain exposed to the sharp

and cold wind which blew from the defile.

1

consoled myself with the idea that these ruins

have already been described by several Furo-

pean travellers,* and that they had been very

lately visited by two eminent Irench artists,

MM. Flandin and Coste; the one as a painter,

and the other an architect, who will probably

soon enrich the domains of science by offering

to the world their splendid portfolios on the

ancient monuments of Persia.

I shall, therefore, content myself for the

present, by observing that the valley of Shaptr

possesses six distinct bas-reliefs, of which two are

sculptured on the rock on the left bank of the

Shaptr river, and four on the opposite right

bank. They resemble the style of the sculp-

tures at Nakshi-Rustam and Nakshi-Kejeb,

near Persepolis; but the workmanship is not

everywhere equal, and appears to have Dbeen

performed by different hands, and very pro-

* Morier’s “First and Second Journey through Persia,”

&ec., and Sir William Ouseley’s ¢ Travels in Various Coun-

tries of the Kast.”

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

209

bably at different periods.

Much,

likewise,

must have depended on the nature of the rock

For a detailed

out of which they are hewn.

description of these sculptures I refer the reader

to Professor Ritter’s valuable work,* or Mr.

Morier’s,t and Sir W. Ouseley’s ¢ Travels;” }

and shall only observe, that the second tablet

on the left bank, on entering the valley from

the west, is more artistically finished than the

rest.

It is supposed to represent the triumph

of Shapar I

over the Emperor Valerian,

though the vanquished monarch appears rather

too young a man for Valerian, who, according

to history, was about seventy years old at the

time Shapar took him prisoner at Edesse. §

On the opposite side of the river, at the

* See C. Ritter’s ¢ KErdkunde von Asien,” vol. viii.,

p. 827, and following.

t Morier’s First Journey through Persia,” &c., p. 86,

and following.

} Sir William Ouseley’s ¢ Travels,” vol, i, chap. vi.,

p. 279, and the following.

§ See Gibbon on the “ Rise and Fall of the Roman

Empire,” &e., chap. x., and Note 63.

VOL. 1.

r

210

TRAVELS

IN

foot of the other four sculptures, is a canal

cut in the rock, along which T was obliged

to proceed, in order to pass from one tablet to

the other,

crawling and squeezing myself

through several places where the passages of

the canal are narrow, and scooped deep into

the rock ; for the bas-reliefs are at some height

above the bed of the river, and the banks are

too steep and overgrown with willows, to allow

any other mode of approach.

I learned from my native guides, that some

years ago the famous robber of the Mamaseni,

Veli-Khan, had found among the ruins of the

fort, on the summit of the hill which com-

mands the pass, a considerable treasure, con-

sisting of gold coins, with figures on them,

resembling those on the bas-reliefs, (conse-

quently of the Sasanian period,) and that he

had them melted, and made into an ornamental

chain, attached to the bridle of his horse.

On arriving at a Mamaseni encampment of the

Dushmen-Ziyari tribe, we found in it women

and children only. These, together with their

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

211

dogs set up a loud noise, and protested

vehemently against our taking up our quarters

It was with some diffi-

there for the night.

culty we could make the former understand

that there was nothing to fear, as they would

be paid for the food we required for our party

and the provender for the cattle.

At last they ceded and cleared out for me

a hovel into which I retired. The lower part

of it consisted of raised earth, over which a

black awning (being- the tent of the Tliyats)

Such is the usual dwell-

rested on two poles.

ing of the Nomades in their Germesir or winter

encampments.

Some coarse wheaten bread and

sheep’s milk were first procured, and afterwards

a kid roasted on a spike, which proved very

welcome.

Little by little the shrill voices of

the females abated, the cries of the children

ceased, the barking and yelping of the dogs

died away,—all was hushed in sleep, “and

silent night stole softly over the landscape.”

I sat up during the greater part of the night

arranging my notes and writing letters to my

P2

212

TRAVELS IN

friends, as I had nmow entered on a seldom

trodden ground, and was about to travel among

a wild and unruly race of men, the Mamaseni,

the Khogila, and Bakhtiyar mountain tribes.

The locality itself was a fit spot for medita-

tion.

It was in the same valley with, and

not far distant from, the ruins of Shapar, the

once lovely and favoured residence of the proud

Sasanian monarchs.

It was on the granite of

these rocks that the haughty Shaptr had be-

queathed to posterity his own fame and the

shame of Rome!

But while history records

the triumphs of a barbarian monarch, and the

humiliation of the once mighty mistress of the

world, the moralist ponders over the strange

vicissitudes of men and empires, over sceptres

broken,

over

power gone,

over

victors and

victims crumbling together in the same dust

of ages.

This universal annihilation of all earthly

pursuits, however lofty and however vast,

would offer a melancholy, discouraging, nay,

revolting prospect, to the thinking mind, did

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

213

not revealed religion step forth and vindicate

the ways of God to man,” by pointing at the

immortality of our souls and chastening the

proud spirit of the creature by the eternal truth,

that God alone is great.

With the dawn of day my guides were

ready to conduct me to a mnatural.cave high

up in the mountain, where a colossal statue

was to be seen.

We ascended with difficulty

a very steep and craggy hill, parts of which

were so slippery that I was obliged to take

off my boots and scramble on all fours, and

in other places to be drawn up, where the

nature of the ground was too abrupt for me

to climb.

I could not help admiring the

agility with which my guides jumped from

rock to rock, like mountain-goats, with the

same assurance and mnonchalance as if they

were walking over level ground.

The moun-

taineers of Persia generally wear a sort of

sandal, with the point turned up to preserve

their toes from prickly and thorny shrubs

which grow on the mountains.

They call

214

TRAVELS IN

them Giveh.

The part of the sandal covering

the sides of the foot is knitted with thick

twisted cotton, very elastic.

The sole, instead

of being made of one piece of leather, consists

of short straps of raw bullock’s hide, closely

sewn together.

It is surprising how lasting

they are, and how well adapted to climbing up

or descending steep hills: they also prevent the

foot from slipping.

We at length reached the mouth of the

cave.

The entrance, as well as the interior,

is spacious.

A colossal figure was lying before

us, with the head half buried in the ground

and the heels up, or, rather, the remaining

stumps of the feet: while on a huge stone,

which had formed the pedestal, still rest the

feet, covered by sandals.

I suspect that the

figure must have reached the ceiling, as there

is something projecting from it, just over

the pedestal and the whole probably formed

once a natural column, supporting the dome of

the cave before the pillar was sculptured to

represent, as is supposed, the figure of Shapur.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

215

The arms are likewise broken, and I had to

remove some earth before I could ascertain what

sort of #iara crowned the head.

Whilst the guides were busy in preparing the

torches and dipping them into naphtha, which I

had the precantion to take with me from

Kazertn at the suggestion of a young French

traveller, Le Vicomte de Sivrac, whom I had

previously met at Isfahan, I took a sketch of

the figure, after which we went to explore the

dark mazes of the labyrinth. We went from

one chamber to another, some connected by

broad, others by narrow passages; long stalac-

tites

tapering

downwards

hung from

the

ceiling. The glaring light of our torches shone

at times on the white lime walls.

In other

places they were of a yellowish hue, with dark

streaks and mouldy patches produced by the

water oozing through the fissures, and the

general dampness of these subterrancan man-

sions. I wished much to get to the end of the

grotto, but my guides assured me very seriously

that it had none; that even Veli-Khan, the

216

TRAVELS IN

modern Rustam of the Mamaseni, had once

ventured far into the bowels of the mountain ;

that he came into a spacious hall, through

which a subterraneous river flows, and spent

the night

carousing there with his

friends ;

but that no one had gone beyond, and, in fact,

that no one could.

This would not have proved a sufficient argu-

ment to dissuade me from venturing further, had

not a stronger motive induced us to retrace our

steps.

As our footing was far from being sure, and

we were continually stumbling over uneven

ground, or getting into pools of water, the

guides had lost or wetted many of their tapers,

and our stock of rags for making new torches

was nearly exhausted.

So, making a virtue of

necessity, we retreated, frightening by the way

swarms of wild pigeons which nestle in the

walls of these lofty grottoes.

On quitting the cave, I gazed some time on

the beautiful scenery around me.

As the

cavern is at a considerable elevation up the hill,

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

2117

I could command a vast horizon, and truly it

was a splendid sight.

Three parallel chains

of mountains, intersected by broad valleys recede

towards the south, as far as the eye can follow

them.*

The craggy heights of the Pir-i-Zen

like the ribs of a giant, covered partly with

snow, project to the left, while the lofty Kumarij

separating the plain of the same name from that

of Kazertn, extend in an opposite direction.

Between the two, and facing the entrance of

the grotto, rises the rugged and precipitous

Kitel-i-Dokhter; below spreads the lovely valley

* They attain the Persian Gulf, and form part of that

great chain of mountains which Moore has so poetically de-

seribed in his Fire Worshippers :—

“ There stood—but one short league away

From old Harmozia’s sultry bay—

A rocky mountain ; o’er the sea

Of Omar beetling awfully,

A last and solitary link

Of those stupendous chains that reach

From the broad Caspian’s reedy brink,

Down winding to the green sea beach.”

—Poem of the Fire Worshippers, in Moore’s “ Lalla-

Rookh,” p. 208.

218

TRAVELS IN

of Shaplr, hemmed in between craggy rocks,

the river Shapar (probably the Granis of

Nearchus), issuing from the Pir-i-Zen is

seen wandering through the vale, at times

reeds

that

nearly choked by long elastic

wave gracefully in the air,

or shaded by

the

willow ;

at others,

blending

1ts

blue

waters with the green verdure of its banks,

for, although we were then in the month

of January, nature appeared fresh, and had lost

‘We then descended into

few of its charms.

the valley, at ten a.m., and followed the course

of the river of Shapar upwards, in an I.N.E.

direction.

The stream is here almost choked

up with rushes and other aquatic plants.

At a quarter to eleven we entered the valley

of Kh-mereh,

or

Desht-i-Ber,

and turned

north.

This valley is between the chains of

mountains called Pir-i-Zen and Kitel-i-Dokhter,

and may be a farsang or a farsang and a-half

in width.

It is the same valley that is crossed

in going from

Shiraz

to Kazeran,

near

Miyaneh-Ktel,

about five farsangs

(about

219

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

twenty miles) to the S.S.E. of the place where

we now were.

I took the direction of the

river of Shapr.

It comes from the chain of

Pir-i-Zen, which is here east to south, and

after

traversing the valley of Kah-mereh,

forces a passage through the Kitel-i-Dokhter,

near the bas-reliefs of Shaptr, waters the

beautiful plains of Kazertn, and is lost be-

hind the mountains of Kumarij.

The villages

of Nudar and Sumgil, belonging to the district

of Kazer(in, are in the mountains to the east.

At a quarter past eleven we turned a little to

the north-west, and at noon reached the en-

campment of Jehangir-Khan, Mamaseni Chief

of the tribe of Dushmen-Ziyari.

This encamp-

ment ground is called Chenoshejan.

My guides from Kazeran delivered me over

to the Chief, and received from him a certificate

of my having arrived safe and sound in his

tent, and quitted me.

I adopted the method

of causing myself to be passed, like a bale of

goods, from hand to hand, during the whole

of my journey through this wild tract of

country, and had every reason to be satisfied

220

TRAVELS IN

with the effect of this precaution, which made

the last person who had given a certificate of

my being alive responsible for my safety.

The residence of Jehangir Khan consisted of

a square tower constructed of clay, white-

washed externally, furnished with loop-holes,

and surrounded by huts of the Mamaseni,

made of reeds, and by black tents covered

with mats.

The Dushmen-Ziyari, since the

death of their principal Chief, Muhammed

Riza Khan, executed at Shiraz in 1840, by

order of its then Governor, Prince Feridiin

Mirza,

form three divisions,

one under the

command of Jehangir Khan, another under

that of Hajji Husein Khan, and the third

under the orders of Aga-Khan, son of the late

Chief.

Chenoshejan, which formed the Germesir or

winter quarters of Muhammed Riza Khan, is a

plain of considerable extent, which is bounded

on the east by the prolongation of the Pir-i-Zen,

from north to west by an offset of the same

chain, and on the south by the termination of

the Ktel-i-Dokhter.

221

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

The following circuit may be made on the

road from Shir4az to Bu-shehr, in order to avoid

the descent of that pass, which is terrible for

a train of artillery. On descending Pir-i-Zen,

turn to the right through the valley of Deshti-

ber (Abdui in Ainsworth, from a village of

that name), cross the plain of Chenoshejan

which communicates with it, and thence pass

into that of Shaptr, which forms a part of the

vale of Khazerin.

This circﬁitous road has

the shape of a horse shoe, and presents no

obstacles for the transit of baggage, but it

is twelve farsangs (about forty-five miles) in

length, while the other is only about four

or five farsangs (fifteen or sixteen miles).

In the valleys, as well as on the sides of the

mountains, we find the balat, a species of oalk,

the acorns of which are ground, and made into

a paste, which is used for food by the Iliyats.

The very steep summits of the Pir-i-Zen are all

peaked, and beyond them to the east the chain

of Adekén rears its snowy head.

On entering the country of the Mamaseni,

222

TRAVELS IN

I cautioned my servants to keep a sharp eye

over our things, as the natives are known to

be notorious thieves, when they cannot indulge

in open plunder.

T was fortunate enough not

to lose one single article, while ftravelling

through this country, but I learned from a

friend, who visited the encampment of Cheno-

shejan a few months later, that the Mamaseni

contrived to steal from under his pillow, while

he was asleep, his sword, which they drew

cautiously out of the scabbard, leaving the latter

behind.

Suspecting Jehangir Khan himself of the

theft, yet admiring the clever way in which it

had been committed, the European next morn-

ing handed over the scabbard to his host, ob-

serving that his newly-acquired sword probably

The Khan took it, and thanked

required one.

him

22d. On the following day I mounted my

horse at seven, a.m., accompanied by twelve

Tliyat tafengchi (musketeers), who were to escort

me to the next station.

The direction of the

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

223

road was north, till we had quitted the balat

woods, and reached the heights of Mané-nahl,

by a very stony road.

This is the boundary

of the district of Kazertn, which 1 had just

quitted, and that of Fahliyan,* which I now

entered.

On descending from Mané-nahl, we

entered a valley running to the N.N.E., and

full of oaks, and passed a spring of fresh water,

named Meihur, on the left side of the road. I

enter into these minute details, as this part of

the country has not yet been described by any

traveller.

At a quarter before ten, a.m., we

reached a bastengah, a promontory of the moun-

tains, which was pointed out to me as marking

the place where the Mamaseni and their neigh-

bours, the Bovi of the Koghila tribe, issue from

their ambuscades to attack caravans.

The place

is very wild, and admirably adapted, it must be

confessed, for this kind of sport. In the moun-

tains on the right is the beantiful valley of

Bum, with its vineyards and groves of pome-

* Fahliyan, pronounced Fahliyan.

224

TRAVELS IN

granates; while behind the mountains on the

left, a contrast which nature often delights in

forming, there is a desert tract called Mohfr,

extending towards the Persian gulf, inhabited

only by lions, wild boars, and antelopes.

In advancing we disturbed by our appearance

several women and boys, employed in gathering

the acorns from the ground, and who, as soon as

they saw us from a distance, took to their heels.

In vain we called out to them not to be afraid ;

the more noise we made, the faster the poor

creatures ran; and they were at last lost sight

of amid the thickets.

This trifling incident

was the best criterion by which I could judge

of the unsettled state of the country through

which I was passing.

At a quarter past eleven, a.m., we reached

the plain of Sahrai Behram, at the entrance of

which I found sculptured on a rock a bas-relief

representing that prince, his face turned to

the beholder, seated, with two erect figures on

each side of him.

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225

LURISTAN AND ’ARABIS'I‘AN.

this bas-relief by

M. Kiampfer, the only Furo-

pean traveller,

I believe, who makes mention

of it as an eye-witness, I may give here a

description of it.

Behram s recognised by the two

-horned

tiara on his head, with broad fillets floating

over his shoulders,

as is usual on monuments

He

of the Sasanian kings.

has also the

1

arge head of curled hair which distinguishes

the portraits of the sovereigns of that dynasty.

The two figures on his left wear on their

heads a kind of mitre, like the

mobeds or

high priests at Persepolis, and have beards.

They are in profile,

with their faces turned

towards the king,

The figure on the left

holds in his hand a straight sword with the

point towards the ground.

Two figures on

the right, also in profile,

and turned towards

Behram, have no beard, and wear

caps such

as are seen on some coins of the Arsacidze,

Their hands are joined together

and raised

up in a supplicating attitude,

All the figures,

except that of the prince, have full puckered

YOL, I.

Q

226

TRAVELS IN

trousers.

This is all that can be distinguished

in these bas-reliefs; for unfortunately neither

the hand of time nor that of the Arabs has

respected this ancient monument.

It should

be observed, that the workmanship is much

coarser than any met with at Nakshi-Rustam,

Nakshi-Kejeb, and even than some at Shaptr.

Perhaps the nature of the rock is in part

the cause of this, or, it may be, that after

the death of Shapar the fine arts began to

decline

in Persia.

There appeared to me

some resemblance in the workmanship between

the bas-reliefs of Nakshi-Behram and one of

the tablets on the rock of Shapr, namely,

that in which the head of a dead man is

brought to the king; but as I had taken no

sketch of the latter, I was prevented from

examining them more closely.

At the

foot of the

rock on which

this

sculpture is cut, is the source of the river of

Behram, which runs towards the plain in a

north-west direction, but, like that of Shaptr,

is almost choked up with rushes.

Nakshi-

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN,

227

Behram, surrounded by trees, water, and ver-

dure, is a very picturesque spot.

I stopped

here to make a drawing of the bas-relief, and it

was noon before I remounted my horse.

Most

of my guides quitted me at this place, because

great hostility prevails between the Dushmen-

Ziyari and the Bekesh, whose encampments we

were now approaching. Only three of them

ventured to accompany me, in order to carry

back to their chief the usual certificate; but

they left their arms with their comrades, by

way of assuring their neighbours, if found on

their precincts, that they did not come with

any hostile intention.

I, at the same time,

made myself responsible for their sustaining no

injury.

On quitting the rock of Nakshi-Behram the

plain widens, and, after an hour’s ride, we

passed a sulphureous spring on the right side

of the road near the mountains.

At a quarter

before two, p.m., we passed near the ruins of

Nobendjan, formerly a flourishing city, at which

Timar halted before he laid siege to Kal'eh

Q2

228

TRAVELS IN

Sefid (white caétle). Nobendjan was built by

Shapir, destroyed by Abu Sa’id Kazruni, rebuilt

by the Jauli Atabeg of Luri Buztrg (Lur

the Greater), to be again ruined.*

Nothing

now remains of it but heaps of stones ~and

hillocks scattered over the plain ;—an eloquent

commentary on the instability of human things,

but wasted on the desert.

Near these ruins is

the source of a small stream which discharges

itself into that of Behram.

At the distance of a quarter of an hour's

march from the ruins of Nobendjan is the

fort of Ntrabad, built in the plain and flanked

by four bastions.

On every side of it are the

reed-built huts and tents of the

Mamaseni

belonging to the tribe of Bekesh, whose chief

is Murad-Khan.

To the right of Ntrabad

there is a small Imam-Zadeh (sepulchre of a

* See ¢ Collection Orientale Histoire des Mongols, par

Reschid-ed-din,” translated by M. Quatremére, note to

page 383, extracted from the author of ¢ Nozhat-al-

Koloub,” who mentions, among other things, that the

inhabitants of Nevbindjan are intelligent and have some

tendency to virtue.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

229

saint), which has iron doors, and, on an emi-

nence to the left, the remains of Old Nfirabéd.

The Sahrai Behram (plain of Behram) may

be about three farsangs long from east to

west, and two farsangs broad.

Two farsangs

or thereabouts, to the north-east, are the ruins of

Kal’eh Sefid, so frequently mentioned by Per-

sian poets and historians,

The hill on which

the citadel is built is completely isolated. Tt

has a broad base, perhapé a farsang and a-half

in diameter, and does not become steep till

near its summit, where it presents an abrupt

rampart, and its crest is said to be only acces-

sible by one path.

Being anxious to reach

Fahliyan, I w

as not willing to go four farsangs

(upwards of fifteen miles) out of my w

ay to

visit Kal'eh Sefid, which has already been

described by Mr. Macdonald Kinneir, *

My

* « Kela Su_ﬁ,’()d,” says

Kinneir, “ which is

seventy

miles from Shirauz, is g high hill,

on all sides,

nearly perpendicular

and accessible only by three narrow pathways”

(I was told there is only one path,) «

known to the tribe

of Mahmusunee,

the hereditary lords of this impregnable

castle. From the bottom to the summit,

by the road we

230

TRAVELS IN

new guides consisted of the eldest son of

Murad-Khan, the chief of the Bekesh tribe,

then absent, of Sherif-Khan, a lad ten years

old, but much respected by his clan, as being

the son of the famous Veli-Khan, the late

celebrated robber among the Mamaseni, and

of several other young men, well armed, on

fine prancing horses, and who appeared to

be not a little proud that they belonged to

the Bekesh tribe.

Vanity, pride, and ambition,

lurk at the bottom of most of our actions.

ascended, the distance is three miles, and it is possible to

ride till within about five hundred yards of the top, when

it is necessary to dismount, and scramble on foot over the

rocks.

The only fortifications of this extraordinary place

are a

line of

huge stones, ranged in regular order,

Each of these is wedged

round the edges of the precipices.

beneath by another of smaller dimensions, which, when

removed, the large one is hurled in an instant from the

top to the bottom, sweeping before it, with irresistible

force, everything that tends to interrupt its course.

The

Kela Sufeed commands the high road to Shirauz.

Its

summit is about four miles in circumference, covered with

verdure, and watered by upwards of forty springs.” (See

“ Greographical Memoir of the Persian Empire.” p. 73.)

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

231

But' what had my Bekesh friends to boast

of? 'Why they were, or what is more, they

thought themselves, stronger, and therefore

The weaker

better than their neighbours.

submitted to their oppressions, and they defied

their equals.

But what deeds of valour had

they achieved ?

Why they plundered on the

highways, nor were the by-paths secure from

their attacks.

And yet they were proud of

belonging to the tribe of the Bekesh, for it

had gained some celebrity under the notorious

freebooter,

Veli-Khan,

whose

daring deeds

had been commemorated in song as examples

to follow, and who had raised his clan to

that dizzy pinnacle from whence they looked

down on their neighbours with contempt, and

on

themselves

with

complacency.

Poor,

wretched mortality ! how perverse are thy

ways, when left to walk in the evil imagi-

nations of thine own heart !

They showed off their skill in horseman-

ship, and would have wished to impress me

with the belief that they were good marks-

232

TRAVELS IN

men; but as ill luck would have it, they

regularly missed their aim.

From Ntarabad the road passes northwards,

first through the plain, and then along the

heights, which separate the Sahrai-Behram from

Sha’b-bevan.

The thickets of box on the plain afford

shelter to wild boars, pheasants, and the furaj.

This bird is smaller than the pheasant, and is

black, with white spots.

Its meat is as tender

as that of the pheasant, and of a superior

flavour.

I have found these birds

in the

Valley of Gurgan, in Turcomania, and in the

Russian province of Karabagh, as well as in

Kabardah, to the north of the great chain of

Caucasus.

At half-past two, p.m., having reached the

culminating point of the mountain, 1 looked

down upon the beautiful valley which dis-

closes itself beneath, watered by a river, and

enamelled with flowers.

I did not expect to

SO

in bloom

find

many

in the month

of

January.

To the north two ranges of hills

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

233

rise in the form of an amphitheatre; the fore-

most bend towards the east, and almost touch

Kal'eh Sefid, being separated from it only by

the defile, through which the river Shéker-ab,

or Ab-Shar, coming from Ardekéan, forces its

way, while the more distant and snow-covered

hills pass behind Kal'eh Sefid, and afterwards

unite with Pir-i-Zen.

At the height of Muné-

nahl they turn ébruptly to the east, in the

direction of Shiraz.

While descending into the valley, my sense

of smell was agreeably affected by the perfume

of the narcissus, spread like a white carpet

over the field, for the space of many miles.

All our party pushed into this rich parterre

up to their horses’ girths, to enjoy the fragrance

as much as possible.

For my own part, T felt

at first some scruples at thus treading down

these beautiful and

delicate productions of

nature; but I ended by doing as the others

did, so easy is it to yield to a seductive ex-

ample.

This is not an exaggerated description

of the charms of Sha’b-bevan, which is said by

234 TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

the Arabian and Persian poets to be one of the

four terrestrial paradises.

This valley is interspersed with cultivated

fields, which produce cotton, rice, barley, and

wheat ; but wherever the ground is left fallow,

the narcissus resumes its empire, and seemls to

have fixed on Sha’b-bevan, and on the plains

of Behbehén, as its favourite places of abode.

We followed the valley in a N.N.W. di-

rection, and at a quarter before four, p.m.,

reached Fahliyan, situated at the northern base

of the connecting range of hills which we had

crossed in coming from Nrabad. We made

this day between seven and eight farsangs, in

a northerly direction.

CHAPTER X.

Description of Fahliydn.—Cultivation of the soil.—Taxa-

tion.— Visit an Imam-Zadeh.—Description of the plain

of Fahliyin.—Extract from M. Quatremere on Sha’b-

bevan.—Remarks thereon.—Enter the territory of the

Rustemi Mamaseni.—Course of the river Ab-Shir, or

Sheker-ab.—The valley of Ser-ab-Siyah.—Rencontre

with the Rustemi Chief.—Unlucky display of horse-

manship.—Pass the Ab-Shir, and enter the Khogilt

territory.—Reception at Basht by Allah-Kerim-Khan,

Chief of the Bovi tribe.—General character of the Tliyat

Chiefs.—Resume

my journey.—Travelling

Tliyats.—

Karavanserai of Daghun-Bez(im.—Pass the night under

arms.—Cross the rivers of Shem-si-Arab and Kheirabod.

—Hindian.—Axrrive at Behbehiin.

Fauuivan is a little paltry town, of at most

sixty or seventy houses.

It is, nevertheless,

enclosed by extensive walls, now in ruins, from

which it is evident that it was formerly not quite

so insignificant.

In the time of the Sefeviyeh

dynasty it had 5,000 inhabitants, a mosque,

and four public baths; at least such was the

[

2

[

36

TRAVELS IN

information I received from my officious host,

who was very anxious that I should not judge

of Fahliyan as it is in its present fallen state,

but as it was in the days of its prosperity.

The

district of Fahliyan once extended from Mune-

nahl on the south to Basht on the north-west,

and from Ardekin on the east and north-east

to Khisht on the south-west.

The Mamaseni

have by degrees made themselves masters of

almost all the arable land formerly possessed

by the inhabitants of Fahliyan, who complain

bitterly of the exactions to which they are

continually subjected.

The town is supplied

with water by a canal running along the hills

from the snow-capped chain beyond Kal'eh

Sefid, for a distance, perhaps, of four farsangs

(fourteen miles).

The water of the Ab-Shar

being, as its name implies, brackish, it can

only be used for irrigating the fields.

The soil

is here very fertile, and water abundant; but

hands are wanting for the cultivation of the

land.

The fields, artificially irrigated (a process

described by the Persian word, Feryab), yield

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

237

from twenty-five to forty for one in the winter

crops: the proportion is lower in the lands

called deim, or bakhs, i.e., fields watered only

by rain and dew, and not artificially irrigated.

Rice, which is sown, yields less than that which

is planted, the crop, in good years, being in

proportion to the seed as 150 to one.

Sesamum

(kunjud) is also cultivated here, and returns

100 for one.

Fahliyan is surrounded by fine palm-trees,

and has a fort, in ruins, on the summit of a

small hill.

As a lofty and precipitous mountain

rises close behind it, the inhabitants of the

town receive only the rays of the morning

sun, and are the rest of the day in shade.*

* By not paying due attention to the position of Fahliyin

I was led into a mistaken notion that the heats there in

summer must be intolerable, owing to the refraction of

the sun’s rays from the mountain which overhangs the

town.

See my notes on a journey through the Mamaseni

Khogili and Bakhtiyar countries, in vol. xiii. of the

“ Royal Geographical Society of London,” for the year

1843, p. 80.

‘

2

¢

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TRAVELS IN

The duties paid by Fahliyin to the Governor

of the province of Iars do not exceed 1,000

tomans (about 4801.).

I gathered most of my information from

Mirza-Ab@’l Kasim, governor of the town, and

from his younger brother,

both of whom,

with several Mullahs,

came to see me as

soon as I was quartered in the house of the

chief.

On the 23d, having been informed that there

were some ancient inscriptions lately discovered

in the meighbourhood, I went to see them,

accompanied by the brother of Mirza-Aba’l

Kasim.

Our route lay to the north-east, and

after fording the ADb-Shir, we reached, at the

end of an hour’s ride, the Imam-Zadeh of Shah-

Abdullah, where I found nothing but some

fragments of white stone with a few Cufic

inscriptions, although my guide, as well as the

guardian of the place, was very desirous that I

should give my corroborative evidence as to the

sanctity of the spot, probably calculating on

the profits they might reap from the credulity

239

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

of the ignorant devotees who would come in

pilgrimage to the shrine of the new saint.

This Imam-Zadeh stands near an isolated hill

called Kal'eh-Siyah (black castle), the counter-

part of Kal'eh-Sefid (white castle).

Having mounted again at eight, a.m., I

crossed some well-cultivated fields in a W. by

W.N.W. direction.

At nine, am., I passed the ruins of Chehar-

Basar, a_town one farsang north of Fahliyan.

Farther on is the Tepeh, or hillock of Senjar-

Muhammed Beldj, on which the chief so named

made a stand against Nadir-Shah,* for which

piece of temerity, on the return of that con-

queror from Bagdad, he forfeited his head.

Before you leave the plain of Fahliyén, which

is a continuation of the valley of Sha’b-Bevan,

we shall quote the passage of M. de Quatremére,

inserted in his notes on the history of the

* “This Muhammed Khan-Baloochy took up the cause of

Tamasp-Shah, whom Nadir had destituted; but he was

defeated, with his 80,000 Beloochis, by Nadir, in Fars, and

executed.”

(See Sir H. Jones Bridges’ preliminary matter

to the history of the Kajars.)

240

TRAVELS IN

Mogols, by Reshid-ed-Din, in which the cele-

brated French author gives us an interesting

account of Sha’b-Bevan and Nobendjan from

Arab and Persian sources:—

“ I’Auteur du Nozhat-el-Koloub ” says the

author. (MS. Pers. 139, page 660), < aprés

avoir parlé du Kalai-Sefid ou Kalai-Esfid-diz,

ajoute:

““ Le Vallon de Bawan que 'on compte parmi

les lieux de plaisance les plus célebres qui

existent au monde, est une vallée située entre

deux montagnes.

Elle a trois farsangs de lon-

gueur, et une et demie de largeur.

Tout cet

espace est couvert d’arbres qui produisent toutes

especes de fruits.

L’air y est extrémement pur

et tempéré.

On y voit un grand nombre de

villages.

Au milieu de la vallée coule une

grande riviére. Les montagnes qui entouren.t

ce terrain ont presque toute I'année, leur sommet

couvert de neige.

Partout les arbres sont si

pressés que lesrayons du soleil ne sauraient péné-

On y trouve de tous cotés

trer jusqu’ a terre.

des sources nombreuses, des eaux limpides.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

241

Du territoire de Newbindjan dépendent plu-

sieurs lieux situés les uns en plaine d'autres sur

des montagnes ; Kalai-Sefid est & une farsang de

cette ville.

Le territoire de Newbindjan offre

Le

méme

une quantité immense de gibier.

Géographe ajoute que de Shirdz & Newbindjan

la distance est de vingt-cinq farsangs, et de

Newbindjan a Arradjan de trente-trois farsangs.

“ L'Auteur du Lexique Géographique Arabe,

(p- 665,) parlant de la ville de Newbindjan qu'il

place dans le district de Schapour évalue a vingt-

six farsangs la distance de cette ville & Aradjan.

“ Nous apprenons par un passage du Kemal-

Ebn-Athir, (tom iii. fol. 181,) que la tempéra-

ture de ce lieu était extrémement chaude et

fort malsaine.

Mirkhond rapporte, (iv. partie

fol. 147,) que les habitants du vallon de Bawan,

avaient pris les armes contre le Khan mongol

Melik-Aschref, et qui s’étant refugiés dans une

caverne, le Prince fit allumer a 'entrée de cette

ouverture un feu immense afin d’étouffer ceux

qui étaient renfermés, &c.”*

* See Collection Orientale.

YOL.

I

R

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The extent given to the valley of Sha’b-Bevan

coincides with the distances as laid down on the

map of my route ; the length of the valley from

the foot of Kal’eh-Sefid on the east, to the entry

into that of Ser-abi-Siyah on the west, not ex-

ceeding three farsangs, whilst its width in the

broadest part of the valley near Fahliyan is not

more than one and a-half farsang.

Sha’b-Bevan abounds in water, and the Ab-

Shitr, a considerable stream, flows through the

whole length of this valley, the waters of which

contribute to the fertility of its rich soil.

The

snowy heights of the Ardekdn mountains are

seen towering above the secondary range of hills

to the north and east of Fahliyin, but the

ridge which separates the valley of Sha’b-Bevan

from Nobendjin to the south, was not covered

Neither

with snow in the month of January.

did I find there that quantity of trees, of which

the Arab geographer speaks as preventing the

rays of the sun from penetrating through : on the

contrary, I found that there were none, or very

few

But this is not surprising, nor is it the

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

243

only instance where groves have disappeared

in Persia with the annihilation or diminution

of the inhabitants.

Arrian, in his history of

the expedition of Alexander, speaks of the

shady groves which encompassed the tomb of

Cyrus, and if Meshedi Madri Soleyman repre-

sents the mausoleum of the Persian King, of

which there appears to be little doubt,* there

is not one single tree left, nor any to be seen

in the whole plain of Margab.

In Furope,

* Description of the tomb of Cyrus in Buchon’s French

translation of Arrian:—

“Une des choses qui affecta le plus Alexandre, fut la

violation du tombeau de Cyrus, qu'on avait forcé et

dépouillé.—(’est au centre des jardins royaux de Pasa-

gardes que s'élevait ce tombeau entouré de bois touffus,

d’eaux vives et de gazons épuis; ¢’était un édifice dont la

base, assise carrément sur de grandes pierres, soutenait une

voute sous la quelle on entrait avec peine par une trés petite

porte.

On y conservait le corps de Cyrus dans une arche

Qor massif couvert des plus riches tissus, de I'art babylonien,

de tapis de pourpre, du manteau royal, de la partie inferieux

de Thabillement des Médes, de robes de diverses couleurs,

de pourpre et d’hyacinte, de colliers, de cimeterres, de

bracelets, de pendants en pierreries et en or. Ony voyait

Des

aussi une table, I'arche funéraire occupait le centre.

R 2

244

TRAVELS IN

forests disappear with the progress of civiliza-

It is not

tion and the increase of population.

so in Persia.

But to resume our journey. At ten o’clock,

a.m., the hills appeared close to the road, which

here forms the boundary between the district of

Fahliyan and the territories of the Mamaseni

of the tribe of Rustem.

The river Ab-Shar

had remained behind us, running in a south-

west direction.

The Ab-Shar, or Sheker-ab,

rises in the snowy mountains of Ardekén to

the east, and north-east of Kal’eh Sefid, and

passes through the valley of Sha’b-Bevén, wind-

ing from east to west.

It then forces its way

degres intérieurs conduisaient & une cellule occupée par les

mages dont la famille avait conservé depuis la mort de Cyrus,

le privilége de garder son corps.

“Le roi leur fournissait tous les jours un mouton, et une

certaine quantité de farine et de vin, et tous les mois un

cheval qu'ils sacrifiaient sur le tombeau.

On y lisait cette

inscription en caractéres persans.

« Mortel, je suis Cyrus, fils de Cambyse; j'ai fondé

IEmpire des Perses et commandé a I’Asie; ne m’envie

point ce tombeau.”

(Liv. vi. c. viii.)

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

245

through the hills to the south-west of Fahliyan,

and having joined the river of Behram, crosses

the wild tract called Mohtr, and discharges its

waters into the Persian Gulf, at, I believe,

Bender-Rig..""=

The Ab-shar is not fordable everywhere ;

and the ruins of a bridge over it are still to

Its water, as has

be seen near Kal'eh-Siyah.

been already mentioned, is brackish.

At ten, a.m., we entered the valley of Ser-

Abi-Siyah, (Black water head,) lying between

two parallel chains of hills.

At first

it 1is

well cultivated; but further on it is covered

with high grass, and becomes a mere swamp,

which abounds in game.

Many springs here

burst forth from the ground and the rocks.

There are roads along the base of the hills on

either side of the valley. I chose that on the

left, as being the shortest; but when the

brother of Khan-Ali-Khan, chief of the Rus-

temi, met us, (about eleven, a.m.,) he per-

* Perhaps the Rhogonis of Nearchus (Arrian’s Indica,

vol. xxxix. p. 355, Vincent's Voyage of Nearchus, p. 370).

9

16

TRAVELS IN

suaded me to cross over to the other side,

pretending that the road on the right was the

better of the two.

Probably he expected to

meet his brother on that side.

Khan-Ali-IChan

soon made his appearance, accompanied by a

crowd of men on horseback, all well armed

and mounted.

This parade was intended, no

doubt, to convince the Frengi of the import-

ance of the chief, and of the strength of his

tribe.

The Persians are great braggarts.

After

the wusual salutations, we alighted.

My travelling carpet was spread on the ground,

near a small imam-zadeh, and a cold fowl with

pillau set before me.

This simple fare did

not tempt the Mamaseni chief, as he sat

opposite to me, surrounded by his numerous

retinue; but there was one thing on which he

fixed his longing eye, and that was, a bottle

of red Shir4dz wine.

I own I felt very reluctant

to part with it, for it was the Jast, and I had

a long journey to perform before I could expect

to obtain a fresh supply; at all events, not

before reaching Isfahan; nor could I reckon

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

247

on such good wine, as the bottle before me

was of the best hulari*

‘While these selfish

ideas were revolving in my mind, probably no

less egotistical feelings prompted my neighbour

to stretch out his hand and lay hold of the

bottle, adding, that he wished to drink to my

good health.

“ Bo Salumeti shuma, Sahib”—

(To your good health, Sir).

Thus he went on,

quaffing one glass after angther with the same

good wishes, until the whole had disappeared.

I hinted once, while the work of devastation

was going on, that the wine was very strong,

and might, perhaps, affect his head.

That, he

said, was its best recommendation.

When we

rose to mount our horses, I found my pre-

diction correct, for Khan-Ali-Khan soon began

to roll in his saddle.

He had previously in-

sisted that 1 should stop a few days with

him,

and

seemed

rather

when 1

piqued

* A mountainous district near Shirdz, with fine vine-

yards, from which the choicest Persian wine is prepared,

both red and white.

This wine has much body, and re-

sembles the strong Cape wines, and is fit to be exported.

248

TRAVELS IN

declined the offer.

His adherents and my

friends of Fahilyin laboured hard to make

me understand that the Khan was not a man

to be refused; a truth they probably knew to

their cost, as I had already heard at Shirz,

that Khan-Ali-Khan bears no good character,

and rules over that part of the country with

should feel

a despotic sway.

I told them I

very sorry to give, offence to any one, much

less to the Khan who had kindly invited me

to be his guest; but I had settled in my

mind to proceed that night to Basht, a fort

in the Koghilt country, and thither I would

£0

This reply did not satisfy the chief, who

would not give up the point.

‘When, how-

ever, the fumes of the Shirdz wine had taken

possession of his brain, his ideas took a new

turn, or what is more likely, the former ones

became bewildered.

We crossed many springs bursting out almost

under our feet, and soon afterwards augmenting

the volume of the neighbouring lakes and pools,

which appear to have no outlet, and are very

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

249

deep. The reeds and grass which cover these

marshes are said to be the hiding-places of

many lions, wild boars, and buffaloes, as well

as the cover for vast quantities of game and

all sorts of water-fowl.

When we entered upon more open and

level ground the Rustemi showed off their

feats of horsemanship;

the Chief’s

son,

a

little boy of nine years old, joining the rest.

But unfortunately the big horse he was mounted

on starting with the others for a race, gave so

great a jerk that it lifted him from the

saddle, and throwing him over the back of

the animal, brought him down to the ground.

His Lala (or tutor) sprang forward to his

assistance and picked him up.

The boy was

much bruised, and bled from the nose, but

happily no limb was fractured, and after a

The

short time he was replaced on his horse.

father seemed more displeased with the fall,

than anxious

about the state of the child,

who seemed very much inclined to cry, but

durst not.

Another

similar accident befell

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TRAVELS IN

one of his men, who, in full career, tumbled

with his horse,

and came with his

head

against a sharp stone.

It was some time

before the poor man could be brought to his

senses, and the cut in his head was no trifling

one

These two instances prove that if the

Rustemi are daring, they are by no means

skilful horsemen.

Before we separated, Khan-Ali-Khan showed

me an imam-zadeh near the road, beside which

there was a grave-stone, bearing a Cufic in-

scription ; a proof that this tract was for-

merly under Arab sway. On quitting him, I

forded the river Shir, or Abi-Sha’-ab, one of

the streams mentioned by Sherif-ed-din, in his

account of Timur’s march.* It comes from a

valley lying to the north, where the Rustemi

Chief encamps, and takes a south-west direction,

leaving on the left the large village of Ser-Abi-

Siyah, with a fort on a hill, where Ali-Veis-

Khan, the supreme Chief of the Rustemi or-

# « Mistoire de Timur-bec,” par Petit de la Croix,

vol. ii. p. 186.

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

2

4

)

1

dinarily resides: when I passed he was at

Shiraz.

The ADb-Shir is the boundary between the

Mamaseni and the Koghila; but there is also

Half

a strip of neutral ground between them.

an hour further on, still in a westerly direction,

we came to a Kutel, or Steep Hill;” after

which, bending a little towards W.S.W., we

crossed the dry bed of a stream, entered the

julgheh or valley of Basht, and, at a quarter

before six, p.m., reached Basht.

We were met,

at some distance from the fort, by Allah-Kérim-

Khan, who was then acting as Chief of the Bovi,

a tribe of the Khogilti, during the absence of

his father, Sherif-Khan.

Basht resembles the castles of the old feudal

barons in Kurope.

It consists of the Chief’s

fort, enclosed by high walls, and flanked with

turrets,

All around are groups of the habita-

tions of his vassals, who live under the shadow

of his protection, and furnish him with the

means of resisting his enemies.

I found my host, Allah-Kerim-Khan, very

252

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hospitable and communicative. When he came

with his son to pay me a visit, the latter re-

mained standing at the door, with his right

arm resting on the hilt of his hanjar (dagger),

stuck in his girdle, and it was not until I re-

quested his father to give him leave to take a

seat, that the young man changed his position.

Such is the external respect observed in Persia

by children towards their parents; and this

custom is of great antiquity.

Allah-Kérim-Khan entertained me till a late

hour with the history of the implacable feuds

by which the mountaineers are divided, and

the intestine wars to which these feuds give

rise.

I may remark, by the way, that in my fre-

quent intercourse with the migratory hordes in

Persia, I generally found their character marked

by much frankness, mixed up with a great deal

of cunning. These qualities may appear, at

first sight, incompatible with each other, but

this extraordinary combination of opposite ele-

ments may be accounted for, partly by the

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

253

simple and patriarchal life which these Chiefs

lead in the bosom of their families, and partly

by the necessity which they are under of being

constantly on their guard, in order to defeat

the machinations of their adversaries, or from

their own inclination to encroach upon their

neighbours’ property.

-

24th. On quitting Basht, at a quarter before

eight in the morning, we first mounted a very

steep hill, which commands it on the south, and

then descended, by a very stony road, into a

valley full of oaks, wild almond-trees in blossom,

and the Kuahnar,* a tree peculiar to the south

of Persia.

Our road took us a westerly direc-

tion, and passed between two chains of high

mountains.

We were met oh the way by a migratory

horde of Tliyats, who had broken up their

encampment in one place, and were travelling

* The fruit of this tree, something like that of the

service (sorbus), is yellow when ripe, slightly acid, and

pleasant to the taste.

When unripe, it is green and

red

TRAVELS IN

254

with their flocks and herds to other pastures.

The

sheep and goats

generally open the

march, led by young shepherds, the flower

and strength of the tribe, with their faithful

companions the shaggy dogs.

Next follow the

donkeys and oxen of a small species, laden

with the black canvass and poles of the Iliyat

tents, with bags thrown over their backs, filled

with various articles for home consumption, or

bestrode by the more aged and weaker portion

of the community. The poultry are likewise

placed on the backs of the loaded cattle, with

a leg or a wing tied to the packsaddle, and

spend their time in trying to keep their balance

on the seat as well as they can.

Men, women, and children accompany or fol-

low the caravan on foot, sometimes in groups,

at others walking separately, each bearing some

household furniture or kitchen utensil.

The

little kids and lambkins born on the way, are

placed in baskets, and carried by the Iliyats,

or stowed away in hampers, and thrown across

the packsaddles.

Such as are lame, or with

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

255

young, have their separate conductors, who

gently encourage them onward, or stop and

feed them when they feel tired. What a true

picture of this trait in Iliyat life is expressed

in the following passage of Isaiah x1. 11, pro-

phesying of our Saviour:—* He shall feed his

flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the

lambs with his arm, and carry them in his

bosom, and shall gently lead those that are

with young.”

.

The women are seen with their spinning-

wheels on their shoulders, some twisting woollen

yarn, others bent forward, and advancing slowly

with their children astride on their backs, clasp-

ing their little arms around their mother’s neck,

and twisting their little legs round her waist :

the smaller ones are usually tied up in a bag

behind the back, while infant babies, together

with their clumsy cradles, are hoisted on the

heads or shoulders of their fond mothers, sinking

under the weight.

AA mother’s devoted affection to her darling

Offspring is the same in every latitude; the

2

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>

6

TRAVELS IN

same are her anxieties; but the bodily fatigues

a poor Iliyat mother has to undergo, are, per-

haps, greater than those felt by women in any

other condition of life.

The distances that some of these Iliyat tribes

have to perform in their annual migratior@ are

really wonderful.

From

the southern shores of Iars,

the

Kashgoi* arrive in spring, on the grazing

grounds of Isfahan, where they are met by

the wandering Bakhtiyari from their warm

pastures of Arabistan, near the head of the

Persian Gulf.

At the approach of winter

both the

tribes return to their respective

Germesirs.

After travelling two hours we again came

to an acclivity, when we had surmounted which

we reached, by a long descent at eleven, a.m.,

the dry bed of a river coming from the snow-

capped mountains of Humé to the right of the

* A Turkish tribe, about 12,000 families strong, and

whose chief is the Il-Khani of Fars, one of the most

influential personages in that province.

J

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN,

road and west of Basht.

At the time when

the snows melt, the river is full of water, and

flows on with a southerly course till it issues

from the valley, when it turns to the south-

east, loses itself in the Mohar, or, perhaps,

unites with the Ab-Shir, and thus reaches the

Persian Gulf. For some time we followed its

course, and, on leaving the valley, turned to

and maintained that direction till

the west,

we reached the station of Daghtimbezin, about

eight farsangs (twenty-seven miles) from Basht.

We arrived there at half-past three, p.m., having

rested for half-an-hour by the way.

Throughout the whole tract which we had now

crossed there are no habitations, nor, at this time

of the year, is there any water.

But it was not

so formerly; for, along the side of the road,

there are the remains of kanats, or under-ground

channels, and, two farsangs before the traveller

reaches Daghtimbez(in, he passes the ruins of

are

a karavanserai,

and, further on,

there

the

m

relics

of a village.

The

soil

is,

general, full of pebbles, and it is only at

VoI

T

S

258

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wide

intervals

that one meets with fields,

cultivated by the KhogilG who inhabit the hills.

The high mountains to the north are thinly

sprinkled with trees, as is also the valley of

Daghtimbezan, but the chain which stretches

to the south is more barren and lower than the

north line of the hills.

Daghtimbez(n is a ruined karavanserai, built

near a spring of water, in a perfectly wild and

desert place.

At some distance among the hills

is the Kal’eh-Art, a fort where the Chief of

the Bo-Rahmet, one of the sub-divisions of the

Khogilt tribe, resides.

Our halting-place not being considered very

secure, on account of the predatory character

of the mountaineers, we were advised to keep

watch, having barricaded ourselves as well as we

could, there being no doors to our cells, and

the walls of the karavanserai seeming in a very

dilapidated state.

While I was sitting up writing letters to

my friends late at night, an alarm was given

that some whistling was heard in the direction

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

259

of the mountains.

We instantly had recourse

to our arms, but after some time passed in

suspense, seeing all was quiet, each in his

turn snatched a few moments’ rest, and we

then started on our journey at three o'clock

in the morning of the 25th.

The - distance

from Daghtimbezin to Behbehén, is generally

said to be twelve farsangs (forty-five miles),

but I doubt whether it be so much.

For the first two farsangs (seven miles) we

passed through the same valley we had fol-

lowed on the preceding day, but the mountains

after this close in, and the road leads for

more than a farsang through a very rugged

tract.

We next entered a charming valley

shaded by clumps of trees, closed by high

mountains, and watered by the river Shem-si-

Arab,* which winds its course through the

hills in a south-west direction.

Having left the ruins of a karavanserai on

the right, we crossed the river and entered

* Perhaps the Brizana of Nearchus.

(See Vincent,

p. 373.)

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It was in these meadows

the plain of Lishter.

that a part of the stud of the former Ferman-

Ferma (Governor) of Fars, was kept, on account

of the abundance of grass with which they are

It was likewise here

covered in the spring.

that Timtr encamped, according to his historian

Sheref-ed-din, in the translation of whose work

this place is called Lashter.

After leaving Daghmbezn, until eight, a.m.,

our course was almost always west, but at

Lishter we turned to the north-west.

At half-

past eight we left a square tower in ruins on

the left, as well as an Imam-Zadeh near the

mountains ; and at eleven, a.m., we arrived by

a winding road on the banks of a large river,

after having crossed two inconsiderable ones.

The river which I have just named issues

from the snowy range in an E.N.E. direction.

It has a broad and pretty deep bed, and is

called (the river of) Kheir-abad, from a large

village, now in ruins, on the opposite bank.

It is the Abi-Shirin (sweet water) mentioned in

Timar's route, perhaps the Arosis of the an-

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

261

cients, and the river of Hindian* of the

present day. From the Kheir-abad river to

Behbehén, is a distance of three farsangs

(eleven miles); the first in a north-west di-

rection, across a very rugged country, abounding

in selenite, or foliated gypsum; the two last,

westward, over a level well cultivated country.

* Also, but erroneously, called the Tab.

CHAPTER XI.

Boundary of the Mamaseni encampment.—Observations of

M. de Quatremére on the country of Shulistin.—The

Mamaseni are of Lar origin.—Conjectures respecting the

Mamaceni of Quintus Curtius.—Lokr, or Lur-asp, one

of the ancient kings of Persia.—Leur, a name of one

of the great-grandsons of the Patriarch Abraham.—

Divisions of the Mamaseni: 1. Rustemi; 2. Bekesh ;

3. Dushmen-Ziyari ; 4. Joi.—Population.—The Mama-

geni are great robbers.—History of Veli-Khan Bekesh.—

Reduction of some of their strongholds.—Khogil( tribes.

—Boundary of their encampments.—Are likewise of Lar

extraction.—Note on the Lek, Lur, and Kurd races.—

The Governor of Behbehéin Chief of the Khogilt.—

Divisions of the Khogilt :

1. Bovi;

2. Borahmed ;

3. Nui ; 4. Tenghebi ; 5. Bakhmei.—The latter a wilder

and more savage tribe than the rest.—A few observa-

tions on their customs and manners.—Other tribes of

Behbehian.—Taxation of Behbehdn.— Arrears.—Critical

position of the Chief Mirza Kmo in respect to the Governor

of Fars.—Preparations for resistance.—Offer my advice

to Mirza Kémo.—Sad fate which befalls him and his

family.

We have described in the foregoing chapters,

the country inhabited by the Mamaseni, which

263

TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

may be comprised approximatively within the

following limits :—The direct dependencies of

Fars, to the east; Kazerdn, to the south; the

Khogild tribes, and the hilly country descending

towards the Persian Gulf, to the west; and the

chain of the Ardekan mountains, to the north.

The tract of land occupied by the Mamaseni

bears the name of Shulistan.

This is the country concerning which M. de

Quatremeére, in his translation of Reschid-ed-

din’s “ History of the Mogols in Persia,” gives

in a few words an interesting account, borrowed

from Oriental writers.

We beg leave to insert

the passage, as it will throw some light on the

former history of the people of whose country

we are now treating :—

“ L'auteur du Mesalek Alabsar,” says M. de

Quatremére, “passant en revue les nations no-

mades de la Perse s'exprime en ces termes.”—

MSS. Arabe de la Bibl. Royale, No. 583,

fol. 109, recto.

* Les Schouls ont les mémes moeurs que les

Schéban Kareh et s’¢loignent peu de ces der-

264

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IN

niers, sous le rapport de l'intelligence, si ce

n'est que l'on voit quelquefois, entre ces deux

peuples, des meurtres rester sans vengeance, et

les traités violés.

On trouve chez eux de la

générosité et de la munificence ;

aussi

les

pauvres affluent dans leurs pays et sont recus

dans les villages, ot on les traite avec la plus

cordiale hospitalité, et on leur témoigne une

parfaite confiance.

“ Les Schouls habitent dans une contrée qui

de leur nom avait pris celle de Shoulistan.*

(Tarikhi Guzideh MSS. pers. de Brieux, No. 9,

* Mr. Price, in his ¢ Chronological Retrospect, or

Memoirs of the Principal Events of Muhammedan History,”

vol. ii. p. 430, translates the word Schoulistan by region

of sands.

The author was probably led into this error by

an incorrect pronunciation of Schulistan.

The word Chalis-

tan, or Tehulistan, derived from Chul, certainly denotes an

unfrequented region, or waste, destitute of fresh water ; but

this cannot be said of the country inhabited by the Mama-

seni, which (with the exception of the Mohfr, in the direc-

tion of the Persian Gulf) is a very fertile land, well watered

by many mountain streams.

It is, therefore, more likely

that Schulistin was thus named from the Schils, who

formerly occupied it, as we learn from the Tarikhi Guzideh.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

265

fol. 181, r. Mirkhond, &c.) Nous apprenons

de Tauteur du Tarikhi Guzideh (fol. 180) que

vers I'an 300 de I'hégire la moiti¢ du Loristan

était soumise aux Schouls; mais vers I'an 500

environ, 500 familles de Curdes étant arrivés

de la montagne de Sumak, située dans la

Syrié fixérent leur demeure dans le Loristan.

Hesarasp, Atabek de cette contrée, profitant

du renfort que lui

offraient ses étrangers,

chassa les restes des Schouls et demeura maitre

du pays: ensuite il fit la conquéte du Schoulis-

tan

Les Schouls vaincus se retirérent dans la

province de Fars.”*

In another passage of the same work, the

historian of the Mogols mentions that at the

siege of Mousel (Mossoul) by the troops of

Hulaku, the place was defended by a con-

siderable force consisting of Curds, Turkomans,

and Schuls.

I am not aware whether the Mamaseni are

* See in “Collection Orientale, Histoire des Mogols, par

Reschid-ed-din,” tr. by Quatremere, the note at p. 380.

t Idem, p. 381.

266

TRAVELS IN

the descendants or not of the Schuls, as 1

learned at Fahliyan that they were only trans-

planted - into Shulistin at the time, and by

the orders of Nadir Shah.

They belong, how-

ever, to the Lar family, as do likewise their

neighbours the Khogila and the Bakhtiyari,

who like themselves occupy the valleys of the

great chain of Zagros, which separates Irak-

Ajam from the provinces bordering on the

Persian Gulf.

All these tribes are the de-

scendants of the old Zend race.

Quintus Curtius speaks of a Mamaceni people

who for a time valiantly resisted Alexander’s

arms in Bactriana, near Maracanda.*

Although

the

distance between this people and the

Mamaseni

now

under

notice be consider-

able, still it is

in no way improbable that

at some remote

period they belonged to the

same race.:

for

when we consider that the

stream of migration of the Zend race flowed

from north-east to south-west, i. e., from Central

Asia to the coast of the Persian Gulf, it is

* See Quintus Curtius, lib. vii. chap. vi.

ARABISTAN.

267

LURISTAN AND

not unlikely that a part of the Mamaseni

followed the general current, while the original

stem remained on its former pastures, or in

its walled towns.

We find, in like manner,

that the Arti, or Ardi, another branch of the

ancient Persians,

were scattered along the

same line of communication between their

primitive cradle in Central Asia, and the land

of Pars,

or

Persis,

where

afterwards they

settled, and to which they gave their name.

Perhaps even the word Ldr, the generic name

of the race to which the Mamaseni belong,

may be discerned in Lbr-asp or Lohr-asp, the

name of one of their ancient kings, supposed

to have lived about the time of Zoroaster, and

to whom the erection of the fire-temple of

The

Arejan, near Behbehan, is attributed.

termination asp (a horse in Persian) being often

found to be affixed to the name of such nations

whose force consisted of cavalry,* as, for

instance, the Ari-asp, the Hesar-asp, &c.

* Rhode translates Lohr-asp, Herr der Pferde, Lord of

horses, probably chief of cavalry.

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TRAVELS IN

Josephus mentions among the posterity of

Abraham a person by the name of ILiuir, who,

together with Asur, were the great grandsons

of that patriarch. (History of the Jews, book i.

chap. vi.)

I throw out these ideas merely as conjectural,

for they would require a more profound inves-

tigation before the question could be definitively

settled.

The Mamaseni of the present day consist . of

four great divisions, each of which is subdivided

into lesser clans.

The following are the prin-

cipal sections of the tribe :—

1

The Rustemi ;

2

The Bekesh ;

3

The Dushmen Ziyari ;

4

The Joi.

The Rustemi, whose chiefs are Ali-Veis-Khan

and Khan-Ali-Khan, are esteemed the bravest

and the most powerful.

They occupy the

valley of Ser-abi-Siyah and the adjacent hilly

country.

A subdivision of this tribe, which

goes by the name of Muhammed Salehi,

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

269

occupies the pastures of Diyar in the plain of

Behram.

Next to the Rustemi in power are the

Their

Bekesh, with their chief, Murad-Khan.

m

strong fort is Ntrabad,

Sahrai-Behram,

while another division of the tribe encamps

The mountain fort of Kal’eh-

at Tengi-Shapar.

Sefid is likewise in their possession.

Between the Rustemi and the Bekesh there

exists much jealousy and hostility, as they are

nearly equal in force; the former being rather

stronger, which the latter cannot easily brook

after having been for many successive years

the most powerful clan among the Mamaseni

when Veli-Khan ruled over the whole tribe.

3. The Dushmen-Ziyari, since the execution

of their chief, Muhammed Riza-Khan, in 1840,

and the internal broils which ensued among the

petty chiefs, have been greatly weakened, and

have lost their weight in the tribe. A portion

of the Dushmen-Ziyari has sought the pro-

tection of the Rustemi, and thus augmented the

strength of the latter.

Their encampments

TRAVELS IN

270

are in Ardekan, near Shaptr, and at Cheno-

shejan.

4. The Joi, under the direction of their chief,

Fet'’h-ullah-Khan, encamp near Kal'eh-Sefid,

and in the upper valley of Abshar.

The number of families, or khanchvdr, of

the

Mamaseni

are

said to

exceed 4,000,

reckoning about 1,000 families for each divi-

sion.* The tax levied on them by the Governor

of Fars

amounts to 7,000 tomans

(about

2,80017.).

During the latter years of the reign

of Fet’h-’Ali-Shah, when the province of Fars

was administered by his son, Husein-’Ali-Mirza,

the Mamaseni were much addicted to pillage,

and had become the scourge of the country,

robbing the caravans.

The leader, who thus

gained the greatest celebrity among them,

was Veli-Khan, of the Bekesh tribe.

From

being mnothing more than a pish-khidmet, or

* T must have committed an oversight in stating in the

paper on the Mamaseni, published in the Journal of the

Royal Geographical Society, vol. xiii., that each clan had

no more than one hundred families.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

271

valet de chambre of the Prince Ferman-Ferma

(Viceroy) of Fars, he soon rose to be the chief

of the Mamaseni.

Zeki-Khan Nari,* Vizier

of the Prince, was the first who promoted this

man’s influence among his countrymen, by

intrusting him with some power over them,

which the wily pish-khidmet well knew how to

turn to his own account.

He organized a gang

of robbers, and, placing himself at their head,

commenced robbing the caravans.

Fach suc-

cessful attack, by spreading abroad his repu-

tation, increased the number of his adherents;

and the feeble authorities of Fars, unable to

restrain his predatory inclination, endeavoured

to give another direction to his pursuits, by

ministering food to his vanity. An union was

concerted between his daughter and one of the

sons of the

Ferman-Ferma, Timar-Mirza, +

who then nominally ruled over Behbehan and

* Derived from the word Nur (light), a hilly district in

the province of Mazanderdn.

t The same prince who, some years back, visited Eng-

land.

272

TRAVELS IN

But this

match

the country of Shulistén.

did not effect the object intended; Veli-Khan

remained as unruly as before, erected the fort

of Nuarab4dd, and continued to exercise his

trade of plundering with greater impunity

than ever, especially during the period of mis-

southern

rule and disorder,

which, in the

provinces of Persia, followed the death of the

old king.

The communication between Bii-

Shehr and Shirdz was in consequence almost

cut off, until Manuchehr-Khan, the Moétemid-

Daulet was named Governor of Fars.

Affairs

then assumed a different aspect, and Veli-

Khan, on the faith of promises held out to

him that he had nothing to fear, was induced

to leave Kal'eh-Sefid (whither he had pre-

viously retired), and to proceed to Shiraz.

From thence he was allowed to accompany

Muhammed Taghi-Khan-Kazvini, and aid him

in collecting the taxes from the Mamaseni.

While on this expedition, Muhammed Taghi-

Khan one night at a banquet, heated with

wine, so far forgot himself as to use some

~

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

2

(

irreverent expressions with respect to Veli-

Khan's daughter, the wife of TimGr-Mirza.

This so enraged her brother, Baghir-Khan,

that he rose and called on his countrymen to

avenge the hor}our of their clan.

He was

instantly obeyed; and the greater part of

Muhammed Taghi-Khan’s detachment was put

himself was

to the sword, whilst

hurried,

handcuffed, to Khisht, situated further in the

mountains.

The whole clan now rose up in

arms.

On the approach of the Governor of Fars

to quell the revolt, Veli-Khan fled to Galedar,

near the Persian Gulf, while Baghir-Khan

retired into the forts of Gl-i-Giilab, built one

above the other on a steep rock, with a com-

munication between.

Soon after the siege was

laid to them,

the

inhabitants

surrendered

Baghir-Khan and his father’s family into the

hands of the Moétemid.

It is reported that

Veli-Khan was informed of the approach of his

pursuers at the time he was making free

with some Shiraz wine, the property of an

VOL.

I

3

274

TRAVELS IN

English officer in the Shah’s service, and which

the followers of the Mamaseni chief had appro-

priated for their master’s use.

In the hurry of

escape, and in the state of intoxication he then

was, Veli-Khan made, it seems, too great an

effort to vault into the saddle, and fell over

to the other side, where he was immediately

picked up and secured by his pursuers, who had

just arrived at that moment.

These two robbers, Baghir and Veli-Khan,

have been ever since imprisoned in the citadel

of Tabriz; but their popularity in Fars is so

great, that their names, deeds and exploits, are

perpetuated in songs, and pass from mouth to

mouth among the Iliyats.

Since their capture, and the reduction of the

mountain forts, the power of the Mamaseni

has been somewhat broken, and the authorities

of Fars have contrived to set up governors to

rule over them.

However, the latter are seldom

safe among this tribe, and are obliged to be

continually on their guard against secret in-

trigues or open assaults, although hostages from

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

275

each clan are kept at Shiraz, to answer for the

At the time T

good conduct of the tribe.

passed through their country, the Mamaseni

had no particular chief to keep them together.

Sardar Hassan-Khan had been recently named

to that post, but was still at Shirdz, negotiating

with the hostage chiefs for his good reception

among their kinsmen in Shulistan.

The Khogilie Tribes.—On leaving the country

of the Mamaseni, we enter the territory of the

Khogil, a tribe as wild and as lawless as

their neighbours to the east, and as the Bakh-

tiyar clans who occupy the mountainous tracts

to the west.

The Khogilt, together with the two above-

mentioned tribes, belong to the great family of

the Lurs,* and speak a rude jargon of the

* The other great divisions are the Leks and Kurds.

I do not think the origin of these three tribes has ever yet

been satisfactorily ascertained.

They are neither of the

Arab nor of Turkish descent, and may therefore be

looked upon as the aborigines, or at least the oldest settlers

of Irén.

They seem always to have occupied the hilly

country, which runs from south-east to north-west of Persia,

T 2

276

TRAVELS

IN

Persian language, or, more probably, the cor-

rupted old tongue of Fars--the Farsi or Kadim.

ERRPHE

and served to constitute the kernel of the Zend race.

The

different dialects spoken by these mountaineers are said

to contain a number of words of the old Zend language ;

and up to the present day there is a clan among the Leks

which bears the name of Zend, and gave, in the last

century, a ruler to Persia, in the person of Kerim-Khan-

Vakil.

Ancient historians and geographers speak of the

mountainous country of the Kardushians and Gordyans,—

the present Kurdistan.

Strabo, who mentions that the

Cardaces were addicted to thieving, adds, that their name

is derived from the word Carda, which, in their language,

meant valiant, warlike. (Liv. xv., c. iii.)

The independent

mountaineers of Kurdistin, who boast that they never have

been a conquered people, well deserve the above epithets ;

whilst their predatory habits give them as good a right to

the

title of thieves.

Ferdausi mentions that the Kurds are

the

descendants of those young men who were saved from

the

voracity of the serpents of the tyrant Zohak, which

were fed on human brains. (See in the Shah-Namah’-Zohak,

st. 39.) Whatever credit may be attached to this tradition,

it shows, at all events, the antiquity of the Kurdish race.

The secluded vale amidst the mountains of Behbehdn,

where 1 discovered some very ancient bas-reliefs, with

inscriptions in unknown characters, bears the name of Sau-

lek, in which the last syllable, lek, may have some con-

nexion with

the tribe

of

that name.

Perhaps even the

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

217

Mirza Ktmo, the Governor of Behbehan,

exercises his sway over this tribe, although the

Khogilt are under the immediate control of

their own petty chieftains.

Recently, however,

several of these clans have entirely thrown off

the authority of Mirza Ktimo, and have sought

the protection of the neighbouring powerful

chiefs.

The Khogilt are divided into the following

tribes :—

First, the Bovi, who muster upwards of 4,000

families, and occupy Bésht, to the west of the

Mamaseni,

Their

chief,

Sherif-Khan,

was

blinded by the order of the late Husein

Lesqhi of Daghestén,* in the Caucasus, who go by the

appellation of Leksi in Persia and in Georgia, may have

belonged originally to the same section of the Zend race.

I shall have to refer to the Lfrs more than once in the

course of my narrative.

e SRR SRSl ORISR

* The Poles, whose true name is Lakh, are said to have

descended into the plains from the Caucase mountains,

together with the Chekhs, the inhabitants of Bohemia.

278

TRAVELS IN

>’ Ali-Mirza,

former Ferman Ferma of Fars,

and resides now at Shirdz, whilst his son Allah-

Kerim-Khan, manages the affairs of his tribe at

Bésht, and may more properly be looked upon

as the real head of the Bovi.

I learned from

the latter that the ancestors of his family had

settled here from the Cha’b country, and that

in later years after a fruitless opposition to the

power of Nadir-Shah, the Bovi were trans-

planted into Khorasan with their chief, Hashem-

Khan, who was afterwards named governor, and

ended, as it but too often happens in the east,

by being deprived of his sight by order of that

sovereign.

After the death of Nadir-Shah the

son of Hashem-Khan found means, during the

unsettled state in which the country then was,

to return with his followers to Fars.

The present chief, Allah-Kerim-Khan, in

order to ward off the danger to which the

vicinity of the Mamaseni on the one side, and

the troublesome neighbourhood of his imme-

diate Lord, Mirza Kamo on the other, would

expose him, as well as to ensure the permanence

2719

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

of his own power, has prudently contracted

family alliances with both parties, by marrying

the danghter of the Governor of Behbehan and

the sister of the Mamaseni chief of the Rustim

tribe. Polygamy in this instance is an advan-

tage which the eastern politicians possess over

European diplomatists.

Secondly, The'Bomhmed, amounting to 3,000

families, formed formerly a strong clan, which,

however, was afterwards divided when Abdullah-

Khan with his party went over to the Rustim

branch of the Mamaseni, while Ali-Muhammed-

Khan with his followers remained faithful to the

Governor of Behbehan.

The latter occupy

Ard, and the mountainous country north of the

karavanserai of Daghimbeziin.

Thirdly, The N, about 2,000 families, are

reckoned the best horsemen among the Khogila,

as the Rustemi pass for the best cavalry among

the Mamaseni.

They inhabit the hilly country

to the north-east of Behbehan.

The Tenghebi, or Taibi, amount to 3,000 fami-

lies, and occupy the mountainous regions of Bars

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TRAVELS IN

and Dinarin, where their chief, Muhammed-

Ali-Khan, resides in the castle of Kal’eh-Mlah.

Fifthly, The Bakhmei, are reckoned the

wildest and most unruly tribe among the moun-

taineers of Fars, although their number is said

not to exceed 2,000 families, perhaps rather un-

derrated.

Formerly they recognised, but only nominally,

the authority of Mirza Kamo, for this Chief was

always obliged to send an armed force into their

fastnesses to gather his annual tribute from

them.

At present they refuse altogether to

acknowledge him, and have gone over to Mu-

hammed Taghi Khan, the powerful Bakhtiyar

Chief.

As an instance of their spirit of independence

and slight regard for the authority even of the

Shah, I was told that when a collector of the

revenues was endeavouring one day to impress

on the mind of a Bakhmei, that it was the

tribute due to the Shah, his liege lord, that

was required of him, the man replied that he

only yielded to force, but that he knew of no

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN,

281

Shah of Persia, and should only believe in his

existence, when he could actually have him on

the palm of his hand.

At the time of my passing through the

Balkhmei country, there existed a bloody

feud among them.

Khalil-Khan, of the Mah-

medi clan, had killed his nephew, the son of

Zeki-Khan, of the Akhmedieh clan, and both

parties were in arms.

¢

afterwards met this

Khalil-Khan at the camp of the Bakhtiyar

Chief, and his sinister appearance expressed

sufficiently his

sanguinary character.

The

Bakhmei occupy the mountains north-west of

Behbehén,

at Tenghi-Saulek, (where

some

ancient sculptures and inscriptions are found,

of which I shall hereafter give an account,)

and extend as far as the plain of Peték.

All these tribes are spread over the moun-

tainous range, and the intervening valleys, on

the southern face of the great chain, which

stretches from Hamadan and Zohab towards

Fars, from north-west to south-cast.

My rapid progress through their country did

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not admit of my minutely investigating their

manners, customs, and religious observances,

which would have been a most interesting

study, as they probably may be the descend-

ants of the ancient Mardi, Paraetaci, and Uxii,

mentioned in Alexander’s expedition from Susa

to Persepolis.

I met with few of their tents on the tract

I followed, as they were encamped in the more

secluded valleys of the mountains, and therefore

my observations can be but scanty and super-

ficial.

Though they outwardly profess Muhammedan-

ism, they have, I believe, like the generality

of the wandering tribes of Persia, a very faint

idea of religion; their whole faith consisting

in some superstitious rites, and a traditional

veneration for their Piri, or holy men, to whose

shrines they go on pilgrimage.

Among the

offerings which they bring with them, in order

to the attainment of some worldly object, are

little tin lamps, which they string on ropes

over the tomb of their saints, or coloured rags

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

283

which their women attach to some consecrated

trees.

I have seen trees of this description in

Persia, with rags on them in greater profusion

than leaves.

As to their external appearance, I met with

fewer tall men among the Khogilti than among

the Mamaseni; but they are a very hardy race,

and undoubtedly owe much of their vigour and

muscular frame to their active pursuits, the

simplicity of their diet, and the bracing air

which they inhale in their mountain fast-

nesses.

Their chief occupation consists in tending

their flocks of sheep and goats, and they

resemble, in this respect, all the wandering

tribes

of Persia.

Their usual food

is the

acorn,

which

is first bruised between

two

stones, and made into flour, by being dried

in the sun.

The women bake cakes of this

flour.

The paste is likewise eaten raw, and

is considered very nourishing.

That this sort

of food is nothing new to man, we learn from

the accurate Herodotus, who says, that the

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Lacedemonians, wishing to take possession of

Arcadia, first consulted the oracle of Delphi,

and the Pythea pronounced to them the follow-

ing answer :—

« Askest thou Arcadia of me?

Thou askest

much; nor will T grant it thee.

In Arcadia

dwell many warriors, fed on acorns, who will

repel thee.”*

Independently of the Khogilt, there are

several other tribes, who inhabit these moun-

tains, such as the Jarumi, the Yusufi, and

upwards of a thousand families directly under

the control of Mirza Kiamo, occupying the

plain of Behbehin, and settled in villages or

dispersed in tents.

These are the Juma- Buzurg,

the Afshars, and some Arab settlers.

* See

vol

Herodotus,

by Laurent,

1,

verse 66,

page 31.

t The names of the Turkish tribes are, the Karabaghi,

Agbaghi, Begdeli, Golebi, and Sheiri, speaking the Turkish

language ; while the Afshars, although of the same origin,

have forgotten their mother tongue.

The Doveti, Ghesti

Mayaz-kuli, Barash, Milosi, and Juleki, are of the Lir race,

and speak the Lurish dialect.

285

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

His

Mirza Kdimo himself is of Arab origin.

family migrated from Mecca, and was sup-

posed to be a branch of the holy family of

the Arab Prophet; in consequence of which

his adherents

maintain /that his

person

18

inviolable, and that to attack him would be

a sacrilege, and that the daring offender would

be stricken by the thunder-bolt of heaven.

The inhabitants of the town of Behbehan

are very expert in the preparation and dyeing

of woollen cloth ; but owing to their reluctance

to disclose the secrets of their art, I could glean

no useful information on the subject.

The annual taxation of Behbehan, together

with Shulistan, amounts to from 24,000 to 30,000

tomans (about 12,0007. or 15,0001.).

However,

for several years the Governor has found means

to evade payment to the authorities at Shiraz,

so that the arrears are said to amount to nearly

100,000 tomans.

This state of things has

placed Mirza Ktmo in no pleasant predica-

ment in respect to the Governor of Fars, as

the latter has often threatened to compel him

286

TRAVELS IN

by force of arms to pay, if he persisted in

withholding any longer what was due to the

Jrown.

Mirza Kamo still hoped that he could

avert the storm gathering around him, by

sending a few presents and some money as a

Pesh-kesh* for the Prince and his Visir at

Shiraz.

These presents were to consist of

some fine Arab horses and 200 rolls of the

celebrated mumia, a sort of mineral pitch,

greatly esteemed in the Kast for its healing

qualities.

This substance, which is quite hard

and

fashioned

into a cylindrical

form,

18

wrapped in silver or gold paper (as chocolate

is sometimes prepared at the confectioners).

Meanwhile Mirza Kaimo was busily occupied

in fortifying his town in case of emergency,

notwithstanding the accredited notion among

the ‘people, that in consequence of his descent

from the Prophet, no Mussulman dare attack

him with impunity. Be this as it may, I found

* A present an inferior offers to a superior in Persia,

and somewhat like the reliefs which vassals had to pay to

their Suzerain lords in Europe during the middle ages.

28

~

{

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

Mirza Kamo very much elated at the works

which were going on, and he asked me, as

we were looking out of a window of the

castle at some workmen occupied in widening

the ditch before the rampart, whether I did

not think his

town

was

impregnable ?

d

answered, that if he had such enemies as the

wild Bakhtijari to contend with, he might

hope to oppose them with success: but if

he wished seriously to know my opinion, I

could not refrain from imparting to him my

honest belief, that neither the walls of his

castle, nor its external ramparts, were able to

hold out against any regular troops with a

battering artillery.

I added, that as a guest

who had partaken of his bread and salt, and

consequently one who

wished him well,

I

earnestly warned him not to risk the experiment,

as the experience of it might probably cost

him dear.

My host did not heed my advice,

and I am sorry to add that my forebodings

proved but too true.

Some time after my

return to 'Teheran,

news was received that

288

TRAVELS IN

the forces sent against this chief by the Go-

vernor of Fars had taken possession of Behbe-

han, and put many of the inhabitants to the

sword.

Mirza Kamo had fled into the Cha’b country,

but his wives and grown up daughters were

distributed among the

soldiery of Mansar

Khan’s victorious troops, with the exception

of one of the daughters, who, to escape the

degradation of falling into the hands of such an

enemy, had thrown herself into a deep well,

inlaid with stone, and was dashed to pieces.

This is not a solitary instance of the despe-

rate resolution of the Iliyat women to destroy

their life, rather than to become the victims

of the brutal violence of the victors.

When the forts of Gul-i-Galab, occupied by

the Mamaseni rebels, had surrendered to the

troops of the Shah, many of the Mamaseni

women—who had been sent there for safety—

abhorring the idea of falling into the hands

of the conquerors, threw themselves from the

top of the fort down the precipitous rocks.

289

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

while

I believe several died on the spot,

others

miraculously escaped death,

though

not without broken limbs.

But thanks to the

humane and timely assistance of the skilful

surgeon of the British detachment, Dr. Griffith,

a Welshman, who accompanied the Persian ex-

pedition, many recovered and were allowed to

return to their clan in peace.

I am ignorant what may be the fate of the

unfortunate Mirza Kamo, but it is highly pro-

bable that he is still a fugitive, wandering

among the Arab tribes, and seeking shelter

from tent to tent.

YOL: 1,

CHAPTER XII.

Description of Behbehin.—Limits.—Former and present

possessions of Behbehén.—Soil.—Produce.—Climate.—

Winter and summer residences of the Governor.—Ruins of

Arrejan.—Remains of two splendid bridges over the

river

Kurdistan.—Fire-temple of Ardjian.—Volcanic

mountain.—Mumia.—Arrejdn probably the former em-

porium of trade between India and the interior of

Persia.—The ports of Mahruban and Hindiyéin.—The

name of Arrejin attached to the province in the tenth

century.—Town of 'Cobid.—Different cities of Ardea.—

The ancient town of the Ardi, natives of Ardekin.—Identity

of Ardekian and Paratacene, &c.—Alexander penetrates

into those mountains.—Caves of the Mardi.—Asylum

Persarum.—Hedypnes of Pliny.—Ver-effshue the abode

of bliss of the Zend-Avesta.— Annual migrations of the

Persepolitan porcupine.—Notes.

Tue province of Fars was formerly divided

into five districts or circles,

called kuréh,

which were, Istakhr, Darabjird, Shapr, Ar-

dashir, and Cobad.*

At present it consists of

three principal parts, namely :

* See Jehan Numé.

TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

291

1. Fars Proper (Persis Proper);

2. Laristan, near the Persian Gulf; and,

3. Behbehén or the country of the Khogila.

This latter represents the kuréh of Cobdd.

The territory of Behbehdn, now under the

sway of Mirza Kamo, is limited to the north

by the great belt of mountains which separates

Irak-Ajem from the southern provinces of

Persia; the northern and north-eastern shores

of the Persian Gulf form its boundary to the

south. Ram-Horm(z and the Cha’h country

lie to the west,

while Shalistian separates

Behbehan on the east from the direct depend-

encies of Fars.

With

reference

to

ethnography,

I may

remark, that Behbehan is surrounded by the

following tribes:—To the east and south-east

the Mamaseni; to the north and north-west the

Bakhtiyari; and to the west and south-west the

Ch&’b-Arabs.

Independently of the mountainous regions to

the north and north-east of the plain of

Behbehéan, which is occupied, as we have seen

o2

292

TRAVELS IN

in the preceding chapter, by the Khogild tribes,

the

districts

of Liravi

and Zeitin,

near

the Persian Gulf, together with the fortresses

of Gl-i-Guldb,* all come under the control

of the Governor of Behbehan.

The mountain fort of Mungasht, and the town

with the district of Ram-Hormuz, were likewise

held formerly by Mirza Kamo, but are now

in the hands of Muhammed Taghi-Khan, the

Bakhtiyar Chief.

The soil of Behbehan is very productive,

being watered by several noble streams, such

a

]

S

the Shemsi-Arab, the Kheirabad, and the

Kurdistan,

together

with

the lesser

rivers

flowing from

the

Ardekan

mountains,

and

* These forts, which have a communication with one

another, are reckoned as strong and as difficult of access as

Kal’eh-Sefid ; they were, notwithstanding, captured in 1835

by the Moétemid-Dadlet ; and the turbulent Mamaseni chiefs

who had sought refuge there, were forced to surrender.

The strongholds of Gal-i-Glib are about five farsangs

from Behbehdn ; and the river Kheir-abad (the Abi-

Shirin or Hindiyan river) flows close to the foot of the

rock on which they are built, one fort above the other.

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

293

it might be a very rich agricultural district if

it were more densely peopled, and, above all,

if there were more security and stability in

the administration.

On the spacious plain surrounding the town

of Behbehan the inhabitants grow corn, which

yields twenty-four fold, while, nearer the Gulf,

cotton

and rice are the staple production.

Among the fruit-trees the palm takes the pre-

cedence, although lemon, orange, and pome-

granates, are likewise cultivated with success.*

To give an idea of the mildness of the climate,

I need only mention, that in the month of

January the meadows near the town were

sprinkled with the narcissus, which, from a

distance, appeared like a white sheet extending

several miles in circumference, perfuming the

air with the most delicious fragrance.

Mothers

with their children in their arms, and baskets

containing provisions in their hands, resort for

the whole day to the meadows, where the

* I do not recollect to have seen any lemon or orange

trees at Behbehén, but I was told there were.

294

TRAVELS IN

narcissusses grow, returning home only at the

close of the evening, with immense nosegays

of these flowers.

The -olive-tree, if I was rightly informed,

grows on the banks of the Hindiyan river, from

whence the town of Zeitin is supposed to have

derived its name, as Zeitin in Persian means an

olive ;* although Ibn Batuta, the Arab traveller

of the fourteenth century, derives it from K-

Zaidain, or the town of the two Sayids, that of

Zaid Ibn-Thabet,

and Zaid Ibn-Arkam, the

companions of the Arab prophet.t

I have failed to ascertain to whom Behbehan

* Ibn-Hatkal says, that Arrgan produced dates and

olives in great plenty.”

(See Oriental Geography, attributed

to the above-quoted author, by Sir W. Ouseley, p. 104.)

We likewise find in M. d’Herbelot, at the article Arragian,

the following :—¢ Arragian ville de la province de Khizis-

tan ou Susiane, que quelques Géographes attribuent pourtant

a celle de Fars ou Perse proprement dite.

Elle n’est éloig-

née de la mer que d’une seule journée et son territoire est

tres fertile en palmiers et oliviers,

&e.”

(Bibliotheque

Orientale, p. 122.)

t See Ibn Batuta’s Travels, translated by K. Samuel Lee.

London, 1829, 4to., p. 43.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

295

owes its foundation. It may be of Sasanian

origin, but it seems to have acquired note only

after the destruction of Arrejan and Cobad.

That it existed so far back as the fourteenth

century can be traced by the circumstance of

Sheref-ed-din ’Ali of Yezd mentioning that

Timar encamped near Behbehan on his way to

Kal’eh-Sefid.

At present it is the winter residence of the

governor, whose summer encampment is up the

valley of the Kurdistan river at a place called

Deh-Dasht, eight farsangs from Behbehan.

The plain of Behbehan, as well as the

valleys in the mountains, present traces of

considerable towns, which prove that this part

of Persia must have been,

in some former

period of its history, in a state much more

flourishing than that which it now can lay

claim to.

Half way between Behbehédn and the river

Kurdistan, are ruins scattered over a consider-

able extent of ground.

These remains consist

of kiln-burnt bricks, white mortar, and more

296

TRAVELS IN

or less elevated artificial mounds of earth.

It

was among them, I believe,

that Sir John

Macdonald Kinnier found a stone slab, with an

arrow-headed inscription—a sure sign of re-

mote antiquity.

Nearer the water, on both

sides of the river, are buildings in a better

state of preservation, which appear to be of

a more recent date, though still perhaps of

Sasanian origin, and probably coeval with the

stupendous remains of two bridges, of which

the Arab writers speak in high terms.

On

the left bank, but further inland, I met with

some Muhammedan tombs, with arched domes

over them, open to all the four sides, in the

Mussulman fashion.

This is the true site of

Arrejan, whereas the ruins above-mentioned

appear to belong to a more ancient town, of

which I shall have to speak hereafter.

The ruins of Arrejan consist of stone and

brick buildings, scattered on the lofty banks

of the Kurdistin river, mostly on the left

shore ; but likewise, on the declivities of the

bank, and partly along the narrow strip of

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

297

land which separates the bed of the river from

its southern or left embankment.

With the

exception of the bridges, there are no remains

of large edifices; the houses seem to have

possessed but one story, with vaulted roofs.

Both sides of the town were united by two

bridges, a short distance one from the other.*

They are of stone and brick, and, to judge

from what remains, they must have been built

on a grand scale.

Some of the platforms of

the piers on which the arches rested are still

standing on the right and left banks of the

river, while mnearly all the rest have been

carried away by the force of the current, which

is excessively rapid, the waters curling in eddies

as they are swiftly borne down the stream.

The bridges are about one farsang from the

narrow passage in the mountains from whence

-

* In Edrisi’s ¢ Itinerary from Shirdz to Khuzistin,” we

read, according to M. Jaubert’s French version,—* On

parvient ensuite au pont de Bekiar, construit & la distance

Q'un jet de fleche de Redjan.”

(See “ Recueil de Voyages

et de Mémoires,” &c., vol. v., p. 408.)

298

TRAVELS IN

the Kurdistan river issues.

They are now

called Pili- Bagim,

or Begim,

and Puli-

Dokhter (the bridges of the Lady and the

Damsel).

The accompanying sketch will give an idea

of the former.

In respect to the latter, there

is a massive building, which formed part of

it, on the left shore, two stories high, which

brought the bridge on a level with the high

banks, so that the passage along it led over

the second floor.

In each floor there were

two spacious apartments.

The following passage of Ibn Batuta, the

Arab traveller of the fourteenth

century,

unquestionably refers to one of these bridges,

in the comparison he establishes between this

and another bridge on the northern coast of

Africa :(—

“In this place” (Constantina),

says the

author, “1is a bridge, to which there is no

equal in the countries of Islamism for its

wonderful construction.

It consists of one arch

of 150 paces in extent, between two piers, if

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

299

we except that at the gates of Arjan, upon the

borders of Khuzistin, which is referred to Fl-

Dailimi, the physician of El-Hejaj.”*

In Edrisi we have a more complete descrip-

tion of one of the bridges at Arrejan :

“ Near the gate of Redjan,” says this writer,

“ towards Khouzistan, is to be seen over the

river Tab a bridge called Deilemi, the sur-

name of the physician of Hedjadj-ben-Y ousouf.

This bridge has only one arch supported by

two piles, distant eighty paces one from another.

The height of this arch is pretty nearly equal

to its length.”

* See “Ibn Batuta’s Travels,” translated by the Rev.

Mr. Lee, page 4.

It would seem, from the concluding lines,

that one of the bridges at Arrejdn was erected since the

Mussulman sway in Persia.

’

t “Pres de la porte de Redjan,

says Edrisi, “du coté

du Khouzistan ou voit sur la rivicre de Tab, un pont appelé

Deilemi, surnom du medicin de Hedjadj-ben-Yousouf. Ce

pont n’a qu’ une arche soutenue par deux piles, distantes

entre elles de quatre-vingts pas; la hauteur de cette arche

est & peu prés égale & sa longueur.” (See ¢ Gdéographie

@’ Edrisi, ” par M. Amadée Joubert, in the “Recueil de

Voyages, et de Mémoires,” &ec., tom. v. p. 399, 3me climat.

6me section.)

300

TRAVELS IN

Yakiti attributes the foundation of Arrejin,

which he places in the third climate, to the

Sasanian King Cobad, the son of Firtz, and

the father of Nushirvan, therefore about the

end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth

centuries of the Christian era.

We find, how-

ever, the name of Ardjan at a much earlier

period of history, among the principal fire-

temples of the Persians.

*“ The fire-temple Gedjender was built by

Suavouch, and that of Ardjan (or Erdjan) in

Fars was erected towards the end of the reign

of Lorasb.”*

In addition to the fact, that both the town

and the fire-temple bearing the same name

happened to be in Fars, there is another

circumstance which induces me to believe that

if Ardjan, the fire-temple, was not situated on

the spot where the town of Arrejan was built,

* ¢« Le pyrée Gedjender fut bati par Suavouch, et celui

d’ Ardjan (ou d’Erdjan) dans le Fars fut élevé sur. la fin

da régne de Lorash.”

(“ Receuil de Memoires et de

Voyages,” &c.)

301

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

it must have been at least in the neighbour-

hood.

Near the straits of Tengi-Teké, from whence

the

Kurdistan

river

issues

into

the plain

above the ruins of Arrejan, and not far from

the village of Peshker, is a fissure high up in

the mountains, out of which runs

a black

substance resembling pitch, which is gathered

esteemed

mn

by the mnatives, and is much

Persia for its healing qualities, especially for

bruises and fractures.

It is called Mumia,

and sometimes Mumia-i-Nai, from the name

of the village, Nai-deh, which lies at the foot

of these mountains.

The fissure was doubt-

less originally produced by a volcano now

extinct.

At the time Shirdz was visited by

an earthquake (I believe twenty-five or thirty

years ago) Behbehan likewise felt its effects;

the

rent

of the

hill

from

whence

the

was

widened,

mumid oozed out sparingly,

and since that time it runs out more abund-

antly, but the quality is said to be deterio-

rated.

302

TRAVELS IN

We learn from Arab authority,* that the

mountain yielding this bitumen or naphtha

was a volcano, and as the fire of nature was

an object of peculiar veneration among the

ancient Parsi, and that of naphtha springs in

particular (Azer-i-Noush), the fire-temple of

Ardjan may possibly have been erected in the

vicinity of the mountains just described. This,

however, proceeds on the supposition that a

temple wrought by the hand of man was

considered necessary, for it was not customary

among the older disciples of Zerdusht to build

houses for prayer; they worshipped God on

the high places, and a volcano emitting tire

was therefore of all others the fittest temple

to which they turned their eyes in addressing

This

their prayers to the Deity of Light.

custom of offering prayers in high places seems

to have been one of the earliest and most

universally extended modes of worship, and

one which had spread the deepest roots among

the nations of the Fast; for we find that the

* See note at the end of the chapter.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

303

Jews, in their frequent backslidings, when-

ever they repented of their idolatry, and

returned to the true God, still kept to the

practice of praying in the high places.

From the circumstance that several itineraries,

mentioned by the Arab writers in south-western

Persia, are made to take their departure from

or lead to Arrejin, we are to infer that that

city was of some mnote; and its geographical

position leads us to the same conclusion.

As

there exists a communication between Behbehan

and Isfahén, although a difficult one, across

the mountains, Arrejin may have been the

emporium of the trade carried on between

the Persian Gulf and the interior of the

country. According to the Arab geographer,

with whom Sir W. Ouseley has made us ac-

quainted, Mahrubin was the port of Arrejan

at the mouth of the 7Wb, while this latter river

served as the artery of commerce.*

It

is likewise

not improbable that the

* See the Oriental Geography, translated by Sir W,

Ouseley, p. 11.

304

TRAVELS IN

town of Hindiyan, at the mouth of the Kheir-

abad river (the Abi-Shirin of Timhr's expedi-

tion, and perhaps the Arosis of Nearchus),

owes its name, and possibly its very existence,

to the Indian trade with

Persia, when the

southern provinces of the kingdom were in a

flourishing state ;

when the numerous ruins

found in the valleys of the mountains (to

which T shall presently refer) were inhabited

towns; when Kumisheh (where the roads join

from Fars, Behbehan, Khazistan, and Isfahén),

instead of

1ts

present

insignificance,

must

have been an extensive city,

as its

ruins

denote; and, lastly, when Isfahan itself could

boast of a greater degree

of wealth

and

prosperity.

The

Hindiyan

river

18

navigable from

the sea up to Zeitun,

which latter town

is only a day’s journey to Behbehin (five

farsangs).

These two commercial routes may have been

contemporary and still have existed without

the

former more

prejudice to each other;

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

305

with

particularly with

Arabia,

the

latter

India.*

Moreover, it may have been found more

convenient to carry Persian merchandise down

the current of the Tab to Mahruban and the

Persian Gulf, while the productions of India

were imported to Persia by way of Hindiyan

and Zeitan, shortening thereby the navigation

on the Persian Gulf, and avoiding the difficult

ascent up the rapid stream of the Tab.

In the tenth century it appears that the

name of Arrejan was not limited to the town

alone, but was extended to a whole tract of

country, as we discover from a passage in De

Guignes, where he treats of the Buid dynasty

of Irak—Ajem,t while in another part the

* A branch of the trade of the Persian Gulf, struck off

to the north-cast, near Ram-Hormuz, up the valley of

Tezeng, or the Alai river, and then over the mountains into

Media, by the causeway called Jadehi Atabeg, of which

more hereafter in chapters xvi. and xvii.

T “Le Sultan Roknedoulet Abou-Aly el Hassan était

maitre de toute la Perse, Van 365 de 'Hégire (de 3.¢. 975),

i partagea ses états entre ses trois enfans : Adhad ed doulet,

NOL: Y.

X

i

306

TRAVELS IN

same author speaks of Ardgian as the town

where Bahaeddoulet Abounasr, son of Adhad,

likewise of the Buid race, died in 1012 of

our era (403 of the Hejira).

in an

About six miles from Behbehan,

easterly direction, inclining to the north, is the

village of Mansurieh, which I was told is built

on the ruins, and with the materials, of the

ancient city of Cobdd, from which formerly this

whole tract of country derived its name, and

formed one of the five circles of Fars.

The city of Cobad owes, probably, its origin

to the Sasanian monarch of that name,* the

same who laid the foundation of Arrejan; for

Mirkhond, the historian of the Sasanian dynasty,

mentions the predilection of C_obéd for erecting

new cities.

—

i

628

=

=

o

abou Schodgia eut la Perse (le Fars), Ardgian et le Kerman,

quil joignit aux états dont il avait hérité de Son Oncle

smaddoulet,” &e.

(Histoire générale des Huns, &e., par

de Guignes, liv. vi. tom. i. p. 409.) See likewise the note

about Redjan at the end of the chapter.

* See note at end of the chapter.

WEPPI

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

307

“ Cobad,” says that writer, * was fond of

building. He erected many edifices, and laid

the foundations of several towns.

Among such

as owe to him their origin, may be reckoned

Berdaa, Candja, &c.”*

We have alluded in the foregoing pages to

the ruins of an ancient town, lying between

Behbehan and the river Kurdistan.

On looking

at the map of Ptolemy, we find that the town

of Ardea, situated on the plain below the

mountains, and near the river Arosis, would

just suit the situation these ruins now occupy;

although the courses of his rivers are in general

very inaccurately laid down.

When we come to treat of the campaign of

* See Mirkhond, translated by the Baron Silvestre de

Sacy, in his « Mémoires sur Diverses Antiquités de la

Perse,” page 357.

The town of Candja, or Ganja, (from Gunj, treasure, )

bears at present the name of Elizavetopol, and with its

territory forms part of Georgia, to the south of the Caucase

mountains, as well as Berdaa, the ruins of which are seen

near the river

Kir.

Both are situated in the Russian

dominions.

X 2

308

TRAVELS IN

Timar to Kal'eh-Sefid, and Alexander’s expe-

dition to Persepolis, we shall show the proba-

bility of the Ardekan mountains, (which lie

to the north-east and east of Behbehan,) repre-

senting the country inhabited originally by the

Ardi, or Artei,* the name which Herodotus

gives to the ancient Persians.

For the present it

is sufficient to point out the great similarity in the

sound which Ardea bears to the Artewi, together

with the vicinity of this spot to the moun-

tainous region of Ardekan, which they inha-

bited, in order to create an impression favourable

to the idea that the city of Ardea may have

been one of the chief towns of the ancient

Persians.

Tt is rather a curious circumstance that one

of the most ancient cities of Furope, so inti-

mately associated with the early history of

Rome,

and the origin of which is lost in

Grecian mythology—I mean the capital of the

Rutuli in ancient Latium—should likewise have

been called Ardea.

* See “ Herodotus Polymnia,” b. vii. c. i.

309

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

Is this similarity of sound to be attributed to

chance alone? or should not our

attention,

awakened by the fact, seek to trace a family

connexion between the natives of Ardea in

Latium, and the Ardi of the East?

The coin-

cidence is the more striking, as both Ardea and

the Persians appear to have had a common

origin,

according to the Greek and ILatin

writers. Ptolemy, Pliny, and, I believe, Virgil,

mention that Ardea was founded by Danae,

mother of Perseus ; whilst Herodotus (lib. vii. 61),

and Xenophon (Cyrop. lib. i.), inform us that

the Persians derived their name likewise from

Perseus (Pérs ¥%) son of Danae.

The space, it is true, which separates Ardea

* Sir W. Ouseley has extracted the following passage from

a Persian MSS. the Shirdz-Namah, on the origin of Pars.

“Know that Pars, the son of Pallav, the son of Sa’m

(or Shem) the son of Noah (on whom be the peace of God !)

having established himself in Pdirs, became sovereign of this

country, which derived its name from him ; and the Paklavi

language, so called after his father Paklav, became general

in Pars.”

(See Sir W. Ouseley’s Travels in various coun-

tries of the East, &c., vol. ii. p. 317).

TRAVELS IN

310

in Italy from Ardea in Pars is immense, and

where are the intervening links to join the

two extremities of the chain?

I do not under-

take to solve the difficulty, although I cannot

help observing, that Herodotus makes mention

of a people settled to the north of the Danube,

who were dressed in the fashion of the Medes

(or Persians, as both belonged to the Zend

race);* while Strabo speaks of a turbulent

tribe of Ardiei in Dalmatia,

near mount

Ardion, who were very troublesome to the

Romans on account of their predatory habits.

(Lib. vii. c. 6.)

The great analogy which comparative phi-

lology has found to exist between the Sclavo-

nian (a part of which race extends from the

Black Sea to the head of the Adriatic) and

Latin roots, with the ancient Zend language,

might help to point out the direction in which

one of the numerous streams of migration

flowed from the East into Europe.

* We know, morcover, on the authority of the same

Herodotus, that the Persians adopted the Median dress.

311

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

As we are standing on the ground of con-

Jectures, we may indulge in a few more specu-

lations on the subject. Thus it strikes us that

a connexion might exist between the Ardi and

the Mardi, whom Nearchus and others place

between the Uxii and Persis in the mountains

of Parsetacene.

The name- of Mard: is said to be derived,

and no doubt very correctly, from the Persian

word mard, signifying @ man; this word is

still used in the same acceptation, and serves

to designate a man of a strong character, or

a hero.

The Persians will say, In mard ’st,

(this is a man,) when they wish to convey the

idea that the individual alluded to is a man

of energy, in contradistinction to Zaifé (the

weak), a word usually applied to women.

We shall leave to those who have studied

the ancient and modern languages of the East

the task of tracing the laws of permutation

which the words Ari, Ardi, Mardi, Amardi, have

undergone in the progress of time, and shall

merely allude to a peculiarity of speech pre-

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valent among the lower classes of Persians,

as we do not recollect to have seen it stated

before.

To words of one or two syllables, having

a definite meaning, the Persians will often add

another word which has none, merely for the

sake of the rhyme, or by way of euphony.

Thus, the word asp, a horse, is invariably

followed by masp, with no signification what-

ever.

In like manner, hirdi miordi, are terms

employed to

designate all the trifling but

necessary articles a traveller stows into small

bags, which are flung across the saddle on a

journey, in order to have them always at hand,

while the heavier baggage is sent on before.*

These articles consist, among others, of eatables,

as dried fruit, to beguile the traveller on his

road.

Hence, hurdi, may possibly be derived

* Perhaps the obsolete words of serip and serippage

may best convey the idea of Awrdi-murdi.

We read in

Shakspeare :—

« Clown. Come, shepherd, let us make an honourable

retreat ; though not with bag and baggage, yet with serip

and serippage.”—As You Like It, Act iii. scene 2.

313

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

from hurden, to eat; but mirdi, in this case, is

a word without any meaning.

The above observations may appear trivial,

the more so as words of this description are

not tolerated in genteel Persian society, being

reckoned slang language; but, as they are in

the mouths of the people, they form part of

the idiom or genius of the language, and, as

such, deserve attention; for it often happens,

that apparently the most trivial peculiarities,

as well in language as in the customs of a

people, give a clue to obscure passages' in

ancient authors and lead to interesting disco-

veries.*

In following up the stream near which

Ardea is situated in Ptolemy’s map, we find

* We find in some Zend names, where asp forms a

component part, and is placed at the end of the word,

that the letter m is introduced whenever the first word

terminates with a vowel (probably to avoid the hiatus).

Thus, Ari-m-asp, dia-m-asp ; whereas the same rule is not

observable in the following words :— Vescht-asp, Lohr-asp,

Porosch-asp, Guersch-asp, hezar-asp, &ec.

I respectfully

submit these observations to our Zend scholars.

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another town, which bears the name of Axima.

During my stay at Behbehén, I learned, that

eight farsangs distant from that town, in a

northern direction in .the mountains, are traces

of an ancient and very comsiderable city, in a

pleasant valley, near which the village of De/.-

Dasht is now situated on the river Kurdistan.

Mr. Stoqueler, who crossed the mountains from

Behbehan to Isfahdn, makes mention of these

ruins,*

The same traveller speaks of the

remains of another town near Sadaat, further

in the mountains, and of numerous caverns

near

Tengh Berarah,

in the hilly country

between Behbehan and Kumisheh.

On turning to Quintus Curtius, we find that

Alexander, soon after the capture of Perse-

polis, penetrated into a mountainous region,

covered over with snow and ice, and having

ravaged the country of Persia, and reduced

several towns, he came at last into the country

* See Mr. Stoqueler’s ¢ Fifteen Months’ Pilgrimage,”

&ec., vol. ii., page 212.

t See note at the end of the chapter.

LURISTAN AND ARAVBISTA N.

315

of the Mardi, whom he found living with

their families in caves dug in the mountains.*

To any one acquainted with the aspect of

the country about Persepolis, it is evident that

the cold region of which the historian speaks,

as covered with ice and snow, could be no

other than the lofty range of the Avrdekdn, to

the west and north-west of Persepolis.

We

know, moreover, from other authorities, that

the Mardi lived

in that direction,

in the

mountainous tract between Persis and Susiana,

and were neighbours to the Uxii highlanders.t

This hilly district, well watered by numerous

springs, interspersed by pasture-ground and

fertile valleys, fine forests, and, in consequence

of its snow-capped mountains, enjoying a much

cooler air than the plains to the south, must

have possessed great attractions for the early

settlers of Iran.

‘When we add to these natural

advantages the fact that this part of the country

has. always been the most difficult of access,

* See Q. Curtius, lib. v. chap. vi.

t See Q. Curtius, lib. v. chap. vi.

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we may perhaps be allowed to suggest the

propriety of seeking here the Asylum Persarum,

into which several of Alexander’s successors,

and the Parthian kings, vainly attempted to

penetrate.

The sacred fire of the temple of Ardjan,

happening to be in the neighbourhood, cer-

tainly throws a very favourable light on the

subject, and may be considered a weighty

argument in support of our conjectures.

If this suggestion have any foundation, then

the river Hedypnes, which, according to Pliny,

took its rise beyond the Asylum Persarum,*

Kurdistan or

Tab

river,

might suit the

although we feel more disposed to identify

it with the Alai or Tezeng, as it likewise takes

its rise in the lofty range of Ardekan to the

west of the former river.

We shall have to

notice the Tezeng stream as we proceed with

our journey.

We shall postpone to a subsequent chapter

* Pliny’s Natural Iistory, translated into French by M.

Poinsinet de Sivray, tom. ii,, liv. vi., e. 27, p. 803.

317

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

the description of the remains of other towns

on the plain of Behbehan, and up the valley

into the Bakhtiyari country, as we proceed

with the narrative of the journey.

But as the subject may appear of some

interest to the antiquary, we beg leave to

trespass on the patience of the reader with

a few other observations before we quit it.

After enumerating the physical advantages

of the highlands of Ardekan, and the lower

country of Behbehén, and noticing the existence

of numerous

relics

of antiquity with the

sacred fire-temple of Ardjan, we came to the

conclusion that this region must have been

a favourite resort of the ancient Persians, nay,

even their sacred place of refuge—Asylum

Persarum.

May we not go one step further,

and inquire whether this FEl-Dorado may not

have formed part of the land of Ver-effshue,

the fourteenth abode of blessedness, sanctified

Rhode,

by Ormuzd, and civilized by Jemshid.*

in his critical researches on the sacred books

* Vendidad.

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TRAVELS IN

of the Zend-people,* and Professor Ritter, in

his classical work on geography,t have already

pointed to Persis Proper as the probable site

of Ver-effshue, and to Persepolis as the seat

of the town of Ver.

The same conjecture

be

extended to

the

might

valleys about

Behbehén, which, in fact, formed part of ancient

Persis.

The description of the land of Ver,

is in many respects a faithful picture of the

valleys to the south of the Ardekén moun-

tains.}

In

the Zend texts Ver-effshue

18

compared to Behisht, Paradise ; and the Arab

writers give the same appellation to the valley

of Shab-Bevdan, not far from Behbehin.

The

plain of the latter may lay an equal claim

to the same title.

Surely the extreme pro-

ductiveness of the soil of Behbehdn and Shab-

Bevan, the genial warmth and fragrance of

the atmosphere, and, above all, the luxuriant

* Rhode’s « Heilige Sage des Zend Volks,” &c., p. 76.

t C. Ritter’s, “ Erdkunde,” &c., vol. viii. p. 33.

1 See the second fargard of the Vendidad in Kleuker’s

Zendavesta.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

319

carpets

of the fields, rich with the spon-

taneous gifts of Flora in the very depth

of winter, must have attracted, at a very

early period of the world, the attention of

mankind, and induced them to congregate

in those lovely abodes of nature, which the

lively imagination of the Fast has graced with

the epithet of Behisht, and to which the name

of Ver-effshue, meaning * rich in every bless-

ing,” was no less applicable.

But this predilection may not have been to

the exclusion of the plains of Persepolis and

Pasargade, for, independently of the city of

Ver, Jemshid is said to have founded other

towns of various sizes, with a population of

2,000 souls in the greater, 1,200 in the less

More-

extensive, and 600 in the small towns.

over, although the ancient Persians were taught

by their legislator to live in cities, they cer-

tainly did not entirely abandon the pastoral

mode of life, which, indeed, they preserve to

this day; and consequently occupied, in the

same manner as the Iliyats of Fars do at

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present, the valleys in the mountains, and the

high table land of Merdasht* and Mtrgab, (on

which Persepolis and Pasargadee are situated,)

during the summer months, and descended at

the approach of winter from the Alpine re-

gions, in a direction towards the Persian Gulf.

The same mode of life is in like manner

observed at present by the inhabitants of the

The whole

southern shores of the Caspian.

population of Amél, the former capital of the

low country of Mazanderan, resort in summer to

the highlands of Larijan, where they disperse

into villages, and only return to their deserted

city when the cold weather obliges them to

quit the mountains.

We glean from history that, at the time

when Persia had attained the zenith of its

power, and spread its sway over Media and

* The very name of Merdasht, which can be construed

into Merd-dasht, or the plain of the Merdi, (or Mardi,)

might lead us to suppose that it was once occupied by that

tribe, to whom we have already alluded, as inhabiting the

highlands of Arkedan, to the west and north-west of Per-

gepolis.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

321

Babylon, its great kings still preserved their

roving habits, for each succeeding season found

them established with their courts in a different

capital.* These erratic propensities of the Per-

sians, founded on the very nature of the country

which they inhabit, are participated in likewise

by the brute creation.

A peculiarity of this

nature is observable on the Persepolitan plain.

On visiting the subterranean passages which

branch in various directions under the ruins

of Persepolis, T found, as I have already ob-

served, a great number of porcupine bristles,

and the dry manure of that animal heaped in

the long and narrow corridors.

In answer to

my inquiries, why no living porcupine was to

be seen, I was informed that these animals

occupy the cool cells of the now deserted

palace of Jemshid, during the heats of sum-

mer only, but migrate to the south in thousands

as soon as the cold weather commences; about

the same time, and nearly in the same direction

* See Brissonius,

“ De Regno Persarum.”

Lib.

1

§ 67.

VOL. 1.

322

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as the Nomads, who drive their flocks of sheep

and goats to the warmer pastures of Jaram and

Laristan towards the Persian Gulf. It is not

scarcity of food which prompts the porcupines

to quit their royal abode, because the plain of

Merdasht has numerous villages, and the fields

are always stocked with some sort of grain ; it

is the cold which drives them away, while

instinct directs them to the more genial climate

of the south.

I was assured that they travel in

considerable bodies, and pick out the shortest

way, traversing hill and dale.

Not one porcu-

pine remains behind; but with the return of

spring and warm weather, they resume their

wonted quarters under the walls of Persepolis.

The numerous flights of bats which line the

interior of the royal tombs, and produce, as

asserted by the natives, the black crust with

which the walls of those caves are thickly

covered,

are

seen

only during the warm

season, but disappear as soon as the cold

weather sets in.

When I visited the tombs in

January, I did not find one bat in them.

323

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XIIL

Page 302.—With reference to the mumia, we find in

Yakuti the following, translated by De Guignes :—

“Dans une de ses montagnes (du Fars) est une caverne ol

1"0n trouve de l'eau qui est comme une vapeur ; elle sort

des rochers, et on en fait le mowmmani ou moumiani blanc,

qui est trés bon.”

(See Notices and Extraits des Manuscrits

de la Bibl. du Roi, tom. ii. p. 422.)

In the ¢ Oriental Geography,” translated by Sir W.

Ouseley, is a similar passage :—

“There is in the district of Swmbeil,* near the borders

of Pars, a mountain from which fire issues at all times.

At night this fire gives light, and smoke comes forth in

the day time, and the general opinion is, that there

is here a fountain of naphtha, or of pitch, which has taken

fire.t

In the 2d vol. of the “Recueil de Voyages et de Mé-

moires par une Société de gens de Lettres,” p. 256, we read

that :—

“Le mont Bardjan (probably instead of Ardjan) d’olt

découle cette résine précieuse que les Persons appellent

moumia, et qui guerit les fractures avec une célérité

* Sumbeil is a district (adds the author of this Arab

work) which, in the time of Muhammed ben Wasel, was

reckoned among the territories of Pars; at present it belongs

to the province of Khuzistan.

T “Oriental Geography,” p. 77.

Y 2

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TRAVELS IN

miraculeuse.”

(’Ajaib-oul Mahloukat &’ Ahmed de: Thous

dans ses mélanges—article mouwmia et dans le Djehan

Nouma, p. 268.)

May not this mwmia be the gum mentioned by Dios-

corid (iii. 99), which was obtained from Persia, of singularly

healing qualities,

and hence named Sarcocolla ?

(See

Mr. St. John’s interesting work, entitled,

“ History of

the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece,” vol. iii,,

page 406.)

The author of these pages has himself experienced the

efficacy of the Persian mumia, on applying it to a bruised

side occasioned by a fall down some rocky cliffs.

A piece

of the hard black substance of which it consists is mixed

with melted sheep’s fat, and, while hot, the bruised part of

the body is well rubbed with it.

Sir William Ouseley learned that the mummy gathered

in the district of Darabjird was reckoned as the only

genuine, all the rest being more or less adulterated, and he

derives the mum-i-ayi from words implying ¢ the wax of a

village called Ay:.”

(See his “ Travels,” vol. ii., page 117,

and the Appendix, No. V., page 475.)

To show how high this balsam was estimated by the

Persians, the French traveller, Count Ferri¢res Sauveboeuf,

says, that the mwmmiayi was usually among the choicest

presents made by the Persian sovereigns to their neigh-

bouring allies.

Thus, Ali Murad Khan sent about one

ounce of this mummy, contained in a golden box, to the

Empress of Russia.

(See “Mémoires Historiques Politiques

et Géographiques des Voyages,” par le Comte Ferritres

Sauveboeuf, tom. iii., page 33.

Paris, 1790.)

3

9]

J

LURISTAN

AND

ARABISTAN.

Page 314.—Extract from M. Stoqueler’s ¢ Itinerary from

Behbehin to Kumisheh, over the Mountains,” &ec., vol. ii.,

page 212, &c. :—

“From Behbehan to Tung-ta- Kok, six hours.| A fortress

on the summit of a mountain pass, occupied by a few

individuals.

A few date plantations, and patches of

cultivation on the table land in the neighbourhood and

in the dale beneath. The Jeraki flows through the

pass.

To Booah, twelve hours. ]

The ruins of a sombre karavan-

serai, by the side of a broad mountain stream.

There

is a great deal of table land in this vicinity ; but the

road to Booah is over a mass of terrific rocky heights.

It was impossible to ride up these acclivities without

great risk. The party accompanying the author dis-

mounted, and assisted the mules and horses to ascend ;

but the precaution taken, and the assistance rendered,

did not prevent one laden horse from rolling over a

frightful precipice, being dashed to pieces in the

fall.

The ruins of an

To Deidass (Deh-Dasht ?), twelve hours. ]

ancient and extensive walled town, situated in the

heart of a picturesque valley.

Within a hundred

yards of the entrance of the town, is a ruined karavan-

serai, and in its immediate neighbourhood flows a

mountain river.

To Tengh Berarah, five hours.] A rocky mass, abounding in

caverns and recesses, which the Behbehanis proceeding

into the mountains invariably make their resting-places.

Numerous brooks, formed by the melting snows of the

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TRAVELS IN

mountains in the vicinity, furnish an inexhaustible

supply of water.

To Safariak, eight hours.] A small cluster of decayed

dwellings, surrounded by a few noble trees at the

summit of a vast elevation, whence falls a beautiful

cascade. 'This appears to be a permanent lf)cation, for

as much cultivation is carried on as the small table

land will admit; and there is an extensive cemetery

attached to the dwellings.

To

Sadaat, eight hours.] Ruins of a once spacious city

on the peak of a lofty mountain.

Part of the build-

ings were undergoing repair, and a Musjed (the only

one in the Bactiyari) had just been raised. About one

hundred families dwell here, and devote much attention

to the culture of the vine, the produce of which is

gent to Shirdz.

The whole neighbourhood is exceed-

ingly fertile, and well watered. Roses, apples, walnuts,

and plums, grow everywhere in wild abundance.

The

height of the mountain above the level of the sea must

be very considerable, for the thermometer was no more

than forty-six deg. Fahrenheit, and the air was piercing

cold. The ascent, as well as that of Safariah, is difficult

and perilous.

To Khad-Khana Garrin (Rud-Khanéhgerm?), or warm

water stream, eighteen hours.] A rapid and a roaring

torrent caused by the melting of the snows on the

summit of an adjoining mountain.

The long and

cheerless journey to this spot lies through a succession

of rock, forest, and cascade, over awful acclivities, and

by the edge of precipices, overhanging deep ravines.

LURISTAN AND

ARABISTAN.

327

So difficult is the passage of the torrent, that each

person bearing a load on his head was obliged to be

supported across the stream by two or three others,

who could with difficulty keep their legs, though the

water only reached their breasts.

To Pellaut (Felad?), five hours.] A small village of stone

and reed huts, at the base of a rocky hill, skirting a

broad plain, where little cultivation of barley and grain

is carried on.

At this point is a beaten road which

leads to Shiraz.

To Simiroon, eleven hours.] An extensive town, built on a

lofty hill,

There is a beautiful fountain which sup-

plies the whole place with water, by means of natural

falls.

Simiroon is populous and fertile,

The fruits

are abundant, and of superior quality.

The influence

of the Beglerbeg of Behbehén ceases at this point,

and everything procured must therefore be paid for

at an exorbitant rate.

To Coree, six hours.] A walled town, of small dimensions,

and trifling population.

The people are better than

those of Simiroon.

Provisions of no kind abundant.

To Comisha, eight hours.] This is an extensive town, con-

It has been too

taining an excellent karavanserai.

often described to need particular mention.”

Page 296.—We find in Edrisi, who wrote in the twelfth

century, that Hedjan, which is the same as Arejan, was

a district, as well as the name of a town.

The passage runs

thus in M. Jaubert’s French version of Edrisi :—

“Le district de Redjan dont nous avons deja fait mention,

et qui compte un grand nombre de villes de grandeurs

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IN

diverses, que nous allons indiquer ici avant de donner les

jtinéraires.

Nous disons donc que Redjan, située sur les

limites de Khouzistan et de Fars, est une ville belle, riche,

offrant des ressources de tout genre et environnée d’un

territoire qui produit des raising, des péches et des olives.

Les eaux cependant y sont de mauvaise qualité et & peine

potables.

Pres de la porte de Redjan, du coté du

Khouzistan, on voit sur la riviere de Tab un pont appelé

Deilemi, surnom du médecin de Hedjadj-ben-Yousouf. Ce

pont n’a qu’une arche soutenue par deux piles distantes entre

elles de quatre vingts pas; la hauteur de cette arche est

a peu prés égale a sa longueur,” &e.

(Xdrisi, 3me Climat,

p. 399.)

Page 306.—After this work had been placed in the

printer’s hand, I discovered the following passage in

D’Herbelot’s Bibliothéque Orientale, which I think im-

portant to mention, as it will serve to rectify an error into

which I have fallen concerning the town of Cobdad, while it

will throw a new light on the subject.

The passage runs thus in the original :—

« Aber-Cobad, ville de la province d’Arragian située entre

les pays de Fars et d’Ahvaz: elle fut bitie par Kai- Cobad

premier roi de Perse de la race des Kaianides dont elle porte

le nom.

Le mot Persien Aber qui signifie aw dessus marque

quelle est située sur une montagne,” &e.

It appears, then, from the foregoing passage that the

town of Cobad did not owe its origin to the Sasanian

monarch of that name, as I had been erroneously led

to suppose, but to Kai-Cobad, the first king of the

Koianian race which succeeded the Pish-Dadian dynasty,

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

329

thus carrying us back to the heroic ages of Persian

history.

This circumstance shows at the same time at what a

very remote period the country about Behbehdn was

inhabited by the Persian race, giving a colour to the

supposition that the ancient stronghold of the Persians—

the Asylum Persarum—may, with some propriety, be sought

there.

With respect to the conclusion M. d’Herbelot draws from

the word Aber, which he says means above, signifying,

therefore, that the town was situated on a hill, T must

observe that the village of Mansuriech—which occupies the

spot, and was built with the materials of the ancient city of

Cobad—stands on a plain, but not far from the foot of the

hills and the banks of the 7ab.

May not Aber have been

prefixed to it from the circumstance of Cobad being placed

above Arrejan, which lies on that stream about a farsang

lower down ?

In the same plain of Behbehén, between three and four far-

sangs to the north-west, are the ruins of the town of Kai-

Kaus, a name which reminds us that Kai-Cobad had a son

called Kai-Kaus, the grandfather of Cyrus, King of Persia,

and who, perhaps, may have founded that city, although the

remains appear to denote a Sasanian origin.

CHAPTER XIII.

Learn the existence of some old sculptures in the mountains,

and in consequence change my route.— Various routes to

Shishter.—Prevail on Mirza Kamo to honour Govern-

ment barats.—Three French travellers ill-treated at Beh-

behéan.—Take leave of my host.—Method of training

Arab horses in spring.— Account of the country.—Laws

on inheritance among the Iliyats.—Some curious enact-

ments in the Zend legislation.—Course of the Kurdistin

river.—Treated with fresh dates at the village of Kai-

Katis.—Ruins of a town close to it.—Village of Tashun.

—Tradition concerning the Patriarch Abraham, said tohave

been thrown into a burning furnace by Nimrod.—Conjec-

tures as to the locality of Ur of the Chaldees.—Sacred

fish at Tashlin.—Anecdote of similar fish preserved at an

Imam-Zadeh near Isfahan.—Further account of Tashin.

Durine the few days I remained at Behbehan,

in expectation of receiving some news con-

cerning

the

Moétemid’s

progress

towards

Shashter, I was made acquainted by Mirza

KéGmo with the existence of some curious

sculptures and inscriptions, about seven Persian

farsangs (twenty-six miles) to the north-west

TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

331

of Behbehan, among the Behmei mountains.

As no European traveller had ever, to my

knowledge, advanced so far in that direction,

nor even alluded to these sculptures, I was

anxious to ascertain whether the encomiums

lavished on them by my host and his friends,

as great curiosities, were merited.

I thought

that, even if their praise was exaggerated, the

discovery of some remains of antiquity, how-

ever insignificant, would prove welcome, and

add to the scanty knowledge we possess of the

ancient monuments of Elymais.

This feeling

induced me to abandon my intention of pursuing

the lower road, which the late Gen. M‘Donald

Kinneir had taken on his way from Shushter to

Behbehdn and T resolved to follow a more

northerly direction, among the mountains in

which Tengi-Satlek was situated. I therefore

requested Mirza Kamo to furnish me with a

trusty guide, to show me the valley in ques-

tion, and then take me straight to the Chief

of the Bakhtiyari-Chehérleng, Muhammed-Tag-

hi-Khan, through whose territory I should have

332

TRAVELS IN

to pass before I could reach the town of Shtsh-

ter.

My hospitable host not only readily ac-

ceded to my wish, but kindly provided me with

horses for myself and my servants, as those I had

brought from Shirdz could go no further, and

as in this unsafe part of the country no mule-

teers could be found.*

* Although I did not follow the direct road to Shishter,

it may not be reckoned superfluous if I give here the

different. routes that lead to that city from Behbehén,

which I procured from native information.

The one through Ram-Hormz runs thus:—

Farsangs.

From Behbehin to Kai-Kits

to Jadsun

6

to Sultanabad

(Dur in Kinneir) to Dehi-Ur (pehamber)

to the town of Ram-Hormiiz

to Derre-bid (the willow defile) .

%

to ab-gtinjishk

(Sparrow-water ; probably in con-

sequence of scarcity of water

1mn

that place).

to Shshter

[

36

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

333

The Artillery Sergeant who accompanied

me from Shiraz, had been furnished by the

Visir

of

the

Prince with

a

havalé,

or

on the Governor of Behbehan, to

cheque,

pay him

the

arrears

of his

salary and

that of the company to which he belonged.

The poor man soon found out that it was no

easy matter to induce Mirza Kamo to honour

the

Government bills,

and,

therefore,

had

As

recourse to me to plead in his behalf.

The second route to Shishter, leaving Ram-Hormiz to

the side, has the following stations :—

Farsangs.

8

From Behbehan to Cham-Mullah

to Sultgnubud

to Dehi-Ur

‘E

to Derre-bid

to Ab-Gunjid (probably Gunjishk, as

in the former route)

>

to Shishter

—_—

30

[

Making a difference of six farsangs less for

the latter

road.

334

TRAVELS IN

I had reason to be much satisfied with

his

services, I could not refuse his request, not-

withstanding that the task of expostulating

with my host must necessarily be unpleasant.

I was fortunate enough to overcome Mirza

Kamo’s unwillingness to pay, by making him

sensible that his refusal to obey the orders of

the Prince might be construed into an open

act of rebellion; whereas his ready compliance

would shut the mouths of his calumniators.

I am not quite positive, however, that my

arguments alone produced the desired effect;

for it is mnot impossible that he yielded from

the consciousness of not being sufficiently pre-

pared for resistance.

Persia has so long been exposed to the evils

of civil commotions, that the chiefs of distant

provinces do mnot reckon it a political crime

to revolt against the constituted authorities

whenever they feel themselves in a position

so to do.

It is not uncommon to hear them

say, when speaking of themselves, ¢ Vakhte

yaghi bitdem,” * when I was a rebel,” &e.

335

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

There was another point to which I wished

to draw Mirza Kamo’s attention.

I had read,

a short time before my departure, an article in

the ¢ Journal des Débats,” wherein it was stated

that three French travellers* had been detained

and ill-treated at Behbehan, and prevented by

the authorities there from prosecuting their

journey to Bagdad, by way of Shishter.

I

told Mirza Kamo that this intelligence had

reached the ear of the Shah, who was much

displeased (which is a fact) that Europeans

travelling in his dominions should have been

molested and treated with disrespect.

I added,

that I could expatiate the more freely on the

subject, as I had met with much attention and

hospitality at his hands, and would reckon it my

duty to vindicate his character in this respect

before the Shah.

Mirza Kaimo assured me

that he was absent when

those travellers

arrived at Behbehan, and had nothing to do

with what had taken place.

He had afterwards

* M. Texier and the Counts de la

Rourdonnaie and

Guische, if T am not mistaken,

336

TRAVELS IN

been given to understand, he said, that the

mehmandar, or guide, they came with from

Shiraz was the only person to blame; for this

man, to serve his own purposes, had imposed

on the strangers, with a view of extorting

money from them.

What truth there may

have been in this statement I cannot say,

although such was likewise the version of the

affair which I heard at Shiraz.

I left Behbehan, accom-

January 28, 1841.

panied by my host and a long train of

attendants, mounted on fine Arab mares.

I

may observe, by the way, that the Arabs here

are in the habit of making their horses take

very violent exercise a

short time before

they put them to grass.

I

witnessed

an

instance of this

practised on

the

animal

belonging to my guide, whom Mirza Kiuamo

had named to show me the curiosities of Beh-

behan.

It was a fine blood mare, of which the Arab

was mnot a little proud; but he rode it so

hard, that the poor animal at last could scarcely

337

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN

drag one leg after the other, and trembled

all over.

On expressing my surprise at such

inhuman treatment, my ciceroni answered, that

it was their custom to fag the horses as much

as possible before they turned them out to graze,

and that they are all the better for it.

The same practice prevails, it is true, to

a certain degree, in other parts of Persia,

especially with stallions, in the beginning of

spring, by way of curbing their spirit, and

making them lean before they are put to grass;

but T had never yet seen the system of fagging

carried to such a length as in the present

Instance.

The road lay across a plain, which extends

from east to west for upwards of nine farsangs

(twenty-nine miles), and has a black fertile

soil.

The air was pleasantly warm, and im-

pregnated with the balmy fragrance of the

narquiz (narcissus), which sprang up in wild

luxuriance, and covered whole meadows with

a white sheet, in the direction of the ruins

of Arrejin.

VOL.

I

338

TRAVELS IN

I found in the plains of Behbehan, as well

as in my further progress in the mountains,

a vast number of caterpillars, crawling on the

earth in all directions, with a broad streak of

a bright crimson

colour

over

their backs,

which they did not lose even when dried, as

I preserved several of those insects.

Mirza Kamo soon bid me farewell, but not

before he had committed me to the care of

his nephew, Mirza-’Ali, whose guest I was to

be for the night, at the village of Kai-Kaus,

two farsangs north-west of Behbehan.

In the suite of Mirza Kamo was the eldest

son of his deceased brother, Manstr-Khan, the

former chief of Behbehéan ; but the poor young

man did not appear to be well at his ease, for it

seems the uncle had usurped the power to the

prejudice of the nephew, who, as the eldest son

of the elder branch, had a right to the succes-

sion according to the prevailing custom among

Nomadic tribes, from whom it probably passed

into the feudal system, and formed the funda-

mental law during the middle ages of Furope. It

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

339

is not, however, an unfrequent occurrence that a

younger brother among the Iliyat tribes suc-

ceeds to the chieftainship of the clan at the

death of the elder brother; but still this gene-

rally happens either by violence, or in conse-

quence of the minority and weakness of the next

male heir.

But as Mussulmans are allowed plu-

rality of wives, the next heir does not always

happen to be the first-born son.

The nobility

of the mother decides the point.

Hence the

melancholy spectacle of the dreadful hatred

which exists between the members of the same

family, the plots and intrigues that are carried

on in secret, the feuds between rival tribes, ter-

minating either in mysterious tragedjes, or open

bloodshed.

It is a sad thought to dwell on the heinous

feelings of jealousy, rancour, hatred, and re-

venge that lurk in the breasts of those by nature

gentle beings, whose heart was created for love

alone, and on the dire effects such vicious senti-

ments have on their offspring, who are taught

from their cradle to hate their brothers and

72

340

TRAVELS IN

sisters because another breast has given them

suck.

It would

suffice to see the interior of a

Mussulman ménage, to be convinced of the

Divine origin of our Christian faith, which

allows but one bosom = friend and partner

through life.

According to the old law among the Zend

race, a man was, as a rule, allowed to have

but one wife; and it was only in case she bore

no children, that he could take another, and

even then not without her consent.*

Speaking of the Zend legislation, I am

reminded of some singular laws which existed

among that people,

namely, if a married

daughter, whose father happened to have no

male issue, bore a son, that son became the

In the same manner,

property of her father.

if her brother was without a son, her eldest

male child became his.

Likewise, if a youth

happened to die before contracting a marriage,

* See Rhode’s “Heilige Sage des Zend-Volks,” &c.,

p. 443.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

341

another young man took a wife in his name,

and the first male child was reckoned as if

he were the son of .the deceased.*

1 suspect this latter law was enacted in

consequence of the belief the followers

of

Zoroaster had, in the efficacy of the prayers of

the children for the repose of the souls of

their departed parents.

About one farsang from the latter place we

crossed the river Kurdistan,t which is fordable

at this spot, leaving on our right, a little up

the stream, the villages of Kazim, and on the

left, those of Horestan, Kurdistin, and Huseina-

bad.

The river Kurdistan takes its rise in the

* Rhode’s “Heilige Sage des Zend-Volks,” &ec., p. 443.

t I perfectly concur with the opinion of the learned

editor of the Royal Geographical Society’s Journal, that

common Turks and Persians have no notion of giving

a general name to any but very large rivers. (See vol. xiii.

p- 87.) I shall only add, that as far as my observations

g0 in respect to Persia, even great rivers are not exempt

from this rule.

Such is the case with the river Kurdistan

itself, which bears this name in its upper course, and

Jerahi lower down; although it is a very deep, broad,

342

TRAVELS IN

hilly country of Serhad-Chenar, to the north

or north-east of Behbehan, and passing by

the summer residence of Mirza

Deh-Dasht,

Kamo, eight farsangs (twenty-six miles) in

the mountains, it enters the narrow valley of

Tengi-tek-4 ;* after which it opens to itself

a broader passage between the mountains of

Bolenghés and Howiz, just above Arrejan,

and flows in a deep and wide channel, with

high banks on either side.

This river, after

leaving the Behbehan territory, flows in a

north-west direction, and joining to the south

of Rém-Hormtz the Tezeng or A’lai river,

which comes from the eastern hills, empties

A

i

and rapid stream, receiving many considerable tributaries

before it reaches the Kiren.

The Kherkheh (the Choaspes),

likewise, one of the greatest rivers of Persia, is called

Kara-sit, near Kermanshah and Gumasab, near Nehavend.

The Kizil-Uzen, which rises in Kurdistéin, changes its name

to that of Sefid-rud, before it discharges itself into the

Caspian Sea, in the province of Ghildn.

* Straits of the deep waters : tek, signifying deep in the

ancient dialect of the country, and &, a contraction of b

(water), among the Kurdish and Lir tribes.

343

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

itself into the Kdren under the name of Jerahi,*

in the Cha'b country, whilst another branch,

it is said, has a direct communication with

the Persian Gulf.+

Mirza "Ali treated me to some fresh dates,

next to those of Fesa

I

which,

in Fars,

found the most delicious I had ever tasted,

but rather too luscious and very clammy.

His village is surrounded by palm-trees, but

the season was over, and all the dates were

already gathered by the peasants.

January 29.

At a quarter-past six, a.m., we

were again on horseback. My host accompanied

me part of the road to show me some ancient

ruins.

In the neighbourhood of the village of

Kai-Kats, are the relics of a town which

In

the midst

goes

by the same name.

of a quantity of rubbish and loose stones,

* The Kurdistdn or Jerahi river, is the 7db of the Arab

writérs, as I shall prove hereafter.

t See M‘Donald Kinneir’s ¢ Memoir on a Map of Persia,”

and Ainsworth’s ¢ Researches in Chaldea,” &c.

344

TRAVELS IN

rises a lofty pile, known to the inhabitants

by the name of Fil-Khaneh, or, the elephant’s

abode.

It may probably have been used for

that purpose,

as

it consists

of two walls,

with a high gateway in each, over which is

a window.

The era of the building I believe

to be Sasanian.

At half-past seven we came to an old square

building in the form of a Musulman Imam-

The

inside

18

Z4déh (saints’

sepulchre).

vaulted, and round the buildiﬁg are some

straggling tomb-stones.

The high hill of Bodil

is to the right, bearing N.N.E. After we had

crossed a low range of calcareous hills, we

reached, at eight o’clock, the village of Chdrro,

in the neighbourhood of which, on a plain,

are two ruined edifices, built of frecstone and

white mortar.

The larger of these buildings

has a long apartment, with three high door-

ways leading into ruins of inferior dimensions.

It has no roof.

Continuing my march in a N.N.W. direc-

345

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

tion from the previous night’s halting-place,

The chief

at nine, a.m., 1 reached Tashin.*

of this place came out to meet n}e with some

armed horsemen.

Téshim at present is but a poor place; but

the ruins

and

of houses,

bazaars,

palaces,

baths, scattered in all directions, and venerable

old trees with massive branches, attest it to

have been formerly a considerable and pic-

turesque town, perhaps during the dominion of

the Atabegs of Luribazirg, as the buildings

are apparently modern.

According

to

the

natives, however, there exists a tradition that

Tashin is the spot where the Patriarch Ibra-

him, or Abraham, was thrown into a burning

furnace by Nimrad,

“ the mighty hunter,

before the

lsordise:

and in corroboration of

this legend, they adduce the name of the

* I take the liberty to differ with the editor of the above-

cited journal of the Royal Geographical Society, (see

vol. xiii,, p. 88,) who thinks 7ashan is the same as Jarsoon,

in Kinneir, (p. 457); the latter is the Jausun in the

first route I give between Behbehdn and Shashter, which

lies more to the south-west.

346

TRAVELS IN

town of Tdshin, which is derived from atash,

meaning fire.

Major Rawlinson mentions the same fable,

as attached to a place called Manjanik, in

Baghi-Malek, in the Bakhtiyari country.*

A circumstance, however, which deserves to

attract our mnotice, is that in the neighbour-

rn/

hood of

a

shin, and not far distant neither

from Manja-nik, where the tradition concern-

ing Abraham and Nimrod, as we have just

seen, is likewise kept alive, we find a village

called Ur, which, according to Scripture, was

the name given to the birth-place of Abraham

in Chaldea.

Sixteen farsangs west of Behbehin, on the

road to Shtshter, is Dehi- Ur (or village of Ur),f

where, according to the information I obtained

at Behbehan, a certain ancient prophet was

buried, whose name the natives could not tell

* See “Notes on a March from Zohdb to Khizistin,” in

vol. ix. of the “ Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,”

p. 81.

t Dur, in Kinneir’s “ Itinerary.”

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

347

me; and as T did not follow that direction, I

failed to ascertain any further particulars on

the subject.

We read in the Book of Genesis, chap. xii.

28, 31, that Hanm, the brother of Abraham,

died at Ur in the Chaldees, before the latter,

with his father Terak, left the place of their

nativity ; while Josephus, who wrote the ¢ His-

tory of the Jews after the final Destruction

of Jerusalem,” mentions that the sepulchre of

Haran was still to be seen at Ur in his days.

The locality of Ur, I believe has not yet

been fixed, neither have the limits of Chaldea

been properly defined; it is not unlikely, how-

ever, that they extended thus far east, for we

know from Pliny, and even Strabo, that some

of the

rivers

of Susiana discharged their

waters into the lake or sea of the Chaldees,

probably in the Ch&’b country to the south-

east of Shashter.,

Not the least curious circumstance in this

account is, that Ur, like Tashtn and Man-

janik, should be connected with the mnotion

()

[3]

{8

TRAVELS IN

of fire, for Ur, in Hebrew, literally means fire.

This, therefore, may be the reason why St.

Jerome, in his translation of Nehemiah ix. 7,

instead of saying, ¢ Thou art the Lord the

God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest

him out of Ur of the Chaldees,” translates,

“ Thou broughtest Abram out of the fire of the

Chaldees.”

Tashan has a spring of very clear water,

with much foliage around it, wherein sacred

fish are kept.

This is usually supposed to

denote the antiquity of the spot.

There are

still many reservoirs of water in Persia wherein

fish are held sacred, and this superstition is

probably of Pagan origin.

On a journey from

[sfahan to IHamadan,

through Hunsar and Gulpeigan, in 1840, I

happened to stop one day at an Imam-Zadeh,

or tomb of a Mussulman saint, shaded by beau-

tiful chinars (the eastern plane-tree), close to

which there was a pond containing a vast

number of fish.

The Mutaveli, or guardian

of the tomb, on learning that my servants

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

349

were disposed to catch some fish for our supper,

came to remonstrate, and, in order to dissuade

us from committing an act, which in his sight

appeared

SO

sacrilegious,

related a miracle

that had been wrought at this place a century

ago

At the time Isfahan fell

into the hands

of the Afghans, two men of that nation came

to this Imam-Zadeh, and, although they were

warned by the keeper of the temple that the

fish in the pond were sacred, helped themselves

to them before retiring to rest.

When lo! the

next morning one of the blasphemers was

found dead, and the other, from a Sunni

dog (*as all the Afghans are,” observed my

narrator), became, through a miracle of Hezreti

Ali, a true Shia.

While the good man was telling his tale, the

fish were frying on the pan, and, however they

may have operated on the Afghans, I found on

waking the next morning that they had not the

same effect on me.

Tashin has five villages under its jurisdiction,

350 TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

and pays yearly to the Governor of Behbehan

the sum of 500 tomans, equal to 2501. sterling.

The produce consists chiefly of wheat, barley,

Indian corn, kunjéd, or sesamum, peas, beans,

&e.

cotton,

The peasants dispose of their

surplus produce to the wandering tribes that

live in the neighbouring mountains in exchange

for the produce of their flocks.

CHAPTER XIV.

Set out for the valley of Tengi-Satlek.—Necessary pre-

cautions against the Bahmei mountaineers.—Description

of the road.—Black rock, with bas-reliefs and inscriptions

in unknown characters.— Another sculptured stone in the

same recess of the mountains.—Passage of a letter from

M. E. Boré on the subject of the above inscriptions.—

Conjecture as to their resemblance to the Zamul character.

—Cypress Grove.—Elymite worship of Anaitis.—Landseer

on Sabwxan antiquities.—Curious analogy between the

second bas-relief at Tengi-Satilek, and a passage in

¢ Vathek.”— Communication

with

Isfahan.—Worn-out

pavement.—Night spent in the open air.—The young

Teshuni pehlevan.

Tue orders of Mirza KGmo had preceded me

at this place, and the chief of Tashin, with

half a dozen well-armed horsemen, and a dozen

strong-limbed peasants with matchlocks on their

shoulders and clubs in their hands, were ready

to attend me to. the valley of Tengi-Satlek.

This precaution was necessary on account of the

wild habits of the Bahmei, an outlawed tribe,

352

TRAVELS IN

who rove about in this mountainous tract of

country, and scarcely recognise any authority

whatever.

They were, moreover, at the time in

open feud with the Governor of Behbehan.

We now moved in the direction of north-

west, having to our right stupendous mountains,

bearing from south-east to north-west, and

another range of calcareous hills of less alti-

tude, in a parallel line on the left.

The road

soon became very rugged, and the country

around us dreary, and entirely devoid of vege-

tation.

We crossed the dry beds of several

mountain streams, and arrived at the entrance

of Tengi-Satlek at noon, after a tedious march

of three hours.

Here we halted, sent out scouts to examine

whether

the coast was

clear,

and placed

videttes to give warning in case of a surprise.

Having ascertained that all was right, we

entered the narrow defile, hemmed in between

lofty rocks, which overhang the path.

A

mountain stream flows below.

As we toiled

on by a steep ascent among loose stones, we

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FIRST BAS-RELIEF AT TENGI SAULEK (PERSIA).

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

353

came at times upon an old pavement, the

polished stones of which were so slippery

that the horses could with difficulty advance.

The path soon widened, and we found ourselves

in a grove of oaks, cypresses, and the kithnar.

It was in this retired glade that I found the

object of my search.

A huge black rock, with yellow streaks,

thirty or forty feet in height, and eighty or

ninety in circumference, stands detached from the

rest.

There are bas-reliefs and inseriptions on

two of its sides.

The first represents an altar,

surmounted by a conical pile somewhat in the

shape of a sugar-loaf, round which a fillet is

tied

m

a knot, with two ends streaming

downwards.

Close to this altar stands the

mobed,

or high priest.

A conical cap is

placed on a very bushy head of frizzled hair,

and a short beard, with a pair of mustachios,

covers the lower part of the face.

The right

arm, clothed in a narrow striped sleeve,

18

extended towards the altar, while the left,

partly effaced, is stuck in his bosom.

The

VOTA

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354

TRAVELS IN

figure is clad in a short garment, which de-

scends to the knees.

Beneath this appears a

and wide trousers,

or

striped under-gown,

shalvars, used by the Persians at the present

day

A loose tunic, thrown over the right

shoulder, likewise descends to the knees.

|

have dwelt more minutely on this figure, be-

cause it is the only one of the whole group

which is in a tolerable state of preservation.

On the right side of the mobed is a group

of nine figures, which, with the exception of

one nearest the priest, and seated on a low

stool, are in an erect posture, but so dilapidated

that none of their faces can be made out.

The

four figures below this group, with two smaller

and another

ones, are still less discernible;

figure under them, close to the ground, is not

much better.

On the extreme right, a figure

on horseback, with a bow and arrow, is in

the attitude of attacking a wild beast, which

It is difficult to

is standing on its hind legs.

decide whether it be a lion, a bear, or a wild

boar.

Close to the latter is a rude inscription

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LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

355

on the stone, of five lines, partly obliterated,

and in characters unknown to me.

An inscription in similar characters, contain-

ing likewise five lines, is carved under the

altar, the two last lines of which are effaced

more than the rest.

On the second face of the rock are four

persons in a row.

The principal figure is re-

clining on a couch,* with the left arm on a

cushion, and holding in the right hand a

circlet.

The head is ornamented by two clus-

ters of thick hair, but not one feature of the face

can be distinguished.

Two figures are seated

at the foot of the couch, each with an arrow-

headed spear in the right hand. One of them

has a sort of diadem on the head, consisting

of six spreading rays, with little globules at

the extremity of each ray.

Behind the couch stands a figure on tip-

* In Sir Gardner Wilkinson’s description of the man-

ners and customs of the Egyptians, I have found the

sketch of a couch, which bears some resemblance to the

one in question.

See vol. ii. p. 201.

A2

356

TRAVELS IN.

toe, so much damaged that it was with diffi-

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as is the case with the greater part of the

figures, has likewise a profusion of hair.

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Below this group are some faint traces of three

more figures, in a frame scooped out in the

rock. To the left of the two armed figures

above mentioned, I found a third inscription,

consisting of five lines.

Opposite to the monolite just described is

another stone, somewhat smaller, and in con-

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THIRD BAS-RELIEF AT TENGI-SAULEK (SOUTHERN PERSIA).

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

357

pronounce it to have been meant for a female.

The features of the face are completely ob-

literated ; but the shape of the head is graceful,

with a cluster of hair on each side.

The figure

leans somewhat forward.

The front part of the horse is greatly

damaged ; the hind-quarters are in better con-

dition, and ornamented with trappings.

Three dwarfish figures are seen behind the

rider, who is rather above the ordinary size;

the one nearest to it is in the attitude of

hurling a stone, which he holds with both

his hands over his head, at the figure on

horseback. The second dwarf, placed behind

the former, is unstringing a bow, while the

third lies prostrate under his feet, with the

head and arms downwards, and the hair in

a disordered

state.

X

must not omit to

hammer under

the

draw attention to the

feet of the foremost dwarf, it being an attri-

bute peculiar to the dwarfish figures that

are met with among the Babylonian anti-

quities.

358

TRAVELS IN

With respect to the weapons, we have seen

in two instances, and on two different bas-

reliefs, that the bow constituted their principal

instrument of attack, thus verifying the words

of Jeremiah, when, on predicting the wrath

of God against Elam (the very country in

question), the inspired Prophet says: ¢ Be-

hold, I will break the bow of Elam, the

chief of their might.”

(Jeremiah xlix. 35.)

Strabo likewise mentions somewhere that the

FElamites

of

the

mountains

were

skilful

archers.

Without presuming to give any opinion as

to the probable antiquity of these sculptured

remains, which I leave to the learned world to

decide, I shall merely observe that the style

of the bas-reliefs appears different from all

that I have seen at Persepolis, on the plain

of Murgib, at Nakshi-Rustam, Nakshi-Rejeb,

Bisitan, Takhti-Béstdn, Shaptr, and Nakshi-

Behram.

The character of the inscriptions

likewise appears to differ from the arrow-

headed, but my friend M. Eugéne Boré, a

359

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

competent judge in these matters, is of opinion

that there exists some analogy with the Pahlevi

alphabet.

I take the liberty of transcribing a passage

of a letter, M. E. Boré wrote me on the subject

in March, 1841 :—

“I am about carefully studying your inte-

resting letter, and shall take the liberty of

communicating the result of your discoveries

to our Asiatic Society, by transmitting to it

the three inscriptions of Tenghi-Satilek, which

I have not deciphered, but the value of which

I can. already appreciate, as they give us a

new alphabet having affinities with the Pahlevi,

or

the Sabean,

also

called the

Mendean,

writing of Adler, from the name of the

learned Grerman who has paid so much atten-

tion to it, presenting, at the same time,

analogies with the graphical system of the

Chaldeans and Phenicians.

The

illustrious

Gesenius, known by his fine work on the

¢ Antiquities of Phenicia,’ recently published,

will certainly derive much curious information

360

TRAVELS IN

from your copy, and you must expect to receive

his thanks.”*

It strikes me, moreover, that the inscriptions

at Tengi-Satlek bear

some resemblance to

the

fac-similies

of Indian writing,

which

Anquetil Duperron gives in his introduction

to the Zend-Avesta, in the Tawmul language.|

As

I

I

was now in ancient Elymais,

could not divest myself of the impression

that I was standing perhaps on the very

* « Je vais méditer votre intéressante lettre, et je me

permettrai Uindiscretion de faire savoir le résultat de vos

découvertes & notre Société Asiatique, en lui trangmettant

les trois inscriptions de Tenghi-Saoulek, que je n’ai pas

déchiffreés, mais dont je puis deja apprécier la valeur, en

ce qu’ elles nous donnent un alphabet nouveau et trés

ancien tenant & la fois du Pehlvi, du Sabéen, dit aussi

Mendéen ou écriture d Adler, du nom du savant allemand

qui s’en est beaucoup occupé, tout en présentant aussi des

analogies avec le systeéme graphique des Chaldéens et des

Phéniciens.

L’illustre Gesenius connu par son bel ouvrage,

assez recent sur les antiquités de la Phénicie tirera certaine-

ment de précieuses indications de votre copie et attendez-

vous i recevoir ses remercimens.”’

1 Sée “Anquetil Duperron’s Discours Préliminaire to the

Zend-Avesta,” vol. i. p. clxxi. planches i. ii. iii.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

361

ground once sacred to the Goddess Anditis,

or Myletta, where the FElymites of old had

performed for ages past their religious rites

and mysteries in their holy groves.

The

presence of the cypress grove seemed to corro-

borate the fact, and heightened the illusion ;

notwithstanding that the learned Mr. Landseer,

in his most ingenious ‘ Researches on the

Sabzan Antiquities,” has raised a doubt on

that question, by declaring that the word

ashre never could have meant a grove, but

designated the

BLESSER, among the nations

who worshipped the host of heaven, and was,

at the same time, an astronomical implement

in the hands of their priests.*

Had the ably written tale of the ¢ Caliph

Vathek” been known to - -me at the time I

visited Tengi-Satlek, I might, with a little

effort of the imagination and a deal of credulity,

have fancied myself in the valley to which

the diminutive Gulchenrouz had been conveyed

to screen him from the jealous eye of the

Caliph. In the sculptured figure of the female

* See Mr. Landseer, on “ Sabzan Antiquities.”

362

TRAVELS IN

on horseback, pursued by pigmies, I might

have detected the intention of the sculptor to

represent the scene where the dwarfs are

attacking the Caliph’s mother, Carathis, who,

mounted on her Aboulfaki, had come to destroy

their youthful charge.

We can readily admit, that in the breast

of a critic some scruples may have arisen on

examining the details.

Abulfaki was a camel,

and, according to the narrative, the weapons

used by the dwarfs were the nails of their

fingers, which they employed to scratch the face

of Carathis, * with the utmost zeal ;” whereas,

in the bas-relief, the pigmies are armed with

more warlike weapons, in the shape of bows

and arrows, as well as huge stones, commen-

surate with their own size.

But then this

discrepancy might have arisen from a poetical

license of the

sculptor-artist, who, together

with his brother poets, we all know, indulge

at times in similar freaks of fancy, with the

hope of adding a greater effect to their

respective productions.

But had there been any misgivings on the

LURISTAN

AND

ARABISTAN.

363

subject, or any doubts left, the geographical

position of the country was best calculated to

remove them and favour the delusion ; for it so

happens that Tengi-Satlek lies in the very

direction the

Commander of the Faithful is

made to pursue along the mountains on his

journey from Samarrah (near Bagdad) to the

ruins of Istakhr, in the plain of Persepolis.

It

is an agreeable task thus to be able to point out

to the lovers of romance who may take delight

in the destinies of Vathek, the neighbourhood

where he first saw, and, as a matter of course,

became enamoured of his dear Nouronihar.

But, setting jest aside, we must still confess it

to be a curious coincidence that a mere work of

fancy should meet with such a striking corrobo-

ration in reality, and that in the very vicinity

where the supposed scene is related to have

taken place.

There would have been nothing

wonderful in this had 'lengi-Satlek been pre-

viously known, but no Furopean traveller, to my

knowledge, has ever described it until now, and

I question whether it ever has been mentioned

364

TRAVELS IN

by Kastern writers.

Had the English author of

Vathek been informed of the existence of the

bas-reliefs at Tengi-Satlek, he surely would

have communicated the discovery to the learned

world.

Notwithstanding that Mr. Beckford adverts

in his preface to the eastern origin of the tale

of Vathek, I

still felt much

inclined,

on

perusing the work, to give him the credit, not

only of the embellishments, but of the whole

invention.

It now strikes me,

that

if the

original was really found in the East, we may in

that case account for the fact of the bas-reliefs

at Tengi-Satlek having inspired the imagination

of an Arab romancer who may have visited the

spot before he wrote his tale.

I learned from my guides, that there exists a

communication between the valley of Tengi-

Satilek and Isfahan, over the mountains, and

although the road is very steep and rugged, still,

to judge by the slippery, worn-out pavement,

above alluded to, it formerly must have been

much frequented, perhaps at the time when

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

365

the sculptured stones were held as objects of

particular devotion.

This road probably joins

in a north-eastern direction the route which

leads

from Behbehan over the mountains to

Kmisheh, and from thence to Isfahan.*

On our way back, I found some more old

sculptures on a stone close to the road, but,

owing to long exposure to the air and rain,

the figures were nearly all effaced, the stone

being, like the two former, of a calcareous

substance, and very susceptible of atmospheric

influence.

So that at Tengi-Saulek I fancy it

is the hand of nature that has been busy in

effacing the work of man, and not the mis-

* There appears a striking resemblance in the sounds

of Saulek and the town of Solake, mentioned in ¢ Strabo”

(lib. xvi. ¢. i.), and which could not have been far distant ;

while the neighbouring ruins of ZTashun (from atesh, fire)

reminds us of the town of Azara, which probably likewise

took its derivation from Azr, fire; it was also placed by

Strabo in this part of the country.

I throw out these suggestions merely as curious coinci-

dences; for the country requires to be more minutely

explored than I had the leisure or the means of doing

before anything decisive can be said on the subject.

366

TRAVELS IN

chievous chisel of the fanatic Arab, elsewhere

so active in destroying the ancient monuments

of the land of Iran.

The day had nearly closed when we emerged

from the defiles of Tengi-Satlek, and I urged

on my retinue in order to reach betimes the

Imam-Zadeh of Baba-Ahmed, one and a-half

farsang distant, where I intended to halt; but

as the road lay through an uneven country,

and part of my attendants were on foot, we

made little progress, and I was forced to halt

at the foot of the mountains of Nauser, some-

what more than a farsang to the W.S.W. of

Tengi-Saﬁlék, and pass the night in the open

alr

The active mountaineers soon collected

fuel from the kahnar and other thorny trees,

which grow on the skirts of the mountain,

and, piling the branches into large heaps, set

fire to them.

This blazing pile was to serve

various purposes—that of cooking our suppers,

keeping warm our party, and scaring beasts of

prey and the no less wild Bahmei.

One of my guards in particular attracted

LURISTAN

AND

ARABISTAN.

367

my notice as a splendid specimen of an eastern

Apollo, with the strength of a Hercules,

although but a youth of nineteen or twenty

years of age.

He was

rather above the

middle size, with wavy black hair falling on

his manly shoulders, sparkling jet eyes, a fine

Greek nose, and the lower features of the

face rather diminutive than otherwise, whilst

his dark but clear complexion contrasted ad-

mirably with the whiteness of his regularly

set teeth.

He did not appear to be strongly

built, but all his limbs were in such elegant

proportion that they communicated to his whole

figure a perfect degree of aplomb.

The only defect a FEuropean eye might

have detected in his person, was that his

toes were slightly turned in,—a feature rather

common among Persians, and which, in this

instance, may have denoted strength.

For if

we judge by analogies, and seek for examples

in the brute creation, we shall find that one

of the requisites of a strong horse is to have

the hoofs of its fore feet somewhat bent in;

368

TRAVELS IN

at least such is the criterion of a good horse

among Persian jockeys.

It generally denotes

a broad chest, and is a sure sign that a

horse so constituted will not rub one leg

against the other.

The same feature in its

hind quarters prevents the knees from knock-

ing together; and this amplitude between the

hind legs is what the natives call asp shalvari

gushad, literally a horse

m broad trousers.

The opposite quality, or what we signify by

the term knock-kneed or cow-legged, when

the knees meet, is always a proof of a weak

horse.

But to return to my Téashan guide.

His companions called him the Paklevan, a

name now given to Persian wrestlers by pro-

fession, but which formerly denoted a hero.

Thus Rustam was one of their great Pahlevans*

of old.

* We read in a Finnish heroic poem, entitled ¢ Kalevala,”

an account of a monstrous bull, whose horns were so far

asunder, that a swallow required a whole day to fly from

one horn to the other.

A long while no one could be found

capable of killing that animal ; until at length a certain

Palvonem, it is said, appeared to perform the task. This

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

369

This modern Rustam was always the fore-

most of the party, and at the close of the

evening, when the rest were spent after a

fatiguing day’s march on foot, over an uneven

ground, he alone appeared fresh, and in the

gayest of humours, running before the horse-

men, or nimbly avoiding them when pursued.

In order to procure fuel for us, he would place

his feet against the trunk of a moderate-sized

tree, at some elevation from the ground, and

then taking hold of the thick boughs, he would

with a swing and a jerk, break the stem, and

bring the tree down, together with its branches,

like Sampson of old, pulling down an edifice

by laying hold of and shaking the pillars on

which it rested.

I had a great mind to take this prodigy into

my service for the rest of the journey, and

word Palvonem bears a striking resemblance to the Persian

name of Paklevan, and was, in all probability, used in the

same acceptation to designate a strong powerful man.

This, T believe, is not the only point of resemblance be-

tween the Finnish and the Zend languages.

VOL. I.

B B

370 TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

introduce him to the Shah, and he would wil-

lingly have accompanied me to Teheran, had

I possessed a spare horse.

The Persians are in general a fine race of

people; there is much of the Arab, Georgian,

and Turkish blood in their

veins.

In the

course of my rambles in those countries,

1

have often met, especially among the Kurds,

with remarkably handsome and well-built men ;

but I never recollect to have seen a more

perfect model of manly beauty than this youthful

Pahlevan of Tashan.

CHAPTER XV.

Imam-Zadeh of Babi-Ahmed.—Bl-feriz,—Persian medi-

cine.—Pursued by Bahméi highlanders.—Sahrai-Petek.—

Daltin.—The Allar river.—A poisonous plant.—Sarila

and its inquisitive inhabitants.—Ruins of an ancient

town.—Impudent Mollahs.—Anecdote of a Dervish.—

The Tezeng river.—Mei Dovid.—Ruins of a Sasanian

toll-gate.—Line of communication between Susiana and

Central Persia.—Local Traditions.—A Talisman.—Rus-

tdm’s stables.—Behmei guide.—Food of the wandering

tribes.—Ruins

of Manjanik.—The Abi-Zerd.—Baghi

Malek. — Kal’eh-TGl.—Meet an Englishman there.—

Proceed together to the camp of the Bakhtiyar chief.—

Bakhtiyari tombs.— Symbolical animals of Persia.—Ruins

of the plain of Halegin.—Arrival at M4l-Amir.

I was once

O~ the 30th, before

sunrise,

more on horseback, and dismissing my foot

attendants,

who returned to

Téshan,

took

The

with me only such as were mounted.

weather was pleasantly warm, and, after an

hour’s ride, we arrived at Baba-Ahmed.

At

first we skirted the mountain of Nafzer, and

i

372

TRAVELS IN

proceeded, after having rounded it, over uneven

ground, much resembling that which we had

traversed the previous day, consisting chiefly

of gypsum hillocks, entirely destitute of habi-

tations, but offering here and there patches

of green turf and brushwood, especially along

the course of a mountain stream which we

crossed.

In this desolate region, where there is little

to relieve the eye,

Baba-Ahmed may be

The white

reckoned a very picturesque place.

conical cupola of the Imam-Zadeh, wrought in

relief, peeping through a cluster of palm-trees,

gives to the shrine the appearance of an

immense pine-apple.

Baba-Ahmed has some clear springs, and

The

is surrounded by high reeds and grass.

spot is held in great veneration among the

Lur tribes.

After we had knocked for some time at the

gate, it was at last opened by an old dervish,

from whom we learned that he is obliged to

shut himself up closely every night for fear

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

373

of \ the intrusion of a lion wi)ich haunts the

spot, and disturbs his slumbers with its roaring.

This story may have been an invention to scare

away other intruders; but be this as it may,

my guides were very glad we had not reached

the Imam-Zadeh on the previous night, because,

if the lion did really lurk in the neighbour-

hood, it would certainly have made free with

one of their horses, which they would have

turned out to graze during the night.

Lions are seldom known to attack men in

these parts: they generally fall on cattle.

My

guides confirmed, however, what I had heard

before, that many years back a lion, which

had established itself in the thick_ets near

Daghtmbezn, between Behbehan and Basht,

used to attack caravans in open day, and,

having once tasted of human flesh, fell on men

in preference to cattle.

The old dervish had a female companion,

much about his own age, of threescore and

Notwith-

ten, to solace his weary hours.

standing her blindness, the poor woman showed

374

TRAVELS IN

us the way to the shrine of the saint; but

as I happened to be the foremost of the party,

she hesitated to open the door; perhaps she

scrupled to usher a Kafir or an Infidel into

the presence of the holy inmate of the cell.

I, therefore, cut the Gordian knot myself, and

entered the shrine, followed by the rest.

In the middle of a dark vaulted apartment,

feebly lit by a few lamps, stands a four-cornered

sarcophagus, covered over with a patched chintz

stuff. On the lid are several tin lamps, brought

there as offerings.

The whole is in a most

wretched condition.

While my zealous Mus-

sulmans went barefoot* round the coffin, kissing

the four sides

of the wooden

chest,

and

muttering low incantations, the old woman

* The Persians always take off their boots or slippers

when they enter into a mosque or visit the shrine of their

holy men, giving as a reason, that Moses was commanded

by God to leave his slippers on approaching the burning

bush, because he was treading on holy ground: “Put off

thy shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou

standest is holy ground.”

(Exodus iii. 5.)

The institutions of the

Zend-Avesta, which bear a

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

375

knelt and loudly prayed for the success of all

A few silver coins showed

our enterprises.

to her that her meaning was understood.

We were told that a few years back a holy

dervish came to live at Baba-Ahmed, which

he repaired, and used to entertain travellers

at his own cost.

His fame soon spread through-

out the neighbourhood, and a Bahmei hoping

to profit by his supposed wealth, slew him one

night, but as soon as the bloody deed was

perpetrated, the murderer was so frightened

that without turning to look behind him, or

carrying away the least thing, he fled to the

mountains, and was never seen nor heard of

afterwards.

This

singular event,

partaking

of the marvellous, will serve probably, together

with the roaring lion, as a warning and a

check for

other

ill-intentioned Bahmeis not

-

= e i it

ol

—

resemblance in some peculiar customs with the Mosaic

dispensation, differ essentially in this instance.

A disciple

of Zoroaster never dared to tread on the earth with bare

feet, because the earth, being the creation of Ormuzd, was

reckoned pure and holy.

376

TRAVELS IN

to commit a similar assault on the present

guardians of Baba-Ahmed, who, let us hope,

will be left in peace and quiet to end their

days at the shrine of their Imam.

Baba-Ahmed is nearly west of the entrance

of Tengi-Satlek, at the distance of one and

a-half farsang (five and a-quarter miles). The

road here winds over a hilly country in a

north-west direction.

We soon (seven o’clock,

a.m.) crossed the river Mogher, coming from

Tengi-Mogher, and then another river: both

are greatly choked up with rushes, in which,

my guide informed me, lions generally hide

themselves during the day.

At three-quarters past seven, we traversed

another mountain stream. At nine, there was

an ascent, and then followed a steep descent;

the country was much broken into hill and

dale.

At a quarter past nine, the village

of Bu-l-feriz became discernible in the direc-

tion north by N.N.E. At half-past nine, we

crossed the river of Ba-l-feriz.

At a-quarter

past ten, a.m., we turned to NNN.W. by NW

o

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

3717

and passed by the remains of some stone

walls.

At three-quarters past ten, we crossed

two

rivulets,

the

second was a stream of

some size, but both were overgrown with

At eleven, a.m., our

high reeds (kamish).

party ascended a hill, and went along a high

table land, with traces of cultivated ground

and former habitations.

It had been inhabited

by the Ba-l-ferizi, who not able to resist the

encroachments of the Bahmei, had deserted

the spot and removed nearer Behbehan.

The meadows are covered with narcissuses,

and another bulbous plant, with a root as large

as a strong muscular fist, and called by the

natives piyaz (onion), ‘unsul, or piyazi Giristan,

because it sometimes grows among tombs.*

This plant is known to the Persian apothecaries,

and used, if I recollect right, as an astringent.

The late Hakim-Bashi of the Shah 'Mirza-Baba

(a man esteemed and honoured by all who knew

him) requested me before I set out on my

* (iristan, or Kabristdn, means a burying-ground in

Persian.

378

TRAVELS IN

journey, to procure him, if possible, some bulbs

of this plant, which I did, and, at the same

time, sent a few to Mr. Fisher, the Director of

the Botanical gardens at St. Petersburg.

I have

since had the pleasure of seeing one of these

plants thriving under the assiduous care of that

gentleman.

T am told that it bears a blue and

white flower.

At a quarter past eleven, a.m., we crossed a

stream covered with reeds ; the country was still

hilly, and the mountains of Natzer remained in

sight to the south-east.

At noon we were

threading a very devious and cragg

ascent,

winding among high mountains which com-

manded it on the right and left.

As we pro-

ceeded, we espied some armed men advancing in

the same direction as

ourselves along the

heights, apparently with the intention of inter-

cepting us at the crest of the pass which we

were approaching, and calling to others who

were hid from sight to join them. Their voices,

which were taken up by the echo, and repeated

in the mountains, were anything but pleasant

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

379

music to our party, consisting in all of six men,

with

four

muskets between the whole;

but

there was no receding, and so we moved on.

On reaching the summit, we found the assem-

bled mountaineers apparently inoffensive beings;

they were Bahmei shepherds of the Mahmedi

(Muhammedi) tribe, who had taken us for their

enemies, the Akhmedi, and had assembled to

defend themselves and their flocks of sheep.

Perhaps, 1ikewise, our firearms and martial ap-

Be it as it

pearance commanded their respect.

may, this little incident (when it was over) was

considered as rather a welcome episode to

relieve the monotony of this day’s tedious

march.

At half-past twelve, from the summit of the

mountains along which we moved, I took the

direction of the villages of Paték and Dalin,

lying to the north on the plain below.

Here the hills on our right slope gradually

down to the plain, having the Mungasht moun-

tains behind them, covered with snow.

In

order to elucidate the features of the country

380

TRAVELS IN

through which we have been travelling, I shall

cast a retrospective glance over the road I have

just passed.

From Behbehan the general direction is

north-west ;

from the village of Tashin a

secondary range of calcareous hills runs parallel

to the high chain which constitutes the south-

western continuation of Zagros.

Both are

intersected by valleys and ravines, formed by the

rivers and

streams which flow in a south-

westerly direction

into the plain of Ram-

Hormuz (or Ramiz, as the natives pronounce

it), and the Cha’b country.

The great chain bears different appellations

from the defiles that divide . it;

thus,

near

Tashin, it is called Tengi-bend (Barrier Strait,

or The Narrows); beyond it, to the north-west,

Tengi-Bejeck, where the Yussufi live; Tengi-

Séulek, with the Bahmei tribe ; Tengi-Mogher ;

and, lastly, Tengi-Ba-l-feriz.

This range is

very steep, and mostly barren, although the

oak and other forest trees at times meet the

eye

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

381

At three-quarters past one, p.m., we de-

scended upon the plain of Patck (Sahrai-Patek),

after having left behind us the encampments

of some Behmei Iliyats, under the sway of

Khalil-Khan, and reached the village of New

Patek, beyond the ruins of the old Patek.

This village is inhabited by the Janeki, to

which tribe the present chief of the Bakh-

tiyari, Chehar-leng, belongs, by the mother’s

side.

At three-quarters past two, p.m., we crossed

the river of Allar, or Abi-Talkh, a consider-

able stream, running from east to west, be-

tween high banks.

I met here with a poisonous

shrub, called Aerzeli, which I had gathered

before on the banks of the Zdhab river, on

the frontiers of Bagdad, during my journey

into Kurdistan.

Tt is affirmed that animals die

as soon as they eat of it.

The village of Dalin, with an Imam-Zadeh,

similar in exterior to that of Baba-Ahmed, was

At three-quarters

left behind on the right.

past three, p. m., we arrived at Sarila, inhabited

382

TRAVELS IN

by the Zenghenéh, a Kurdish tribe from Ker-

man-Shah, and brought to this place by Nadir-

Shah, at the time when he transplanted the

Bakhtiyari to the Tarkoman frontier.

The

colony of the Zenghenéh consisted originally

of 2,000 families, which from various causes

are now reduced to 400.%*

The village of Sarila is chiefly built of

reeds, and surrounded by a wall of the same

materials ; but offering, on the whole, a cleanly

appearance.

The lower part of the hut into

which I was introduced was plastered over

with clay, and whitewashed, so as to look

very neat ; but scarcely was I seated, when the

place was thronged with all such as were in-

quisitive,—and pray where on the face of the

* The Zenghenéh were a very considerable and powerful

tribe during the Sefavi dynasty in Persia, but have now

lost much of their importance.

The late Amiri-Nizam,

or General-in-Chief of the regular troops of the Shah,

belonged to this tribe, and was not less esteemed for the

nobleness of his character than for his high birth, his

family being reckoned amongst the most ancient and noble

in the kingdom.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

383

globe are men not inquisitive, aye, and women

too ?

After allowing them for awhile to indulge

in their laudable thirst after ethnology, as I

was probably the first Frengi who had ever

visited their village, I begged to be excused

if, after a fatiguing day’s journey, I happened

to prefer their room to their company.

The

elder part of the community seemed to take

the hint very kindly, and retired; but it was

more difficult to get rid of the juvenile popu-

lation of Sarila.

They dispersed for a moment,

but soon besieged once more the entrance of

the hut, which had no door to it, and stared at

the stranger-guest with their mouths wide

open; bursting ever and anon into a fit of

langhter, and then scampering away to acquaint

their play-fellows with the wonderful things

Presently fresh

they had just witnessed.

swarms swelled their ranks.

Children are the same in all countries; and

wherever play and merriment are the order of

the day, there they are sure to throng, as

384

TRAVELS IN

flies are attracted by sugar.

I myself, not-

withstanding the repose I stood in need of,

enjoyed their fun, which they were not back-

ward in perceiving, and therefore redoubled

their pranks.

But my Persian servant pro-

bably judged that it would be derogatory to

my dignity were I to suffer their freaks any

longer, so he wisely dispersed the merry party

with his kamchi, or whip, threatening at the

same time to burn their fathers, pederetra

masusenem, if they did not desist.

On the 31st, having ascertained that there

were some ruins of an ancient town in the

vicinity, I rose early, and, taking my host, the

kedkhiida, or chief of the village, for my guide,

hastened to the spot in the hope of finding

some old inscriptions, but I was sadly disap-

pointed in meeting only with heaps of stones

and mortar.

These ruins commence a little to

the north of the village of Sarila, on the lower

declivities of the mountains, and extend to the

south-east for upwards of a mile.

Amidst a

confused mass of stone some low-vaulted apart-

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

385

ments are still visible.

Water was brought to

this spot from the river Tezeng, or ’Alai by means

of a drain in the rock, like the watercourse on

Khi-Rahmet at Takhti-Jemshid (Pcrsepolis),

which runs along the face of a mountain for a

considerable distance.

Further to the south-

cast another channel was hewn in the solid rock,

for the purpose of conducting water from a

spring in the hills to the ancient town of

Kal'eh Gebr, (Gebr’s castle,) the remains of

which are scattered over the plain below, about

half a farsang (two miles) to the east of Sarila,

having the village of Daltn to the south.

These, as well as the ruins on the brow of

the hill,

consist of freestone, white cement,

with here and there a broken

wall,

and

some grave-stones; but I looked in vain for old

inscriptions.

I was told by the kedkhtda that

about seven farsangs (twenty-nine miles) to the

north of this ruined town there is a fort in the

mountains called Obid, to which only a foot-path

leads; and there it is said inscriptions are to

be found.

I must, however, warn travellers

VOL.

I

C

C

386

TRAVELS IN

not to place too much reliance on what is told

them by the natives, for I have often been

led astray by their high-flown panegyrics on

places which really did not merit the trouble

of going out of one’s way to see.

I in no way

throw out this observation with the intention

of deterring any future traveller from following

up the indications he may glean on his way,

in this, comparatively speaking, terra incognita ;

every corner is interesting, and I only regret

that time would not allow me to investigate

more minutely these unexplored regions.*

I was therefore not loth to remunerate my

guide for what he had shewn me, but I

felt some reluctance to open my purse to a

speculating Mollah,

who joined our party,

riding on a donkey with his legs touching

the ground, and who, because he wore a

dirty towel wrapped round his shaved head,

* Two other ruined places in the mountains, called

Kalasir (IKal'ch-Ser) and Path, four farsangs (fourteen

or fifteen miles) to the east, are said to have been formerly

under the jurisdiction of Kal’eh Gebr.

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

3817

and pretended to be descended from the Pro-

phet, persuaded himself he had an indisputable

right to a gratification from me.

I had made

it a rule not to countenance their pretensions,

whenever they had mno better claim,

than

merely “leurs beaux yeux;” but in the pre-

sent instance, being completely alone in a

tract unknown to me, and ignorant of the

influence the turbaned personage might possess

over his countrymen, I thought it more prudent

to infringe on that rule.

The impudence of this class, as well as

that of the dervishes, is sometimes past bearing,

and, strange to say, they not only contrive

to impose on the mass with impunity, but

even the great and the powerful are often

induced to acquiesce in their whims.

When the Shah was setting out on his

expedition against the Turkomans, he was

accosted on the road by a dervish, who

harangued his Majesty for some time; the long

and the short of his speech was, that he

wished to accompany the Shah but had no

ded 2

[2

‘

388

TRAVELS IN

means

of procuring

a horse for himself.

The King kindly ordered that a mule should

be given him

out of the

Royal

stables,

and presently my dervish was seen astride

his newly-acquired beast, with his bare feet

thrust into the stirrups of the pack-saddle, his

long matted hair hanging down his shoulders

in picturesque disorder, clad in a grey camel

khalat, secured by a rope, which was twisted

round his loins, and looking as proud, and

infinitely more independent, than the motley

throng of Khans, who were cracking jokes

When the Ordi halted for the

at his expense.

night, Kadssar-Shah (for that was the name of

the favoured dervish) quietly took his mule

to the Shah’s stables,

there to be fed and

taken care of until the next morning, when he

once more vaulted into his pack-saddle, and

resumed the march.

At seven, a.m., I resumed my journey from

the ruins, leaving to my left two Imam-

Zadehs, and reached the river of Tezeng, or

’Alai, which coming from the east, runs along

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

389

a broad valley, between two ranges of moun-

tains.

Turning to the W.S. W.,, it fertilizes

the distriet of Beisa on its left bank, whilst on

its opposite shore is the large village of Mei-

dovid, celebrated for its rice.

The ’Alai, or Tezeng, as well as the Allar

or Abi-Talkh, are to all appearances, affluents

of the Kurdistan river, and join it in the

plain of Ram-Hormuz.

I believe them to be

the two first rivers

crossed by Timur on

leaving Ram-Hormuz, which are denominated

by his biographer, Sheref-ed-din of Yezd, Ram-

Hormuz and Fei (Mei), whilst the river Kur-

distan, which comes from Behbehan, bears the

name of Aberghun.*

The districts of Patek and Beiza, through

which the Allar and Tezeng flow, are reckoned

very productive, and consist of fields of wheat

and barley.

The - distance from yesterday’s

descent into the plain as far as the village

of Mei-dovid may be about fqur farsangs

* For more ample information, see my Kssay on Timur’s

March.

390

TRAVELS IN

(fourteen or fifteen miles), and the breadth

of the plain from one and a-half to two

farsangs (three and three-quarters to seven and

a-half miles).

At half-past seven, a.m., I waded through

the clear waters of the Tezeng, a broad and

noble stream, with a hard gravelly bottom. The

depth of the river was nearly up to our horses,

girths.

A fortified Janeki village stands on its

right bank, and another, surrounded by gardens,

on its left.

We now ascended a steep hill by a devious

path, and entered a hilly country, partly barren,

and partly covered with brushwood and the

wild almond-tree, bare of leaves, but in full

blossom,

and

spreading around a delicious

fragrance.

The road first led to the north,

then turned to the east, the general bearing

being by compass north-east.

At nine, a.m., we came to an arched gate-

It is an

way, called Rahdar-Dervazehi-gech.

old building, with three round arches, in the

Sasanian style: the road passes through the

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MOUNTAINS

SASANIAN TOLL-GATE

London, Published by .] Madden & C*

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

391

central gate: at the sides are vaulted apart-

ments, probably at one time the dwelling-

places of the toll-collectors; for the interpre-

tation of Rahdar-Dervazeh is a * toll-gate.”

The whole range of low hills, which extends

from hence in a north-west direction towards

the Asmari hills, receives its name from this

gate, and is called Sahra-dervazehi-gech, the

plain of the lime-gate.

The last word signifies lime, and refers pro-

bably to the calcareous nature of these hills.

It would appear from this, that the line

of communication between Flymais and Central

Persia was over these mountains ; and this

may have been the road along which the

commerce carried on between Arabia and

the Kast Indies, on one side with Persia, and

Media on the other, found its way first up

the river Jerahi, or Kurdistan, from its junc-

tion with the Kuren river, not far from the

town of Muhammereh, and thence by the

Tezeng, which is a tributary stream of the

Jerahi,

392

TRAVELS IN

From Rahdar-dervazehi-gech,

the fort of

Mungasht lies due east.

Formerly this fort

was in possession of Mirza Kamo, of Beh-

behén ; but it has been given up by him to

Muhammed Taghi Khan Bakhtiyari.

Behind

the fort are the towering heights of Mungasht,

partly covered with snow; and in the same

direction,

somewhat

to the

right,

in the

mountains, Chehar Rustim, and Kal'eh Mulla,

the residence of Muhammed Ali-Khan, Chief

of the Teyybi tribe of the Khogila.

Further

eastward is Bars and DinarGn.

On the side

of Mungasht, in a recess in the mountains, is

the pretty valley of Manganan, through which

flows the river of Tala, which, lower down,

joins the Abi-Zerd, near Manjanik.

On reaching, at three-quarters past nine,

I

a more open and elevated spot, my

guide, a Bahmei, whom I had picked up

on the road, pointed out to me the ruins of

the town of Tezeng (from which the river

probably takes its name) bearing south-east.

To this spot is attached a marvellous legend,

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

393

commemorating the virtue of some talisman

against scorpions; and it is even now a place

of pilgrimage to the shrine of Piri-Seyyid-

Bezad.

I mention this circumstance, because Baron

Hammer von Purgstall quotes a similar legend

relating to the town of Tayyib.

“Elle possede,” says this learned Orientalist,

13 un

talisman contre

les

scorpions

et les

serpens.” *

Another circumstance increases the proba-

bility that these towns are identical, and this

is the existence of a Khogilt tribe, bearing

the name of Tayibi, in the vicinity of Tezeng.

If this be so, may not the ruins of Tezeng

or Tayyib + represent the town of Tabce, in

which Antiochus is said to have expired after

his unsuccessful expedition against the fire-

temples of the Elymites? (See Polybius, frag.

ix., tom. xxi.)

* See “Recueil de Voyages et Memoires,” &c.

t There is another, 7ib, on the western frontier, near

Wassit,

394

TRAVELS IN

Ancient writers, who have alluded to this

part of the country, are not sufficiently precise

in their descriptions of places, and thus leave

an open field for conjectuze.

My Behmei cicerone, who seemed versed

in ancient lore, made me sensible that I was

treading on the classic ground where Ristem,

the Hercules of eastern romance, possessed his

stables.

As a proof of the assertion, I was

shown the very manger out of which Rashk used

to eat his provender.

This consisted of some

huge stones piled up and joined by cement.

Further to demonstrate the immense size of

the animal, my Behmei friend pointed very

seriously to a thick stump of an old oak,

some fifty yards distant, to which, it appears,

the hind legs of Rashk used to be fastened.*

With such evidence before me,

how could

any doubts remain ?

I mention this as serving

to throw light on the state of knowledge among

these rude tribes.

* The hind legs of horses in Persia are generally chained

to the ground.

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

395

This

Behmei, whom I have so unceremo-

niously introduced, was a Kasid, or foot mes-

senger,

sent on an errand from his fastnesses

to the

camp of the Bakhtiyari Chief. His

only provision for the journey was a bag filled

with the moist flour, or raw paste of the

acorn, which he obligingly offered me to taste,

In

and was surprised at my not relishing it.

the Bakhtiyari mountains it forms the prin-

cipal food of the wandering tribes.

I think I have noticed elsewhere, that their

women gather the acorns as they drop ripe

from the trees, and bruise them between two

stones, in order to extract the bitter juice:

they then wash the flour, and dry it in the

sun, and this is the whole process.

They

either bake cakes of it, or eat the paste raw,

and find it excellent.

How true is the expres-

sion of Goldsmith !—

¢ Man wants but little here below,

Nor wants that little long.”

This rustic Behmei, with his bag of acorn

flour, was little aware that he was teaching

396

TRAVELS IN

me a moral lesson,—never to murmur against

Providence for whatever privations might be

laid up in store for me in future, whilst it

prompted me to breathe a prayer of grateful

thanks to Heaven for the many blessings I

enjoy.

After a tedious march of two and a-half

hours over the high and uneven country of

the Sahri-dervazchi-gech, we began the steep

descent into the plain, having Mungasht to

the E.S.E., the road before us leading due

north. At eleven, a.m., we crossed the river

Tala, coming from the valley of Manganan

on the S.S.E., and, in half an hour, reached

the ruins of Manjanik, in Baghi-Malek.

The clear waters of Abi-Zerd (yellow-water)

wash the high banks on which these ruins

lie scattered in great confusion, and over a

vast extent of ground.

Close to the ford of

the river is an isolated hill, crowned by an

Imam-Zadeh, and running up to the top of

the hill is a wall.

There may have been

a fortress here in the flourishing days of

LURISTAN

AND ARABISTAN.

397

Manjanik, as it commands the city, but with

the exception of a few walls, some loose

stones, and the old Imam-Zadeh before-men-

tioned, no other vestiges remain.

Perhaps

this was the hillock pointed out to Major

Rawlinson as being an artificial mound, and

taken by him for a monument of the Baby-

lonian era.

The

ruins

of the town are

certainly very extensive, but do mnot appear

to have any claim to a remoter age than

that of the Sasanides.

I shall not be positive,

however, as I did not go over the whole

ground. Very likely Manjanik was inhabited

in the days of the Atabegs, and even at a

later period, as some houses are in a tolerable

state of preservation, and inhabited by the

Iliyats of Baghi-Malek, of the Lur-Zengheneh

tribe.

These houses consist generally of one

story, with a vaulted roof and round arched

door ways, without windows, and have rarely

more than one front-room and a small recess,

such as one meets with in Persian karavanserais.

The common materials are freestone, with a

398

TRAVELS IN

profusion of white mortar and very rough

masonry.

At a distance of one or one and a-half farsangs

to the W.N.W., near the hills, some other

ruins are visible.

They go by the name of

Argavan (crimson), but I could not ascertain

any particulars about them. The river Abi-Zerd,

forcing its way through stupendous rocks imme-

diately to the east of Manjanik, runs in the direc-

tion of Argavan, where it unites with the Tula

and two other streams coming from the north

and north-east, and then loses itself among

the Gech mountains.

Copper coins are some-

times found here among the ruins, but not-

withstanding my promises of remuneration if

some were brought to me, I was not lucky

enough to procure any.

Having satisfied my curiosity as far as time

would allow, I resumed my journey, and

crossing at one, p.m., the Abi-Zerd, at the

base of the mount above described, I rode to a

dilapidated building, two stories high, close to

the left bank of the tributary to the Abi-Zerd.

399

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

I was pressed for time, and could not take a

sketch of it, and do not perfectly recollect

whether the windows and doorways had a

round or a pointed arch, a feature which dis-

tinguishes the Sasanian from the Arabic archi-

tecture.

Baghi-Malek is a beautiful and fertile

district, and deserves the name it bears, of the

King’s Garden.

It has groves of oaks, and,

near to the ruined structure just mentioned, a

The fields

village surrounded with orchards.

are well cultivated.

The chief produce is

tobacco, for the Persian kglyan. Here, too, are

some plants of the piyasi-'unsul; but on cross-

ing the tributary of Abi-Zerd, (at half-past one,

p.m.,) the vegetation ceases, and dry stony soil

prevails.

At two, p.m., we ascended a hill, and in

half an hour came down on the plain of Kal'eh-

Tal, otherwise called Kara-Tdl, which place

The fort stands on

I reached at three, p.-m.

a hillock, and is surrounded at its base by

hovels thatched with reeds.

All was life and

animation as I passed through the mnarrow

400

TRAVELS IN

streets and moved slowly up the path to the

fort.

It was a motley scene, and highly inter-

esting to me.

The whole population had

turned out to gaze at the strange Frengi, in

a dress so different from their own.

The

greater part of the Bakhtiyari wear a felt

coat, open before, reaching somewhat below the

knee, furnished with short sleeves, and standing

This coat resembles the

out at the hips.

sadere which the mobeds or the ancient Parsi

priests used to put on when officiating. The

cap of the Bakhtiyari is likewise of felt, close

to the head and without any vizor to protect

the eyes from the rays of the sun.

At Kal'eh-Tal T found an Englishman, Mr.

Layard, who had adopted the Persian costume.

I had made his acquaintance before at Hamadan,

I learned

and had met him lately at Behbehan.

from him that Muhammed Taghi-Khan, the

Chief of the Bakhtiyari, was encamped at Mél-

Amir

to receive the

Governor of TIsfahén,

Luristan, and Arabistin, who was coming with

an armed force to inspect the two latter pro-

.

D TP —

401

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

vinees.

to

set

out

We therefore agreed

on the following morning to the Bakhtiyari

camp.

February 1st. The distance from Kal’eh-T1l to

Mal-Amir is, by estimate, four farsangs (nineteen

miles). The road is circuitous; a narrow and diffi-

cult pass through the mountains shortens the way

by about a farsang.

We moved about an hour

and a-half in the direction of north-west, across

a plain, having to the right a high chain of

mountains, and to the left a succession of lower

ridges.

On the road we passed close to a

burying-place, with a number of white tomb-

stones : the figure of a lion rudely sculptured

from the same material is placed on the tomb,

and seems to be the favourite funeral ornament

in this part of the country, as the black ram

found in the old cemeteries near Tabriz, was in

that of Aderbeijan.

The introduction of the lion

as a favourite symbol with the Persians, probably

dates from the Arab conquest, more especially

among the Shia, for their prophet Ali is repre-

sented as the lion of God; whereas among the

VOL.

I

DD

402

TRAVELS IN

ancient disciples of Zoroaster, the lion stood at

the head of the unclean animals, and was

looked upon as the creation of Ahriman, the

author of all evil, and the enemy of Ormuzd.

It is rather strange, however, that the figure of

the lion should so frequently recur on the

ancient sculptures at Persepolis, and moreover,

generally, as a triumphant aggressor.

The black ram of Tabriz may, perhaps be

traced to the period when Aderbeijan was

under the sway of the Turkoman race, known

by the name of the Kara Kainlt, i.e., of

the black ram.

We next entered a defile, or narrow valley

in the hills, which brought us, after an hour’s

ride, to another plain, called Halegtn, on which

are ruins belonging, evidently, to two widely

different” eras.

I very much question, however,

whether the town of Eidej stood here as the

extent of the more ancient ruins is not very con-

siderable.

Indeed, the only really ancient relic

of any consequence is a square court,

Sur-

rounded by a high wall of earth, and having

e

403

LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

round the inner court a succession. of vaulted

cells, similar to what one meets with in old

Persian karavanserais,* but on a larger scale.

It may, perhaps, have been a similar structure

to the cells which Ibn BatGt4, in his ¢ Travels

through the dominions of the Atabegs of Luri-

Buzurg,” says he found at each station of the

road.t

I likewise searched here for some traces of

the celebrated bridge of Harahzad, or Jirzad,

sippposed to have been erected by the mother

of Ardashir, but without success.}

The ruins of the second class are modern.

They were inhabited by Hasan-Khan, former

chief of the Bakhtiyari Chehar-lang, who re-

sided here some twenty years ago, before he

was treacherously put to death by his kinsman,

* As for example, at Deir (convent), in the desert,

between Veramin and Kém, on the ancient line of com=

munication between Isfahdn and the Caspian provinces.

t Travels of Ibn BatGtd, chap. vii.

It will be seen in the sequel, that on returning to this

spot, I did find the buttress of a bridge on the left bank of

the Halegun or Shah-Ruben river.

404 TRAVELS IN LURISTAN AND ARABISTAN.

Muhammed Taghi-Khan, to whose camp I was

now proceeding. Close to the ruined residence

of the murdered chief is the village of Halegtn,

inhabited by the Janeki tribe.

‘We forded the river of Halegim, otherwise

called Shéh-Ruben, an insignificant stream at

this season of the year, and turning to the

east, entered the great plain of Mal-Amir,

after having passed by a considerable cemetery

to the left of the road.

END OF VOL. 1.

MACINTOSH, PRINTER,

GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON.

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