They ride with very short stirrups; but have, notwithstanding, a wonderful command over their horses, and can stop them in an instant in the midst of their career. Their cavalry, like all irregular horse, are incapable of acting in unison or of making any serious impression on a body of troops disciplined in the European fashion: but, as their evolutions and movements are extremely rapid and each individual is aware of the part he ought to act, they are nearly as formidable when broken and dispersed as when united. The Persian armies, as I have said before, receive no regular pay, and are only kept together by the hope of plunder; we therefore find, that it is considered as incumbent on the king to take the field once a year, either against the Russians, Affghans, or Turkomans, his immediate neighbours. They know nothing of the modern science of war, being entirely ignorant of the principles of fortification and of the arts of attack and defence. The field artillery is chiefly composed of zumbarooks or small swivels, mounted on, and fired from, the backs of camels. There are also small field-pieces attached to the army; but the roads on the frontier are but ill adapted for the transportation of cannon, and as the carriages are of a miserable construction, they are either broken by the rocks and precipices, or go to pieces after firing a few rounds. Another great defect in the organisation of the armies of this country is the total want of good officers, and therefore of a proper degree of subordination. Without able and experienced men to direct and command, and a regular system of payment, it is next to impossible that an army can arrive at anything like perfection. There is no separation of the civil from the military authorities. The troops are commanded by the chiefs of their own tribes, who are jealous of each other, and therefore not likely to act in concert or yield that obedience so absolutely necessary in military affairs. In the absence of the King and Prince, the Grand Vizier is the general-in-chief; and, as he is not unfrequently raised to that dignity from offices entirely civil, the army may be commanded by a man who has never witnessed an engagement.” [202] Peer Ahmed. See p. 15. [203] Gerjannes, a district of Erzingan. [204] Kharput, in the Valley of Sophene, as it was called by the ancients. See _Travels of a Merchant_. [205] Erzingan. See p. 7. [206] Konieh (Iconium). Konieh, a city of Asia Minor, with a population of thirty thousand, employed mostly in the manufacture of carpets; it was a capital of the Seljook Sultans. [207] Ofium Kara Hissar, a town of fifty thousand inhabitants, two hundred miles from Smyrna, where opium is raised in great quantities. [208] Kutaieh. [209] Daood. [210] Boorsa. [211] Amurath. [212] This, according to Knolles, was a Persian victory, Mustafa being forced to fly.—_History of the Turks_, p. 410. See below, p. 25. [213] Yusuf Khan. [214] Peer Ahmed.