'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.' [‎346] (377/582)

346
BUSHIRE.
and perilous; and he should return as he came, without asking of
me any thing beyond some token or memento : though even that he
should never require to remind him of the frank and open-hearted
Hadjee of Egypt. I indulged him in his wishes ; parted from him
on the day of our sailing, with no other gift or exchange than
mutual pledges of friendship and esteem; and subsequently heard
by an Arabic letter from himself, received by me while in India
of his safe return and happy meeting with his friends at Bagdad,
about the period of my reaching Calcutta.
The information I collected, from personal observations made
during my stay at Bushire, will be found embodied in the follow
ing description :—
The town of Bushire, or, as the inhabitants call it, Abu Shahr, #
is seated in a low peninsula of sand, extending out from the gene
ral line of the coast, so as to form a bay on each side. Its geo
graphical position has been pretty accurately determined to be in
lat. 29° 0' north, and in long. 50° 48' east, as the result of many
repeated observations. The appearance of the town, on approach
ing it either from the land or the sea, is rather agreeable than
otherwise, and promises more than it is afterwards found to contain.
From the edge of the coast, on which it stands, a level plain ex
tends behind it for a distance of more than forty miles in a straight
line, where it terminates at the foot of the first range of hills be
tween Bushire and Shiraz, and where the mountainous part of
Persia may be said to commence. These hills, being abrupt and
lofty, form a fine background to the view in clear weather, and
their distance giving them the blue haze which often leaves only
their outlines distinct, they afford a picturesque relief to the mo
notony of the scenery near the coast. The town itself is seated so
nearly on a level with the water's edge, that the tops of the houses
are first perceived as if rising out of the sea. The general aspect
presents a number of tall square towers, called baudgeers, or wind-
catchers, and constructed with passages for air, during the ex-
From the Arabicliterally, the Father of Cities.