POWDER MILL. 
231 
and ochreous appearance. These mountains rise immediately behind 
Tabriz, and recede into a deep vale, which being watered by a plentiful 
stream, is perhaps more highly cultivated than any tract of its size in 
Persia. Following the river in its course through this vale, beautiful 
and picturesque scenery is seen on every side. A ruined bridge, a 
water-mill embosomed in a grove of trees, green lanes leading to a 
village, and other rural objects, gave a great relief to the eye, after the 
almost universal dreariness of Persian landscape. 
On entering the valley from Tabriz to the left hand, close at the foot 
of the red mountains, are the remains of a fort, called the Caleb 
Resheedieh, which even in Chardin’s time was a ruin. The trouble 
required to scramble to the summit of the old towers is ill repaid, for 
they command no extensive view; but an idea may be formed, in 
walking over the ruins, of the style of building in the 12th century, 
which for solidity and strength surpasses all similar structures of the 
present day. 
To the south-east, at the foot of a sloping hill, is a powder mill, 
worked by water, erected entirely by a Persian, who acquired his 
knowledge (according to his own account) by a casual inspection of a 
similar building at Constantinople. This mill is by far the best modern 
structure at Tabriz, being composed of brick, stone, and marble, and 
has cost the Prince a vast sum of money. The first object, however, 
that presents itself on entering the mill is an iron door, which, in a 
place so liable to accident, is most evidently misplaced ; but the archi¬ 
tect feels a confidence that no danger can arise from it, because when 
the wheel of the mill sets the works in motion, the door is then kept 
constantly wet. We remarked to the architect, that in Europe, owing 
to the frequent explosion of powder mills, they were now constructed 
of cheap and slight materials. Being a good predestinarian, he exclaimed, 
“ Inshallah, Please God, this will never blow up. See that of Constan- 
“ tinople, how long that has stood: surely this can last as long.” A mud 
wall, flanked by round towers, closed by gates, encloses this building; 
but adjacent to it, and still within the enclosure, it is intended, in order 
t 0 take advantage of the water, to erect a corn mill. 
