PERSIA. "S* 



to richness, neatness and show ; and yet they are ignorant of painting, 

 and their drawings are very rude. Their dyeing excels that of Eu- 

 rope. Their silver and gold laces, and threads, are admirable for 

 preserving their lustre. Their embroideries and horse-furniture are 

 not to be equalled ; n>.r are they ignorant of the pottery and window- 

 glass manufactures. On the other hand, their carpenters are very 

 indifferent artists ; which is said to be owing to the scarcity of timber 

 all over Persia. Their jewellers and goldsmiths are clumsy work- 

 men ; and they are ignorant of lock-making, and the manufacture of 

 looking-glasses. Upon the whole, they lie under inexpressible disad- 

 vantages from the form of their government, which renders thefa 

 slaves to their kings, who often engross either their labour or their 

 profits. 



The trade of the Persians, who have little or no shipping of their 

 own, is carried on in foreign bottoms. That with the English and 

 other nations, by the Gulf of Ormus at Gombroon, was the most 

 gainful they had ; but the perpetual wars they have been engaged in 

 have ruined their commerce. The great scheme of the English in 

 trading with the Persians through Russia promised great advantages 

 to both nations, but it answered the expectations of neither. The court 

 of Petersburg probably is not fond of suffering the English to establish 

 themselves upon the Caspian Sea, the navigation of which is now pos- 

 sessed by the Russians. The Caspian Sea is about 680 miles long, and 

 260 broad in the widest part ; it has no tide, but is navigable by vessels 

 drawing from nine to ten feet water, with several good ports. The 

 Russian ports are Kislar and Gurief. Derbent and Niezabad belong 

 to Persia, as also Einzellee and Astrabad, with Baku, the most com- 

 modious havCn in this sea, and which has a fortress surrounded with 

 high walls. As the manufactures and silk of Ghilan are esteemed the 

 best in Persia, Reschd on the Caspian is one of the first commercial 

 towns in this part of Asia, and supplies the bordering provinces with 

 European merchandise. 



Constitution', government, and laws. ...These are extremely 

 precarious, as resting in the breast of a despotic and often capricious 

 monarch. The Persians, however, had some fundamental rules of 

 government. They excluded from their throne females, but not their 

 male progeny. Blindness likewise was a disqualification for the royal 

 succession. In other respects the king's will was a law for the people. 

 The instances that have been given of the cruelties and inhumanities- 

 practised by the Mahommedan kings of Persia are almost incredible^ 

 especially during the last two centuries. The reason given to the 

 Christian ambassadors, by Shah Abbas, one of their most celebrated 

 princes, was, that the Persians were such brutes, and so insensible by 

 nature, that they could not be governed without the exercise of ex- 

 emplary cruelties. But this was only a wretched and ill-grounded 

 apology for his own barbarity. The favourites of the prince, female 

 as well as male, are his only counsellors, and the smallest disobedience 

 to their will is attended with immediate death. The Persians have 

 no degrees of nobility, so that the respect due to every man on account 

 of his high station expires with himself. The king has been known 

 to prefer a younger son to his throne, by putting out the eyes of the 

 elder brother. 



The laws of Persia, where the will of the sovereign does not inter- 

 fere, are, like those of other Mahommedan countries, founded on the 

 TCoran. Civil matters are all determined by the cazi, ajid ecclesias*. 



