170 
ISPAHAN. 
place, no longer presents the busy scene which it must have displayed 
in the better times of this kingdom. Of all the trees which sur¬ 
rounded it, there is not one standing. The canals, of which the stones 
remain, are void of water; the houses, which surrounded the Maidan , 
are no longer inhabited; and the very doors are all blocked up, 
so that there is now only a dead row of arches to be seen all round. 
The great market, which once spread the whole area with tents, is 
now confined to one corner near the Nokara Khaneh. All the rest 
is quite empty; scarcely a person is seen to pass along. I saw no 
traces of the pavilion of the clock, which in the time of Chardin 
so much amused the people by the mechanism of its puppets. The 
Mesjid Shah or Royal Mosque is still a noble building, if I might 
judge from its outside; although the lacquered tiles on the dome 
are in many places falling off. We did not go further than the iron 
chain, which is thrown across the entrance of its great gate leading into 
the Maidan. The Mesjid of Loaft Ollah is exteriorly in good repair. 
The great bazar is entered under the Nokara Khaneli by a hand¬ 
some gate, the paintings on which still exist, but the large clock 
(of which however the place is still seen) is no longer in exist¬ 
ence ; nor is there any trace of that also, that was once on the very 
summit. The other side of the gate opens into the fine bazars (for¬ 
merly called the Kaiseree) now the Bazar Shah. 
There are no modern bazars , except one built by Hajee Ma¬ 
homed Hossein Khan, the second Minister. He has also made 
a new Chahar Bagh, in that part of the city towards the bridge, called 
Pool Hajoo. The bazars , as I had occasion to observe at Shiraz , 
are all laid out on nearly the same plan as those of Constantino¬ 
ple; generally the different trades in separate bazars. They are 
on the whole more lively than those of Turkey; being painted and 
adorned in many places, (particularly under the domes in the centre), 
with portraits of the heroes of the country, or with combats, or with 
figures of beasts, and other subjects. In these bazars the confluence 
of people is certainly great, and if the crowds here were a fair mea- 
