MUSHED, or Mesched, a city of Persia, the capital of the province of Khorassan, surrounded by a wall, and said by some to be twelve miles in circuit, but by Fraser estimated at not more than six miles. The greatest length to which the town extends is not above two miles, and the enclosed space presents a sad picture of desolation; the approach to the centre of the city, where the inhabitants exclusively reside, being through masses of ruins. There are thirty-two divisions in the city, each being nominally governed by its own magistrate; but of these many are totally devoid of either houses or inhabitants, and the greater part of the rest are very thinly tenanted. The city appears to have been built of sun-dried bricks or mud, so that the whole aspect of the place presents the monotonous gray earthy colour common to all Persian towns; and even the houses which remain entire are miserably poor and mean in their outward appearance, nor are they much better furnished within. The approach to these houses harmonizes with all the other details, being for the most part through dark lanes and narrowalleys, extremely inconvenient and filthy. Fraser informs us, that in his walks he occasionally stumbled upon the strangest holes and corners, where houses peered out that were half hid in filth and rubbish. He adds, that the path among such places sometimes burrows under the earth, or beneath a heap of build ings which have been raised over it, upon a floor of beams and mats; and that, after thus descending, as it seemed, into the bowels of the earth, a door was opened into a small parterre, surrounded with various apartments, and fitted up with reservoirs and fountains of water, trees, and flowers. There is only one street worthy of the name, which extends throughout the whole length of the town, running north-west and south-east. In the centre is a canal, which serves as a receptacle for all the filth of the town, and is in a state of great disrepair. A row of shops extends along the pathway on either side; and there is a bazaar in another quarter, which extends from 500 to 600 yards in one direction. The public buildings of Mushed are very splendid, and highly celebrated for their sanctity. The tomb in which repose the ashes of the Imam Reza and of the Kaliph Haroun Al Raschid, is an extensive and most magnificent structure, which has been embellished and enriched by different princes. This magnificent cluster of domes and minarets is situated in the centre of the city, where there is a noble oblong square, 160 yards in length by 75 in breadth, with gateways at either end, and forms a splendid specimen of the style of eastern architecture. The mausoleum itself comprises a mass of buildings which appear to be of the octagon form; and a silver gate, the gift of Nadir Shah, admits into the passage to the chief apartment, beneath a gilded cupola of magnificent dimensions, rising loftily into a fine*dome, from the centre of which depends a huge branched candlestick of solid silver. There are numerous other apartments, a description of which will be found in Fraser’s account of his journey to Khorassan. Mushed contains no other religious shrine worthy of notice. There is a large ruined mosque with two minarets; and there are numerous other smaller ones to be found in all quarters of the city. There are also sixteen schools or colleges, ten or twelve public baths, and at least twenty-five or thirty caravanserais; many of them spacious and handsome establishments, whilst others are in ruins. The palace of the prince is a poor fabric, scarcely deserving of notice. Mushed contains the tombs of Nadir Shah and his son, though not their dust; their remains having been dug up by their bitter enemy Mahommed Khan, and carried to Teheran. This city rose into importance during the contests between the Mahommedan sects of the Soonies and the Sheahs, under the patronage of Tahmareb, a zealous Sheah, and a prince of the Suffanean dynasty, who decorated the tomb of Imam Reza. It was taken and pillaged by the Tartar tribes; and it was again utterly ruined by the Afghans, and scarcely restored to its former magnificence by all the favours which were lavished on it by Nadir Shah. Its commerce is considerable, being an entrepôt for that of the surrounding countries, and rich caravans daily arriving from Bockhara, Khyvah, Herat, Kerman, Yezd, Cashan, Ispahan, and other cities. There are in Mushed many merchants, with a considerable number of shopkeepers and tradesmen; and one quarter of the city is appropriated to the Jews, who are here tolerably numerous, and exercise their customary profession of scrap sellers. Of travellers, whether in the way of religion or of commerce, numbers are to be seen from all the surrounding countries, such as Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Turcomans, Usbecks, in the different caravanserais and bazaars of Mushed. It is famed for the manufacture of velvets, which are esteemed the best in Persia; and of sword-blades, which sell, many of them, at from fifteen to a hundred reals a piece, or from L.l to between L.6 and L.7. Those of them made by the old workmen sell as high as 2000 reals; and even more is sometimes demanded for a blade of known antiquity and goodness. The vicinity of the turquoise mines gives employment to numerous stone-cutters. The population is estimated by Fraser at 31,000. Long. 57. E. Lat. 37. 35. N.
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