which are Imperial mosques. The first is the old mosque of Zobeide,
the cupola and walls of which are all inlaid with china (fayence;)
the mortar of the Mihráb having been mixed with musk, exhales the
sweetest perfume; its minareh is also entirely inlaid with china. The
mosque of Motevekel is a mosque in the old style, with one minareh,
which like the former is faced with china. In the course of time the
builder’s name has been lost, and it is now called Meshkieh. The
mosque of Sultán Mohammed Shám Ghazán, which was formerly a splendid
mosque, is now falling into decay in an obscure place; the mosque of
Jihán Sháh Emín is a high building with a dome vying with that of Ták
Kesra, like the mosque of Táher Bibars, at Cairo; its walls are white
polished like Chinese paper, and before the Mihráb is a fine garden,
the scent of which perfumes the air. The name of this fine mosque is
Dihshetí-Behesht (terror of Paradise). The mosque of Sultán Hassan, the
Prince of Azerbeiján, the same who built the fortress of Hassan Kala’a
to the east of Erzerúm, and who was defeated by Sultán Mohammed II. in
the field of Terján. He is buried at this mosque, the cupolas of which
are inlaid with china inside and out; it is quite equal to the mosque
of Sultán Hassan at Cairo. The minber, mihráb and mahfil are adorned
with such elegant sculptures and carving, that the greatest masters
of the present day would not be able to finish it in that style; the
windows shine with unparalleled splendour, but the greatest masterpiece
is conspicuous in the arabesques and ornaments of the great gate. Above
all the gates and windows are inscriptions in the character of Yakút
Mostea’assemí. On the side of the altar are two columns of a yellow
stone, each of which is worth the revenue of Irán and Turán: these two
columns have no equal, either in Egypt, Syria, Arabia, or Persia. The
other Imperial mosques are also faced with china, paved with marble and
adorned with paintings and suspended ornaments, so that each is quite a
Chinese gallery. These five mosques are not however so much frequented
as those in Turkey, because prayers are not performed in community,
but singly by persons, who enter and leave abruptly. Opposite to the
mosque of Uzún Hassan is that of Sháh Ismail, and near it that of Sháh
Makssúd, the son of Sultán Hassan; the old mosque of Chármenán, the
mosque of Abbás the first, and the great mosque, so large that from the
great gate to the mihráb opposite, a man can hardly be distinguished.
_Colleges of Tabríz._
There are forty-seven large Colleges, where lectures are held on all
sciences; the first is that of the lady of Sháh Jihán: and twenty
rooms for reading the Korán (Dár-ul-kira) but they read it wrong
throughout all Persia. There are seven houses for reading tradition
(Dár-ul-hadíth), but the doctors of tradition are not much renowned,
because they confine themselves to the tradition of Alí and the twelve
Imáms, and have some thousand books on the traditions of Alí alone;
six hundred schools, where boys are taught to spell and read the
Korán, and are clothed once a year; one hundred and sixty convents of
dervishes; six fountains, which all issue from mount Semendán. The town
is besides furnished with seven canals of water, and there are one
thousand and forty Sebíls, or places for distributing water, which
are well covered. The town is divided into one thousand and sixty
quarters which are called Derveze. The water magazine (serdáb) which
was cleaned by Uzdemir Páshá furnishes the water of the canals. One
thousand and seventy palaces of great men, two hundred caravánseraïs,
seventy kháns for merchants and one hundred and ten for single workmen;
seven thousand market streets (Súk) many of which are vaulted like
those of Haleb; and a great Bezestán, which is the seat of the richest
merchants, with four iron gates.
_Praise of the Air and Climate._
By the mildness of the climate the inhabitants are all healthy and
stout, with red cheeks and black beards, merry faces, and lips like
rose-buds; the women are pretty, and conscious of the fairness of their
skins are extremely proud; those advanced in age are of sweet company,
so that the proverb, “the old is sweeter than the young,” may well be
applied to them. The inhabitants are all Shiís or Mulhad (impious),
a great number are Dumbúlí, Khaljání, Turcomans, and Gokdúlák. There
are two thousand Ulemás, amongst whom are excellent doctors, surgeons
and oculists. There are more than seven thousand pious Sheiks, who are
much esteemed in this town, the inhabitants never do any thing without
consulting them, but their sect is not exactly known. Eighty-two most
eloquent poets, authors of Diváns. Yárí and Shábí are the Saíb and Unfí
of their time. Of the Mujazib or Santons (Saint fools) we saw Sherímí,
whom no person ever saw eating, drinking, lying down, sleeping, or
performing any of the natural offices of life for seventy years. The
Persians are generally called Kizil-básh or red heads, because they
wrap red sashes round their heads, though many of them also wear the
Mohammedan white turban; but the cap is always pointed, and that of the
Ulemás, which is called Táj, or crown, is more than two yards long. The
great men wear sable.
_Account of the Persian Crown (Táj)._
The shape is founded on a dream of Ibrahím, the founder of the dynasty
of Sefí; he dreamt that he bore a child to an ass, that had seventy
fingers. This dream having been interpreted as foreshadowing the
Empire, he swore, that if it should be fulfilled, he would commemorate
the circumstance, by wearing an asinine phallus in his turban, and by
imitating the cries of the animal in music. This is the reason why the
Persian crown and head-dress have the present shape, and why their
music resembles the braying of an ass.
The purity of the air drives away all fevers, and prolongs life to
the age of one hundred and seventy years. The water issues from mount
Semenden, and is distributed into more than nine hundred conduits and
pipes, which furnish the town with water. The water aids digestion, and
like the air is rather cold. There is also good water in wells, but
the water of the canals is better; some of the wells are from forty to
fifty cubits deep, in the summer their water is cold, and in the winter
it is warm. Astrologers say that Tabríz was built by Zobeide, under the
influence of the sign of the scorpion when ruled by Mars, and that for
this reason, it has been so many times disturbed and ruined by rebels
and by conquerors, such as Timúr, Gengíz, Húlagú, and Murad IV.
There are twenty-one pleasant baths each with one or two basins, a half
soffa, and fountains (jets d’eaux). The attendants are fine youths, the
water and air are excellent. Besides the public baths there are seven
hundred private ones, where the silver-bodied youth swim like angels of
the sea. On the china or fayence of these baths, is written the famous
poem of Fozúlí, called the poem of the bath (Kassideí Hamám). There are
seven sorts of corn growing at Tabríz, besides an abundance of barley.
There are also seven sorts of cotton.
_Arts and Handicrafts, Provisions, Fruits, Beverages, Gardens, &c._
Painters, architects, goldsmiths, and tailors are nowhere to be found
so perfect as here. Precious stuffs manufactured here go all over the
world; the velvet is much renowned. The provisions consist of the white
bread called Kerde, and Súmún, cracknels, pastry, roasts, chicken pies,
forty different kinds of pilaw with spices, the Herisse and sweetmeat,
Palúde. Among the abundance of delicious fruits are particularly the
pears and exquisite apricots, they are not found in such perfection
even at Constantinople. The beverages consist of seven sorts of Muscat
wine, the common wine of the Royal grape, the pomegranate, the cherry
wine, and oxymel; and for the common people búza of millet and rice.
There are some dining establishments for the poor, such as the Imáret
of Sháh Yakúb, of Sultán Motevekel, of Lady Zobeide, and of Sultán
Hassan, large buildings with kitchens worthy that of Keikavús, but in
the hands of the Persians they have all decayed.
The principal walk is the mount Surkháb (Red-water) near Tabríz; at
noon the sea of Rúmie may be distinguished from the top of it; it is at
a farsang distance from Tabríz.
The number of gardens amounts to forty-seven thousand, the finest is
that of Sháh Yakúb, where the Khán gave me a splendid entertainment.
Eleven times in the day, seventy dancers and singers exerted themselves
in the practice of their art, so that it resembled an evening party
of Hossein Bikara. This garden owes its origin to Koja Ferhád Páshá,
Governor of Tabríz under Sultán Murad III., who adorned it with
numerous koshks, bowers and pleasure-houses; and at the time of the
pillage of the town by Murad IV., this garden was preserved by the care
of Osmán Aghá. The Chronostic of the koshk where we dined, alluding to
the name of the builder, says that, Ferhád built this sweet (Shirín)
palace. The walk of Sháh Sefí cannot be praised enough. It is the
place of the Maïl; in the centre of it two immense columns lift their
tops up to Heaven; on one of them every Friday a silver plate is put,
which is aimed at by all the bowmen, who shoot at it, encouraged by
the presence of the Khán. On New Year’s day (Nevrúz) or the beginning
of spring, battles are fought in this place by horses trained in the
dark during forty or fifty days, by camels, buffaloes, sheep, asses,
dogs, and cocks. These fights are peculiar to Persia. Every year on
the tenth of the month Moharrem, being the feast of A’ashúra, all the
population of the town assemble under tents in this large place, and
during three days and nights cook many thousand dishes of A’ashúra (a
kind of hotch-potch), in remembrance of the martyrs of Kerbela; these
dishes are distributed with an abundance of sugar-sherbet, which is
carried round in crystal vases, and cups of cornelian and turquoise:
at the same time singing certain verses, such as “Their Lord gave them
of the purest beverage.” Some of the great men on this day carry cans
and tankards round their necks, and go about distributing water like
common porters. But the finest show is in the variegated tent of the
Khán, where all the great men of Tabríz are assembled, and where a Hymn
on the death of Hossein is recited, in the same manner as the Hymn on
the Prophet’s birthday is in the Turkish mosques. The hearers listen,
sighing and lamenting, but when the reciter arrives at the passage
where Hossein is killed by accursed Shabr, a curtain opens behind him,
and a severed head and trunk of a body, representing that of the Imám
when dead, is thrown on the ground, when there rises such an uproar of
cries and lamentations that everybody loses his wits. At this moment
some hundred men mingle in the crowd with razors, with which they cut
the arms and breasts of all loving believers, who desire to shed their
blood on this day in remembrance of the blood shed by the Imám; they
make such deep incisions and scars, that the ground appears as if it
was blooming with tulips. Some thousands brand the marks and names of
Hassan and Hossein on their heads, arms, and breasts. They then carry
Hossein’s body away from the ground with much pomp, and finish the
ceremony with great howlings.
The town has numerous fine walks and pleasure grounds, each of which
may be compared to the gardens of Ispúze and Merám. The beautiful
koshks worthy to be the seats of Sherín and Ferhád, of Wámik and Azra,
are every where renowned; but I must refrain from their praise and
description, as I have yet so many other things to mention. God be
thanked! I remained here two months, which I spent in full pleasure
and delight, and I shall now give the description of the districts and
castles, which I visited in the Khán’s company. Round Tabríz are seven
districts, which furnish military men, whose office is to train birds
and dogs for hunting.
The first is the district of Mehránrúd, five farsangs to the east of
Tabríz, the three places Koraúkendrút, Isfenj-kent, and Sa’ád-abád are
like large towns, with numerous mosques, kháns and baths. The second
district is that of Sera-vurúd on the west side of Tabríz; containing
eighty well cultivated villages. The third district is that of Dídeher,
four farsangs south-west of Tabríz, twenty-four kents with mosques,
kháns, baths and gardens. The fourth district is that of Ardenik, on
the west side of Tabríz at only a farsang’s distance; thirty well
cultivated villages. The fifth district is that of Rúdkát behind
mount Sorkháb, and north of Tabríz, at a farsang’s distance from it;
a hundred great kents with gardens, mosques, markets, &c. The sixth
district, that of Khánumrúd; twenty elegant villages. The seventh, that
of Bedostán behind Rúdkát; seventy villages. If I were to describe
minutely all the hunting and pleasure parties on which I accompanied
the Sháh for the space of twenty days, it would alone fill a book,
because Tabríz is like Isfahán, one of the finest towns in the world.
God grant its possession to the Ottomans, and keep it from ruin!
_Account of a curious Conversation._
One day being in company with the Sháh he presented me with the purest
wine. I said, “By God! with God! through God! and by Ali’s purest
spirit, since I was born I never drank wine or any other spirituous
liquor, and since our great ancestor Khoja Ahmed Yessúí, none of our
family have ate or drank any thing of an intoxicating quality. I beg,
therefore, to be excused by you.” The Khán said, “My beloved and
darling brother, what are you afraid of; if it is of your Emperor, he
is five months journey from you; if it is of your Khán (the Páshá),
it is forty days distance from Erzerúm to Tabríz. The Khán of the
Sháh of Irán and the dog of Alí, my Sháh, has expressly forbidden me
to drink a drop of wine; what do I care for that, I drink it secretly
and delight in it; follow my example.” I said, “Very well, my Khán,
if your Sháh has prohibited it to you, it is prohibited to me by the
express command of the Sháh of Sháhs, the Lord of Lords, who says
in the Korán, ‘wine, gaming and fortune-telling are Satan’s work:’
it is of this Lord, that I am afraid.” “You are,” said the Khán, “a
rigorous Methodist (Mutea-assib).” “By God!” replied I, “I am no
Methodist but only a true follower of the orthodox sect of Na’amán Ben
Thábet, and a true lover of the Prophet’s family.” At this reply the
whole company became silent, the Khán rose up with all his youthful
attendants, and sitting down close to me, he said, “My dear Evliyá
Aghá, which of these my favourite servants would you like to have, I
will make you a present of him if you drink a cup of wine out of his
hand. Come drink a glass, if you love red Alí and the twelve Imáms;
let us be warm of head and tender of heart, let us enjoy a moment of
delight in this perishable world.” So saying, all the youths came to
salute me, and I returned their salutes; yet did I implore at the same
time Heaven’s assistance, and then said, in answer to his further
pressing requests; “You drink wine to get into good humour, but the
first thing is to be good-humoured in God; I beg you will let me have
a half-drum to accompany my own song, in order to show you how people
get good-humoured in God.” “Be it so,” said he, “for Alí’s sake bring a
half-drum to Evliyá, my brother;” I took it, and sang three tetrastichs
on Divine Love, in the tune Sigáh, which made all the hearers appear as
though they were drunk. The Khán, being extremely pleased, invested me
with his own sable pelisse, gave me a thousand praises, and a Georgian
slave as a present, ten tománs of Abbássí, and a racehorse (Karajubúk).
“Now,” said he, “I will not plague you any more with a request to drink
wine,” and I continued to enjoy his conversation undisturbed during a
whole month, feasting every night. I spent this time observing all that
was worth seeing at Tabríz, the good order and government of which is
worthy of all possible recommendation. The inhabitants are merry, but
orderly people, and I never saw a drunkard in the streets. It is in
their praise that the verse was composed, which says, “The people of
Tabríz, though given to pleasure, are as pure as the glass of a mirror;
and if you say they are not true to friends, you must know that the
mirror only reflects the object before it as it really appears.”
_General Praise of Tabríz._
The first and most agreeable properties of Tabríz is the abundance
of water, by which means the streets are washed and cleansed from
all dust, as though it was continually New Year’s day. The second
praiseworthy circumstance is, that the Sherífs or descendants of
Mohammed do not give their daughters indiscriminately to servants,
but only to their equals. They proposed the following nice point to
me, saying:—“You take Infidel girls as women, because you say that
the man plants the seed, and that is very well; but you also give
your own daughters to Moslíms, who were first Infidels and afterwards
converted; now if this new Moslím relapses into his former error,
what then becomes of the children, who though their mother be a true
descendant of the Prophet, may become apostates and fly into the land
of the Infidels?” I answered, with the tradition of the Prophet, which
says, “that even the children of Christians and Jews are born true
Moslims, but that they are afterwards seduced into error by their
parents.” There was no reply to that. The third good thing is that all
sales are transacted with Persian money coined in the country, and that
no foreign coin is received. Money is coined in seven towns, viz. at
Erdebíl, Hamadán, Baghdád, Isfahán, Tiflís, Nehávend, and Tabríz. The
inscription on one side is, “There is no God, but God, and Mohammed
is the Prophet, and Alí the friend of God;” on the reverse is the
name of the Sháh, with the epithet of Alí’s dog: their small coins or
pennies are called Kázikí, they bear only the place of the coinage on
one side, and the date of the year on the other: on their measures and
weights are also written the words, “There is no God but God,” and
who dares to cheat in the name of God is blinded by a heated stone
drawn over his eyes. Before their shops and markets, scales of yellow
brass are suspended, which are never taken away, but always remain,
and all eatables and drinkables are sold by weight according to the
fixed market prices; even corn and wheat are sold by weight. The fourth
good things are the cookshops, fitted-up with china and furnished with
plates of the same material; they are opened with prayer as usual in
the morning, and then filled with all kinds of pilaws, and stewed meat
(Herisse), which are also sold by weight. The waiters, clean and smart,
stand with pewter dishes under their arms, on which are inscriptions
like the following: “No nobility above the Islám;” “The nobility of the
place depends upon who occupies it;” “The nobility of the house depends
upon its inhabitants; and the nobility of the inhabitants upon their
generosity.” After dinner these waiters bring clean basins and cans for
washing, but vulgar people (Tolúnkí and Tokir) wipe their right hand
under their left shoulder, and their left hand under the right.
_Bad and reprehensible things in Irán._
It is a bad custom in Persia that only twelve classes of the troops
and as many of the Ulemás and the other ranks of society are allowed
to have regular kitchens in their houses; all the rest eat from the
market, therefore, although their dinner is cheap it is very bad. The
army has its cooks, who cook in that way at a fixed price, so that they
are not allowed to take a grain more or to furnish a grain less than
the established quantity. When the army takes the field, the kitchen is
established in tents made of felt.
Another bad thing in Persia is that they do not kill or hang their
delinquents, but the Darogha and Mohtessíb (two officers of police),
bring them to the public place, where the executioners torment them
in a most cruel manner; during three days and nights, they inflict on
them three hundred and sixty different kinds of torture. They first
give them three hundred strokes of the whip and Korbáj, press their
knees, introduce reeds under their nails, cauterize the whole body with
fire, force them to swallow greasy rags with a rope attached, which if
dragged out again brings the stomach and bowels with it; nail their
hands and feet down, bore holes in the elbows and knees, and then pour
melted lead in the holes so that the lead runs out with the marrow:
they tie the four first fingers and toes tight together, suspend the
delinquent and perfume him with sulphur and asses’ urine, so that the
poor men’s cries pierce the skies; they cut pieces out of the back, and
attach burning candles to the shoulders; they squeeze the testicles,
tickle the nose with pointed thorns, put iron kettles on the head, and
blind the eyes; and inflict even more horrible tortures than those
already described. God forgive us our sins! They paralyse thieves by
cutting the sinews. They cut off the ears, noses, and hands and feet
of false witnesses, and fasten other delinquents to seven different
kinds of gibbets and pales, and leave them so exposed during three
days and nights. The Khán having one day glorified himself with these
cruel tortures, in my presence, I asked him, “What was the object of
such manifold cruelties;” he said, “That death being pronounced on
these culprits, the tortures were added, in order to terrify others by
the example.” I said, “That it was not lawful, because the text of the
Korán states no other punishment for thieves but cutting off the hand,
and retaliation in cases of murder; and that this was quite sufficient
to keep the people in terror and awe.” He was obliged to acknowledge
that I was right. These additional tortures have been contrived by
them, because their people are all riotous and heretical, that they may
be kept in order the easier. So they established it as law.
_Pilgrimages and Visits in the town of Tabríz._
In the cemeteries are many places of pilgrimage of great and holy men.
In the cemetery of Súrkháb are the tombs of poets, such as Enwerí,
Khakání, Zahír-ud-dín Faryábí, Felekí of Shíráz, and Felekí of Shirván.
Of Saints buried in the neighbouring villages, there are, in the
village of Gúchúchán the Saint Khoja Mohammed Gúchúchání; in the
village of Sabádabád, no less than seven hundred learned writers.
Essáma Ben Sherík, the Prophet’s companion is buried near Tabríz on
the martyrs’ mount; and Sárut-ul Jebel, the brother of Hamza, who was
carried wounded from the battle of Nehávend to Tabríz, died here. The
Sheikh Sejid-ján Memí, a writer deeply versed in ancient and modern
sciences and in mystics. On mount Súrkháb, two children of Alí are
buried; in the quarter of Serde the place is shown where Efasiáb’s head
is buried. Sheikh Nassr-allah, the son of Ak-Shems-ud-dín. It would be
too long to describe all the monuments which exist at Tabríz, and we
contented ourselves with these.
_Description of the Expedition we undertook with the Khán to Shám
Gházán._
We left Tabríz accompanied by one thousand horse, and after a march
of five hours through flowery gardens came to Kent Ajisú, half way to
Kúmla, two hundred houses with gardens belonging to the Khán’s khass, a
mosque and three convents. The waters of this plain are subterraneous,
flowing from village to village, and there are some thousand wells on
the great roads, this place is called A’jisú (bitter water) because
its water is a little brackish. We continued our road next day to the
burying-place of Mohammed Shám Gházán; it is called so because this
country bears great resemblance to Damascus (Shám). Mohammed Gházán
Sháh built this castle, and peopled it with from ten to twelve thousand
subjects free from all duties and gifts. He then built this monument,
which has no equal either in Arabia or in Persian Irák, it is a tower
lifting its head to the skies like that of Galata. When I saw it, it
was a little damaged on the side of the gate by an earthquake; it is a
monument well worth seeing. I entered it with the Khán, said a Fátíhah,
and read the inscription on the marble coffin. More than two hundred
Dervishes inhabit the convent; outside of the gate, piles of sheep’s
heads are erected, many thousand sheep being immolated here by the
inhabitants of Persia, who have great confidence in this place; a well
ten yards deep affords refreshing water in summer.