Every Thirty Yards Or So Are
Stalls For The Sale Of Kababs, Fruit, Sweetmeats, And The Kalyan, For
A Whiff From Which Passers-By Pay A Small Sum.
Ispahan is noted for
its fruit; apricots, peaches, nectarines, cherries, mulberries, and
particularly fine melons, are abundant in their season.
There is a saying in Persia, "Shiraz for wine, Yezd for women, but
Ispahan for melons."
Since it has ceased to be the capital of Persia, the trade of Ispahan
has sadly deteriorated. There is still, however, a brisk trade
in opium and tobacco. Silks and satins are also made, as well as
quantities of a coarser kind of cotton stuff for wearing-apparel,
much used by the natives. The sword-blades manufactured here are,
in comparison with those of Khorassan or Damascus, of little value.
Genuine old blades from the latter city fetch enormous prices
everywhere; but a large quantity of worthless imitations is in the
market, and unless a stranger is thoroughly experienced in the art of
weapon-buying, he had better leave it alone in Persia. Modern firearms
are rarely seen in the bazaars, except cheap German and French
muzzle-loaders, more dangerous to the shooter than to the object aimed
at.
If the streets of Ispahan are narrow, those of Djulfa, the Armenian
settlement, can only be described as almost impassable, for, although
the widest are barely ten feet across, quite a third of this space is
taken up by the deep ditch, or drain, lined with trees, by which all
are divided.
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