ies and scientific pursuits, for to
him is attributed the invention of many useful arts, and the
introduction of the solar year for measurement of time, the first day of
which, when the sun enters Aries, he ordered to be celebrated by a
splendid festival. It is called Nauroz, or New Year's Day, and is still
the greatest festival in Persia. This single institution of former days,
under a different religion and system of measuring time, has triumphed
over the introduction of Mohammedanism, and is observed with as much joy
and festivity now as it was by the ancient inhabitants of Persia.

According to Moulla Akbar's manuscripts, quoted in Malcolm's 'History of
Persia,' Jamshed was immoderately fond of grapes, and desired to
preserve some which were placed in a large vessel and lodged in a vault
for future use. When the vessel was opened, the grapes had fermented,
and their juice in this state was so acid that the King believed it must
be poisonous. He had some other vessels filled with the juice, and
'Poison' written upon each; these were placed in his room. It happened
that one of his favourite ladies was afflicted with nervous headaches,
the pain of which distracted her so much that she desired death, and
observing a vessel with 'Poison' written on it, she took it and
swallowed its contents. The wine, for such it had become, overpowered
the lady, who fell down in a sound sleep, and awoke much refreshed.
Delighted with the remedy, she repeated the doses so often that the
King's 'poison' was all drunk. He soon discovered this, and forced the
lady to confess what she had done. A quantity of wine was then made, and
Jamshed and all his Court drank of the new beverage, which, from the
circumstance that led to its discovery, is to this day known in Persia
as _zahr-i-khush_, or the pleasing poison. After that the manufacture of
wine became a regular industry, and spread from Shiraz, where it
originated. At the present time the process of manufacture is similar to
what it was then, in that the grape-juice is collected in large
Ali-Baba-like jars and buried in the ground. Alexander the Great is said
to have followed the festive example of his royal predecessor, and to
have drunk deep in the majestic halls of Persepolis. It has been
supposed by some that he caused the splendid palaces there to be set on
fire in a drunken freak.

As a pendant to the story of a lady's discovery, in the time of Jamshed,
of wine as an efficacious cure