'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.' [‎276] (355/524)

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TABRIZ.
deputed from the Prince to greet our arrival. He was accompanied
by ten or fifteen men, and preceded by a led horse. As soon as our
party perceived their approach, it was ridiculous enough to see how
every one put on any the smallest piece of finery that he possessed, in
order to strike the others with respect. The Mirza alighted from his
mule and mounted a horse; and when we met, all the flattery and com
pliments were repeated with the same sincerity as before on our road
to Teheran. They talked of themselves and their government with
singular complacency, and of the Russians with the utmost contempt.
The officer who came to meet us said, " they fear us like dogs; we
<c have every thing better than they have; they will never dare to shew
" their faces again/'
Tabriz first appears between the angle of the bases of two hills, and
then opens to the view by degrees. In the season in which we saw it,
it formed a pretty object; as the constant monotony of the mud-
walls and mud-brick houses was hid by the rich foliage of the trees,
which are interspersed throughout the city. Close to the walls, near
the Teheran gate, is the complete ruin of a mosque, but still sufficiently
preserved to shew how fine a structure it must once have been. It
was built about six hundred years ago, by Shah Shem Ghuzan,
(the successor of Shah Mahomed Khodabendeh , whose tomb has
been described at Sultanith,) but it has been destroyed by an earth
quake within thirty years. The inhabitants extol the fruitfulness of the
territory, and the salubrity of the air of Tabriz, Its very name,
according to the Persian etymology, indicates the excellence of its
situation, for it is composed of Tab a fever, and riz fled.* They
* In G rant's fine and characteristic sketch of the conquests of N adir , he is led to
" Media's vales,
" Where Health on Tabriz breathes with all her gales."
Restoration of Learning in the East, 1805, p. 87.
The same derivation of the name from the qualities of the situation is given by Sir