226 
ANECDOTE OF AN ENGLISH SERJEANT. 
residence. The keys of the gates are kept with the Governor of the city, 
and a camp was formed without the town. One of our serjeants going 
to the camp, having arrived too late at the gate, went to the Governor’s 
house to seek the key. He enquired for the Governor, and was 
informed that he was within ; he proceeded, and unknowingly found 
himself on a,sudden in the harem, in the midst of many women, who 
shrieked out when they saw him, and sought to hide themselves. 
He there felt himself assailed by numerous weapons, that were direct¬ 
ed at him by a man, as well as by the women ; and finding himself 
closely pressed, he aimed a blow at the former, which alighted upon 
his mouth. The sufferer proved to be the Governor in person, and 
who, in this attack, asserted that he had lost two teeth. Remon¬ 
strances were instantly made to the Ambassador for this intrusion of 
one of his countrymen into a spot so sacred to a Persian, but the 
whole business was very good-naturedly forgiven, as soon as an ex¬ 
planation had been made that the serjeant had erred through ignorance 
alone. 
No public buildings of any note, at present exist at Tabriz, and few 
are the remains of those described by former travellers. Indications 
of the great maidan are still to be observed, and the bazar Kaiserieh is 
still known, but a wooden roof has been substituted for its former 
arched one. The Ark All Shah (the citadel of Ali Shah) is the most 
interesting structure at present in Tabriz; principally, because it con¬ 
tains a proof of what the labour and ingenuity of a few Englishmen will 
accomplish under all the disadvantages of a bad administration and a 
want of resources. This building comprehends within its limits the 
remains of a mosque, (a mass of brick work, as fine, perhaps, as any in 
the world,) about eighty feet in height; at the top of which three 
small chambers have been constructed, whence the town and the sur¬ 
rounding country are seen as if laid out on a chart. The Prince had 
intended to make the ark his own place of residence, but he subse¬ 
quently preferred converting it into an arsenal, where we were delighted 
to find many of our European trades in full activity. In the first yard, 
we saw a range of guns and all the accompaniments of artillery. A nu- 
