500 
RETURN TO TABREEZ. 
As we gained upon the valley of Tabreez, the high mountains 
on the Shahy isle lost their pre-eminence ; and every step we 
advanced, bringing us into a more sheltered region, also carried 
us from the tracking snow; in five hours’ march it disappeared 
entirely, and then we had reached Sardary, a large village about 
two farsangs from the capital of Azerbijan. It is situated between 
a couple of projecting hills, on one of which stands its fortress, 
or, I should rather say, the remains of a place of strength, whose 
appearance conveys a much older date than the little town at its 
base. After crossing its most eastern hill, we came down into 
the immediate vicinity of Tabreez, the sight of whose friendly 
walls gave me a sensation of home. The distance is eight hours, 
or farsangs, (about thirty miles,) from Deygurgan, and I reached 
the city at three o’clock. Greeted at the British quarters by all 
the smiling faces I had left there, I found English hearts and 
English fare ; and gladly sitting down amongst them, only re¬ 
membered the perils lately passed, in the pleasure of recounting 
them to kindly spirits interested in what I had seen, and re¬ 
joicing I was there to tell it. 
January, 1819. —His royal highness the prince governor was 
absent at the time of my return, on his usual winter visit to Koiy; 
the capital of his fine district of that name, and which he is 
erecting into one of the most flourishing places in the kingdom. 
It stands about seventy miles north-west of Tabreez, near the 
river Atour. The city is of considerable antiquity, which the 
many very old structures amidst its new and elegant erections 
in some degree testify. The walls have been recently rebuilt in 
the best style, and are additionally strengthened as a defence by 
a deep and wide ditch. The streets are spacious, and shaded 
with avenues of well-grown trees, a grateful circumstance in 
