A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809

A

JOURNEY

THROUGH

PERSIA,

ARMENIA, AND ASIA MINOR,

TO

CONSTANTINOPLE,

IN THE YEARS 1808 AND 1809;

IN WHICH IS INCLUDED,

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF HIS MAJESTY’S

MISSION, UNDER SIR HARFORD JONES, BART. K. C.

TO THE COURT OF THE KING OF PERSIA.

BY JAMES MORIER, ESQ.

HIS MAJESTY’S SECRETARY OF EMBASSY TO THE COURT OF PERSIA.

WITH TWENTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS FROM THE DESIGNS OF THE AUTHOR;

A PLATE OF INSCRIPTIONS; AND THREE MAPS;

ONE FROM THE OBSERVATIONS OF CAPTAIN JAMES SUTHERLAND: AND

TWO DRAWN BY MR. MORIER, AND MAJOR RENNELL.

Table of Contents

CHAP. I.

CHAP. II.

CHAP. III.

CHAP. IV.

CHAP. V.

CHAP. VI.

CHAP. VIII.

CHAP. IX.

CHAP. X.

CHAP. XI.

CHAP. XII.

CHAP. XIII.

CHAP. XIV.

CHAP. XV.

CHAP. XVI.

CHAP. XVII.

CHAP. XVIII.

CHAP. XIX.

NOTES.

APPENDIX.

INDEX

FOOTNOTES:

PREFACE.

Finding, on my arrival in England, that curiosity was quite alive to every thing connected with Persia, I was induced to publish the Memoranda which I had already made on that country; more immediately as I found that I had been fortunate enough to ascertain some facts, which had escaped the research of other travellers. In this, I allude more particularly to the sculptures and ruins of Shapour; for although my account of them is on a very reduced scale, yet I hope that I have said enough to direct the attention of abler persons than myself to the investigation of a new and curious subject.

Imperfect as my journal may be, it will, I hope, be found sufficiently comprehensive to serve as a link in the chain of information on Persia, until something more satisfactory shall be produced; and it claims no other merit than that of having been written on the very spots, and under the immediate circumstances, which I have attempted to describe. Having confined myself, with very few exceptions, to the relation of what I saw and heard, it will be found unadulterated by partiality to any particular system, and unbiassed by the writings and dissertations of other men. Written in the midst of a thousand cares, it claims every species of indulgence.

The time of my absence from England comprehends a space of little more than two years.—On the 27th of Oct. 1807, I sailed from Portsmouth with Sir Harford Jones, Bart. K. C. His Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Persia, in H. M. S. Sapphire, Captain George Davies: after having touched at Madeira and at the Cape of Good Hope, we reached Bombay on the 26th of April, 1808: owing to some political arrangements we did not quit Bombay till the 12th September. We arrived at Bushire on the 13th October, and proceeded towards the Persian capital on the 13th December. H. M. Mission reached Teheran on the 14th February, 1809: on the 12th March the preliminary treaty was signed between Sir Harford Jones and the Persian Plenipotentiaries; and on the 7th May I quitted Teheran with Mirza Abul Hassan, the King of Persia’s Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of London, with whom I reached Smyrna on the 7th September, and embarked there on board H. M. S. Success, Captain Ayscough. Having at Malta changed the Success for H. M. S. Formidable, we finally reached Plymouth on the 25th November, 1809.

I should be wanting in gratitude, if I did not here express the obligations which I owe to my fellow traveller, Mirza Abul Hassan, the late Persian Envoy Extraordinary, for much information on subjects relating to his own country, and for all the facilities of acquiring his language, which his communicative and amiable disposition afforded me. As this personage was distinguished, during his stay in England, by attentions more marked and continued than, perhaps, were ever paid to any foreigner, I have conceived that I should not trespass too much on the patience of my readers by inserting a sketch of his life;

¹

I feel at least that it will prove very acceptable to those who have shown him, as a stranger, so much friendship and hospitality.

In my narrative I have confined myself to relate our proceedings from the time we left Bombay to my arrival at Constantinople. The sea voyages, from England to India, and from Constantinople to England, are too well known to require any thing more to be written about them.

The engravings that are inserted are made from drawings which I took on the spot; they are done in a slight manner, and therefore are more intended to give general ideas, than to enter into any nicety of detail.

For the map from Bushire to Teheran I am indebted to my friend Captain James Sutherland, of the Bombay army; and for the general one of the countries, through which my route carried me, I must here return my thanks to Major Rennell, who has furnished me with this valuable document, and who has kindly assisted me in this, as well as on other occasions when I found myself deficient, with his advice and information. The map from Teheran to Amasia is the result of my own observation, corrected by the same masterly hand. It terminates at Amasia, because my journey from that place to Constantinople was performed as much by night as it was by day, and prosecuted with too great speed to permit me to observe with accuracy. Besides which, in Turkey, where the people are much more jealous and watchful of travellers than in Persia, I found that I could not make my remarks so much at my ease as I wished, although assisted by the disguise of a Persian dress. The courses and distances, noted in the journal, are only to be regarded as a kind of dead reckoning, subject to correction by the application of latitudes in certain places, and of approximated positions in others; and, in all, by allowances for the inflexions and inequalities of the roads.

I am indebted to Messrs. Jukes and Bruce, of the Bombay service, for the information which they furnished me whilst I was in Persia, and I have not failed to make my acknowledgments, wherever such information has been inserted.

But I must, in particular, express my gratitude to Mr. Robert Harry Inglis, for the kindness with which he offered to correct and arrange my memoranda, and prepare my journals for the press.

²

I beg leave to repeat that this volume is meant merely as provisional, and that I am far from entertaining the presumption that it will class with the valuable pages of Chardin, Le Brun, Hanway, Niebuhr, or Olivier. It is to be expected, that the extensive communication that will be opened with Persia, in consequence of our late political transactions with its court, will throw the whole extent of that very interesting part of the globe under our cognizance; and that, among other subjects of inquiry, its numerous antiquities, which have as yet been but imperfectly explored, will throw new lights upon its ancient history, manners, religion, and language.

SKETCH OF THE COUNTRIES

Situated between SHIRAZ and CONSTANTINOPLE; Shewing the ROUTE of HIS MAJESTY’S MISSION under Sir Harford Jones Bart. in 1809, from Bushire to Teheran; and of Mr. Morier from thence to Constantinople.

As also the Route of Col. Malcolm, in 1801.

INTRODUCTION.

The history of Persia from the death of Nadir Shah to the accession of the present King, comprehending a period of fifty-one years, presents little else than a catalogue of the names of tyrants and usurpers, and a succession of murders, treacheries and scenes of misery.

After the assassination of Nadir, one of the most formidable of the competitors for the vacant throne, was Mahomed Hassan Khan, the head of the Cadjar tribe, and a person of high rank among the nobles of Shah Thamas, the last king of the Seffi race.

³

Mahomed Hassan Khan had several sons: Hossein Kooli Khan, the eldest, was father to the present King of Persia, and was killed in a battle with the Turcomans: Aga Mahomed Khan, the second son, was the immediate predecessor of his nephew on the throne.

Mahomed Hassan Khan had not long assumed the crown, when he was opposed by Kerim Khan, a native of Courdistan; who, under pretence of protecting the rights of Ismael,

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a lineal descendant of the Seffi family, and then a child, secured to himself so large a share of influence and authority in the state, that he very soon supplanted virtually the pageant that he had erected; and, while he still concealed his ambition under the name of Vakeel or Regent, exercised all the real powers of the sovereign of Persia. The birth of Kerim Khan was obscure; but the habits of his early years qualified him for the times in which he lived, and the destiny to which he aspired. His family, indeed, was a low branch of an obscure tribe in Courdistan, that of the Zunds, from which his dynasty has been denominated; and his profession was the single occupation of all his countrymen, robbery,

⁵

which, when it thus becomes a national object, loses in reputation all its grossness. Here he acquired the talents and hardihood of a soldier; and was renowned for an effectual spirit of enterprise, and for great personal skill in the exercise of the sword, a qualification of much value among his people. The long revolutions of Persia called forth every talent and every passion; and the hopes of Kerim Khan were excited by the partial successes of others, and by the consciousness of his own resources. He entered the field; and eventually overcame Mahomed Hassan Khan, his principal competitor, who fled and was killed in Mazanderan. The conqueror having seized and confined the children of his rival, proceeded to quell the several inferior chiefs, who, in their turns, had aspired to the succession. His superior activity and talents finally secured the dominion: and having, in 1755, settled at Shiraz, he made that city the seat of his government. He beautified it by many public buildings, both of use and luxury; and their present state attests the solid magnificence of his taste. His memory is much lamented in Persia; as his reign, a reign of dissipation and splendor, was congenial to the character of the people. In his time prostitutes were publicly protected; their calling was classed among the professions; and the chief, or representative, of their numbers, attended by all the state and parade of the most respected of the Khans and Mirzas, used daily to stand before the Sovereign at his Durbar.

On the 13th of March, 1779, Kerim Khan died a natural death, an extraordinary occurrence in the modern history of Persia, having reigned (according to the different dates assigned to his accession, from the deaths of different competitors) from nineteen to thirty years. From the fall of Mahomed Hassan Khan the better epoch, his conqueror lived nineteen years, with almost undisputed authority.

After his death all was again in confusion; and the kingdom presented a renewal of blood and usurpation. It is scarcely necessary to state the short-lived struggles of his successors: their very names have ceased to interest us. It is sufficient therefore to add, that his sons and brothers, and other relatives, attacked each other for fourteen years after his death; till the fortunes of the whole family were finally overwhelmed in the defeat of Loolf Ali Khan, the last and greatest of these claimants; and the dominion was transferred, in the year 1794, to his conqueror, Aga Mahomed Khan, of the present royal race of Persia.

In latter years, during the war between the East India Company and Tippoo Saib, under the administration of the Marquis Wellesley, the political relations of England and Persia were renewed. An embassy, which Tippoo sent to Fatteh Ali Shah, the present King of Persia, was followed soon after by a rival mission, which the Indian government confided to the care of Mehede Ali Khan, a man of Persian extraction. In the mean time, indeed, Tippoo was killed; and his death left us in possession of the Persian councils. After this Captain Malcolm, in the year 1801, was sent to solicit the alliance of Persia against Zemaun Shah, King of the Afghans. That gentleman concluded a treaty,

⁶

by which it was stipulated that Persia should attack Khorassan and the Afghan States, and that we should contribute our assistance in the expences of the war. The King of Persia carried his arms into Khorassan, and conquered that province.

The mission of Captain Malcolm was returned by one from the King of Persia to the Indian Government. Hajee Kelil Khan was sent as the embassador, but unfortunately he was killed in a fray at Bombay, as he was attempting to quell a disturbance between his servants and some Indians. To explain this untoward event, Mr. Lovett, a gentleman in the Bengal civil service, was dispatched; but he proceeded no further with his mission than to Bushire, and delivered it over to Mr. Manesty, the East India Company’s Resident at Bussorah. Another embassy was now sent from the Persian Court; and Mahomed Nebee Khan, the Envoy appointed, luckily reached Calcutta without any accident.

Some time after, French agents were traced into Persia, and the views of France begun to be suspected. Monsieur Jouannin, an intelligent Frenchman, succeeded in getting the Persian Court to send a mission to Buonaparte. The Envoy, by name Mirza Rega, went from Persia in 1806; and concluded a treaty with France at Finkinstein, in May 1807. On his return, a large embassy, confided to General Gardanne, was sent from France to Persia: this gave rise to the mission of Sir Harford Jones, who, arriving at Bombay in April 1808, found that Brigadier-General Malcolm had been previously sent by the Governor-General to Persia. General Malcolm having failed of success, Sir Harford Jones proceeded.

PLATES.

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.

CHAP. I.

BOMBAY TO BUSHIRE.

DEPARTURE FROM BOMBAY—LAND OF GUZERAT—COAST OF MEKRAN—BALOUCHES—ENTRANCE OF THE GULPH OF PERSIA—IMAUM OF MUSCAT: HIS FLEET—SOUNDINGS IN THE GULPH—BUSHIRE—VISIT OF THE SHEIK—LANDING IN PERSIA.

On the 6th of September 1808, when His Majesty’s Mission to the court of Teheran was still at Bombay, the Envoy extraordinary, Sir Harford Jones, received dispatches from the Governor-general at Calcutta, which determined him to proceed immediately to Persia. The establishment of the mission had been changed since our arrival in India; Major L. F. Smith, who left England as public Secretary, on landing at this settlement proceeded to Bengal; and the duties of Secretary of the Legation were annexed to those, which, as private secretary to the Envoy, I had originally discharged. The suite was augmented at Bombay by Mr. Thomas Henry Sheridan, and Captain James Sutherland, severally of the civil and military establishments of that presidency, by Cornet Henry Willock, of the Madras cavalry, commander of the body guard; and was subsequently joined by Lieutenant Blacker, of the Madras cavalry, and Mr. Campbell, surgeon to the mission. Besides three European and some Indian servants, the Envoy carried washermen and tailors, and some artificers, as carpenters, blacksmiths, and locksmiths.

On the 12th Sept. Sir Harford Jones, accompanied by Mr. Sheridan and myself, embarked on board his Majesty’s frigate Nereide, Captain Corbett; Capt. Sutherland and Mr. Willock went in the Sapphire, Capt. Davis: and the H. C. cruizer Sylph carried the Persian secretary, &c. The Governor of Bombay drew out the troops of the garrison to salute the Envoy on his embarkation: they formed a lane from the government-house to the entrance of the dock-yard; and as He passed the troops presented arms, and the music played God save the King. A salute of fifteen guns was fired on his quitting the shore, and was answered by another from the frigate; a ceremony which always excites a powerful feeling of respect in the minds of the natives.

In the afternoon of the 12th, the squadron left the harbour of Bombay: on the 13th, the Nereide had out-stripped the Sapphire, and had lost sight of the Sylph. The winds were variable and squally: the thermometer in the cabin stood at 82°. About ten o’clock, on the morning of the 14th. we made the land of Diu; we stood close in shore, and tacked at twelve o’clock; the Portuguese colours were flying on the fort. The thermometer was this day 80°. 15th. calms. The land of the Guzerat is extremely low. Diu Point is studded with towns and pagodas. 16th. we made but little way; tacked off and on shore, and distinguished a variety of buildings and towns on the coast. The largest place, which we marked in our progress, was Pour-bundar. The coast itself continued flat, with scarcely an inequality.

On Sunday, the 18th. Capt. Corbett read prayers to the ship’s company on the quarter-deck. The scene struck me as more simple and more impressive than any that, for a long time, I had witnessed. The cleanliness of the ship, the attention of the sailors, the beauty of the day, all conspired to heighten the solemnity of the service, and I felt persuaded that the prayers, offered up to God by such men and in such a manner, would be favourably accepted.

Cape Arubah.

Drawn by James Morier Esqr.

Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.

As the coast of Mekran, (taken largely, from the Indus to the entrance of the gulph of Persia,) along which we now sailed, is so little visited in this age, and has, indeed, been so seldom described since the days of Alexander, it may, perhaps, be acceptable to insert even the few and incomplete notices of the country which my journal affords.

On the 18th. we lost sight of the coast. On the 24th we again saw land, which in appearance was remarkable. It was a very long range of table land, the soil of which, though light coloured, was strongly marked in horizontal strata. As we approached it, we discovered several curious capes, rising in a varied succession of grotesque forms; and among them one so very singular, that we were surprised that it had not been particularly described by those who have compiled the directories for navigating these seas. By our chronometers we took this land to be Cape Moran.

⁷

The shore gradually shallows from twelve to five fathoms, when we tacked and stood off again in the evening, expecting a land breeze to spring up, but were disappointed. The sea is here very much discoloured, the effect probably of black mud at the bottom.

25th. Sept. Cape Arubah is a long slip of table land, which on its first appearance looks like an island.

⁸

Its soil seems to be clay, and of a colour a few shades darker than Portland stone. We did not discover, among the head-lands into which it was broken, the particular cape which might have given its name to the whole; but the highest point to the westward appeared to deserve the preference. Beyond that western extremity of the table land, the coast immediately recedes into a bay, which is terminated by a long range of extremely rugged mountains. In one of the recesses of the cliffs of Arubah, we fancied that we had discovered a village, and even through our glasses were still positive that we could mark its white buildings; but as we drew closer to the shore, we ascertained that the houses in appearance were in reality large clods of white soil, which had fallen from the cliffs above, and were arranged so happily, some in separate piles, and some in rows, as to give to the whole the full effect of a town. A number of small boats with white lateen sails were creeping quietly along the shore, as we passed; but we could not get close enough to them, to ascertain the people who managed them, or the nature of the goods which they carried.

On the 26th. the weather was very foggy; the thermometer was 75°. On the 27th. as the fog still increased, we came to an anchor in nine fathoms. On the 28th. as the fog cleared away, we discovered the small island of Ashtola, which is of an equal height along its whole extent, a length perhaps of about two miles, and seems to be of the same soil as the capes on the mainland. Not far from the island, we caught turtle. The continent as seen from Ashtola, appears extremely high, in long continued ranges; but the lands which more immediately border on the sea, are very low. The soundings are regular, and there is no danger, as long as the lead is going. At eight o’clock we were off Cape Posmee, a remarkable head-land.

Island of Ashtola.

Drawn by James Morier Esqr.

Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.

On the 1st of October, we made Cape Guadel, a piece of land of a moderate and rather equal height, which projects far into the sea, and is connected with the continent by an isthmus less than half a mile in breadth. Close under the north side of the cape, there is still a town; and on the isthmus, as we could perceive from the ship, are the remains of an old fort. In the neighbourhood are the vestiges of a town also, built with stone, and some wells.

⁹

But the more modern village of Guadel is composed of mat houses, and the greater part of the inhabitants (the number of the whole is very small) are weavers, who manufacture coarse linen and carpets of ordinary colours. From Crotchey to Cape Monze the people call themselves Balouches; and from Monze to Cape Jasques, they take the name of Brodies: there is some difference in their language, perhaps in their religion also, but none in their dress or manners. The high lands about Cape Guadel are all extremely remarkable, rising in spires and turrets so correctly formed, as to give to many parts of the coast, an appearance of towns with their churches and castles.

Their rocky summits, split and rent,

Form’d turret, dome, and battlement,

Or seem’d fantastically set

With cupola or minaret,

Wild crests as pagod ever deck’d

Or mosque of eastern architect.

Lady of the Lake, Canto I. xi. p. 14.

Cape Posmee.

Drawn by James Morier Esqr.

Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.

One piece of land in particular, forming an entrance to the bay behind Cape Guadel, has the most striking resemblance to a long range of gothic ruin. We perceived three camels grazing on the heights of the cape, and some few signs of cultivation, which we had discovered on no other spot along the coast before.

On the 3d. we saw the town of Chubar; and plainly distinguished among other objects a walled building, which we at first took to be a fort, but which according to the Directory, is a place of burial. We saw several boats with lateen sails, of a canvas very conspicuously white, cut exactly like the sails of the boats on the coast of Italy and Sicily. The thermometer was 84°. The 5th. was very sultry, and the thermometer was 90°. On the 6th. a hot wind came from off the land, and warped the tables, mathematical rulers, and the furniture in the cabin, besides slackening all our rigging. This wind brought with it a thick mist of an impalpable sand, which gradually cleared away, and left us the first view of Cape Jasques.

Oct. 7th. at about one o’clock in the morning, a breeze sprung up from the southward, and in five hours we had passed the Quoins, in the Gulph of Persia, and were abreast of the island of Kishmis. We saw at the same time the high land of the Arabian shore, terminating in a lofty and marked peak; it is the land about Cape Musseldom. The entrance of the gulph may be properly marked between Cape Bombareek and Cape Musseldom. I call these places by their names, as laid down in our sea charts; because their more proper appellations would probably not be understood. Bombareek for instance, which by sailors is also called Bombay rock, is derived originally from "Moobarek, happy, fortunate." Musseldom is still a stronger instance of the perversion of words. The genuine name of this head-land is Mama Selemeh, derived according to the story of the country from Selemeh, who was a female saint of Arabia, and lived on the spot or in its neighbourhood. The Indians, when they pass the promontory, throw cocoa nuts, fruits or flowers into the sea, to secure a propitious voyage. My informer added, that the superstition was not practised by the Persians.

On the shore of Cape Bombareek is an insulated and very singular mass of rock, in which we could perceive from the ship a large natural aperture. To me the shape of the whole mass appeared like a tankard, and the aperture formed its handle. After having rounded Cape Musseldom (which is eighteen leagues to the westward of Bombareek), we came to the five small islands generally called altogether the Quoins.

Kishmis is the largest island in the gulph; and, according to the account which I received, is capable of being made very productive: it is at present in almost total abandonment, though still nominally the property of Persia. We next passed two small and low islands, called the Great and Little Tomb.

Cape Museldom.

Drawn by James Morier Esqr.

Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.

The strong south wind, with which we were now favoured, was at this season considered extraordinary. It blew so strong that the Nereide, with every sail set, went ten and eleven knots. It is accompanied with much haze, not indeed to be compared to that which came with the hot wind from off the shore, though in the same manner it warped the furniture and slackened the rigging.

On the 8th. we passed the island of Busheab, which, in Heather’s map, is placed much too far to the eastward, and which ought to be called "Khoshaub, or pleasant water," from the fresh spring in its territory. It is a long and low slip, but the land on the continent behind it is extremely high. We had a light sea breeze all day, that carried us off Cape Nabon, a part of the province of Farz. The thermometer stood at 93° in the cabin after dinner. On the morning of the 9th. it was reported that a fleet of five ships were seen from the mast-head. We conjectured that they might be Arab ships, bound from Muscat to Bussorah, which about this season proceed on their voyages. They carry thither annually eight thousand bales of coffee; and in return get cargoes of dates. The sea breeze of the day was extremely light, and set in at noon. In the evening the Barnhill, a remarkable piece of land, (which derived its name from its resemblance to an old and decayed thatched building, and which is situated over the town of Congoon,) bore N. and by W. of us. Here the whole coast is very high.

On the morning of the 10th. we were off the Barnhill. The five ships had thus far kept us in a state of suspense; as we imagined that they might be the fleet of the Imaum of Muscat, who possesses thirty sail of different descriptions. Some of his ships, indeed, are of a thousand tons burthen; and one of forty guns, built at Bombay, is rather a formidable vessel.

¹⁰

The Imaum in person frequently parades about the Persian gulph with his armament. He is an independant prince, and his jurisdiction, though principally confined to Muscat, extends yet generally over the province of Oman. At present he is friendly to us, and we have a resident at his court, who seldom remains there long, for the badness of its air has rendered it the burial place of too many Englishmen.

At length we boarded the Arabs, and they proved to be, as we had originally expected, a fleet of the Imaum’s merchantmen, laden with coffee, rice, &c. bound to Bushire and Bussorah. They had been fifteen days from Muscat. One of the five was a fine vessel of six hundred tons burthen, which about four years before was purchased by the Imaum at the Isle of France, and was then called the Sterling Castle. There were also two grabs, which are ships in every respect like the others, except that they have lengthened prows instead of rounded bows. These grabs the Arabs can manage to build themselves in their own ports, as it is easy to extend the timbers of a ship, until they connect themselves into a prow; but they have not yet attained the art of forming timber fit to construct bows.

Before the sun-set of the preceding day, we had discovered through our glasses, the town of Congoon, under a peak, close in the eastern vicinity of the Barnhill. It then appeared in a wood of dates, above which rose the domes of mosques. The Sheik of Congoon is represented as a young and spirited Arab, who can raise a body of two thousand cavalry, and who is able to lead them. His town is resorted to for wood, but, as far as we could judge at a distance, the date is the only tree of the neighbourhood.

We suffered much from the heat in the night, but when the moon rose over the Barnhill, a little refreshing breeze sprang up, which gave us much relief. An Arab ship was not far from us, and I could just hear their singing on board. It brought to my recollection some of the moonlight scenes in the Archipelago; for the music of these Arabs struck me as being very similar to that which I have heard on board a Greek or Sclavonian ship, when the lyra accompanies the voice of some naval Apollo, and is followed by a chorus of his shipmates.

We were off Cape Verdistan this morning, and descried the Hummocks of Kenn. The shoal that runs out from Cape Verdistan, is rendered dangerous by a reef of rocks which extends itself about six or seven miles from the shore. There are good mud soundings on the shoal, and a ship may cross its extremity without danger, though it is as well to give it a good birth. We stood off in the night of the 12th. The soundings in the shoal as laid down by Mac Cluer are not all correspondent to those which we got. We were in seven fathoms for more than an hour, and he has not got such a sounding amongst his. From seven we got to half six, and then to four, when we thought it time to tack. The cause which has been assigned for our ignorance of the gulph, is the prudential reserve which has influenced our Indian governments in their transactions with the states of Persia and Arabia. To avoid suspicion and complaint, they have never professedly made surveys of the shores, though much might yet have been done indirectly, if the object had been considered of sufficient importance. Few, except merchant vessels visited the gulph; and as the charts, which they already possessed (and what is better, their own experience) served their purpose sufficiently in the line of their own navigation, there was seldom any particular demand for more correct surveys. The geographer and philosopher indeed require something more, and therefore it is still matter of regret, that we are comparatively ill-informed in countries, where we have had easy opportunities of acquiring knowledge.

13th Oct. We were becalmed all night under the Asses Ears. These are points of land, which stand a little more erect, and are more conspicuous than the other points which surround them. The whole displays a line of coast the most rugged, barren, and inhospitable that I ever saw; and constitutes, after we passed Verdistan shoal, a very bold shore. We sailed along it, keeping in eleven and twelve fathoms. In the evening we opened Hallilah peak, which is a high and remarkable point of land. As we crept along the coast, we marked some ruined walls embosomed among the date trees.

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At sun-set we just discovered the low land on which stands the town of Bushire. In the calms which followed during the night, we were unable to make much way, and on the morning of the 14th we were still at the same distance from Bushire, as on the preceding evening. We fired two shots at a small vessel, to bring her to, but without effect. These boats are employed mostly in carrying wood to Bushire. They find it on the coast, probably in recesses of the land, for we could scarcely see a shrub in the whole passage of the gulph.

At about half past three o’clock on the 14th October, we anchored in Bushire roads, where we found one of the Company’s cruizers, and a merchantman. Before we cast anchor, a boat came off from the shore, the captain of which, a little sharp Persian, answered Sir Harford Jones’s interrogations with much vivacity, and swore to the truth of every assertion ten times over by his head and eyes. Having learnt that the East India Company’s assistant resident, Mr. Bruce, was at Bushire, the Envoy sent a letter to desire his attendance on board immediately, and at the same time requesting that he would notify the arrival of the mission to the Sheik, Abdallah Resoul, who then governed Bushire. We could see with our glasses Mr. Bruce’s residence, which was at some distance without the town, and could observe that the letter had been safely delivered; for in a few minutes we discovered Mr. Bruce on horseback, riding full speed to the boat. In an hour he was on board.

He commenced by informing us of a report of the death of our King, which had reached Bushire from Bagdad; and which, originating from an article in a French paper, had been circulated in Persia by the French, for an obvious purpose. The Envoy delivered to Mr. Bruce, a paper containing all the communications which he wished to be made to the Sheik of Bushire. He then added, desiring that his object might be clearly explained, that He expected from the Sheik all the respect due to the station which he filled, and that if he did not receive those honours to which the King of England’s Mission was entitled, the Sheik should be held responsible till the wishes of the court of Persia were known. Mr. Bruce assured Sir Harford that the Sheik would make no difficulty in coming off the next day to pay his respects, and the hour of his visit was in consequence fixed at ten o’clock.

The colours of the New Factory in the country, and of the Old one in the town, were hoisted on the morning of the 15th. While we were expecting the arrival of the Sheik, we regaled ourselves with the grapes, citrons, and pomegranates, which had been sent to us from the shore. At length we espied a boat with a crimson awning, and apparently much filled with passengers. It was beating against the sea breeze, which, rather unfortunately for the party, had set in uncommonly fresh. When she came in a line with our ship, the sail was lowered, and the men took to their oars. In a short time however we observed from the frigate, that the boat got very slowly a-head, and that the strength of the crew was nearly exhausted. Captain Corbett then sent his barge to tow up the Sheik to the ship, which was done in a very masterly style; and we were delighting in the idea of the enjoyment which the Persians must have received in the close at least of such an excursion, when we were mortified at discovering the misery in every face, which the unusual voyage had too evidently produced. But the sea-sickness was forgotten as soon as they were on board the frigate. The Sheik was received with a salute of five guns; the number was esteemed a mark of particular distinction, as three are considered in Persia a sufficient allowance for a great man.

The marines were under arms; Captain Corbett with much courtesy handed him across the quarter-deck, and assisted him with some difficulty to descend from the deck to the cabin by a steep and narrow ladder, which, however, no attention could render convenient to a man encumbered with an immense large cloak and slip-shod slippers. At the bottom he was received by Sir Harford Jones. The ship was immediately filled by the suite of the Sheik, who, with all the curiosity and effrontery of Asiatics, spread themselves through every part. Our guest was attended on his visit by the principal men and merchants of Bushire, among whom the Envoy recognised the face of many an early friend. All the party seemed much pleased with their reception, and expressed their high admiration of the beauty, order, and cleanliness of the ship. The conversation was general, and consisted mostly in inquiries after former friends, and in reviving the recollection of the histories of old times. Sir Harford Jones had known the Sheik when he was a fine boy: there was now indeed little left to be admired; his face was inanimate, and his body bent double with excessive debauch. The whole party were generally but a rude sample of the elegance of Persians, nor indeed is the true Persian to be found at Bushire, where the blood is mostly mixed with that of Arabia.

The only man of the party, whose face interested me, and exhibited signs of intelligence, was a Turk, by name Abdulla Aga, an old friend of the Envoy’s, who had been Musselim of Bussorah, and had ruled that part of the country for many years, with great respectability and eclat. He had been driven by injustice to take refuge at Bushire; though from the known integrity of his character, and the attachment of the people of Bussorah and Bagdad to his person, many still expect that he will one day attain the Pachalick of Bagdad. After this good Mussulman, spreading his carpet near one of the twelve pounders, had said his prayers, (with a fervency, undisturbed by the busy, novel and noisy scene around him) the visit broke up.

The Sheik and Abdulla Aga, who both had suffered by their long excursion in the morning, preferred to return on shore in the Nereide’s boat with Sir Harford Jones. We had not long put off from the ship, when a salute of fifteen guns commenced for the envoy, to the great consternation of the remaining part of the Persians, who were just embarking in their own boat, and who unluckily found themselves under the muzzles of the guns, where they were involved in clouds of smoke, with the wads whistling close to their ears. We at length reached the landing place; an immense crowd was assembled to await our debarkation. The Sheik had collected all the soldiery of the town to escort us to his house; and in the moment of our touching the shore, the whole mob was put in motion, raising a dust so thick that I could scarce distinguish Englishman from Asiatic. To add to the denseness of the atmosphere, the boats, which were close to the beach, commenced a salute; which was immediately answered by a range of guns on the coast. The whole procession was obliged to pass in the immediate rear of these guns as they were firing, though they appeared so old and honey-combed, that I feared they must have burst before the honours were over. We proceeded in a cloud of dust, and through streets six feet wide to the Sheik’s house, and at length entered it by a door so mean and ill-looking, that it might more properly have formed the entrance to his stable. This door introduced us into a small court yard, on one side of which was an apartment where we seated ourselves on chairs placed on purpose for us. A Persian visit, when the guest is a distinguished personage, generally consists of three acts: first, the kaleoun, or water pipe, and coffee; second, a kaleoun, and sweet coffee (so called from its being a composition of rose-water and sugar); and third, a kaleoun by itself. Sweetmeats are frequently introduced as a finale. As I shall have many better opportunities of describing all the ceremonies of these occasions, it is sufficient to add at present, that we performed the three above acts, and then mounted our horses for Mr. Bruce’s house in the country.

Part of the same armed rabble, which had escorted us from the boat to the Sheik’s house, attended us to the Factory. These soldiers are the militia of the place, and serve without pay. They even find their own arms, which consist of a matchlock, a sword, and a shield that is slung behind their back. They consist of working men attached to different trades, for we discovered the dyer by the black hue of his hands, the tinker by the smut on his face, the tailor by the shreds that had adhered to him from his shopboard.

On our arrival at the Factory, we closed our dispatches for Europe, and then completed a day full of entertainment, by an excellent dinner.

The Nereide sailed with the dispatches on the morning; and before daylight was out of sight. The passage between Bombay and Bushire, which had been made in thirty-four days, was now retraced in twelve.

CHAP. II.

HISTORY OF THE SHEIK OF BUSHIRE..

HISTORY OF BUSHIRE—SHEIK NASR—THE NASAKCHEE BASHEE, THE CHIEF EXECUTIONER DISPATCHED FROM SHIRAZ AGAINST THE SHEIK ABDULLAH RESOUL; VISITS THE ENVOY: VISIT RETURNED—DIFFICULTIES OF THE SHEIK—HIS SEIZURE—CONSTERNATION OF THE TOWN—PRECAUTIONS OF THE ENVOY—EXPLANATION OF THE NASAKCHEE BASHEE—SUCCESSOR OF THE SHEIK, MAHOMED NEBEE KHAN—ASSUMPTION OF THE GOVERNMENT BY THE NASAKCHEE BASHEE—MAHOMMED JAFFER APPOINTED PROVISIONALLY; DISGRACED; RESTORED—RECEIVES A KALAAT—CEREMONY—FATE OF THE LATE SHEIK OF BUSHIRE.

The history of the Sheik of Bushire, who had received us on our landing, added the principal interest to our subsequent residence in his country. Our stay was marked by the subversion of his power and of the Arab rule; and the journal of every day naturally contained ample accounts of the progress of an event, which was locally so prominent and important. The travellers of the last century, who mentioned his predecessors, may possibly direct some little curiosity to the fortunes of their descendant; but without any previous interest in the persons, the tale of the present day may excite attention as a practical illustration of the principles of an eastern government.

The coast of the gulph was lined for ages with the petty sovereignties of Arab Sheiks,

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who, while they occupied the shores of Persia, yielded a very uncertain obedience to the monarch of the interior. The degrees indeed of service paid were probably at all times measured more by the character and relative force of the different parties, than by any original stipulations. Nadir and Kerim Khan in vain endeavoured to reduce these Arab chiefs to more complete obedience: but in many districts their authority was scarcely acknowledged, and except in partial remissions, still more seldom felt. Among these chiefs, Sheik Nasr, of Bushire, long retained a real independance. The Dashtistan, the low country under the hills, was his province; and in all the turbulence of his age, this territory and more immediately the country round Bushire, was still the place of security. In one instance indeed, memorable in the latter history of Persia,

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the resources of Bushire supported the sinking fortunes of the last dynasty. Lootf Ali Khan, after the murder of his father Jaffier Khan, king of Persia, fled for refuge to Sheik Nasr. The Sheik, in memory of his ancient attachment to Jaffier Khan, received the prince with the warmest hospitality, and gathering the Arab tribes under his controul, resolved to lead them in the cause which was thus trusted to his honour. The prince in the mean time prepared, by letters, his friends at Shiraz to second their operations; and the measures were continued with secrecy and success, when, in the words of the Persian historian,

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"The boat of Sheik Nasr Khan’s existence from the beating waves of the sea of life, had received considerable injury; and the bark of his age, from the irresistible tempest of death was overwhelmed in the sea of mortality." In his last moments the Sheik committed to his son the duty which he was no longer permitted to execute himself. The son fulfilled his father’s charge with faithfulness: in two or three months he had assembled a large force of Arab tribes

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, and advanced with them towards Shiraz: when a conspiracy in the camp of their enemy enabled them in the first instance to succeed without a battle, and eventually to reinstate on his throne the Prince who was confided to them. The story marks the character of the two nations more fully, if the history of Lootf Ali Khan, before his flight to Bushire, be recollected. Although his father had reigned in Persia for a long time (compared with the usurpations which preceded,) although himself had long accustomed the people to serve and triumph with him, yet in the first moment of distress (the arrival of the intelligence of his father’s slaughter, and of the orders of the conspirators to seize him), even in his own camp he was left unsupported by all. Five, indeed, fled with him in the night to Bushire; but in the morning the whole camp had dispersed without an effort; and all had submitted to the usurpers. The contrast now begins: the Prince threw himself on the protection of the Arabs, the vassals or allies of his father; he was welcomed with the most warm fidelity, supported by their honour, and restored by their valour to his throne.

The Sheik of Bushire, who in his dying charge had bequeathed this cause to his successor, is still remembered in his general conduct with reverence. Whenever his little domain was threatened either by the Government of Persia, or by a neighbouring chief, Sheik Nasr flew to arms. According to the traditional accounts of the country, his summons to his followers in these emergencies was equally characteristic and effectual. He mounted two large braziers of Pillau on a camel, and sent it to parade round the country. The rough pace of the animal put the ladles in motion, so that they struck the sides of the vessels at marked intervals, and produced a most sonorous clang. As it traversed the Dashtistan, it collected the mob of every district; every one had tasted the Arab hospitality of the Sheik, and every one remembered the appeal, and crowded round the ancient standard of their chief, till his camel returned to him surrounded by a force sufficient to repel the threatened encroachments. In every new emergency