'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎215] (278/905)

CHAP. X.]
DISTRICT OF ARDELiN.
215
materials; light and air being admitted from the top, through
an extent of more than two miles along the different galleries.
These bazars are, as usual, allotted, in separate divisions, to
objects of foreign or internal commerce; and, on the sides
of each gallery, in the box-like compartments which serve for
shops, may be seen saddlers, carpenters, shoemakers, &c.,
exercising their several callings; whilst objects of commerce
from India or Europe, together with the cotton and silk
stuffs, the velvets, glass, pottery, &c., of the country occupy
the rest of the space. At a period not very remote, Ispahan
contained upwards of 600,000 souls; but its population at
present scarcely exceeds 150,000. The north and north
eastern parts of the city are, it may be observed, less deserted
than those to the south and west.
The Kurdish districts of Ardelan and Kirman-shah com- Features of
plete the western limits of Persia by filling up the space
between Luristan 1 and Azerbaijan, 2 as well as that between
the Elwand and Zagros ranges. 3 Wooded mountains, sepa
rated by narrow valleys and occasional plains, producing
excellent pasture, cover the northern portion of Ardelan,
which is a nominal dependency of Persia. The Wali of this
district, who is also the principal Kurdish chieftain, main
tains feudal state in the palace at Sehnah, which is considered
as the capital of Kurdistan. The Serai occupies the summit
of a hill, around which is the town, containing about 4000
Sunnie, 200 Jewish, and 50 Nestorian Catholic families. 4
The southern district resembles the northern in its general D^tnc^and
features, and has, like it, a population chiefly nomadic. The s hah.
great caravan road from Baghdad to central Persia passes
the gates of Zagros, through Hamadan, and also through
the provincial capital itself; and, owing to this circumstance,
as well as to the advantage of being the seat of a local
1 In 34° 5' N. latitude, 2 I n 36° 5' N. latitude.
3 At present the authority of the Governor of Kirman-shah extends to some
little distance beyond these mountains; the Persians retaining, contrary to
treaty, the Turkish pdsMlik of Zohdb.—Major Rawlinson: p. 26, Part I.
Vol. IX., of the Royal Geographical Journal.
4 Rich's Kurdistdn, Vol. I., p. 209.