NOTES. 
395 
with the Persian government the cession of Ormuz to him. Tom. v. p. 157. That island 
as well as Gombroon, is now in his possession; though he accounts for the customs to the 
King of Persia. 
Pearls , p. 55.]—A belief in the influence of the rain on the formation of pearls, which 
Niebuhr mentions as prevalent among the Arabs in his own days, (Descr. de l’Arabie) 
and among their ancestors in the time of Benjamin of Tudela, six hundred years ago, may 
be traced up clearly to the time of Pliny, if not much earlier. (Lib. ix. c. xxxv. see 
c. li. and the note from Aristotle.) The Apologue of Sadi is a beautiful illustration 
of the Eastern opinion. Bruce says, “ it is observed that pearls are always the most 
u beautiful in those places of the sea, where a quantity of fresh water falls. Thus in the 
“ Red Sea,” &c. (vol. v. p. 226, app.) and it may be added, though the facts prove little 
without knowing the relative positions, that Bahrein , one of the most fertile pearl banks 
in the world, is likewise celebrated for the most extensive submarine springs of fresh 
water. See on those springs, Ive's’s Voyage. Niebuhr, p. 2S6. See also Teixeira, 
in Mod. Univ. Hist. vi. 80. Hole in his curious illustration of Sindbad, regards these 
springs as the origin of “ the river of fresh water that issued from the sea.” Sixth Voyage. 
Horses, SfC. p. 63.]—The custom of tying horses by the leg in the stable, is traced in 
Persia even to the time of Xenophon. Anab. lib. iii. c. 245. At the introduction of the 
Russian Embassador to Shah Hussein, the horses of the King of Persia were dis¬ 
played in state as the procession passed : “ they were all tied to a rope fixed to the ground 
“ at the extremities by a stake of gold, near which lay a mallet of the same metal for 
« driving it. According to the custom of Persia the hind feet also were fastened to a rope, 
« t© prevent kicking.” Bell, vol. i. p. 100. 
Plants, p. 77.]—The wandering tribes have in every age constituted a consider¬ 
able portion of the population of the Persian and Turkish Empires. In Asia 
Minor they are called Turcomans; in Assyria and Armenia, Curds; in Irak and Fars, 
Elauts; the Vloches of Herbert, p. 129, (by some considered the Eluths or Oigurs.) 
Their general character is the same; and they have continued to follow the same heredi¬ 
tary occupations with unbroken regularity. Ebn IIaukal estimates the numbers included 
in their zems or tribes in Fars alone at five hundred thousand families, p. 83. 
Lion on the tomb , at Derees, p. 85 ; see also, p. 94, &c.]—On the meaning of such an em¬ 
blem, see Niebuhr’s Doubt in his chapter on Shiraz , tom. ii. 
Bazar-a- Vakeel, p. 100.]— Scott Waring reckons the length of this great wmrk of 
Kerim Khan, at half a mile! Franklin, at a quarter of a mile, p. 58 $ and a later 
authority at between seven and eight hundred yards. 
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