Part II. Travels into the Levant 
19 
The City of Iffahan hath alfo great Suburbs, where many Perfons of 
Quality hve. The beft built, moft beautiful! and richeft of all, is the Suburbs 
ofGiolfa, that lies beyond the River oï Sendem, and the Walls of its Gardens 
being near that River; in this Burrough or Suburbs live the Armenians ^ whom 
Schah Abbas the firft, tranfplanted thither, after he had ruined a Tow{i of 
that Name in the M^^qv Armenia : And they thought fit to give to this new 
Habitation the Name of their ancient Town and Countrey, to prefcrve the 
memory of it; fo that to diftinguifli them from the others, they are common- 
ly called Giolfalu, (that's to fay, ) one of Giolfa. *A11 round Giolfa there are • 
a great many other Cantons, which are likewife pretty well built, not onely 
of Armenians who have left their own Countrey to come and live there, but 
alfo of other Nations: There are the Cantons of Ecrivan, Nackhuan, Chak- 
faban^ Siroa-Kainan^ Gaur, Sitchan, Mekrigan^ &C. The quarter of Taurif- 
hi called Tauris-Abad, or Abis-Abad^ which is oppofite to Giolfa^ on this fide 
the River towards Ifpahan, is much bigger than Giolfa, but neither fbpleafant 
nor fo well built The beauty of the houles of pleafure which Perfons of 
Quality have in the Suburbs, confifts in great Divans, having in the middle 
and before them Bafons of Water, and the Gardens which are full of two or 
three kinds of Flowers, and thefe commonly T'wri^ie/ Gilly-Flowers, Marfli- 
Mallows, and fome other fuch , all very ordinary Flowers, but yet iaf>ing 
many Months of the year, give a pleafant profpect : The Ferfians fit in the 
cool in thefe Di'vans every one with his Pipe of Tobacco, which is the moft 
delightfuU Employment they have, when they are at home 
There are many (quares in Ifpahan, but of all, that which is called the 
Meidan is not onely the lovelieft ; but I think, that of all regular T'iazz,as, it The Meidan, 
is the greateft and fineft place in the World. It is about feven hundred com- 
mon paces in length, and two or three hundred in breadth ; fo that it is a- 
bove twice as long as broad : It is built all about, and the Houfès are all in 
form of Fôrtico's, over which there is another fécond range of Arches more 
backwards, which fèrve for Galleries and a paTTage to the rooms of fome ad- 
joy ning Kernuanjerats, and feeing thefe houfès are all of an equal height, they 
yield a very lovely profbed:. All ^ round the place at fome little diftance 
from the Buildings, there is a fair Canal of Spring-water, made by the Schah 
Abbas the firft, who for greater embellifhment, caufed plane-Trees at com- 
petent dittances to be planted all along, which render that place exceedingly 
delightfu'l ; but they dayly decay, becaufe they neglect the planting of Trees 
in the place of thofè that are wanting. 
At one end of the place, -that is, on the North, over the Gate of the Bazaar, 
there is a Bell, round which is this infcription, A'ue Maria gratia plena. They A BelL 
fay that it was taken out of a Monaftery of Nuns at Or mus. On the two fides 
of that Bel), are great Balconies or Galleries, where every Evening at Sun- Gallerieî 
let, and at midnight many men aflemble, who make mufick, fome with the 
ordinary trumpet, fome with Timbrels, and others with an extraordinary 
kind of trumpet, which perhaps has not as yet been heard of in France, and 
therefore I have thought fit to give a defcription of it. Thefe trumppets are A long coppef 
made of copper and ftreight, about eight foot long, the body of it is of an Trumper. 
unequal bignefs ; for the end that is put to the mouth, is an inch indianaeter, 
but about an inch from it the neck is very narrow, and then enlarges again Hence our 
to the breadth of an inch, and the end or mouth out of which the found and fpeaking 
wind comes, is almoft ^ foot and a half in diameter. Thefe trumpets are 
taken in two at the middle, and they put the upper part into the lower at 
the great end, where it eafily enters ; when they have anaind to found, they 
skrew the two parts together<T)Ut they had need of a ftrong Arm to hold 
that long Pipe of copper out right when they found it. It makes a ftrong 
deep found, fo that the mufick is heard all over the City ; but it is not at 
all pleafant, and is more proper to fright People with an AUarm, than to \ 
divert them. 
As you go from that place of the MeidanwhsvQ thefe muficians meet, which 
(as I faid) is at the North end of it, towards the South, there are two Banks 
five or fix foot high, and above a fathom diftant, which ferve for playing at 
the mall on hor/e back^ and the bowl rauft go betwixt thofè Banks. Aboijt The Ma!;. 
the 
