Chap. II. of the Empire 0 / P e R s i a. 88 i 
Aras^ anciently called Cyrus and Araxes^ which rife in 
the Mountains of. Ararat^ and run through Georgia, 
Shirvan and Adirheitzan, and having joined their Streams, 
fall into the Cafpian Sea, are much the moft confidera- 
ble Rivers in the Ferfian Dominions. However, there 
are feveral fmall Rivulets which fall from the Mountains, 
and are conveyed by fubterraneous Channels or otherwife 
to their principal Cities. 
Water being fo fcarce in Terfia, there is no Place, 
where they hulband it better, or have more ingenious 
Contrivances, to convey it to their Cities, and into their 
Corn-fields and Gardens. This is the Care of the Go- 
vernment, and there is a great Officer in every Province, 
who has the Charge of the Conveyance and Diflributi- 
on of the Waters. They turn all their little Rivulets 
and Springs to thofe Parts of the Country, where they are 
moft wanted; they dig Wells alfo of a prodigious Depth 
and Breadth, out of which they draw the Water with 
Oxen, in great leathern Buckets, which being emptied into 
Cifterns, is let out as there is Occafion for the Service of 
the Country. They have alfo vaft fubterraneous Aque- 
ducts, through which they convey Water twenty or 
thirty Leagues to the Places affigned. Thefe are two 
Fathom high, and arched with Brick, and at every 
twenty Paces Diftance, there are large Holes like Wells, 
which were made for the Conveniency of carrying on 
the Arch without Working under Ground too far, and 
the more eafy repairing them. The Diftribution of 
the River and Spring- water, is made one Day to 
one Quarter of the Town, and another Day to ano- 
ther, as Occafion requires, when every one opens the 
Canal or Refervatory in his Gardens to receive it, 
for which every Garden pays a certain Sum yearly to 
the Government, particularly about Ifpahan ; and as it 
is very eafy for one to divert his Neighbour’s Water 
into his own Channel, this is a Fraud that is feverely 
puniftied. They give a greater Rate for River Water, 
than they do for Spring-water, which is not found fo 
proper for the Improvement of their Grounds. 
Befides the Ocean, there are two Seas belonging to 
Terfia, one on the North, and the other on the South- 
weft, viz. The Cafpian Sea, and the Gulph of Bojfora 
or Perfia, which have been already mentioned. The 
Cafpian Sea is about a hundred Leagues in Length, 
from North to South, and ninety Leagues in Breadth, 
and has near a hundred Rivers running into it, of 
which the Chief is the Wolga, at the Mouth whereof 
ftands A^iracan but this Sea has no Communication 
with any other, and though fo many Rivers fall into it, 
there is no vifible Way by which it di {'charges itfelf of its 
Waters, but they remain, always of the fame Height, and 
do not either ebb or flow. The Ruffians have in a great 
Meafure the foie Navigation of this Sea, which is very 
profitable to them, and might be made much more fo 
by the new Trade that has been fet on Foot, from 
Europe to Perfia, through Ruffia. 
The Shah Nadir was very defirous of becoming a 
maritime Power on this Side alfo, and employed a 
Gentleman of a certain Country, to build him Ships of 
Force for this Purpofe, but confidering the Revolutions 
that will probably attend his Death, thefe Defigns are 
like to fall to the Ground. The Perfians were formerly 
entirely Mafters of the Gulph that feparates their 
Country from Arabia, for which they were in a great 
Meafure indebted to us, who alTifted them in difpof- 
felfing the Portuguefe of the Ifland of Ormus, upon 
which they had opened a very advantageous Port, allowing 
us half the Cuftoms arifing from the Goods import- 
ed and exported here. But Shah Abbas the Great, 
thought that Confideration too large, and therefore 
when he tranferred the Commerce to his new Port of 
Cambroon, or Bander Abaff, i. e. the Port of Abbas, 
he allowed the Eafi-India Company no more than 
One thoufand Romans, which makes three thoufand 
three hundred thirty three Pound fix Shillings and 
eight Pence of our Money. It was in this Gulph, 
on the Coaft of the Ifland of Baherem, that they had 
the fineft Pearl Fiiliery in the World, which produced 
annually above fifty thoufand Pounds, but in the late 
unfettled State of their Empire, the Arabians have feiz’d 
VoL. II. N® 129. 
or rather recovered this Fiftiery, and are in Poflefllon of 
it, at leaft for the prefent. 
5. As we have now given a clear Account of the 
Rivers and Seas of this Country, we will next fpeak of 
the Soil and its Produce; and in the firft Place we muft 
obferve, that there is not a Country in the World, 
which has more Mountain.s, and fewer Rivers than 
Perfia, and fome of their Mountains are looked upon 
to be the higheft on the Face of the Earth. Mount 
Taurus, which receives different Names as it branches 
itfelf out into different Provinces, runs quite through 
the Country, from Weft to Eaft. The loftieft of thefe 
Mountains are thofe called Arrarat in Armenia, the 
Mountains which feparate Media from Hyrcania, and 
thofe between Hyrcania and Parthia or Erak. 
Thofe alfo which divide Pars or Perfts from Car- 
mania are exceedingly high, the moft famous of 
which is called Mount Jarron, but they are generally 
dry barren Rocks, without Trees or Herbage upon them, 
except thofe of Gylan or Hyrcania, and the Mountains 
of Curdeftan, which are covered with Woods and very 
Fruitful, where they are manured. There are vaft 
fandy Defarts, feveral Days Journey over in this King- 
dom, where there is fcarce a Drop of Water to be 
found, and the Land in general upon the Frontiers lies 
uncultivated, to diicourage their Enemies from invad- 
ing them ; and in Fadl there is not the leaft Subfiftence 
to be met with for feveral Miles, whether you enter this 
Empire from Turkey or India. There are however 
fome fruitful Plains and Vallies, in which their princi- 
pal Cities ftand, which yield Plenty of Grain, and Her- 
bage, and no Country is more fruitful, than the Pro- 
vinces which lie upon the Cafpian Sea, as has been al- 
ready obferved. But then Hyrcania is very unhealthful 
in Summer time, which fome apprehend proceeds from 
the Multitude of Snakes and Inledts, which lie rotting 
upon the Ground, when the Waters are dried up, as 
well as from the Foulnefs of the Water itfelf, which is 
fo thick and muddy, that there is no drinking it at 
that Seafon of the Year. 
As to Perfia in general, there is not a tenth Part of it 
cultivated, not but that there are many Valleys which bear 
neither Grafs nor Grain at prefent, which formerly when 
greater Care was taken to turn the Waters into them, 
were fruitful Countries. In fome Provinces, there are 
hundreds of fine AquaduCls, choaked up and buried in 
Ruins, fo that it is not lb much a Defed in the Soil, 
as the Want of People, or at leaft of Hufbandmen, 
which renders Perfia barren. The Soil in fome Parts 
is a hard Gravel, and in others a ftiff whitifli Clay, ak 
moft as hard as Stone, but either of them are fruitful 
enough, when well watered, and will bear often two 
Crops, and fometimes three in the Compafs of a Year ; 
and if we give any Credit to ancient Authors, there 
was not a more plentiful Country in the World than 
Perfia was formerly ; the Reafon of this Alteration fome 
aferibe to the different Difpofitions of the People, who 
have inhabited it. The ancient Perfians, the Fire-wor- 
fhippers, it is faid, were obliged by the Precepts of 
their Religion, to cultivate the Soil, and it was by 
them accounted a meritorious ad, to plant a Tree, to 
bring the Water into a Field, and make a barren Spot 
of Earth produce Grafs or Grain, while the Mahome^ 
tans feem to have no Genius for Improvements, or even 
to keep up what their Anceftors have built or planted, 
but let every Thing run to ruin ; however, one Reafon 
of this Negled may be, that the Properties of the Peo- 
ple are in no Security, and no Wonder they have 
but little Inclination to make Improvements, when 
they have no Certainty of reaping the Advantage of 
them. 
6. Near great Towns they improve their Grounds 
with the Dirt and Dung of the Streets, but at a greater 
Diftance, they throw their Fields into little level Squares, 
which they bank about, and then turn the Water into 
them, letting it ftand in the Field all Night, which having 
foaked it, the Water is let out next Morning, and the 
Sun fhining with almoft perpendicular Rays upon the 
moift Earth, renders it fit for the Produdion of anj 
Sort of Grain or Plants. Where the Ground is Light 
10 P th«y 
