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Discovering Diverse Content Through
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been so disheartened by their disaster, that when, a few days
afterwards, a single Arab ship (commanded indeed by an
Englishman) fell among them, and, finding herself unable either to
fight or to escape, bore down upon them to try a shew of resistance,
they all fled. At length on the 26th Nov. the Minerva, H. C. cruizer,
Captain Hopgood, arrived, and brought the Persian Secretary, who
had been captured in the Sylph. The Secretary was much connected
at Bushire, and his detention had of course excited great uneasiness
among his relations, who had been putting up prayers in the
mosques for his safety. His account of their fate was not
uninteresting.
At the time when the pirates were standing the same course with
herself, the Sylph discovered the Nereide bearing down upon her.
When the Nereide came close, she hove-to; but as the commander
of the Sylph did not send a boat on board of her, she filled her sails
and stood on. When the Nereide had already passed at some
distance, the two dows stood towards the Sylph. The Persian
Secretary advised the officer of the ship not to permit the dows to
approach; but he would not listen to the suggestion, as he declared
they would not touch him. The dows, however, did approach so
close, that the Sylph had only time to fire one gun, and to discharge
her musquetry at them, before they were alongside, and poured on
board her in great and overwhelming numbers. It is unnecessary to
state all the circumstances. The Persian Secretary from the
concealment to which he had fled, was still able to ascertain that, as
the first act of possession, the Arabs threw water on the ship to
purify it; that they then proceeded to the deliberate murder of the
men, who were on deck or discoverable; that they brought them one
by one to the gangway, and in the spirit of barbarous fanaticism cut
their throats as sacrifices; crying out before the slaughter of each
victim, “Ackbar” and when the deed was done, “Allah il Allah.” In the
space of an hour they had thus put to death twenty-two persons;
and were proceeding with lights to look for more, when they were
astonished by a shot through the Sylph from the Nereide. On
perceiving the disaster of the Sylph, Captain Corbett had immediately
hauled-up; and though far to the windward his shot still reached.
The Arabs immediately took to their dows; and, elated by the havock
of their success, made for the Nereide. As soon as Captain Corbett
perceived that they were bearing down upon him, he ceased firing
altogether. The Persian Secretary told us, that he saw the dows
approach so close to the frigate, that the Arabs were enabled to
commence the attack in their usual manner by throwing stones. Still
the Nereide did not fire; till at length when both dows were fairly
alongside, she opened two tremendous broadsides. The Secretary
said he saw one dow disappear totally, and immediately; and the
other almost as instantaneously: they went down with the crews
crying, “Allah, Allah, Allah.” Nine men only escaped, who had
previously made off in a boat. The Sylph was taken to Muscat,
where the Persian Secretary was put on board the Minerva.23
We had thus recovered the Persian Secretary; but the mission soon
suffered the less reparable loss of one of its own members. On the
19th November, the Benares H. C. cruizer (which brought our tents,
some of the body guards, presents, &c. from Bussora) landed at
Bushire Mr. Coare, the Persian and Latin Translator. He had carried
with him from Bussora a fever, which was gradually wasting him
away; and after lingering out his few remaining days apparently
without pain, he died on the last day of the month. He was a young
man of whom all spoke well; his talents were promising; and his
prospects in the world were fine. He was laid in the Armenian
burying-ground, without a coffin; because plank is so dear and
scarce at Bushire, that his remains would have been disturbed for
the sake of the wood which had enclosed them. His corpse was
escorted to the grave by the body guard and the seapoy guard, and
followed by the Envoy and the gentlemen of the mission. I read the
funeral service over him, amid a crowd of Persians and Arabs, who
were collected to see the ceremony; and who seemed to partake the
interest of the scene. Nothing excites a better impression of our
character than an appearance of devotion and religious observance.
If, therefore, there were no higher obligation on every christian,
religious observances are indispensable in producing a national
influence. We never omitted to perform divine service on Sundays;
suffered no one to intrude upon us during our devotions; and used
every means in our power to impress the natives with a proper idea
of the sanctity of our Sabbath.
 CHAP. IV.
RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSHIRE.
I. PERSIA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENTS—FARSISTAN—MEKRAN—
BALOUCHES—COAST OF THE GULPH—ISLANDS OF THE GULPH—PEARL FISHERY.—II.
BUSHIRE: SITUATION—DESCRIPTION—TRADE—VIEW—RUINS OF RESHIRE—HALILA—
BUSHIRE ROADS—WATER—WEATHER—HEALTHINESS—WOMEN OF BUSHIRE—
SUPERSTITIONS.—III. ANIMALS OF THE DASHTISTAN: HORSES—DOG—WHITE FOX—
WILD BEASTS—HAWKS—THE JERBOA.

I. In historical interest, Persia is perhaps superior to any Asiatic

empire, because more nearly connected with the fortunes of Europe;
and its natural situation shares the importance; for its boundaries
(defined and fortified by lofty ranges, which are pervious only
through passes of very difficult access,) are prominent and decided
objects in the general geography of Asia. We had hitherto seen only
the southern chain: nothing can be more strongly marked than the
abrupt and forbidding surface of those mountains, which bind the
shore from Cape Jasques to the deepest recesses of the gulph. The
little plain of the Dashtistan, (that of Bushire) which seems to have
encroached upon the sea, is yet the most extensive portion of even
land, which relieves however momentarily the constant and chilling
succession of high and dreary lands along the coast. But beyond
these mountains are frequently extensive plains, confined by a
second range, which likewise run parallel to the coast. This is the
case behind Congoon: and in the route to Shiraz we found several
successive plains, (of great absolute elevation indeed, but) thus
separated from each other by alternate ranges of higher land. The
plain of Merdasht, beyond Shiraz, is the Hollow Persis of ancient
geography. These great inequalities of surface naturally produce a
corresponding variety of climates.
The administration of the provinces of Persia is now committed to
the Princes. The jurisdiction of Prince Hossein Ali Mirza, one of the
King’s Sons, is very extensive: it comprises, under the general name
of Farsistan, not only the original province of which Shiraz was the
capital (as subsequently it became that of all Persia, and as it still is
of the governments combined under the Prince) but Laristan also, to
the south; and Bebehan to the north-west; which severally, as well
as Farsistan, possessed before their particular Beglerbegs.
Of Farsistan, under this its present more extensive signification, the
hot and desert country is called the Germesir, a generic term for a
warm region, which will be recognised under the ancient
appellations of Germania, Kermania, or Carmania. The termination of
the Persian dominion in this direction, is an undefined tract between
the Germesir and the Mekran. It was the ancient boast of Persia,
that its boundaries were not a petty stream or an imaginary line, but
ranges of impervious mountains or deserts as impervious. In this
quarter there is little probability that the country will ever become
less valuable as a frontier, by becoming more cultivated and better
inhabited. The land is put to so little use, that no power would
greatly care to press the extension of an authority so unprofitable.
Every age has marked the unalterable barbarism of the soil and of
the people. The Balouchistan, or the country of the Balouches, the
most desert region of the coast begins about Minou, on the west of
Cape Jasques. Their country is perhaps nearly the Mekran of
geography. They once owned subjection to Persia, but they have
now resumed the independance of Arabs, and live in wandering
communities under the government of their own Sheiks, of whom
two are pre-eminent. They have indeed still some little commercial
connexion with Persia, and occasionally a Balouche is to be seen in
Bushire selling his scanty wares, mostly the mats of their own
manufacture. One of their Sheiks lives at Guadel on the coast of
Mekran; but in the interior, according to the account given by a
Balouche to Captain Salter, there is a very potent king, though I
cannot add from the same authority, whether he is of their own
extraction. They live in continual wars with each other; or let
themselves out to the different small powers in the gulph as soldiers.
Many of the guards of the Sheik of Bushire are Balouches; and the
Seapoys also on board the Arab ships are of the same tribes.
In religion they are Mahomedans; and like all those of India, are
Sunnis: but they have few means of preserving the genuineness of
any profession of faith; and their ignorance has already confounded
their tenets with those of a very different original. The same
common barbarism has indeed blended the Affghan, the Seik, and
the Balouche into one class: there may be among them some beard
or whisker more or less, some animal or food which they hold
unclean above all others, some indescribable difference of opinion
which severs them from their neighbours, but in savageness they
are all identified. Those on the coast still live almost exclusively on
fish, as in the days of Nearchus; though I am told they no longer
build their houses with the bones. The grampus (possibly, the whale
of Arrian) is still numerous on the shores. The Envoy remembered to
have seen at Bushire on a former occasion, a dog of an immense
size, which a Balouche had given to Mr. Galley, the Resident at that
time: the man added, that the mountains towards his country were
all very high. His dog seemed to confirm the assertion, for he was
defended against the cold of his native region, by a coat of thick and
tufted hair.
Though the Balouches scarcely advance within the gulph, yet the
native Persians do not fully occupy their own shores. The coast still
retains a great proportion of Arab families. The Dashtistan, which
extends from Cape Bang to the plain of Bushire, was till lately
governed by them. The district of Dasti, also along the coast from
Bushire to below Congoon, still remains under their rule: and the
Arab Sheik of Congoon in the adjoining territory, possesses a kind of
independance.
At Tauhree, (or Tahrie) a port just below Congoon, are extensive
ruins and sculptures, with the Persepolitan character. The landmarks
for the entrance of the harbour are two large white spots, on the
summit of a mountain, which the people of the country affirm to
have been made by the hand of man; and which, on the same
traditional authority, are said to have been formerly covered with
glass. The reflection thus produced by the sun’s rays, rendered the
object visible to a great distance at sea, and guided the navigator in
safety into the road. Some of the glass is said to remain at this day.
Among the ruins of the city are two wells pierced to a great depth;
and stabling for a hundred horses excavated from the solid rock: the
existence of these remains, I understand, Mr. B—k of the E. I.
Company’s service ascertained himself.
At Kharrack, a place still further in the progress down the Gulph,
between Cape Sertes and Cape Bustion, is a town which was once in
the possession of the Danes; and it is singular that the people who
claim a Danish blood are still very fair complexioned, and have light
red hair, which may confirm their traditional accounts of their origin.
The same nation had also an establishment in a deep bay near
Musseldom; and the fort exists to this day. On Cape Bustion there is
a mine of copper, which was formerly worked by the Portuguese:
they built also a fort there, which still exists, but the mine is no
longer worked, and indeed is almost forgotten. Some years ago, Mr.
Bruce, the Assistant Resident at Bushire, was a prisoner among the
Arabs on this part of the coast. He was told, that immediately behind
the range of mountains which lines their shore, there was a river
that came from near Shiraz, and run down to Gombroon; this is,
probably, the Bend-emir, which, according to other accounts, is
traced indeed towards Gombroon, but there expends itself in the
sands. Khoresser is the name of a small river which falls into the sea
nearly under the Asses Ears; and on the banks of which is situated
the town of Tangistoun. At the mouth of this river is a small island,
formed by the sands brought down; which adapts this situation to
Arrian’s account of Hieratemis. At the place marked by Dr. Vincent as
Podargus there is now no torrent: but I learn from Dr. Jukes and Mr.
Bruce, that at Harem, situated thirty miles inland on the declivity of
the mountains to the eastward, there is a water which finds its way
to the sea, and may, perhaps, accord with the position required.
The islands in the Gulph of Persia retain little of their political
celebrity. Ormus (ever the most barren, its soil being composed of
salt and sulphur) still displays its arched reservoirs, which afford
good watering places for vessels, and which are said never to dry
up. On the island of Kenn, according to the people of the country, is
found, after rain, gold dust in the channels of the torrents. And
Bahrein, which is now in the hands of the Wahabees, is still noted
for the fresh springs which issue from the earth under the sea, and
from which the Arabs contrive to water their ships by placing over
the spot a vessel with a syphon attached to it. Captain Skeine, who
commanded an Arab ship, told the gentleman (who communicated
the circumstances to me), that he had himself drawn the water at
the depth of one fathom. The same submarine springs extend along
the neighbouring coast of Arabia. Kharrack, which is now the
principal watering place on the north of the Gulph, and the island,
where the pilots for the Bussorah river are stationed, is perhaps
good for few other purposes. The Sheik indeed, though enjoying
profound peace, presented memorials to the Sheik of Bushire,
representing that his troops and himself were in a state of
starvation. Among the duties entrusted by the Government of Shiraz
to the Nasakchee Bashee, he was instructed to proceed to Kharrack,
to inspect the fortifications, and to report on their capability of
defence.
Pearl-Fishery.—There is, perhaps, no place in the world where those
things which are esteemed riches among men, abound more than in
the Persian gulph. Its bottom is studded with pearls, and its coasts
with mines of precious ore. The island of Bahrein, on the Arabian
shore, has been considered the most productive bank of the pearl
oysters: but the island of Kharrack now shares the reputation. The
fishery extends along the whole of the Arabian coast, and to a large
proportion of the Persian side of the gulph. Verdistan, Nabon, and
Busheab, on that side, are more particularly mentioned; but indeed
it is a general rule, that wherever in the gulph there is a shoal, there
is also the pearl oyster.
The fishery, though still in itself as prolific as ever, is not perhaps
carried on with all the activity of former years; since it declined in
consequence by the transfer of the English market to the banks of
the coast of Ceylon. But the Persian pearl is never without a
demand; though little of the produce of the fishery comes direct into
Persia. The trade has now almost entirely centred at Muscat. From
Muscat the greater part of the pearls are exported to Surat; and, as
the agents of the Indian merchants are constantly on the spot, and
as the fishers prefer the certain sale of their merchandize there to a
higher but less regular price in any other market, the pearls may
often be bought at a less price in India, than to an individual they
would have been sold in Arabia. There are two kinds; the yellow
pearl, which is sent to the Mahratta market; and the white pearl,
which is circulated through Bussorah and Bagdad into Asia Minor,
and thence into the heart of Europe; though, indeed, a large
proportion of the whole is arrested in its progress at Constantinople
to deck the Sultanas of the Seraglio. The pearl of Ceylon peels off;
that of the Gulph is as firm as the rock upon which it grows; and,
though it loses in colour and water 1 per cent. annually for fifty
years, yet it still loses less than that of Ceylon. It ceases after fifty
years to lose any thing.
About twenty years ago the fishery was farmed out by the different
chiefs along the coast: thus the Sheiks of Bahrein and of El Katif,
having assumed a certain portion of the Pearl Bank, obliged every
speculator to pay them a certain sum for the right of fishing. At
present, however, the trade which still employs a considerable
number of boats is carried on entirely by individuals. There are two
modes of speculation: the first, by which the adventurer charters a
boat by the month or by the season; in this boat he sends his agent
to superintend the whole, with a crew of about fifteen men,
including generally five or six divers. The divers commence their
work at sun-rise and finish at sun-set. The oysters, that have been
brought up, are successively confided to the superintendant, and
when the business of the day is done, they are opened on a piece of
white linen: the agent of course keeping a very active inspection
over every shell. The man who, on opening an oyster, finds a
valuable pearl, immediately puts it into his mouth, by which they
fancy that it gains a finer water; and, at the end of the fishery, he is
entitled to a present. The whole speculation costs about one
hundred and fifty piastres a month; the divers getting ten piastres;
and the rest of the crew in proportion. The second and the safest
mode of adventure is by an agreement between two parties, where
one defrays all the expences of the boat and provisions, &c. and the
other conducts the labours of the fishery. The pearl obtained
undergoes a valuation, according to which it is equally divided: but
the speculator is further entitled by the terms of the partnership to
purchase the other half of the pearl at ten per cent. lower than the
market price.
The divers seldom live to a great age. Their bodies break out in
sores, and their eyes become very weak and blood-shot. They can
remain under water five minutes; and their dives succeed one
another very rapidly, as by delay the state of their bodies would soon
prevent the renewal of the exertion. They oil the orifice of the ears,
and put a horn over their nose. In general life they are restricted to
a certain regimen; and to food composed of dates and other light
ingredients. They can dive from ten to fifteen fathoms, and
sometimes even more; and their prices increase according to the
depth. The largest pearl are generally found in the deepest water, as
the success on the bank of Kharrack, which lies very low, has
demonstrated. From such depths, and on this bank, the most
valuable pearls have been brought up; the largest indeed which Sir
Harford Jones ever saw, was one that had been fished up at Kharrack
in nineteen fathoms water.
It has been often contested, whether the pearl in the live oyster is
as hard as it appears in the market; or whether it acquires its
consistence by exposure. I was assured by a gentleman (who had
been encamped at Congoon close to the bank; and who had often
bought the oysters from the boys, as they came out of the water,)
that he had opened the shell immediately, and when the fish was
still alive, had found the pearl already hard and formed. He had
frequently also cut the pearl in two, and ascertained it to be equally
hard throughout, in layers like the coats of an onion. But Sir Harford
Jones, who has had much knowledge of the fishery, informs me, that
it is easy by pressing the pearl between the fingers, when first taken
out of the shell, to feel that it has not yet attained its ultimate
consistency. A very short exposure, however, to the air gives the
hardness. The two opinions are easily reconcileable by supposing,
either a misconception in language of the relative term hard, (by
which one authority may mean every thing in the oyster which is not
gelatinous, while the other would confine it more strictly to the full
and perfect consistency of the pearl;) or by admitting that there may
be an original difference in the character of the two species, the
yellow and the white pearl; while the identity of the specimen, on
which either observation has been formed, has not been noted.
The fish itself is fine eating; nor, indeed in this respect is there any
difference between the common and the pearl oyster. The seed
pearls, which are very indifferent, are arranged round the lips of the
oyster, as if they were inlaid by the hand of an artist. The large pearl
is nearly in the centre of the shell, and in the middle of the fish.
In Persia the pearl is employed for less noble ornaments than in
Europe: there it is principally reserved to adorn the kaleoons or
water pipes, the tassels for bridles, some trinkets, the inlaying of
looking glasses and toys, for which indeed the inferior kinds are
used; or, when devoted more immediately to their persons, it is
generally strung as beads to twist about in the hand, or as a rosary
for prayer.
The fishermen always augur a good season of the pearl, when there
have been plentiful rains; and so accurately has experience taught
them, that when corn is very cheap they increase their demands for
fishing. The connexion is so well ascertained, (at least so fully
credited, not by them only, but by the merchants,) that the prices
paid to the fishermen are, in fact, always raised, when there have
been great rains.
II. Bushire (or more properly Abuschahr, for the former is but the
corruption of an English sailor) is now the principal Port of Persia. It
stands in lat. 28°. 59. in long. 50°. 43. E. of Greenwich. It is situated
on the extremity of a peninsula, which is formed by the sea on one
side, and on the other by an inlet terminating in extensive swamps.
At the narrowest part of this neck of land the seas, in the equinoctial
spring tides, have sometimes met and rendered it an island; but this
has happened once only during the ten years which preceded our
visit, and the effect then continued but two or three days; and so
visible is the present encroachment of the land upon the inlet, that
the recurrence of such an overflow will soon be entirely impossible.
Every appearance, indeed, proves, that the whole of the peninsula
has been thus gained from the sea. The extreme flatness of the
general surface, the soil itself, the water, and the relative position of
the whole peninsula to the mountains which rise abruptly from its
inland extremities, suggest the supposition of such an accumulation.
On the southern bank of the inlet is a long range of rocks, which,
though now two or three miles distant, may at one time have been
washed by the sea. In digging for water, the people of the peninsula
have sunk wells to the depth of thirty fathoms; and before they
could reach the spring they have been obliged to perforate three
layers of a soft stone composed of sand and shells. Generally of the
whole soil, sand is the principal ingredient.
The town itself of Bushire occupies the very point of the peninsula,
and forms a triangle, of which the base on the land side is alone
fortified. At unequal distances along the walls, there are twelve
towers, two of which form the town-gate; they are all chequered at
the top by holes, through which the inhabitants may point their
musketry, and those at the gates have a variety of such
contrivances. There is at the the door a large brass Portuguese gun,
a sixty-eight pounder, on a very uncertain carriage; besides two or
three in a much ruder state. It is said that on some invasion when
the place was beset, this gun was fired, but the concussion was so
great and unexpected, that it blew open the gates, shook down
fragments of the towers, and gave the enemy an easy entrance. The
materials of the town (a soft sandy stone, incrustated with shells)
are drawn from the ruins of Reshire, in its neighbourhood. Most of
the adjacent villages are built of the same stone, the only species
indeed found in the peninsula, and which was already thus prepared
for their use in the remains of Reshire. But such materials are
continually decomposing; and the dust which falls from them adds to
the already sandy ground-work of their streets, and, when set in
motion by the wind or by a passing caravan, creates an impenetrable
cloud. The streets are from six to eight feet wide, and display on
each side nothing but inhospitable walls. A great man’s dwelling
(there are nine in Bushire) is distinguished by a wind chimney. This
is a square turret on the sides of which are perpendicular apertures,
and in the interior of which are crossed divisions, which form
different currents of air, and communicate some comfort to the
heated apartments of the house. But the comfort is not wholly
without danger; as in an earthquake some years ago the turrets
were thrown down to the great damage of the surrounding
buildings.
There are supposed to be in the town four hundred houses, besides
several alleys of date-tree-huts on entering the gates, which may
add an equal number to the whole. The number of inhabitants is
disproportionably large, but it is calculated that there are ten
thousand persons in the place. There are four mosques of the
Sheyahs, and three of the Sunnis; and there are two Hummums and
two Caravanserais; but there is no public building in Bushire which
deserves any more particular description. The old English factory is a
large straggling building near the sea side; the left wing is breaking
down. The Bazars are exactly those of a provincial town in Turkey.
The shop is a little platform, raised about two feet above the foot-
path; where the Vender, just reserving the little space upon which he
squats, displays his wares. The shops, as in Turkey, are opened in
the morning and shut at night, when the trader returns to his
dwelling; for the shop is but the receptacle for his goods.
On the 2d Nov. a large fleet of boats came into Bushire from the
coast, laden with coarse linen for turbans, earthen pots, mats, &c.
for which they carry away dates. These boats keep together for fear
of the Joasmee pirates.
To the east of the town there is a small elevation, which happily
destroys the equalities of the buildings, and renders it no
uninteresting subject for a sketch, when enlivened by its
concomitants, water and shipping. Whatever may have been the
former state of the immediate neighbourhood, it is certain that there
are now no longer to be found the gardens and plantations which
Nearchus described, or even those which Captain Simmons delineated.
Had Nearchus again described Bushire and its territory in this day, he
would have said, that a few cotton bushes, here and there date
trees, now and then a Konar tree, with water melons, berinjauts,
and cucumbers, are the only verdant objects which, in any measure,
alleviate the glare of its sandy plain.
I took a sketch of Bushire from a rising spot near a well on a public
road.24 A troop of young camel-drivers, who were going merrily
along, soon discovered me; and long continued to vociferate, with
many other names and jokes, “Frangui, Frangui,” the common
appellation in the East of every European.
The new factory is about one mile seven-eights from the town. The
Resident’s guard is composed of seapoys, who, by the regulations,
should be changed every five years, but they are permitted to
remain till they become so lax in discipline as scarcely to deserve the
name of soldiers. The guard is mustered at sun-set, when they
mostly appear in their shirts and night-caps, and the sentries walk
about without their muskets.
In a few days after our landing we rode to the ruins of Reshire. The
more immediate remains occupy an inconsiderable part of the site of
the old city, and indeed consist rather of the fortress than of the
general mass of buildings. The place is surrounded by villages built
of the materials, and (as other fragments about them still attest)
upon the site also of the original town. One of these villages is called
Imaum Zadé, and is exempt from taxes, because its inhabitants
claim all to be descended from Mahomed.

Bushire.
Drawn by James Morier Esqr.
Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.

The fortress itself was built by the Portuguese, though the people
around are jealous of the acknowledgment, and substitute as its
founder their own Shah Abbas. On a hasty calculation it must have
been a square of two hundred yards. The reservoirs for water are
still to be seen; but a lad, whom we met in the enclosure, told us
that he and his companions were at work in destroying the
Hummums. Twenty-five years ago the Envoy saw it in many parts
entire, with some of the houses still standing. It is now a heap of
dirt and rubbish. The line of the fort, indeed, is traced by the ditch,
which is excavated from the rock; and the gateways also are
discoverable, and some little masonry remains to mark their
strength. There are some flat and oblong stones on the outside of
the fort, which we conceived to have been placed over Portuguese
tombs. There are, however, some curious characters upon them,
which Sir Harford Jones, who recollects them when they were more
legible, conceives to be between the old Cufick and the Nekshi.
In another excursion we advanced to Halila, about nine miles from
the town, and on the south of the peninsula of Bushire. Here,
indeed, there is a projection of the land, where it is still possible for
very high tides to rise above the surface. The ground is very much
broken into caverns and deep chasms. Halila is a small village; it has
a trifling square fort, with a tower at each angle, but without any
guns. Cotton is sown more systematically in the territory
immediately adjacent to Halila than in that of Bushire. Here and
there over the plain are some little spots sacred to the dead, and
defended by small works of stones.
The Sapphire lay about four miles off the shore, in four feet and a
half low water, and in quarter less five at high. The ground was marl
and very thick mud, so tenacious, that it was necessary every three
or four days to move the anchor. The refraction was so great, that,
for their daily observations at the sun’s meridian, they were obliged
to allow for it more than what is noted in the nautical tables. In my
visit on board, I took the following bearings from the quarter-deck.
Town N. 55 E. Concorde Lodge E. Halila Peak S. 70 E. Asses Ears
and Reshire Point S. 35 E. Cape Bang (the extremity of the land) N.
11 E.
The water of Bushire has a cathartic quality of most immediate
effect in a stranger’s habit, but after the experience of about a
month it ceases to have so violent a power.
The meteorological journal which I kept may not be useless, and I
give therefore the month of November in the Appendix. On the night
of the 10th of that month, a most violent storm blew from the north-
west. The whole atmosphere was in a blaze of fire; the claps of
thunder succeeded one another with a rapidity, which rendered them
scarcely separable, and the rain poured down in torrents; but when
all was over, the air possessed a freshness which was most grateful.
The storms from the N. W. are very frequent in the winter; and
though in no part of the world do I recollect to have seen one so
tremendous as this, I am told that it was not to be compared with
some which are experienced at Bushire.
In three or four days the mountains which bore N. N. E. from our
dwelling were already covered with snow. This was reckoned early in
the season. The people soon begun to put on their warmer clothing.
Coughs and colds became very prevalent, particularly among the
Indian servants, who were clad more lightly than either the
Europeans or the natives.
About the 20th of November the people commence ploughing; the
soil is so light that it is turned up with very little labour; the plough,
therefore, is dragged mostly by one ox only, and not unfrequently
even by an ass. All their agricultural implements are of the rudest
construction. At this period, larks fly about in large numbers, and
feed upon the seed just sowing. There are also great flocks of
pigeons, cormorants, curlews, and hoobaras (bustards). On the 25th
we saw a white swallow flitting about the house. Sparrows were not
so numerous as in the beginning of the month. Flies appeared with a
south wind; but were scarce when it blew from the northward. The
fruits in season were melons, dates, pomegranates, apples, pears,
and sweet limes; and a small and very pleasant orange was just
coming in. Our vegetables were spinage, bendes, and onions, and
cabbages and turnips from Bussora. Of our meat, the finest was
mutton, veal was coarse, but the beef pretty good, and the fowls
were admirable. There were no turkies or geese indeed; nor ducks,
except some that we occasionally got from Bussora.
The climate of Bushire is healthy, if we might judge from the two or
three examples of strong and active old age which came within our
notice: one, my own Persian master, Mollah Hassan; another in the
Resident’s family, who has trimmed pipes for two-thirds of a century,
and who was a young man with mustachios and a sprouting beard,
when Nadir Shah was at Shiraz. Another is an old fellow of the name
of Ayecal, which, from the keenness of his love of sporting, has been
familiarized by the English into Jackall.
The better sort of women are scarcely ever seen, and when they
are, their faces are so completely covered that no feature can be
distinguished. The poorer women, indeed, are not so confined, for
they go in troops to draw water for the place. I have seen the elder
ones sitting and chatting at the well, and spinning the coarse cotton
of the country, while the young girls filled the skin which contains
the water, and which they all carry on their backs into the town.
They do not wear shoes; their dress consists of a very ample shirt, a
pair of loose trowsers, and the veil which goes over all. Their
appearance is most doleful; though I have still noticed a pretty face
through all the filth of their attire. The colour of their clothes is
originally brown, but when they become too dirty to be worn under
that hue, they are sent to the dyer, who is supposed to clean them
by superinducing a dark-blue or black tint. In almost every situation
they might be considered as the attendants on a burial; but in a real
case of death there are professional mourners, who are hired to see
proper respect paid to the deceased, by keeping up the cries of
etiquette to his memory.
Among the superstitions in Persia, that which depends on the
crowing of a cock, is not the least remarkable. If the cock crows at a
proper hour, they esteem it a good omen; if at an improper season,
they kill him. I am told that the favourable hours are at nine, both in
the morning and in the evening, at noon and at midnight.
But the lion, in the popular belief of Persia, has a discernment much
more important to the interests of mankind. A fellow told me with
the gravest face, that a lion of their own country would never hurt a
Sheyah, (the sect of the Mahomedan religion which follows Ali, and
which is established in Persia,) but would always devour a Sunni,
(who recognises before Ali the three first caliphs.) On meeting a
lion, you have only therefore to say, “Ya Ali,” and the beast will walk
by you with great respect; but should you either from zeal or the
forgetfulness of terror, exclaim “Ya Omar! Oh Omar!” he will spring
upon you instantly.
III. Animals of the Dashtistan. About twenty-five years ago, in the
time of Sheik Nasr, who possessed both Bushire and the island of
Bahrein, and who consequently was enabled to improve the native
breed of Persia, by bringing over the Nedj stallion, the Dashtistan
became celebrated for a horse of strength and bottom. But the
original breed of Persia, that which is now restored, is a tall, lank, ill-
formed, and generally vicious animal; useful indeed for hard work,
but unpleasant to ride compared with the elegant action and docility
of the Arab. There is another race of the Turcoman breed, (such as
are seen at Smyrna, and through all Asia Minor), a short, thick,
round-necked, and strong-leg’d horse, short quartered, and inclined
behind. There is also a fine breed produced by the Turcoman mare
and the Nedj stallion. At two different times, large lots of horses
were offered to us for sale: the first, by the people of the Shiraz
officer, who asked immense prices, and when refused, departed in
apparent ill-humour, but generally returned and took the reduced
sum which was offered. In this way also we purchased a lot of forty
horses, principally of the Turcoman breed, which had been destined
for the Indian market, and for which an average price of three
hundred and twenty piastres for each horse had been asked at
Bushire, but which at the end of the month were sold to us for two
hundred and fifty. The distinct and characteristic value of the horses
of the country, was exemplified in a present of two, which the Envoy
received from the Sheik of Bushire. One was a beautiful Arab colt, of
the sweetest temper I ever knew in a horse, frisking about like a
lamb, and yet so docile, that though now for the first time mounted,
he seemed to have been long used to the bit, a sure proof in the
estimation of the country of the excellence of his breed. The other
was a Persian colt of the most stubborn and vicious nature; to the
astonishment and admiration however of the Persians, the Envoy’s
Yorkshire groom by mere dint of whip and spur, subdued the
creature and rendered him fit to ride: a triumph which established
the groom’s reputation readily, among a people peculiarly alive to
the superiority of their own horsemanship. A horse more than
ordinarily vicious was tamed in a singular manner by the people of
the country. He was turned out loose (muzzled indeed in his mouth,
where his ferociousness was most formidable) to await in an
enclosure the attack of two horses, whose mouths and legs at full
liberty were immediately directed against him. The success was as
singular as the experiment; and the violence of the discipline which
he endured, subdued the nature of the beast, and rendered him the
quietest of his kind. The horses are fastened in the stables by their
fore legs, and pinioned by a rope from the hind leg to stakes at
about six feet distant behind, so that although the animals are well
inclined to quarrel, and are only four or five feet asunder, they can
scarcely in this position succeed in hurting each other: frequently
however they do get loose, and then most furious battles ensue. I
have often admired the courage and dexterity with which the Persian
Jelowdars or grooms throw themselves into the thickest engagement
of angry horses; and, in defiance of the kicks and bites around
them, contrive to separate them.
The Resident’s stud consists of about twenty horses, mules, and
asses; eight of the horses belong to the East India Company, and
are principally employed in carrying choppers or couriers to Shiraz.
These are obliged however to be renewed very frequently, because
one such journey generally destroys the animal that performs it; so
difficult are the passes of the mountains, and so unmerciful are the
riders.
They have in Persia a very large and ferocious dog, called the kofla
dog, from his being the watchful and faithful companion of the kofla
or caravan. Each muleteer has his dog, and so correct is the animal’s
knowledge of the mules that belong to his master, that he will
discover those that have strayed, and will bring them back to their
associates; and on the other hand, when at night the whole caravan
stops, and the mules are parcelled in square lots, the guardian dog
will permit no strange mule to join the party under his charge, or to
encroach upon their ground. His strength and his ferocity are equal
to his intelligence and watchfulness.
We chased one day a large white fox. They prey about the open
country round Bushire in great numbers, for the natives do not
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