Travels in Persia, 1673-1677 by Sir John Chardin

Author:Sir John Chardin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780486120713
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER III

OF THE SOIL

I MUST say of the Soil of Persia, as I did of the Air; That Kingdom being for its bigness, a little World, part whereof is burnt with the heat of the Sun, while the other part is frozen over with Cold. It is impossible but that there should be strange Varieties and Alterations in the Nature of the Soil: But Persia is, generally speaking, a barren Country, as I have observ’d already; and the Tenth part of it is uncultivated. I have likewise remark’d before, that Persia is the most Mountainous Country in the Universe, and most of its Mountains barren and dry to the last degree, consisting generally of bare Rocks without any Trees or Grass. But there are here and there between the Mountains, Valleys and Plains, that are more or less fruitful, and more or less agreeable, according to their Scituation and Climate. The Soil is gravelly and stony in some Places; in others, it consists of a white Clay, that is as heavy and as hard as the Stone itself. But both in one and the other it is so dry, that if the People don’t water their Lands, they will produce nothing, not so much as Grass. It is not altogether an entire want of Water, but because there is not enough of it. It scarce rains at all during Summer, and in Winter the Sun is so hot, and so drying for the five or six Hours that it is high in the Horizon, that the Land must be water’d from time to time. But on the contrary one may say, that in every Place where they are water’d, they are fruitful in their Productions. Thus it is the Scarcity of Water that occasions the Barrenness; and after all, it is the Deficiency of Inhabitants, as I have already remark’d, which causes the Water to be so scarce, there being not in that vast Empire, the twentieth part of the Hands that are necessary to occupy and manure the Ground with any Ease. A Man would be strangely surpriz’d in Persia, who went thither prepossess’d with the Ideas given of it by ancient Authors, particularly Arian, and Quintus Cursius; for to read their Accounts of the Luxury, Effeminacy, Delicacy, and Treasures of the Persians, one would imagine ’twas a Country made up of Gold, and where the Conveniencies of Life were in great Plenty, and to be had for little or nothing. But whoever comes there, finds it quite otherwise: However there is no doubt to be made, but that Persia has been one of the most opulent, and sumptuous Countries, as those Authors have reported it, because the Holy Scripture confirms it. What way is there to reconcile these visible and seeming Contradictions? This I will do without much difficulty, by relating two Things, which I have found out to be the Causes of this strange Alteration. The first proceeds from the difference of their Religion; the second arises from the difference of the Government.

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