The purity of the air drives away all fevers, and prolongs life to the age of one hundred and seventy years. The water issues from mount Semenden, and is distributed into more than nine hundred conduits and pipes, which furnish the town with water. The water aids digestion, and like the air is rather cold. There is also good water in wells, but the water of the canals is better; some of the wells are from forty to fifty cubits deep, in the summer their water is cold, and in the winter it is warm. Astrologers say that Tabríz was built by Zobeide, under the influence of the sign of the scorpion when ruled by Mars, and that for this reason, it has been so many times disturbed and ruined by rebels and by conquerors, such as Timúr, Gengíz, Húlagú, and Murad IV.
There are twenty-one pleasant baths each with one or two basins, a half soffa, and fountains (jets d’eaux). The attendants are fine youths, the water and air are excellent. Besides the public baths there are seven hundred private ones, where the silver-bodied youth swim like angels of the sea. On the china or fayence of these baths, is written the famous poem of Fozúlí, called the poem of the bath (Kassideí Hamám). There are seven sorts of corn growing at Tabríz, besides an abundance of barley. There are also seven sorts of cotton.
Arts and Handicrafts, Provisions, Fruits, Beverages, Gardens, &c.
Painters, architects, goldsmiths, and tailors are nowhere to be found so perfect as here. Precious stuffs manufactured here go all over the world; the velvet is much renowned. The provisions consist of the white bread called Kerde, and Súmún, cracknels, pastry, roasts, chicken pies, forty different kinds of pilaw with spices, the Herisse and sweetmeat, Palúde. Among the abundance of delicious fruits are particularly the pears and exquisite apricots, they are not found in such perfection even at Constantinople. The beverages consist of seven sorts of Muscat wine, the common wine of the Royal grape, the pomegranate, the cherry wine, and oxymel; and for the common people búza of millet and rice.
There are some dining establishments for the poor, such as the Imáret of Sháh Yakúb, of Sultán Motevekel, of Lady Zobeide, and of Sultán Hassan, large buildings with kitchens worthy that of Keikavús, but in the hands of the Persians they have all decayed.
The principal walk is the mount Surkháb (Red-water) near Tabríz; at noon the sea of Rúmie may be distinguished from the top of it; it is at a farsang distance from Tabríz.
The number of gardens amounts to forty-seven thousand, the finest is that of Sháh Yakúb, where the Khán gave me a splendid entertainment. Eleven times in the day, seventy dancers and singers exerted themselves in the practice of their art, so that it resembled an evening party of Hossein Bikara. This garden owes its origin to Koja Ferhád Páshá, Governor of Tabríz under Sultán Murad III., who adorned it with numerous koshks, bowers and pleasure-houses; and at the time of the pillage of the town by Murad IV., this garden was preserved by the care of Osmán Aghá. The Chronostic of the koshk where we dined, alluding to the name of the builder, says that, Ferhád built this sweet (Shirín) palace. The walk of Sháh Sefí cannot be praised enough. It is the place of the Maïl; in the centre of it two immense columns lift their tops up to Heaven; on one of them every Friday a silver plate is put, which is aimed at by all the bowmen, who shoot at it, encouraged by the presence of the Khán. On New Year’s day (Nevrúz) or the beginning of spring, battles are fought in this place by horses trained in the dark during forty or fifty days, by camels, buffaloes, sheep, asses, dogs, and cocks. These fights are peculiar to Persia. Every year on the tenth of the month Moharrem, being the feast of A’ashúra, all the population of the town assemble under tents in this large place, and during three days and nights cook many thousand dishes of A’ashúra (a kind of hotch-potch), in remembrance of the martyrs of Kerbela; these dishes are distributed with an abundance of sugar-sherbet, which is carried round in crystal vases, and cups of cornelian and turquoise: at the same time singing certain verses, such as “Their Lord gave them of the purest beverage.” Some of the great men on this day carry cans and tankards round their necks, and go about distributing water like common porters. But the finest show is in the variegated tent of the Khán, where all the great men of Tabríz are assembled, and where a Hymn on the death of Hossein is recited, in the same manner as the Hymn on the Prophet’s birthday is in the Turkish mosques. The hearers listen, sighing and lamenting, but when the reciter arrives at the passage where Hossein is killed by accursed Shabr, a curtain opens behind him, and a severed head and trunk of a body, representing that of the Imám when dead, is thrown on the ground, when there rises such an uproar of cries and lamentations that everybody loses his wits. At this moment some hundred men mingle in the crowd with razors, with which they cut the arms and breasts of all loving believers, who desire to shed their blood on this day in remembrance of the blood shed by the Imám; they make such deep incisions and scars, that the ground appears as if it was blooming with tulips. Some thousands brand the marks and names of Hassan and Hossein on their heads, arms, and breasts. They then carry Hossein’s body away from the ground with much pomp, and finish the ceremony with great howlings.
The town has numerous fine walks and pleasure grounds, each of which may be compared to the gardens of Ispúze and Merám. The beautiful koshks worthy to be the seats of Sherín and Ferhád, of Wámik and Azra, are every where renowned; but I must refrain from their praise and description, as I have yet so many other things to mention. God be thanked! I remained here two months, which I spent in full pleasure and delight, and I shall now give the description of the districts and castles, which I visited in the Khán’s company. Round Tabríz are seven districts, which furnish military men, whose office is to train birds and dogs for hunting.
The first is the district of Mehránrúd, five farsangs to the east of Tabríz, the three places Koraúkendrút, Isfenj-kent, and Sa’ád-abád are like large towns, with numerous mosques, kháns and baths. The second district is that of Sera-vurúd on the west side of Tabríz; containing eighty well cultivated villages. The third district is that of Dídeher, four farsangs south-west of Tabríz, twenty-four kents with mosques, kháns, baths and gardens. The fourth district is that of Ardenik, on the west side of Tabríz at only a farsang’s distance; thirty well cultivated villages. The fifth district is that of Rúdkát behind mount Sorkháb, and north of Tabríz, at a farsang’s distance from it; a hundred great kents with gardens, mosques, markets, &c. The sixth district, that of Khánumrúd; twenty elegant villages. The seventh, that of Bedostán behind Rúdkát; seventy villages. If I were to describe minutely all the hunting and pleasure parties on which I accompanied the Sháh for the space of twenty days, it would alone fill a book, because Tabríz is like Isfahán, one of the finest towns in the world. God grant its possession to the Ottomans, and keep it from ruin!