‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎226r] (458/722)

by i*econcilincr themselves to their actual condition, every effort at im
provement being- attended with danger to the individual by whom it is
made. If a new branch of commerce is discovered, the gains of those
who have embarked in it are likely to be overestimated, and they become
exposed to the cupidity of power. If an individual exhibits superior
skill as a manufacturer, his labour is liable to be seized by the monarch,
or by the provincial despot that rules under him ; and the promulgation of
new principles of science, however just, subjects the person to all the
hostility of that formidable class, whose rank in the community is grounded
upon their supposed preeminence in knowledge, and who are disposed
to treat a serious attack upon their dogmas as a crime that is hardly less
than heresy. With these obstacles to prevent the progress of improvement,
there is nothing to encourage it. Amid the vicissitudes to which they
are liable, few persons look further than to provide for their own welfare.
The history of Persia affords numerous instances of men being led, by
religious sentiments or a desire of fame, to disburse great sums in charity;
and many, even among the lower classes, who have acquired Wealth have
wished to perpetuate their name by building caravansarais, baths, and
other structures of public utility. But they neither profess nor entertain
any feelings connected with the general good of their country. All their
views are avowedly personal; and, from the character of their government,
it is impossible that they can be otherwise. A monarch or a prince may,
from the excellence of his disposition or the goodness of his understand
ing, indulge in plans of improvement; but even his views are limited by
his condition, and he desires to effect the work of half-a-century in one or
two years. His precipitation produces failure; for that which depends upon
system cannot be effected by power. Besides, all great improvements are
gradual; and even when they are introduced, the society must take the
shape to which they are suited, or they cannot be permanent.
“ Vegetable productions .—The surface of the soil of Persia varies from the
sandy and unproductive plains on the shores of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. to the rich
clayey soil on those of the Caspian; but it almost everywhere requires water
to render it fruitful; and it is from this cause more than any other, that
the frequent invasions to which it has been exposed have tended so
greatly to diminish the produce, and consequently to check the population,
of that country. The destruction of a few watercourses, which have been
made with great labour and expense, changes in one season a verdant valley
into a desert plain. Few countries can boast of better vegetable produc
tions, or in greater variety, than Persia. Its gardens vie in beauty and
luxuriance with any in the universe; and an idea may be formed, from what
we observe of those parts of it that are highly cultivated, of the prosperity
which that country might attain under a just and settled government.
Some of its finest and most extensive valleys, which are covered with the
remains of cities and villages, are consigned as pasture-grounds to wander-
ina- tribes to feed their cattle and flocks; and, over an extent of a hundred
miles once covered with grain, there now appears only the few scattered
fields which are deemed sufficient to furnish with food the families who
have the range of the domain, and to give an annual supply of green shoots
to fatten their horses. „ , . . , . .
“ The plough used in Persia consists of a large piece of wood making an
an o-l e with another, which, being sharpened at the end and frequently tipped
with iron, forms the ploughshare. It is drawn by two oxen, or sometimes by