village. The religious character of the chief inhabitants of the
village, who are sheikhs, and guardians of the Holy Shrine of the
mausoleum of the Imam-Zadeh-Ismail, which lies within its limits,
prevents the preparation there of the forbidden fermented juice of the
grape. The shrine is endowed with the village lands rent free, and all
these lands are devoted to vine cultivation. The vineyards at Shiraz
have been greatly extended of late years, and particular attention is
now paid to the cultivation of the Kholar grape, as the best suited for
wine. This grape takes its name from the village of Kholar, which is
within a few miles of the town. Tabriz, Hamadan, Isfahan, and Shiraz
produce the best wine in Persia. Red and white are made at all these
places; the white wine of Hamadan is a sort of strong sauterne, and some
of it has quite a delicate flavour; Isfahan produces a wine of a port
character, and the best shiraz is sometimes like new madeira. All these
wines resemble in strength those that are now made in Australia.
Something is wanting in the mode of manufacture to make the wine capable
of improvement with keeping, and also of bearing transport. The advent
of the Russian road will probably lead to the development of Kasvin's
large area of fruitful vines, and the success which has attended
vineyard industry at Derbend, on the Caspian, may encourage similar
enterprise there.

As neither law nor custom forbids the manufacture of wine by
non-Mohammedans, the cultivation of the grape spreads, and the making of
wine increases. From this it may be inferred, as there is little export
of wine from Persia, that all the produce is not consumed by
non-Mohammedans. As a matter of fact, the religious law which forbids
wine to Mohammedans is not rigidly observed; in truth, they are not all
total abstainers, and the delightful poison, as chronicled by Moulla
Akbar, is known to be a convenient remedy for all manner of moods, ills,
and complaints, nervous, imaginary, and real. They have been described
as drinking well when they do break the religious law, for they have a
saying that 'there is as much sin in a glass as in a flagon.' The
Persians have never thoroughly accommodated themselves to the creed of
their Semitic conquerors; they show profound respect for the externals
of Mohammedanism, and are sincere in their practice of piety and the
obligations of religion and charity; but they have always indulged in
the fancies and ide