'A Tour to Sheeraz by the Route of Kazroon amd Feerozabad with various Remarks on the Manners, Customs, Laws, Language and Literature of the Persians to which is added A History of Persia from the Death of Kureem Khan to the Subversion of the Zund Dynasty' [‎3] (27/362)

[ 3 3
lr
Bushire is built of the materials of Reeshire, a town four miles to
the southward, and in the time of the Portuguese a place of con- ^ ^
siderable consequence. Pieces of cannon, and humam images cut
in stone, have been occasionally found among the ruins of this ^ ^ ^
place. The Hindoos resident at Bushire purchase these stones at ^
enormous prices, and, I have heard, are particularly careful in pre- y.
venting a stranger from polluting them with his hands. If these ^
images be really those of one of their gods, it would almost authorise
the supposition, that the Hindoo religion formerly prevailed in
Persia.* * ^ /£
But we must recollect that Reeshire was formerly inhabited by
a number of Portuguese, and that possibly these images may be
the representative of some Christian saint. It is greatly to be
regretted, that conjecture must frequently supply the place of fact,
and that our scanty and discordant accounts, upon Eastern sub
jects, will only allow of a diffident and sceptical opinion. The
different and inconsistent relations we receive of a particular place,
compel us to distrust our own observations: and it frequently
happens, that the more earnest we are in our enquiries, the farther
does the truth appear to be removed.-f-
The Hindoos live unmolested by the Persians, and are neither
* This has been the opinion of some ingenious and enlightened men, particularly Sir William
Jones, who fixes Iran as the centre of migration. Vide Origin of Families and Nations, Sir William
Jones's Works, vol. i. It might be proved, I think, from the Shah Namu, that the Bramins once
prevailed in Persia. Ky Kaoos, one of their kings, is accused of being a Bruhmun. The Hindoo
religion is so pliant, that there is scarcely an opinion it will not countenance.
t Bushire is a strong instance of the propriety of this remark. Out of three witnesses, two
assert that the town is walled, and the third that it is defenceless. One says that it abounds
with fine gardens, which is denied by a second evidence. Mr. Jones confirms the latter assertion,
and maintains that the neck of land is never overflowed. See Voyage of Nearchus, p. 366-7'.
Much depends on the time these several evidences visited Bushire. Walls built of mud are soon
destroyed and soon rebuilt. Bushire is only an island when the tides rise very high ; but in such
contradictory accounts as the above, much also depends on the sense attached to words. Thus
one person may call a place surrounded with never so little water an island, and another main
tain the reverse, because a ship could not sail round it.