886 'A new and compleat Dejcription Book III, 
inclining to blue, and are apt in Procefs of Time, to 
lofe their Colour. The occidental Turquoifes are found 
in Bohemia, France, and other Countries, but they are 
not valued, and have generally the fame Faults ■ with 
thofe taken from the new Rock. 
Dr. Cromwell Mortimer, in the laft TranfacliOns of the 
Royal Society, for the Months of January and Vehrti- 
ary, 1747. has given us a much better Account of thefe 
Stones than 1 have ever met with before, and diftin- 
guifhes them very juftly into true and falfe Turquoifes ; 
the former he fays, is a true mineral Subftance, im^ 
pregnated with Copper Ore, which is highly proba- 
ble, for there is no Country in the World that has 
more Copper Mines than Ferfia\ the latter is an Ivory 
or bony Subftance, tinhlured alfo with fome metallick 
Juice, and probably that of Copper, which is a Dift 
cpvery worthy of Notice, as it frees this Subjefl from 
Abundance of Difficulties, under which it has hitherto 
laboured. 
12. After having taken a View of the Country, and 
of its Produce, we will fpeak nbxt of the Habitations 
eredbed upon it, and this will naturally lead us to the 
principal Cities that yet remain to be defcribed • but 
without taking a previous View of what with them paft 
fes for magnificent Buildings, fuch Defcriptions would 
be in a Manner unintelligible. The Houfes of Perfons 
of Quality here, ate generally built in the Middle of a 
fine Garden, and make little or no Appearance to the 
Street, for there you fee nothing but a dead Wall, with a 
great Gate in the middle of theWalfand perhaps aSkreen 
or Wall within the Gate, to prevent People looking in ; 
fo fond are they of Privacy and Retirement. Another 
Thing that the Perftans diffir from us in, is, that they 
feldom have more than one Floor, which is laid out 
in this Manner; in the Front of the Houfe ftands a 
little Piazza or Cloyfter open before, where they fit and 
tranfadt their ordinary Affairs ; beyond this is a large 
Hall, eighteen or twenty Foot high, which is ufed at 
great Entertainments, or on any folemn Occafions : 
On the farther Side of the Houfe is another Piazza with 
a Baffin or Fountain of Water before it, beyond which 
runs a Walk of fine Trees, as there does alfo from the 
Street to the Houfe : At each Corner of the Hall, is a 
Parlour or Lodging-Room (for it ferves for both Piir- 
pofes;J between thofe Parlours on the Sides, there are 
Doors out of an Hall into an open fquare Space, as 
large as the Rooms at the Corners ; there are alfo feve- 
ral Doors out of the Hall into the Piazza, before and 
behind the Houfe ; fo that in the hot Sealon,they can fet 
open nine or ten Doors at once in the great Hall, and if 
there be any Air ftirring, they will have the Benefit of it. 
In ffime Palaces there is a handffime Baffin, and a 
Fountain playing in the Middle of the Flal), which 
contributes ftill more to the Coolnefs of the Place. 
The Walls of their tioufes are built ffimetimes of burnt 
Bricks, but more commonly of Bricks dried in the 
Sun. The Walls are of confiderable Thicknefs, and 
the Roof of the great Hall is arched, and five or fix 
Foot higher than the other Rooms about it. The 
Roofs of the Buildings on every Side of the Hall are 
flat, and there is a Pair of Stairs up to the Top, where 
the Perfiane walk in the Cool of the Day, and ffime- 
times carry up a Mattrefs, and lie there all Night, there 
being Ballifters all round the Top of the Building. As 
for the Kitchens and other Offices, they are at a 
Diftance on the right or left, and it is obfervable, that 
all their Rooms, except the Hall, ft and feparare, and 
there is no Paffage out of one into another, but only 
from the Hall ; Chimneys there are ffime, but ufualiy, in- 
ftead of a Chimney, there is a round Hole, about four or 
five Foot broad, and a Foot and a half deep in the Mid- 
dle of the Room, in which a Charcoal Fire is made, and 
the Place covered with a thick Board or Table, about a 
Foot high, ffi clofe, that no Smoke can get out, and 
over that Table is thrown a large Carpet, under which 
they put their Legs in cold Weather, and fit round, 
there being a Paffage for the Smoke by Pipes laid un- 
der the Floor. The Doors of their Houfes are narrow, and 
feldom turn upon Hinges as ours do, but there is a round 
Piece left at the Top and Bottom of the Door which are 
let into the Frame above and below, on which they turn 
and the very Locks and Bolts are frequently made of Wood* 
As to their Furniture, it confifts only in Carpets fpread 
tm the Floor, with Cufhions and Pillows to lean on 
and at Night, there is a Mattrefs brought to fleep on* 
and a Quilt or two to cover them, but very feldom any 
Sheets are ufed. As to their Servants, they lie about 
in any Paffage upon Mats, and take up very little Room. 
The Floors of the Rooms are either paved or made of 
a hard Cement, on which they lay a coarfe Cloth, and 
over that a Carpet ! The Sides of ffime of their Rooms 
are lined with fine Tiles about a Yard high, and the 
teft of them well painted, or hung with Puftures. 
i|. Iff ahum, or as it is pronounced Spahawn, is fitua- 
ted in thirty two tfegtees, forty Minutes, North Lati- 
tude, and in the fiftieth Degree of Longitude, reckoning 
from the Meridian of London. It ftands in a fine Plain 
almoft furrounded with Mountains, which lie about two 
Or three Leagues from it, and the Form is pretty near oval. 
The River Zenderhood runs by it at about a Mile Di- 
ftance, but there are feveral Channels and Pipes above 
the Town, which convey the Water from it into Ca- 
nals and Bafons, for the Service of the Court and City. 
The Town is without Walls, and about ten or twelve Miles 
in Circumference. Thofe who extend it ten Leagues 
fake in the Town of Julfha, and feveral others. There 
were formerly twelve Gates to the Town, but four of 
them are now clofed up, the others are always open ; as 
for the Walls which ffime Travellers mention, it is 
probable there was a Mud-Wall formerly, but there 
is no Parc of the Wall vifible at prefent. There is an 
old Caftle, it is true, without Artillery, which runs to 
Ruin, but is no more tenable than the Town. 
The Streets of Ifpahan are for the moft Part narrow 
and crooked, and either exceeding Dirty or Dufty, for 
fcarce any of them are paved, and though there are no 
Coaches or Carts, yet all People of Faffiion riding 
through them with great Trains of Servants, renders 
the Paffage not very pleafant. There are however fome 
very fine Squares in the Town, particularly the royal 
Square or Meydan, into which there opens two of the 
Palace Gates. On the Sides of this Square, which is 
one third of a Mile in Length, and more than half as 
much in Breadth, are Buildings with. Shops on both 
Sides, where every particular Trade has a Quarter af- 
figned, and there is a fecond Story where the Mecha- 
nicks have their Working-Shops. There feems to be 
little Difference between thefe Exchanges and ours, but 
that thofe of Ifpahan have no Windows but great Open- 
ings at proper Diftances to let in the Light, and Peo- 
ple ride through them a? they do along the Streets. 
In the Middle of the Square there is a Market for 
Horfes and Cattle, and all Manner of Goods and Pro- 
vifions are expofed to Sale, though the great Shah Abhas, 
who built the Square, defigned it for manly Exercifes, 
vand particularly thofe of Horfemanfhip, and handling 
the Bow and Lance, at which no People are more dex- 
trous than the Perjians. On that Side of the Square 
next the Palace, there is a fine Row of Trees planted, 
and a handffime Baffin of Water, and fome great 
Brafs Guns, which were taken from the Poriuguefe at 
Ormus, ferve to make a Show. 
There ftands a great Mofque at the South End of 
the Square, and another Mofque on the Eaft Side over 
againft the great Gate of the Palace ; feveral Streets 
in Ifpahan are covered and arched over, which makes 
them pretty dark, and this feems to be peculiar to the 
Perfian Towns. Another Thing they feem to be parti- 
cular in is, that their Houfes and Shops are never in 
the fame Places, and it is a common Thing for a Tradef- 
man to go half a Mile in a Morning to the Bazar, or 
Market-place, where his Shop is, and in the Night- 
time, they lock up their valuable Goods in Chefts and 
Counters, and the reft they leave packed up, ffimetimes 
in the open Square, and it is very rare any Thing is 
loft ; fo careful are the Watch appointed to guard their 
Market-Places, or ffi very little given to Thieving are 
the People in this Part of the World, and no Doubt 
the fpeedy and exemplary Puniffiments inflided upon 
Pilferers, is one great Means to deter them from it. 
