154 
SYSTEM OF CULTIVATION. 
spot that we inhabited, we found that a small dew fell every night, a 
fact which may be-explained by our being surrounded by trees and 
cultivated grounds, which naturally attract any floating vapour. We 
remarked that a thick vapour covered the plain and the city upon 
which it stood, about sunrise, and was dissipated as the sun acquired 
strength. For this reason, all the views about Ispahan are much finer 
in the evening than in the morning. 
About the 23d of August, the peasants began to plough the ground 
in the vicinity of Ispahan. An old ploughman who was at w'ork near 
the village of Sheheristan, informed us that the field which he was 
ploughing belonged to the Government, but that he had rented it from 
the Ameen-ad-Dowlah upon the following terms. He provided his own 
oxen and plough, and the Ameen-ad-Dowlah the corn-seed and the 
ground. At the harvest, Ameen-ad-Dowlah got three-fourths of the 
produce, and he the remaining fourth. We afterwards learnt that 
the whole of the land about Ispahan was farmed in the same manner, 
and that its irrigation, which was made by cuts from the Zaian derood, 
was at the expense of the Ameen-ad-Dowlah. The manure which is 
used for corn-fields, is generally the produce of a flock of sheep and 
goats, a small sum being paid to the shepherd, who keeps them upon 
the appointed ground, for whatever length of time may have been the 
agreement. 
Owing to the great scarcity of fire-wood, an evil felt throughout the 
greatest part of Persia, fuel is extremely dear at Ispahan, in conse¬ 
quence of which the poor burn the dung of cows, asses, and horses. 
In our morning rides, we generally met caravans of mules and asses 
loaded with this commodity, a mule-load of which is sold for about 
half a real, or one shilling sterling. A maun of fire-wood% which is 
lage terrestre, malgre toutes les recherches gue nous avons faites a ce sujet. Vol. iii. p. 2t8. 
We however found the shell of a small snail, late in August, in the garden of Saadetabad, 
in which our tents were pitched; and in September we saw several live snails crawling 
about on the bank of a water-course. 
* Fruit, charcoal, barley, wood, and the produce of the fields, are sold by the Rey-raaun, 
which is thirty pounds weight. 
