140 



HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part I. 



the finest in the East ; and no grape is more delicious than that of Shiraz. In the pro- 

 vinces bordering on the Caspian Sea and Mount Caucasus, the air is perfumed with roses 

 and other sweet-scented flowers. Among the vegetable productions we may enumerate 

 cabbages, cucumbers, turnips, carrots, peas, and beans ; and the potato, which has been 

 lately introduced, thrives remarkably well. Poppies, from which an excellent opium is 

 extracted, senna, rhubarb, saffron, and assafoetida are produced in many parts of the king- 

 dom. The vine grows here luxuriantly, and further to the south cotton and sugar are 

 articles of common cultivation. Poplars, large and beautiful, and the weeping willow, 

 border the courses of the streams, and the marshy tracts abound with the kind of rush that 

 serves for the Persian matting. Ornamental shrubs or herbaceous plants are little known ; 

 but the jasmine and the blue and scarlet anemone in the thickets, and the tulip and ra- 

 nunculus in the pastures, are abundant and beautiful, and give an air of elegance to 

 the country. 



870. The saline deserts of Persia are for the most part destitute of trees, and support 

 hardly any plants except such as are also found on the sea-shore. On the high moun- 

 tains they are much the same as those observed on the alps of Switzerland and Italy. 

 The plants on the hills and plains adjoining the Caspian are better known. 



871. The live stock of Persia is the same as in European countries with some addi- 

 tions. According to Chardin, the Persian horses are the most beautiful in the East ; 

 but they yield in speed, and, as some say, in beauty also, to the Arabian ; however, they 

 are larger, more powerful, and, all things considered, better calculated for cavalry than 

 those of Arabia. There are several breeds of horses, but the most valuable is that called 

 the Turkoram ; these are so hardy that they have been known to travel nine hundred 

 miles in eleven successive days. The Arabian blood has been introduced into this 

 country. Their usual food is chopped straw and barley ; their bed is made of dung, 

 dried and pulverised, and every morning regularly exposed to the sun. They are clothed 

 with the greatest attention, according to the climate and season of the year ; and during 

 the warm weather are kept in the stable all day, and taken out at night. 



872. Mules are also here in considerable request, and the ass resembles the Euro- 

 pean ; but a breed of this animal has been brought from Arabia, of an excellent kind, 

 the hair being smooth, the head high, and the motion spirited and agile. Although the 

 mules are small, they are fairly proportioned, carry a great weight, and those that are 

 intended for the saddle are taught a fine amble, which carries the rider at the rate of five 

 or six miles an hour. The camel {fi<^. 107.) is also common j and tlie animals which 

 are exported from ^qY 

 Persia to Turkey 

 have, as Chardin 

 says, only one 

 hunch, while those 

 of India and Ara- 

 bia have two. The 

 Persian cattle in 

 general resemble 

 the European. 

 Swine are scarce, 

 except in the 

 north-west pro- 

 vinces. The flocks of sheep, among which are those with large tails, are most nume- 

 rous in the northern provinces of Erivan, or the Persian part of Armenia and Balk. 

 The few forests abound with deer and antelopes ; and the mountains supply wild goats, 

 and probably the ibex, or rock goat. Hares are common. The ferocious animals are 

 chiefly concealed in the forests, such as the bear and boar, the lion in the western parts, 

 the leopard, and, as some say, the small or common tiger. Seals occur on the rocks of 

 the Caspian. The hyaena and jackal belong to the southern provinces. The seas 

 abound with fish of various descriptions ; the Caspian affords sturgeon and delicious 

 carp. The most common river fish is the barbel. The same sorts of wild and tame 

 fowl are common in Persia and in Europe, with the exception of the turkey, whose 

 nature does not seem to be congenial to this climate. Pigeons are numerous, and par- 

 tridges are large and excellent. The bul-bul, or Oriental 

 nightingale, enlivens the spring with liis varied song. 

 The Persians have been long accustomed to tame beasts 

 of prey and even to hunt with lions, tigers, leopards, 

 panthers, and ounces. 



873. The Persians hunt the quail in a curious manner, {fig. 108.) 

 ' They stick two poles in their girdle, upon which they place either 

 their outer coat, or a pair of trowsers, and these at a distance are 



intended to look like the horns of an animal; they then with a 



hand.net prowl about the fields, and the quail, seeing a form more like a beast than a man, permits it to 



