The kabob shops (or eating-houses on the plan of those in Turkey) seemed to be also equally clean and well arranged. From one of these a complete dinner, with every necessary convenience of dishes, sherbets, &c. may be procured at a short notice, and at a moderate expence. The most frequent shops appeared to be those of sweetmeats, which (in a consumption almost incredible) form the chief ingredients of Persian food, and are here arranged for sale very neatly in large China vases, clean glass vessels, and bright brass platters. The people excel in the composition; and import their sugar from India, and their sugar-candy from China. Large quantities of sugar come from Cairo also, through Suez.

The Beglerbeg, or Governor, gave the Envoy and his suite an entertainment which, in one particular only, was more splendid than those at Shiraz. The great court and all the avenues were here illuminated by a vast number of small lamps, which threw an immense blaze of light all over the place. A China drum which the Beglerbeg had been keeping for many years till a fit opportunity for the display should occur, was now brought forwards. It was suspended on high in the middle of the court. The fire was applied to it, but it emitted thick vapour with little explosions at intervals; and though a meschal or great torch was at length tried, it only increased the smoke and stench, and proved too clearly, that the whole was a Chinese fraud, not unfrequently practised on the purchasers of their drums; a little gunpowder was placed at the ends indeed, but the centre was stuffed with old rags. The other fire-works also were generally miserable, in comparison with those at Shiraz. The dinner, (instead of being served in the usual manner on the ground) was placed on tables framed for the occasion, and was piled up in enormous heaps. The Beglerbeg had the further attention to provide us with plates, spoons, knives, and forks, which were all in like manner made for the day’s entertainment. The spoons were of silver, and that for the Envoy was of gold.

The report, which we had received on the road, that it was the intention of the government to detain the Envoy at Ispahan, did not prove without foundation. The Beglerbeg said, “that the Embassador was to stay at Ispahan to see the country at his leisure, and visit all the fine buildings of the city.” However, at a private conference which Sir Harford had with him at the Goush Khonéh, all this was changed, so that the Beglerbeg was then more anxious even than ourselves, that we should proceed to the capital with every possible expedition. He now urged on the Envoy, promising all his assistance to enable him to reach Teheran, before the commencement of the mourning of the Moharrem; engaging his own mules to convey us from Ispahan, and ordering two relays of one hundred and fifty each at Kashan and at Kom. This anxiety was again seconded by a courier, who had arrived in two days from Teheran, and had brought the answers to the letters which we had dispatched from Khonéh Korréh.

CHAP. X.
ISPAHAN TO TEHERAN.

DEPARTURE FROM ISPAHAN—MOURCHEKOURD—SCENE OF THE VICTORY OF NADIR SHAH—RUINS—THE BUND KOHROOD—KASHAN—SALT DESERT—KOOM; TOMB—POOL DALLAUK; ADVENTURE IN THE NIGHT—VIEW OF TEHERAN—APPROACH—ENTRANCE INTO THE CITY.

On the 7th of February, accordingly we left Ispahan; our first day’s march, from Goush Khonéh to Gez, was a distance of ten miles only. On the right of the road is a village called Sayin, which, as we were told, produces the best melons in the country. The soil, over which we travelled, was soft and crumbling, and strongly impregnated with salt, and in parts rendered muddy and swampy by the streams which intersect it. The weather was lowering on all sides, with a breeze from the Westward; which here and there in little whirlwinds carried the sand high up into the air in columns, resembling water-spouts at sea. The whole plain is covered with ruins, from which only now and then a few miserable peasants crept out to gape at our passing troops. The dikes, cut from the banks of the Zaiande-rood, irrigate the whole of the plain, and produce a greater appearance of cultivation than hitherto we had generally seen. The caravanserai at Gez, though falling into decay, is still handsome, and is built of the same materials, and on nearly the same grand scale, as that which we had occupied at Mayar. This likewise is the work of the Seffis. Similar caravanserais were constructed at every stage on the road to Bagdad; nothing, indeed, can equal the truly royal establishments which Shah Abbas the Great maintained throughout his dominions for the accommodation of strangers.

8th February. The bearing from Gez to Mourchekourd is N. W. and the distance by our computation is eighteen miles, which we travelled in six hours. At about seven miles, we came to a ruined caravanserai, built of the same materials and in the same neat manner as that at Gez. Nearly facing it is a well, to which we descended by a path, excavated from the surface on an angle of forty-five degrees, and about fifty yards in length. We saw small fish swimming about in this well, which appeared to us to be a spring of fine and limpid water. After having travelled about six miles further, we came to a very handsome caravanserai. We had discovered it immediately on ascending the summit of a range of hills, over which the road carried us. It is situated on the right of the road, and, with its bath and reservoirs on the left, was built by the mother of Shah Abbas. The structure has suffered less, than any other which we have seen, by the injuries of time and man. It is built of brick on a foundation of the same fine blue stone, which we had so much admired at Mayar. The front is ornamented with an open brick-work, and with neat Mosaic. The portico is crowned by a superb dome, and leads into the square court; the sides of which contain the rooms for travellers. Behind are vaulted stables with much accommodation. The hummum is useless through decay; but the reservoir is still in good repair.

From this we proceeded five miles to Mourchekourd, and passed over a part of the plain, on which Nadir Shah gained his decisive victory over Ashreff, the Affghan Chief. The mountains to the Northward were covered with snow, and still presented a winter to us, although the weather on the plain was delightfully serene and mild. The soil is hard, in some places argillaceous. The whole country, which we had passed in the day’s march, was poor and depopulated, though the ruins in different parts of the plain, speak that it was once enlivened and enriched by men. As we approached Mourchekourd we found indeed cultivation, and the kanauts which produce it.

9th. From Mourchekourd a caravanserai which we were to pass, bore by our compass N. 15 W. a distance of twelve miles. The road was good, on an arid plain, bounded by inconsiderable mountains. The caravanserai itself was another of those structures, which in the latter part of our route we had so often admired. From this point we continued for eight miles over rising and falling ground to a second caravanserai called Aga Kemal, but pronounced short without the g, Aakemal. Around we saw a little cultivation and a few poplars; all the rest is desert. On the left, bearing West, is the small territory of Joshoogun, containing the three villages of Bendai, Khosroabad, and Vazvoon, which we descried at the distance of about four miles, situated under a red hill at the extremity of the plain. From Aga Kemal we ascended mountains entirely covered with snow, which, from its appearance indeed, may remain there throughout the whole year. The distance to Kohrood was still sixteen miles, which we travelled by sun-set, having set off at five in the morning. By the bearings of elevated hills we arranged our whole march to the direction N. 10 W.