a profound sensation in India, seems to have been looked upon in Persia as an accident which had happened in the usual course of things. The steps taken by the Government of India to make what reparation was possible to the family of the deceased envoy, more than satisfied the Shah, who is said to have observed that the English were at liberty to kill as many of his ambassadors as they might have a mind to dispose of, provided they should always pay as liberally as they had done on the present occasion. Mahomed Nebi Khan was selected to proceed to Hindostan, in the room of the deceased nobleman.
The hurricane of rebellion which had, as we have seen, swept over Persia after the downfall of the Sefaveean dynasty, had not yet expended all its force. Restless spirits were still striving to upset the authority of the Shah, and they gathered round the king's brother, whom they proposed to set up as the head of their conspiracy. That prince had been, as I have said, appointed governor of Kashan, a city not more than 130 miles distant from the capital. Kashan is situated on the skirts of a great desert, on the high-road between the northern and southern provinces of Persia. It lies about six miles away from a range of mountains, bounding the level country on the south, and it stands on a plain, which is in some parts extremely fertile, while in others it is stony and perfectly sterile. The walls of Kashan are stated to be about three-and-a-half miles in circumference, and they are, now at least, in a ruined state. The large area within them is but imperfectly occupied, and ruins meet the eye at every turn. All the houses have arched roofs, rafters being objectionable on account of the ravages of the white ant; and the habitations are
