460 Journal of a Tour through Georgia, [Sept. 



known in Europe as the Sophis. The mausoleum is of brick, with a 

 foundation of stone, and faced by a portico flanked by two pillars en- 

 crusted with green tiles. The whole forms a decoration to the town, 

 and is in good taste. This place is under the dominion of H. R. H. 

 Prince Abbas Mirza, and is governed by his eldest son Mohammed 

 Mirza, who has only a few personal attendants, and no soldiers what- 

 ever, although the town is supposed to be fortified and of great 

 strength. The reception given to Khosro Mirza, by his elder bro- 

 ther, was like that of a slave to his master, and the manner in which 

 this " sprig of nobility" treated his entertainer in return, was quite 

 a la Persienne ; or, in other words, as much in the spirit of the despotic 

 Shah whom he served. The quarters which were provided for us were 

 sumptuous and elegant when compared with those of the villages 

 through which we had passed before, and our several entertainers vied 

 with each other in proffering their choicest collations. We were lodg- 

 ed in the house of a lively and intelligent Persian, who was the gover- 

 nor's ferosh bashee. He was most anxious to know how his country- 

 men had behaved during their late mission, and on my assuring him 

 that they all got dead drunk every night of their lives, he exclaimed, 

 " Would to God Prince Khosro had permitted me to accompany 

 him, what delights I have lost ! In your company I might have com- 

 mitted any excesses with impunity !" I told him that the debauchees 

 in the metropolis of my own country would have stood no chance 

 with the young Prince, and as to his proceedings since we had crossed 

 the Araxes, such as sheep -stealing and village-plundering : these were 

 little foibles done in so gentlemanly a manner that they gave eclat to 

 his pedigree. My host remarked with a laugh, that such proceedings 

 were the inevitable consequences of his calling, and that all his family, 

 including the old Shah himself, had practised them before. He seemed 

 to think that the axiom " Ilfaut vivre" was a very compulsory one in 

 Persia. " And what has the Prince Royal been doing lately ?" I 

 asked : " has he been performing the same sort of achievements ?" 

 " Even so," he replied, " His Highness is gathering in his due to 

 pay the troops." " You mean," I rejoined, " for the support of his 

 haram, a prosperous harvest to him." " God's will be done," conti- 

 nued my friend, " a few hundred men can do any thing." In this, 

 however, he was mistaken, for the " few hundred men," we after- 

 wards heard, were attacked by a superior force from the hills, and 

 most of the " posse comitatus" laid on the field ! So much for Persian 

 finance. It is even worse than rent- collecting in Ireland. 



The height of the town of Ahar above the sea, as estimated by the 

 temperature at which water boils (205 £° of Fahrenheit) may approach 



