21st. The six hours and a half which we spent on the road to Saidabad to-day, were very pleasant, as we had covered weather with a fine fresh breeze from the W. We went twenty-five miles in the direction of N. 40 W. on a good road, which had been hardened by the late wind. At about five miles from Tekmé-dash, on the left, is the village of Bini Kieu; and a little further, (on a rising ground through which the road passes,) are a collection of large stones, apparently the remains of a building, with a few large oblong blocks curiously carved, which certainly belonged to it. They resembled, indeed, rather the tomb-stones which I had remarked before; but they had no characters upon them. At about five miles before we came to Saidabad we entered a pass in the mountain, on the right of which, as we left the plain, we noticed a piece of water with much wild fowl upon it. After having ascended and again descended the pass, (from the summit of which we had a view of the mountain of Tabriz), we came to a caravanserai situated amid very picturesque scenery just at the bottom. The right wing, and many other parts of this edifice, were falling into ruin. It contains a square area of two hundred and sixty paces of an admirable and solid construction; the work of the Seffis, strongly contrasted with the comparatively miserable buildings of the present day in Persia. The fine arches of the domes attest the excellence of art in the age of its erection. The interior arrangements are very good: on each side of the square are rooms, each with a fire-place, and in the centre of the whole is a large square compartment, divided into a variety of chambers of all descriptions, with recesses for horses. All this is built of a fine brick, with a strong foundation, and occasional reliefs of stone. At the foot of the whole building, at close intervals, are stones cut for the convenience of tying up cattle. At this spot we were overtaken by a storm of thunder and hail, and driven to seek refuge in the caravanserai; where the gloom of the old building, enlivened by the grotesque figures of our party, reminded me of those scenes of romance which modern writers have so frequently laboured to describe.
We turned off from the high road to the left, and at about two miles and a half from the caravanserai reached Saidabad. We found in it a mud fort, and houses with roofs arched but extremely low. Our servants were introduced into a chamber, a part of which was already occupied by a family of young asses; the rest was all their own. In all parts of the village were small pyramids of cow-dung, the different collections of the poor inhabitants for their winter fuel. The walls of their houses were likewise covered with great cakes of the same materials, which were then drying as additions to their stock. The common children collect this; and I have frequently seen two little creatures contending for it with the highest anxiety and animation.
There is so great a scarcity of wood over the whole country through which we have passed, that the poor are necessarily reduced to these extremities for the supply of their wants. In general they are miserably clad; the children have scarcely any thing to cover them but a shirt of coarse linen, which hardly reaches their middle; and the women wear nothing but a shirt, a pair of drawers, a jacket, and a veil, which covers their head and serves them on all occasions. Even in these poor villages the females are inconceivably shy. I happened to be standing near the place where the people were loading our baggage, when a poor woman seemed anxious to come forth from the neighbouring house, but durst not whilst a man was near. She kept peeping at intervals through the door for nearly half an hour, and drew in her head precipitately, although muffled, whenever a man’s face was turned towards her. When I have told the Persians that in Europe a husband has but one wife, and that in company we pay more civility to any female than to the greatest man, they have remained astonished, wondering that creatures (as women in their eyes appear), born only for their pleasure and convenience, should at all partake of any of those attentions which they deem to be due to Themselves exclusively.
As we were seated in our miserable dwelling, the village music attended us, composed of a singer, and players on the tambourine and on two kamounchas. To the great mortification of these poor people we dispensed with their noise, which, if it had begun, would not readily have ended.
22d. From Saidabad to Tabriz is a distance of about fourteen miles, on a direction of N. 50 W. There are said to be two volcanoes in the neighbourhood. Having travelled ten miles, we stopped to breakfast at a charming spot, near a beautiful stream of water, crossing us from S. W. to N. E. and surrounded by more wood than altogether we had seen all over the latter part of our journey. They are principally poplar (almost the only tree indeed which we had remarked in our route) and many are felled for building. Within two miles of Tabriz there is a village on a hillock, called Condorood; and immediately on the skirts of this spot is another, called Basmidge: on leaving which we saw great numbers of those square and oblong stones, so often mentioned in my Journal. As among them there are modern tombs, the original intent of the more ancient stones is certainly the same.
CHAP. XV.
TABRIZ.
APPROACH TO TABRIZ—ENTRANCE—HEALTHINESS OF THE SITUATION—GARDENS—MARBLE OF TABRIZ—DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY—CHARACTER OF THE PRINCE—ANECDOTES—PERSIAN HORSEMANSHIP—MILITARY QUALITIES—FORCE OF THE PROVINCE—THE FIRST MINISTER—GOVERNMENT AND SUCCESS OF THE PRINCE—PROJECTS OF IMPROVEMENT—SHIPS—REVENUE OF THE PROVINCE—POPULATION OF TABRIZ—ENTERTAINMENT—PERSIAN CONVERSATION—MANNERS—ACCOUNT OF MAZANDERAN—FAUCES HYRCANIÆ?—VESSELS OF THE CASPIAN—GHILAN—THE GOUDARS—TURCOMANS; INROADS; CONDUCT TO THEIR PRISONERS—KAMCHAUKS.
The road across the plain towards Tabriz is very fine; and on each side of it we saw numerous ploughs. Four oxen were employed to each; for the soil is here hard, and turned with more difficulty. The implement itself, however, appeared more ponderous than any that we had seen before. About three miles from Tabriz the road is intersected by hills of a sandy and stony soil. Here we were met by an officer deputed from the Prince to greet our arrival. He was accompanied by ten or fifteen men, and preceded by a led horse. As soon as our party perceived their approach, it was ridiculous enough to see how every one put on any the smallest piece of finery that he possessed, in order to strike the others with respect. The Mirza alighted from his mule and mounted a horse; and when we met, all the flattery and compliments were repeated with the same sincerity as before on our road to Teheran. They talked of themselves and their government with singular complacency, and of the Russians with the utmost contempt. The officer who came to meet us said, “they fear us like dogs; we have every thing better than they have; they will never dare to shew their faces again.”
Tabriz first appears between the angle of the bases of two hills, and then opens to the view by degrees. In the season in which we saw it, it formed a pretty object; as the constant monotony of the mud-walls and mud-brick houses was hid by the rich foliage of the trees, which are interspersed throughout the city. Close to the walls, near the Teheran gate, is the complete ruin of a mosque, but still sufficiently preserved to shew how fine a structure it must once have been. It was built about six hundred years ago, by Shah Shem Ghuzan, (the successor of Shah Mahomed Khodabendeh, whose tomb has been described at Sultaniéh,) but it has been destroyed by an earthquake within thirty years. The inhabitants extol the fruitfulness of the territory, and the salubrity of the air of Tabriz. Its very name, according to the Persian etymology, indicates the excellence of its situation, for it is composed of Tab a fever, and riz fled.[40] They complain, however, (though as of their only inconvenience) of frequent and violent earthquakes, which they attribute to the volcanoes in the district, which throw out smoke but no flame. The smoke is so mephitical, that it kills immediately a dog or fowl placed over it. The volcanoes are particularly to the East, in mountains of a red and copper-like appearance, announcing much mineral matter. The climate of Tabriz is subject also to much thunder, lightning, and rain.