II. Bushire (or more properly Abuschahr, for the former is but the corruption of an English sailor) is now the principal Port of Persia. It stands in lat. 28°. 59. in long. 50°. 43. E. of Greenwich. It is situated on the extremity of a peninsula, which is formed by the sea on one side, and on the other by an inlet terminating in extensive swamps. At the narrowest part of this neck of land the seas, in the equinoctial spring tides, have sometimes met and rendered it an island; but this has happened once only during the ten years which preceded our visit, and the effect then continued but two or three days; and so visible is the present encroachment of the land upon the inlet, that the recurrence of such an overflow will soon be entirely impossible. Every appearance, indeed, proves, that the whole of the peninsula has been thus gained from the sea. The extreme flatness of the general surface, the soil itself, the water, and the relative position of the whole peninsula to the mountains which rise abruptly from its inland extremities, suggest the supposition of such an accumulation.
On the southern bank of the inlet is a long range of rocks, which, though now two or three miles distant, may at one time have been washed by the sea. In digging for water, the people of the peninsula have sunk wells to the depth of thirty fathoms; and before they could reach the spring they have been obliged to perforate three layers of a soft stone composed of sand and shells. Generally of the whole soil, sand is the principal ingredient.
The town itself of Bushire occupies the very point of the peninsula, and forms a triangle, of which the base on the land side is alone fortified. At unequal distances along the walls, there are twelve towers, two of which form the town-gate; they are all chequered at the top by holes, through which the inhabitants may point their musketry, and those at the gates have a variety of such contrivances. There is at the the door a large brass Portuguese gun, a sixty-eight pounder, on a very uncertain carriage; besides two or three in a much ruder state. It is said that on some invasion when the place was beset, this gun was fired, but the concussion was so great and unexpected, that it blew open the gates, shook down fragments of the towers, and gave the enemy an easy entrance. The materials of the town (a soft sandy stone, incrustated with shells) are drawn from the ruins of Reshire, in its neighbourhood. Most of the adjacent villages are built of the same stone, the only species indeed found in the peninsula, and which was already thus prepared for their use in the remains of Reshire. But such materials are continually decomposing; and the dust which falls from them adds to the already sandy ground-work of their streets, and, when set in motion by the wind or by a passing caravan, creates an impenetrable cloud. The streets are from six to eight feet wide, and display on each side nothing but inhospitable walls. A great man’s dwelling (there are nine in Bushire) is distinguished by a wind chimney. This is a square turret on the sides of which are perpendicular apertures, and in the interior of which are crossed divisions, which form different currents of air, and communicate some comfort to the heated apartments of the house. But the comfort is not wholly without danger; as in an earthquake some years ago the turrets were thrown down to the great damage of the surrounding buildings.
There are supposed to be in the town four hundred houses, besides several alleys of date-tree-huts on entering the gates, which may add an equal number to the whole. The number of inhabitants is disproportionably large, but it is calculated that there are ten thousand persons in the place. There are four mosques of the Sheyahs, and three of the Sunnis; and there are two Hummums and two Caravanserais; but there is no public building in Bushire which deserves any more particular description. The old English factory is a large straggling building near the sea side; the left wing is breaking down. The Bazars are exactly those of a provincial town in Turkey. The shop is a little platform, raised about two feet above the foot-path; where the Vender, just reserving the little space upon which he squats, displays his wares. The shops, as in Turkey, are opened in the morning and shut at night, when the trader returns to his dwelling; for the shop is but the receptacle for his goods.
On the 2d Nov. a large fleet of boats came into Bushire from the coast, laden with coarse linen for turbans, earthen pots, mats, &c. for which they carry away dates. These boats keep together for fear of the Joasmee pirates.
To the east of the town there is a small elevation, which happily destroys the equalities of the buildings, and renders it no uninteresting subject for a sketch, when enlivened by its concomitants, water and shipping. Whatever may have been the former state of the immediate neighbourhood, it is certain that there are now no longer to be found the gardens and plantations which Nearchus described, or even those which Captain Simmons delineated. Had Nearchus again described Bushire and its territory in this day, he would have said, that a few cotton bushes, here and there date trees, now and then a Konar tree, with water melons, berinjauts, and cucumbers, are the only verdant objects which, in any measure, alleviate the glare of its sandy plain.
I took a sketch of Bushire from a rising spot near a well on a public road.[24] A troop of young camel-drivers, who were going merrily along, soon discovered me; and long continued to vociferate, with many other names and jokes, “Frangui, Frangui,” the common appellation in the East of every European.
The new factory is about one mile seven-eights from the town. The Resident’s guard is composed of seapoys, who, by the regulations, should be changed every five years, but they are permitted to remain till they become so lax in discipline as scarcely to deserve the name of soldiers. The guard is mustered at sun-set, when they mostly appear in their shirts and night-caps, and the sentries walk about without their muskets.
In a few days after our landing we rode to the ruins of Reshire. The more immediate remains occupy an inconsiderable part of the site of the old city, and indeed consist rather of the fortress than of the general mass of buildings. The place is surrounded by villages built of the materials, and (as other fragments about them still attest) upon the site also of the original town. One of these villages is called Imaum Zadé, and is exempt from taxes, because its inhabitants claim all to be descended from Mahomed.