894 Manner of Livings Dwerfions, Commerce, See. Book HI. 
is the Employment therefore of Abundance of Peo- 
ple about Ifpahan^ in the Winter-Seafon, to heap up 
vaft Quantities of Ice together, and keep it in Repofi- 
raries under Ground all the Summer, when they fell it 
to great Advantage. Wine is made in feveral Pro- 
vinces of Perfm but the Armenians and other Chriftians 
drink the greateft Share of it. The Officers will indeed 
fometimes indulge themfelves in this Liquor, and other 
People drink it as they pretend for their Health, but 
that is not common j much the greateft Part of it is 
either tranfported to the neighbouring Countries, or 
drank by the Chriftians, who are difperfed through the 
Perfian Dominions. 
But thofe who abftain from Wine out of Con- 
fcience, becaufe it is prohibited by Law, raife their 
Spirits with Opium, Bang, Poppy-feed, and other in- 
toxicating Ingredients. The Per fans like other Eaftern 
Nations, take Pills of Opium, which fome of them gra- 
dually increafe to fuch a Dofe, as would deftroy half a 
Dozen Europeans. Within an Hour after they have 
taken the Pill, it begins to operate, and a thoufand 
pleafant Scenes prefent themfelves to their Imagination ; 
they laugh and fing, and fay Abundance of humorous 
Things like Men intoxicated with Wine, but after the 
Efteft of it is gone off, they find their Spirits exhaufted 
and grow penfive and melancholy, till they repeat the 
Dofe again ; and fome make it fo neceffiry to them that 
they cannot five without it. There is alfo a Deco 6 lion 
of the Seed of Poppies, fold in moft Cities of Perfia, 
and in thefejPloufes you will fee People looking and talk- 
ing as Men do when they are drunk : As long as they 
keep to the Letter of the Law, and abftain frorp Wine, 
it is no Matter how much they diforder themfelves, 
they think they ftiall never be accountable for that. 
6 . There are no Wheel- Carriages in this Country, 
but all People travel upon Camels, Horfes, Mules or 
Affes. The Women who are to be concealed as 
much poffible, are put into a fquare wooden Ma- 
chine, of which they hang one on each Side of a Ca- 
mel •, they are about three Foot deep, and juft large 
enough for one to fit down in, and over-head are three or 
four Hoops like thofe which fupport the Tilt of a Wag- 
gon, with a Cloth thrown over them. Their Affes are 
much larger and nimbler than ours, and will trot ten 
Miles at a pretty good Rate, but they are very obfti- 
nate, and frequently throw their Riders. People ufually 
travel in this Country with the Caravan, confifting of 
four or five hundred Camels, befides other Beafts, and 
there is no Place where they travel with greater Security 
and lefs Expence, there being Caravanfera’s at proper 
Diftances, where they have their Lodging Gratis, and 
purchafe Provifion at the beft Hand ; and though the 
Roads are frequently fteep and mountainous, yet fuch 
Care is taken in laying Bridges and Caufeways, and to 
level and enlarge the Ways, that a Traveller feldom 
meets with any Difficulties but what are eafily fur- 
mounted. 
Here are no General Pofts, but if any Perfon has 
Letters to fend, he difpatches a Shatir or Footman 
with them on Purpofe, who will travel a thoufand Miles 
in eighteen or twenty Days, and not ask more than 
twenty Pence or two Shillings a Day for his Trouble : 
They carry with them a Bottle of Water, and a little 
Bag ' of Provifion, which ferves them thirty or forty 
Hours : They generally leave the high Road, and crols 
over the Country the neareft Way. There are a great 
many Families which make this their only Employ- 
ment, and breed their Children up to it, obliging them 
to run from their Infancy. 
The Shah, and ail the great Men, have feveral of 
. thefe Shatirs or Footmen in their Retinue, but before a 
Man can be admitted one of the Imperial Footmen, 
he muft give a very extraordinary Proof that he does 
not want Heels or Breath ; for he muft run from the 
great Gate of the Palace called Aly Capi, to a Place a 
League and half from the City, twelve Times in one 
Day, and every Time bring an Arrow along with him, 
which is delivered him by thofe who ftand at the End 
of the Race, to ftiew that he has run the whole Courfe ; 
and this he performs between Sun-rife and Sun-fet, in 
thirteen or fourteen Hours at moft, being no lefs than 
a hundred and eight Miles. It is always fome Favourite 
Servant of the Shah’s who is' admitted to this Honour. On 
the Day ^of Trial the Elephants and Horfemen are 
drawn up in the Royal Square, with the Mufick, Drums 
and Trumpets founding, and as if it was a Feftival. All 
the Great Men make Prefents to the Shatir, and feveral 
of them ride the Courfe vdth him to ingratiate them- 
felves with the Shah \ and the Mob attend him every 
Time he returns with their Shouts and Acclamations. 
The Chams and Viceroys, who admit a Shatir into their 
Service, make him run the fame Number of Miles, and 
they are careffed and prefented by all their Dependents 
in the fame Alanner the Royal Shatirs are, though not 
fo largely for it is a very common Thing to fee the 
Shah’s Shatir prefented with above a thoufand Pounds 
on fuch an Occafion. This is a very ftrong Mark of 
the Spirit of this Nation, and of that Difpofition they 
have to difplay their Generofity, fometimes at the Ex- 
pence of Juft ice, but without Regard to Prudence always, 
7 . With refpeeft to their Artificers, Manufadurers, 
and common Tradefmen, the Regulations that are made 
in this Country are extremely well contrived, for every 
Company has a Head or Mafter, who with a final 1 Num- 
ber ol his Brethren, form a Kind of Council, and fettle 
luch Rules and Orders for the general Benefit of fuch as 
are engnged in the particular Branch of Trade he fuper- 
intends as to him and them feem requifite. Whoever 
intends, to fee up a Trade, goes to the Mafter, and re- 
gifters his Name and Abode, and no Enquiry is made 
who was his Mafter, or whether he underftands the Bufi- 
nefs or not •, nor is there any Reftraint laid upon them 
that they fhall not encroach upon any other Profeffion j 
for Inftance, the Braziers are at Liberty to make Silver 
Veffels, as they frequently do, without being in Dan- 
ger of any Diftuibance from the Silverfmiths. Neither do 
they take Apprentices for a Number of Years, but hire 
their Servants, and allow them Wages from the firft 
Day they entertain them. Every Trade almoft is bound 
to work for the Shah when ever he requires it, and thofe 
who are not, pay an annual Tax to the Government for 
an Exemption. 
Their Armourers make very good Broad Sword Blades, 
and damask them as well as any European. The Barrels 
of their Fire-arms are not amifs, they make them very 
ftrong, and as thick at the Muzzle as at the Breech, 
Their Stocks are but ill contrived, being thin and light 
at the Butt, and not fit for a Man’s Shoulder ; and for 
Locks to their Guns, or any other Locks that have 
Springs, they do not pretend to make them any more 
than Watches or Clocks, which they either purchafe 
abroad, or employ European Workmen to make for 
them. Knives, Razors, Sciffars, and fome other Cut- 
lery Wares, they make very well, and little Steel Mir- 
rors, which they ufe inftead of Looking-glaffes j they 
are almoft all convex, and the Air is fo perfedlly dry, 
that they feldom ruft or grow dull. The Art of ma- 
king Looking-glaffes they do not underftand, but have 
them from Europe. However, they have a Manufacture 
of Glafs, which ferves for Windows and Bottles. The 
Glafs of Shiraz is the beft in the Country. 
As the Ufe of the Bow is what the Perfians value 
tliemfelves much upon, there are no where better Bows 
made; the chief Materials are Wood and Horn with 
Sinews bound about them ; they are painted and var- 
nilhed, and made as fine as poffible. The Bow-ftring 
is of twifted Silk, of the Bignefsof a Goofe-quill ; their 
Quivers of Leather, embroidered or worked with Silk. 
This is a Trade they are as well verfed in as any thing, 
efpecially the Gold or Silver Embroidery, either on 
Cloth, Silk, or Leather. They cover their Saddles and 
Houfings almoft with Embroidery, and their Hitching 
of the Leather is much beyond any Thing we do. 
Their Saddles are made after the Morocco Model, and 
the Stirrups mighty ftiorc ; they have a Kind of Breaft- 
plate to them, and where we ufe Braffes about our Fur- 
niture, their Men of Quality have Gold. The Leather 
which we call Leather, from its coming to us 
through that Country, is all made m Perfia. The Sha- 
green alfo comes from thence, which is made of the Skin 
of an Afs’s Rump. The Tanners drefs their coarfe 
Skms 
