consists of about seven thousand well built houses, stone walls, and terraces, each house provided with water; there is an infinite number of gardens, and twenty-six quarters; the quarters called Meidán and Shabúrán being in the inner castle are the most elegant; there are seventy mosques, the oldest is that of Div Alí, who was one of the Kháns of Shah Tahmáss, but a Sunní; in the suburb is the great mosque of Sháh Safí, which rivals the vault of the palace of Chosroes. In the court-yard is a basin, and round it cells for students; the gates of the mosque of Ferhád Páshá are closed, because it has no endowment; the mosque of Uzdemír Osmán Páshá is a college, where the Muftí holds lectures: there is a dining establishment of Sultán Khodabende’s foundation, forty schools for boys, seven pleasant baths, the best of which is that of Shabúr, with numerous private rooms and a basin, its waiters are fine youths. Besides the public baths, there are private ones in every garden. There are forty caravánseraïs, in each of which many thousand tománs of wares are deposited. The public security is so great, that every man leaves his shop open, without the least danger, when he goes away on business; there are altogether twelve hundred shops. There is no Bezestán of stone, but nevertheless a great number of valuable articles; the coffee-houses are meeting-places for wits and learned men; the air is mild and the land fertile; rice, cotton, seven sorts of grapes, pears, and water-melons are in great perfection. The greatest part of the inhabitants are Sunnís of the Hanefirites, who perform their prayers secretly. I remained during seven days a guest of the Khán of Shamákhí, Takí Khán, a generous, liberal man, who liked society and good company. He presented us with many pieces of silk stuffs, ten tománs of Abássí, and a horse (Karajubúk). Being himself invited to the entertainment of the Khán of Eriván, he set out from Shamákhí with one thousand men. Marching to the north we came to the pilgrimage of Pírderkúh (the old man of the mountain) a great saint, a fine walking-place the view from which embraces all the buildings of Shamákhí; the inhabitants of three hundred adjacent villages are for the most part Dervishes of the order of Begtásh, belonging to the Convent of this Saint. We advanced from hence six hours to the north through a cultivated country, and reached the station of Pír Merízát, where we were treated as guests by the Kelenter. The convent of this place is called Pír Mirza by some, and Pír Mirka by others, but the proper mode of spelling the word is Merizát, which signifies incurvated, because his body is seated in one of the corners of the convent in an incurvated position, his face turned towards the Kiblah, his head recumbent on a rock. His body is light and white like cotton, without corruption at all. The Dervishes who are busy all day long in cleaning and sweeping the convent, put every night a basin of clear