A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809. James Justinian Morier
they ride up and disengage them.
The Jerboa. On the 1st Dec. we caught some jerboas; and I had an opportunity of delineating and observing with some nicety all their different properties. The description of this animal has been given so minutely by Sonnini, and, with the controversy on the subject, has occupied indeed so very long a chapter of one of his volumes, that it would be superfluous to go over again the same tedious ground. As there are, however, some little exceptions in the jerboa which I saw at Bushire, I shall endeavour to point them out. In the first place, that gradation from the bird to the quadruped, which Sonnini traced in the hopping motion of the jerboa, did not strike me with the same degree of conviction. When unpursued the animal certainly hops, though this admission does not imply that he cannot walk without hopping. But when he is escaping from any alarm, he may almost be said to lay himself flat on the surface of the ground from the immense tension of his hind legs, and literally to run ventre à terre. Yet as every observer will feel that there are shades by which the works of creation gradually resolve into each other, and which, by a slow operation, connect the zoophyte with the animated world, and the bird with the quadruped, the jerboa may still serve as one of the first and most perceptible gradations between two kingdoms of nature; but kangaroos, a larger and nobler specimen, would illustrate the connection as correctly.
On the specific description of the animal I agree with Sonnini’s account of the Egyptian jerboas, except that, in two which I examined, I could not find the spur or the small rudiment of a fourth toe on the heel of the hinder foot; on the existence of which depends essentially the resemblance which he has discovered between the jerboa and the alagtaga of Tartary. But as the jerboa of Hasselquist, of Bruce, and of Sonnini all seem to differ from each other, and from those which I examined, in some minute circumstance, it is reasonable to conclude, less that there is any incorrectness in the descriptions, than that there is an essential variety in the animals. The jerboas in the deserts before us at Bushire, do not live in troops, as those of Egypt, according to Sonnini; each has his hole to which he retires with the utmost precipitation; nor is it possible to take him by surprise in the day, as I learn from Sir Harford Jones, who has had ample opportunities of examining the history of the jerboas; and therefore the circumstance, which Bruce mentions, of his Arabs having knocked them down with sticks, extends probably to no general inference. Nor can I think that Sonnini is correct in supposing that the animal is fond of light. Those which I kept in a cage remained huddled together under some cotton during the day, but in the night made such a scratching, that I was obliged to send them out of the room. Besides, one of the most common methods of catching them is by the glare of a lanthorn, which seems to deprive them of the power of moving, and subjects them quietly to the hand of the man who bears the light. There is another and an easy way of catching them, by pouring water down one of the apertures of their retreat; they immediately jump out. We hunted several with spaniels, but, although surrounded on all sides, they escaped with the greatest facility: when very closely pressed, they have a most dextrous method of springing to an amazing height over the heads of their pursuers; and, making two or three somersets in the air, they come down again in all safety on their hinder legs, many yards from the spot of their ascent. In this leap they probably use their diminutive paws. Even a greyhound stands no chance with them; for as soon as he comes near, they take to the somersets, and the dog is completely thrown out. Their flesh is reckoned very fine, as the people here who eat them assure me. As the animal is very sensible of cold, and formed so delicately and apparently so little prepared to resist frosts and snows, I cannot think, though Sonnini seems to imply it, that it is found in very northern climates. Rats and hares indeed are found in the coldest as well as in the warmest parts of the world; but nature has provided them with a clothing more appropriate to the change.
CHAP. V.
BUSHIRE TO SHIRAZ.
DEPARTURE FROM BUSHIRE—ARRANGEMENTS OF THE CAMP—MEETING WITH MAHOMED NEBEE KHAN: ENTERTAINMENT—THE ISTAKBALL—DAULAKEE—MINERAL STREAMS—VEGETATION—PASSAGE OF THE COTUL—PLAIN OF KHISHT—THE GOVERNOR—CARAVANSERAI—THE MOUNTAIN ROBBERS—KAMAURIDGE—KAUZERON: HONORS PAID TO THE ENVOY—RUINS OF SHAPOUR: GENERAL VIEW; ACROPOLIS; SCULPTURES; ROMAN FIGURES; THEATRE; TRADITIONS—PASSES OF THE MOUNTAINS—FIRMAN FROM THE KING—APPROACH TO SHIRAZ—ISTAKBALLS—PRESENT FROM THE PRINCE.
The preparations for our departure, which had been suspended by different events, were now resumed with much alacrity. I felt that the cold, which we should soon encounter, might possibly kill my Indian servant, and I accordingly sent him back to Bombay. The Ferosh Bashee, or chief tent-pitcher, an officer of much utility in the progress of our journey, now brought with him to our camp a large number of adherents in subordinate capacities, who on their entrance requested the Envoy’s permission to say their prayers in the manner and time appointed by their religion. The next morning I was roused by a noise, which I at last discovered to be compounded of the trumpet of the troop blowing the reveille, and the voice of a Persian priest calling the faithful to prayers: lungs originally strong had been so disciplined and exercised for the purpose, that the voice was more potent than the trumpet.
Route of His Majesty’s Mission under Sir Harford Jones, Bart. Through PERSIA, in 1809. By James Sutherland. Captain on the Bombay Establishment. Published 20th May 1911 by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.
Our Mehmandar, Mahomed Zeky Khan, arrived on the 10th; we went out to meet him, attended by the body guard in their best array, and accompanied by a host of Persians. As the preparations for our journey were now completed, the 17th Dec. 1808 was fixed for our departure. On the 16th the Ternate, Lieut. Sealy, sailed for Bombay with the Envoy’s dispatches to the Indian government; and on the next day the Sapphire, which was appointed to convey the dispatches to England, proceeded to Kharrack to take in water for the voyage.
All our arrangements were closed; and on the same morning, at a quarter past eleven o’clock, the Envoy mounted his horse to proceed from Bushire. In order to excite in the people a favourable expectation of the result of the mission, he had previously desired the astrologers to mention the time which they might deem lucky for his departure; and the hour accordingly in which we begun our journey was pronounced, by their authority, to be particularly fortunate. Sir Harford Jones’s suite consisted of Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Bruce, Captain Sutherland, Cornet Willock, Dr. Jukes, and myself. He had two Swiss servants and an English groom, an English and a Portuguese tailor, about half a dozen Indians, and a very numerous assortment of Persians.
The Sapphire saluted us as we set out; shortly after we met the Mehmandar and his cortège, and after some little exchange of civilities we all went on together. The order of the cavalcade was as follows:—The led horses, ten in number, each conducted by a well-clad jelowdar or groom; then the chief of the jelowdars with his staff of office; then the arz-beg or lord of requests; after him were six chatters or running footmen, who immediately preceded the Envoy. The Envoy himself was mounted on a choice Arab horse; at his right stirrup walked a picked tall chatter, the chief of his class. Then followed the gentlemen of the mission, amongst whom were disposed some moonshees. To the right and left were the pipe-trimmers, who carried all the smoking apparatus in boxes fashioned for the purpose.25 Behind the gentlemen and the moonshees came a great crowd of Persians on horseback; and, to close the whole, the body guard came along in goodly rows, and made an admirable finish to the groupe.
The baggage all loaded on mules preceded us regularly on our march, so that when we arrived at the end of our stage we always found our tents pitched.
The arrangements of our camp were as follows:—There were two state tents, one for dinner, the other for receiving company. The latter, with the Envoy’s private tent, were enclosed within walls. Around these were the tents of the gentlemen of the mission, each person having