TEHERAN TO TABRIZ. 
261 
the plain. Here the King sits in state; and, on a terraced platform j 
below stand his sons and nobles: the whole is on a small and trifling 
scale, and displays no great ingenuity in the builder or wealth in the 
possessor. 
We proceeded to Zengan: the distance is called six fursuiigs, and we 
performed it in six hours; but from the quick pace at which our horses 
walked, I may reckon it at twenty-four miles. Till the last four miles 
our route bore N. 30 W.; we then turned to N. 80 W. 
The mountains on the left diminished very much, and were green to 
their summits. They terminated at a bearing of W. and behind them 
commenced another chain, which, when the immense clouds on their 
summits occasionally rolled off, appeared very high. 
The plain ground over which we had travelled from Casvin, now be* 
came hilly and broken; and in some places the soil, which before had 
been universally hard, was soft; and the road, from the rain which had 
fallen, was rendered swampy and muddy. In the course of the day 
indeed we had much rain, though only in showers; and in the morning 
there was a rainbow. All this part of the country is well watered by a 
variety of small streams, but by no one of any note. We saw the 
plough at work in many parts of the country on a fine rich soil. The 
plough here is a rude instrument indeed; it is a large piece of wood 
making an angle with another, which being sharpened at the end, and 
frequently tipt with iron, forms the plough-share. It is drawn by two 
oxen or sometimes by one, and sometimes only by an ass. About six 
miles before we reached Zengan , on the left of the road there is a well- 
built village with walls and towers all around, and a small Ark in the 
centre, called Dehsis. The vegetation all over the country is extremely 
rich, and certainly the most luxuriant which we had seen. 
Zengan is a large town, and is the capital of the Mahale of Hamze, 
which contains one hundred villages. The whole district, by the gift 
of the King, is the property and government of Ferrajoula Khan, 
the Nasakchee Bashee. The Mahale pays no revenue, but it furnishes 
the King five thousand horsemen complete, who are paid, fed, and 
