68(5 P E R 
a tenacious memory, great prefence of mind, and quick 
decifion. So devoid of education as fcarcely to be able 
to read, he yet acquired a thorough knowledge of bufi- 
nefs, and was acquainted with every particular of the re¬ 
venue. He was fimple in his diet, plain in his drefs, ex¬ 
cept with refpeft to jewels, in which he took pride, and 
never was there a greater collector of them. He was at¬ 
tached to women, but an enemy to unnatural indulgen- 
cies; cruel, infolent, and rapacious. The variety of re¬ 
ligious feels among his fubjefts made him indifferent to 
all. He heard their fyftems, and treated them with con¬ 
tempt; and it is faid that he declared his intentions of 
giving to the world a better faith than any of them. He 
was cut off at the age of fixty-one, after a reign of eleven 
years and three months, anno 1749. 
No fooner was Nadir’s death known, than the Turco¬ 
mans flew to arms, and rufhed on the Perfians, who va¬ 
liantly defended themfelves. Five thoufand men fell in 
the llruggle. The army difperfed. and fpread themfelves 
over the provinces, carrying with them the feeds of that 
tumult, confufion, and anarchy, which defolated that ill- 
fated kingdom, and rendered it a feene of the mod horri¬ 
ble confufion for upwards of forty years. 
The reader may form fome notion of the troubles of 
this unhappy country from the following feries of preten¬ 
ders to the throne between the death of Nadir and the 
acceffion of Kerim Khan. We give it from Francklin’s 
Obfervations. id, Adel Shah. 2d, Ibrahim Shah. 3d, 
Shahrokh Shah. 4th, Suleyman Shah. 5th, Ifmael Shah. 
6th, Azad Khan Afghan. 7th, Haffan Khan Cadjar. 
8th, Ali Merdan Khan Bukhteari. 9th, Kerim Khan 
Zu nd. 
Their reigns, or more properly the length of time they 
refpedtively governed with their party, were as follows j 
Adel Shah, nine months.—Ibrahim Shah, Nadir’s brother, 
fix months.—Shahrokh Shah, thegrandfon of Nadir, who 
had been deprived of fight like his father, was, during 
Kme years, differed tofupport a petty court by the reve¬ 
nues of the city of Meflied and its immediate environs. 
But the companion infpired by his misfortunes could not 
fave him from a danger which continually menaced his 
precarious exidence: he had the misfortune to poflefs, 
and he was unable to relinquifh, fome of the mod valua¬ 
ble jewels which Nadir acquired in the plunder of Delhi; 
and the means adopted to force them from him, by the 
chief who ultimately iucceeded to the fortunes of Nadir, 
terminated in his death in the year 1796, when he was 
about 90 years of age.—Suleyman Shah, and Ifmael Shah, 
in about forty days were both cut off, almod as foon as 
they were elevated.—Azad Khan Afghan, one of Kerim’s 
formidable rivals and competitors, was fubdued by him, 
brought prifoner to Shiraz, and died there a natural death. 
—But the mod formidable competitor for the fupreme 
power was Mohammed Haffan Khan, whofe grandfon is 
the prefent reigning king of Perfia. We mud therefore 
devote a few lines to the origin of this family and tribe. 
During the reign of Shah Abbas I. confiderable affembla- 
ges of Turkifh families, collecting on the northern fron¬ 
tier of Perfia, placed themfelves under the protection of 
that monarch, and entered into his armies. Abbas re¬ 
ceived them cordially; but, apprehenfive led they might 
in procefs of time become too powerful, he difper/ed them 
throughout his empire. Part of them repaired to Ma- 
zanderan, where they had to make head againd the Uf- 
beks and Turcomans ; while others defended the provin¬ 
ces of the Perfian Gulf againd the attacks of the Arabs. 
The Perfians witnefl'ed with mortification the reception 
given by the king to thefe new-comers, whom they con- 
temptuoufly denominated cadjars, or “ run-aways,” an 
appellation which they dill retain. In a ftiort time, how¬ 
ever, the horde of Mazanderan acquired great reputa¬ 
tion for valour; it frequently fignalized itfelf during the 
reigns of Huffeyn and Thamas, and even formed part of 
the body-guard of the latter of thofe princes. The Cad- 
jars were then commanded by Fetli Ali Khan, father of 
S I A. 
Mohammed. He obtained, in 1723, the government of 
Mazanderan, and was ordered to drive the Afghans 
from Teheran ; but, being defeated by them, he retired 
to Aderabad. After the expulfion of the Afghans by 
Nadir Shah, Manzanderan was in a date of rebellion. 
Ibrahim, Nadir’s brother, reduced it, took Feth Aii 
Khan, and put him to death. He is confidered as the 
fird chieftain who rendered his tribe renowned, and bore 
the title of Prince. Some time after this event, his foil 
was taken into favour by Nadir, who appointed him go¬ 
vernor of Aderabad, a city on the Calpian Sea. This 
was the celebrated Mohammed Haffan Khan, who was 
highly renowned at the time for his wars with Kerini 
Khan. In 1743 he commanded a corps of troops at the 
liege of Moufful. After the death of Adel, the fucced'or 
of Nadir, and his brother Ibrahim, Mohammed marched 
from Atterabad againd the governor of Mazanderan, 
whom he defeated and took prifoner; routed the Afghans, 
and in a diort time found his ranks fwelled with innume¬ 
rable Turcomans and Ufbeks, whom fuccefs drew to his 
Itandard. In 1752, he was mader not only of Mazande¬ 
ran, but alfo of Taberidan and Ghilan. The fame year 
he defeated Kerim Khan, and edabliffied his authority 
over the provinces contiguous to the Cafpian Sea. A 
fecond victory, in 1756, put him in pofleffion of Ifpahan, 
where he found young Ifmael, of the family of the Sofis, 
who had been inveded with the title of Shah, and de¬ 
clared himfelf his proteftor. From that period it was 
apparently not felf-intered by which he was actuated : he 
was induenced by a nobler fentiment, which prompted 
him to redore the crown to the family of the Sofis. 
About this time, Ared, juft mentioned, who had made 
himfelf mader of feveral towns of Irak, retired to Geor¬ 
gia, and his flight put Mohammed Khan in poffeflion of 
Aderbijan and Irak Ajemi. The Cadjar prince even 
found himfelf flrong enough to march againd Shiraz, the 
feat of Kerim Khan’s power. His army amounted to 
80,000 men, though he had left 10,000 at Ifpahan, and 
10,000 more were didributed in the provinces. Never 
fince Nadir’s time had any chieftain been able to collect 
fo formidable a force ; but Mohammed Khan’s fuccedes 
had at length fo inflated him with pride as to render him 
intolerably arrogant. He was detefled by the officers; 
and the people, bowed down by his tyrannical yoke, and 
daily fubjeCted to freffi oppreffions, loaded him with exe¬ 
crations. Kerim Khan availed himfelf of this difpofition 
to bribe his troops to defert. In a ffiort time Mohammed 
had about him but a handful of Cadjars, with whom he 
fled with the utmofl precipitation to Aderabad. This 
happened in 1758. In confequence of this reverfe, Mo¬ 
hammed lod Ifpahan and all the towns of Irak and Ader¬ 
bijan, fo that his poffeffions were reduced to the Angle 
province of Mazanderan, which is naturally defended by 
lofty mountains, and by defiles, where a fraall number of 
men may keep in check a whole army. Treachery 
fmoothed thefe obflacles to Kerim’s general. Sheik Ali, 
a brave man and able negociator, contrived, by means of 
promifes, money, and dignities, to bribe the officer to 
whom Mohammed had committed the defence of the 
paffes. Mohammed, furprifed in the very heart of his 
country, redded in vain: all he could do, was to main¬ 
tain the military reputation which he had acquired by fel¬ 
ling his life at a dear rate; he was neverthelefs defeated 
and dain, and his head was carried to Kerim. How his 
grandfon came to attain the regal dignity will be ffiown 
in the fequel.—In the mean time, of the eighth and lad 
pretender who intervened between NadirShah and Kerim 
Khan, we have little more than the name to mention. 
Ali Merdan Khan was killed by a mufleet-fliot as he was 
walking on the ramparts of Melhed encouraging his men. 
At length, after fix years of anarchy and civil war, the 
domination of Perfia fell to a chief whofe birth and cha¬ 
racter feemed the lead likely to fucceed in the middof po¬ 
litical convulfions. Kerim Khan was of the Perfian 
tribe of Zund. “ This chief was not of high birth, and 
1 ’ had 
