On my way to the coast, I took the route of Isfahan and Shiraz to Bushire, and viewed by the way the tomb of Cyrus, and those imperishable remnants of antiquity, the ruins of Persepolis. This route and country have been too often described to require even a passing remark; nor do I offer to present my views and picture of the inhabitants, after the inimitable sketches that have appeared in Hajee Baba, which, with a due deduction for the thread of the tale, appeared to me both just and correct. I have since perused Mr. Fraser’s Travels in this country, and venture to record, as far as I am able to judge, that they contain the most faithful account of Persia which has been published in modern times. Were the facts and opinions which have been recorded by that able and intelligent traveller more generally received, we should have ere this come to more correct notions of the weak state and tottering condition of this empire, and a juster appreciation of its weight and influence in the scale of nations.
Quit Persia.
At Bushire, I found that Mr. Blane, the resident in the Gulf of Persia, had kindly delayed the departure of the Honourable Company’s ship of war the Clive, till I arrived. I lost no time in embarkation, and finally quitted Persia on the 10th of December. Our voyage to India was pleasant, and Capt. Macdonald, the commander of the Clive, took every opportunity of making it varied and agreeable. If we found that “Oman’s dark blue sea,” and its barren shores, have been the theme of exaggerated praise in the imagination of the poet, we had yet gratification in a glimpse at the far-famed emporium of Ormuz, and the rugged rocky coast of Arabia, with the romantic cove of Muscat and the dreary shores of Mekran. We anchored in the harbour of Bombay on the 18th of January, and passed the rest of that month in quarantine; after which I proceeded without delay to Calcutta, to lay the result of my travels before the Governor General, Lord William Bentinck.
Conclusion.
I shall not pause to reflect on the feelings with which I again set foot in India after so long and weary a journey. In the outset, I saw every thing, both ancient and modern, to excite the interest and inflame the imagination,—Bactria, Transoxiana, Scythia, and Parthia, Kharasm, Khorasan, and Iran. We had now visited all these countries; we had retraced the greater part of the route of the Macedonians; trodden the kingdoms of Porus and Taxiles; sailed on the Hydaspes; crossed the Indian Caucasus, and resided in the celebrated city of Balkh, from which Greek monarchs, far removed from the academics of Corinth and Athens, had once disseminated among mankind a knowledge of the arts and sciences, of their own history, and the world. We had beheld the scenes, of Alexander’s wars, of the rude and savage inroads of Jengis and Timour, as well as of the campaigns and revelries of Baber, as given in the delightful and glowing language of his commentaries. In the journey to the coast, we had marched on the very line of route by which Alexander had pursued Darius; while the voyage to India took us on the coast of Mekran and the track of his admiral Nearchus.
A
GENERAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL
MEMOIR
ON PART OF
CENTRAL ASIA.
The Personal Narrative of the journey has closed, and I now proceed to describe the objects, both general and geographical, that appear to deserve notice. It will be seen that the line of route has traversed a portion of India, Cabool, Tartary (Toorkistan), and Persia; and I might appropriately follow the same arrangement in my descriptions. It is not, however, my intention to recapitulate the labours of others, not to dwell upon what is already before the world; I have therefore confined myself to that which is new and inviting. My maps will rectify many positions in these countries, and even remove various and vast ranges of hills; but the general account of each province in the kingdom of Cabool has been graphically given in Mr. Elphinstone’s valuable work on that country. My field lies in the untrodden paths beyond Hindoo Koosh, among roaming Tartars and deserts, cheered, as they certainly are, by many smiling and fertile oäses. If my reader will place the maps of the journey before him, he will perceive that I only treat of countries which I have visited: there is an exception in the fifth and sixth chapters of the first Book, regarding the sources of the Indus and the foreign communications of China, which the interest of the subject will, I believe, justify. In the last two Books, I present the report, nearly in the same state that I submitted it to the Supreme Government of India. The form may not be best adapted to convey information to the public; but in such a shape the authenticity will, perhaps, entitle it to greater notice. For reasons, which it is not necessary to explain, I have had to abridge this and other portions of my work.