'The travels of Sir John Chardin into Persia and the East Indies, through the Black Sea, and the country of Colchis. Containing the author's voyage from Paris to Ispahan. To which is added, the coronation of the present King of Persia, Solyman the III.' [‎350] (327/594)

The T ravels o f Sir John Chardin into P erfia.
abouc two days journey diftant from Shamakt. They aflure
us for a certain truth,that the facrcd Fire is ftill there ; that ic
refembles a Mineral and fubterraneall Fire ; and that they
who repair thither out of Devotion fee it in the form of a
Flame. Nay they add one particular more, which is a fort of
pleafant ftory, that if you make a hole in the ground, and fet
a pot over it, that lame fire will caufe ic to leeth, and boyles
all that is in the Pot.
To return to the Name of is true :
for the Article of the Genitive.& or Mr,in old as
in moft part of the Ancient Oriental JJiom^fignifies Fire,and3ej.
an fignifies a 'Place or Country.! am notignorantthat feme people
read and pronounce ic jfur-pakan,md affirm that this geac Pro
vince wasfb call djbecaufe it contains AJfyria^which in the opi
nion of all Authors,deriv'd its Name from ; which is the
fame thing in my Opinion j for I am apt^ to think that the
Name of Ajjur, comes from Mr, that is
fpeaking ofN»nro^,that Idolatrous Prince, who introduced the
Worlhip of Fire, and invaded the fhare and Patrimo=
ny of Sem,tells us,that the Sons of that Patriarch retir'd thither,
and that Jjhur was one. Now 'tis very probable, that this
Jfhur was fo call'd from his retiring thither, or from the wor*
fhip of Fire j or from Chaldea, which was then call'd the Coun
try of Fire ; as appears C. 11. of and in all the ancienc
Auchors; who unanimoufly agree chat was call'd che
Country of Mr, or che Country o And Ptolomy makes men
tion of a Cicy in chat Country which is call'd Urcoa, chat is co
fay che place of Fire : ga, wich a long or a double being a
Perftan word, chac fignifies a Place, or Part Buc
che Ancienc Names have been fo corrupced by che negligence
or ignorance of T ranferibers, or by the differences of Language
and Pronunciation of Auchors and Tranflacors, that when we
come to compare theAncients with the modern Name,we muft
not reject every ching chac has noc an encire Refemblance.
Now what we have already faid fhews us che Errors of chofe
who have written,thac Azer-heyan is the'Northern Part
and that che word of J^er-heyan is deriv'd from
which was che Capital City of che Councry. The Perjians
divide ic inco chree pares A ShirVan, and
Scrabo divides ic only inco cwo pares, the and che
buc as for Ptolomie and ocher modern Geogrophers{hey make no
divifionoficac all.
The 14. we cravell'd five leagues, through a Councry full
. ' ' of