TEHERAN. 
307 
a country of warriors, who are reported to have carried a charmed 
life, lying immediately north of these hills, their passes became the 
scenes of more than mortal combats, between the simply brave 
heroes of Persia and these magician chieftains: they are also 
noted for having been the place of refuge of the illustrious Prince 
Zal, who, having been exposed, when an infant, to perish in these 
wilds, was nurtured by a simorgh or griffin ; and afterwards 
marrying a great king’s daughter, became the father of the yet 
more renowned Rustum, the champion of Persia. 
In the midst of regions so memorable in tradition, Teheran 
continued long an obscure spot; but the wheel of fortune turned, 
and it started at once into the first consequence, under the auspices 
of Aga Mahomed Khan, uncle to the present Shah, and who was the 
first Persian sovereign that made Teheran a royal residence. Its 
vicinity to that monarch’s paternal country of Astarabad, which 
has been styled the Garden of the East, and is entirely inhabited 
by the Cadjar people, the royal tribe of the king, was one cause 
of the distinction bestowed on this once humble village. It like- 
O 
wise lies in a central situation, between the provinces to the 
north-west, which border on Georgia, and those to the east, 
which are subject to incursions from the Turcomans, and their 
restless allies of Afghanistan. Indeed, for a position of general 
surveillance, the Persian monarch could hardly have chosen a 
better situation, than that of Teheran; though a pleasanter one 
might have been presented, by almost any one of the former ca¬ 
pitals of the empire. The numerous spring torrents, which pour 
from the adjacent heights, at the beginning of the warm wea¬ 
ther, saturate the low ground about the town, sink into its 
vaults, and send up such vapours and dampness, as to render it 
very unhealthy during that season of the year. The unpleasant- 
EE 2 
