1 INTKODUCnON. 55
2 • ' ■ , ♦
3 IVIitt «e entond PadiiMvr in Muclit theopper pa^
4 timt flraund weie oofeied wkh maofWt while the plain was cbtbad
5 with the richest vesduie^ and the cSinute was deiickmSi Most o£.th*
6 tieea wave then haic^ hut cnou^ wece in leaf to ^veriohnes&andiVa-
7 riely to die prospect j and, in the comae of a finfcni^itf the dnmaidue
8 gardens and scattered trees were coveved with new fiiliage^ which haid
9 a fieshneas'and hrilfianc^, ne^er sete^in die peipetnal aunmier of ha^
10 dia. Many streams ran through the plain. Their banks were fringed
11 with willows and tamarisks. The orchards scattered over the oooh
12 tKjt oootained a profusion of plum, pkach, apfde* pear, qmnce^' and
13 jpieineipranate trees, which afforded a greater display of blossom than
14 I ever before witnessed ; and the uncultivated parts of the land were
15 oomed with a thick elastic sod, that perhaps never was equalled but
16 in England. The greater part of the plain was highly cultivated, and
17 irrigated by many ^Mttt r courses and canals, Nover was a spot of
18 the same extent lietter peopled. From one hei^^lit. Lieutenant Ma^
19 cartnev took the bearings of thirtv-two villages, all withiu a circuit of
20 four miles. The villages were gctierally large, and remarlvably clean
21 and iicati and almost all set oti with trees. There were iiitle bridges
22 of mason rj, over the strums, each of whicli had two small towers for
23 oruaniciil at each end. The greater part of the trees on the plain
24 were mulberries, or other fruit trees. Except a few picturesque
25 groupes of dates, the only tall trees were the Ficus Religiosa or pee-
26 pul, and the tamarisk, which last grows here to the height of thirty
27 or finty feet. Its leaves, being like those of the cypress, and verjR
28 thidE, the groves compoaed of it are eitremefy dark and ^£x>wlj.
29 Hie town of Pesfaaiw^ itsdf standa on en nnevoi suzfiee. . It is 1^
30 waida of five miles soond ; and- contains about lOOyOOO inhabitants.
31 Hie houses are built of farick (generally unbnxnt), in wooden fiRsmes :
32 they are conunoalj three stories high, and die lower story is gene-
33 laUy occupied by shops. The streets are narrow, as might be eiq»ect^
34 ed, where no wheeied<»rriages are used: they are paved, but the
35 pasnement sloping down to the kennd, whidi is in the middle» they
36 ana slippory, and inconvenient. Two or three brooks run through
37 Digitized by Google