T.ABRIZ, pronounced and often written Tabreez, the capital of Azcrbijan, in Persia, is situated in a plain about 4800 feet abovo the seadevel, in about 38° 4' N. hit., 46° 8" 30" E. long. It is said to have been founded by the wife of Harem al Rashid, in A.D. 791. The population amounts to about 50,000 or 60,000. The larger part of the area inclosed by the ancient walls covered with ruins and gardens. The town has been often taken by the Turks, and it has been frequently damaged by earthquakes. Owing to its elevated site the town enjoys a moderate climate in summer, but the winters are intensely cold, the thermometer sometimes sinking to zero, and snow often lying from December to March.
Tabriz is built on a plain, surrounded on the north and south by ranges of high, bare, and rugged hills. The plain widens gradually as it approaches Lake Urudyeh, which lies to the westward. It is very fertile, and produces abundant crops of grain where it can be irrigated : it also contains extensive plantations of fruit-trees.
The town is surrounded by a wall of sun-burnt bricks, which has a circuit of about three miles and a half, and in which are seven gates. The streets ere tolerably straight, but not paved. The houses are made low, ou account of the earthquakes, and mostly built of sun burnt bricks. They have no windows towards the streets, but are convenient in the interior. The suburbs are extensive, and the orchards, which cover large spaces, are kept in good order, and watered by numerous kerceia (subterranean canals). Grapes, melons, apricots,
quinces, pears, and apples are of superior quality. In many of the gardens there are the ruins of magnificent old buildings. There are no buildings distinguished by architectural beauty, not even the mosques. The most remarkable is the old castle, which was built by Ali Shah.
Tabriz has some manufactures of coarse cotton-goods and silk stuffs. It is one of the moat commercial towns of Persia. Its principal com merce is with Tiflis in Ilusaia, with Trebizond, and with Constantinople.
It exports to Tillie silk, cotton, rice, galls, and dried fruits, and receives from Russia, iron, copper, caviar, cloth, leather, cochineal, and manu factured goods. Enropean and especially British manufactures reach Tabriz by way of Trebizond, whence they are carried overland through Lrzrum, Bayazid, and Khoi. English goods else reach Tabriz by caravans from Coustantinople. The exports by this road are rice, wool, hides, sheep and ?oat skins, furs, carpets, shawls, and some minor articles. The foreign commerce of Tabriz annually introduces into Persia goods to the value of about n million and a half sterling. The European part of this trade. has considerably suffered since the commencement of the war between Beanie and Turkey. Tabriz receives the goods of India and Bekhara and some other eastern countries by the way of Herat and Teheran.