286 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. lessened by the visit of the Kussians to Ardabeel in the reign of Fetteh Ali Shah. In another part of the same structure there is a magnificent hall ornamented with lacquered work of azure, where is kept a large collection of china vases that were made use of for holding the daily supply of rice said to have been 3,600 pounds granted for the sustenance of those who came to pay their devotions at the tomb of Shah Ismail. The value of the religious endowments of this shrine is said to have formerly amounted to the large sum of two crores of tomans,* but of all this wealth nothing now remains to the few attendants of the tomb further than a yearly allowance of some hundreds of maunds of grain. The government long ago confiscated the landed property, and under the Kajar kings contributions are no longer made towards the support of the shrine of the ancestor of the Sefaveean Shahs.f The Firman-Firma died while on the way to his prison; but many of Fetteh Ali Shah's descendants amongst them the Zil-es- Sultan and the son of the late Mahomed Ali Meerza of Kennanshah were doomed to pass their remaining days at Ardabeel, and there to reflect on the disadvantages of having been born in the purple. No more blood was spilt on this occasion ; nor, with the exception of the Shuja-es-Sultaneh, was any one deprived of eyesight. Order was now reestablished over the greater portion of Persia, but, as might have been expected, the province of Khorassan was agitated through- out its length and breadth. Save Meshed, Nishapoor and Subsewar, not a place remained to the Shah. The
- A century ago such a sum represented about one million sterling,
f Narrative of a Journey, by K. E. ABBOTT, Esq.
