'A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the years 1808 and 1809, in which is included some account of the proceedings of his Majesty's Mission, under Sir Harford Jones, Bart., to the Court of the King of Persia. With twenty-five engravings from the designs of the author; a plate of inscriptions; and three maps.' [‎72] (113/524)

72
BUSHIRE TO SHIRAZ.
obeisance to the Envoy, and preceded his horse, until we arrived at the
door, where the Khan himself was waiting. He received us most graci
ously, and after we had pulled off our boots and shoes, and Sir Hae-
ironi) and the Khan had gone through some little polite difficulties
about their seats, we finally settled ourselves on chairs prepared for us.
The Khans tent was very neat, and appeared to us a most desirable
residence. It had a large exterior covering, and close to the extremity
a wall all round; and in the interior, there was a clean little recess
closely covered with carpets, and lined with the finest chintz, the
borders of which were adorned with a broad fringe. Our host was a
man of great notoriety both in Persia and in India; his manners were
greatly in his favour, and he was dressed more like a noble than any
other man whom I had yet seen in the country. His beard presented
no plebeian roughness, and the dagger in his girdle glittered with pre
cious stones. When the usual compliments had been severally paid,
that silence of solemnity, which generally marks the visits of form, suc
ceeded, till the kakoons, or water pipes, were introduced to our relief.
The coffees and sherbets followed, and the whole entertainment con
cluded with a course of sweetmeats, which was brought upon separate
trays, each serving two guests. The only unsatisfactory part of the visit
was the intended politeness of two lusty attendants, who broke some of
the sweetmeats in their suspicious hands, blew the dust off the fragments
with their more suspicious mouths, and then laid them before us. After
a washing of hands, (in which we felt the full want of towels), and a
parting kaleoon, we took our leave, and left the Envoy to a private con
ference with the Khan,
The trays, from which we eat, had the appearance of silver, though
I understood afterwards that they were plated only. They were neatly
carved in flowers and other ornaments. The articles which they con
tained were made of almonds, pistachio nuts, and a paste of sugar;
others were like our alicampane and barley sugar, and all were very nice.
The Persians are almost indescribably fond of sweetmeats, which they
eat in very great quantities. 4 The abundance indeed of fmits and slier-