more wood and cultivation, than any spot I had yet seen in Persia.
Hitherto indeed the want of trees, either as a shade to the road, or
as a relief to the inequalities of the heights, had been constant
and uniform. We admired therefore doubly the beauties of our present
course. Streams of running water were meandering in every direction
amid the numerous willows, poplars, almonds, and other trees, which
bordered our road: and at intervals the artificial dikes were opened to
admit water into the beds of rice. The greater part of the country was
covered with verdure, for the new corn was already well advanced both
in maturity and plenty. Peasantry enlivened the fields by the labours
of the spade or the plough.
After quitting _Shebester_ we came in full view of the delightful lake
of _Shahee_. It derives its name from the surrounding _Mahalé_, which
may contain twenty villages. I was told that its waters are as salt
as the sea, and that the sand over which they flow, produces the salt
used at _Tabriz_. It extended itself N. W. and S. E. before us, and its
Western extremities were terminated by a stupendous chain of mountains,
whose snowy summits, softened by the haze, contrasted admirably with
the light azure of the lake. As we proceeded, the long mountain (which
I mentioned in the route of yesterday, extending itself and forming a
peninsula in the lake) appeared to have no connection whatever with the
surrounding lands; and, by a stranger to the real topography, would
have been pronounced an island. Its termination (to the south as seen
from our road) was in the form of a sugar-loaf.
Near _Shebester_ we passed the village of _Misholéh_, and, lower down
in the plain, those of _Arsaléh_ and _Halee_, on the left of the road.
Others indeed are seen at every turn, situated at small intervals on
either side alternately, all in the _Mahalé_ of _Ghunéh_. Among them
are _Besh-kefelout_, on the left; _Khomyéh_, prettily surrounded with
verdure, on the right; _Shinwar_, on the left again; _Kuzec-dunar_, on
the right, three _fursungs_ before we reached our stage at _Tasouj_;
and on the left, about two miles from the borders of the lake,
_Alibanglou_, the first place in the _Bolouk_ of _Aeenzaub_. In this
line we stopt and fed our cattle and ourselves; while a refreshing
breeze from the Westward just curled up the waters of the lake, and
waved the corn fields which extended themselves on all sides of us.
Our bread and _moss_ was shared by a stranger who was going to
_Oroumi_, a large town, distant thirty _fursungs_ from _Tabriz_; and
situated, by the pointing of his hand, S. 50 W. from us, on the left or
West side of the lake, which the road continues to skirt through its
whole course. On the East of the lake is _Saouk Bolag_, the site of
the ancient city of _Sheherivan_. The country, through which we passed
in the day, was interesting and picturesque; in every turn of the view
enriched by the lake and its surrounding capes and mountains.
From all that I could learn in this region, (and I inquired of many
who had travelled repeatedly over this part of _Aderbigian_), there
appeared to exist no other lake than this of _Shahee_. And I have as
regularly made direct inquiries about the situation of the city of
_Van_ and its lake, without obtaining any thing like a satisfactory
answer. On the contrary, the very existence of such a place, and such
a lake, was always denied; I mention this, when the position of _Van_
has been clearly ascertained, to shew how general was the ignorance
of the people on every subject which was not immediately within their
own circumscribed district. Nor was I more successful in my inquiries
on the real extent of the lake before them: every one said that it was
very large, and that it reached further, than from its appearance we
might suppose.
At about five miles from _Tasouj_, there is a village on the left
called _Rahdar Khoné_; and then a station of _Rahdars_, or custom-house
officers. As we passed it, one of them, a man of a much more
respectable appearance than any of the class whom we had seen on other
occasions, told us that a driver with seven loaded mules had gone
forwards, and refused to pay the duties, alleging that his beasts were
carrying part of our baggage; and were therefore in the King’s service,
and as such exempt from the impost. In fact, however, my _Charwardar_
(or conductor of the mules or caravan) had added to my charge this
number, above those that were necessary for my purposes; and, having
already received a part of their hire from me, was now employing them
still more to his own profit, by conveying upon them, duty-free, in my
name, the goods of some _Tabriz_ merchants. On discovering the fraud,
I resigned him into the hands of the officer, with full liberty to
exact his dues; a licence, under which he begun immediately to cudgel
the shoulders of the defaulter. The duties here are high, being five
_reals_ on each load.
Some miles before we reached _Tasouj_, the lake begins to make an
elliptical termination, and the road to turn off on a more Northern
angle. We were eight hours in travelling the whole distance from _Ali
Shah_, which we reckoned at thirty-two miles, on a bearing of N. 60 W.
_Tasouj_, from the great extent of the ruined walls about it, appears
once to have been a large place, but it is now reduced, by earthquakes,
to the denomination of a village. There are remains of domed bazars and
mosques, spread in every part of the place.
June 3. The distance from _Tasouj_ to _Khoi_ is called eight
_fursungs_; we were however nine hours on the road, and calculated
the journey at thirty-six miles. The general direction was N. 30 W.
Our course for the first ten miles, to the foot of the range, (which
encloses the plain and lake of _Shahee_) bore nearly West; when we
suddenly turned to the North through the mountains; and, for ten
miles more, wound among them through some very narrow defiles, and
by some sharp ascents and descents, till we reached on the opposite
side the plain of _Khoi_. Towards the lake the mountains are mostly
of an argillaceous soil, but change into fine earth as they approach
the plain of _Khoi_. In this direction they are green to their very
summits, and their intervening vallies are covered with the finest
pastures.
We had left _Tasouj_ by moonlight: we could not therefore discover
with any accuracy the nature of the country, which we traversed in the
first part of our route; though we discerned indistinctly groves of
trees, and heard the falling cascade in the recesses of the vallies.
The first view of the plain of _Khoi_, from the summit of the pass in
the mountains, is sublime. The city and its more immediate territory
are seen on the N. but separated from the rest of the plain by a border
of green hills, which seem to divide the expanse into two parts. At
the distance of two _fursungs_ from _Khoi_, we passed on the right the
village of _Disajiz_, surrounded by fields of wheat and barley. On the
left of the plain are some more villages; and one curious mound of red
soil, crowned by a hillock of salt, besides several other white mounds,
which are described as entirely of the same substance. We passed the
small range of hills, and came all at once upon the more circumscribed
plain of _Khoi_, which is opened by a seven-arched bridge, bordered on
each side by rocks, and forming with the fine stream below a complete
picture. The river is called the _Otour_, and flows from W. to E.
falling into the _Arras_ or _Araxes_, about twelve _fursungs_ further
to the Eastward.
The plain of _Khoi_ (in breadth from N. to S. five miles, and in length
ten) was the richest tract that we had seen. It was covered with corn,
broken only here and there by the foliage of enclosed gardens. Of these
gardens we ventured to enter one, which was renowned all over the
country for its beauty and fruitfulness. It stands on the left of the
road about two miles from the walls of _Khoi_, and was made by HOSSEIN
KHAN, Governor of the city in the time of AGA MOHAMED KHAN; but it has
now become the property of the government. It consists of a fine alley
of _chenar_ trees, which leads up to a pleasure-house, now falling
into decay, built on the elevation of six terraces, from each of which
falls a beautiful cascade, conducted by _kanauts_ from the neighbouring
mountains. On the right and left is a wood of fruit trees of every
sort and description, with a fine crop of grass at their roots. From
the pleasure-house is seen, through the alleys of _chenars_, the
whole territory of _Khoi_, one of the most lively landscapes that we
found in Persia. The _chenar_ is really a delightful tree; its bole
is of a fine white and smooth bark, and its foliage, which grows in a
tuft at the summit, is of a bright green. Those in the garden had not
attained their full growth. Their trunks are every where carved with
the invocation of “_Ya Ali_;” proceeding probably from the ecstacies of
those, who visit this little Persian paradise.
_Khoi_ is surrounded with a wall, and with towers of a different
construction to any which we had remarked in other fortified towns of
Persia. They are triangular in front, with a species of connecting
work behind them. There are four gates, which are of stone, and very
superior to most of those that I had noticed elsewhere. Within the
walls are twenty mosques and six baths. There are said to be ten
thousand houses, and a population of fifty thousand persons, of which
the larger proportion are Armenians. The Mussulmans live in a parish
or _Mahalé_ of their own. The territory is so extremely fertile, that
_Khoi_, with the surrounding villages, pays annually to the public
treasure the sum of one hundred thousand _tomauns_. _Khoi_ is much
warmer, from its local situation, than _Tabriz_. Roses here were in
full flower, whereas a little opening bud was reckoned a rarity at
_Tabriz_; and probably in twenty days from the date of our visit, the
plain lost its verdure, and assumed the beautiful gilding of a ripe
corn-field.
Six _fursungs_ South from _Khoi_ is an equally large and populous
town called _Salmas_; where, as I afterwards learnt at _Arz-roum_,
are “sculptured rocks and many ruins.” My informer added, that one of
the subjects represented two men, of whom one, looking over his left
shoulder, pointed with his hand to a spot which the people of the
neighbourhood affirm to contain a hidden treasure, though they admit
that the deposit has escaped all research.
4th of June, 1809. The Prince had ordered four men to attend us into
the Turkish territories; and as they did not reach us at _Khoi_, we
should probably have awaited their arrival there, if I had not resisted
such an arrangement, declaring that it would be better to advance one
mile, than in our circumstances to remain idle for one single day.
Accordingly, notwithstanding the pressing invitation of NEJEF KOOLI
KHAN, the Governor, to stay the day with him, we departed for _Péréh_,
a village two _fursungs_ from _Khoi_, which I call six miles, and in
a bearing of N. 60 W. The morning was one of the loveliest in Spring,
lightly covered with clouds, with a softness in the air which seemed to
soothe every varied work of nature into tacit enjoyment of the bounty
and munificence of their Almighty Creator. I shall ever recollect with
thankfulness the delightful sensations which I experienced in passing
the beautiful plain of _Khoi_; where every innocent sense received
its gratification, and ripened into thoughts teeming with love and
gratitude to their divine Maker.
Every thing was rich and beautiful: the mountains were green to their
very summits; and their inequalites were here and there enriched by
beds of wild flowers of the most lively and luxuriant hues. Scarcely
two miles from _Khoi_ is a very large collection of houses and gardens,
which is a _Mahalé_ or parish of the town, and is well inhabited. A
stream from the mountains runs through it; and on the skirts to the N.
are two pillars of brick, which are described either as the tomb or
the cenotaph of a famous poet and learned _Mollah_ of _Tabriz_, called
_Shemsé_. _Péréh_ is a pretty village, situated on the declivity of
the hills, which gradually form the bases of the adjoining mountains;
on the summit of one of these hills is an old square fort, now in
ruins: and in its neighbourhood are two other villages called _Pesé_
and _Zaidé_. There are walnut-trees, willows, poplars, elms, and
fruit-trees of every description in the highest perfection, with a
great profusion of grass.
On this as well as on the other side of _Tabriz_, the peasants convey
their loads on the backs of oxen, on which indeed they frequently ride
themselves. At _Péréh_ I saw the first wheeled-carriage (excepting
gun-carriages) that I had noticed in Persia. It was exactly similar
to the Turkish _Araba_. Besides their plough, which I have already
described, the Persians have the large rake, which serves as a harrow,
and is fastened to a pole and drawn like a plough by yoked oxen: they
have another implement of agriculture, which is certainly capable of
much improvement. It is a pole fixt transversely on another to which
the oxen are yoked; on each of these is a small wooden cylinder about
half a foot long: and these insignificant things are dragged as a
roller over the ground.
June the 5th. We went from _Péréh_ to _Zauviéh_ in six hours and a
half, on a bearing of N. 50 W. which may be twenty-four miles. During
the whole of the preceding evening it had rained, accompanied by
thunder and lightning. Our ride, therefore, was rendered muddy. From
_Péréh_ we entered some mountains of easy access; which, about ten
miles before we reached _Zauviéh_, opened into a plain surrounded like
a basin by mountains, on all sides gradually inclining to the centre.
On entering the plain, high on the right on the declivity of the
mountain, is the village of _Selawan_; and on the left a small village
called _Khoré_; and on the turn of the road towards it, are two stone
lions among some rude and ancient tomb-stones. The greater part of the
population of the plain is composed of Armenians. To the West are very
high mountains, the tops of which were covered with snow, and their
roots, when we passed by, were nearly concealed by the heavy clouds
that rested upon them.
The snow was melting, and frequently streams were pouring from the
mountains. Yet the difference of the temperature of the air here, and
that which we had experienced within a few days, was very sensible; and
before sun-rise it was piercingly cold. The plain was cultivated in all
parts. The whole of the soil, over which we passed, was of the finest
brown mould; so that, excepting some summits of the mountains, the
country was one universal carpet of verdure.
We met a large party of the _Elauts_ or wandering tribes, composed
mostly of women and children, who were travelling to a fresh
encampment. One of the women, who had the care of two children, had
dismounted; and the extreme agility with which she got on her horse
again, without any other aid than her own hands and feet, shewed how
much she was accustomed to this sort of life.
We sent forwards our _Mehmandar_ to desire that tents might be pitched
for us, because we had been advised to avoid the village on account
of the plague, which sometimes visits these parts. Accordingly we
found four tents pitched for us, two of horse-hair, (the real _Kara
Khader_ of the _Eels_), and two white tents, rude enough indeed, but so
delightfully situated in the plain, surrounded by corn fields, that we
quite revelled in the exchange.
We had not long taken possession of our humble encampment, when a
storm of thunder, lightning and hail overwhelmed us, in a manner which
completely destroyed all the comfort of our interior arrangements.
Hail-stones fell in numbers which entirely filled every corner of
our tent, and so large, that measuring one I found it to be an inch
in diameter, and so strongly congealed that they lay on the ground
undiminished in size, until the sun once more broke out and dissolved
them. The hills near us received a new covering of snow, shewing their
summits as the storm rolled away, in sublime grandeur. The peasants
told us, that this weather was very common to them. Although this was
but an ungracious beginning to a pastoral life, yet I must own that
to me it still had so many delights compared with the confinement of
houses, that with all the present disadvantages I would willingly
prefer it to a residence in the towns of Persia. Among its enjoyments
is that of its freedom from vermin, from which (particularly fleas)
we had hitherto suffered so much; not that the people are singularly
dirty, but the creatures are the usual productions of the place and
season. A Persian who was conversing with us in our tent, on seeing my
servant beating a coat with a cane to clean it of the vermin which it
had collected at the former stage, very gravely asked, “Pray what crime
has that coat committed, that makes the _Frangee_ beat it so?”
June the 6th. The quantity of rain that had fallen during the course
of the day had completely saturated the greatest part of our clothes
and baggage, and materially increased the weight of the lading of
our mules. Thanks to God, it did not rain in the night; and we slept
soundly till about an hour before the break of day, when we quitted our
black tents for the village of _Cara-ainéh_. The distance, on a bearing
of N. 20 W. is called five _fursungs_; but though we were nearly six
hours on the road, I shall not reckon it at more than eighteen miles,
because we were delayed in our progress by the mud, which the rain and
hail had created. We took a turn to the Eastward from our encampment,
and came to a village called _Iekaftee_, on the borders of a mountain
torrent swoln and rendered so rapid by the late storms, that two or
three of our mules had nearly been carried away by its violence. On
the right of the road (at the distance of five miles from our last
station) is a spring dammed up, except at an aperture in one of its
corners, through which a small quantity of water is permitted to ooze
out, called in Turkish, _Ak-bolagh_, or “white spring:” and three
miles further, and distant from the road two miles, on the left, is a
collection of a few wretched hovels called _Kurkendéh_, surrounded by
cultivated fields. About this spot the road was formerly so infested
with the _Curdistan_ robbers, that it was never passed without danger:
but since Prince ABBAS MIRZA has had the government of _Aderbigian_ in
his hands, he has so completely expelled the freebooters from their
haunts, that no district is now so safe. We traversed a pass formed by
the gradual meeting of the roots of the mountains, and then entered an
oval plain, extending, on a rough calculation, in length eight miles
from N. to S, and three in breadth. The village of _Cara-ainéh_, our
_Menzil_, is here immediately seen, and is easily marked by a square
fort, which, rising from the midst of its miserable huts, appears a
palace in comparison. This village is the chief of a _Mahalé_ of the
same name, composed of about twenty-one villages, the principal of
which are _Hiderlou_, _Nabekandi_, _Gelish Acha_, _Sedel_, _Zaiveh_,
and _Ak-dezeh_. From _Cara-ainéh_ there is a road to _Van_, a distance
of fifty miles, on a bearing of S. W.
We had now reached the dregs of Persia. Beyond _Khoi_ and _Péréh_ both
the habitations and the people bore an appearance of misery, indicative
of a neglected country. This deterioration is probably inseparable from
the borders of two states, which are ill-defined as to territory and
actual property. None but the _Ket Khoda_ had a decent coat, and all
the rest were in tatters and beggary.
The _Thaubet_ of _Cara-ainéh_ had been appointed to his government
only the day before our arrival, an excuse which he alleged for his
inability to satisfy us in several of our inquiries. His appearance,
indeed, bespoke the truth of his apology; for he was dressed from head
to foot in new clothes, new cap, new coat, new slippers; doubtless to
impress his peasantry with a sense of his superiority. We had rain
all the day, and almost incessant thunder and lightning. The tract
over which we passed, though generally of admirable soil, was for the
greater part waste. We saw, however, immense flocks, some perhaps of
one thousand sheep, grazing in the fat pastures on the declivities
and in the recesses of the mountains; and large herds also of mares
with their foals. These were the property of the _Elauts_: the mares
belonging to the King are kept in _Mazanderan_, which is said to afford
the finest pasture of his dominions. Their foals are thence distributed
to the troops as they may be wanted. The Guardian or Controller of
these Royal herds is an officer of considerable consequence, and
is selected always from men of rank and importance in the state.
He is called _Elkhee-chee_ or Master of the Mares, and resides at
_Asterabad_, where he holds his office, registering every foal as it
falls. He has subordinate agents, entrusted severally with the charge
of twenty mares, and with the choice of their pastures, besides the
inferior grooms who tend the animals daily. The foals are not backed
until they have completed their third year.
7th. The morning was darkened by clouds which covered the whole sky;
the thickest resting on the tops of the mountains, and extending
themselves in some parts nearly to the bases. We quitted our wretched
habitation at _Cara-ainéh_, to pace a miserable road; the bottom of
which, always wet and deep, was rendered still more impracticable by a
shower of rain that overtook us, soon after we had quitted the village.
Almost at the extremity of the plain is a swamp; on the surface of the
waters of which were innumerable flocks of ducks and other wild-fowl.
We noticed two cranes stepping away before us at a great pace, and
hiding their legs from us by letting fall their tails. The soil was
rich almost beyond calculation, and afforded the finest pastures. We
crossed the village of _Ak-dezeh_, and then leaving the plain, wound
through the vallies which were formed by the Western mountains. The
whole country was watered by numerous torrents; on the borders of one
we spread as our breakfast, the scanty remains of our yesterday’s meal;
which, in such a spot however, would have been a real treat to the
lovers of romance. The scene indeed, alone, consoled us for our bad
fare at _Cara-ainéh_. A stupendous mass of rock rose perpendicularly
over our heads; and at our feet foamed and roared the torrent, while
the whole view was enriched by the verdure of the distant landscape,
and enlivened by the chirping of innumerable birds. About twelve miles
from _Cara-ainéh_ are several hills; the declivities of which are
strewed with large masses of black rock, evidently from their weight
and their calcined appearance, full of metal. The whole seems to be
volcanic matter.
After quitting these hills we came into the plain, at the extremity
of which is situated _Agajik_, a miserable Armenian village, about
the same size as our former stage. We were six hours and a half in
travelling the distance, twenty-two miles, on a bearing of N. 20 W.
In the centre of the plain a caravan, from _Oroumi_, was grazing its
mules: the driver of it told us, that he had been eight days on the
journey, at the rate of four _agatch_ a day, making a total of about
one hundred miles. Here the distances are measured by the _agatch_,
which corresponds exactly to the _sahat_ or hour. The village consisted
of huts, surrounding an old square fort on a hill. Our lodging was a
covered building, in the roof of which were two small holes to admit
light; and in the interior of which a square of twenty feet was parted
off by a wall three feet high, for the residence of the master, while
the remainder was reserved for his cattle. The costume of the people
was changing fast; and the black sheep-skin cap of Persia was scarcely
seen.