The engravings that are inserted are made from drawings which I took on the spot; they are done in a slight manner, and therefore are more intended to give general ideas, than to enter into any nicety of detail. For the map from _Bushire_ to _Teheran_ I am indebted to my friend Captain JAMES SUTHERLAND, of the Bombay army; and for the general one of the countries, through which my route carried me, I must here return my thanks to Major RENNELL, who has furnished me with this valuable document, and who has kindly assisted me in this, as well as on other occasions when I found myself deficient, with his advice and information. The map from _Teheran_ to _Amasia_ is the result of my own observation, corrected by the same masterly hand. It terminates at _Amasia_, because my journey from that place to _Constantinople_ was performed as much by night as it was by day, and prosecuted with too great speed to permit me to observe with accuracy. Besides which, in Turkey, where the people are much more jealous and watchful of travellers than in Persia, I found that I could not make my remarks so much at my ease as I wished, although assisted by the disguise of a Persian dress. The courses and distances, noted in the journal, are only to be regarded as a kind of _dead reckoning_, subject to correction by the application of latitudes in certain places, and of approximated positions in others; and, in all, by allowances for the inflexions and inequalities of the roads. I am indebted to Messrs. JUKES and BRUCE, of the Bombay service, for the information which they furnished me whilst I was in Persia, and I have not failed to make my acknowledgments, wherever such information has been inserted. But I must, in particular, express my gratitude to Mr. ROBERT HARRY INGLIS, for the kindness with which he offered to correct and arrange my memoranda, and prepare my journals for the press.[2] I beg leave to repeat that this volume is meant merely as provisional, and that I am far from entertaining the presumption that it will class with the valuable pages of CHARDIN, LE BRUN, HANWAY, NIEBUHR, or OLIVIER. It is to be expected, that the extensive communication that will be opened with Persia, in consequence of our late political transactions with its court, will throw the whole extent of that very interesting part of the globe under our cognizance; and that, among other subjects of inquiry, its numerous antiquities, which have as yet been but imperfectly explored, will throw new lights upon its ancient history, manners, religion, and language. INTRODUCTION. The history of Persia from the death of NADIR SHAH to the accession of the present King, comprehending a period of fifty-one years, presents little else than a catalogue of the names of tyrants and usurpers, and a succession of murders, treacheries and scenes of misery.