takes place, in summer, during the night. Mr. Waring had ten attendants; three grooms, two valets, a cook, and four Furah men whose business is to pitch tents and perform all extra-services. Numerous as this suite is for an equestrian traveller, it appears moderate to a resident in India, where custom requires a multiplicity of attendants, and confines within nar row limits the duties to be discharged by each individual. It is expected in Persia that, wherever a traveller stops and obtains refreshment, he shall make a present to the principal person of the place; and since Major Malcolm displayed so much munificence in his progress to the capital, the popular expectation of European generosity has been elevated to a height by no means suitable to the finances of ordinary travellers. Mr. Waring accomplished the journey to Sheeraz in tendays, or rather nights, travelling at the rate of fifteen or twenty miles in a night, The road was in many places execrable, and he passed only two cities of note, Kazroon and Dusturjan. We extract and combine detached parts of his account of the former capital of Persia:

'Sheeraz, I am apt to believe, will disappoint those who have imagined it a populous and noble city. "It is worth seeing, but not worth going to see." The town is by no means so large as is reported; it is surrounded by a wall, tenable against cavalry, and has six gate-ways. Many of the streets are so narrow, that an ass loaded with wood stops your way if you are on horseback (I speak from experience ;) and the houses are generally mean and dirty. But we now see Sheeraz to great disadvantage, A Moohummud, the late king, having destroyed an excellent stone wall, with very strong bastions, which was deemed by the Persians almost impregnable, and several of the best houses in the place in his time it was surrounded by a broad and deep ditch, which he filled up on destroying the fort.

Notwithstanding the concurring praises of every Persian author, I very much doubt whether Sheeraz ever merited the extravagant commendations which have been lavished on it. It is impossible for us to say, that the descriptions given of it by Sidee and Hafiz may not be exactly true; but we may reasonably suspect them of a strong prejudice in favour of their native city, and of enthusiasm, the usual characteristic of a good poct.'

I should suppose the town to be about five miles in circumference; it took me a little more than an hour to walk my horse round it. They have here a glass-house and a foundery, both worth seeing. The Vakeel's Bazar is a most noble work; it is built of brick, arched and covered in like Exeter Change. It probably extends half a mile, and is, I should suppose, fifty feet wide. grand appearance at night, when it is lighted up; and as every trade has a separate quarter, you know where to resort to for what

It has a

The reader will be much displeased with the frequent occurrence of this aukward colloquialism in Mr. W.'s volume.

you may require. This custom (common all over the East), of keeping persons of two trades separate from each other, is attended with much inconvenience in large and populous cities, where you. may be obliged to send a considerable distance for the most trifling article. Many of the other markets are very handsome, but none so magnificent as the Vakeel's.'

The houses inhabited by persons of rank in Persia are built with some degree of taste and convenience. The entrance to them is very bad; instead of finding a broad and handsome gateway, you probably have to creep through a small door not five feet high. Their houses are surrounded by a high wall, so that their view is terminated by the extent of their ground, which is not, however, to be regretted in a city. On passing the door, through a narrow pas sage, you enter a spacious court-yard, at the top of which, and opposite the Deewan Khanu, is a jet d'eau; and in the middle, and sometimes on both sides, are Durecachus, canals which play like fountains.

The Deewan Khanu is a very large room, the floor is covered with a rich carpet, and handsome Numuds (felts), and the sashwindows, which take up one entire side of the room, are glazed with very small pieces of stained glass, and which form representations of the sun and stars.

If the Deewan Khanu is large, there are usually two fire places, ornamented with paintings or plate glass. On each side of this room there is a small one, but which does not appear to be ever used. It is impossible to form any notion of the extent of their buildings, as their private and sleeping apartments are concealed from the sight of man. The stair-cases in Persia are broad and handsome, and by no means like those in India, where you are obliged to grope your way up a dark and narrow flight of steps to the most magnificent apartments. Their houses are terraced, for the purpose of sleeping on in the warm weather; a practice invariably observed by the Per sians during the summer months. This is thought to be very prejudical to health: I followed their example, and, although the dews (particularly at Bushire) are very heavy, I did not suffer in the least from them.

The houses in Sheeraz are built of brick; but, as the mortar they use is exceedingly bad, they are obliged to cover the face of the building with plaster of mud, chopped straw, and cow-dung. The appearance which this gives, often makes you suspect that the building is only of mud.

The baths in Persia are very magnificent, and you are admitted to the convenience of them for a trifling sum. They are in common use by every description of persons, and often afford a large fund of merriment to the unmarried persons who frequent them. The baths are open to the women as well as the men; five days are allotted to the latter, and only two to the former.

The first room you enter is the place where you undress, smoke, talk, and hear the news of the day. The next room is the bath, the floor of which is marble stone, &c. and which is heated by means of the flues, which communicate with the fire that boils the water. The operation of bathing takes up nearly an hour, and dyeing the

beard,

beard, the hands, and feet, as long a time. All the Persians dye their beards black, although it is naturally of that colour, to the great indignation and contempt of the Turks. The Persians, from a principle of cleanliness, either shave or burn away all the hair on their bodies. The composition they use for this purpose is a certain proportion of quick lime and orpiment (or Zarnich) mixed together, It is a very dangerous mixture, for if you do not wash it away as the hair begins to fall, you are often burned in a most dreadful manner. The fragrant earth of roses (gile gool) is commonly used in Persian baths. As a number of persons are in the bath at one time, you pass part of your time in talking and smoking, and sometimes sleeping. The Persians delight in using the bath, and have a saying, that "No man should visit a foreign country, where there is not a magistrate, a physician, and a bath."

If the appearance of external objects was such as to disappoint the expectations of the European traveller, the intellectual attainments and moral habits of the natives were not calculated to excite more favourable impressions. Delicacy seems banished from the language, and, in some measure, from the dress of the Persians. The superintendants of police find means to render their offices very lucrative. Being responsible for all thefts committed within their jurisdiction, they contrive to keep themselves blameless, by the admirable expedient of being connected with all the thieves in the place, and by an agreement that the latter shall not practice robberies within the verge of their power. The system of taxation is founded on principles of correspondent purity. The people who contribute most largely are the female dancers, and the votaries of pleasure; the names of both being registered, and their professions exercised with the sanction of government. Mr. Waring is not yet an adept in calculating the influence of government on the morals of a people, or he would not, with a knowlege of such convincing facts, have said (page 70.) in extenuation of Persian despotism, that he doubted whether the moral character of the Persians qualified them for a better government.' What else than government is it, we should be glad to know, that has engendered and disseminated these corruptions? Does the soil or the climate of Persia contain any quality more productive of vice than the soil and the climate of Europe? Or what else than tyranny has created the distinction between the moral qualities of the Greek in the present day, and those of his ancestor in the age of Aristides?

Let us next inquire the progress of the Persians in arts and arms.' In these respects, Mr. Waring makes the following remarks:

I cannot say much of the painters of Persia; they have some little knowledge of light and shade, but know nothing of perspecsive. The portrait-painters, I have heard, take likenesses with very

great

great exactness. Those who paint landscapes, &c. generally study some daub sent out from England, or perhaps one from China, and these they look upon as master pieces.

The physicians are infinitely worse than the painters, and their means of doing harm are unfortunately much greater. Their system of practice is derived from the Greeks, and has descended to them with very little alteration. According to their theory, things are either hot or cold in such degrees, and the only difficulty they have to resolve is, whether the disease proceeds from too much heat or too much cold China-root with them is almost a sovereign remedy against all complaints.'

The Mahometan religion will not allow of dissection, so that they are deprived of the means of acquiring knowledge from the discoveries of anatomy. Tavernier, I think, mentions that they give horse-flesh for the cholic: I have seen them try nearly as curious an experiment. A poor man was violently afflicted with the heart burn, and instead of prescribing an internal medicine, they heaped a great quantity of ice and snow on his breast; which, they said, was an effectual cure. If it be possible, I believe they know less of surgery than physic; in short, they undergo no course of education to qualify them for either profession.

• The science of medicine and surgery with them is nothing more than a trade; and they imagine that they can acquire them with almost as little difficulty, as their brothers learnt to make a shoe or mend a shawl.'--

Although the Persians bathe so often (which is rather a luxurious enjoyment than an act of cleanliness,) they are a very dirty people. They very rarely change their garments, and seldom before it is dangerous to come near them. The Persian who accompanied me slept in his clothes until we reached Kazroon, although it was the hottest season of the year; and I believe then was only induced to change his dress at my recommendation. It is thought nothing in Persia to wear a shirt a month, or a pair of trowsers half a year.

A Persian soldier, armed cap-à-pie, is of all figures the most ridiculous. It is really laughable to see how they encumber themselves with weapons of defence: their horses groan under the weight of their arms. These consist of a pair of pistols in their holsters, a single one slung in their waist, a carbine, or a long Turkish gun, a sword, a dagger, and an immense long spear; for all these fire-arms they have separate ramrods tied about their persons, powder horns for loading, others for priming, and a variety of cartouch-boxes, filled with different sized cartridges. If they are advancing towards you, they may be heard a long way off I should really suppose that their saddle and arms would weigh about eighty pounds, an enormous addition to the horse's burthen. Yet they consider themselves as light armed troops, ridiculing the Turkish cavalry, who, they say, can take care of little else than their big boots, and cap. The arms of the Persians are very good.'

The troops are paid once a year, sometimes every three months; but as they are supplied with most of the things they require, and are furnished with houses when abroad, they do not suffer much from the length of their arrears. I can hardly say any thing of their

discipline,

discipline, for there were but a very small number at Sheeraz on whom I could form any judgment. Those that were there appeared to be wholly undisciplined, seldom going through any other ma nœuvre than charging in a promiscuous heap, and halting in detached bodies of four or five, often at the distance of many yards, in every direction from each other. They then amused themselves with skir mishing with each other; but the manoeuvre they commonly prac tised was galloping full speed, stopping their horses with a sudden jerk, which nearly threw them backwards, then turning round on their saddle, and discharging their carbine at their supposed ad

versary.

The infantry are generally employed at sieges, where it is their business to fire off a piece of cannon once an hour or so; and as long as they hit the wall, they are considered to be well qualified for ef fecting a breach. If there are infantry and guns, a body of bildars (pioneers) accompanies the army; but as I have before remarked, the services of the infantry are seldom required.

In drawing out the lines of their camp, posting centries, and sending out picquets, they imitate the armies of European states; their camp, however, generally forms a circle. The Persians have in general been successful in their wars against the Turks, and in their irruptions into India ; and, in consequence, they are impressed. with very ridiculous notions of the superiority of their arms. They onceive it impossible for infantry to resist their charge; if it be like what I saw them practise, nothing could be more easy; but, hap pily for them, they are not likely to be opposed to the steady discipline and determined bravery of European troops.'

It is inconceivable with what ease an army in Persia is collected. In times of anarchy and confusion, every man who can purchase arms is a soldier. They flock to the nearest standard of rebellion, and retire upon the approach of an enemy to their homes. They assemble to plunder, not to fight; and feel no compunction in deserting a chieftain who can no longer countenance their depredations. Many persons are reduced to the necessity of becoming soldiers; they have been plundered of their all, and therefore join the army in the hope of retrieving their losses. An army in Persia is nothing more than an immense band of robbers, who are only held together by the expectation of plunder : success commands their services; they sup port no particular cause, but join the chief whose affairs appear the most prosperous. The only tie upon their fidelity is the possession of their wives and families, or the influence which their commanders may possess amongst them,'

It must be confessed that the Persians are pleasing and entertain ing companions; but not the least reliance is to be placed on their words or most solemn protestations. You should always, therefore, be on your guard against their insidious offers; and to be so, it is necessary to distrust all their declarations. The manners of the Persians are formed, in a great degree, on the principles of Lord Chesterfield; they conceive it their duty to please: and to effect this, they forget all sentiments of honour and good faith. They are excellent companions, but detestable characters. .CC

Ray, Dec. 1810.

A people