A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the Years 1808 and 1809. James Justinian Morier
Jones, who, arriving at Bombay in April 1808, found that Brigadier-General Malcolm had been previously sent by the Governor-General to Persia. General Malcolm having failed of success, Sir Harford Jones proceeded.
JOURNEY THROUGH PERSIA,
&c. &c. &c.
CHAP. I.
BOMBAY TO BUSHIRE.
DEPARTURE FROM BOMBAY—LAND OF GUZERAT—COAST OF MEKRAN—BALOUCHES—ENTRANCE OF THE GULPH OF PERSIA—IMAUM OF MUSCAT: HIS FLEET—SOUNDINGS IN THE GULPH—BUSHIRE—VISIT OF THE SHEIK—LANDING IN PERSIA.
On the 6th of September 1808, when His Majesty’s Mission to the court of Teheran was still at Bombay, the Envoy extraordinary, Sir Harford Jones, received dispatches from the Governor-general at Calcutta, which determined him to proceed immediately to Persia. The establishment of the mission had been changed since our arrival in India; Major L. F. Smith, who left England as public Secretary, on landing at this settlement proceeded to Bengal; and the duties of Secretary of the Legation were annexed to those, which, as private secretary to the Envoy, I had originally discharged. The suite was augmented at Bombay by Mr. Thomas Henry Sheridan, and Captain James Sutherland, severally of the civil and military establishments of that presidency, by Cornet Henry Willock, of the Madras cavalry, commander of the body guard; and was subsequently joined by Lieutenant Blacker, of the Madras cavalry, and Mr. Campbell, surgeon to the mission. Besides three European and some Indian servants, the Envoy carried washermen and tailors, and some artificers, as carpenters, blacksmiths, and locksmiths.
On the 12th Sept. Sir Harford Jones, accompanied by Mr. Sheridan and myself, embarked on board his Majesty’s frigate Nereide, Captain Corbett; Capt. Sutherland and Mr. Willock went in the Sapphire, Capt. Davis: and the H. C. cruizer Sylph carried the Persian secretary, &c. The Governor of Bombay drew out the troops of the garrison to salute the Envoy on his embarkation: they formed a lane from the government-house to the entrance of the dock-yard; and as He passed the troops presented arms, and the music played “God save the King.” A salute of fifteen guns was fired on his quitting the shore, and was answered by another from the frigate; a ceremony which always excites a powerful feeling of respect in the minds of the natives.
In the afternoon of the 12th, the squadron left the harbour of Bombay: on the 13th, the Nereide had out-stripped the Sapphire, and had lost sight of the Sylph. The winds were variable and squally: the thermometer in the cabin stood at 82°. About ten o’clock, on the morning of the 14th. we made the land of Diu; we stood close in shore, and tacked at twelve o’clock; the Portuguese colours were flying on the fort. The thermometer was this day 80°. 15th. calms. The land of the Guzerat is extremely low. Diu Point is studded with towns and pagodas. 16th. we made but little way; tacked off and on shore, and distinguished a variety of buildings and towns on the coast. The largest place, which we marked in our progress, was Pour-bundar. The coast itself continued flat, with scarcely an inequality.
On Sunday, the 18th. Capt. Corbett read prayers to the ship’s company on the quarter-deck. The scene struck me as more simple and more impressive than any that, for a long time, I had witnessed. The cleanliness of the ship, the attention of the sailors, the beauty of the day, all conspired to heighten the solemnity of the service, and I felt persuaded that the prayers, offered up to God by such men and in such a manner, would be favourably accepted.
Cape Arubah. Drawn by James Morier Esqr. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.
As the coast of Mekran, (taken largely, from the Indus to the entrance of the gulph of Persia,) along which we now sailed, is so little visited in this age, and has, indeed, been so seldom described since the days of Alexander, it may, perhaps, be acceptable to insert even the few and incomplete notices of the country which my journal affords.
On the 18th. we lost sight of the coast. On the 24th we again saw land, which in appearance was remarkable. It was a very long range of table land, the soil of which, though light coloured, was strongly marked in horizontal strata. As we approached it, we discovered several curious capes, rising in a varied succession of grotesque forms; and among them one so very singular, that we were surprised that it had not been particularly described by those who have compiled the directories for navigating these seas. By our chronometers we took this land to be Cape Moran.7 The shore gradually shallows from twelve to five fathoms, when we tacked and stood off again in the evening, expecting a land breeze to spring up, but were disappointed. The sea is here very much discoloured, the effect probably of black mud at the bottom.
25th. Sept. Cape Arubah is a long slip of table land, which on its first appearance looks like an island.8 Its soil seems to be clay, and of a colour a few shades darker than Portland stone. We did not discover, among the head-lands into which it was broken, the particular cape which might have given its name to the whole; but the highest point to the westward appeared to deserve the preference. Beyond that western extremity of the table land, the coast immediately recedes into a bay, which is terminated by a long range of extremely rugged mountains. In one of the recesses of the cliffs of Arubah, we fancied that we had discovered a village, and even through our glasses were still positive that we could mark its white buildings; but as we drew closer to the shore, we ascertained that the houses in appearance were in reality large clods of white soil, which had fallen from the cliffs above, and were arranged so happily, some in separate piles, and some in rows, as to give to the whole the full effect of a town. A number of small boats with white lateen sails were creeping quietly along the shore, as we passed; but we could not get close enough to them, to ascertain the people who managed them, or the nature of the goods which they carried.
On the 26th. the weather was very foggy; the thermometer was 75°. On the 27th. as the fog still increased, we came to an anchor in nine fathoms. On the 28th. as the fog cleared away, we discovered the small island of Ashtola, which is of an equal height along its whole extent, a length perhaps of about two miles, and seems to be of the same soil as the capes on the mainland. Not far from the island, we caught turtle. The continent as seen from Ashtola, appears extremely high, in long continued ranges; but the lands which more immediately border on the sea, are very low. The soundings are regular, and there is no danger, as long as the lead is going. At eight o’clock we were off Cape Posmee, a remarkable head-land.
Island of Ashtola. Drawn by James Morier Esqr. Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.
On the 1st of October, we made Cape Guadel, a piece of land of a moderate and rather equal height, which projects far into the sea, and is connected with the continent by an isthmus less than half a mile in breadth. Close under the north side of the cape, there is still a town; and on the isthmus, as we could perceive from the ship, are the remains of an old fort. In the neighbourhood are the vestiges of a town also, built with stone, and some wells.9 But the more modern village of Guadel is composed of mat houses, and the greater part of the inhabitants (the number of the whole is very small) are weavers, who manufacture coarse linen and carpets of ordinary colours. From Crotchey to Cape Monze the people call themselves Balouches; and from Monze to Cape Jasques, they take the name of Brodies: there is some difference in their language, perhaps in their religion also, but none in their dress or manners. The high lands about Cape Guadel are all extremely remarkable, rising in spires and turrets so correctly formed, as to give to many parts of the coast, an appearance of towns with their churches and castles.
Their rocky summits, split and rent,
Form’d turret, dome, and battlement,
Or