The New atlas, or, Travels and voyages in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, thro' the most renowned parts of the world ... performed by an English gentleman, in nine years travel and voyages, more exact than ever.

CHAP. XIII. A Description of Ispahan, in what is curious and worthy of Remark in it.

ISpahan, as I told you, is the Principality, and stands in the Province of Iraca, part of the An∣cient Parthia: Here the Air is Dry, Pleasant, and more wholsome than in many other parts, which is one main Reason the King usually keeps his Court here. This City was Anciently called, Hecatompolis, being Recorded to have had 100 Gates. It is beau∣tified with Walls of a great heighth, built of a red kind of a Marble; and though the Houses are very Stately, they are built with Brick baked in the Sun, daubed over with a fine Clay, mingled with Straw, and white cast over with a very fine Plaister, which is made of a Stone got out of the Neighbour∣ing Mountains and burned to that whiteness, this Plaister is the third part of the Charge of building a House; they burn their Tiles indeed in a Kiln, but they are not so lasting as ours. There is in this Ci∣ty many very stately Mosques, curiously adorned; also sundry Pallaces, Seraglios, and Buildings of great Antiquity, but many of the most Ancient are Ruinous. The Persians take great delight in their Houses, keeping them very neat, and adorning them with curious Paintings, Carpets, and Tape∣stry; for in these, and their Gardens, seem to con∣sist

their greatest Pride. The Walls of this City will take 5 or 6 Hours, at a pretty round pace, on Foot, to compass them; because, within them there are spacious Gardens, adorned with pleasant Flow∣ers, and delicious Fruit-Trees, served by Aqua∣ducts that run there in Chanels, watering and Fru∣ctifying the several quarters; and in those Gardens are artificial Mounts, bedded with Flowers and plea∣sant Summer-houses on the top of them, shaded with Trees, besides many stately Pallaces; and the quarter where these are, is called the New Town. The Suburbs of this City are very large, and the Nobles have Pallaces in it, especially in Golfa, ly∣ing beyond the River Sendera, which is mostly in∣habited by Armenians, transplanted by Sheba Abba, a Persian Sultan, when he utterly razed their Town of that Name in Armenia. About this great City are cantoned People of divers other Nations; and there is hardly any Country in Europe, Asia, or A∣frica, but there are Natives of them to be found here.

In this City there are many Squares, which ren∣der it lovely; the greatest of which, is that of Mei∣dan; it has regular Piazza's, and is about 700 com∣mon Paces in length, and near 300 in breadth; it is built round, and the Houses are all in the form of Porticoes; over them is a second range of Arches, more backward, and these serve for Galleries and Passages, the Houses being all of an equal heighth, give a curious Prospect: There is a pleasant Canal near it, bordered with Palm-Trees, and fed by a Spring, at the end of which is a Bell, said to be taken out of a Nunnery in Ormus, with this Inscrip∣tion, Ave Maria Gratia plena. Hail Mary full of Grace. Hither the Musicians resort, there being a Gallery, and sound several Instruments to divert the People, especially in the Night time, and a∣mongst others, a Trumpet of Copper, which is 8 Foot long, making a strong hoars sound, and may be heard in a still Night all over the City, being al∣most in proportion, like a speaking Trumpet,

Passing on to the Right, or West side, is the Gate of Aly, their great Prophet; on the Threshold of it, which is a round Stone, the Persians, out of a Ve∣neration for the place, will not tread on; and if Malefactors can escape into the Court beyond it, or in the King's Stables, or Kitchin, they are in a Sanctuary, none daring to remove them from thence. This Gate is plain, and guarded by Sofies-men of great account there, and many Persians out of De∣votion, kneel and kiss the Threeshold e'er they pass over it.

The Street of Techebarbag, or the four Gardens, is very large, near 100 Paces broad, and about 2 Itallion Miles in length: There is a by way into it from the King's Pallace, through narrow Passages as it were a Curtain; its watered with a Canal, and adorned with shadowing Plan-Trees, being divided by the River Senderu, over which is a curious Bridge of Stone, with a Gallery, covered and raised a∣bove the Level for Foot Passengers; its about 300 Paces long, and 20 broad, founded on many Ar∣ches, some Brick, edged with Free-Stone, and others all of Stone. Over the Gallery there is a Platform, giving a fine Prospect of the River, and other places, the Gallery serves likewise for a Horse-way in the Winter, for then the overflowing of the Ri∣ver fills up the middle of the Bridge, and renders it a kind of a Canal. The Gates of the King's Pallace, and the Front of it, gives a good Prospect, as do the Mosques, being adorned with Domes, and other Beautifyings; but the Christians are forbid∣den to enter, under the Penalty of gross affronts, if not a good Cudgeling, though some of them out of curiosity do it in Persian Habits, mingling themselve•• with the rest, and so pass undistinguished, amongst which I took my Lot, and saw their curious Ciel∣ings, Paintings, Mosaick-Work, fine Marble, and many other curious things. As for their Burying∣places they are without the City, and so they are in all the Cities of Persia.

They have a curious way to secure the hot Air in sultry Weather, viz. They have on the tops of their Houses a Wall about 2 Fathom high, and as much in breadth, to which, at the intervals of o∣ther Walls of about a Foot broad, and as high as the first, are joyned in right Angels, and these are covered with a Roof, so that let the Wind blow which way it will, the Air being pressed between 3 Walls, is driven through a hole in the Roof of the House, and diffuses coolbreathings, cool breathings, but in Win∣ter this hole is stopped.

This City is full of Artists, and each Company pays the King a certain Sum, which they raise again upon all the Crafts, and they are very dextrous in their several Handicrafts, in which, principally, consists the riches of the Kingdom.

In the King's Court the Turkish Language is most∣ly spoke, but much differing from what is spoke at Constantinople; this distinguishes the Courtiers from the rest of the People, and gives them certain Au∣thorities and Preeminencies they affect, for they co∣vet Honour above all things, and are profuse in their Diet, Habit, Houses, and Equipages, which renders many Noble Families Poor. Their Equi∣page in Travelling is extraordinary. They smoak much Tobacco, and usually do it through a Vessel of Water. Their Games are chiefly Chess, and Draughts, which they use in their Visits. There are amongst them a great many Mathematicians, and Astrologers, and the King maintains many hun∣dreds of them liberally, though most of them ap∣pear to be very ignorant: However, these are their chief Studies. They have also Dreamers among them, who pretend to see and foretel things that way.

If a Man has killed another, the Widow, or next Relation, demands the satisfaction of his Blood, and if it be not made up for Money, the Murthe∣rer, if taken, is delivered to the Prosecutor, who puts him to Death with great Torments, especially if he falls into the Hands of a Woman, for they

are more cruel here than the Men; and though they often compound, yet the Relations that are not consenting to it, will privately revenge the Blood of their Friend, concluding, their Honour suffers if the Murtherer escapes unpunished.

If any one has been Robbed, he must make a pre∣sent to the Deroga, who is the same in Office, with the Sons, or Sub-Bassa, in the Turkish Government. He sends his Men abroad to take up suspected Per∣sons, and puts them to the Rack to make them con∣fess, and if the Goods be recovered, he takes a tenth, and sometimes a sixth part; but he seems to be kinder to the Franks, taking only a present of them, though may times by concealing the discovery, he cheats them of all.

As for the Habits of the Persians, they are more gaudy than substantial or lasting, generally waring flower'd Silks, or Callicoes, quilted Coats, and the like, having a flowing loose Garment over a close Coat, or Wastcoat, with a Girdle; their Drawers down to their Heels, their Stockings are of Cloth, wide and big; their Shoos are like Womens Slip∣pers, with high Heels, peaked at the Toes with a bit of Iron, but so short, that most part of the Heel hangs over, though they stick close, and are covered with Shagreen. They ware Turbans very large, and of divers colours, except the Moulla's, who are Priviledged to wear them white, though the Persians ware Caps with little Turbans about them, and the better sort have them embroidered with Gold and Silver. They take a Pride to have every piece of their Apparrel of a different colour, and affect neatness. As for Rings, the Men, nay, the King himself wears Silver ones, but the Wo∣men those of Gold, though they cannot give any reason for this distinction. They paint their Hands, &c. with a Dye, called Hanna, and will not suffer their Beards to grow long, as the Turks do, for they clip them to a quarter of an Inch, and take care to have large Mustachoes.

The Women go vailed all to their Eyes, and the Bridegoom never sees his Bride bare-faced till the Wedding Night. They wear Gold Rings in their Noses, their Nostrils being boared for that purpose, which is a mark of Servitude, though they take it for a Pride. When they ride, they are placed on a Cammel, in Caschave, where they are as easie as in a Chair. They sit at their Banquets, and other∣ways, as the Men do, cross-legged, on Carpets spread on the Ground, or on Cushions, and lie on Quilts in their Smocks and Drawers, but have curi∣ous fine painted Coverlids over them.

They eat but sparingly, and wonder the Franks can eat Meat twice a Day, they doing it but once, and then they mostly Boyl or Bake their Meats, not much approving of Roastmeat; nor indeed they do not eat much Flesh, living mostly on Rice-broth, Herbs, and Fruits. They burn Oyl of Napta in their Lampts, and in Winter have Stoves in their Houses, which keeps them very warm. They Drink Wine, though they are prohibited it, and ma∣ny times do it over plentifully; which makes them, as other Drunkards, quarrelsom. They have a great many Ice-Houses curiously Vaulted, and deep under ground to keep their Ice in, to cool their Li∣quors in the hot Seasons. Many of the Persians take Opium, which intoxicates them in a kind of Drunkenness, and they carry it about with them, for having once habituated themselves to it, they dare not leave it of, for if they do, they have most commonly dangerous Sicknesses, and Death is frequently the attendant.

As for the Persian way of Mourning, it is expres∣sed by a Girdle, hanging down with 2 ends before, and crossing them; but on the Death of a near Re∣lation, the Men rend their Caba, or Vests, in sign of Grief, and for the space of 7 Days give Alms; but the Women make doleful howlings or lament∣ings for six, and sometimes twelve Months, and keep themselves close, unless when they go to visit the Graves, rehearsing to such as visit them, the

Praises of the Dead, who, with their forced Lamen∣tations, for it is mostly no other, disturb their Neighbours rest, and disorder themselves.