AND ASIA MINOR, TO CONSTANTINOPLE, IN THE YEARS 1808 AND 1809***


E-text prepared by MWS, Les Galloway, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
(https://archive.org/details/americana)



Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
      file which includes the original illustrations.
      See 51819-h.htm or 51819-h.zip:
      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51819/51819-h/51819-h.htm)
      or
      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51819/51819-h.zip)


      Images of the original pages are available through
      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
      https://archive.org/details/gri_journeythrou00more


Transcriber’s note:

      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

      Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).

      A carat character is used to denote superscription. A
      single character following the carat is superscripted
      (example: Bar^t). Multiple superscripted characters are
      enclosed by curly brackets (example: Mess^{rs}).




    [Illustration: _SKETCH OF THE COUNTRIES_
    _Situated between SHIRAZ and CONSTANTINOPLE; Shewing the ROUTE of
    HIS_ MAJESTY’S _MISSION under Sir_ Harford Jones _Bar^t. in_ 1809,
    _from_ Bushire _to_ Teheran; _and of_ M^r. Morier _from thence to_
    Constantinople.
    _As also the_ Route _of_ Col. Malcolm, _in_ 1801.

      _By_ J. Rennell.
     _Published 20 May 1811 by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown,
     Paternoster Row._]


                                   A

                                JOURNEY

                                THROUGH

                                PERSIA,

                       ARMENIA, AND ASIA MINOR,

                                  TO

                            CONSTANTINOPLE,

                      IN THE YEARS 1808 AND 1809;

                         IN WHICH IS INCLUDED,

           SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF HIS MAJESTY’S
             MISSION, UNDER SIR HARFORD JONES, BART. K. C.

                 _TO THE COURT OF THE KING OF PERSIA_.


                         BY JAMES MORIER, ESQ.

      HIS MAJESTY’S SECRETARY OF EMBASSY TO THE COURT OF PERSIA.


      WITH TWENTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS FROM THE DESIGNS OF THE AUTHOR;

               A PLATE OF INSCRIPTIONS; AND THREE MAPS;

      _ONE FROM THE OBSERVATIONS OF CAPTAIN JAMES SUTHERLAND: AND
             TWO DRAWN BY MR. MORIER, AND MAJOR RENNELL_.






                               _LONDON_:
  PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

                                 1812.




PREFACE.


Finding, on my arrival in England, that curiosity was quite alive
to every thing connected with Persia, I was induced to publish the
Memoranda which I had already made on that country; more immediately as
I found that I had been fortunate enough to ascertain some facts, which
had escaped the research of other travellers. In this, I allude more
particularly to the sculptures and ruins of _Shapour_; for although
my account of them is on a very reduced scale, yet I hope that I have
said enough to direct the attention of abler persons than myself to the
investigation of a new and curious subject.

Imperfect as my journal may be, it will, I hope, be found sufficiently
comprehensive to serve as a link in the chain of information on Persia,
until something more satisfactory shall be produced; and it claims no
other merit than that of having been written on the very spots, and
under the immediate circumstances, which I have attempted to describe.
Having confined myself, with very few exceptions, to the relation of
what I saw and heard, it will be found unadulterated by partiality to
any particular system, and unbiassed by the writings and dissertations
of other men. Written in the midst of a thousand cares, it claims every
species of indulgence.

The time of my absence from England comprehends a space of little more
than two years.--On the 27th of Oct. 1807, I sailed from Portsmouth
with Sir HARFORD JONES, Bart. K. C. His Majesty’s Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Persia, in H. M. S.
_Sapphire_, Captain GEORGE DAVIES: after having touched at Madeira
and at the Cape of Good Hope, we reached Bombay on the 26th of April,
1808: owing to some political arrangements we did not quit Bombay
till the 12th September. We arrived at _Bushire_ on the 13th October,
and proceeded towards the Persian capital on the 13th December. H.
M. Mission reached _Teheran_ on the 14th February, 1809: on the 12th
March the preliminary treaty was signed between Sir HARFORD JONES and
the Persian Plenipotentiaries; and on the 7th May I quitted _Teheran_
with MIRZA ABUL HASSAN, the King of Persia’s Envoy Extraordinary to the
Court of London, with whom I reached _Smyrna_ on the 7th September, and
embarked there on board H. M. S. _Success_, Captain AYSCOUGH. Having
at Malta changed the _Success_ for H. M. S. _Formidable_, we finally
reached Plymouth on the 25th November, 1809.

I should be wanting in gratitude, if I did not here express the
obligations which I owe to my fellow traveller, MIRZA ABUL HASSAN, the
late Persian Envoy Extraordinary, for much information on subjects
relating to his own country, and for all the facilities of acquiring
his language, which his communicative and amiable disposition afforded
me. As this personage was distinguished, during his stay in England,
by attentions more marked and continued than, perhaps, were ever paid
to any foreigner, I have conceived that I should not trespass too much
on the patience of my readers by inserting a sketch of his life;[1]
I feel at least that it will prove very acceptable to those who have
shown him, as a stranger, so much friendship and hospitality.

In my narrative I have confined myself to relate our proceedings from
the time we left Bombay to my arrival at Constantinople. The sea
voyages, from England to India, and from Constantinople to England, are
too well known to require any thing more to be written about them.

The engravings that are inserted are made from drawings which I took
on the spot; they are done in a slight manner, and therefore are more
intended to give general ideas, than to enter into any nicety of detail.

For the map from _Bushire_ to _Teheran_ I am indebted to my friend
Captain JAMES SUTHERLAND, of the Bombay army; and for the general
one of the countries, through which my route carried me, I must here
return my thanks to Major RENNELL, who has furnished me with this
valuable document, and who has kindly assisted me in this, as well as
on other occasions when I found myself deficient, with his advice and
information. The map from _Teheran_ to _Amasia_ is the result of my
own observation, corrected by the same masterly hand. It terminates
at _Amasia_, because my journey from that place to _Constantinople_
was performed as much by night as it was by day, and prosecuted with
too great speed to permit me to observe with accuracy. Besides which,
in Turkey, where the people are much more jealous and watchful of
travellers than in Persia, I found that I could not make my remarks
so much at my ease as I wished, although assisted by the disguise of
a Persian dress. The courses and distances, noted in the journal,
are only to be regarded as a kind of _dead reckoning_, subject to
correction by the application of latitudes in certain places, and of
approximated positions in others; and, in all, by allowances for the
inflexions and inequalities of the roads.

I am indebted to Messrs. JUKES and BRUCE, of the Bombay service, for
the information which they furnished me whilst I was in Persia, and I
have not failed to make my acknowledgments, wherever such information
has been inserted.

But I must, in particular, express my gratitude to Mr. ROBERT HARRY
INGLIS, for the kindness with which he offered to correct and arrange
my memoranda, and prepare my journals for the press.[2]

I beg leave to repeat that this volume is meant merely as provisional,
and that I am far from entertaining the presumption that it will
class with the valuable pages of CHARDIN, LE BRUN, HANWAY, NIEBUHR,
or OLIVIER. It is to be expected, that the extensive communication
that will be opened with Persia, in consequence of our late political
transactions with its court, will throw the whole extent of that very
interesting part of the globe under our cognizance; and that, among
other subjects of inquiry, its numerous antiquities, which have as yet
been but imperfectly explored, will throw new lights upon its ancient
history, manners, religion, and language.




INTRODUCTION.


The history of Persia from the death of NADIR SHAH to the accession of
the present King, comprehending a period of fifty-one years, presents
little else than a catalogue of the names of tyrants and usurpers, and
a succession of murders, treacheries and scenes of misery.

After the assassination of NADIR, one of the most formidable of the
competitors for the vacant throne, was MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN, the head of
the _Cadjar_ tribe, and a person of high rank among the nobles of SHAH
THAMAS, the last king of the SEFFI race.[3] MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN had
several sons: HOSSEIN KOOLI KHAN, the eldest, was father to the present
King of Persia, and was killed in a battle with the _Turcomans_: AGA
MAHOMED KHAN, the second son, was the immediate predecessor of his
nephew on the throne.

MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN had not long assumed the crown, when he was
opposed by KERIM KHAN, a native of _Courdistan_; who, under pretence
of protecting the rights of ISMAEL,[4] a lineal descendant of the
SEFFI family, and then a child, secured to himself so large a share
of influence and authority in the state, that he very soon supplanted
virtually the pageant that he had erected; and, while he still
concealed his ambition under the name of _Vakeel_ or Regent, exercised
all the real powers of the sovereign of Persia. The birth of KERIM
KHAN was obscure; but the habits of his early years qualified him for
the times in which he lived, and the destiny to which he aspired. His
family, indeed, was a low branch of an obscure tribe in _Courdistan_,
that of the _Zunds_, from which his dynasty has been denominated;
and his profession was the single occupation of all his countrymen,
robbery,[5] which, when it thus becomes a national object, loses
in reputation all its grossness. Here he acquired the talents and
hardihood of a soldier; and was renowned for an effectual spirit of
enterprise, and for great personal skill in the exercise of the sword,
a qualification of much value among his people. The long revolutions
of Persia called forth every talent and every passion; and the hopes
of KERIM KHAN were excited by the partial successes of others, and
by the consciousness of his own resources. He entered the field; and
eventually overcame MAHOMED HASSAN KHAN, his principal competitor, who
fled and was killed in _Mazanderan_. The conqueror having seized and
confined the children of his rival, proceeded to