nown, Kazwin (Casbin of the maps, and Qazwin of the French), founded, according to Ibn al Fakih, as quoted by Yakut, by Shapur Zu'l Aktaf, but, according to Hamd allah Mustofi, the author of the "Nuzhet," and whose native city it was, by Shapur, son of Ardashir Babigan. When Kazwin was taken by the Saracens, they are said by their co-religionists to have improved the place much, and they established themselves as a permanent garrison, or independent military colony, as they did at Basrah and other places in the first days of Islamism. The Prophet Muhammad had said of this place: "Kazwin is the image of the garden of Adam in Paradise;" and elsewhere: "A troop of men will be fought in Kazwin whose oath has no value." The Arabs of Kazwin carried their warlike expeditions as far as Kufa, where they were called the "red men of Daïlam." Well might one of their poets have said, "How many deserts, and how many stony mountains and naked gorges have we passed ?" Another wrote: "The tribe of Bekir, different from ours, inhabits the Irak, its defiles, and arid hills" (this probably in allusion to Diyarbekir); "the tribe of Thaleb dwells on the Euphrates, in the midst of islands surrounded by the river. Thou, thou art at Kazwin, at the head of the brave. What a difference between thy home and theirs!" Harun ar Rashid took a great fancy to Kazwin, and erected a mosque and other buildings there. One day, Yakut relates, the khalif mounted upon the dome, which was very lofty, and commanded a view of the whole city. At the same moment he heard the bugle sounded, and saw all the inhabitants hastily close their shops, seize their arms, and rally under their flags. The sight moved the khalif. "These are good soldiers," he said, "and merit that one should take an interest in them." He consulted with his advisers, and when each had given his opinion, he said: "The most equitable thing to be done is to exempt them from the capitation tax, and only exact from them a territorial contribution." He fixed this himself at ten thousand pieces of silver per

annum.

Teheran, or, more properly, Thehran, the modern capital of Persia, was formerly a mere suburb of Ray, in which the nobility were wont to reside to enjoy cooler air. It was indebted for its first embellishments to Shah Thanasp, and rose upon the ruins of Ray and Veramin, which latter was on the road from Teheran to Ispahan. On the same road is Kum, or Qoum, whose inhabitants, although Yakut declares that the town was of Mussulman origin, were such ardent Shiites, and so opposed to the immediate followers of the Prophet, that they would never bear the name of Abu Bekir. A zealous Sunnite governor once summoned the notables of the place, and said to them, "I know that you hate the companions of our holy Prophet, so much so that you will not confer their names on your children. I take the all-powerful God to witness, that if you do not bring before me one of your countrymen whose name is Omar or Abu Bekir, and if his name is not attested by authentic proofs, I will inflict a terrible chastisement upon you." They asked for three days' delay, and at the expiration of that time they were only able to produce a miserable, ragged, and deformed beggar, who bore the name of Abu Bekir. When this creature was brought before the governor, the latter thought it was in derision, and ordered a general bastinado. But, luckily, one of the notables exclaimed, "Prince, act as you deem right; but know that the climate of Kum does not allow persons whose name is Abu Bekir to

become more handsome than this man." The governor could not help laughing, and he pardoned the notables. In the same neighbourhood are Kashan, celebrated for its great black scorpions, and its fine porcelain, called kashi; as also Savah, or Sawah, the chief town between Teheran and Hamadan, said to have been founded on the site of a lake which dried up the day of the Prophet's birth. The Mongols are also said to have destroyed here one of the finest libraries in the world. In Yakut's time the inhabitants were Shiites, whilst those dwelling at Awah, six miles off, were Sunnites, and there was, in consequence, constant war between them.

Hamadan derives its name from Hamadan, son of Felewdj, son of Sem, or Shem, son of Noah, according to Hischam, as quoted by Yakut. A book of the Syrians says that it was built by Kermis, son of Solomon. Learned Persians declare that Hamadan simply means the well-beloved. Shirweïh says it was built by Solomon himself, who was assisted by the genii Sakhar, who placed seven hewn stones round the city to keep out the cold. The cold climate of Hamadan is, indeed, a favourite theme with Yakut, and he exhausts poets and orators in illustration of what to us is a very refreshing idea in connexion with anything Persian. There was also a lion at Hamadan hewn out of a single block of stone, and said to date back to the times of Solomon. Hamadan was long besieged by the generals of Bokht en Nasr (Nebuchadnezzar), who only succeeded in conquering it by breaking down the dykes and flooding the city. "Dara," son of Darius, according to Yakut, repaired the city, and made it his treasure city (Ecbatana) and the home of his harem during his war with Alexander. It was subsequently sacked by the Mongols, but this was after it had been brought under the yoke of Islamism by Merdavidj, the Daïlamite. The fact is, and it is recorded even by an OrientalistMuhammad Medjdi-that notwithstanding the severity of its mountain climate, Hamadan is one of the most agreeable towns in Persia wherein to dwell. It is also, from its productiveness, one of the cheapest. The ancient name appears to have been Saron, and some chronicles relate that it was founded by Jem, later in descent from Noah than Felewdj, was fortified by Dara (Darius), and completed by Behmen, son of Isfendiar.

Hamadan is on the El Wand, and between that chain and the Kurdish mountains is the district of Ardelan and Luristan, with the chief towns Musamabad, Senna, Kungawur, Kirmanshah, Korrumabad, and Burujird. Kirmanshah, or Kirmanshahan, called by the Arabs Karmicin, is on the highway from central Persia by Holwan to Arabia. This city belongs to the heroic ages of Persia. According to Ibn al Fakih, King Kobad, son of Firuz, exploring his kingdom, remarked that there was no place more favoured by climate and nature, all the way from Madain (Ctesiphon) to Balkh, than the territory that stretches from Karmicin to the mountain of Hamadan. He founded a city there, and had a palace built for himself which rested upon a thousand pillars. There, also, is the Castle of Shirin (Kasr Shirin), and the portico on which are represented King Parwiz, his horse Shabdiz, and his slave Shirin. At Karmicin is likewise the famous platform upon which Khosru Parwiz met the Faghfur, or King of China, the Khakan of the Turks, the Dahir (Maharadja), or King of India, and the Kaisar (Cæsar), king of the countries of Rum.

It appears that the early histories of the great cities of Ispahan, Yezd," and Shiraz, are involved in as much obscurity by the Orientals as others of less note. Yakut says of the first that it was primitively called Jay, and then Yahardiyah, or the Fair City. But Mustofi says it consisted originally of four boroughs founded by Thahomur and Jamshid, and united into one by Kai Kubad, the first of the Kayanian dynasty, who made this city the capital of his empire. Nor is there greater unanimity with regard to the origin of its name; but the majority are in favour of a compound word-"esp," horseman, and "han," country. Abu Obaidah says Ispahan is simply a plural form of the word "espahi," horseman; whence our "spahis," and, still more vulgarly, "sepoys.'

Under the Sassanians the right of bearing the royal standard was exclusively granted to the Ispahanians, and Yakut tells us that the right originated thus: Zohak, who was also called Ezdehak Biurasf and "the man with the two serpents," governed Persia with a cruel despotism. He exacted every day a tribute of two men, who were killed in order that their brains should feed two serpents that had grown from out of his shoulders. One day it happened to be the turn of a blacksmith of Ispahan. He took the leathern apron which he used at his work, stuck it on a pole, and ran through the streets exciting the inhabitants to revolt against Zohak. They did so, and raised Afaridun, the ancestor of the Sassanians, in his place, after which the leathern apron was adopted as the royal standard. Yakut adds, that many of the captive Jews were transported here by Nebuchadnezzar, and that their quarter (Yahudiyah) soon surpassed the original one of Jay. Masur ben Sadan also says that there is not a noble family of the place without Jewish blood in it. The character generally attributed to the Ispahanians by Oriental writers is that of cupidity, luxury, and debauchery. Saheb Abu'l Kazim avails himself of this reputation of the place-the human impulses being always, according to Orientalists, influenced by climate-to say, that on arriving in this city I feel an inclination to cupidity arise in me which I never feel anywhere else!" Other chronicles relate that out of this city shall issue Deddjal, or Antichrist.

66

Of Yezd nothing curious is recorded. Yakut treats of it as a district, of which the chief town, he says, is Ketheh. Ahmed Razi, who had no doubt been there, is more full, and gives a long list of native doctors, among whom were the Emirs Shems ed din ("the sun of faith") and Rokn ed din Yezdi, who erected numerous colleges, mosques, and other pious foundations, and established khans on the road to Shiraz. The latter city, although of little importance previous to Islamism, when it superseded Isthakhr, or Persepolis, as the capital of Fars, and so well known to Europeans as the home of favourite Persian poets, is for some reason or other spoken of by Yakut, after Al Beschari, in the most contemptuous terms. "Its streets are narrow, and its windows too near to the soil, and it is as dirty as it is narrow and confined. Licence and disorder reign there incessantly; doctors and men of letters enjoy no consideration there. (Hinc illæ lachrymæ !) It is even said that a tendency to magism, as of old, is still to be met with. Violence and injustice weigh the people down; blood flows incessantly; a frenzied corruption exists in all classes. Filth fills the streets, and does not leave the most pure and pious men free from pollution, and one is suffocated by the pes

tilential miasmas that spread over everywhere." The writer of this article feels it his duty to attest that such things did not exist a quarter of a century ago, but bigotry, tyranny, injustice, revolt, and cowardice, were rife.

We cannot leave this subject without some gleanings in regard to Susiana, a region of predilection with us, as best adapted for the rule of any maritime power to whom political and commercial influence in south-western Asia might at any time be desirable, the more especially as a counterpoise to Russia. Sus is noticed as the last home of the Prophet Daniel, and Yakut repeats the well-known legend that Omar had the river turned out of its bed, and then buried the prophet before the waters were restored to their original course, so that his bones should never be discovered. Sus was one of the last places in Susiana that fell into the power of the Muhammadans.

Owing to the Arabic form of names adopted by Yakut, and these being Frenchified by M. de Meynard, the English reader will often, at first, imagine that many a well-known Persian city is not even noticed in the dictionary. The town written in our maps, Shuster, occurs, for example, under the head of Touster; and we could quote worse cases. Yet Yakut himself says that Tuster is only an Arabian alteration of the Persian Shuster, or Schouster, as M. de Meynard has it. The name is, in fact, derived from ancient Sus or Shus, with the termination ter, which corresponds to the superlative degree-the greatest Shus-Shuster having succeeded as a provincial capital to Sus. Hanzah of Ispahan says Sus had the shape of a falcon, Shuster that of a horse, and Jundi Shapur that of a chess-board. Few would think of looking out for Jundi Shapur under the head of Djoundi Sabour; but the French Orientalists always add the "D" to the initial “j," or "jeem" as they add the "o" to the long "u," expressed by Anglo-Indians by two "oo's." Of Dizful, Yakut says its ancient name was Endimischk, and that it was indebted for its prosperity to Ardashir Babigan, who erected its bridge, as Shapur did the dyke at Shuster: hence its name Dizful, "the bridge of the citadel." The city is only remarkable for the golden tree (Zarrin derakt), which blossoms with fine yellow flowers all the year round. Al Ahwaz was the Muhammadan name given to all Khusistan; but Yakut says it was, in his time, limited to the modern Ahwaz, at the bar on the Karun, and which, when it was ancient Aginis, was the "Suk el Ahwaz," or the great market-town of the country. Ahwaz was once known as Hormuz Shahir, or the city of Ormuz. Yakut condemns the place evidently at second-hand. Its fevers, he says, are perpetual and permanent, the town is full of vipers and enormous scorpions, the streets are filthy, and the climate fatal to strangers. Needless to say that all this is exaggeration. The people of Ahwaz were always hostile to the Arabs, which is sufficient to account for any amount of misrepresentation. These few and insignificant drawbacks are not, however, in any way advanced as affecting the value of the work before us. It is invaluable to travellers, and we hope the remaining parts will be given to the public, and as ably edited. France has reason to be proud of her consular and diplomatic agents, when such men as M. de Meynard are employed on an Eastern legation. The work he has given to the public is indeed an inexhaustible mine of geographical, historical, and literary information, as far as regards Persia.

THE GREVAVOE ELOPEMENT.

I.

"Ir's nae euse, bairns," said Laurie Sweynson of Grevavoe to his family "it's nae euse strugglin' langer. Oot we mosst go frae da owld bit o' hoose, an' it metters little whare we seek a habitation upo' dis side o'da kirkyard. We may as weel geen ta dis 'Marica as ta onny idder place!"

Such were the words, we say, addressed by Laurie, or Laurence, Sweynson, of Grevavoe, in Zetland, to his wife and children at the time in his history when we present him to the reader. But the latter, if he have anything of the Northman's predilection for genealogy, and any particle of that intellectual faculty which phrenologists denominate "locality," and, in fact, any common curiosity, will, doubtless, desire to be informed who the said Sweynson was, and what sort of place his present abode, which he so mournfully talked of leaving, and what adverse circumstances had been able to breed in him such a very dismal condition of mind.

The Sweynsons were a very old family, indeed, although Laurence held but an indifferent position in society.

Long, long before the islands had passed into the hands of a king of Scotland-when no language but good old Norse was heard from the lips of the inhabitants-when wild savage Erics and Hacos scoured the northern seas, and thawed almost the icy wilderness around them with their boisterous heat-when, it may be, he who appeared in vision to the noblest of modern poets, and exclaimed,

I was a Viking old!

still"skimmed the half-frozen sound," or breathed out his vows to the blue-eyed daughter of old Hildebrand-did the ancestors of Laurence Sweynson quit their home on the northern continent, and effect their settlement on the shores of Zetland. The place on which they settled was well chosen, and well calculated to keep alive their early recollections of glorious old "Gamle Norge." Grevavoe (by some held to denote the voe* of the Gref, or Count) is a narrow winding arm of the sea, some miles in length, and many travellers from the mainland of Great Britain, on looking on it for the first time, have believed that they had at length stumbled on a Zetland river. In fine weather it has all the appearance of this, though the season must be a very mild one in which it does not show some white breach along its rocky margin. But few rivers will bear comparison with its wild beauty, when in the short days of winter the strong blasts from the northward, which it faces, roar and thunder along its waters, and dash the great waves against its steep banks and the precipitous cliffs which guard its entrance. We have always pictured to ourselves that it must have been on such a day as this that the first Norseman sailed up the voe in his gallant old bark. The time would be afternoon, when, with a wild hoarse cheer, the stalwart, weather-beaten, red-bearded children of Odin jumped to land in that

* Creek.