'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.' [‎236] (267/582)

236
ISPAHAN.
This building is called Ali Kaupee, or Ali's Gate, from the
Turkish; the lower part of it having been brought from the tomb
of Imam Ali, at Nujuff. The edifice is a lofty square pile, of five
stories in height, with a flat terrace on the top. As the chief
builder, Aga Bozoorg, was always near, from his assisting Mr.
Armstrong in his labours, and this with all the other public edi
fices was in his custody, we expressed a desire to ascend to the top
of it, and take our evening coffee and caleoons,—a favour which
was readily granted.
The eastern front of this building occupies the immediate
centre of the west side of the Maidan Shah, looking directly over
that extensive square, and opening into it; and its western, or
back front, led, by the walled passage described, directly to our
own residence. We ascended it on the inside by a narrow stair
case, the steps of which had been cased with coloured tiles, and
the walls and ceilings were richly painted. After passing a num
ber of small apartments and irregular passages, we came on the
third story to the noble balcony, or portico, which overlooks the
Maidan, and in which the sovereigns of Persia used to sit, to
receive processions, embassies, or other large assemblies, as they
appeared before them in the square below. # This portico re-
* The manner in which these embassies were received and entertained, as well as the cha
racter of the reigning monarch and his court, in the time of Abbas, is so graphically
described by Herbert, that a perusal of his account will give the modern reader a more accu
rate notion of the state of the country then, than any thing that could be presented to him.
He will not fail to have observed, in a preceding extract from the same old writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. , the freedom
with which travellers spoke, two centuries ago, of the peculiarities in foreign manners that
attracted their attention. More recent voyagers are obliged to speak less plainly; but it
is questionable whether the public taste has not driven them into the opposite extreme, and
whether what is gained in decorum of expression is not lost in fidelity of description. The
following is Herbert's account of his entertainment in 1627.
' At our alighting at the court-gate, an officer led us into a little place, having a pretty
marble pond or tank in centre, the rest spread with silk carpets, where our ambassador
and the rest stayed two hours, and then were feasted with a dish of pelo, which is rice boiled
with liens, mutton, butter, almonds and turmerack ; but how mean soever the diet was, the
furniture was excellent, pure beaten gold, both dishes, covers, flagons, cups, and the rest.
Thence we were led by many Sultans, through a large, delicate, and odoriferous garden,
to a house of pleasure, whose chambers both viewed the tops of Taurus and the Caspian Sea.