Identifier: persiapastpresen01jack (find matches)
Title: Persia past and present; a book of travel and research, with more than two hundred illustrations and a map
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Jackson, A. V. Williams (Abraham Valentine Williams), 1862-1937
Subjects: Zoroastrianism
Publisher: New York, The Macmillan Company London, Macmillan & Co., ltd.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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are said not to be ordinarily tolerated in the town. The oldest portion of the city is known as the Kalah, orFortress, although its walls have practically disappeared andthe moat has been largely filled in and built upon. Thecentral part of this old-time fortified section is occupied bythe bazaars. These marts of trade are among the finest in Per-sia, if not in all the East, and are a source of endless interestto the traveller. In construction they are of the characteristicOriental type, consisting of acres of vaulted arches built ofbrick and masonry, roofed over and divided by long narrowpassageways, with shops and alcoves on each side. At occa-sional intervals large portals lead out into square courts en- ^ See Texier, Description de VAr- nard, Diet. geog. p. 133, n. 1. Com- menie, la Perse, etc., Paris, 1842- panions (ashdb) is a technical term 1845; Sarre, Denkmdler Persischer in Islam.Baukunst^ Berlin, 1901. ^ Mustaufi, op, cit. p. 132, n. 1. 2 Mustaufi, cited by Barbier de Mey-
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Interior of Bazaar at Tabriz IJSr THE BAZAARS 45 closed to serve as places for tlie caravans to unload and lodge.The light in the bazaar is generally dim except where holespierce the domes at regular intervals and let in shafts of sun-shine, which serve also to reveal the dirt below. The passage-ways of the bazaars always seem crowded ; camels, donkeys,and pack-mules add to the confusion of the disordered massof buyers and sellers, and the incessant cry khaharddrf hJia-harddr! take care! take care ! ejaculated by the drivers,becomes exasperating, especially when you have to crowdagainst the wall to let some grandee pass. This local notablemay be mounted on horseback and preceded by a lackey calleda fardsh^ who clears the way with a mace; but sometimes thenoteworthy is seated in a carriage and preceded by outriders. The bazaars open shortly after sunrise and do not close untilsunset, at which time the shops are shut with wooden shuttersand the gates of the bazaar barred and locked. The

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