[Footnote 44: In Persia, the prince of the waters is an
officer of state. The number of wells and subterraneous
channels is much diminished, and with it the fertility of
the soil: 400 wells have been recently lost near Tauris, and
42,000 were once reckoned in the province of Khorasan
(Chardin, tom. iii. p. 99, 100. Tavernier, tom. i. p. 416.)]