Before we left Shiraz, the merchants were all displeased with the Envoy, for they had been accustomed in former missions to sell immense quantities of their goods at exorbitant prices; while now all their offers were refused, as most of the presents which were given by Sir Harford in our progress, were made in coin. The amount of those presents indeed was not always satisfactory to the receivers.
CHAP. VII.
SHIRAZ TO PERSEPOLIS.
DEPARTURE FROM SHIRAZ—ZERGOON—BEND-EMIR, THE ANCIENT ARAXES—PLAIN OF MERDASHT—TOMBS AND SCULPTURES OF NAKSHI RUSTAM—FIRE-TEMPLES—PERSEPOLIS—GENERAL VIEW OF THE WHOLE—PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION; STAIRCASE; PORTALS; HALL OF COLUMNS—SCULPTURES AT NAKSHI RADJAB—POPULAR TRADITIONS.
At eleven o’clock on the morning of the 13th, the Envoy recommenced his journey towards Teheran. The Prime Minister, and the Chief Secretary, Mahomed Hassan Khan (the commander of the Karaguzloo tribe), the Prince’s Lord Chamberlain, and Mahomed Zeky Khan, our former Mehmandar, with Abdulla Khan, who had succeeded to that office pro tempore, accompanied us about the distance of a mile from Tengui Ali Acbar, and then all took their formal leave, except our late and present Mehmandars.
At the distance of a quarter of a mile beyond the gate of the pass departing from Shiraz, one of the most compact of distant views presented itself. As we saw it from an eminence, the fore-ground was formed by the two bold acclivities, (which close into the pass and are connected by the gate), and the interval in the distance is filled up by part of Shiraz, the campagna and the mountains in the horizon. As our tents and baggage were still considerably behind us, we stopt and drank coffee at a hut, where is a reservoir of ice constructed by the Prince on a plan which to us seemed simple and good. A deep trench of about fifty paces in length, and fifteen in breadth, is cut into the ground; other dikes are cut transversely, which, as they fill with water, are emptied into the reservoir. When this first layer of water is congealed, another draught is made from the dikes, and thus the ice is accumulated. A wall is built the whole length of the reservoir to screen the ice from the south wind which is here the hottest. We staid here about two hours, in which time Captain Sutherland ascended the highest point of the mountains to the west, and returned with the most brilliant account of the view: Shiraz and its plain were at his feet, the gardens and the whole delineation of the mountains and surrounding lands, laid out as if on a map.
After we had quitted our late Mehmandars and their company, and had been joined by their successor Mahomed Khan, we begun to wind in the hills, and rode by the banks of the little stream of Rocknabad, until we came to a station of Rahdars, which is called Kalaat Poshoon, from its being the spot where the Prince puts on the kalaats, with which the King is frequently pleased to honour him. The country through which we passed, is hilly and open; scarcely a shrub enlivens the brown mountains, which here and there are varied by the capriciousness of their stratification into forms as extravagant as they are inhospitable. The source of the Rocknabad is about twelve miles from Shiraz, into which its waters find their way, after meandering in a variety of directions in their progress towards it. There was nothing particularly interesting in the march of the day. Large flocks of pigeons now and then flew over our heads, and the road here and there was occasionally strewed with ruined castles and caravanserais, which, though they bore a name, yet being uninhabited, are no longer worthy to be marked in the topographical history of Persia. After we had received the salute of a few miserable fusileers, had heard the recitative verses of one or two poor Mollahs, and had trampled over two or three bottles of sugar-candy, we arrived at our encampment at Zergoon.
Zergoon, when first seen, looks a respectable place: a mud wall surrounds it; but, as it was broken down in many places, it was not difficult to observe that the greater part of the houses within were mere shells, and their inhabitants proportionably wretched. It is situated close at the foot of a range of mountains at the southern extremity of a small plain, which is of the finest soil, and towards the town not ill cultivated. We calculated our march to have been thirteen miles from our tents at the Bagh-a-Vakeel at Shiraz, and on an average our route lay North-East.
The night was interrupted by the disputes of the mule-drivers and the bustle of feroshes. We quitted Zergoon at nine o’clock, and, at the distance of about two miles, entered into the plain of the same name (confounded with that of Merdasht) of a most delightful soil and partially cultivated, which extends near fifteen miles East and West. We proceeded three miles further, and crossing the river Bend-emir, entered the real plain of Merdasht. The bridge is thrown over the river immediately behind a projecting foot of the mountains; it is called the Pool Khan, and has (besides two lesser arches, which in this season were unoccupied by water) two principal arches, and another of a second size, through which three the river runs. The Bend-emir is the ancient Araxes, and runs in a general direction from North to South: where we crossed it indeed, it was flowing from N. N. E. to S. W. It does not fall into the sea at Cape Jasques, (now at least, as has been said) though it still enters Kerman. I am told that it goes to Corbal, ten fursungs from Persepolis, a large place in the province of Kerman, where its waters are received and kept up by a very considerable dam called the Bund Emir, i. e. the Bund Emir Timoor, or the dam of Tamerlane.[34] There are several Bunds at Corbal, and in the neighbourhood, each raised by a King. In the bolook or district of Corbal, there is a village called Sedeh Nokara Khonéh, about eight or nine fursungs distant from Persepolis; where, in the common story of Persia, Jemsheed kept his royal drums and trumpets: the noise of which, when sounded there, reached his ears at Persepolis. According to the reports, which we received from the people of the country, the whole plain of Merdasht for many miles round is covered with interesting monuments of antiquity, mostly taking their direction to the southward.