TO
JOHN FLEMING, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., &c.,
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE MEDICAL BOARD OF CALCUTTA,
BY
HIS MOST SINCERE AND ATTACHED FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
| Page | |
| Introduction | [xi] |
| CHAPTER I. | |
| Voyage from Bombay to the Persian Gulf | [1] |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| Muscat | [6] |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| The Persian Gulf and Abusheher | [15] |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Camp at Abusheher—Horses—Abdûlla Aga—Anecdote of an Arab | [22] |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| Hunting and hawking—Entertainment of the Shaikh—Tollemache— | |
| Mirage—Nadir Shâh and Turkish ambassador | [28] |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Elchee's lectures—Mehmandar's journal—Arab nurse—Blue-Beard— | |
| Persian ceremony—King's picture | [37] |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Mountaineers—Valley of Kazeroon—Virtue of Nitric Acid—Rizâ | |
| Kooli Khan's loss of eyes—Extraordinary birds—Beautiful | |
| valley of Desht-e-Arjun—Mahomet Rizâ Khan Byat—Irish | |
| patriotism—Persian squire | [45] |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Principal characters of the mission—Mahomed Hoosein Khan—Jaffier | |
| Ali Khan—Meerzâ Aga Meer—Mahomed Hoosein—Hajee | |
| Hoosein—Candidates for the Elchee's favour | [53] |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| Importance of forms—Description of those used at visits in Persia— | |
| Difficulties on this subject—Happy termination of a battle | |
| of ceremonies between the first mission and the petty court of | |
| Shiraz—Persian society—Fables and Apologues | [62] |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| Fable of the two cats—Preamble to Persian treaty—Apologues | |
| from Sâdee—Letter from Nizâm-ool-Moolk to Mahomed Shâh—Death | |
| of Yezdijird | [77] |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| Shiraz—Shaikh-ool-Islûm, or Chief Judge—Story of Ald-ool-Kadir— | |
| Entertainments—Derveesh Seffer—Story of Abdûlla | |
| of Khorassan—Persian poet | [87] |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| Persian servants—Departure from Shiraz—Persepolis—Tale of the | |
| labours of Roostem—Anecdote of a sportsman | [105] |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| Travellers and Antiquaries—Wild Ass—Hawking—Mâder-e-Sûlimân— | |
| Akleed—Mirrors—Mehdee Khan—Isfahan—Persian citizens and | |
| peasantry—Shâh Abbas the Great—Hâroon-oor-Rasheed—Nethenz | [123] |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| Cashan—Scorpions—Câshânee youth—Village of Sinsin—Plundering | |
| expeditions of the Tûrkâmâns—Account of that tribe—Wandering | |
| tribes—Visit to the dwelling of Mihrâb Khan—Afshâr—Account | |
| of his family and adherents—Anecdote of Kerreem Khan | [145] |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| Arrival at Koom—Mahomedan ladies—their rights and privileges | |
| after marriage—Divorces—Story of Hajee Salâh, the cross-grained | [161] |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| Departure from Koom—Poolee-Dellâk—Deryâ-e-Kebeer—Valley | |
| of the Shadow of Death—Story of a Ghool—Remarks on | |
| Persian poetry | [180] |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| Distant view of Teheran—Demavend—Rhe—Entrance into the | |
| capital—Hajee Ibrahim—Zâl Khan—Terms of courtesy | [197] |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| Terms of reception at court—Second visit—Delivery of presents—King's | |
| grant—Private interviews—King's ancestors—Crown | |
| jewels—King's love of a joke—Mode of passing his time—Harem— | |
| Royal meals—Hajee Ibrahim—His character and death | [207] |
| CHAPTER XIX. | |
| Progress of the Russians—Buonaparte—Second visit to Tullanea—King | |
| Abbas Meerzâ—Reflections—Electrifying machine—Phantasmagoria— | |
| Ministers of the Persian court—Mahomed Hoosein Khan Mervee | [225] |
INTRODUCTION.
Once upon a time this island of Great Britain had some spots where men and women and little children dwelt, or were believed to dwell, in innocence, ignorance, and content. Travellers seldom visited them; poets saw them in their dreams, and novelists told stories of them: but these days are now past. Thanks to steam-boats and stagecoaches, there is not a spot to which an ignorant or sage human being can retire, where his eye will not be delighted or offended by a dark column of smoke, or his ear gratified or grated by the rattling wheels of a carriage. It is perhaps a consequence of this invasion of retirement that all are tempted from their homes, and that while one half of the population is on the highways, the other half is on the narrow seas. This love of travel, however, is in the vast majority limited to the neighbouring countries of Europe; but the ardour of curiosity, and an ambitious desire of escaping from the beaten track, has of late years induced not a few scientific and enterprising travellers to overrun the renowned lands of Greece and Egypt, whose inhabitants stare with astonishment at men flying with impatience from town to town, exploring ruins; measuring pyramids; groping in dark caverns; analyzing the various properties of earth, air, and water; carrying off mutilated gods and goddesses; packing up common stones and pebbles, as if they were rubies and diamonds; and even bearing away the carcases of the dead, strangely preferring the withered frame of a female mummy, which has been mouldering for four thousand years in its sepulchre, to the loveliest specimens of living and animated beauty.