CASVIN. 
203 
Nakee Mirza, one of the King’s sons, and Governor of the town, who 
led with him a horse, ornamented with a gold bridle and a Persian 
saddle, which he presented to the Ambassador, on the part of his 
master. It has been mentioned on a former occasion*, that a bridle of 
gold, which means that the head-stall was covered with plates of gold, 
was always a mark of distinction in Persia, and such as Astyages gave 
to Cyrus, f 
Casvin is a larger town in circumference than Teheran, though not 
so populous. The Vizier of the Prince, Seid Ali Khan by name, who 
appeared to us to possess more statistical knowledge than Persians in 
general, assured us, that he had measured the circumference of this 
city, and had found it 2000 gez (or yards) larger than the capital; 
that it contains 25,000 male inhabitants, females and children not being 
counted; and that its manufactures were velvets, brocades, and kerbas, 
a coarse cotton cloth. 
The city is environed by vineyards and orchards to a considerable 
extent, the former of which yield a grape celebrated throughout Persia 
for the good wine it produces. The vine-dressers water their vines 
once in the year, which is twenty days after the festival of the No 
Rooz, about the 10th of April; and the Vizier told us, that the soil, 
which is clayey, is so good, that the moisture.it then imbibes suf¬ 
fices until the next irrigation. Water is a very scarce commodity at 
Casvin, and this is confirmed by the great numbers of kanauts which 
are to be seen throughout its plain, and which conduct streams from 
very great distances. 
The Ambassador visited the Prince in a palace built by the Seffies, 
who once held their court in this city. The entrance to it is by an 
Allah Capi, an immense high gate covered with a cupola, which Della 
Valle, who saw it in its splendour, describes in these words: Non e 
depinta ne ornata di oro come quello di Sphahan, ma e grande^ con pro- 
speiiva di pin maesta, e dentro ha bellow alto^ e grande atrio per gli 
* See Chap. vi. p. 93. 
D D 2 
t Cyroposdia, lib. i. 
