Chap, IL into Persia. 877 
Methods ufed to keep their Hoitfes cool and pie af ant ^ e'Ven in the hotte/l Seajbns. 13. A particular 
Jcription of the Capital City of Ifpahan or Spahawn, with its peculiar Beauties and Blemijhes, A 
dijtinhl Defcription of the Royal Palace and of the Imperial Mojque. 15. Of the Bagnids, Gardens and 
Bridges in the City of Ifpahan ^ and in its Neighbourhood. 1 6. A large Defcription of the Borough or 
Suburb of Julpha, with an Account of the Armenians who inhabit it. 17. Dhe noble City of Schira 25 
defcribed, with an Account of the adjacent Country^ a?id its Produce. 18. An Account of the noble 
Antiquities at Tchelminar, the Remains of the ancient Perfepolis, jullly ejleemed the moji glorious Ait‘^ 
tiquity in the World. 1 9. Of other Places of Note in Perfiaj more eJpeciaUy upon its Sea-Coaf and 
of the Defign of Shach Nadir to have removed the Capital of the Perfian Empire^ with the Reafons upon 
which that ProjeB was founded. 20. A Comp arifon between the paf and prefent State of Perlia, in Re-^ 
gard as well to the Fertility and Riches of the Country^ as of the great Cities and Ports, 21. Re- 
marks hiforicaly political and criticaf upon the foregoing Section. 
\.f — g~^HERE is fcarce any Country in the 
P World, which makes a greater Figure in 
H Pliftories facred or prophane, ancient or 
modern, than this ot which we are fpeak- 
ing. In the Scriptures the Deliverance of the Jeivs by 
Cyrus., the Proteftion they received from his Succdfors, 
the memorable Prefervation of the whole People from 
the dark and deep laid Plot of Hainan., all refer to this 
potent Empire and its Monarchs. In Reference to the 
Greek Hiftory, the earlier Parts of it turn entirely on the 
Difputes between the free States of Greece and the great 
King, as the latter contain nothing more than the Hif- 
tory of the Subvcrfion of the Perfian Empire by Alex- 
ander the Great, and the Divifion of its feveral Provin- 
ces after his Deceafe, among his Captains. In Regard 
to the Roman Hiftories again, we find the Parthians 
continually difputing the Progrefs of their Arms in the 
Eafl, -and the moft confiderable Part of the Conftantino- 
politan Hifiory before the Irruption of the Saracens pro- 
ved fatal to both Empires, comprehends the Difputes 
between the Succeffors of Confiantine the Great, and the 
Emperors of Perfia. From the Time the Saracens be- 
came Mailers of this Country, the Succeflion of their 
Caliphs forms a principal Branch of the Oriental Hif- 
tory down to the Extindlion of their Dominion. Since 
that Time the feveral Conquerors of this Empire have 
fujfficiently diflinguifhed themfelves to deferve Notice, 
and even the Frequency of Revolutions in this Country, 
make the Hiftory of it more curious and more enter- 
taining. We know very little of the Etymology of 
the Word Perfia, fome fay it was fo called from the 
Hero Perfeus Son of Jupiter and Danae, but that feems 
to be a very ridiculous Fable •, others derive it from Per- 
fes, a Nobleman of that Country, in Times of great 
Antiquity, but with Refpeft to this alfo, there wants 
both Probability and Proof ; neither is the third Ac- 
count of the Matter, which derives its Name from Pa- 
ras, that fignifies a Horfe, very fatisfadlory *, and as for 
the modern Perfian Word Pars, it is vifibly derived 
from Perfia, and therefore cannot help us to explain it. 
As to the Oriental Writers, they know it not at all by 
this Name, but ftile it conftantly Iran. In order to 
apprehend the Meaning of this Name, which is abfo- 
Jutely neceflary to the Underftanding their Hiftories, 
we are to know, that an ancient King of this Country, 
or rather of the Upper Afia, whofe Name was Ferri 
doiin, had two Sons, Four and drag, who fucceeded 
him in his Dominions, the former had all the Country 
on the other Side the River Oxus, which by the Way, 
the Orientals ftile Gihon, and the other the Country on 
this Side. Hence arifes the Diftindion of all the Coun- 
tries in the Upper Afia {China and the Indies excepted) 
into Fouran and Iran, the former comprehending great 
Fartary, and all the Countries bordering or depending 
upon it, and the latter Perfia, in like Manner, with all 
its Dependencies. As for the modern Writers in the 
Perfian Tongue, as they ftile their Sovereign Shah, fo 
they give his Dominions the Title of Shahijian, or the 
Territories of the Shah. 
We will proceed next to the Situation of this Coun- 
try, and this is beft fhown, by marking the Dominions 
of thefe Princes that confine it ; for as to the diftind 
and precife Limitations of this Empire, it isimpolTible to 
lay them down with Accuracy or Certainty, becaufe 
they depend upon the Power of its Monarchs, which 
V o L. il; N® 12^. 
fluduates every Day. On the Eaft it has the Domink 
ons of the Great Mogul, the Ocean and the GuJph of 
Perfia towards the South, the Territories of r|ie Grand 
Signior on the Weft, and the Country of Circafjm, the 
Cafpian Sea, and the River Oxus, which divides it frotri 
the Usbeck Fartary, on the North. It may not be amifs 
to obferve, that the Northern and Southern Boundaries 
feldom or never vary, as being fixed by Nature, but on 
the Eaft and Weft the Perfians fometimes encroach 
upon, but in later Times have been ofrener en- 
croached upon by their Neighbours, as will appear 
more clearly when we come to fpeak particularly of 
its Provinces. 
As to its Extent, it reaches from South to North 
about twenty Degrees, that is, from twenty-five to 
forty-five Degrees of North Latitude. It contains pret- 
ty near the fiime Number of Degrees of Longitude, the 
neareft of its Provinces lying in the Longitude of forty- 
five, and the moft diftant about fixty-fix Degrees Eaft 
from the Meridian of London. According to the ordi- 
nary Computation, allowing for the Divifion made by 
the Cafpian Sea, it is a Square of between eleven and 
twelve hundred Miles, which fhews plainly, that it is 
one of the moft confiderable Countries of Afia ; and if 
it was as thoroughly inhabited as the Excellency of its 
Situation, Climate, and Soil deferve, its Monarchs 
would be, doubtlefs, as powerful as any fovereign Prin- 
ces in the World •, though at prefent, from a Multitude 
of concurring Accidents, it feems to be thinner in 
People, and weaker in Point of Government, than any 
of the other four Aftatick Empires. As Perfia, properly 
fo called, is bur a very fmall Country in Comparifon of 
what now goes under that Name, fo the different Times 
and Occafions by which the other Diftrifts that now 
depend upon it were annexed thereto, render it extreme- 
ly difficult to fix the Number, the Names, and the Si- 
tuation of its Provinces, about which hardly any two 
Geographers or Travellers have been hitherto able to 
agree ; therefore the Reader will not think it ftrange, 
if the Account we give of them differs from; thofe he 
has met with before. 
2. In order to deliver as plain an Account of this Mat- 
ter as is poffible, we fhall obferve, that the moft accu- 
rate of the Perfian Writers themfelves divide their 
Country into thirteen Provinces, and therefore it appears 
moft reafonable to follow that Divifion ; and it may 
likewife be convenient to purfue their Method of de- 
fcribing them, as this is a Thing altogether arbitrary, 
and there feems to be the fame Caufe to take it one 
Way as another, provided that when the Method is once 
chofen it is clofely purfued, that the Reader may be 
able to trace it exactly, without Confufion, and even to 
form in his Head, as it were, a Scheme of the whole 
Country that is laid before him. We fhall begin then 
with the North Eaft, and fo paffing along Southward, 
defcribe all the Countries of Perfia that lie towards the 
Frontiers either of Fartary or India. We fhall then 
defcribe the Provinces on the Ocean and the Perfian 
Gulph, together with fuch as lie within Land *, thofe 
on the Frontiers of the Furkifh Empire will follow 
thefe, and we fhall end with the Provinces that lie North 
Weft and North on the Coaft of the Cafpian Sea. 
L Alarabat, or Lfiarabat, is fituated 6n the Coaft of 
the Cafpian Sea, to the South of the Opening of the 
River Amu or Oxus , it hath Chorafan on the Eaft, and 
IQ 0 Oii 
