ISPAHAN. 
171 
surement of the general population of the city, the whole numbers of 
Ispahan would swell rapidly; but as every one in the course of the 
day has some business in this spot, the rest of the city is compara- 
tively deserted; and as the traders also themselves have here their 
shops only and return to their homes at night, the mixed multi¬ 
tudes which throng the bazars , again scattered over all the quarters 
of the town, become a very inadequate proportion for its extent. 
The women, indeed, except the very lower class, generally remain 
at home, and during the day form, with their children, all the po= 
pulation of some parts of the city. The N. and E. divisions are 
the best inhabited. In Chardin's time the numbers were esti¬ 
mated by those who reckoned largely one million and one hundred 
thousand souls; but even by the more moderate were fixed at six 
hundred thousand. Considering, however, the state of ruin in which, 
perhaps, half of Ispahan is at present, we cannot place its actual 
population at more than four hundred thousand souls, a calculation 
which is supported by the accounts of the houses or families, of 
which there are eighty thousand. This information was subsequently 
communicated to me by Hajee Mahomed Hossein Khan, second 
Minister to the King, a native also of the city, and long its Governor, 
whose opportunities therefore of ascertaining the fact were unquestion¬ 
able. Much, nevertheless, must be allowed for the exaggeration na¬ 
tural to a Persian. 
The kabob shops (or eating-houses on the plan of those in Turkey) 
seemed to be also equally clean and well arranged. From one of 
these a complete dinner, with every necessary convenience of dishes, 
sherbets, &c. may be procured at a short notice, and at a moderate 
expence. The most frequent shops appeared to be those of sweet¬ 
meats, which (in a consumption almost incredible) form the chief 
ingredients of Persian food, and are here arranged for sale very 
neatly in large China vases, clean glass vessels, and bright brass 
platters. The people excel in the composition; and import their sugar 
v, 2 
