Monday, October 8, 2018

Qazvin (William Price, [1811] 1825)


Qazvin



قزوین منزل ۴۸ CAZWIN.―Stage Forty-eight.
June 1st.―Set out at four in the morning, and after travelling about four miles along a by-path reached the main road that led to Cazwin. Here we were met by many of the inhabitants, performing the Istekbal, who conducted us to a spot near the royal gardens, where we rested: soon after our arrival Sir Gore paid his respects to the prince. As we passed along the principal streets, the higher classes generally gave us a double welcome, repeating it first in Persian and then in Turkish, but some of the lower orders expressed contempt at the sight of Europeans.
This city is walled round, and is of considerable extent. It stands in the middle of a vast plain; most of the streets are narrow, and many of the buildings in ruins; even the principal mosques and other edifices are falling for want of repairs. The Bazaar was fully of merchandize, and less in ruins than the other buildings. The inhabitants speak Turkish, which is the common language in this quarter of the Persian empire.―Distance from Hasanabad two parasangs and a half, or ten English miles.


William Price, Journal of the British Embassy to Persia; Embellished with Numerous Views taken in India and Persia: also a Dissertation upon the Antiquities of Persepolis. — London: Kingsbury, Parbury, and Allen, Booksellers to the Honourable East India Company, p. 41.

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