SHAH SEVUND. 
435 
On ascending the second flight of stairs, we found ourselves 
in a range of small rooms, so numerous, that they appeared 
endless. The walls of many were spotted all over from top to 
bottom with the little recesses I have described before, in the 
shapes of bottles, flagons, goblets, &c.; and the whole suite 
exhibited, besides these receptacles for immediate refreshment, 
a thousand notices that these chambers were the retiring-places 
of the king, and his knight companions , for the most unreserved 
recreation of themselves after the fatigues of the lists below. 
We know, from historical testimony, as well as oral information, 
that the great Abbas had a set of nobles about him, bearing a 
similar title to the above. When he first mounted the throne, 
he found his regal authority continually thwarted by the 
aristocratic pride of a high order of chiefs, who called themselves 
heads of the Kuzal Basin, or Golden Tribes; and, to counter¬ 
poise their weight in the state and the royal armies, he formed 
a band or tribe, which he named Shah Sevund , or the Kings 
Friends ; and invited brave men of all other tribes, to enrol 
themselves under that banner, as his especial body-guard, 
counsellors, and board-companions. Above ten thousand of 
the noblest names in Persia, were stampt with avidity on this 
chivalric roll; the heroes it registered, honoured their title 
during the monarch’s life and their own ; and, when he and they 
were dead, still the distinction of Shah Sevund descended to their 
children ; and the pledged band continued for ever attached to 
the Sefi dynasty. 
The walls, the ceilings, of the little chambers of repose 1 
have just mentioned, (and which, doubtless, had been occasionally 
inhabited by some of the worthies of the Shah Sevund , from the 
age of Shah Abbas, to that of Shah Houssein, when the race of 
3 k 2 
