A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809. James Justinian Morier
without the least molestation.
The Caravanserai close to our encampment was a solid, though rather ancient structure, and the walls, scribbled over with names or couplets, attested the passage of frequent travellers. We saw a cock blackbird, and Sir Harford fired three times on a thrush, which, notwithstanding, kept its ground, until it was taken up in the hand, and indeed permitted itself to be taken up frequently without offering to fly away.
A road is making at the sole expence of Hajee Mahomed Hassan, a merchant and inhabitant of Bushire, which will cut through the mountains from Kauzeroon to Khaumauridge, and shorten the distance two fursungs. Its direction bore E. from us at Khaumauridge.
On the 24th our march commenced at eight, and we arrived at Kauzeroon at half past two. We were about one hour pacing the plain of Khaumauridge, and, allowing one mile for the other extremity, (which we had passed on the preceding day) we may fairly calculate its whole length at five miles. Its opening towards Kauzeroon is through a pass called the Tengui Turkoun, between two high branches of the mountains. There is besides a road to the left, which leads over the mountain, and which the Envoy and some of the party took, because the pass is very famous for the attacks of the robbers. The road was, however, guarded at different stations by matchlock men, who had been placed there by the direction of the Prince, which was one of the numerous instances of his great attention to the mission.
Having descended once again, we came into the plains of Kauzeroon. From the eminence we perceived the river, which we had passed near Khisht, winding in a N. and S. direction behind the western hills. The city of Shapour we just discovered at the foot of a mountain, then bearing N. 50 E. Hills of very subordinate elevation run out from the great range of mountains, and leave here and there little plains which are all comprehended under the name of the plain of Kauzeroon.
We were met at Derees by a great crowd, who gambolled and saluted as usual. As we passed between the huts, the women of the village were collected on the roofs, and greeted our approach by a loud and tremendous species of song, which yet at a distance was not disagreeable. Money was thrown amongst the crowd, which added much to the confusion of the scene, and excited a most active and querulous scramble.
About two miles from Kauzeroon we were met by Mahomed Kouli Khan, the Governor of that place, who was attended by a numerous company of horsemen. Mr. Bruce, Dr. Jukes, and myself dismounted to pay him the usual compliment, and he then turned back with us to his own town. About a mile further, almost the whole male population was collected to meet us. A bottle, which contained sugar-candy, was broken under the feet of the Envoy’s horse, a ceremony never practised in Persia to any but to royal personages; and then about thirty wrestlers, in party-coloured breeches, (their only covering) and armed with a pair of clubs called meals, begun each to make the most curious noise, move in the most extravagant postures, and display their professional exploits all the way before our horses, until we reached our encampment. It would be difficult to describe a crowd so wild and confused. The extreme jolting, running, pushing, and scrambling almost bewildered me: while the dust, which seemed to powder the beards of the Persians, nearly suffocated us all. Probably ten thousand persons of all descriptions were assembled. Officers were dispersed among them, and with whips and sticks drove the crowd backwards or forwards, as the occasion required. Nothing could exceed the tumult and cries. Here men were tumbling one over the other in the inequalities of the ground; there horses were galloping in every direction, while their riders were performing feats with their long spears; behind was an impenetrable crowd; before us were the wrestlers dancing about to the sound of three copper drums, and twirling round their clubs. On every side was noise and confusion. This ceremony is never practised but to princes of the blood, and we considered, therefore, the honours of this day as a further proof of the reviving influence of the English name.
On Christmas day Sir Harford Jones and I visited the ruins of Shapour. We reckoned the distance at fifteen miles, in nearly a north direction from Kauzeroon. About seven miles from our encampment, we passed again through the village of Derees, which, from the extent of the ruined houses, must once have been a large town. Every house is covered with an arched roof, a mode of building which probably originated in the scarcity of timber. It is indeed common in all the places which we have seen; and the doors and porticoes are universally formed by a Saracenic arch. A miserable population, thinly interspersed among the ruins of Derees, came out to greet our passage. On the northern extremity of the town there is a place of burial, and over one of the tomb-stones there was the figure of a lion.
After having passed two tombs, one on the right side and one on the left of the road, we came to the bed of a torrent, over which there seems to have been built an aqueduct; for, on either side of its banks, are the remains of masonry, and the trace of its conduit is perceived on the southern bank. The extent of the ruins of Shapour to the southward is marked by a beautiful stream of water. Over the spring, from which it issues, the road is built, sustained by fragments of architecture, which are a part of the entablature of some public building, and by their dimensions must have appertained to a very considerable edifice.
Immediately after having passed this spring we came upon the ruins of Shapour.29 When standing on an eminence we computed the whole to be comprised, on a rough calculation, within a circumference of six miles. This circumference enclosed a tract of plain, and a hill on which the remains of the ancient citadel formed a conspicuous and commanding object. Whether by a mere caprice of nature, or whether by the labour of man, this hill or Acropolis is distinctly separated from the great range of mountains, forming the Eastern boundary of the plain of Kauzeroon. Between this and another imposing mass of rock runs the beautiful river of Shapour: we reckoned the space between the two rocks at thirty yards, which formed a little plain of verdure and shrubbery, intersected indeed by the stream of the river.30 The opening betwixt the two grand masses presented a landscape the most varied, the most tranquil, the most picturesque, and, at the same time, the most sublime that imagination can form. A black and stupendous rock (the strata of which were thrown into strong and wild positions, and formed an acute angle with the horizon) flanked the right of the picture: whilst another still more extraordinary rock, as richly illumined as the other was darkened, supported the left. Between both a distant range of mountains, whose roots were terminated by a plain, filled up the interstice, forming a fine aerial perspective; whilst the river and its rich shrubbery completed a most enlivening fore-ground. The hill, on which the remains of the citadel stand, is covered with the ruins of walls and turrets. On its eastern aspect, the nature of the fortification can be traced easily; for walls fill the chasms from rock to rock, forming altogether a place of defence admirably strong.
Shapour. Drawn by James Morier Esqr. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.
The first object which arrested our attention, was a mutilated sculpture of two colossal figures on horseback, carved on the superfices of the rock. The figure on the right was the most injured; the only part indeed, which we could ascertain with precision, was one of the front and two of the hinder feet of a horse, standing over the statue of a man, who was extended at his full length, his face turning outwardly, and reposed upon his right hand, and his attire bearing marks of a Roman costume. A figure in the same dress was placed in an attitude of supplication at the horse’s knees, and a head in alto-relievo just appeared between the hinder feet. The equestrian figure on the left was not quite so much mutilated, the horse and parts of the drapery on the thighs being still well preserved. The dimensions of the figures are as follows: length of the foot of the figure under the horse, fifteen inches; length of the whole figure sixteen feet one inch; length of the arm five feet; chin to the summit of the head one foot two inches; length of the horse’s leg from the lower part of the shoulder to the hoof four feet four; the dress of the figures was a short petticoat, from the waist downwards just below the knees.
The next piece of sculpture (which, like the former, was carved upon the mountain of the citadel), is perfect in all its parts. It consists of three grand compartments,