82 
GOVERNOR Of MERDASHt. 
found the Governor of Merdasht, by name Mirza Mahomed Ali, seated 
on a small carpet by the way-side, near to the door of my habitation, 
attended by his servants, who were standing before him. He had come 
from Rish mey joon, the village of his residence, to pay me a visit, and 
had already waited three hours for me. I seated myself on the same 
carpet, made many apologies for not having been ready to receive 
him, and pleaded my ignorance of the honour that awaited me. He 
also apologised for not having called before, but excused himself 
by saying that he was under a course of spring medicines, such as 
dough, butter milk, goat’s milk, and a number of catharticks which he 
enumerated with a most scrupulous precision. Suffering with the 
pain of my wounded leg, I gave him a hint that I should be glad if 
he would take his departure, for he had undertaken the recital of the 
wars of Aga Mahomed Khan, which were running to a great length. 
On going away he mentioned to my Mehmandar, that it should 
seem I took liim for some Ket Khoda of a village, dismissing him 
so soon, but he begged to say that he was a man of consequence, 
of excellent family, and connected with the present Vizier of Shiraz. 
I returned his visit as soon as I was able, for the Persians are very 
tenacious of this etiquette, and found him residing in a half-ruined 
village, which, however, was called the most flourishing of the district. 
His house, of course, was the best in the village. He made his excuses 
that he had only country fare to offer, which consisted of coarse sweet¬ 
meats and sour sherbet. He informed me that the district of Merdasht, 
over which he commanded, contained seventeen villages ; a melancholy 
fact, when we recollect that Le Bruyn says, the inhabitants in his day 
related that it contained eight hundred and eighty. He also said, that 
the said seventeen villages paid 40,000 tomauns, or 30,000/. sterling, 
to the Government, a still more melancholy fact if it had been true, 
considering that such a revenue must have been extracted by torture 
from its unhappy peasantry. But from the view I had taken of 
Merdasht, this account of its revenue was most exaggerated, and only 
given to raise the consequence of the Governor in my estimation. 
The soil of this plain is in general less stony than that of Shiraz, and is 
