"بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي بقلم جورج ناثانييل كرزون، عضو البرلمان." [‎٥‎٣‎٣] (٧٤٨/٦٢٤)

COMMERCE AND TRADE
533
to the Caspian Sea, a fact which seemed to suggest an easy trinmph
over ' the Portugals,' who conld only purchase and export this
The Mos- valuable commodity from the southern havens, at a
covy Com- distance of several hundred miles from the area of pro-
pany and i • • - it
Persia duction. And secondly, through Persia it might be
possible to tap the mysterious resources of Hindustan by overland
caravan routes, which should divert to camelback and muleback
the wealth that was now poured into Portuguese carracks and
galleons. Accordingly the travelled Jenkinson was again sent out
in company with one Edward Clarke to make the initial experi
ment, bearing with them i cloth of golde, plate, pearles, saphyres
and other jewels, as well as woollen cloths (karsies or kerseys),'
and a letter from Queen Elizabeth to the 1 Great Sophie, Empe-
rour of the Persians, Medes, Parthians, Hyrcanes, Carmanarians,
Margians, of the people on this side and beyond the river of
Tygris, and of all men and nations betweene the Caspian Sea and
the Gulph of Persia '—a compendium of his titles which could not
fail to be gratifying to the Sefavi monarch, but which affords an
amusing test of the knowledge of Persia possessed by the best
informed English intellects of the Tudor time. The narratives of
this and of the subsequent expeditions organised by the Moscovy
Company, contained in a number of letters written by the principal
actors, have been ably edited and republished, and constitute one
of the most interesting volumes of travel ever penned. 1
During the twenty years from 1561 to 1581, six, trading ex
peditions to Persia were despatched by the Moscovy Company, and
Trading assuredly commercial enterprise has rarely been prosecuted
expeditions g rea ter gallantry or ur^der more serious discourage
ment. Jenkinson himself received a rebuff at the start that would
have deterred any less resolute pioneer. Having landed at Derbend,
then a Persian town, in August 1562, and having proceeded to Kaz-
vin, at that time the Persian capital, he was received in audience by
Shah Tahmasp, to whom he presented the Queen of England's letter,
but who returned to him this ungracious reply: ' " Oh, thou un
believer," sayd he, u we have no neede to have friendship with the
unbelievers," and so willed niee to depart 5 ; the reason of the Shah's
reluctance to enter into commercial relations with Englishmen
being that he had just composed his differences with Turkey, whose
1 Early Voyages in Russia and Persia (Hakluyt Society), edited by E. D.
Morgan and C. H. Coote. 2 vols. 1886.