NOTES. 
Chatters, p. 37. —The Shotters of Fryer; the Shatirs ofHANWAY. Chardin gives a 
long and curious account of a display, which he calls u la fete du Chater, ou valet du pied 
“ au Roi.” Voyages, tom. ii. 46, edit. 1711. The King’s Chaters dressed richly but differ¬ 
ently, (car en Perse on ne sait ce que c’est de Livree,) were the masters of the feast. 
Those who are superior in their profession can dance well; an occupation indeed which, in 
the East, is considered so little suitable to persons of a higher rank and character, that a 
Persian who was in Paris in the minority of Louis XIV. and saw the young King dancing, 
exclaimed, u c’est un excellent Chater .” The prize of the exploit recorded by Chardin, 
was the honour of being admitted the chief of the Chaters of the royal household ; and the 
effort was, between the rising and the setting of the sun, to take up twelve arrows 
singly from a tower at the distance of a league and a half (French), and return with each to 
the place of starting: in this manner the Chater run thirty-six leagues in fourteen hours. 
Nevertheless, says Chardin, this was not equal to a feat still remembered, in which the 
twelve arrows were taken up in twelve hours. Tavernier was present at the greater 
performance to which Chardin alludes. See his voyages, tom. i. p. 438-40. 
Geography of Persia, p. 48.—Olivier (tom. v. c. vii.) describes Persia as a great 
table-land, supported on every side by high mountains. The space thus enclosed is a 
depressed level, as the courses of the rivers prove; which, according to a former remark of 
of D’Anville, never penetrate through the mountains to the sea, but stagnate or evaporate 
in deserts of sand. (Vincent’s Nearchus.) Still its absolute elevation is very great; 
at Shiraz, in 29° 36', there is much snow in January and February, though it is half a 
degree more to the south than Cairo ; and Ispahan is too cold for the orange tree, though 
it grows well at Mpssul, four degrees more to the north, and twice as far from the sea: 
and in Mazandcran, which is in a much higher latitude, but on a level considerably below 
the table land of Persia, the sugar cane, which will not grow at Shiraz, comes to maturity 
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