KIRMAN, or Kerman, called also sometimes Sirjan, a large city, and capital of the above province, situated on the western side of a capacious plain, so close to the mountains, that two of them, on which there are ancient forts, completely command it. It was in early times one of the most flourishing cities in Persia, and was inferior to none in size except the capital, Ispahan. It became, by its situation in the direct road from Khorassan, Balkh, Buckharia, the countries beyond the Oxus, and all the northern part of the Persian empire, to the sea-port of Bunder-Abass, a great emporium of eastern commerce, and the centre of wealth, learning, and magnificence. The date of its foundation is not ascertained, but Lieutenant Pottinger states, on the authority of a manuscript history of the conquest in the 90th year of the hejira, or about the 700th year of the Christian era, that Kirman was then a very extensive city, full of riches, and celebrated for the excellence of the shawls and arms made in it; and he imagines that its foundation is coeval with the renowned city of Ormuz. No city has been subject to greater reverses of fortune, or oftener the scene of severe, destructive wars, both foreign and domestic, than Kir-
Kirkwall. It has been successively taken and plundered by the caliphs, by Ghengis Khan, Tamerlane, the Afghans, and Nadir Shah: in addition to all that, it has suffered from civil broils, in the course of which it has often been taken by storm. The last event of this kind took place in the year 1794, when it was betrayed into the hands of Agha Mahommed Khan, uncle of the present king, and founder of the Kajar dynasty, who had besieged it in vain for several months. Under this eastern barbarian the city was given up for three months to incessant ravages by a licentious soldiery. All its fortifications and elegant structures, which were raised by the Afghans, were razed to the ground; and the cruel conqueror, after sacrificing to his revenge every person of whom he had the slightest suspicion, carried 30,000 of the inhabitants into slavery, or exiled them to the distant provinces of Mazunderan and Azerbaijan. After this dreadful calamity, the city lay desolate for some years after the accession of the present king, who directed the fortifications to be rebuilt on a reduced scale. They are still, however, large, and consist of a high mud wall, with nineteen bastions, and a dry ditch twenty yards wide and ten deep. The works are entirely encompassed by ruins. There are four gates, and the ark or the citadel, in which the governor's palace is built, and which is on the southern face of the fort, is defended by similar works. The bazar is well supplied with articles of every description, and from every nation: one part of it is covered in with very elegant domes, built of a beautiful blue stone, dug from quarries in the adjacent mountains. There are eight or nine caravanserais within the walls, besides many inferior ones outside. Kirman contains 30,000 inhabitants, consisting of Armenians, Hindus, or Jews, resident in the place, and of a small proportion of Guebres or Parsees. The trade of the town, though considerable, has never revived to its former extent; and it is not likely that it will again do so, as the great resort of merchants is now to the sea-port town of Bushire, farther up the Gulf of Persia, to the prejudice of Bunder-Abass, and of course of Kirman, of which Bunder-Abass is the port. Its manufactures of shawls, matchlocks, and numuds or felts, are celebrated all over Asia, and are said to afford employment to upwards of one third of the inhabitants, whether male or female. The former are made from the famous wool already described, and rival those of Cashmere in delicacy of fabric and texture, though they are not equal in downy softness and warmth. The revenues of the city, which in 1810 amounted to L.25,000 per annum, and are said to be rapidly increasing, are employed by the prince in maintaining his court, and a body of troops for the protection of the city and neighbourhood from the incursions of the wild predatory tribes of the mountains. These duties arise from a heavy tax on shawls and matchlocks. Camels, horses, &c. which enter any caravanserai in the city, are charged each one rupee. Long. 56. 6. E. Lat. 29. 56. N.