Tabriz is no more the magnificent city described by Chardin: all its large buildings have been destroyed by earthquakes. I rode round the walls, and estimated the circumference at three miles. Three of the gates are ornamented with pillars, inlaid with green-lacquered bricks, and look very respectable; the other five are very small and mean. The walls are very weak, and here and there renewed with mud-bricks baked in the sun. The whole town is surrounded by gardens, which the Persians call Meewa-khonéh, or fruit-houses. One of these, to the West, belonging to Hajee Khan Mahomed, is very extensive, and planted entirely with fruit-trees, excepting one row of poplars; the only other wood indeed which I saw at Tabriz, and that of which all the timber-work of their houses is constructed. There are thousands therefore planted on the borders of every stream about the city. The abundance of fruit in the season was already evident, by the state of the gardens, and particularly of the apricot trees. In the spaces between the lines, were mounds of earths in rows, on which vines were extended on an angle of about 60°, and irrigated by water introduced through channels formed by the bases of the mounds.
To the N. W. of the city is a very extensive burial place; over the whole of which are strewed black blocks of stone or granite, carved in the manner which I have frequently described, and mostly without an inscription, though some bore the Arabic character. To the S. W. of the town are some more of these ancient tombs, one of which is of the red stone, evidently cut from the adjacent mountains; the others are of a black marble, which takes a fine polish, but which is now no longer used, nor could I learn even the situation of the quarries. One of the stones measured eight feet and a half in length, and two feet and a half in breadth; and covered probably some very distinguished hero: near it is a small mosque.
The transparent or rather diaphanous substance, with beautiful veins, (which is called the marble of Tabriz, and which I have described in some of the public buildings at Shiraz and Ispahan) is not procured near the city or taken from a quarry, but is said to be rather a petrifaction found in large quantities, and in immense blocks, on the borders of the lake Shahee, near the town of Meraughéh. It takes the finest polish, and is employed in baths, in the wainscoting of rooms, in tomb-stones, and in every other purpose where ornamental marble is necessary.
There are twelve public baths, some of which are handsome; and there is a bazar, which extends the length of the city, but it is mean and dirty. Tabriz has no mosques of any particular merit: on entering indeed there is the large ruin already mentioned; and to the S. W. of the city (enclosed in the Ark or fort of Ali Shah, which contains the barracks and magazines) are the remains of another, now converted into a look-out house. This is a conspicuous, but very unseemly object, and to me seemed of little use, and from its height to be the most exposed either to the shock of an earthquake, or to an attack from a battery. The danger of earthquakes has taught the inhabitants of Tabriz to build their houses generally as low as possible; and to employ more wood than brick and plaster, in their construction. For the same reason the bazars have only wooden roofs, and are not arched as those in the better cities of Persia. Yet I am told that in earthquakes, the domed buildings (particularly the Hummum Khan, the largest in Tabriz) have invariably stood; where others, the strongest walls, have been rent asunder.
Tabriz had declined to an insignificant place, when about four years ago the present Prince, Abbas Mirza, the Heir Apparent of the crown, was appointed to the government of Aderbigian, and made it his capital. When we visited his city, he had resided there four years, and had guarded the frontiers of Persia against the Russians. During that time he had repaired and beautified the walls, had made a new Maidan, and erected some new buildings. Indeed, before, there was no place fit for his habitation; and all the great men attached to his court have since been obliged to build houses for their own accommodation.
The Prince is said by the Persians to possess every quality, that can grace a mortal; and (as there are many circumstances in his character, which his countrymen would never think of inventing) I am inclined to believe them. They were related to me by the Hakim or Governor of the city, at whose house I lodged during my residence at Tabriz. Some time ago, three of the Prince’s children died; his Vizir appeared before him with a mournful face; the Prince observed him, and inquired the reason: the Vizir hesitated, “Speak,” said the Prince, “is there any public disaster? have the Russians been successful? have they taken any more country from us?” “No,” answered the Minister, “it is not that; your children are sick:” “What of that?” asked the Prince; “But very sick indeed,” continued the Vizir: “Perhaps then they are dead,” interrupted the Father. His Minister confessed the truth. “Dead!” said the Prince, “why should I grieve? the state has lost nothing by them; had I lost three of my good servants, had three useful officers died, then indeed I should have grieved: but my children were babes, and God knows whether, if they had grown up to man’s estate, they would have proved good servants to their country.”
The Prince is remarkable also for the plainness of his dress; he never wears any thing more than a coat of common Kerbas (a strong cotton cloth) and a plain shawl round his waist. Whenever he sees any officers of his court in fine laced or brocade clothes, he asks them, “What is the use of all this finery. Instead of this gold and tinsel, why not buy yourself a good horse, a good sword, a good gun; this frippery belongs to women, not to one, who calls himself a man and a soldier.” He inspects himself all the detail of his troops, their arms, horses, and accoutrements, adopting those that appear to him fit for use, and rejecting those that are below his standard. The Governor of the city, who related these traits to me, had in his house at the time two hundred muskets, which the Prince refused out of two thousand, that had been sent to him from Teheran, having himself examined every single gun, and tried every lock. He is said also to be extremely liberal to his troops, and to give all his money among them.
When I asked the Governor, if Messrs. Jouannin and Nerciat, of the French Embassy, (who had arrived a few days before us, and whom I overtook at Tabriz) had as yet departed, he replied that they were gone. When he came back to me in the evening, he told me that they were not. He added, that on appearing before the Prince in the morning, he had related my question and his own answer; on which the Prince exclaimed, “You told him that they were gone! How could you tell him such a falsehood; I will not allow any of my servants to speak an untruth—Go and tell him that they are not gone.” It appeared that the Governor had been really mistaken in his first report.
The Governor talked also of his Prince’s horsemanship, and skill in the chase, which were unequalled. He told me that at full gallop the Prince could shoot a deer with a single ball, or with the arrow from his bow, hit a bird on the wing. He combines indeed the three great qualities of the ancient Persians, which Xenophon enumerates, riding, shooting with the bow, and speaking truth. His countrymen however are, in general, less severe in their estimate of the requisites of a great character, and are content to omit the last trait of excellence; but they never praise any one without placing in the foremost of his virtues his horsemanship; in which alone perhaps they possess any national pride. I once in fact was in some danger of a serious dispute, by hazarding a doubt, that the Turks rode better than the Persians. It is quite ridiculous to hear them boast of their own feats on horseback, and despise the cavalry of every other nation. They always said, “Perhaps your infantry may surpass ours; but our horsemen are the first in the world; nothing can stand before their activity and impetuosity.” In fact, they have courage—one of the first qualities of a horseman; they ride without the least apprehension over any country, climb the most dangerous steeps over rock and shrub; and keep their way in defiance of every obstacle of ground. They have also a firm seat, and that on a saddle which, among an hundred different sorts, would be called the least commodious. But that is all; they understand nothing of a fine hand, nor indeed with their bridles can they learn; for they use only a strong snaffle, fastened to the rein by an immense ring on each side, which they place indifferently in the strongest or weakest mouths: nor do they know how to spare their horses and save them unnecessary fatigue; for their pace is either a gallop on the full stretch, or a walk. As a nation, as fit stuff for soldiers, I know of no better materials. The Persian possesses the true qualities of the soldier; active, inured to labour, careless of life, admiring bravery, and indeed (as the chief object of their ambition) aspiring to the appellation of resheed or courageous.
The greater part of the Prince’s horse were sent out at this season into different districts, where grass is the most plentiful; and there were said to be only three thousand men in garrison at Tabriz. The amount of the general force under the government of the Prince, according to the information of his Prime Minister, is as follows:—