We had thus recovered the Persian Secretary; but the mission soon suffered the less reparable loss of one of its own members. On the 19th November, the Benares H. C. cruizer (which brought our tents, some of the body guards, presents, &c. from Bussora) landed at Bushire Mr. Coare, the Persian and Latin Translator. He had carried with him from Bussora a fever, which was gradually wasting him away; and after lingering out his few remaining days apparently without pain, he died on the last day of the month. He was a young man of whom all spoke well; his talents were promising; and his prospects in the world were fine. He was laid in the Armenian burying-ground, without a coffin; because plank is so dear and scarce at Bushire, that his remains would have been disturbed for the sake of the wood which had enclosed them. His corpse was escorted to the grave by the body guard and the seapoy guard, and followed by the Envoy and the gentlemen of the mission. I read the funeral service over him, amid a crowd of Persians and Arabs, who were collected to see the ceremony; and who seemed to partake the interest of the scene. Nothing excites a better impression of our character than an appearance of devotion and religious observance. If, therefore, there were no higher obligation on every christian, religious observances are indispensable in producing a national influence. We never omitted to perform divine service on Sundays; suffered no one to intrude upon us during our devotions; and used every means in our power to impress the natives with a proper idea of the sanctity of our Sabbath.
CHAP. IV.
RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSHIRE.
I. PERSIA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENTS—FARSISTAN—MEKRAN—BALOUCHES—COAST OF THE GULPH—ISLANDS OF THE GULPH—PEARL FISHERY.—II. BUSHIRE: SITUATION—DESCRIPTION—TRADE—VIEW—RUINS OF RESHIRE—HALILA—BUSHIRE ROADS—WATER—WEATHER—HEALTHINESS—WOMEN OF BUSHIRE—SUPERSTITIONS.—III. ANIMALS OF THE DASHTISTAN: HORSES—DOG—WHITE FOX—WILD BEASTS—HAWKS—THE JERBOA.
I. In historical interest, Persia is perhaps superior to any Asiatic empire, because more nearly connected with the fortunes of Europe; and its natural situation shares the importance; for its boundaries (defined and fortified by lofty ranges, which are pervious only through passes of very difficult access,) are prominent and decided objects in the general geography of Asia. We had hitherto seen only the southern chain: nothing can be more strongly marked than the abrupt and forbidding surface of those mountains, which bind the shore from Cape Jasques to the deepest recesses of the gulph. The little plain of the Dashtistan, (that of Bushire) which seems to have encroached upon the sea, is yet the most extensive portion of even land, which relieves however momentarily the constant and chilling succession of high and dreary lands along the coast. But beyond these mountains are frequently extensive plains, confined by a second range, which likewise run parallel to the coast. This is the case behind Congoon: and in the route to Shiraz we found several successive plains, (of great absolute elevation indeed, but) thus separated from each other by alternate ranges of higher land. The plain of Merdasht, beyond Shiraz, is the Hollow Persis of ancient geography. These great inequalities of surface naturally produce a corresponding variety of climates.
The administration of the provinces of Persia is now committed to the Princes. The jurisdiction of Prince Hossein Ali Mirza, one of the King’s Sons, is very extensive: it comprises, under the general name of Farsistan, not only the original province of which Shiraz was the capital (as subsequently it became that of all Persia, and as it still is of the governments combined under the Prince) but Laristan also, to the south; and Bebehan to the north-west; which severally, as well as Farsistan, possessed before their particular Beglerbegs.
Of Farsistan, under this its present more extensive signification, the hot and desert country is called the Germesir, a generic term for a warm region, which will be recognised under the ancient appellations of Germania, Kermania, or Carmania. The termination of the Persian dominion in this direction, is an undefined tract between the Germesir and the Mekran. It was the ancient boast of Persia, that its boundaries were not a petty stream or an imaginary line, but ranges of impervious mountains or deserts as impervious. In this quarter there is little probability that the country will ever become less valuable as a frontier, by becoming more cultivated and better inhabited. The land is put to so little use, that no power would greatly care to press the extension of an authority so unprofitable. Every age has marked the unalterable barbarism of the soil and of the people. The Balouchistan, or the country of the Balouches, the most desert region of the coast begins about Minou, on the west of Cape Jasques. Their country is perhaps nearly the Mekran of geography. They once owned subjection to Persia, but they have now resumed the independance of Arabs, and live in wandering communities under the government of their own Sheiks, of whom two are pre-eminent. They have indeed still some little commercial connexion with Persia, and occasionally a Balouche is to be seen in Bushire selling his scanty wares, mostly the mats of their own manufacture. One of their Sheiks lives at Guadel on the coast of Mekran; but in the interior, according to the account given by a Balouche to Captain Salter, there is a very potent king, though I cannot add from the same authority, whether he is of their own extraction. They live in continual wars with each other; or let themselves out to the different small powers in the gulph as soldiers. Many of the guards of the Sheik of Bushire are Balouches; and the Seapoys also on board the Arab ships are of the same tribes.
In religion they are Mahomedans; and like all those of India, are Sunnis: but they have few means of preserving the genuineness of any profession of faith; and their ignorance has already confounded their tenets with those of a very different original. The same common barbarism has indeed blended the Affghan, the Seik, and the Balouche into one class: there may be among them some beard or whisker more or less, some animal or food which they hold unclean above all others, some indescribable difference of opinion which severs them from their neighbours, but in savageness they are all identified. Those on the coast still live almost exclusively on fish, as in the days of Nearchus; though I am told they no longer build their houses with the bones. The grampus (possibly, the whale of Arrian) is still numerous on the shores. The Envoy remembered to have seen at Bushire on a former occasion, a dog of an immense size, which a Balouche had given to Mr. Galley, the Resident at that time: the man added, that the mountains towards his country were all very high. His dog seemed to confirm the assertion, for he was defended against the cold of his native region, by a coat of thick and tufted hair.
Though the Balouches scarcely advance within the gulph, yet the native Persians do not fully occupy their own shores. The coast still retains a great proportion of Arab families. The Dashtistan, which extends from Cape Bang to the plain of Bushire, was till lately governed by them. The district of Dasti, also along the coast from Bushire to below Congoon, still remains under their rule: and the Arab Sheik of Congoon in the adjoining territory, possesses a kind of independance.
At Tauhree, (or Tahrie) a port just below Congoon, are extensive ruins and sculptures, with the Persepolitan character. The landmarks for the entrance of the harbour are two large white spots, on the summit of a mountain, which the people of the country affirm to have been made by the hand of man; and which, on the same traditional authority, are said to have been formerly covered with glass. The reflection thus produced by the sun’s rays, rendered the object visible to a great distance at sea, and guided the navigator in safety into the road. Some of the glass is said to remain at this day. Among the ruins of the city are two wells pierced to a great depth; and stabling for a hundred horses excavated from the solid rock: the existence of these remains, I understand, Mr. B—k of the E. I. Company’s service ascertained himself.