ARDEBIL. 
253 
On the 19th we pitched at Ardebil, which is now a small town, 4500 
yards in circumference, a size considerably diminished since the de¬ 
scription which Olearius has given of it; at present it contains 700 
houses, and about 4000 inhabitants. It is of an irregular shape, having 
at its southern extremity a square fort, with four bastions, built according 
to European rule, and attributed to the French engineers of General 
Gardanne’s embassy. Its materials are of kah-gil or sun-burnt bricks ; 
but the Persians have their characteristic breastwork all around, with 
loop-holes for the musketry. Ancient tomb-stones, composed of ob¬ 
long blocks of stone, have been used in the foundation, many of which 
have been inserted with their inscriptions outermost. 
The town is surrounded by walls, fortified by thirty-one towers, 
placed at irregular intervals, and has five gates, besides the one 
leading into the square fort. A small river flows close to the walls, 
in which we caught dace and gudgeon, the common fish of most of the 
rivers in Persia. It is called the Balouk chai, or the Ashy river, rises 
in Savalan, and joins the Kara-sou, which again rises from springs in the 
plain of Ardebil, and falls into the Araxes near Aslandous. We were 
very civilly treated by Fatteh Ali Khan, the Governor, who among other 
presents sent the Ambassador a fresh salmon, just received from the 
Caspian Sea, bordering upon Talish. In a strait line, the shore of the 
Caspian is reckoned about thirty miles from Ardebil. 
The principal object of curiosity at Ardebil is the mausoleum of 
SheikF Seffi, founder of the Seffevian family, which gave so many cele¬ 
brated kings to the throne of Persia. Pie lived at Ardebil when Tamerlane 
conquered Bajazet L, and was so celebrated for his sanctity, that that 
great conqueror held him in high esteem, and out of regard to him re¬ 
leased the prisoners he had made in Asia Minor, whom he had reserved 
to kill on some'extraordinary occasion. 
The first approach to the tomb is by the gate at the N. W. angle of 
the town, which leads into a street, composed of a brick wall on the left 
side, and of the habitations of the priests attached to the foundation, 
on the right. We then passed through a smaller gateway, faced with 
