A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809. James Justinian Morier
tion>
James Justinian Morier
A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066201142
Table of Contents
CHAP. II. HISTORY OF THE SHEIK OF BUSHIRE. .
CHAP. III. RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSHIRE .
CHAP. IV. RESIDENCE OF THE MISSION AT BUSHIRE .
CHAP. VII. SHIRAZ TO PERSEPOLIS .
CHAP. VIII. PERSEPOLIS TO ISPAHAN .
CHAP. XIV. TEHERAN TO TABRIZ .
CHAP. XVI. TABRIZ TO ARZ-ROUM .
CHAP. XVII. ARZ-ROUM TO AMASIA .
CHAP. XVIII. AMASIA TO CONSTANTINOPLE .
APPENDIX, No. I. MONEY IN PERSIA .
APPENDIX, No. II.—1. ROUTES IN PERSIA.
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