1834.] Georgia, Persia, and Mesopotamia. 587 



to leaving the flat waste surrounding Deriah Shahi, we gazed upon the 

 marsh which renders Shahi a peninsula. Far off, to the west, we 

 saw the cloud-diadem that crowns the chain of mountains which divid- 

 ed the old Assyrian and Median empires, and other mountain ranges, 

 all accustomed " to parley with the setting sun." Shortly afterwards we 

 "were hid from the lake altogether, but obtained a more expanded view 

 as we descended from the mountains towards Ajub-shir. From 

 hence, the lake itself appeared as in the bottom of a bowl ; we could 

 now observe all its islands, which lying in a cluster, had the appear- 

 ance of a little glimmering archipelago. From this point of " various 

 view," the wide prospect of the windings of the river that issues from 

 the adjacent mountains was suddeidy descried. Ajub-shir is a small 

 village, situated upon one of the fourteen rivers that flow into the lake, 

 and which takes its birth from among the Sahand mountains. It is, as 

 well as several other villages on the plain, the property of Jafer Kuli 

 Khan, the opulent chief of Maragha. This man is one of the great- 

 est land proprietors in Persia, and the bitterest scourge in Azerbijan. 

 Although the condition of the peasant is miserable in this province, he 

 is in general industrious, and infinitely superior in intelligence to the 

 rvots of British India. It is impossible to conceive the life of misery, 

 which the peasant passes under the wild caprice, and perpetual irrita- 

 tion of Persian tyranny — the exposure of his dearest interests to brutal 

 passion, or malignant power ; his constant fear, that the fruits of a life 

 of labour will be sacrificed to the avarice of some insolent slave, raised 

 into sudden authority by his superior villainy, and sent forth to live by 

 plunder and rapine. God forbid, that the day of oppression may not 

 have an end ; that man, however defiled with the dust of slavery, 

 may not wring the scourge from the hand of the tyrant, and clear 

 away the stain ! 



We reposed at Ajub-shir a great part of the day, as all the beau- 

 ty tended towards the west, each hour deepening the prospect into the 

 mellower splendor. To keep the eye from reposing on the lake, was 

 indeed impossible ; its still waters soothed one's soul, without holding it 

 away from the mounts and cliffs, that forming of themselves a perfect 

 picture, are all united with the mountainous region of the west. To- 

 wards sun-set we proceeded onward, and met the shepherds driving 

 their flocks towards the village. The husbandmen were returning home 

 from the toils of day, and from every house the smoke ascended in an 

 undeviating upright direction. 



" Et jam summa villarum culmina fumant, 

 Majoresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae." 

 3 f 2 



