The village of Ispahanek is situated just at the foot of a range of hills which screen the extent of the great city from our view. It is now reduced to a small fort, in which its population is immured. The plain is well irrigated by dikes cut from the Zaiande-rood, a river which, in its course from the West, waters the whole country. It rises from the Baktyar mountains, passes through Ispahan, and finally expends itself in the deserts of sand to the S.E. The Persians indeed have an idle belief founded on a more idle tradition, that it resumes its waters from the sand, constitutes the river which we crossed at Daulakee, and discharges itself at last into the sea at Rohilla: a connection as they still assert, ascertained by one of their Kings, who threw a marked board into the place of the disappearance, and found it again in the stream at Daulakee. Two etymologies are assigned to the name; one from Zaiandé, spurting, breaking from the ground, (jaillir;) the other, from Zendé, lost, alluding to its failure in the sand; the termination rood in either case is, river. Like every other part of the kingdom, the country round Ispahan is almost destitute of timber; and the surface is a most arid field for the researches of a botanist. The vivid rock of the mountains is lost at the point where their roots intersect the plain below.
We estimated the distance from Ispahanek to Ispahan at two fursungs, or six miles. We proceeded over the hills in regular procession; the Envoy having taken every precaution that the Mission, with which he was charged from the Throne, should be received with the the fullest attention and respect. With this view it became his express object, that the Governor of the city, Abdullah Khan, (son of Mahomed Hussein Khan, the King’s Second Minister) should come out himself to meet him. As he had been led to understand that this was a point already settled, he was surprised to hear by a message which he received when he was on the road, that the Governor refused to accede to his wishes, unless he first received a letter to that effect from the Envoy himself. In consequence we made a temporary halt; and the Envoy wrote a note, stating, that although he thought himself entitled to such a mark of attention from the Khan as an office of friendship only, yet, as the bearer of a letter from his master the King of England, to his Persian Majesty, he could not for a moment doubt, that the Governor would yield to that letter, the distinction he would pay to his own Sovereign.
It will be well indeed to remark, that from the commencement of our march, Sir Harford Jones took similar precautions to ensure every honour to his Majesty’s letter. It was always placed in a takht-e-ravan or litter, which was escorted by ten Indian troopers and an officer, and was never taken out or replaced without the trumpet of the guard sounding a blast. Whenever we stopped, it was deposited in the tent of ceremony under a cloth of gold; a sentry with a drawn sword was placed over it, and no one was permitted to sit with his back to it. The correspondence of Princes is a general object of reverence in the East; and the dignity which by these observances we attached to the letter of our Sovereign, raised among the people a corresponding respect towards his representative.
At about four miles from Ispahan, we were met by an advanced part of the inhabitants. As we approached the city, the crowd increased to numbers which baffled our calculation or guess. Although the stick was administered with an unsparing hand, it was impossible to keep the road free for our passage. People of all descriptions were collected on mules, on horses, on asses; besides an immense number on foot. First came the merchants of the city, in number about three hundred, all in their separate classes. Then followed a deputation from the Armenian clergy, composed of the Bishop and chief dignitaries in their sacerdotal robes. They carried silken banners, on which was painted the Passion of our Saviour. The Bishop, a reverend old man with a white beard, presented the Evangelists bound in crimson velvet to the Envoy, and then proceeded on, with his attendant priests, chaunting their church service.
When we came into the plain, the city of Ispahan rose upon the view, and its extent was so great East and West, that my sight could not reach its bounds. The crowd now was intensely great, and at intervals quite impeded our progress. Slowly however we were approaching near towards the city, and yet the Governor had not appeared. The Envoy intimated, that he would receive no istakball, unless the Governor headed it. Two of the chief men of the place met us, as we arrived at the entrance of a fine spacious road, between two lofty walls. This was the beginning of the Ispahan gardens, yet the walls of the city itself were still a mile from us. We turned to the left through a narrow porch, which led us into a piece of ground, planted on one side by lofty chenar trees, and bounded on the other by the beautiful river Zaiande-rood. At the extremity of this spot was a tent. We were told, that it had been prepared by the Governor for the Envoy, and that he himself was there in waiting. The Envoy stopped his horse, and declared, that unless he was met by the Governor on horseback, he would take no notice of him, but proceed to his own tents, and march straight forward to Teheran. This produced the desired effect. The Governor came forth, and met us a few paces from his tent, and we then proceeded towards it and alighted. The place, where the tent was pitched, was called Sa-atabad; a pavilion had been built there by Shah Thamas. The tent itself rested on three poles; its sides were of open worked chintz, and its floor was strewed with carpets; on which were laid out fruits and sweetmeats in great profusion. Chairs of an old-fashion, like those in the sculptures at Persepolis, were prepared for us, and we were not put to the inconvenience of pulling off our boots. We were then served with kaleoons, and afterwards with sweetmeats.
When this ceremony was over, we proceeded along the banks of the Zaiande-rood, on the opposite side of which were rows of firs, and ancient pinasters. We saw three bridges of singular yet beautiful construction. That, over which we crossed, was composed of thirty-three lower arches, above each of which were ranged three smaller ones. There is a covered causeway for foot passengers; the surface of the bridge is paved, and is of one level throughout the whole extent. After we had crossed it, we proceeded through a gate into the Chahar Bagh, which is a very spacious piece of ground, having two rows of chenar trees in the middle, and two other rows on each side. The garden is divided into parterres, and copiously watered by the canals of water, which run from one side of it to the other; and which at regular intervals are collected into basons square or octagonal. This fine alley is raised at separate distances into terraces, from which the water falls in cascades. Of the chenar trees, which line the walks, most can be traced to the time of Shah Abbas, and when any have fallen, others have immediately been planted. On either side of the Chahar Bagh, are the eight gardens which the Persians call Hasht-behesht, or eight paradises. They are laid out into regular walks of the chenar tree, are richly watered, and have each a pleasure-house, of which we were conducted to occupy the best, that at least, which was certainly in more perfect repair than the others. The rest indeed are in a state of decay, and corroborate only by the remains of the beautifully painted walls and gilded pannels, those lively and luxuriant descriptions of their former splendor which travellers have given.
On the right of the Maidan, and nearly in the centre of the Chahar Bagh, is a college called Medressé Shah Sultan Hossein. Its entrance is handsome; a lofty portico enriched with fantastic-twisted pillars, and intermixed with the beautiful marble of Tabriz, leads through a pair of brazen gates, of which the extremities are silver, and the whole surface highly carved and embossed with flowers and verses from the Koran. The gates pass into an elevated semi-dome, which at once opens into the square of the college. The right side of this court is occupied by the mosque, which is still a beautiful building, covered by a cupola and faced by two minarets. But the cupola is falling into decay, the lacquered tiles, on its exterior surface, are all peeling off, and the minarets can no longer be ascended, for the stairs are all destroyed. The interior of the dome is richly spread with variegated tiles, on which are invocations to the prophet, and verses of the Koran in the fullest profusion. I ascended the dome, from which I had but a partial view of the surrounding country; and that which I did see was scarcely any thing more than a series of ruined houses and palaces. The other sides of the square are occupied, one, by a lofty and beautiful portico, and the remaining two by rooms for the students, twelve in each front, arranged in two stories. These apartments are little square cells, spread with carpets, and appeared to me admirably calculated for study. Indeed, the quiet and retirement of this college, the beauty and serenity of the climate, and the shrubbery and water in the courts, would have combined to constitute it in my eyes a sanctuary for learning, and a nursery for the learned, if it had been in any other country. We had some conversation with the Director of the college Medressé Jedéh, Mirza Mahomed Cossim. He is an old man, and possesses a very high literary reputation in Persia, and appeared indeed to know much more than the greater part of those whom we had seen, and to be a perfect master of the history of Persia. He was extremely inquisitive, and his questions were acute and pertinent; he was much delighted with our drawings, and with the map of our route, which we had laid down.
The palaces of the King are enclosed in a fort of lofty walls, which may have a circumference of three miles. The palace of the Chehel Sitoon, or “forty pillars,” is situated in the middle of an immense square, which is intersected by various canals, and planted in different directions by the beautiful chenar tree. In front is an extensive square basin of water, from the farthest extremity of which the palace is beautiful beyond either the power of language or the correctness of pencil to delineate. The first saloon is open towards the garden, and is supported by eighteen pillars, all inlaid with mirrors, and (as the glass is in much greater proportion than the wood) appearing indeed at a distance to be formed of glass only. Each pillar has a marble base, which is carved into the figures of four lions placed in such attitudes, that the shaft seems to rest on their four united backs. The walls, which form its termination behind, are also covered with mirrors placed in such a variety of symmetrical positions, that the mass of the structure appears to be of glass, and when new must have glittered with most magnificent splendour. The ceiling is painted in gold flowers, which are still fresh and brilliant. Large curtains are suspended on the outside, which are occasionally lowered to lessen the heat of the sun.
From this saloon an arched recess (in the same manner studded with glass, and embellished here and there with portraits of favourites) leads into an extensive and princely hall. Here the ceiling is arranged in a variety of domes and figures, and is painted and gilded with a taste and elegance worthy of the first and most civilized of nations. Its finely proportioned walls are embellished by six large paintings: three on one side and three on the other. In the centre of that opposite to the entrance is painted Shah Ismael, in an exploit much renowned in Persian story; when in the great battle with Soliman, Emperor of the Turks, he cuts the Janisary Aga in two before the Sultan. On the right of this, surrounded by his dancing women, musicians, and grandees, is Shah Abbas the Great, seated at a banquet, and offering a cup of wine to another King, whom he is entertaining at his side. The wine, indeed, seems to have flowed in plenty, for one of the party is stretched on the floor in the last stage of drunkenness. The painting to the left is Shah Thamas, in another banquet scene. Opposite to the battle between Shah Ismael and Sultan Soliman, is that of Nadir Shah and Sultan Mahmoud of India. On the left of this is Shah Abbas the Younger, who also is occupied with the pleasures of the table; and on the right is Shah Ismael again, in an engagement with the Usbeck Tartars. These paintings, though designed without the smallest knowledge of perspective, though the figures are in general ill-proportioned, and in attitudes awkward and unnatural, are yet enlivened by a spirit and character so truly illustrative of the manners and habits of the nations which are represented, that I should have thought them an invaluable addition to my collection, if I could have had time to have made copies of them. When it is remembered, that the artist neither could have had the advantages of academical studies, nor the opportunities of improving his taste and knowledge by the galleries of the great in Europe, or conversed with masters in the art, his works would be allowed to possess a very considerable share of merit, and to be strong instances of the genius of the people. The colours with which they are executed retain their original freshness; at least if they have faded they must have been such in their first state, as we have not seen in Europe. The gilding, which is every where intermixed, either to explain the richness of the dress, or the quality of the utensils, is of a brilliancy perhaps never surpassed.
They possess less questionably an excellence, to which the merit of colouring is at any rate very subordinate. They mark strongly and faithfully the manners of their subject, and combine in a series of pleasing and accurate records a variety of details, of feature, attitude, dress, dancing, musical instruments, table furniture, arms, and horse accoutrements of the country. Shah Abbas, in the painting to the right, has no beard. The fashions have altered with the times, and the present King cherishes a beard which descends lower than his girdle, and touches the ground when he sits. The notoriety of Shah Abbas in the revels of the table, and particularly his love of wine, are here displayed in characters so strong, that they cannot be mistaken: and so little did he endeavour to conceal his propensities, that he is here painted in the very act of drinking. The faces of the women are very pleasing, but their wanton looks and lascivious attitudes easily explain their professions.