Chardin perceived, therefore, that he had not a moment to lose, it being of the highest importance that his business with the king should be transacted before Sheïkh Ali Khan should again be prime vizier; but by whom he was to be introduced at court was the question. The persons to whom he applied in the first instance, at the same time that they willingly consented to use their best efforts in his favour, and counselled him not to despair, yet gave so sombre a picture of the state of the court, and threw out so many insinuations, indicating their belief that the future would be still more unpropitious than the present, that they succeeded in casting a damp over his energies, and in dissipating or at least blighting his hopes. Nevertheless, something was to be done, and that quickly; and he determined, that whatever might be the result, he would at all events not fail through inattention or indolence.
While Chardin was labouring to put those springs in motion, the harmonious action of which was to produce the fulfilment of his hopes, Sheïkh Ali Khan suddenly entered into office. This event was brought about in a strange manner. The king, during one of those violent fits of intoxication to which he was liable, and during which he acted more like a wild beast than a man, had commanded the right hand of a musician who was playing before him to be struck off, and immediately fell asleep. The person to whom the barbarous order was given, imagining that all recollection of the matter would pass away with the fumes of sleep, ventured to disobey; but the king awaking, and finding the musician, whom he expected to find mutilated and bleeding, still touching the instrument, became so enraged, that he gave orders for inflicting the same punishment upon the disobedient favourite and the musician; and finding that those around him still hesitated to execute his brutal commands, his madness rose to so ungovernable a pitch that he would probably have had the arms and legs of all the court cut off, had not Sheïkh Ali Khan, who fortunately happened to be present, thrown himself at his feet, and implored him to pardon the offenders. The tyrant, now beginning to cool a little, replied, “You are a bold man, to expect that I shall grant your request, while you constantly refuse to resume, at my most earnest entreaties, the office of prime minister!”—“Sire,” replied Ali, “I am your slave, and will do whatever your majesty shall command.” The king was pacified, the culprits pardoned, and next morning Sheïkh Ali Khan reassumed the government of Persia.
The event dreaded by our traveller had now arrived, and therefore the aspect of affairs was changed. Nevertheless, not many days after this event, he received an intimation from one of his court friends, that is, persons purchased over by presents, that the nazir, or chief intendant of the king’s household, having been informed of his arrival, was desirous of seeing him, and had warmly expressed his inclination to serve him with the shah. Chardin, who understood from what motives courtiers usually perform services, laid but small stress upon his promises, but still hastened to present himself at his levee, with a list of all the articles of jewelry he had brought with him from Europe, which the nazir immediately ordered to be sent to him for the inspection of the king. A few days afterward he was introduced to the terrible grand vizier, Sheïkh Ali Khan himself, who, from the mild and polished manner in which he received our traveller, appeared extremely different from the portraits which the courtiers and common fame had drawn of him.
His whole fortune being now at stake, and depending in a great measure upon the disposition of the nazir and the conduct of the shah, Chardin was unavoidably agitated by very painful and powerful feelings, when he was suddenly summoned to repair to the intendant’s palace, where the principal jewellers of the city, Mohammedan, Armenian, and Hindoo, had been assembled to pronounce upon the real value of the various articles he had offered to the king. He had not long entered before the nazir ordered the whole of his jewels to be brought forth, those which his majesty intended to purchase being set apart in a large golden bowl of Chinese workmanship. Chardin, observing that notwithstanding the whole had been purchased or made by order of the late king, not a fourth part had been selected by his present majesty, felt as if he had been stricken by a thunderbolt, and became pale and rooted, as it were, to the spot. The nazir, though a selfish and rapacious man, was touched by his appearance, and leaning his head towards him, observed, in a low voice, “You are vexed that the king should have selected so small a portion of your jewels. I protest to you that I have taken more pains than I ought to induce him to purchase the whole, or at least the half of them; but I have not been able to succeed, because the larger articles, such as the sabre, the poniard, and the mirror, are not made in the fashion which prevails in this country. But keep up your spirits; you will still dispose of them, if it please God.” The traveller, who felt doubly vexed that his chagrin had been perceived, made an effort to recover his composure, but could not so completely succeed but that the shadow, as it were, of his emotion still remained upon his countenance.
However, pleased or displeased, it was necessary to proceed to business. The shah’s principal jeweller now placed before him the golden bowl containing the articles selected by his majesty, and beginning with the smaller pieces, asked the price of them in a whisper; and then caused them to be estimated by the other jewellers present, beginning with the Mohammedans, and then passing on to the Armenians and Hindoos. The merchants of Persia, when conducting any bargain before company, never make use of any words in stating the price to each other; they make themselves understood with their fingers, their hands meeting under a corner of their robe, or a thick handkerchief, so that their movements may be concealed. To close the hand of the person with whom business is thus transacted means a thousand; to take one finger of the open hand, a hundred; to bend the finger in the middle, fifty; and so on. This mode of bargaining is in use throughout the East, and more particularly in India, where no other is employed.
The value of the jewels being thus estimated, the appraisers were dismissed, and the nazir, coming to treat tête-à-tête with Chardin, succeeded so completely in throwing a mist over his imagination, by pretending to take a deep interest in his welfare, that he drew him into a snare, and in the course of the negotiation, which lasted long, and was conducted with infinite cunning on the part of the Persian, caused him to lose a large portion of the fruits of his courage and enterprise. Other negotiations with various individuals followed, and in the end Chardin succeeded in disposing of the whole of his jewels.
These transactions closed with the year 1673. In the beginning of the following, which was passed in a devotional manner among the Protestants of Ispahan, the traveller began to feel his locomotive propensities revive; and an ambassador from Balkh, then in the capital, happening to pay him a visit, so wrought upon his imagination by his description of his wild country, and gave him so many pressing invitations to accompany him on his return, that, had it not been for the counter-persuasion of friends, Chardin would undoubtedly have extended his travels to Tartary. This idea being relinquished, however, he departed for the shores of the Persian Gulf, a journey of some kind or other being necessary to keep up the activity of both body and mind.
He accordingly departed from Ispahan in the beginning of February, all the Europeans in the city accompanying him as far as Bagh Koolloo, where they ate a farewell dinner together. He then proceeded on his journey, and in eleven days arrived at the ruins of Persepolis, which he had twice before visited, in order once more to compare his ideas with the realities, and complete his description of this celebrated spot. These magnificent ruins are situated in one of the finest plains in the world; and as you enter this plain from the north through narrow gayas or between conical hills of vast height and singular shape, you behold them standing in front of a lofty ridge of mountains, which sweep round in the form of a half-moon, flanking them on both sides with its mighty horns. On two of these lofty eminences which protected the approaches to the city, and which, when Persepolis was in all its glory, so long resisted the fierce, impatient attacks of Alexander, the ruins of ancient forts still subsisted when Chardin was there; but, after having travelled so far, principally for the purpose of examining the ruins scattered around, he found the hills too steep and lofty, and refused to ascend them!
Having occupied several days in contemplating the enormous ruins of temples and palaces existing on the plain, our traveller descended into what is called the Subterranean Temple; that is, a labyrinth of canals or passages, hewn out in the solid rock, turning, winding, and crossing each other in a thousand places, and extending to an unknown distance beneath the bases of the mountains. The entrances and the exits of these dismal vaults are unknown; but travellers and other curious persons find their way in through rents made by time or by earthquakes in the rock. Lighted candles, which burned with difficulty in the heavy, humid air, were placed at the distance of every fifty yards, as Chardin and his companions advanced, particularly at those points where numerous passages met, and where, should a wrong path be taken, they might have lost themselves for ever. Here and there they observed heaps of bones or horns of animals; the damp trickled down the sides of the rocks; the bottom of the passages was moist and cold; respiration grew more and more difficult every step; they became giddy; an unaccountable horror seized upon their minds; the attendant first, and then the traveller himself, experienced a kind of panic terror; and fearing that, should they much longer continue to advance, they might never be able to return, they hastened back towards the fissures through which they had entered; and without having discovered any thing but vaults which appeared to have no end, they emerged into daylight, like Æneas and his companion from the mouth of hell.
Departing from the ruins of Persepolis on the 19th of February, he next day arrived at Shiraz, where he amused himself for three days in contemplating the waters of the Roknebad and the bowers of Mosellay. In proceeding from this city to Bander-Abassi, on the Persian Gulf, he had to pass over Mount Jarron by the most difficult and dangerous road in all Persia. At every step the travellers found themselves suspended, as it were, over tremendous precipices, divided from the abyss by a low wall of loose stones, which every moment seemed ready to roll of their own accord into the depths below. The narrow road was blocked up at short intervals by large fragments of rock, between which it was necessary to squeeze themselves with much pains and caution. However, they passed the mountain without accident, and on the 12th of March arrived at Bander-Abassi.