A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809. James Justinian Morier
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