Chap. II. • of the Empke Persia. 085 
lay a fmall Tax upon it. Their Partridges are reckon- 
ed the largeft and beft tailed that are to be met with. 
The Pellican, which t\\t Perfians cd.W'Tacoh, or the 
Water-drawer, is as remarkable as any of their fowls, 
for the Body of it is faid to be as large as a Sheep, its 
Head at the fame Time wondrous fmall, but a large 
Bill of fixteen or eighteen inches long, as big as a Man’s 
Arm, and under the Bill there is a large Bag, Travellers 
ceil us, which will hold a Pail of Water ; they build 
their Nells in the Defarts, where there is no Water, 
and confequently no Inhabitants for their Security, and 
frequently go two Days Journey for Water for their 
young ones ; but then they bring enough in the Recep- 
tacle above-mentioned to laft for fome Time, if we may 
give entire Credit to thefe Accounts. 
There is another extraordinary Bird, m.entioned by 
Travellers, in the Province of Chorajjan, which has fuch 
an Appetite towards the Water of a certain Spring in 
that Country, and fuch Sagacity in difcovering it, that 
they will follow any Perfon that carries it in a Bottle, 
feveral Hundreds of Miles. As to Eagles, Hawks, 
Falcons, and other Birds of Prey, there is no Country 
where they have more, or where they are better in- 
ftruded than in Perfta. The Shah has eight hundred or 
a thoufand of them, and there is no Man of any Figure 
without his Hawks and his Falconers ; and their Hawks 
are taught not only to fly at Birds, but at Hares, Deer, 
.and all Manner of wild Beads, and by fixing them- 
felves on the Head of the Animal, and beating him 
with their Wings, he is fo terrified and ditlradled, that 
the Dogs and Huntfmen which follow have very little 
Difficulty in taking him j and the Perftans^ it is faid, 
breed up the veryiCrows to fly at Game. 
There are the fame Kinds of Singing-birds in Verfia 
as with us, fuch as the Linet, the Chaffinch, the Night- 
ingale, the Lark, l^c. ; and fome Birds there are 
which are taught to fpeak, but no Parrots or Parrokeets 
on this Side Pndia. However, there are feveral party- 
colour’d Birds to be feen in Perfia^ with a Plumage of 
blue, green, and yellow, bautifully mixed. Of Spar- 
rows there are fuch Numbers, that they are very trou- 
blefome to the ITusbandmen, who are forced to place 
their Servants in the Fields all Day long when the Har- 
veil approaches, to keep therrj from their Corn. 
In the Heart of Perfta there are fcarce any Fiffi to be 
met with, the few Rivulets they have hardly fupplying 
the Country with Water for neceffary Ufes, and in the 
Summer time they are almoft all dried up; even the 
River Zenderhood, to which the Government, at a 
prodigious Expence, have joined other Screams for the 
Supply of the City of Ifpahan^ is perfectly loft in the 
fandy Defarts about twenty Leagues from thence ; and 
it may be doubted whether there be one Stream 
which rifes in the Middle of the Kingdom that ever 
reaches the Sea in the Summer ; tho’ in the Spring, 
when the Snow melts on the Mountains, they make a 
confiderable Figure. In xhtCafpian and the Perfian 
Gulph, there are great Plenty of Sea-fifti of all Kinds 
almoft, and the Rivers Kur and Arras, which fall into 
the Cafpian, have Plenty of River-fiffi, but they lie at 
too great a Diftance from Ifpahan to fupply that City ; 
fo that Fiffi is very rarely eaten there. 
1 1. We are to fpeak next of the Metals and Minerals 
in this Country, and to proceed methodically, we 
ought to begin with thofe of Gold and Silver, if any 
were now wrought in Perfta, but there are not ; for, 
notwithftanding what old Writers relate of the rich Mines 
in Badiriana, and that almoft all the Perftan Authors 
agree that there are Mines of this Metal in Chorafan, yet 
from the Neighbourhood of the Tartars they have been 
long negledled ; and it is the fame with refped to the Sil- 
ver Mines in other Places, tho’ from the Accounts lately 
given by Tavernier, one would fufpeft that the Per- 
fians are but indifferently skilled in the Art of Mining, 
and that of refining of Metals j they have, however, 
good Mines of Iron, Steel, Copper, and Lead, The 
Iron and Steel Mines are in Hircania, Media, and the 
Provinces of Erak and Chorafan ; their Steel is fo full of 
Sulphur, that if the Filings are thrown into the Fire, 
they will give a Report like Gunpowder , it has a fine 
VoL. IL eXXX. 
Grain, but is as brittle as Glafs, and the Perftan Arti- 
ficers, who do not underhand how to give it a due 
Temper, cannot for that Reafon make Wheels or 
Springs, or any minute Pieces of Workmanffiip. Their 
Copper Mines are moll of them near Seris, in the 
Mountains oi Mazenderan 5 they mix it with Swedifh 
and Japan Copper^ and the Proportion is one Part 
foreign to twenty of their own Metal. 
The Lead Mines are, moll oi tiiem, near the City of 
Tesd, and in ihele are found the greateft ('.Quantity of 
Silver. Sulpiuir and Saltpetre are dug in the Mountain 
Damaverd, which divides Hircania from the Province 
of Erak. Antimony is found in Carmania, but it is a 
baftarci Sort. Emery is had near Niris ; Vitriol and 
Mercury they have none, and their Tin is imported 
from abroad. There are two Kinds of Salt in Perfta^ 
the one upon the Surface of the Ground, the other dug 
out of the Rock : There are Plains of ten or twelve 
Leagues over quite covered with Salt, as others are with 
Sulphur and Aiom, The Salt is fo hard in iome Parts 
of Carmania, that the poor People make ule of it in- 
ftead of Stone to build their Cottages. 
Their Marble is either white, black, or red, and 
fome veined with white and red ; it is dug ntd.x Hama- 
dan, and in Chuftflan fome of it will break into large 
Flakes or Tables like Slate, but the beft comes from 
Tauris, which is almoft as tranfparent as Cryftal. This 
Kind is white mixed with green. In the Country about 
Tauris alio is found the mineral Azure, but this is not 
fo good as that which comes from Tartary, lofing its 
Colour by Degrees. In the Provinces of Ears and 
Shirvan there is . found abundance of Bole Armoniack, 
and fo rich and fat a Marl, that the Country People ufe 
it inftead of Soap. There are fome Mines of Ifinglas in 
the fame Country. In feveral Farts of Perfta we meet 
with Naptha, both white and black ; it is uled in Paint- 
ing and Varnifli, and fometimes in Phyfick, and there 
is an Oil extrailed from it v/hich is applied to feveral 
Ufes, The moft famous Springs of Naptha are in the 
Neighbourhood of the T6wn of Baku, which furnifti 
vaft Quantities j and there are alfo upv/ards of 30 Springs 
about Shamaschy, both in the Province of Schirwan^ 
The Perjtans ufe it as Oil for their Lamps, and in ma- 
king Fireworks, of which they are extremely fond, and 
in which they are great Proficients. 
But the moft valuable Produdft of the Perftan Mines is 
the Turtiuoife, concerning which there have been fo many 
Miftakes made, that notwithftanding we find ourfelves 
preffed for Room, we cannot avoid treating fomewhht 
largely upon this Subjeft. In the firft Place, it is af- 
ferted, that it derives its Name from Turkey, which is 
true enough when rightly underftood, but abfolutely 
falfe according to the common Acceptation 5 for there 
neither is, or never was, any of thefe Stones found in 
the Dominions of the Turks, but in the Country of Tur- 
comania, which was indeed the Seat of that Nation, tho’ 
for any Thing I know, this has never been obferved by 
the Writers upon this Subjedl. Thefe Stones are di- 
ftinguiffied into Oriental and Occidental. The Oriental 
Turquoifes come from Perfta, and from Perfta only 5 
and thefe are diftinguiffied into thofe of the old, 
and thofe of the new Rock ; the former are taken 
out of the Mines of Nichapour and Caraffon, and, 
as Sir John Chardin juftly oblerves, differ greatly from 
other Stones that bear the fame Name, They are hard, 
firm, of a beautiful Blue, inclining a little to a Green, 
take a fine Polifh, and are never obkrved to lofe their 
Colour. The Shah endeavours to preferve thefe entirely 
for himfelf •, and though after chafing the largeft: and 
the fineft, he permits the fmaller Turquoifes to be 
fold, yet foreign Merchants are not contented with 
that Manner of Dealing, but have ft ruck out a better. 
The Officers belonging to the Mines, and their Servants, 
frequently deceive the Shah, and, inftead of fending 
him the fineft and largeft, vend thofe for their own 
Profit, but always to Europeans, that they may be lefts 
liable to Difeovery *, and by this Means very fine Tur- 
quoifes find their Way into thefe Parts of the World. 
The new Rock is at five Miles diftant from the old, 
and the Stpnes are fofter, lefs firm, veiny, of a green, 
10 inclining 
