ʿAks-i partaw - The Plaints, Consolations, and Delights of Achmed Ardebeili

KERZEROM is a place situated in the province of Farsistan, and much celebrated for the delicious wines produced in its vicinity. The vineyards there, as at Shiraz and other parts of Persia, are chiefly cultivated by Armenian Christians, who are also the principal dealers in this article; which, although prohibited in the strictness of the Alchoranic law, yet the generality of the Persians free themselves from such restraints by maintaining that the improper use of it only was forbidden, and drink it without scruple—many of them to excess: such the more rigid observers of the law stigmatize with the appellation of Badei Perestan, “worshippers of wine; as they also term a worldly-minded man Zemané perest, “a worshipper of transitory things.” Some Arabians are so very scrupulous that they will not even name it. The Sultan, Shemseddin Khogiah Ali, passed a very severe decree, forbidding not only wine but any kind of intoxicating liquor to be mentioned otherwise than metaphorically, in such phrases as these: “the draught of perdition,” “the water of destruction and ruin.” This however, with other severities, thro’ which he attempted a too speedy reformation of manners and morals in his dominions, occasioned him to be assassinated in the castle of Sebzvar, A. D. 964. The Sephis were so totally different in this respect, that their courts were the very seminaries of intemperance. Shah Seliman not only drank wine in public himself, but often caused those who were admitted to an audience to drink freely before he would hear them; and, by way of diverting himself would frequently incite his courtiers to such an extreme of drunkenness in his presence, that they were sometimes carried apparently out dead. The Persians are not accustomed to use small glasses, as we do, but filling a large goblet or bowl, drink their wine, which is very potent, in full draughts. “Ridiculum reputant (says Angelo á St. Joseph) vini potum, nisi ad ebrietatem perveniet.”—“They think it absurd to drink wine, unless they feel the effects of intoxication.”

GENIES. The fertile fancy of the Orientals has ever been fond of passing the bounds of visible nature, and sporting with the images of its own luxuriant creation. Hence they have supposed mountains, deserts, and lonely valleys, to be inhabited by spirits of different kinds, which they call Ghool, Kengosh, Ardav, Seidanet, Ketrab, &c.

The infernal spirits form another class of beings. From TABEKH the Angel of Hell, to the personification of all the vices and evil dispositions of the wicked. They also conceive supernatural beings to preside over certain places. times, and seasons. In this the ancient Persians were very superstitious, and Mahomedanism has not yet banished it quite from amongst their descendants. But the ideal beings which most frequently appear in the works of the Persian poets, are the Dive and Peri, ; to the former, which are also called Genies, are ascribed wicked and malignant dispositions, both towards the Peries and the human race. They are accordingly spoken of as deformed and ugly; whilst the Peries are, on the contrary, represented as beautiful in face and form, as they are gentle, benevolent, and friendly to mankind—subsisting only on the sweetest perfumes: they are also supposed to be small and DELICATE, as the Dives are rude and gigantic. They are considered as races of beings totally distinct from angels, devils, departed spirits, or men; and that, having inhabited this earth during some thousands of years before the creation of the human species,—they were, for acts of disobedience, (a small number only excepted) banished to a wild region, called Jenistan, or the desert of Monsters, which they still continue to inhabit. Such as were not thus banished, are supposed to have been entirely under the command of king Soloman; and that talismans, charms, and incantations, still have a powerful influence over them: the superstitious belief in these, and in magic arts, being almost universal in Persia, as in many other countries of the East.

GERGESTAN, The country of Georgia, lying between the Black Sea and the Persian province of Shirvan, that extends along the Western shore of the Caspian. It is a very rugged and mountainous tract of country, abounding with savage animals of various kinds; therefore the herdsmen who pasture their cattle on the mountains, are obliged to be very vigilant. The valleys are fruitful, and the inhabitants raise vast quantities of silk worms, though they manufacture but little of their produce. The Georgians are in general stout well-grown men, and of a warlike disposition. They profess a kind of Christianity, that however scarcely deserves the name; and its deficiencies unhappily are not compensated by moral character;—for they are said to be brutal in their manners, and given to robbery and drunkenness, —making it even a frequent practice to steal each others children, particularly females, for the purpose of selling them as slaves to the Turks and Persians. Their women, with those of Circassia, are reputed to be the most beautiful in Asia; and are for that reason eagerly sought, and purchased for large sums, by the rich voluptuaries of Persia and Turkey, who pride themselves much on obtaining them for their harams;—but, from a total deficiency of education, their manners would illy accord with that personal beauty which is spoken of with so much enthu siasm,—were it not that those who pursue the infamous trafic of purchasing for sale these young females from the wretches that steal them, find it their interest to get them taught a few exterior accomplishments, that may afterwards enhance their price.

HOURI; one of the virgins of Paradise. Tho’ the more spiritual Mahomedans understand such expressions as merely figurative of an unspeakable and pure felicity; yet others, and especially the poets, speak of them as actually existant beings, possessing every charm of the most exquisite beauty, united with angelic sweetness of disposition, and mental loveliness: thus Saadi,

The Persians usually denominate the inhabitants of various nations beyond the river Jihon, or Abi-amu, by the general name of Turcomans: though that tract South of the Jaraxes, is properly Bocharia, or the kingdom of Maw’r-al-naher. It was conquered by Tamerlane, whose descendants reigned there until the year 904 of the hejra; when they were conquered by the Ouzbek Tartars, who have remained in possession of this populous and beautifully fertile country ever since; where they have proved, at times, very troublesome and formidable neighbours to the Persians—with whom they have had frequent wars. In the reign of Shah Selyman they entered and ravaged great part of the province of Khorasan; and were with difficulty prevented from taking the strongly-fortified city of Meschid. This city, containing the tomb of Iman Ali Rezia, who is reputed one of the highest of the Mussulman saints by the Persians, is continually resorted to by numerous pilgrims. Many miracles are said to have been wrought there; and superstitious zeal has not been sparing of its rich gifts and endowments. The treasures deposited there were immense, and made its capture one great object of the Ouzbek invasion: though the war originated in the fraudful avarice of Selyman, that provoked this fierce nation to revenge and plunder.

MOSLEM, , or Musulman, i. e. a true believer. This term is applied by the Mahomedans to themselves, as believing in the absolute unity of God, and the mission of their prophet Mahomed; though the Shiahs and Sunnis frequently bestow on each other, with all the acrimony of uncharitableness, the epithet of rouvafez, or heretics.

SAIT-NUMA, a watch, or pocket-dial. Some of the latter are furnished with a small magnetic needle; by which they determine, on a journey, the quarter they are to turn to in the act of prayer. Such an instrument is termed Kebleh-numa.

MINARETS. Towers, spires, and particularly the turrets of the mosques; from whence, at stated hours, the people are every day called five times to prayer, by the muezins.

The name of TOURAN is often used to denote the whole country north of the river Amou or Jihon; but it more properly applies to the wild region of Turkestan, that lies north of the Jaraxes, which flows from the mountains of Little Bocharia into the lake of Aral. The northern winds, blowing from Siberia over these Tartarian deserts during the winter season, are felt keenly in some of the Persian provinces, even to the South of Shiraz. Ispahan is said to be almost as cold as Amsterdam, in the depth of winter.

HEZAR, the nightingale: called also by the Persians bulbul, andeleib, and , murga sehr, the bird of the morning.

SABA. The district of Hadremuth, in Arabia, famed for the fragrance of its aromatic plants, and trees that produce the Benzoin and Frankincense.

GOLCONDA, a mountainous country of India, It is celebrated for its beautiful gems of various kinds; and for producing, in particular, the largest and most valuable diamonds and rubies.

YEMEN; that part of Arabia, which from exhibiting a much finer face of country, and possessing greater fertility of soil than the provinces that lie contiguous to it, has been called “Arabia the happy.”

GAUTHA, or Gautha Demeskh; a delightfully fertile tract in Syria, not far from the city of Damascus; and denominated, by the Orientals, one of the four Paradises of Asia. The other three are, 1. OBOLLA, situated near the confluence of the Tygris and Euphrates, on a branch of the former, in Babilonian Irak. These two great rivers are not known to the natives by the names we give them, but are called Dejleh, and Shat Fraut. —2. SHEBBAVAN, a small district, near the city of Noubendigian, in Persia; which, though delightful in itself, owes perhaps much of its celebrity to the striking contrast it makes to the rugged sterility of the neighbouring desert, which lies along the Northern borders of Farsistan;—and, 3. the SOGD, a succession of beautiful and highly cultivated vales, fertilized by a stream that falls into the Abi Amu, near the city of Samarcand, the capital of the kingdom of Maw’r-al-naher; a country, which, though seldom visited by European travellers, is the centre of a vast inland commerce, between Russia, Persia, China, Indostan, and various parts of Tartary, and is one of the most fully inhabited, as well as one of the best-governed nations of the east.

SHEDAD BEN AD; one of the ancient kings of Arabia Felix—is related to have formed a fine tract of country into the most beautiful gardens. These have been celebrated by the Eastern poets, in a manner that gives the whole story a semblance of fiction. This Prince, who is also named by some IREM BEN OMAD, impiously affected to obtain divine honours from his subjects; and for this purpose strove to captivate their imaginations and seduce their senses—by concentering, in the gardens of Irem, every thing that could fascinate the weak mind, and gratify the voluptuary. Though the impiety of Shedad is mentioned with detestation in the Koran; yet the Mahomedan writers frequently make use of the word Irem, to denote the celestial abodes of the blest. Jennat, Aden, and Rouzvan, which signify beautiful and shady groves and gardens, watered by cool and translucent streams, are words also frequently used by the Orientals (who are extremely fond of employing the imagery of description, even when they treat of divine or moral subjects), to express heaven, or a state of felicity. Thus the author of the Javidan Khird or, book of ETERNAL WISDOM, exclaims,—“At length, O Lord, am I saved from the storms, and freed from the travail of the world. I seem to be seated in the midst of the garden of Irem; for I have now attained the enjoyment of that state of peace and rest, destined for those who quit this world to serve thee.”

SARU; a small city, in the province of Ghilan, near the Caspian sea. The country round it, is said to produce great plenty of the most delicious fruits; particularly grapes, oranges, peaches, figs, pomegranates, and melons, in the highest perfection, with an abundance of olives, almonds, and pistachia nuts.

HIND, that part of the dominions of the great Mogul which lies East of the river Indus, called by the Persians Sindab; those provinces on the West being distinguished by the name of Sind.

ZAGAN, a small city in the province of Shirvan, near the Caspian sea. It is famed for the salubrity of its air; and the longevity of its inhabitants, who are for the most part people of fortune, whom these circumstances have induced to reside there.

BENDER-CONGO, is a sea port in the Persian Gulph, or Green Sea, where there is a very considerable pearl fishery carried on by the inhabitants, who are very expert in diving for them.

LAR, is a large well-built city, with a strongly fortified castle situated on the summit of a mountain, which has been much used as a place of confinement for state prisoners. The chief part of the inhabitants of this city are jews, who have established a considerable manufactory of silks there. From the neighbouring mountains are brought large quantities of frankincense, the produce of a kind of tree, called Kender derekht, much resembling our largest pear trees in foliage and growth.

The rocky hills and shores of KORGA, an island in the Persian gulph, which runs twenty-four leagues in length, though only four in its utmost breadth, produce many valuable diamonds: there is also an extensive pearl fishery carried on there.

NIZABOUR, or Nishapor; the largest and most wealthy city in the province of Khorasan. It was built about the beginning of the Christian æra, on the ruins of an ancient town, that was founded by Tamuras, and destroyed by Alexander the Great. The many vicissitudes of fortune that alternately raised, and almost destroyed this place, have furnished ample materials for a volume, written in Persian, by Ibrahim ben Ibrahim, under the title of * “Tarikh Nishapor.” The Turcomans, the Gazes, and the Tartars, particularly the last, made its inhabitants the sad victims of their cruel ferocity;—for, not content with plundering and destroying the city, and carrying thousands into captivity; there, and in the surrounding country, according to Mirkhond, they slaughtered near a million and half of unoffending people. The principal manufacture they have since carried on, is of weapons of war. The sword and scimitar blades made there, are reckoned equal to the highly valued ruheina blades of Damascus.

SHIRABEH, the poppy plant; called also by the Persians, Kouknaur, Heisher, Munsoor, &c.

SHE’RGULZAR the city of Rose Gardens: an appellation given to Herat, the capital of Khorasan, from the thickets of rose trees of the most beautiful species, which grow wildly luxuriant in every part of the delightful country that surrounds it.

Before the city of DEHLI, rose to its present consequence, AGRA, which is situated not far from it, was the usual residence of the Great Mogul. Agra is however still considered as the capital of Hindostan, and estimated to be twice as large as Isfahan, the capital of Persia. The rich mine here spoken of, was a vast depository of wealth, consisting of eight large vaulted subterraneous apartments in the castle; of which four were said to be filled with silver, two with gold,—one to contain an immense quantity of diamonds, rubies, and other jewels,—and the last, a miscellaneous collection of the most valuable things that had been received as presents by the Mogul Emperors, at various times. Nadir Shah, however, becoming master of this city in the year 1739, caused the chief part of these treasures to be removed into Persia; which, after the payment of his vast army, and giving his officers and soldiers their share of the booty, left him more than the value of eighty-seven million pounds sterling!

The kingdom of VIZAPORE has an extent of Western coast, that is in the possession of the Portuguese. The interior of the country is rude and mountainous; and produces great quantities of diamonds and other valuable gems, especially near the city of Raolconda.

VIZIERS; the title of Vizier, is usually given in the East to the prime minister, or chief counsellors of state. In Persia, during the reign of the Sophis, it was also bestowed on the governors of certain large cities. The governors of provinces where there were fortresses and troops, were called beglerbeg, and those of other provinces khan. The Viziers are sometimes so far invested with the sovereign authority, as to have discretionary powers of acting; but frequently others, who are appointed to subordinate departments under them, are placed as constant spies upon their conduct. At the best, these high dignities are always, in the Asiatic courts (which are full of intrigues) stations of considerable danger.

SHEIKH-HEIDER, — — a descendant of Ali, and great grandson of Sheikh Sefi. His mother was the daughter of Usun-cassan, first Sultan of the Turcoman dynasty of the White Ram. Sheikh Heidar having been furnished by this Sultan with a large body of troops, for the purpose of avenging the death of his father Juneid, lost his own life in the attempt, near Derbent. His death was accompanied by many circumstances of cruelty and barbarism: his head being cut off, was thrown to dogs to be devoured; and the principal part of the Sefi family, which was then very numerous, destroyed. Sheikh Heidar having in his life-time obtained a great reputation for sanctity amongst his followers, and zeal for a religious reform, which he in some degree effected, was considered as a saint and martyr by the same party after his death. His remains were removed to the city of Ardebeil; and his tomb, with that of SEFI-EDDIN, is resorted to by the Persian devotees as a place of holy pilgrimage.

Notwithstanding the Persians are perhaps the most enlightened, in many respects, of all the Mahomedan nations of the East, yet they retain many superstitious notions that have been handed down from former times. Such is their belief in auguries, omens, and astrological signs; and such the veneration with which they behold the rising sun—the great symbol of the Deity—which their forefathers adored.— Many of the Oriental Christians, as well as the Persian Mahomedans, are accustomed to make a solemn obeisance to the sun, when they first meet its beams in the morning.

KAI KHOSRO, * the thirteenth King of Persia, (who, it is calculated, was nearly cotemporary with Solomon,) gained the reputation of being one of the greatest and best of their early sovereigns. It is remarkable, that when yet a young man, returning victorious from the province of Azarbigian, where he had succeeded in taking the city of Ardebeil, which had resisted all the efforts of Faramorz, the king’s brother, a brave and experienced warrior, who attacked it with an army of equal force. Siavesh, his grandfather, appointed him his successor, and immediately resigned the kingdom into his hands. Though the reign of this Prince was troubled by a long continuance of wars, with Afrasiab, king of Touran, who had crossed the Jihon, and invaded Persia with a very powerful army: yet, through wise councils, and the valour of the much celebrated Rostam, who conducted the Persian armies, the government was not only strengthened by true policy, and a regular administration of justice; but, peace being at length restored by the total overthrow and death of Afrasiab, —Kai Khosro, desirous of passing the remainder of his life in retirement, and having no son to succeed him, resigned the throne of Siavesh, to Lorasp, his second cousin; and, fixing his residence on the mountain of Dilemgue, lived there many years in a devout and peaceful seclusion from the world. Previously to his quitting the throne, he did, what perhaps has never been done by any other prince; he restored to his subjects all the money which had been raised by taxes during his reign, that had not been expended for the public service: and as vast sums lay also accumulated in the treasury, that had been levied by his predecessors, he caused these also to be divided amongst his subjects, as proportionably as it could be done. He is said to have lived ninety years, and to have reigned sixty.

ASHIAR, or Al Asher; a tree growing in Arabia, and some of the Persian provinces, that produces the gum called kemashir, and fruit of a remarkable sweetness; from the saccharine juice of which they make a kind of fine sugar, called, in the Persian language, “sheker teegal.”

ABDAL JELLEEL RESHIDI; a Persian poet, who was patronised by Atsiz, third sultan of Khoresm. He was remarkable for the harmony of his verse, and the purity of his language. His writings have in general a moral tendency, and with those of Anvari contributed much to reform both the style and sentiment of the Persian poetry, which at that time was chiefly the offspring of the wanton and immoral muse.

JEMSHID, who according to Mirkhond, was the fifth King of Persia, raised his nation to a high degree of prosperity, and extended his sway over seven large provinces. His government was well regulated, useful arts were encouraged, new cities built, and of these Shiraz was made the royal residence. But at length, forgetting the frail lot of humanity, absorbed in a vortex of voluptuous delights and unbounded magnificence, and with full pride of heart giving ear to the flattery of his courtiers, he became so intoxicated with their adulation, as to require his subjects to worship him as a God, and for that purpose caused statues of himself to be made, and sent into all the provinces. But amidst these dreams of impious exaltation, his prosperity received a fatal blow from one of his own family. Shedad Ben Ad, King of Arabia, his nephew (mentioned in a former note), invaded Persia, defeated his troops, and expelled him from the seat of power. Zohak, the general of Shedad’s army, usurped the throne of Persia, and Jemshid passed the remainder of a wretched life in wandering from one country to another.

AZARBIGIAN, or Azerbijan,—— the region of fire. A considerable province of Persia, situated between the Deriai Shirvan, or Caspian Sea, on one side, and Curdistan, with the region of Mount Ararat, on the other. It made part of the antient Media, and was the first seat of the Pehlevian Monarchy, as established by Caiumaras.

AZURE GENI, Asoman, called also Mordad, the Frerishtei Merg, or the angel of Death, by the Gaures, as Azrael is by the Mahomedans.

ATOSH, Fire. The Divine Being worshipped by the ancient Persians, and by the small number of their descendants who have not embraced Mahomedanism, under the symbol of Fire.

IBBA, the refractory Spirit, a name given to EBLIS, after his fall from the divine favour.

KAPH, or Kaf, a vast range of mountains, supposed by the ancients Persians to encompass the whole earth. These were represented to contain innumerable caverns, the dreadful abodes of giant Dives and evil spirits, abounding with venemous reptiles, snakes, and dragons, where the souls of wicked men were tormented after death.

DEMROSH-NER, —One of the most malevolent and cruel of the giant Dives, who inhabited a vast cavern in the dark mountain of Kaf.

ISMAEL SOPHI, — the son of Sheikh Haidar, and the first of that family who reigned in Persia. His many splendid atchievements, and the princely virtues that have been attributed to him, were all sullied by a spirit of revenge, excited by circumstances that attended the death of his father. The city of Tabriz felt the first effects of his fury, where, forgetful of the precept which his great ancestor Ali left to his followers, “When GOD shall have given you victory over your enemies, the best Thanksgiving you can offer up for the divine favour is to pardon them.” And at that early time of life, when the heart unhardened in habitudes of cruelty, is yet alive to nature, and the offspring of her genuine sensibilities--Humanity,—he not only caused a dreadful slaughter to be made of the inhabitants with a studied barbarity, which the brute animals also shared, but it is even said his own mother, who, during the time of her son’s concealment, had been married to a Chief of the opposite party, was put to death with three hundred women of profligate character, in a most inhuman manner. At Shiraz his rage was re-kindled, not so suddenly as unexpectedly a few years afterwards. On being told by some of his courtiers that there were persons living in that city who had fought against his father, he ordered his soldiers to fall on the inhabitants, of whom almost 40,000 were put to the sword, without any discrimination of age or sex. He died A. H. 921. A. D. 1523, at the age of only 38, though he had reigned, or rather tyrannized, 24 years. The revengeful character of ROSTAM BEN MAKSOUD seems to have been equally, if not more strongly marked by being concentered to a point, in his malignant determination to destroy the young sovereign, during whose short reign he had been confined in the fortress of Aleniak, from whence he was rescued A. D. 1492, and proclaimed Sultan. In the following year he slew BAISANGOR, and soon after caused ALI MIRZA (the brother of Shah Ismael, who was also a child) to be murdered by assassins. In the year 1498, Hamed Beg, another Turcoman Prince, having defeated ROSTAM, he fled into Georgia, where he was pursued by his enemies and slain. The destructions and slaughters of those times were dreadful in Persia, and the perpetrators fell victims in their turns, verifying the observation of a Mahomedan Sage, “EMPIRE may continue in the hands of the INFIDEL, but it will not continue in the hands of the TYRANT.”

The deserts of sand in Arabia, Persia, &c. frequently spread into extensive plains, called by the Persians KHERJEIKHA on which the traveller seeks in vain for verdure, variety, or bound. The eye is generally too little elevated in its highest raised view from the back of a camel, to catch the airy tint of distance, except when a light exhalation, called by the Arabians serab affords, under the almost vertical sun, an appearance similar to that of a tranquil sea, by many deemed peculiar to these sultry deserts; but I have seen what very nearly resembled it, over the long sandy level between Falsterbo and Tralleborg in Sweden, as also from the high terrace of the Imperial palace at Zarsco Zelo in Russia, where an immense extent of flat country, wholly covered with birch and pine woods, exhibited the same phenomenon in a much higher degree of beauty.

Clouds of sand are often raised by sudden gusts and whirlwinds, to which the ignorant and superstitious, who attribute them to the anger of Demons, give the name of Dive-bad Travellers have often been buried beneath the fall of these sands, and even the entrances of cities have been obstructed by them. In the year 1677 some of the gates of Bussorah were entirely blocked up by hills of sand blown from the deserts of Irak. On the eastern side of the province of Hadremuth, in Arabia, there is a large tract of country covered with these sand hills, called from thence Al Ahkaf.

The navigation of the CASPIAN SEA, is not only rendered extremely dangerous by the many rocks and shoals along its shores, that are little known even to the few Persians who sail upon it, but the violent gusts of wind that frequently descend from the mountains of Shirvan and Daghestan, or the lofty ridges of Mount Caucasus, raise its waves to a tremendous height, and render it by far more perilous than the open sea.

The Russians, since they have possessed a chart of it made from a hasty survey by order of Peter the Great, have navigated it with more success; that chart was, however, very imperfect, but during the reign of the late Empress Catherine II. some excellent draughtsmen and surveyors were sent to take views of the head-lands, as also more accurate surveys and soundings.

The vineyards of CASBIN are famed for producing the largest and sweetest grapes of any in the East. YESDECAST is equally noted for the excellence of its bread, YEZED, for lovely and accomplished women, and SHIRAZ for its wine: whence the Persians have a a proverbial saying, that “The man who would enjoy the best of the good things of this world, should eat the bread of YEZDECAST, drink the wine of SHIRAZ, and possess one of the beauties of YEZED.”

AZRAEL, the Angel of Death, according to the belief of the Mahomedans, as Mordad, or Azoman, is held to be by the Guebres; he is also called — the seizer of souls.

ARDEBEIL, in the province Azarbijan, is one of the most ancient cities of Persia; it is large, but rather irregularly built, and very populous. The tombs of Sefi-eddin and Sheikh Heider being in this city, have caused it to be the resort of pilgrims from all parts of Persia, the first being highly venerated as a saint, and the latter both as a saint and martyr, by the sect of Ali, hence it has gained the appellation of Abadani Firouz, or the Abode of Felicity. The river Aras, formerly called Araxes, flows by the walls of Ardebeil, through a finely diversified country, until uniting with the wildly impetuous stream of the Kur or river of Cyrus; they pour their waters into the Caspian Sea, a little to the southward of the port of Bachu. The western shore of the CASPIAN runs wildly romantic, from the Mountains of Derbend along the coast of Daghestan and Shirvan, till it terminates in prospects of a more pleasingly picturesque, and richly luxuriant character, on the shores of GHILAN, one of the most fertile provinces of Persia.

SHEIKH-HEIDER, — — a descendant of Ali, and great grandson of Sheikh Sefi. His mother was the daughter of Usun-cassan, first Sultan of the Turcoman dynasty of the White Ram. Sheikh Heidar having been furnished by this Sultan with a large body of troops, for the purpose of avenging the death of his father Juneid, lost his own life in the attempt, near Derbent. His death was accompanied by many circumstances of cruelty and barbarism: his head being cut off, was thrown to dogs to be devoured; and the principal part of the Sefi family, which was then very numerous, destroyed. Sheikh Heidar having in his life-time obtained a great reputation for sanctity amongst his followers, and zeal for a religious reform, which he in some degree effected, was considered as a saint and martyr by the same party after his death. His remains were removed to the city of Ardebeil; and his tomb, with that of SEFI-EDDIN, is resorted to by the Persian devotees as a place of holy pilgrimage.

ARDEBEIL, in the province Azarbijan, is one of the most ancient cities of Persia; it is large, but rather irregularly built, and very populous. The tombs of Sefi-eddin and Sheikh Heider being in this city, have caused it to be the resort of pilgrims from all parts of Persia, the first being highly venerated as a saint, and the latter both as a saint and martyr, by the sect of Ali, hence it has gained the appellation of Abadani Firouz, or the Abode of Felicity. The river Aras, formerly called Araxes, flows by the walls of Ardebeil, through a finely diversified country, until uniting with the wildly impetuous stream of the Kur or river of Cyrus; they pour their waters into the Caspian Sea, a little to the southward of the port of Bachu. The western shore of the CASPIAN runs wildly romantic, from the Mountains of Derbend along the coast of Daghestan and Shirvan, till it terminates in prospects of a more pleasingly picturesque, and richly luxuriant character, on the shores of GHILAN, one of the most fertile provinces of Persia.

The LESGUIS are a rude and warlike race of people, of Tartarian origin, who inhabit on the eastern side of Mount Caucasus, a wild tract called Leguistan —As their various tribes can readily bring an irregular army of more than 10,000 horse into the field, and are strongly inclined to marauding, they have at times proved very troublesome and dangerous neighbours both to the Georgians and some of the Persian provinces. They are Mahomedans of the sect of the Sunnis, and therefore more friendly to the Turks than to the Persians.

That part of the Indian Ocean which lies between Cape Guardafui in Ethiopia, and the Gulph of Cambay, is called by the Persians — the great Ocean, and the ARABIAN SEA. The coast lying open to the South, when the winds blow strongly from that quarter, there is a very heavy sea thrown in, and from Cape Ras-al-ghat along the desert shores and sands of Mahra, Shihr, and Hadremuth, the surf runs high and dangerous.

AZARBIGIAN, or Azerbijan,—— the region of fire. A considerable province of Persia, situated between the Deriai Shirvan, or Caspian Sea, on one side, and Curdistan, with the region of Mount Ararat, on the other. It made part of the antient Media, and was the first seat of the Pehlevian Monarchy, as established by Caiumaras.

HULAGO KHAN the fifth Emperor of the Mogul Tartars, was the son of Tuli Khan, the fourth son of Zingis. He succeeded to the Sovereignty of that fierce nation, and its conquered dependencies, on the death of his brother Mongaca. The ravages, conflagrations, and slaughters perpetrated by the savage hordes under his command, exceed the common bounds of belief; and it is to be hoped, for the credit of human nature, that many accounts given of his cruelties and desolating rage, may have been the exaggerated relations of terror and abhorrence.—(Vide Introduction.)

EBLIS, the sovereign Prince of the Peries, who was supposed to be created from the pure element of Fire.—(Vide Note 2.) [GENIES. The fertile fancy of the Orientals has ever been fond of passing the bounds of visible nature, and sporting with the images of its own luxuriant creation. Hence they have supposed mountains, deserts, and lonely valleys, to be inhabited by spirits of different kinds, which they call Ghool, Kengosh, Ardav, Seidanet, Ketrab, &c.

The infernal spirits form another class of beings. From TABEKH the Angel of Hell, to the personification of all the vices and evil dispositions of the wicked. They also conceive supernatural beings to preside over certain places. times, and seasons. In this the ancient Persians were very superstitious, and Mahomedanism has not yet banished it quite from amongst their descendants. But the ideal beings which most frequently appear in the works of the Persian poets, are the Dive and Peri, ; to the former, which are also called Genies, are ascribed wicked and malignant dispositions, both towards the Peries and the human race. They are accordingly spoken of as deformed and ugly; whilst the Peries are, on the contrary, represented as beautiful in face and form, as they are gentle, benevolent, and friendly to mankind—subsisting only on the sweetest perfumes: they are also supposed to be small and DELICATE, as the Dives are rude and gigantic. They are considered as races of beings totally distinct from angels, devils, departed spirits, or men; and that, having inhabited this earth during some thousands of years before the creation of the human species,—they were, for acts of disobedience, (a small number only excepted) banished to a wild region, called Jenistan, or the desert of Monsters, which they still continue to inhabit. Such as were not thus banished, are supposed to have been entirely under the command of king Soloman; and that talismans, charms, and incantations, still have a powerful influence over them: the superstitious belief in these, and in magic arts, being almost universal in Persia, as in many other countries of the East.

DOUZAKH The Abyss of Misery— Hell. The Mahomedans say there are seven entrances to Hell, but that there are eight to Paradise, to intimate that the Mercy of God is extended to more of the human race than his Justice condemns to punishment.

HAKEEM a Philosopher, a learned man, or a Doctor of the Law, more especially when advanced in years.

AMEER, a Prince, a Nobleman, a Military Commander. This title was also given to the KHALIFS, Commander of the Faithful—being considered as the highest that could be conferred on any Sovereign.

HAJY one who has duly performed the Haj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, which is supposed to confirm his faith and sanctify his life. A Woman who has fulfilled this act of devotion prescribed by their law, is termed Hajjet . The pilgrimage to Mecca was performed, by many of the Arabians, as a religious observance, long before the birth of Mahomed: the CAABA, or square temple, being built (according to their traditions) on the spot where the house of the Patriarch Abraham stood: him they venerated both as a favoured Prophet of God, and the father of Ishmael, from whom they derived their descent.

ABDAL, a kind of Dervish, of an irregular order. These are devotees of a very peculiar kind, some affecting the appearance of an idiotical stupidity, others, that of an almost frantic enthusiasm, which is frequently produced by the intoxicating quantities of Benk, or Opium, they are in the daily practice of swallowing; and in these reveries they often repeat proverbial sayings, or sentences from the Koran, which are received by the ignorant as from the mouth of an Oracle.

By the appellation of Divané is to be understood any one whose intellect is in reality deranged.—The Moslems are taught to consider such persons in many instances, not so much the afflicted as the favoured of Heaven.

GOULES, The imaginary being which the Persians call Goule, or Ghool, is pictured by superstitious fear; gigantic, hideously mishapen, and breathing noisome vapour, having the malignity of a demon united to the voracity of a hungry wolf. It is supposed first to approach the lonely wanderer of the desert with a low voice, like very distant thunder heard amidst the hiss of serpents (sounds which they call zeezem, zehraj, or aazeef), but soon assuming his most terrific appearance, the Ghool darts on his victim, whom tearing limb from limb he greedily devours. With these and other phantoms of terror they have given supernatural inhabitants to their solitary wilds, but more especially to the desert of Noubengian, the mountains between Lar and Gombroon, the inaccessible summits of mount Ararat, and a place in Bahrein, from its desolate appearance called Belalik, supposed to be the peculiar haunt of Demons.

KENGOSH —one of those evil spirits, or demons, that are commonly known by the name of Genies; they are also called Keragosh.

AFION —Opium.—The inspissated juice of the poppy.—Many of the Persians and other people of the East, are in the daily habit of using opium as an exhilerant, substituting it in the place of wine and cordials; but of these too many are apt to carry their love of it to an excess of inebriation. The lower classes of people use instead of it, the cheaper and more deleterious preparations of hemlock, henbane, the leaves of hemp, &c. beat into a consistence for pills, calling it BENK— —and those who addict themselves to the use of it, Benky, as the eater of opium is termed Afiony. They have also an intoxicating drink called KOKNAR— prepared by boiling poppy heads in water; such as the opium has been drawn from are used by the poorer people for this purpose. An extract of poppy heads made in rose water, is used by many of the genteeler class.

BEDAVI one who leads an unsettled rural life. Many families and tribes of this description inhabit the Arabian wilds; they live in tents, and drive their flocks and herds from one station to another, as they find it most convenient for pasturage or water. The manners of these people are represented as being fraught with all the simplicity of old Patriarchal times. There are many of these wandering herdsmen in Persia, and others that dwell in the wild countries bordering on Bocharia. In the Southern parts of Russia are several tribes of Tartarian NOMADES, that rove in like manner with their families and herds during the Summer months, between Casan and Orenburg, but during the winter they find it requisite, in that severe climate, to betake themselves to more sheltered situations, where they form little village communities until the milder season returns.

MONSTER. The depraved and enfettered state of society in the large cities of Persia, and especially near the seat of Power, during the reigns of the later SEFIES, must inevitably have led a thinking mind, in the calm of retirement, to look on the recollected aggregate of the world (at least that part of it from which he had derived his experience), with but few favourable sentiments of its condition, its objects, and pursuits, as accordant with a cultured mind, the simplicity of nature, or the duties prescribed by that law of Religion publicly professed. Sentiments, which however generally degrading, must ever cause the man of truly estimable character, as an individual, to be more highly estimated.

“If, (says the venerable bard of SHIRAZ) every stone in the wilds of Bedukhshan were a ruby, then the value of a ruby would but equal the worth of a stone.”

BULAK’s DESERT, the wild and sterile tract of country, between Khorasan and the Deshti Gaur in the mountainous parts of which the descendants of the tyrant ZOHAK took refuge from the vengeance of Persia. These extensive deserts afford the Persian frontiers their best security against the incursions of the Ouzbeks, and other Tartar nations on the north eastern quarter.

THE ANGEL OF DEATH is supposed by the Moslems to appear with a beautiful and luminous countenance to the just and virtuous, but to the wicked and to the infidel, with a dark and frightful visage, at the time of their departure.

DERVISHES, a religious order of men amongst the Mahomedans, who having relinquished the temporal concerns of the world, profess to lead a life of Poverty, Abstinence, and Humility, as fitting them for the duties of prayer and instruction. Some of these Dervishes live together in monastic communities (their monasteries, supported by gifts, being called Khankah: some few, who live in a more secluded manner as Hermits, are stiled Kelwetneshin, sitting in solitude. There are others who, forsaking their friends and native place, wander continually from one city, province, or country to another, wearing a coarse and peculiar dress, in Persia chiefly blue, and subsisting on the gifts of Charity.

The sanctity of no one is held in estimation by the Persians, whose appearance does not indicate the humility of a Dervish, and a rejection of all worldly wealth

To those, however, who make no such pretensions, their advice is not of the fastidious kind. The excellent Poet SAADI, who was himself a Dervish, left this as a maxim for the affluent, “Riches are given to be expended for the enjoyment of life, but not life to be devoted to the accumulation of money.”

But, addressing one of his own fraternity, the Poet says,

This World, O my brother, is a permanency to no one, “Center then thy heart on the Creator of the world, for he is all-sufficient.”

Whilst to the avaricious worldling this sarcasm is directed;

TAMERLANE decreed, that if any of his kindred should prove rebellious, they were to be humbled to the condition of a Dervish,—

It is related, that the war which the OUZBEKS waged with so much fury against the Persians, when, in the last century, they overcame and ravaged great part of the large and fertile province of KHORASAN, was occasioned by this circumstance.—The Sultana, wife of the Sultan Colican, going in pilgrimage to MECCA, accompanied by the Sultan’s brother and a train of attendants, consisting of 3000 Tartars, Shah Seliman refused to admit any more than 200 of them to enter the city of Ispahan, where the Sultana confided a most valuable CASKET of jewels to the care of the King of Persia, until her return. Her brother having died on the pilgrimage, Seliman not only with much discourtesy denied her a passage back to Samarcand by the route she came, but obliged her to make, with the wearied pilgrims, a very circuitous journey, through rugged and mountainous roads, by the way of Shiraz, and basely refused to restore the jewels. True is the Arabian adage,

THE GLORY OF GOD. Jellali Allah. The Mahomedans say that one ray of this divine glory reduced Mount Pharan, in Arabia, into dust, and dissolved into water the Bernek, or Heyvela al avely, the first substance that was created to form the world.

SHEBEEB BEN ZEID, an Arab chief, who was highly celebrated for his valour and his victories in the time of the Ommiades. He was never wounded or defeated, until the day on which he lost his life, although he often engaged his troops against great superiority of numbers. He was at length drowned in an attempt to cross the river Sarsar, in a small skiff, when clad in armour. The eastern writers relate, that his body being taken out of the water and opened, his heart was found to be as solid and hard as a stone.

VALID, or FERAON VALID, PHARAOH, King of Egypt, who is held in such detestation by the Moslems, that they rarely pronounce his name but with an execration, as they are accustomed to do when they speak of the Devil.

HAREM, that part of a house or palace which contains the women’s apartments, (the word is Arabic, and signifies prohibited or forbidden.) These are often decorated with a profusion of expensive ornaments, and furnished with every thing that can please the voluptuary, and accord with the luxurious and slothful lives of their inhabitants.

JEHENNEM, JEHEEM, the infernal regions.

TABEKH, the Angel of Hell, who presides over the avenging Angels, the Demons, and those condemned to be tormented by them. In the 74th chapter of the KORAN it is said, that these Angels are nineteen in number.

KAIOMARS, or Caiumarras. This Prince was, according to the Persian histories, not only the first of their Monarchs, but is also supposed to have been the first who ever reigned over any people. To avenge the death of his son NAZEC, who, being of a philosophic turn of mind, and a great admirer of the beauties of Nature, had retired with his wife to a secluded but pleasant abode in the country, where he was soon after murdered by a gigantic race of marauders, CAIOMARS pursued them with a body of troops into Tabristan, where their defeat was followed by a dreadful slaughter; those who escaped the carnage of the day being carried into captivity, were employed in building the city of Balkh.

SIMORG ANKA a bird or griffon, of an extraordinary strength and size, as its name imports, signifying as large as 30 eagles, which, according to the eastern writers, was sent by the Supreme Being to subdue and chastize the rebellious Divs, in the fabulous ages of antiquity. It was supposed to possess rational faculties, and the gift of speech. The CAHERMAN NAMEH relates, that Simorg Anka, being asked his age, replied, “This world is very ancient, for it has been already seven times replenished with beings different from man, and as often depopulated. That the age of ADAM, or the human race in which we now are, is to endure 7000 years, making a great cycle; that himself had seen twelve of these revolutions, and knew not how many more he had to see.” The story of SIMORG protecting the infant ZALZER, and the miraculous power of his feather at the birth of ROSTAM, is related by Ferdusi in the 7th and 8th books of the SHAH NAMEH.

HAVIAT the lowest and most dreadful caverns of hell, destined for the punishment of Hypocrites.

KHANS, Governors of certain Provinces in Persia (vide Note 7.) It is also given as a title, to great Lords and Sovereigns, and to the Tartarian Emperors, who likewise assumed the title of KHACAN.

TAJE, or TAUJ, a crown, or diadem. It here signifies the scarlet cap, invented by SHEIKH HEIDER, and used as the badge of a military order by ISMAEL SOPHI, and his successors, whence they derived the name of Kisilbashkians, or red heads, which the Turks apply in ridicule to the Persians in general.

Superstition has been known to extend its influence so fully over the GAURES, that many of them, when their habitations have been on fire, instead of endeavouring to stop the progress of the destructive element, which they call AZAR have fallen prostrate before it, and, after returning thanks as to a benevolent divinity, have fed its flames with offerings of oil.

Superstition has been known to extend its influence so fully over the GAURES, that many of them, when their habitations have been on fire, instead of endeavouring to stop the progress of the destructive element, which they call AZAR have fallen prostrate before it, and, after returning thanks as to a benevolent divinity, have fed its flames with offerings of oil.

HOROSCOPE the ascendant stars at the hour of a person’s nativity, supposed to determine his fortune through life. Hence TAMERLANE, assumed a title given to Kai Khosro and Solomon—Lord of the planetary conjunctions.

RUZVAN one of the Mahomedan names for the celestial Paradise.

DIVAN a Council of State, a tribunal, a consultation.

TEHAMA a Province of Arabia, South of Mecca, on the coast of the Red Sea, called also from its low situation Gaur.

TAHER, Sultan of Sistom, being with his courtiers on a hunting party, SAUGHERY, a vassal to Leis, his kinsman, who had raised him to a military command, taking advantage of the Sultan’s absence, made himself master of the city of Shiraz by surprise; then leading his followers against the Sultan, who having received intelligence of the revolt, was marching to recover the city, routed his army and took one of his brothers, whom he bound in chains, and sent to Bagdad. He soon after seized on Leis, his patron and benefactor, and sent him also with Madel, another of the Sultan’s brothers, a prisoner to Bagdad.—A. H. 302.—A. D. 914.

MONTAZER BILA, the thirtieth Khalif of Bagdad, being impatiently ambitious to reign, caused his own father to be murdered by his slaves, A. D. 850. He only lived to disgrace the throne about six months. The votary of Ambition walketh in the path of Perdition.

SHAH ABAS, usually called the Great, distrustful of his son, Sefi Mirza, because of his superior abilities, and the love which the people expressed for him, first caused him to be deprived of sight, by having a red-hot wedge of gold held near his eyes; but not satisfied with committing only this unnatural act of barbarity, he soon after commanded one of the Ameers to strike off his son’s head with a scymetar!

CHEHEL-MENAR, the vast ruins of the ancient city of Astekher, better known in Europe by the name of PERSEPOLIS.—Chehel, or Chelmenar signifies, in the Persian language, forty towers, an appellation given it in past ages, from the appearance which the pillars, porticos, and other prominent parts of the ruin made, on approaching them. The traditionary superstitions of the neighbouring country have not failed to make them the abodes of supernatural beings, such as Genies, Ifrits, Binaries, and the spirits of the dead, attributing strange and magical effects to the inscriptions on the walls, which have hitherto defied all attempts of the learned to decypher them, being in a language and character now totally unknown, and prove, beyond all dispute, the city to have been of the remotest antiquity. On the walls within, and at the principal entrance of the great hall, as well as on the precipitous sides of the surrounding mountains, the eye is struck with a great number of gigantic representations of divinities, sacrifices, and funeral processions, in which the figures are represented with flowing vests, long hair, tiaras and caps in the form of mitres, very different from the Persian dress of later times. Many animals and monstrous forms are also sculptured in relief, which, with the grotesque statues, doubtless led a people fertile in fancy to conceive such wild notions of spectres and magical transformations, as the poem here referred to contains.

MAGES, the priests and teachers of the doctrine of Zoroaster, or Zeradusht, which previous to the conquest of Persia by the Moslems, was generally the religion of that empire.

SERAGLIO, (See N. 63.) [HAREM, that part of a house or palace which contains the women’s apartments, (the word is Arabic, and signifies prohibited or forbidden.) These are often decorated with a profusion of expensive ornaments, and furnished with every thing that can please the voluptuary, and accord with the luxurious and slothful lives of their inhabitants.]

THE SUN-FLOWER grows wild in the vallies of Persia, larger and more deeply coloured than in our gardens. It is also called Khor-perest or worshipper of the Sun. The Guebres hold it in superstitious regard.

BAHARAM, or Ardshir diraz dest, was the sixteenth King of Persia, and, according to their historians, one of the best and bravest of the old Pehlevian race. It is related that at the completion of the first year of his reign he assembled his nobles, and requested, that if any of them should see in his future conduct that which they might deem reprehensible, to advertise him freely and fully of it; and if he should be found unworthy to reign, to depose him, and he would remain thenceforth contented in private life. His father Askandiar, having been slain in single combat with the celebrated champion of Persia, in consequence of Rostam’s refusal to embrace the religion of the Mages, Baharam, soon after ascending the throne, meditated vengeance for the death of his father; but ere he could with his army reach the place where Rostam lay encamped, tidings arrived that he was dead, and his son advancing with a large army. They met, and after a severe conflict, victory remained with Baharam. The son of Rostam fell, and ZAL, his grandfather, was taken prisoner.

OBEIDALLAH (Introduct. p. xii.)

It need scarcely be here repeated, that ISMAEL SOPHI obtained the throne of Persia, and supported himself upon it, by a course of insidious artifice, violence, and slaughter, only to be equalled by the pride, capricious cruelties, hypocrisy, and debauched lives of his descendants.—(See N. 40.) [ISMAEL SOPHI, — the son of Sheikh Haidar, and the first of that family who reigned in Persia. His many splendid atchievements, and the princely virtues that have been attributed to him, were all sullied by a spirit of revenge, excited by circumstances that attended the death of his father. The city of Tabriz felt the first effects of his fury, where, forgetful of the precept which his great ancestor Ali left to his followers, “When GOD shall have given you victory over your enemies, the best Thanksgiving you can offer up for the divine favour is to pardon them.” And at that early time of life, when the heart unhardened in habitudes of cruelty, is yet alive to nature, and the offspring of her genuine sensibilities--Humanity,—he not only caused a dreadful slaughter to be made of the inhabitants with a studied barbarity, which the brute animals also shared, but it is even said his own mother, who, during the time of her son’s concealment, had been married to a Chief of the opposite party, was put to death with three hundred women of profligate character, in a most inhuman manner. At Shiraz his rage was re-kindled, not so suddenly as unexpectedly a few years afterwards. On being told by some of his courtiers that there were persons living in that city who had fought against his father, he ordered his soldiers to fall on the inhabitants, of whom almost 40,000 were put to the sword, without any discrimination of age or sex. He died A. H. 921. A. D. 1523, at the age of only 38, though he had reigned, or rather tyrannized, 24 years. The revengeful character of ROSTAM BEN MAKSOUD seems to have been equally, if not more strongly marked by being concentered to a point, in his malignant determination to destroy the young sovereign, during whose short reign he had been confined in the fortress of Aleniak, from whence he was rescued A. D. 1492, and proclaimed Sultan. In the following year he slew BAISANGOR, and soon after caused ALI MIRZA (the brother of Shah Ismael, who was also a child) to be murdered by assassins. In the year 1498, Hamed Beg, another Turcoman Prince, having defeated ROSTAM, he fled into Georgia, where he was pursued by his enemies and slain. The destructions and slaughters of those times were dreadful in Persia, and the perpetrators fell victims in their turns, verifying the observation of a Mahomedan Sage, “EMPIRE may continue in the hands of the INFIDEL, but it will not continue in the hands of the TYRANT.”

TEBL, a drum; the Persian field officers have a small one affixed to their saddles, on which they strike when they give the word of command.

MESREAN FLOOD; the Red Sea, or Deria Yemen.

MOSEILAMA, an Arabian chieftain, who, after having embraced the Mahomedan religion, relinquished it again, and became one of the most inveterate enemies it ever had, setting himself forth as a prophet, he promulgated some strange doctrines, and had for a short time many followers, who put to death such of the Moslems as fell into their hands. The Khalif OMAR, soon after the death of Mahomed, led a body of troops against them, but met with a more formidable resistance than he expected, and retreated with the loss of 1200 men, yet in another attempt he succeeded. Moseilama, and 10,000 of his followers were slain, and the valley of Achreb, where this and the former engagement took place, was from thence called the Vale of Blood. The neighbouring city of Hagiar contains the tombs of those who fell of the assailants; these are visited often by pilgrims as containing the bodies of martyrs for the faith.

ALI, or Ali-Mortiza, the fourth Khalif.—(See the Introduction.)

HOSAIN, the second son of Ali.— (See Introduct. p. x. xi. xii.)

The Moslems, speaking of MAHOMED, very rarely mention him by name; but say simply the Prophet, or “the Messenger of God, on whom be the blessing and peace of God.”

The three leading causes assigned for the pestilential contagion so dreadfully frequent in the Levant, are, the excessive heats of Summer, the air impregnated with marsh effluvia in consequence of calms, and the swarms of locusts, that after eating up every trace of verdure, die, and infect the country with their putrid millions.

ANCIENT SAGES.—The Sabians, who before the Zoroastrian adoration of fire, worshipping the Divinity by symbols, sought them in the sublime of Nature. The Sabian was probably the religion of the most early ages; many who yet profess it, say they are the unmixed descendants of the old Assyrians, but call themselves, in consequence of a decree of the Khalif Mamoun, Christians of St. John. These chiefly inhabit near the banks of the Tygris and Euphrates.

ARJVAN, a tree that bears a profusion of beautiful red flowers, frequently inclining to the crimson or purplish hue, the leaf buds are also of a deep red, which gives it an uncommon appearance, especially when the old trees are in full bloom, which is often before the green leaves are expanded. It is a species of the Arbor Judaica, or Circis of Linnæus.

Many beautiful species and varieties of the Jasmine are natives of Persia, yellow, blue, and white. Of the latter there is a sort that grows plentifully about OBOLLA, and in various parts of Bahrein, which they call Gul Razeki It resembles the buds of the hundred leaved rose, continues long unfaded, and is said to surpass in fragrance every other Asiatic flower; hence it is often named Giti arai, adorning the world.

CHEHEL-MENAR, the vast ruins of the ancient city of Astekher, better known in Europe by the name of PERSEPOLIS.—Chehel, or Chelmenar signifies, in the Persian language, forty towers, an appellation given it in past ages, from the appearance which the pillars, porticos, and other prominent parts of the ruin made, on approaching them. The traditionary superstitions of the neighbouring country have not failed to make them the abodes of supernatural beings, such as Genies, Ifrits, Binaries, and the spirits of the dead, attributing strange and magical effects to the inscriptions on the walls, which have hitherto defied all attempts of the learned to decypher them, being in a language and character now totally unknown, and prove, beyond all dispute, the city to have been of the remotest antiquity. On the walls within, and at the principal entrance of the great hall, as well as on the precipitous sides of the surrounding mountains, the eye is struck with a great number of gigantic representations of divinities, sacrifices, and funeral processions, in which the figures are represented with flowing vests, long hair, tiaras and caps in the form of mitres, very different from the Persian dress of later times. Many animals and monstrous forms are also sculptured in relief, which, with the grotesque statues, doubtless led a people fertile in fancy to conceive such wild notions of spectres and magical transformations, as the poem here referred to contains.

ZACOUM a tree which the Mahomedans say, grows in the centre of Hell, that its fruit are the heads of Devils, and that its dismal shade ever resounds with shrieks and lamentations.

BOUKZEN a Trumpeter.

TIMOUR. (See Introduct. p. xvi.)

KHAN ZINGIS, (or as we commonly write it) Gengis Khan, died A. D. 1226, at the age of 73, having devoted the greater part of his life to the conquest and ravaging of the most fertile and flourishing kingdoms of ASIA, destroying cities and slaughtering mankind.

ARDEBEIL, in the province Azarbijan, is one of the most ancient cities of Persia; it is large, but rather irregularly built, and very populous. The tombs of Sefi-eddin and Sheikh Heider being in this city, have caused it to be the resort of pilgrims from all parts of Persia, the first being highly venerated as a saint, and the latter both as a saint and martyr, by the sect of Ali, hence it has gained the appellation of Abadani Firouz, or the Abode of Felicity. The river Aras, formerly called Araxes, flows by the walls of Ardebeil, through a finely diversified country, until uniting with the wildly impetuous stream of the Kur or river of Cyrus; they pour their waters into the Caspian Sea, a little to the southward of the port of Bachu. The western shore of the CASPIAN runs wildly romantic, from the Mountains of Derbend along the coast of Daghestan and Shirvan, till it terminates in prospects of a more pleasingly picturesque, and richly luxuriant character, on the shores of GHILAN, one of the most fertile provinces of Persia.

ASMOUGH the Demon of War and Discord. The Gaures still use talismans and cabalistic rhymes, to keep him from their dwellings and social assemblies.

The beautiful avenues of cypress trees, vineyards, groves and gardens, with which the city of SHIRAZ is surrounded, especially along the neighbouring vale of ROKNABAD, like the charming region near MOSELLA, (where the most admired flowers grow wild in far more luxuriant beauty and perfection than in our gardens) have furnished the Poets of Persia with the most pleasing rural images and allusions. HAFIZ even says, in one of his mystic odes,

“Boy, bring the residue of the wine—for thou wilt not find in the gardens of Paradise, the sweet banks of the river of Roknabad, or the flowery meads of Mosella.”

The beautiful avenues of cypress trees, vineyards, groves and gardens, with which the city of SHIRAZ is surrounded, especially along the neighbouring vale of ROKNABAD, like the charming region near MOSELLA, (where the most admired flowers grow wild in far more luxuriant beauty and perfection than in our gardens) have furnished the Poets of Persia with the most pleasing rural images and allusions. HAFIZ even says, in one of his mystic odes,

“Boy, bring the residue of the wine—for thou wilt not find in the gardens of Paradise, the sweet banks of the river of Roknabad, or the flowery meads of Mosella.”

The kingdom of VIZAPORE has an extent of Western coast, that is in the possession of the Portuguese. The interior of the country is rude and mountainous; and produces great quantities of diamonds and other valuable gems, especially near the city of Raolconda.

JAU’RABAD the fabled capital of the Province of Shadeh Kiam, in Fairy-Land, is described by Oriental fancy as the center of delights, and in all parts ornamented with gold and jewels, “outshone the morning-star.”

SHEIKH MOSLAH-EDDIN SAADI AL SHIRAZI This celebrated Poet was born at Shiraz, in the year 571 of the Hejra. Being a Dervish, he passed the early part of his days in a wandering and abstinent life, in the course of which he met with a variety of adventures. He performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, and in his Western rambles fell into the hands of the Crusaders, by whom he was compelled to work as a slave, on the fortifications of Tripoli, in Syria, until ransomed by a Merchant, who purchased his freedom for ten crowns, and gave him a hundred more as a marriage portion with his daughter, who added nothing to his happiness. This he laments in some bitter stanzas; though he says in the GULISTAN, which he finished in his ninetieth year,

He afterwards wrote his BOSTAN, or fruit Garden, besides other pieces, in prose and verse. Having lived in the enjoyment of health and the cheerfulness of youth, to the great age of 120 years, he died at Shiraz, A. H. 691. A. D. 1292.

AHMED BEN ATHA, was an Arabian Poet, who wrote several fine pieces on a contemplative and retired life, the bounties of Providence, and the joys of humble independency.

KHACANI, a Poet of admirable talents, who was possessed also of much learning and philosophic science. After a highly honoured but unwilling residence at the Court of Manuchehar, Sultan of Shirvan, he was permitted to follow the bent of his inclination for a retired life, and became a Dervish. During his pilgrimage to Mecca, he composed some beautiful poems on the wild scenery of the mountains, sands, and deserts that he traversed in his journey. He died at Tabriz, A. H. 582. A. D. 1186.

KEMALEDDIN ISMAEL, called also — the King of Poets. After the destruction of Ispahan by the Tartars, they sought for hidden treasures near the hermitage of Kemaleddin, and even put him to the most cruel tortures, which he bore with great firmness, rather than betray a confidence reposed in him, by some who had once been his envious persecutors. He died A. H. 635. A. D. 1237.

OMAD EDDIN FAKIH derived the appellation of KERMANI from Kerman, his native province. He was of an ennobled family, and stood very high in favour with MODHAFER, Sultan of Shiraz, and was esteemed the most correct yet elegant writer of that age, a man of science, and a philosopher, but at the same time pious and contemplative, which caused him to retire from Court favour and the luxuries of life, to a small cottage in the country, where he received the frequent visits of many learned men. He died A. H. 775.

NEURUZE the first day of the month Ferverdin answering to our March, and sacred to the Genius of the New Year. Though as Mahomedans, they have adopted the Arabian Calendar, this day is still kept in Persia as one of their greatest public festivals.

MOURDESTAN an extensive and tall forest of beautiful Myrtles, between Shiraz and Baheban.

ZSHOOLEH, a species of ground Lark, having a very sweet note, though inferior both in compass and melody to those of the Peearek and the Nightingale.