| Cavalry | 22,000 |
| Infantry | 12,000 |
| Infantry disciplined in the European manner | 6,000 |
| 40,000 |
The troops under these descriptions are composed principally of men furnished in different quotas in lieu of rent by the villages, but paid, clothed, and fed by the Prince. But besides this number actually enrolled, each man has also a substitute, who is similarly instructed in the use of arms, ready to supply his place if he should be cut off in battle, or prevented by any other accident.
Mirza Bozurk, first Minister to the Prince, appeared to me by far the most superior man whom I saw in Persia. I brought a present to him from the Envoy, which, however, he advised me to offer to the Prince in my own name, as it was not the custom in their country to pay a visit empty-handed to a person of rank. I resisted this, because, in the first place, I saw no necessity for the visit at any rate, as I was merely a passenger through the province, and had no business at the court. I mention this trait of liberality, because it is so singular in his nation. He talked much of the state of improvement in which the Prince’s administration had brought the province of Aderbigian; never speaking of his own counsels or co-operation, to which so much is due, but always referring the whole merit to the talents of his Prince. He said, that within one year they had brought their artillery to a state of perfection which might rival that of their enemies the Russians; that their infantry had now learned the perfect use of arms; and that, by the acknowledgment of the Russians themselves, the Persian soldiers were now a match for them. He added, that no pains had been spared to acquire a knowledge of military tactics, and the theory of fortification, which they had gleaned from French and Russian books, translated by the Prince’s order into Persian. The Minister said, that the Prince was the only person in Persia who had a complete set of charts, besides drawings of every instrument and weapon used by Europeans in war. He told me that they had discovered in Aderbigian mines of iron and brass, which, entirely by their own ingenuity, they made productive; but that they still laboured under the greatest inconvenience from the want of proper artists and miners, and could not therefore derive the full profit which they might otherwise expect, or as yet reduce the price of their produce. According to the Minister, better guns are now cast at Tabriz than at Ispahan; and they had invented also a small kind of artillery, which was sufficiently light to be carried by mules keeping pace with the march of their cavalry over mountains and difficult passes.
When I offered to procure from England any books and other necessaries to facilitate their operations and give new light to those subjects upon which they were imperfectly informed; the Minister replied, that nothing in the world could afford greater satisfaction to the Prince and himself; but he added, “there is only one thing which England will keep from our knowledge, as she has done from every other nation, the art of building ships.” I assured him that England would furnish Persia not with instructions only, but with masters, as she had done for Turkey and Russia. He answered, “all this may be very true; but there is still an art which she possesses in matters of navigation which she will never disclose to any nation. If it be not so, how is it possible,” he continued, “that her ships should be so superior to all others, and that none have ever yet been able to defeat her in any combat at sea.” I answered, that her superiority consisted not in the ships, but, by the blessing of God, in the men that were in them; that, in fact, in building ships we were equalled, if not exceeded, by the French; and that the superiority could not rest in the vessels, since a considerable proportion of our navy consisted of prizes taken in battle. The Minister, however, was unconvinced, and continued to believe that there was some secret in our naval architecture on which our success depended. At our parting visit the Minister added, that the Prince was anxious to have some insight into the history of England, and desired me to bring with me on my return some book on the subject. He wished me also to procure for him histories of France and Russia, in order to compare them with those which he had already got; for, said he, “the English being known ever to tell the truth, and the French and Russians to be less scrupulous, the Prince will not be satisfied with what he has learnt, until He hears it confirmed by an English pen.”
During our residence at his capital, the Prince received intelligence of the discovery of a lead mine in the territory of Khalcal, fourteen fursungs from Tabriz, in the direction in which they had found mines of saltpetre and copper. As a specimen, a large piece of ore, almost pure and free from earth, was produced. At Bakouba there is a mine of sulphur. The district of Khalcal alone furnishes to the revenue of Aderbigian fifty thousand tomauns; the whole of that revenue was stated to me at seven hundred thousand; but whatever may be the correctness of this account which I received from a Persian, the province is certainly the choicest part of Persia that we saw.
The population of Tabriz is to all appearance much exaggerated; I was told indeed that it contained fifty thousand houses, and two hundred and fifty thousand persons. There are about two hundred Armenian families, who live in a Mahalé or parish by themselves. Tabriz manufactures a great number of silk stuffs, which are much used.
During our stay at Tabriz the Prince spent a day in the garden of Hajee Khan Mahomed. Whenever he wishes to shew any mark of attention, he sends to let the person know that he will be his guest on such a day. This sort of visit, however, generally costs the entertainer a large sum (in this instance two thousand tomauns) as the Prince is followed by his whole household. When he alights from his horse, shawls and gold stuffs are strewed on the ground, over which he walks: a part of the ceremony which is called the Pai-endaz.
28th. I dined with Mirza Hassan, son of the first Minister, Mirza Bozurk. There were a number of young and pleasant men, who would have enlivened any company; but they seemed to vie with each other in the marvellous. As a specimen; a Derveish had told one, that he was in his room when a shock of an earthquake threw him on the floor, where he lay for a long time in a trance; and on recovering, found himself, to his great surprise, extended in the court-yard, close under his apartment: a second shock having projected him senseless out of the window. Of slight-of-hand they recounted the most wonderful feats; and to all this, they swear by each other’s heads, eyes, sons, and fathers. The surest prognostic, indeed, of a falsehood is the number of emphatic oaths by which it is preceded. The Persians are called, with sufficient propriety, the Frenchmen of the East; they are indeed a talkative, complimentary, and insincere people, yet in manners agreeable and enlivening.
A description of the etiquettes of the court, or even of private life, in Persia, would be a work of endless and trifling minutiæ. They are such however, and so well recognised, and so easily observed and imitated by every class from their youth, and indeed (in the government under which they live) so strongly mark the gradations of rank, that no person, even of the meanest condition, is ignorant of his proper situation, and of the several etiquettes attached to it. In the education of a young man of family, the principal feature is the course of instruction which he receives in the forms and phrases of society. For that purpose, from the earliest age of the pupil, masters attend who teach the modes of salutation, and the appropriate compliments to superiors and inferiors. They also instruct him, where to sit on entering a Mujlis (or assembly); of whom he has the right of precedence, &c. and greater importance is assigned to this knowledge than almost to any thing else. Nothing marks this more strongly than the forms which gradually ascend in a regular scale from the peasant to the King. The first Minister appears under the same discipline of humiliation before his Majesty, as the Rayat, before the Ket Khoda of his village; and it is somewhat ridiculous to see that man, who sat in state in his Dewan, surrounded by a numerous circle of obsequious attendants, performing the next moment, in his turn, all the offices of one of those attendants before the King. In Persia, and I believe generally over the East, a son never sits down in the presence of his father. Thus the King’s sons always stand before him, and are regarded only as the first of his servants. Prince Abbas Mirza, who is Governor of Aderbigian, and Heir Apparent of the crown, when he repairs to the court of his father, appears there like any one of the other sons, with the single advantage of taking the precedence of the rest.
The King is never approached by his subjects without frequent inclinations of the body; and when the person introduced to his presence has reached a certain distance, he waits until the King orders him to proceed; upon which he leaves his shoes, and walks forwards with a respectful step to a second spot, until His Majesty again directs him to advance. No one ever sits before the King except relations of Kings, Poets, learned and Holy Men, and Embassadors: His Ministers and Officers of State are never admitted to the privilege. The place of honour is on the left. When an inferior visits a superior, he sits at a distance, and not on the same musnud. He places himself on the Nummud (the long carpet that skirts the room); nor even there, till he is desired: and, in approaching his superior, he is very careful to cover himself with his outer-coat, and to sit down directly on his heels, so that his feet are completely hidden. When a servant comes before his master, he makes an inclination of his body; and, when he goes away, he walks backwards until he reaches the door, where he makes another inclination.