the various and beautiful creepers that adorn their groves to be wedded to the more robust trees, but with the latitude of Orientalists, as

sign the sea as a husband to the rivers; and the lightning, which in Sawun, when the rainy season has completely set in, is very frequent, as a consort to the rain. That month falls about the middle of July, and in the reanimation of vegetable life, almost suspended by the preceding heats, presents to the delighted senses all the natural phenomena of the spring of Europe.] "TIS Sawun; mark-the river flows

With rippling eddies to the sea; The slender jasmine closer grows, And clings about its wedded tree. The lightning wantons with the rain,

And brighter seems to gleam around; The peacock woos in jocund strain,

While laughing earth returns the sound. 'Tis Sawun, love'-'twixt man and wife Let no sad parting moment be; Who journeys now? what gain or strife In Sawun tears my love from me.

THE SAME.

(From the same.)

[A man, soon after his marriage with a beautiful young girl, is obliged to travel into some distaut country. Upon taking leave of his bride, he plants a Kewra, (supposed to be the spikenard) in the garden, and bids her observe it well; for that, so long as it continued to flourish, all would be right with him; but should she on the contrary behold it wither and die away, she might be assured that some fatal accident had happened to himself, After several years absence, the man returns to his own country; and resolves to appear before his wife in the character of a Jogee, or Hindoo mendicant and thus to ascertain how she had employed herself during his long absence. He finds her listless and sad; her person and dress neglected; and her sole employment, watching and weeping over the still flourishing Kewra plant, The following dialogue then takes place between them,]

SAY, lovely moon,-say, deer-eyed maid,
Whose locks like lilies wave in air,
While this green Kewra scorns to fade,
Say, why neglect, a form so fair?
O, would the Kewra's leaves were sere!
In ashes would the village lay!
For he, whose false hands placed it here,
From love and me stays far away!
And why should the Kewra's leaves be
sere?

Or, tell me, why the village burned?— For he, whose true hands placed it here, Behold, in beggar's garb returned.

Was paper then more dear than gold?

'Or ink more scarce than rubies bright? Were slender reeds for thousands sold;

One line of love you could not write ?

24

I strove ;-but only strove, to sigh ;

When memory placed thee in my sight, My fingers failed, my heart beat high,— I strove in vain ;-I could not write.

ABSENCE.

(From the same.)

[The transmigration of souls is one of the doctrines of the Hindoo religion. In the follow ing stanzas, a young bride laments the protracted absence of her husband; and wishes that after death she may revive in some form to avenge herself on the objects which now increase her misery, by exciting the tenderest emotions; the ring dove, the full moon, and the god of love himself,]

THE spring returns with all its joyous train,

Yet he so fondly lov'd, stays far away; My fluttering soul will quit its present clay,

In some avenging form to live again :

A fowler's, to ensnare the murmuring dove, [pale light;

Or monster's fell, to quench the moon's Or his fierce eye, the Lord of wondrous night, [of love. Whose lightning glance consum'd the god

BARBAROUS BEAUTY.
(From the same.)

[Hindoo ladies of rank are accustomed to imprint small beauty-spots on the tip of the chin, espe cially if there happens to be a dimple there. A lover sees his mistress so adorned, and compliments her on the effect her charms produce. With all the consciousness, of a beauty, she sportively tells him what use she makes of her features when so adorned,]

How that dark little spot on thy chin

Enhances thy beauty and power! "Tis a rose, and a poor bee within, 7 Deceived, lies entranced in the flower. My eyes as sly robbers I use,

To ensnare silly hearts passing by ; And when bound by a smile for a noose, In that dimple I plunge them,-to die.

ENOUGH.

(From the same.)

Deep or shallow let it be,

River, streamlet, lake, or pool; That to him is still a sea,

Who there his parching thirst can cool.

The History of Persia from the most Early Period to the Present Time; containing an Account of the Religion, Government, Usages and Characters of that Kingdom. By Colonel Sir John Malcolm, K. Č. B., K. L. S. late Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Persia from the Supreme Government of India. In two volumes, Royal 4to. Pp. 1359. Twenty-two Engravings. £8. 8s. London, Murray, 1815. THE most cursory inspection of these volumes will be found sufficient to convince every reader that their contents are of a very valuable and interesting description, and, therefore, capable of repaying the closest attention they may receive.

The title, the terms of which are far from accurate, is at least so far an appropriate introduction to the work, as it apprises the reader that these volumes embrace, not only history, but also geography and travels, or the results of personal observation; and though in this respect there is a departure, (somewhat unnecessarily) from the regularity of an historical work, yet, upon the whole, we consider that much is gained from this circumstance by the reader. "If I had not been a traveller," says the author, "I should never have been an historian." (Preface, page xi). The probable advantage of receiving the history of a nation from one who has seen the faces and observed the manners of the people composing it, who has trod over its territory, visited its monuments, compared its present with its past generations, and, generally, beheld the things which he describes; is sufficient to compensate for the absence of much that mere literary criticism might require. Sir John M. in his preface, takes the followAsiatic Journ.-No. II.

ing view of the peculiarities to which we are referring :

Whilst the annals of almost every nation that can boast of any political importance have been illustrated by eminent British writers, Persia seems hitherto to have been generally neglected. It must, therefore, be allowed to be highly desirable that this blank in our literature should be filled up, and that the English reader should be made acquainted with the history and condition of a people, who have in most ages acted a conspicuous part on the theatre of the world; and who have of late acquired peculiar claims to our attention, from the nature of their relations to British India, and from the renewal of their intercourse with the states of Europe. Though I have for many years contemplated such a a work as an object of utility and importance, a sense of my own want of qualifications as an author long deterred me from undertaking it. I had left my native country and entered the army of India at an age when those who aim at literary eminence are only commencing their

studies: and when I first had opportu

nities of collecting the materials which neither enjoyed, nor had any prospect of form the basis of my present work, I

enjoying, the necessary leisure for putting them into a form to meet the public eye. A number of advantageous circumstances, however, concurred by degrees in ultimately removing the doubts which these difficulties had at first excited in my mind. During the last fifteen years, I have three times visited Persia in the charge of political missions; and I have for almost the whole of that period been intrusted with the conduct of the negotiations between that state and the British government in India. The nature of my public employment, which led to my travelling over almost all the provinces of Persia, gradually improved the knowledge I had before possessed of that kingdom and its inhabitants; and a sense of duty, as well as the natural curiosity which I felt of investigating the state of a country so imperfectly known to Eu

VOL. I.

U

ropeans, equally urged me to endeavour

to

amass useful information of every description; whilst it may be easily conceived, that the diplomatic character with which I was invested greatly facilitated my progress in the attainment of this subject.

What I have now said will show that I do not come forward, as an author, with those pretensions which belong to men of high literary attainments; hut that the prosecutions of my public duties first led me to feel the want of a History of Persia, and subsequently involved me in an effort, which, under other circumstances, I should never have contemplated. I do not, however, state this fact wilh a view of deprecating critieism, or of claiming indulgence: I am fully aware that the fate of every work must be determined by its own merit ; and have, therefore, laboured to render that which I have undertaken as complete as possible. I have studied perspicuity; I have sought truth and my opinions, which are invariably expressed with freedom, may perhaps have some value from being those of a man whose

tory. I have not unfrequently endeavoured to enliven and illustrate my subject by the relation of occurrences in which I was personally concerned. This I did under an impression that the character of nations, as well as individuals, may often he better appreciated from anecdotes, than from a mere narration of events and when such passages occur, they will, in addition to that light which they throw upon facts and observations, serve to remind the reader of what I before stated, thst if I had not been a traveller I should never have been an historian.

In the course of this work I have carefully consulted every European author of eminence who has investigated the history and literature of the oriental nations. But as I have always quoted, in my notes, the names of those by whose labour I have profited, it would be superfluous to mention them here, the more especially as their well-established reputation could derive no increase from my eulogiums.

Such being the mixed character of the work before us, we shall

school of experience.

The History of Persia may be divided into two parts: the ancient and the modern. The former, which commences in the fabulous ages, terminates in the conquest of that country by the Caliph Omar, in the thirty-first year of the Hejirah. Throughout this period the Persians come in frequent contact with the great European Nations of antiquity: but as my principal object in undertaking this work was to supply information that could not be obtained from the historians of Greece and Rome, I have in general followed Eastern anthors: and their narrations of the events of these distant periods will at least be deemed, by the European reader, a subject of just literary curiosity.

In the modern parts of the History of Persia I have studied brevity, as far as was consistent with the introduction of every fact that appeared of importance: but the subject was so copious and diverging, that it required a constant effort to continue myself within the proposed limits. In one point I have perhaps indulged in a greater latitude than has usually been assumed by writers of his

our

portunity of presenting to readers the author's sketch of the geography of Persia :—

The boundaries of Iran, which Europeans call Persia, have undergone many changes. The limits of this kingdom, in its most prosperous periods, may however be easily described. The Persian gulf and Indian oceant to the south, the Indus and the Oxus to the east and northeast, the Caspian sea and mount Cancasus to the north, and the river Euphrates to the west. The most striking features of this extensive country, are numerous chains of mountains, and large tracts of desert: amid which are interspersed beautiful valleys and rich pasture lands. From the mouths of the Indus, to those of the Karoon and the Euphrates, the narrow tract of arid and level country which lies between the mountains and the sea, bears a greater resemblance in soil and climate to Arabia, than to Persia. Though this tract extends in length a distance of more than twenty degrees, it cannot boast of one river that is navigable above a few miles from the ocean. The appearance of this coast is almost every where the same-a suc

cession of sandy plains in viewing which, the eye is occasionally relieved by large plantations of date trees, and by patches of cultivation that are found near the wells, and fresh water rivulets, which are thinly scattered over this extensive but barren region. Inland, from the chain of mountains nearest the Indian ocean and Persian gulf, to the Oxus in one direction, and to the Caspian sea in another, the most marked features of the country are nearly the same. These are, a snccession of mountains and valleys of different elevation and extent. There are only a few of the former which can be termed of very extraordinary height, though many ranges have continual snow upon the summits. None of the valleys are broad; but some are of great length, often exceeding one hundred miles. The only tracts within this empire which spread wide, without the interruption of mountains, are salt deserts, of which there are several: one of the most remarkable is that which extends from the banks of the Heirmund river in Seistan to the range of hills which divide that province from lower Mekran, a distance of about four hundred miles. This may be deemed the extreme length of the desert. Its breadth from Noosky, a village in Sarawan, to Jalk, in upper or northern Mekran, is near two hundred miles. The salt desert, which extends from the vicinity of the cities of Koom and Kashan to the provinces of Mazenderan and Khorassae, is as long, and some miles broader, than that of Seistan, with which it unites. The exact nature of the vast waste which these form is but little known. It abounds with salt marshes, and encircles the sea of Zerah, or lake of Seistan. In many of its dry parts this desert presents to the eye either a crusted coat of brittle earth, or a succession of sand hills. The latter have, in general, the shape of waves, and consist of particles of red sand, so light as to be hardly palpable, which, when scattered by the violent north-west winds that prevail throughout the summer months, form a moving cloud, which often proves alike destructive to animal and to vegetable life.

The influence of this great desert on those countries which are in its vicinity, and upon the same level with it, is very

great. These are subject to extreme heats: the temperature of Kashah was found, by observations made by Fahrenheit's thermometer, to be about twenty degrees warmer than that of Kohrood, a village situated twenty-five miles from it, in a small valley, on the top of a range of hills, which were certainly not of a height to account for this great difference of temperature, on any calculation that has reference to elevation. The hills in the interior of Persia are not quite so barren as the ranges which meet the eye of the navigator of the Indian Sea and the Persian Gulf but none, except those of Mazenderan and of Georgia, are covered with forests. In the north-western parts of Kurdistan, in parts of Fars, and of Khorassan, there are woods intermixed with large trees; but the generality of mountains in Persia are either bare, or thinly clad with underwood.

Though

The valleys of the centre provinces of Persia abound with all the rarest and most valuable.vegetable productions, and might be cultivated to any extent. The pasture grounds of that country are not surpassed by any lands in the world. Trees are seldom found except near the towns or villages: but the luxuriance with which they grow wherever planted, shews that the climate is quite congenial to them. The orchards of Persia produce all the fruits of the temperate zone; and its wilds abound with flowers that can only be reared by care, and cultivation in the gardens of Europe there is a resemblance in the principal features of the surface of this kingdom, some of its provinces are marked by a very distinct appearance. In Fars, Irak, and Khorassan, the valleys are generally level. In Aderbijan they appear like a succession of eminences between hills; and Kurdistan may be almost termed one immense cluster of small mountains, occasionally intersected by loftier ranges; on the top of which, as in every other part of Persia, there are table lands, which, from their great elevation, are subject to extreme cold.*

Persia has hardly one river which can

In the year 1810, when encamped on the plain of Hubatoo in Kurdistan, the water in my tent froze to near half an inch thick on the 17th

north, and Fahrenheit's thermometer, at 6 a. m. of August. The latitude was thirty-six degrees stood at thirty-four.