'Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia, including a journey from Bagdad by Mount Zagros, to Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, researches in Ispahan and the ruins of Persepolis, and journey from thence by Shiraz and Shapoor to the sea-shore. Description of Bussorah, Bushire, Bahrein, Ormuz, and Muscat, narrative of an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, with illustrations of the voyage of Nearchus, and passage by the Arabian Sea to Bombay.' [‎193] (224/582)

TO ISPAHAN.
193
ruined scenery, which could not be witnessed without exciting the
most powerful emotions of melancholy. The rising sun presented
us, however, a fine and extensive landscape, as its rays gilded the
enchanting picture of the plain of Ispahan, with its mountain
boundaries, and the world of interesting objects which they en
closed, thus powerfully contrasting the permanent beauties of
nature with the more unstable works of man.
Among the peculiar objects which attracted my notice were
a number of large circular towers, sloping a little upwards from
the base, and finished with ornamented tops, in a style very dif
ferent from Saracen works, rising in the centre of gardens, and
seeming like so many castles. These, I learnt, were edifices erected
for the resort of pigeons, who were suffered to feed on the grain,
the melons, and the fruits in the neighbourhood, and retire to
these towers to roost. The interior of these buildings, as I myself
saw, contained some hundreds of separate cells for the birds ; and
I was assured that they were cleaned out every ten or twelve
days, and the dirt carefully preserved as manure for particular
fruits, when the fattest of the birds were taken away for sale, the
eggs and young carefully attended to, and the whole managed
with great punctuality and skill. Thes.e establishments are all
private property, and belong to the owners of the grounds near;
and the occupation is found to be an exceedingly lucrative one,
though there are a great number of these establishments in the
neighbourhood of each other.
We found the road near the city covered with asses, which were
laden with the dirt of the highway, gathered up by scavengers
for the use of the gardens near, so that manure is of more than
usual value here ; and indeed, where three crops of grain are
grown yearly—a succession of spring, summer, autumn, and winter
fruits kept up—and where the pasture of flocks is so well attended
to, that they bring forth their young twice in the year, and pro
duce milk, butter, and cheese, at all seasons—a constant supply
of manure and water must be indispensable.
2 c