TABRIZ. 
225 
used frequently to sit with him and revile him for undertaking such a 
work. On reading the passage where our Saviour is called the “ Lamb 
of Godf they scorned and ridiculed the simile, as if exulting in the supe¬ 
rior designation of Ali, who is called Sheer Khoda, the Lion of God. Mirza 
Baba observed to them, “ The lion is an unclean beast, he preys upon 
“ carcases, and you are not allowed to wear his skin, because it is impure j 
“ he is destructive, fierce, and man’s enemy. The lamb, on the contrary* 
“ is in every way halal, or lawful. You eat its flesh, you wear its skin 
“ on your head, it does no harm, and is an animal beloved. Whether 
“ is it best then to say the Lamb of God, or the Lion of God ?” 
AVhen Chardin wrote, Tabriz ranked as the second city in Persia. 
It had, by his account, fifteen thousand houses, fifteen thousand shops, 
three hundred caravanserais, two hundred and fifty mosques, magnificent 
domed bazars, and contained five hundred and fifty thousand inhabit¬ 
ants.* At present, if we allow it to be even one-tenth of that magni¬ 
tude, we shall probably make an exaggerated estimation. The modern 
town is situated nearly in the centre of the site of the former one; for 
on all sides of it, to a considerable distance, are to be seen the ruins of 
houses, streets, &c., which afford a tolerable idea of the extent of that 
city which Chardin described. In his view of it, the Mesjid Ali is 
placed almost in the middle of the city: what remains of that build¬ 
ing now forms a part of the fortification. Tabriz at this day is 3i 
miles in circumference; it is surrounded by walls built of sun-burnt 
bricks, and by towers of kiln-burnt bricks, placed at irregular distances 
from each other. An attempt has been made to give the shape of 
bastions to several of the towers, but no guns are mounted upon them, 
and if they were, they could be of little use, as the irregularity of the 
walls baffle all the rules of science. There are seven gates, at each of 
which guards are stationed, and they are closed an hour or two after 
sunset, and opened in the morning before sunrise: but such regula¬ 
tions are not enforced with the strictness of the military discipline of 
Europe; as was proved by a circumstance which occurred during our 
* This would be above thirty-six in a house, a proportion which makes the calculation 
very doubtful. 
G G 
