superb edifices were entirely destroyed; but Nadir Shah retook it five years afterwards, and endeavoured to restore it to it's former greatness. Since that time it has ceased to be a royal residence, owing to the rising importance of Teheran, and has therefore gradually decayed: it now presents only the wreck of what it once was, by far the greater part of it's surface being covered with ruins. It's present population is esti mated at 150,000 souls, so that if it be not the most populous place in the whole Persian Empire, it is at least the second in rank: it is said to be gradually reviving from the neglect into which it has been latterly thrown, partly from the efforts of the inhabitants to improve their condition, and partly from the situation of the city rendering it the great emporium of all the inland commerce of Persia. Shirat, the capital of Fars, is situated in the middle of the province, on an elevated plain of almost unrivalled beauty and fertility, the boast of the whole country: it is the third city in Persia, and has been at several periods the metropolis of the whole empire. The city is about five miles in circuit, and is surrounded by walls, which, owing to the indolence of the governors, have been suffered to fall to ruin. The magnificence of Shiraz consists solely in a few public buildings, the houses, in general, presenting an exceedingly mean and paltry appearance: the great mosque is in high repute as one of the strongest holds of Mahometanism in the East. Hafz, the Anacreon of Persia, was a native of Shiraz, and composed most of his productions amidst it's delightful retreats; he was buried in a garden near the city, where an elegant tomb has been raised to him by one of the khans. To the W. of Shirur, upon the shores of the Persian Gulf, stands Busheer, the principal sea-port of the kingdom: it is situated on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water, and fortified towards the land by a wall mounting a few pieces of cannon. The town presents a handsome appearance at a distance, but the streets are narrow and meanly built. It owes all it's importance to it's maritime situation, which causes it to be the great depot for most of the commerce which is carried on between India and Persia: the English East India Company have a factory here, and the resident possesses considerable influence in the town. Busheer is estimated to contain about 8,000 inhabitants; it is governed by an Arab shekh, who is tributary to the king of Persia. 45. Gamberoon, or Bender Abbas as it is also called, is likewise situated on the shores of that part of the Persian Gulf which is called the Gulf of Ormus, from the famous little island of Ormuz lying in it. It stands in the South Eastern corner of Kerman, close on the borders of Fars, and was formerly the most extensive and flourishing place on the whole gulf, having been the great sea-port of all Southern Persia: but the troubles and various casualties of this ill-governed country have reduced it to a low condition, and it is now a mean place, comparatively of but little consequence. It still, however, carries on a tolerable trade, and is fortified with a double wall; it is subject to the Imam of Muscat, who accounts to the king of Persia for the tribute of it and a few neighbouring places: it is said to contain about 4,000 inhabitants. Kerman, the capital of the province of the same name, is some times called Sirjiun, and was formerly one of the most beautiful and flourishing cities of the Persian Empire; but it has been so often plundered by barbarous enemies, and desolated by domestic and foreign wars, that it is now a deserted and ruinous place, covering but a small portion of the space enclosed within it's fortifica tions. Mushed, or Meshid, the capital of Khorasan, stands in the North Eastern corner of the province, towards the frontiers of Independent Tartary: it is situated on a little river of the same name, which runs into the Heri Rood, and after joining the Murghab, becomes lost in the Sandy Desert. It is surrounded by a strong wall nearly six miles in circumference, and is considered throughout Persia as a holy city, owing to it's containing a very splendid sepulchre, in which the ashes of the Imam Reza and of the Calif Haroun-al-Raschid are said to repose. It is by far the most important city in the Eastern part of Persia, and is resorted to by caravans from all parts of the country, as well as from Bokhara, Balkh, Kandahar, and Hindostan To the West of Mushed, about forty miles distant, is Neshapore, formerly one of the royal cities of Khorasan, and for a long time the seat of the Seljukian Dynasty, the founder of which was crowned here. It attained to an extraordinary degree of splendour and magnificence, but it was so completely destroyed by the Moguls during the irruption of Genghiz Khan, that it is said a horse might have been ridden over the whole site without stumbling. The situation was, however, so favourable that the city was soon rebuilt, though it has never recovered it's former importance: it is surrounded by a wall, about four miles in circuit, and is estimated to contain nearly 10,000 inhabitants. In the range of hills to the N. W. of Neshapore are the famous Turquoise mines, which alone have furnished the world, from a very remote period, with one of it's highly valuable gems. 46. THE KINGDOM OF CABUL, called Afghanistan from it's principal people, and sometimes Kandahar, from one of it's chief provinces, is bounded on the W. by Persia, on the N. by Independent and Chinese Tartary, on the East by Hindoostan, and on the South by the Bahr Oman, or Arabian Sea: it not only includes the Eastern part of Persia, but extends some distance to the Eastward of the Indus, into the country commonly distinguished as India. It comprehends, together with Baloochistan, about 428,600 square miles, or nearly the same as the kingdom of Persia, and it's population is estimated at 15,000,000 inhabitants. The whole kingdom is divided into 27 provinces or districts, exclusive of Baloochistan, the chief of which country is, except in name, rather a party in unequal alliance than a subject. The 18 most important of these provinces are placed each under the superintendence of a governor, who commands the militia and collects the revenue, but is removable at the pleasure of the king: his authority is enforced and maintained by the heads of the various tribes, whose importance is greater or less in proportion to the degree of subjection in which the district is held. The 18 provinces where these governors reside are named generally after their chief towns, and are, Herat. Jellallabad. Sewee. Kandahar. Ghizni. Cabul. Bamian and Ghorebund. Dera Ismael Khan. Cashmere. Lyah. The other nine divisions are generally composed of countries belonging to Afghan tribes, and, from their including more unsettled parts of the country, are frequently falling off from the royal authority. 47. Afghanistan is an assemblage of many commonwealths, the whole, or nearly the whole of which is formed into one state by the supreme authority of a common sovereign. The king, who is the natural head of his own tribe, possesses likewise a paramount authority over the other tribes: this authority extends to a general superintendence over the whole kingdom, and to levying fixed proportions of troops and money from each tribe for the common defence. The whole nation, however, is seldom animated by one spirit, the individual interests of each tribe attracting more of it's attention than the general welfare. In consequence of this, there is some distinction of interests between the king and the nation, and a still greater difference of opinion regarding his legal powers; the king and his nobles maintaining that he has all the power of an Asiatic despot, and the people in general considering him as a monarch with very limited prerogatives: this produces a good deal of diversity in the actual exercise of the royal authority. The crown is hereditary, but there is no established law as to primogeniture, the succession being decided by the aristocracy. The Afghans themselves are all Mahometans of the Sonnite sect: towards people of a religion entirely different from their own they are very tolerant, as long as they are at peace with them, though, like all other Mussulmans, they hold that it is not only lawful, but meritorious, to make war upon unbelievers; but the difference in religious opinions between them and the Persians, though not sufficient to affect any serious part of their conduct, is enough to create a most bitter enmity between the two sects. The Hindoos are allowed the free exercise of their religion, and their temples are entirely unmolested. 48. The Afghans are supposed to have derived their name and origin from the Scythian Alani. The appellation is known to the people themselves only through the medium of the Persian language, their own name for their nation being Pooshtoon, or Pookhtaneh, whence that of Pitan, by which they are distinguished in India: the Arabs call them Solimanee. In the beginning of the 18th century, the Afghan tribe of Ghiljie founded an empire, which included all Persia, and extended on the West to the present limits of the Russian and Turkish empires: only part of Afghanistan, however, acknowledged their dominion. Nadir Shah overthrew this dynasty, and annexed most of Afghanistan to Persia: on his death, the present Afghan monarchy was founded, which at it's height extended from the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea to that of the R. Jumna, and from the Jihon or Oxus to the Indian Ocean. 49. Cabul, the present capital of Afghanistan, and usually the residence of the sovereign, is situated in the Northern part of the kingdom, on the banks of a river of the same name, which finally joins the Indus: it is surrounded by a brick wall, and is a very ancient and beautiful city. From early antiquity it was considered as the gate of Hindoostan towards Tartary, whilst Kandahar held the same rank towards the frontiers of Persia. The city of Cabul is compact, but by no means extensive, and has in it's vicinity many groves and gardens: most of the houses are of wood, on account of the frequency of earthquakes. It is a considerable emporium of trade, owing to it's being the ordinary seat of government: the population is said to amount to about 50,000 souls. To the Eastward of Cabul lies the city of Peshawur, which stands on very uneven ground near the junction of the Cabul R. with the Indus, and at the foot of the Kheiber range of mountains; it is about four miles in circuit, and contains some splendid palaces, one of which is occasionally inhabited by the king. The inhabitants, who are mostly of Indian origin, have been estimated at 100,000. The city of Kandahar, formerly the metropolis of Afghanistan, is situated on the banks of the R. Urgandah, which is a tributary of the Heermund: it is surrounded by walls and ditches, and owing to it's lying in the road from Ispahan to Delhi, it is still a place of considerable importance. It is about three miles in circuit, and is on the whole a very handsome city: it's present population amounts to about 80,000 souls. Kelut, the capital of Baloochistan, and the residence of the sovereign, stands in the North Eastern corner of the country, on an elevated site 8,000 feet above the level of the sea it contains about 20,000 inhabitants, composed of Balooches, Hindoos, and Afghans. The city of Cashmere, the capital of the province of the same name, was formerly called Serinagur; it stands in the North Eastern part of Afghanistan, within the limits of India, near the source of the R. Jhylum or Hydaspes, and at the foot of the great snowy range of Himaleh. It is about six miles in circuit, and contains about 180,000 inhabitants, being reckoned the largest and most populous city in the Afghan dominions. It is celebrated for it's manefacture of shawls, the beauty and delicacy of which are unrivalled; they are made from the wool, or hair of a kind of goat, which is only to be met with in Tibet. The lake of Cashmere, named in the provincial language the Dall, has long been celebrated for it's beauties: it is studded with a number of beautiful islands, and extends from the North Eastern quarter of the city in an oval circumference of about six miles it joins the Jhylum. The climate of the country is delightful, and it's fertility proverbially great; the whole province has been styled by the Moguls the terrestrial paradise of India. Cashmere has lately thrown off the Arghan yoke, and asserted it's independence, as have also some of the other cities and districts to the Eastward of the Indus. CHAPTER XXV. INDIE ET SINARUM REGIO. INDIA. 1. India was bounded on the W. by the Arabiti and Parueti Ms., on the N. by the Paropamisus and Emodi M., on the E. by the mountains of the Sinæ, and on the S. by the Ocean. To the W. it touched upon Ariana, to the N. upon the territory of the Saca and Scythia extra Imaum, and to the E. upon the possessions of the Sina. It was divided by the R. Ganges, into two nearly equal parts, the Western of which, named India intra Gangem, corresponded with that portion of modern India lying Westward of the Ganges; the Eastern part, or India extra Gangem, included India beyond the Ganges, Tibet, Assam, and nearly the whole of the Birman Empire. It derived it's name from the R. Indus, which was considered by many as forming it's frontier towards Persia: the two provinces together contained 1,815,600 square miles, or threefourths as many as the whole of modern Europe. 2. The Greeks knew but little of India till it's invasion by Alexander the Great, as may be inferred from none of their existing poets mentioning even it's name. The fabled campaigns, which some of their mythologists represent Dionysus, or Bacchus, and Hercules to have undertaken against it, were invented, after they had arrived at a considerable knowledge of the country, by the later poets to flatter the vanity of the Macedonian hero; and were not compiled from those vague and poetical accounts of real transactions, which, in many other countries, form the dawning of history. Sesostris and Semiramis are said to have been the first who extended their empire into this vast peninsula; they were followed by Cyrus, and subsequently by Darius Hystaspis, who penetrated as far as the Punjab and the borders of Little Tibet. But all these invasions made them very little acquainted either with India or it's inhabitants; indeed the accounts which they received concerning them, may for the most part be classed amongst those fables, which were related on all sides, of the people dwelling at the extremities of the then known world, where actual knowledge was made up for by the ingenuity of invention. Amongst these fables may be included that of the Pygmæi2, or nation of black dwarfs, who spoke the same language as the Nunc quoque qui puer es, quantus tum, Bacche, fuisti, Id. Met. XV. 413. Decolor extremo quæ cingitur India Gange. Id. IV. 20. Hom. Il. г.6. Ad other Indians, but were so small that the tallest amongst them seldom exceeded two feet in height. Some of them were said to build their houses with egg-shells, whilst others lived in holes under the earth, whence they came out in harvest-time with hatchets to cut down the corn, as if to fell a forest. They were admirable archers, for which reason the king of India kept 3,000 of them as guards. Their animals were all of a proportionable stature with themselves, and upon these they went out to make war against certain birds, called cranes, who came annually from Scythia to plunder them. They were once governed by a princess, named Gerana, who was changed into a crane for boasting herself fairer than Juno. Later traditions, however, remove these Pygmies to the deserts of Africa, where they represent them to have attacked Hercules when sleeping after his victory over Antæus; they discharged their arrows with great fury upon the arms and legs of the hero, who, being effectually roused, was so pleased with their intrepidity, that he wrapped a number of them in the skin of the Nemean lion, and carried them to Eurystheus. 3. The campaign of Alexander, though confined to the countries watered by the Indus and it's branches, gave the ancients considerable knowledge of the peninsula. He entered it near the modern city Cabul, took the important fortresses of Massaga and Aornos, and crossed the Indus and Hydaspes, on the banks of which last he defeated Porus3, one of the Indian kings. Alexander was so much pleased with the conduct of Porus, that he not only restored to him his dominions, but increased his kingdom by the addition of several new provinces: in acknowledgment of this generosity, Porus became one of the most faithful friends of the Macedonian monarch, and never afterwards violated the assurances of peace which he had given him. Alexander then traversed the Punjab as far as the banks of the Hyphasis or Beuch, up to which point he had conquered the whole country, and reduced 5,000 cities under his power. His veteran troops, however, who had hitherto faithfully followed him a greater distance from their homes than had ever been traversed by any army, now refused to proceed farther Eastward; no inducements of wealth or glory, which the daring ambition of their youthful monarch held out to them, could prevail in altering their determination, and when, at length, overwhelmed by anger and disappointment, he hid himself from them for two days, they retired to their tents full of sorrow and regret, but with resolutions fixed and unchanged. They are said to have been hurried on to this signal disobedience, not only by the horrible fatigues which they had already suffered, and the many hardships which the nature and climate of the country compelled them to undergo, but by the report of the deserts which they had still to cross, and the enemies they had yet to encounter: they recollected how their ranks had been already thinned in the parching plains of Persia and India, and how dearly bought some of their boasted victories had been, in the vain endeavour, which their monarch had held out to them, of reaching the remotest bounds of the earth. This disobedience was confirmed by the reports, which reached their camp, of the warlike preparations made against them by the king of the Gangarida and Pharrasii, or Prasii, which were said to be so enormous, as to fill even the veterans with such apprehension, that they declared first privately, and afterwards openly, they would follow their chief no farther in that direction. In this crisis of his affairs, Alexander yielded to the general wish, but he did so only under the pretext that the auspices forbade the crossing of the river; he accordingly made preparations for retreating, but first having enlarged the circuit of his encampment, |