Welcome to The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors, the epic story of a 17th century trade expedition from Germany to Persia that failed so completely its leader was publicly executed upon his return. This is Episode 25: Dogs, Pigs, Camels and Silk.

Last time we heard about the suburbs and agriculture of Isfahan, and now we will learn why, according to Persian lore, certain animals hate each other.

The best silk is white, but yellow silk could also be quite good as long as it is clean and of good quality. Production estimates vary widely. At the turn of the 17th century, Robert Sherley said Persia’s total yield of silk was 34,000 bales. In 1635 the Dutch East India Company said a “normal” year’s production was 4,000 bales. Olearius claimed an annual harvest of 20,000 bales, but it is not clear where he obtained that figure.

Silk production in Persia was a local affair but a national business, and much of the trade was conducted door to door, bale by bale. Although transportation costs could have been minimized by going overland, Holstein was starting from scratch and paying significant tariffs to both Russia and Persia.

Some caravans traveled west to Aleppo, in modern day Syria, or northwest through Anatolia to Istanbul. Others west south, crossing mountains and deserts on the way to the Persian Gulf. The journeys typically took two to four months.

If the Holstein mission had succeeded, their caravans would have traveled north to the Caspian, up the Volga, and thence to the Baltic. The Caspian shipping season extended from April to October, and Russian winters dictated that the last ship had to leave Persia by late August. The cargo vessels typically used by the Russians each had a capacity of 250 bales and followed the coastline to Astrakhan, where the silk was reloaded onto smaller riverboats and sent upstream to Saratov. From Saratov, which our ambassadors saw in episode 6, merchandise was loaded onto wagons for the trip to Moscow.

The entire return trip on this new Silk Road envisioned by Duke Frederick would have taken about six months. But it never did happen, and as we reach the end of Book 6 and the end of 1637, our ambassadors are preparing for a discouraging trek back to Holstein.