There is as much etiquette in smoking as in sitting. No inferior calls for his kaleoon, until the superior has given the lead. No one can smoke before the King; and only particular persons before the Princes.
I had some conversation with a native of Mazanderan, who extolled the virtues of his countrymen, and complained of the ill-conduct of their rulers, in equal proportion. He himself had been despoiled of his property, and reduced almost to beggary; but, as he added, many from his province had gone to India, and by their abilities on a more favourable ground, had realized fortunes.
He told me that there were two entrances into Mazanderan; one, by the Pile Rud-bar, the road through which leads off the bridge over which we crossed the Kizzil Ozan; and the other, by the way of Resht on the borders of the sea. The Jungle, or wild woodland, is so impenetrable, that, according to his illustration, an arrow discharged from a bow cannot force it, but strikes on the exterior reeds. The Pile Rud-bar is perhaps the ancient Fauces Hyrcaniæ; and the accounts of Olearius, and other modern travellers, as well as the intelligence that I received, confirm the original tremendous descriptions. I had been told at Teheran, that men are stationed at different intervals to give notice to travellers of the approach of others in an opposite direction; for in the narrowest part two mules cannot pass, nor can they turn back. I was further told at Tabriz, that the great causeway built by Shah Abbas, is falling into total decay; and in some places is so much ruined, that though mules and horses may still travel upon it, camels can no longer be used. The avenues therefore to Mazanderan might be successfully guarded by twenty expert fusileers, against any force that could be brought. The people indeed had frequently petitioned their government to repair the causeway; but it has been the policy of the court to leave it in its present state, that in case of any necessity the King might retire there in safety, and defend himself in the inaccessible fastnesses which the condition of the province thus opposes to an enemy.
The vessels which navigate the Caspian, are (according to the same authority) very rude and ill-built, being planks put together without any caulking to their seams; the people are therefore obliged incessantly to bail the water off in buckets; for they have not learnt the use of pumps, a knowledge indeed to which alone he attributed the superiority of the Russian vessels.
He told me that the people of Ghilan have a language of their own, distinct from both the Persian and the Turkish, and bearing indeed no affinity to either; although, on questioning him further on the subject, I found that they had no books written in that language, and that it was merely a Patois, or corrupted Persian, which the common people spoke.
In continuing our conversation, he mentioned that near the town of Ashreff, on the West of Asterabad, is a tribe of people called Goudar, in number about one hundred houses, or five hundred souls, who inhabit the wild country in the neighbourhood. If my Mazanderan informer may be credited, they are of no religion; and in the intercourse of the sexes, appears to descend low into savage life. A man feeling an inclination for a woman, asks her mother’s leave to carry her out into the woods, where he passes two or three days with her; and then either lives with her himself, or returns her to her mother. Their principal food is the flesh of the wild hog, of which there are vast numbers in the district. These hogs are killed by the children of the tribe, who are exercised almost from the time that they can walk, in the bow and the matchlock, and are described, in consequence, as never erring shots.
From him too I received an account of their more celebrated neighbours the Turcomans, the confines of whose territory are close to Asterabad. They are Sunnis, and in consequence execrated by the Persians, who call them Giaours or Infidels. They live in tribes or eels, being subject to no particular master. Each tribe has, indeed, a nominal chief chosen by themselves, but possessing no further authority among them than that of settling differences, and arranging their civil economy. As a people, they have no fixed habitations; but carry about the tents in which they live, and which the Persians call Kara Khader, black tents. Their general characteristics are those common to all wandering nations; great hospitality within their own boundaries, and universal depredation abroad. The Turcomans make incursions into Persia; frequently crossing the wide intervening desert of sand, and surprising and carrying away from the centre of towns and villages men, women, and children. They, even now, extend their inroads as far as Koom, Kashan, Langarood, Nusserabad; and the ruined villages about Koom were destroyed by them. These Raids, which are called Chappow, are performed on horseback by parties of twenty or thirty with incredible speed and activity. Their horses (renowned over the East for swiftness and hardiness) support them admirably in these expeditions, as like their riders they undergo immense fatigue with a very small portion of food. They are, therefore, bought by the neighbouring nations at vast prices; which, (with the sale among other tribes of their captives, and of their camels, sheep, &c.) supply the chief source of the Turcoman’s wealth, and accumulate immense sums in ready money. The captives lead a wretched life: if young, they are sent into the interior to tend the cattle; but when they grow old and unfit for service, they are killed by their masters; who comfort their consciences by placing the skin of the deceased at the threshold of their door, in the belief that he approaches Paradise in proportion as his skin gets pierced with holes and worn out. On the other hand, their hospitality, the theme of so many pens, is not exaggerated. A stranger, laden with gold and precious stones, who claims protection at the tent of a Turcoman is sure to find it. He remains there as long as he pleases, his person and his property are in perfect safety, and, when he is desirous to depart, he is escorted by one of the tribe, which alone is a sufficient protection to him through the whole of their own district, and through every other kindred people. Caravans thus travel from Asterabad to Astrachan without molestation, and in the full security of the property which they convey. Turcomania is said to be extremely populous, but wholly uncultivated. The people feel not the want of corn, and are content therefore to live upon the flesh of horses, camels, and sheep, and on the milk of mares and camels. They excavate a large hole in the ground, in which they make a fire; and, placing the meat in the embers, cover it up until it be baked. To the Northward of Turcomania are the Kamchauks, who inhabit a desert, and are reported to be most ferocious and warlike, and hitherto unconquered. All these inhabit the Eastern borders of the Caspian Sea, called by the Persians Dereea-Kulzum.[41] The Persians are at present at peace with the Turcomans, although they are still equally liable to be surprised by their Chappow parties. In the time even of Shah Abbas these depredations were carried to an inconceivable extent. Aga Mahomed Khan, the late King, made several attempts against them without any profit; and particularly indeed against the Kamchauks, where he met with a defeat. In former times the Turcomans used to make their attacks on the coasts of Ghilan and Mazanderan in boats. Now they are not so depredatory; because the country is more inaccessible, and the people, according to my informer, are more dextrous in their matchlock guns and bows; so much, indeed, are they improved, that, in the true Persian style, he added, “Twenty men of Mazanderan will beat one thousand Turcomans.”
We recommenced our journey on the 1st of June; and on that day waited upon Mirza Bozurk to pay our respects to him on leaving Tabriz. He told us that we were now departing at a most lucky hour, for that this had been the morning fixed some time ago by the astrologers as the most fortunate for the Prince to leave his capital, preparatory to his usual summer campaign. He informed us, among other news, (that had just reached him from Constantinople) that the Turks had defeated the Russians, and had taken so many prisoners that they were selling them in the bazars at Constantinople.