892, Manner of Livings Diverfions, Commerce j See. Book III. 
temperance and great Sobriety , and of the Manner in which, by the U/e of Opium, they fupply their 
Want of ftrong Liquors. 6. Lhe Manner of travelling in Perfia, the Nature of Caravans, how they 
fupply the Want of Wheel Carriages, of their Foot~Pofs, and of the wonderful Swiftnejs of their Shatiri 
or Running-Footmen. 7. Of their Artificers and Mechanicks of all Sorts, the Neatnefs of feme and the 
Inexpertnefs of other Workmen, and of the Nature of their Companies, and the Rules by which they are 
governed. 8. Of the Silken, Woollen, and Mohair ManufaBures, that are carried on in this Empire, 
the Management of their Domefiick frafick, the great Ufe of Brokers ; the Manner in which their f. 
reign Frade is carried on, and the Realms that hmder Mahometans from becoming Merchants ; with 
feme political Remarks upon that SubjeB. 9. Fhe Nature of the Englifh Frade in Perfia, the Mea~ 
fares, W eights. Money, generally ujed in that Country, and the Alterations that have happened bv the 
Removal of the Capital from Ifpahan to Mefched. 10. A fuccinB View of the fever al Routes by 
which foreign Co?nmodities are introduced into Perfia, with a clear View of the Advantages arifing from 
the new Frade to that Empire, through RuiTia. A fhort Reprefentaftion of the Value of Silk, con^ 
fdered as the Staple Commodity of Perfia, and of the Advantages that would refult to this Nation by the 
joint Endeavours of the Ruflian, Levant, and Eaft-India Companies, to import Perfian and China Silks 
on the cheapefi Ferms pofjible. 
.4 
■■1 
I. FTER taking a View of the Country of 
/ m and its Produ6l of all Kinds, it is 
# ""' m natural for us to come next to the 
JL Inhabitants, for whofe Sake the other De- 
feription was held neceffary, and made intirely with a 
View to render this more clear and intelligible. It 
muft indeed be owned, that there is fomething very 
difficult and hazardous in attempting to charaiterife a 
whole Nation, and nothing is more common than In- 
ftances even of great Authors falling into Millakes on 
this Head yet as the Thing is neceffary, fo it is alfo 
very feafible ; Nations certainly have their Charaders as 
well as private Men, and thefe are frequently hit, 
though to be fure fometimes they are miftaken. 
The Means of hitting them, is to obferve carefully 
the Points in which all Travellers agree, for thefe, with- 
out doubt, are founded in Truth and Nature; when a 
fufficient Number of thefe are fixed, they will ferve to 
guide you in the reft, for the Humours of Men, though 
of feveral Sorts, and vaftly different from each other, 
yet have a Connexion among themfelves, that is to 
fay, one Humour aflorts with, and joins eafily with ano- 
ther, while there are fome Humours that never come 
together, or are found in the fame Breafts, That there 
really is fuch a Thing as national Charadlers, appears 
from hence, that the Inhabitants of the fame Country, 
through a great Diverfity of Ages, and deferibed by 
Authors of various Difpofitions, keep pretty nearly the 
fame Charafter ; of this, the Defeription of the People 
of Paris, by the Emperor Julian, is a remarkable In- 
ftance, and others might be mentioned, if that before 
us were not as good a one as any of the reft •, for whoever 
confiders attentively what is faid of the Temper, Ge- 
nius and Cuftoms of the Perfians, independant of their 
Religion and Government, by the Greek and Latin Wri- 
ters, and compares thefe with the Writings of modern 
Travellers, will be amaz’d to fee what a Conformity 
there is between them, and be from thence convinced, that 
national Charadiers are nothing lefs than imaginary. But 
to come to the Point, and to that Defeription which 
will juftify this Obfervation, at the fame Time that it 
carries on the Thread of our Difeourfe, and performs 
the proper Bufinefs of this Sedfion. 
The Perfians are Men of bright Parts, and Abundance 
of Vivacity, fond of Glory, and known to excel their 
Neighbours of India in Point of Courage, infomuch that 
’ the Mogul prefers them to the greateft Pofts, both in his 
Court and Array *, and as they were obferved anciently 
to be of all Men the moft civil and obliging, they re- 
tain the fame Difpofition to this Day, efpecially towards 
Foreigners, who admire their Hofpitality and Benevo- 
lence ; they are far from being guilty of that brutiffi 
Behaviour towards Chriftians,as the Lurks are j what they 
feem to be moft juftly and univerfally charged with, is 
Vanity and Profufion in their Cloaths, their Equipages 
and Number of Servants ; as to Voluptuoufnefs in Eat- 
ing and Drinking, this does not appear to be their Vice, 
at leaft we are much more guilty of it in Earope ; for 
the greateft Part of their Food is Rice, Fruits, and Gar- 
den Stuff, they have not any great Variety of Flelh, 
neither have they many Ways of dreffing it ; Pilo feems 
to be the ftanding Difti, even among thofe of the beft 
Quality. And as for ftrong Liquors, though they drink 
them now and then by Stealth, Drunkennefs is very 
far from being common ; Liquor is never forced, and 
every Man may retire from an Entertainment without 
Ceremony when he fees fit, without a Breach of good 
Manners. 
No People have a greater Genius for Poetry, info- 
much that there it not a Feftival or Entertainment 
made, but a Poet is introduced and defired to oblige 
the Company with his Gompofitions ; and thefe Gen- 
tlemen are often found with a Crowd about them in Cof- 
fee-houfes, and other Places of publick Refort. The 
Perfians are by fome looked upon to be very covetous, 
but by this they muft mean covetous in getting, for as 
to hoarding up Money they are generally abfolved. 
They only get that they may fpend, and when they 
have furnifhed themfelves with an Equipage, Houfe and 
Gardens fuitable to their Mind; they rather lay out their 
Money in building Car avanfer ad's, Mofques, and on 
other publick Occafions, than let it lie by them, info^ 
much that fome Travellers obferve, that there are no 
People in the World that take lefs Thought for To- 
morrow. A Man who happens to have eight or ten 
thoufand Pounds fall to him, fhall in a few Weeks lay 
it out in purchafing Wives and Slaves, Cloathing, and 
Furniture, without confidering where he fhall meet 
a Supply, and in two or three Months after, you will 
fee him difpofing of them again for Subfiftance. Thefe 
People, it is obferved, have a great Command of their 
Paffions ; they are not eafily moved, and when they 
are, it proceeds very feldom to Blows. The Quarrel 
generally ends in ill Language, and perhaps fome hearty 
Gurfes ; and to fum up all, they call one another Jews 
or Chridfians. They are of a very infinuating Addrefs, 
and a moft obliging Behaviour ; few European Nations 
are more polite. 
2. The Perfians are generally of a good Stature, well 
fhaped, clean limb’d, and of agreeable Features, and in 
Georgia and the Northern Provinces, of an admirable 
Complexion ; towards the South they are a little upon 
the Olive. However, the great Men having had their 
Wives and Concubines chiefly from Georgia and Cir- 
caffia, for a hundred Years paft, their Complexions are 
very much mended even in the Southern Provinces.Their 
Eyes and their Hair are generally black, and. they wear 
only one Lock on the Crown of their Heads, like other 
Mahometans, by which they expefb Mahomet will lift 
them up to Paradife. 
As to their Beards, the Shah and the Great Officers 
of State, and Soldiery, wear only long Whiskers on 
the upper Lip, which joined to a Tuft of Hair on the 
upper Part of their Cheeks, grow to a very enormous 
Size, infomuch that fome of them, it is faid, are near 
half a Foot long. Their and religious People 
wear their Beards long, only clipping them into Form, 
and the common People clip their Beards pretty fhort, 
but none of the Perfians fuffer any Hair to grow upon 
their Bodies. They wear large Turbants on jheir 
Heads, 
