'Collections of travels through Turky into Persia, and the East Indies. Giving an account of the present state of those countries, as also a full relation of the five years wars, between Aureng-Zebe and his brothers in their father's life time, about the succession. And a voyage made by the Great Mogul (Aureng-Zebe) with his Army from Dehli to Lahor, from Lahor to Bember, and from thence to the Kingdom of Kachemire, by the Mogols, call'd, the Paradise of the Indies. Together with a relation of the Kingdom of Japan and Tunkin, and of their particular manners and trade. To which is added a new description of the Grand Seignior's Seraglio, and also of all the Kingdoms that encompass the Euxine and Caspian Seas, being the travels of Monsieur TavernierBernier, and other great men.' [‎144] (185/1024)

The? ersian Travels BookIV-
CHAP. II.
Of the Flowers nnd Fruits of Verfu,ofTurquoifes and ? m \ lt
H E Flowers of Verfta are nothing comparable to our European Flowers
neither for variety nor beauty. For having pafs’d the Tigris in the
Road to Perpa, you meet with nothing but Rofes and Lillies, and feme
other Fruits peculiar to the Country.
As for Rofes, they have great ftore, which they diftil, as they do Orange-fW
and tranfport the Waters into all the Eaftern parts ofAfia.
I never left the Court of Perfia, but fome of the Lords, efpecially four of the
white Eunuchs, beg’d of me to bring them fome Flowers out of France > for they
have every one a Garden before their Chamber-door; and happy is he that can
prefent the King with a Pofie of Flowers in a Cryftal Flower-Pot.
There are in Apples, Pears, Oranges, Granates, Prunes, Cherries,Apricots,
Quinces, Qhefnuts, Medlers, and other forts of Fruit, which is not generally f 0
well-tafted as ours. , ,
Their Apricots indeed, efpecially the leffer fort, are better than ours. When yon
open this Apricot, the Stone cleaves in two, and then the Kernel,which is only a
Skin, as white as Snow, is more pteafing to the taft than if it had been prg.
^ As for their Melons, they are mod excellent, and very plentiful, neither ishfo
dangerous to eat them to excels, as ours. There have been tome that have catn fix
and thirty pound in a day, and have never been the worfe. There is a prodigious
quantity of them fold in Jfpahan , where they are brought to Market, from midnight
’till four a Clock in the afternoon. Thofe Melons which are firft in feafon,and are
call’d GuermZ) are infipid,and taft of nothing but Water. However the Phylidans
advifeyouto eat them, faying that they plump up the Flefti, andrenewthe
habit of the Body. The next to the GmrrwZ) are better than they, and they in-
creafe in goodnefs ’till they come to be quite out of feafon the laft of which they
keep all the Winter long.
Though they have fuch vaft plenty, yet they never leave but one Melon upon a
ftalk, and when it is as big as a Nut, theGard’ner,or his Wife, or his Children,lye
down upon the ground and lick oft the Down, which they fay keeps the Melon
from beingTweet, and rip’ning kindly; ^
The Perfians have alfo a particular fort of Quince-Pipin, but not fo good as ouiSi
which they fry unpar’d, cafting great ftore of Salt in the Pan to excite third, and
then prefent them to their Friends at their Collations. They have alfo Almondsand
Figs, but few Small-nuts or Wall nuts. .
Oyl they have none, but in the Provinces of Mazandran and Guilan, which fuinilo
all the reft of Perfia i but the Ojives are rotten, black, gravelly, and not worth any
thing, compar’d with Olives. i
Armenia, Mengrelia, Georgia, and Media abound in Vineyards. They bury
Vines all the Winter, and take them up again in the Spring by reafon of the cold,
In the hotter Countries theydreft their Vines as we do, without any under-propping
fhem. There are three forts of Wines in Perfia, That of Tefd is very delicate)
that of Jfpahan but ordinary: that of ’Tefd is tranfported to Lar where there Iw
a great number of Jews, who care not to live but where they may have good Wine,
and that at a cheap rate. It is alfo carry’d to Ormus, where it is fold half in ha
cheaper than the Wine of Schiras. As for the Wine of Schirai, it is madeot one
only Grape, fweet in taft, but which heats the Mouth extremely. This fort o
Grape is call’d Kicbmijhe , it is a white Grape, without any ftone, as vulgarly behev i
but however it has a ftone, though it be hardly to be perceiv’d >^vhichneverthees
will appear in new Wine, when it frets like a little Tigamerit. They fay that I
Wine of Ifpahanis cold upon the Stomach, but that it fumes into the Head. 0
itscoldnefs upon the Stomach 1 can fay little, but I know it will warm thenea,
a man takes too much of it. In Perfia they never keep their Wine in Tuns,