Page:The Six Voyages of John Baptista Tavernier.djvu/55
Out of this Court you pass into another which is less, and pav'd with broad Stones, with a Rivulet running through the middle. The Entry into it is through a Door, fortifi'd with Iron Chains like the former, and is made at a corner of the great Court upon the left hand. It brings you presently under a Portico, where there are fair Balconies rais'd after the fashion of the Country. Those Balconies are full of several People; either Pilgrims, or persons whose Crimes constrain them thither for Sanctuary. In that place you must leave your Stick and your Sword, before you go any farther; and give something besides to a Moullah, who is always attending there with Books.
In that second Court through which the Rivulet glides, on the one side are Baths, on the other Granaries for Rice and Corn; and upon the left hand, at the end of the same Court, there is a little Door which brings you to a place where the Royal Alms are distributed to the Poor, Morning and Evening; being just against the King's Kitchin. This Gate is cover'd with Plates of Silver; and in the Kitchin there are about thirty Ovens contriv'd in the Wall, with as many great Caldrons to dress Pilaw and other Food, as well for the Poor as for the Officers of the Mosquee. While these Alms are distributing, the Master-Cook, who commands all the rest, sets upon a Chair cover'd with Plates of Silver, and sees that every thing be done in order. He sees to the measuring out the Rice every day for the Kettles, and causes the Victuals to be divided in his own sight: For there is an excellent Oeconomy in the King's House.
At the end of the Portico beyond the first Court there are two Gates, one beyond another, both cover'd with Plates of Silver; between those two Gates on the right hand appears a little Mosquee, where are the Tombs of several Persian Princes of the Blood Royal. You must have a great care not to tread upon the Thresholds of the Gates, for it is a Crime not to be expiated without a severe Punishment. From hence through a little Ile, you come into the Body of the Church, richly hung with Tapestry, and set about with high Desks, where lye a great many Books, wherein the Moullahs, or Doctors of the Law read continually, having Stipends to Officiate in the Mosquee. At the end of the Body of the Mosquee, is a little Octagonal Monument, like the Choir of a Church, in the midst whereof stands the Monument of Sha-Sefi. It is only of Wood, but curiously carv'd and inlaid. It exceeds not the height of a Man of an ordinary stature, and seems like a great Chest, having four Apples of Gold set up at each corner. It is cover'd with a Crimson Satin purfl'd with Gold; and all the other Tombs that are by it, are cover'd with Silks as rich. As well in the Choir as in the Body of the Church, there are abundance of Lamps, some of Gold, some of Silver; but the biggest of all is of Silver, gilded and vermilion'd, and neatly engrav'd. There are also six great Branches of a curious sort of Wood, cover'd with Silver, with great Wax Candles in them which are never lighted but at their great Festivals.
From the Duomo where stands the Tomb of Sha-Sefi, you go under a little Vault, which encloses another Monument of another King of Persia, whose Name I could not learn. It looks like another great Chest, curiously wrought, and cover'd with Satin. The Roof of the Mosquee is adorn'd within with a Painting of Gold and Azure, a la Moresque; on the outside, with a fair Varnish of several Colours, like the stately Mosquee at Tauris.
In the adjacent Parts round about Ardeüil are several Monuments worth a Man's sight, being very ancient; and some which are ruin'd, shew by what remains the care which they took to enrich them with curious Workmanship. A quarter of a League from the City stands a Mosquee, in which are the Tombs of the Father and Mother of Sha-Sefi. It is a fair Structure, with Gardens and Courts, in one of which there is a very clear Fountain where they keep Fish.
Ardeüil is not only famous, as I have said already, for the Royal Sepulchers which are in it, and for the Pilgrimages which have been made to it from all parts of Persia; but the numerous Caravans of Silk, which sometimes consist of eight or nine hundred Camels, add very much to its Grandeur. For being near to Guilan and Shamaqui, from whence those vast quantities of Silk come; and for that the Road from both those places, to Constantinople and Smyrna, lyes through this City, there is a continual confluence of Merchants, and all sorts of Merchandizes are here to be had as well as at Tauris.
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